Dungeon Raider System
Chapter 668 - 668: The end of all hope Part 3

Somewhere inside the dungeon, in one of the floating islands orbiting the golden city of Cibola, by the entrance of a castle where the ancient mechanism of the fourth and last seal rested, a huntress of short stature arrived at the scene still holding onto the wolf teeth she received as a gift from Atsa.

Luna had no means to know it, but the seal under her care was the last thing that stood between a creature so filthy it was deemed undeserving of a name by those who sealed it in the times before history. To her it was nothing but an old gadget of little value and the only motivation she had to stop it from moving was because she was asked to.

She didn't understand its purpose or its inner working, yet it was her duty to hold it still for as long as she could.

Unfortunately, no one thought that due to her short stature she wouldn't be able to reach the stone and while Medusa and Nika fought so hard to keep their seals in place, while Bella sacrificed her delicate fingers, all Luna did was to give short hops in a futile attempt to reach the device.

Had there been a camera filming the events transpiring in that place it would have been considered a turning point in human history and anyone watching it would have remained by the edge of their seat as Luna struggled to reach the stone embedded on the wall.

"I can't reach it," She excused herself before giving up on the task and turning to leave. To say the fate of the world rested on her shoulders wouldn't be an understatement, but no matter how much Luna wished for it she wouldn't grow taller out of a sudden. "One second..."

Luna lingered for a few seconds as she pictured what would Uriel's reaction be once she returned and the first thing that came to her mind was the memory of Cassandra when Mark forced her to wear a collar. It forced her to be obedient towards him, though it had nothing to do with the nature of the collar as even a simple necklace could have the same effect on a werewolf.

Putting a leash on a werewolf was the same as declaring said werewolf the loser which would turn the winner into the new alpha. It triggered their basic lycanthrope's instincts making them immediately submissive towards their new alpha.

Knowing this would happen wasn't enough to prevent it and Cassandra was left helpless when Mark put the collar on her neck and although Uriel never gave Luna any reason to make her think he would ever do something like that, she still pictured Uriel forcing a collar upon her and ordering her to do all the dirty things her sister had warned men would do to her if she ever fell under their control.

"Perhaps..." Luna thought hard about it and couldn't decide if she was actually against the idea of being punished like that. She already considered Uriel the alpha on her pack even though he never attempted to do any of the things her sister Cassandra had warned Luna about. But such thoughts faded as she suddenly remembered she was a lycanthrope and could actually grow taller out of a sudden.

Luna's transformation was swifter than ever as her body became bulkier at the same time her silvery hair turned into fur and her blank eyes became sharp and intimidating, yet the most important change was her stature as she managed to reach for the stone mechanism in the proverbial last second before Nika lost the grasp on her respective seal.

Luna's bestial hand differed greatly from that of a human and she managed to apply much more force than any of her friends, which was somehow enough to keep the stone from spinning at all.

Despite being just an ascended and considering herself to the the weakest of the Dungeon Raider founders, Luna's werewolf form possessed a strength far superior than her friends which amounted to her brutish hand allowed Luna to keep the mechanism in place.

Yet it wasn't just strength what allowed her to hold the stone, but a fact that would be never revealed as the only person who knew had died a horrible death just a few moments ago.

The reason why Luna was able to keep the stone in place and unwittingly stop the foul creature from being completely released from her prison was that she now stood in the same spot where Crockett winded the mechanism for the first time.

It wasn't Crockett who designed the artifact but one of his friends named Travis, a lawyer with a reputation for making shady deals. Crockett also had no involvement on the building as that task fell mostly upon their friend's Bowie's shoulders as he had an uncanny physical strength from birth, yet that particular stone was designed and built specifically for a hybrid like Crockett.

They had no means to know it, but their decision would pay out centuries after their deaths as Luna carried on her fated task, also without knowing it. Yet for all their efforts, it only gave them a chance to fight in the decisive battle against the nameless creature, not an assured victory.

Meanwhile in the throne chamber, Uriel and company started picking up the scattered sheets of paper that contained the four elemental families legacy. Some looked ancient while others were just old, though what they had in common was that most of its contents were on different languages.

"Guys... this is french... I don't speak french." Uriel stuttered after the beast seemed to be released for an instant, only to be pulled back by the unseen power of Crockett's legacy.

"I do!" Bella used the air element to snatch the sheets of paper from Uriel's hands, managing to draw the creature's attention.

The unholy cryptid roared as an exquisite meal of elemental power laid in front of its eyes yet far from its grasp, then extended his arms to create a wind corridor that was supposed to draw Bella closer yet the huntress remained unaffected due to her wind barrier. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said as most of the sheets of paper were scattered in the wind like confetti.

Both Uriel and Nika reacted by activating their skills, Dash and Shadow blink respectively, but Medusa remained still unaware of the circumstances due to her blindfold.

Thanks to Dash, Uriel's perception of time allowed him to read at an unthinkable speed and he skimmed through the ancient sumerian texts, the old english ones and even those in the ominous glyphs Uriel had translated back when he was in college.

Uriel paid no mind to the faulty footnotes and translations left behind by the late kenny and quickly realized something. "Guys, they had it all wrong. This really is no god and it's not supposed to bestow any blessing to the witches. It's the opposite, that thing doesn't just feed on humans but also on the raw elements." he explained after briefly cancelling Dash to speak properly.

"Does that mean that if it's set loose it could feed on the earth!?" Medusa gasped.

"Forget about earth, what about air? It will slowly consume our entire world!" Bella added.

"I don't know about you, but I enjoy breathing. It's a hobby of mine." Nika said then pouted after realizing no one laughed, though it wasn't that they didn't appreciate her sense of humor but that the creature had given up on catching Bella and went back to killing cultists.

The same chamber that previously hosted a ceremony with thousands of cultists to the point of making it feel crowded, now felt spacious as there were at most a thousand people left.

"What is wrong with those idiots? Why are they still chanting!? Don't they realize they're making it stronger!?" Uriel growled.

"They probably know it by now, but it seems he's not killing those who keep praying." Bella replied, then continued by reading the sheet of paper on her hand that was now stained with her own blood due to her missing finger tips.

"Apparently, their chant has the purpose of feeding flux energy into the air element to trick the creature into thinking that when it breathes it's actually eating a living thing."

"It makes sense, it says here that this creature remained trapped in this place for eons, but there's no mention of a machine such as Crockett's legacy. It means that somehow, they tricked it by... no, it's actually the air spirit people. It makes sense now, why they were kept in here...

everything makes fucking sense now." By the time Uriel finished speaking the remaining cultist had realized that those who prayed were safe and they all turned back to their foul ceremony making Uriel and his friends the creature's next target.

"It doesn't!" Medusa said as she blocked an incoming limb created with stone with a powerful kick that turned it to dust.

"But don't mind us, just do your thing." Nika jumped in front of Uriel to protect him from a water jet stream that resembled a laser cutter. Water, though, had little to no effect on her shadow armor and after taking the brunt of the attack the only effect it showed was Nika getting her clothes wet.

"It's a nephilim, it's definitely a nephilim..." Uriel muttered to himself as he attempted to find any evidence to support his gut feeling.

"Whatever it is, you need to find a way to kill it, quick!" Bella said as she did her part by blocking a wind blade that came towards them.

The group worked together to protect Uriel managing to keep it safe from the elements, though things changed when the creature's chest turned red hot and a burst of flame was hurled their way causing Nika's shadows to disappear, Bella's wind to be consumed and Medusa to be expelled in the air.