Dungeon Raider System
Chapter 665 - 665: The number of the beast

Killing Kenny in front of the cultists while he translated their legacies for them had been a bold move on Uriel's side to say the least. Kenny was a couple steps away from the strongest members of the society and thousands with thousands of cultists looking directly at him while they chanted their unnerving song. But it was necessary.

Atsa couldn't watch idly by as Kenny misinterpreted the ancient mysteries kept a secret for generations while Uriel couldn't stand Kenny soiling such valuable remains with a common marker. He didn't know nor did he care how did Kenny gain the ability to understand those ancient texts or even if he read them correctly, but using a marker on them was akin to destroying their cultural value.

A sin he wasn't willing to forgive.

Thanks to the contract with Nika, Uriel was able to use the shadow cloak skill which amounted to his ability to conceal his energy signature allowed him to kill Kenny before anyone took notice. But that was the easy part, escaping alive was the difficult part and that's when Atsa offered himself to stay behind and give him a chance to escape with just a 'small' ask, he wanted Uriel to save Martha.

Rescuing an woman he didn't even know was uncharacteristic of Uriel to say the least. Despite knowing it was the right thing to do, if after weighting the difficulty and danger of the task it turned out to not be worth it, he wouldn't hesitate to ignore the situation and forget it even happened in a minute.

Saving Martha was not only dangerous and pointless, but it was what Atsa asked in return for drawing all the attention of the cultists towards himself and giving him a chance to escape after killing Kenny.

The outcome was supposed to be Uriel leaving the room safely with Martha and Atsa dying a hero's death. Upon reaching the door Uriel turned to see Atsa for the last time and thank him with a nod, a small gesture for such a great sacrifice, but it was all he could do. Yet what came to happen was something entirely different.

Atsa's frail figure somehow resisted the force of the elements and even the strongest members were helpless against the inexorable hatchet that sought for their necks with uncanny precision.

He moved through water jets, burst of flames, gusts of wind and rock spears completely unhindered thanks to the buckskin attire turning him into an unstoppable enemy that severed heads as though he was mowing the lawn.

Instead of a sacrifice to save Uriel, it seemed as though the old man was on a path for certain victory, but Uriel noticed something strange.

Kenny's blood didn't boil when touching the ground, it was absorbed instead and the same thing happened with the blood of all the cultists Atsa killed. Uriel had seen something like that happen before and it didn't bode well for anyone.

"Eagle, stop killing them!" Uriel's shout was muffled by the explosions echoing loudly in the throne chamber. "It's absorbing their blood!" No matter how much he tried to warn the old man or gesture at him, his voice was little in comparison to the sounds of the fray and the foul chant that kept on going.

Uriel found himself at a crossroad where he could easily exit the room and save his life or he could turn around and stop Atsa from causing the event he was trying to prevent. Due to his heavenly rank, powerful weapons and strong allies it had been a while since Uriel had felt so helpless.

Entity rank cryptids that would spell the doom of any heavenly rank weren't even a challenge for him and even killing horror level cryptids was possible for him, but something in his gut told him that whatever lied beneath the throne room was on an entirely different level.

He would rather fight Jon Hunter on a fair fight than finding out what creature was so vile it needed to be sealed for eternity in order for humanity to survive.

After hesitating for a second, Uriel took a step forward and exited the chamber.

"Thank you so much for saving me." Martha cries went completely ignored by Uriel who dropped her like a sack of potatoes and turned on his heels to enter the chamber.

He shot a few warning shots hoping for the booming sound of his magnum revolver to be enough to call for Atsa's attention. Much to Uriel's surprise it was difficult to hear it even to him despite holding the gun in his hand.

It was then that he noticed the chanting persisted even after Atsa killed the cultists, even after their death their voices kept resounding. In fact, it became even louder by the minute and the same happened with the flux density in the room.

With no other choice, Uriel activated his Dash skill and rushed forward to stop the bloodbath taking place wherever Atsa moved, but was suddenly stopped by a powerful fist to the face.

"Why did you kill Kenny!? What did he ever do to you?" Mark said in the manliest voice he could muster, which actually came out as thin as a paper.

"Who cares about Benny, we need to stop this!" Uriel growled at Mark as he cleaned the drop of blood on the corner of his mouth to prevent it from falling on the ground.

"After all you have done to me," Mark clenched his fists so hard they bled, the small drops of the red falling on the floor under Uriel's horrified gaze. "Even after I tried to help you... why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Mark, stop this nonsense. They need to be stopped at all costs, you don't know what's going on." Uriel tried to explain, but Mark wasn't having any of it. Fighting back or even defending himself would only cause more blood to be fed into whatever unholy creature was sealed beneath which left Uriel with nothing but words to stop the bloodshed before it was too late.

"When helping you failed I tried to stay away, but everywhere I go you follow and hurt the people I care about. I get that you had to defend yourself from those who tried to harm your friends, but Kenny... he was our classmate! All you had to do was talk to him. What did he ever do to you to deserve getting killed like that?" Mark's face distorted as a black substance crawled through his skin.

At first it looked like a mole, then like a tattoo and finally his entire skin shifted to a jet black color.

When Uriel wanted to notice, Mark had already disappeared from his sight as he used his flames to propel forward pushing Uriel outside the room with so much force Uriel's ribs were cracked despite his heavenly constitution.

Uriel attempted to speak, yet all it came out was an unintelligible wheeze accompanied with such pain it made Uriel grimace. Such injury would disable most hunters at least momentarily, but the pain traversing Uriel's body served as a reminder that he was still alive and sharpened his mind to its fullest and the solution came to him in the form of a crimson dagger jabbed deep inside Mark's side.

"You said we could have stopped this by talking, but you didn't even let me speak," Not only the Red thread of fate healed Uriel, but it also prevented Mark from inflicting him any more damage as he now had a deep wound in his gut with the added bonus of his life essence being stolen at a rate that impeded the horror level eclipse from regenerating his wounds.

"now listen to me very carefully because I will say this only once: run."

It was just one word, a verb in its infinitive form, a casual word spoken all over the world depicting an action children performed to have fun, yet it conveyed the most terrifying emotion Mark had ever experienced in his already messed up life.

Mark soiling his pants and falling on his butt happened at the same time Uriel stood up completely healed, his eyes glinting in blue, his body covered in blue sparks and a red dagger on his right hand.

Uriel didn't bother to look at his former classmate's pitiful state as he kept his eyes fixated on Atsa who now held on his face a pained grimace due to the weight of his own sins, yet wouldn't stop as he thought he did what was best for everyone.

With Dash active, Uriel darted forward once more dodging the myriad of elemental projectiles while taking down as many cultists as he could now that he didn't have to worry about the blood being spilled. Once deprived of its life essence, the blood spilled on the ground would pool instead of being absorbed and now Uriel was free to brute force his way forward.

It was a good idea, a great one even, but one that came too late nonetheless.

When the six hundred sixty-sixth cultist was killed and their blood was absorbed, the most abject horror emerged from its profane cage with a roaring sound that deafened all, it's unholy sight so dreadful some of those who laid eyes on it died on the spot leaving behind the most disturbing expression.

Others would willingly pop their own eyes off, only for the picture of the unspeakable horror to remain engraved in their retina.

"That is no god," Uriel muttered, unfazed by the sight of the creature yet utterly terrified of it. "It's a nephilim."