Dungeon Raider System
Chapter 673 - 673: By the book

Uriel followed the voice enthralled by curiosity as though his life wasn't hanging by the thinnest of threads as the creature resumed its starved chase the moment Uriel stopped firing at it, yet Uriel knew that all he had done so far had earned him nothing but time.

If there was at least a sliver of hope inside his museum, Uriel was ready to risk it all as he kept his eyes closed and his mind more focused than ever into his trait.

The voice led Uriel to an ordinary wall and if not for the ominous feeling the voice carried, Uriel would have disregarded it as his imagination. But said feeling was much too similar to the one he got from the chants performed by the cultists which reassured Uriel there had to be something behind that specific wall that could spell Uriel's doom or salvation.

He looked around and tried to interact with everything around the wall. When nothing worked, he took some distance and tried looking for hidden clues, yet there was nothing of note. It was just a wall leading him to the conclusion that he only wasted his precious time.

But that thought dispersed as soon as he realized that contrary to Nika, his presence in the museum wasn't physical but ethereal and he attempted something he never thought of doing before, move through walls.

Crossing the wall felt the same as what he experience in his vision of 'El dorado' when he saw everything from the perspective of the dagger, it was uncomfortable but brief as a hidden chamber was revealed in front of Uriel.

Upon witnessing its contents Uriel vowed to keep it a secret from his friends or anyone for that matter as it was too dark to even admit it to himself. The souls of those Uriel killed were trapped inside his museum, captive by the supernatural power of the book of the dead.

"Souls of the dead, I command you to do my bidding." Uriel said as he cancelled Dash and a tide of shadows much similar to that of the Aku Aku he encountered in Easter Island appeared from the book Uriel unwittingly held on his hand.

Contrary to those flimsy spirits, though, these shadows were perfect incarnations of their past selves and soon proved to even be capable of using their traits as they began flying in circles around the nameless creature that for once showed an immense joy.

It was genuine innocent bliss as it watched the equivalent of a full course meal drawing near, but all changed when the creature realized that even though they were close, he couldn't grab them. Its foul hand and claws went right through the souls causing them to disperse like a black smoke for one second, then reform themselves the next.

Enraged, the creature turned its attention towards Uriel who had remained still the entire time, but no matter how much strength the nameless put into its blood drenched legs it couldn't take a step forward as it was being pulled back by the souls Uriel had unwittingly imprisoned inside the cursed book.

Each soul moaned its pain and regrets in an unintelligible whisper, one that Uriel completely ignored as he witnessed the creature's black skin getting ripped apart like an old sticker. It's exposed muscles and tendons gave it the look of an anatomical mannequin, with the sole difference that they bulged and tensed with each movement it attempted.

"So you like eating people, see how you like getting cooked alive. Do it, Colonel Asshole." Uriel commanded Windfire, whose pitiful shadow moved onward without hesitation until it reached the most effective range for the powerful fire manipulation trait.

Despite the creature apparent control over the elements, without its thick skin it was rendered defenseless against intense heat that scorched its muscles. "Kenny, why don't you stoke the fire?"

Same as Windfire's afterlife self, Kenny did as commanded and turned Uriel's wish into a reality. His trait wasn't at the same level as Ethan's, but the increased air flow cranked up the heat to a point where even Uriel was starting to feel it.

"Rocky..." Uriel called upon the soul of the young student he killed in a one versus one combat and it replied by hurling projectiles at the creature in rapid succession until the nameless almost ended up buried. "It's your turn now, Shaker.

Shaker, you lazy bastard!" Uriel called upon Shaker a couple more times before realizing he wasn't among the souls he summoned and after lingering for a few seconds he remembered that after using Shaker's soul it turned into a mummy that now rested inside his museum.

This left Uriel in a prickly situation as even though the souls obeyed his every command, he didn't know the names of all the people he had killed in the past which prevented him from giving specific orders.

Telling them all to activate their traits was a risk he couldn't take as he also didn't know what their abilities were and it could result in him getting hurt, but he also needed to finish the fight as soon as possible or he would end up dead no matter what.

In the middle of the chaos Uriel saw a shadow wailing around the nameless creature like the rest of the souls, but its shape stood out from the crowd identifying her not only as a female but as a specific woman Uriel already knew.

"Neve, do the frost thing you did before as close to that thing as possible," Upon Uriel's command the soul looked at Uriel for a few seconds as it didn't understand what did Uriel mean by that. "I don't know what that skill is called, just do that thing!"

Despite Neve being an arrogant person while she lived, in death she was just as inclined to obey Uriel's commands like all the other souls, but her compliance meant little if she didn't understand what Uriel meant.

Her trait was as powerful as that of Ethan's if not more, yet that wasn't the reason why Uriel needed her to use that specific skill. The cold aura Neve created around her was dangerous to a heavenly rank hunter like Uriel and it could have probably killed him on the spot if he so much as breathed the cold air, but on it wasn't enough on its own to defeat the nameless and Uriel knew it.

Still, it was the only thing that Uriel could think could actually win him the fight.

"It's frozen inferno!" A voice muttered from deep within Uriel's trait. It was a voice that filled Uriel with dread even more than the creature in front of him, a voice that made Uriel shiver and cringe at the same time as the identity of the one who led Uriel to the secret passage inside his museum was revealed.

"What the heck are you doing here, Soulfire!?" Uriel snarled as he looked around.

"I'm not there, it's my trait and I don't know what you're dealing with, but I don't think this is the time to ask questions?" The fact that Soulfire was able to speak to Uriel from within his trait made Uriel feel violated, but that didn't make his words any less true. Uriel didn't have the luxury of time to satisfy his curiosity anymore.

"Neve, use frozen inferno in close range." A faint smile appeared on Uriel's face as the soul of the former head of the Cryptid hunting agency reached the nameless and activated her trait with the exact result Uriel was looking for.

After the intense heat caused by Ethan's flames stoked even further by Kenny's gusts of wind, the sudden cold added by Neve caused the foul creature's body to start cracking even before even freezing. It was a phenomenon Uriel knew thanks to attending to Fermi's class.

That time, Professor Fermi mentioned in passing how coolant was essential for any device that produced more heat than the materials the device was made of could resist. He also emphasized how important it was to regulate the coolant amount and intake to keep the device well balanced as a difference in temperature would cause molecules to expand rapidly and cause an explosion.

"I think I owe Professor Fermi big time." Uriel sighed as he watched the phenomenon take place.

A thin layer of frozen water formed around the creature making it look as though its skin had shifted color into a pale shade of blue with cracks all over it, yet it was only thanks to Rocky's projectiles that the nameless creature from the abyss of the second dungeon was defeated as its body crumbled into ice shards.

Had any of the traits involved been missing Uriel's last ditch effort would have been for naught.

[System notice] Dungeon cleared: City of Cibola.

[Reward] Comanche headdress, Apache buckskin attire, Davy Crockett's hatchet.

[New titles acquired] Inquisitor: Acquired after the murdering many witches. Unsung hero: Acquired by saving the world in secret.