Dungeon Raider System-Chapter 481: Pride is for the living

The fire grew healthy in a matter of seconds, its soft crackle being the only sound heard in the vampire's lair until a shrieking sound erupted from the wooden casket. It was an ear piercing shrill sound Uriel heard many times before, but he could never had enough of it. It was the sound of a cryptid suffering.

In spites of his ethical dilemma, cryptids caused him so much suffering through his entire life he felt some sense of justice into returning the favor.

The chamber was soon filled with a dense smoke and a nasty figure emerged from the casket, only now it was ten times more gross. Instead of its pale gray skin, the nosferatu's skin had been burn to a black crisp which in turn made its fangs look more white. Everything about it looked uglier and more fierce than it did before, but Uriel knew better than to look at it directly.

If there was one thing Uriel learned from Medusa's trait was that he had no chance of defeating her unless he kept himself from looking her in the eye. Uriel was unsure whether the nosferatu's ability was related or not to its eyes, but the pale shimmer emitted from them was all the evidence he needed to at least be careful.

"Fire... was it luck or do you know how to read our language?" Contrary to its monstrous appearance, the nosferatu kept its polite manner of speech.

"Why do you care? I beat you at your own game and you're about to die anyway." Uriel replied with a stern voice.

"I'm only asking because I think you made a mistake. You see, this coffin is the source of my immortality, but it's not the source of my power," The nosferatu spoke calmly as it dusted its burnt skin as though he was dusting his clothes. At that moment, Uriel's face paled as he realized his mistake.

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Just because he found a way to stop the cryptid from regenerating didn't mean he would be able to kill it and he did the only sensible thing. After failing to kill the ancient cryptid that so far treated him like a guest, he shamelessly turned to leave. "That's correct, run little peasant!"

Uriel grabbed the dazed maid's hand and dragged her through the stony paths of the vampire nest trying to find an exit, though it proved to be way more complicated than he expected.

"Hey! Snap out of it, where's the exit?" Uriel shook the girl until she became responsive again. Her throat was so dry she couldn't utter a word, but she pointed her finger to a hatch on the ceiling, but it was so high not even a heavenly rank hunter could make the jump.

"Of course, why would it be a door," Uriel briefly put his face in his hands, but then proceeded to buy a rope from his souvenir shop. "I'll throw you over there and you tie it somewhere so I can climb."

The woman nodded and grabbed one end of the rope and Uriel launched her towards the ceiling with good aim, but a bit too much force. An evolved might have been turned into a pulp, but thankfully she was also a heavenly rank and was able to grab onto the hatch without issues. Uriel watched her disappear through the hatch, but the rope fell to the ground.

"I'm sorry, I can't let him take me again." The maid's distant voice barely reached Uriel's ears.

"I knew I should have picked the other one." Uriel grunted. At times like this, Uriel would have reflected on the untrustworthy nature of humans and their treacherous ways, but the nosferatu didn't give him that kind of time.

"Do you mean her, by chance?" The nosferatu appeared seemingly out of the blue, lifting the other maid with a single hand and bit her neck greedily drinking the blood that gushed out. She twitched for a few seconds, but fell limp soon after and the nosferatu discarded her like she was an empty package of chips.

Unsurprisingly though, the cryptid was unable to regenerate even after drinking blood which meant he did it for the sole pleasure of taking a life.

Uriel didn't know who was worse, humans or cryptids, though his doubts cleared as soon as all the candles in the room went off briefly as though being affected by an unseen gust of wind. The next moment, the nosferatu was on the other corner of the vast room and Uriel's thigh was bleeding.

"Delicious, but it could be better. If you still had him inside you I'd be able to regenerate from this wounds." The vampire let out dejectedly.

"Wrong, if he was here I'd be handing you your ass on a silver platter." Uriel scoffed.

"That may be so, especially if I told you how to safely harness his power without being consumed by him. What a shame you decided to try to kill me instead, we could have achieved so much together. Now, you'll have to become my servant." The vampire opened its mouth revealing its marbled fangs in what was supposed to be a smile, but came off as a beastly yawn.

"I'll never be a servant, not yours, not anyone's!" Uriel shouted and the candles went out again, only now they didn't turn back in. There was only silence and darkness in the room until soft whispers reached Uriel from so close it might as well been from within his own mind.

"I will bind you, I will train you and you will obey."

"Obey..." Uriel echoed, but he wasn't enthralled by the clear attempt of hypnosis. Uriel found the vampire's idea of turning him into a servant amusing, as he pictured himself wearing the same kind of dress the maids were. The notion was completely absurd, but it managed to lower the pressure enough for him to think clearly again.

His first instinct was to activate Dash before anything, but now it was unnecessary. He dropped a mysterious metallic object in the ground and he jumped as high as he could, until the flashbang exploded causing a sudden flash of light so bright the cryptid was blinded for a few seconds.

Only after the flash went off did Uriel activate Dash and before he started falling he dropped a couple flares on the ground, then he summoned the red thread of fate and threw it at the hatch. If the dagger returned to him, Uriel figured he could also move towards it.

What he didn't expect, though, was the force of the pull since he had Dash active. At such speed it didn't matter which side was up or down since gravity barely affected him and Uriel decided to reduce the force of the pull by dragging his feet on the ceiling which caused some stones to crumble.

"Who's trapped and alone now?" Uriel scoffed as he hung from the hatch with one hand, while pointing his revolver at the nosferatu who didn't even bother to dodge the debris falling on top of him. Then, the creature did something Uriel didn't expect, it began floating towards Uriel like it was weightless. "Of course it floats!" Uriel reprimanded himself.

That was the reason the cryptid's steps were so silent and how he managed to slid across the floor so graciously.

Realizing that his escape had turned into a chase, Uriel climbed as fast as he could. His own speed was already faster than most heavenly rank thanks to the training Nika put him through, but Dash allowed Uriel to reach a whole new level of speed and it took him no time to reach the upper passage.

Not even the horror rank cryptid was fast enough to keep up and Uriel slowly gained on it, until he noticed a presence in front of him. It was the maid who escaped first and didn't hesitate to leave him behind. Uriel watched each desperate step she took as though she was taking a stroll instead of running for her life and realized she would soon be killed by the cryptid.

There was little Uriel could do and even less he wanted to do to help her, but there was a problem. The passage they were in was so narrow he couldn't possibly pass her, turning the hopeless maid into a very effective road block.

Asking her to move aside was impossible since Uriel would need to cancel Dash for her to listen to him and that would end up in them both getting killed. This left Uriel with no choice but to grab her from wherever and carry her along his run at breakneck speed.

Uriel was tempted to drop her right then and there so she'll block the vampire's way, but he thought against it since she wouldn't gain him a single second. Besides, as soon as the maid realized it was Uriel and not the nosferatu who took her, she held on tightly to him and let herself be carried like luggage.

Uriel became her last sliver of hope and she decided not to let go. Her actions were shameless after leaving him for dead, but it wasn't much different from what Uriel did to the nosferatu who treated him like a guest. In the end, he knew more than well that pride is only for the living.