Dungeon Raider System
Chapter 669 - 669: The end of all hope Part 4

The control over the elements displayed by the creature was greater than anything Uriel had seen so far. It wasn't at a huge scale like a storm, but all the power was compacted in a single flame that seared everything in its path.

Enveloped by flames, Medusa let out a shriek as it brought back the nastiest memories of the time she almost died to the hands of Windfire, though she quickly composed herself after realizing her under armor had received no damage.

Instead of the suffocating heat and the stiffness she endured once after being burnt, she felt only a slight amount of pain and close to no damage which greatly surprised Medusa.

Though her surprise turned into shock after the burst of flames cleared and the figure of a tall muscular man was revealed directly in front of Uriel. Needless to say, Uriel too was shocked when the person who saved him turned out to be was Mark, who not only used his power over the fire element to deviate most of the flames but also used his own body to protect Uriel.

"Aren't you the guy who used to bully Uriel?" Nika asked with distrust.

"I'm here to help." Mark declared as he flinched at the sight of Nika drawing close to him.

"Then shut up and let me focus." Uriel snarled without ever taking his eyes out from the pages that contained millennia of wisdom passed on for generations.

"The least you could do after what I did is thank me." Mark scoffed, but the creature's roar cut him left no time for replies.

After noticing its prey remained unscathed the creature rampaged in a violent tantrum that shook the foundations of the castle.

"If it wasn't so ugly, I'd think it's throwing a tantrum." Nika let out while doing her best to keep Uriel safe while he read.

"A kid? According to this, that thing is older than human civilization!" Uriel said, desperately looking for answers. But the pages were in disarray making each one he read completely different and seemingly unrelated to the rest. "there's nothing about the machine, nothing about how to defeat it."

"Don't you think if the people from the past knew how to defeat this thing they would have done so instead of keeping it sealed for who knows how long?" With renewed confidence after her under armor proved its worth, Medusa had enough time to ponder about such matters as she blocked chunks of stone and ice being hurled at them by the creature.

"I figured that out, but now the seals are broken... Luna!" Uriel shouted Luna's name as he realized she had yet to return. Knowing Luna, there were more than a few possible explanations as to why she had yet to return ranging from getting distracted to getting lost, but somewhere in between those possibilities there was one that could give them a slight chance at defeating the creature.

"Is she in danger?" Medusa asked as she returned to her defensive position near Uriel after blocking another projectile.

"I think her seal has yet to be broken, but she might need help."

"Got it, boss!" Nika swiftly disappeared into the shadows and Medusa made her way towards the exit without uttering a single word, then Uriel turned to look at Bella who remained hovering near him.

"I couldn't help even if I wanted to, if I stay here I can at least..." Bella's words died in her mouth as she was hit in the back by a rock spear on one side and a sharp ice spike on the other. Both projectiles didn't come from the creature that remained trapped in its place, but from different corners of the room which is why she was unable to see them.

As to why they were able to pierce through Bella's wind barrier, the explanation was even more simple. The powerful flame pillar Mark blocked to protect Uriel left Bella unscathed, though she didn't notice how it also consumed her wind barrier.

Bella couldn't remain afloat anymore and emitted a gurgling sound as she expelled a mouthful of blood before the stakes impaling her buried in the ground, leaving her completely disabled.

She was still alive, but barely, and the only reason she continued breathing despite having her rib cage crushed was her control over the air element which she used to move air in and out her body to emulating breathing.

"Are you fucking kidding me? You're betraying us again!?" Uriel turned to growl at Mark dagger in hand and ready to kill him before giving him enough time to reply when he noticed Mark was protecting her from further damage.

After witnessing this nothing made sense to Uriel anymore. The same man that bullied him in college, who then pretended to be his ally only to betray him was now protecting him and Bella. The creature trapped inside the dungeon was impossibly powerful, yet too weak to pull itself from its cage though it seemed to become even more powerful with every cultist it ate.

Yet what was even more shocking to Uriel was the fact that the ones who attacked Bella were actually Mason and Neve, who were still alive only because they ran away to the opposite corners of the room.

People around Uriel used to joke about his constant glare that made him look as though he was always angry, but those closest to him knew he was actually level headed and would most often than not resort to reason rather than violence. It was precisely his rational side begging for answers rather than vengeance what got him to calm himself down.

'If there's one thing I've learned is that people is selfish. Even those who help others only do so to make themselves feel better. In this case, Mark isn't helping me so much as he is helping himself. He probably realizes his chances of surviving are better if he helps us attempt to kill that thing, but he can always kneel in front of it and start praying like the flip flopper jerk he's always been.

The creature appears to be mindless and although powerful, it doesn't pose a real threat. But them, why did they attack Bella?' With Dash active Uriel had the chance to reflect while dodging the wild elemental missiles being hurled his way by the creature and now he had given up in finding any answers in the seemingly senseless legacy of the four elemental families he found the answers he sought.

"I get it, once you noticed Bella's wind barrier was down you injured her so that thing would focus on her instead of you." Uriel darted forward and caught Bella in the air before she was sucked up by a gust of wind caused by the creature.

He knew better than to remove the stakes piercing Bella's body as it would most likely end up in her bleeding out within seconds, but he also couldn't leave her out in the open exposed to the hungry creature with a taste for human meat.

"Stay here, Luna will come shortly to patch you up." Uriel said as he placed Bella on the ground. Her face was deathly pale and Uriel noticed how she used all her focus to control the air element in order to remain alive, though she somehow managed to extend her maimed hand in a vain attempt to prevent him from leaving her alone.

In that moment of pain she thought how silly she had been all the times she risked getting injured by challenging hunters in combat.

A smile would have been reassuring enough for Bella to feel safer, yet Uriel didn't have one to spare and instead offered her the next best thing which was his usual glare accompanied by the clay figurine of a jaguar that soon turned into the real thing.

It wasn't the cryptid, though, what washed away her fears, but Uriel's cold glare that let her know whatever he was about to do it wouldn't bode well for the remaining members of the society.

"You dare call our god a thing!?" Mason shouted, though his voice was barely audible due to him being at such a distance. Neve remained silent, but her face told the story of a woman too afraid to move.

Uriel didn't bother replying and darted towards the easier target, the former head of the Cryptid hunting agency who always wore business suits and had an arrogant attitude. Her control over the water element had earned her the highest standing within the members of the society, but Uriel would realize one second too late that she also wasn't the head of the Cryptid hunting agency for nothing.

Before Uriel could even get at arm's reach he felt a burning sensation caused not by heat, but the opposite. A an aura so cold it caused anything that came close to it freeze on the spot like it happened to Uriel's hand before he timely retracted it thanks to still being under the effect of Dash.

'If I can't get close then..." Uriel drew his magnum and emptied the chamber pointing at Neve as he retreated, but the huntress didn't care to dodge as an ice wall blocked the projectiles.

"Back off!" She cried as she placed her hands on the ground causing several ice spikes to emerge from beneath Uriel's feet and forcing him to jump back, only to be greeted by a barrage of stones from behind.

Uriel was now in right in the middle of both Neve and Mason, the most skilled members of their respective elemental families within the society and nothing to protect himself from their onslaught and to make matters worse the creature locked its six disgusting eyes directly onto Uriel.