Dungeon Raider System
Chapter 695 - 695: A little request Part 1

It was the morning of the next day when Uriel woke up to a call from an unidentified number. He didn't need to take his smartphone from his trait to answer the call, yet he did it nonetheless out of habit.

"Mister Sage, you have been summoned to the Cryptid hunting agency." The voice spoke and ended the call before Uriel had the chance to reply.

He could have gone about his day paying no heed to the request, but in the end curiosity got the best of him and he went to the Cryptid hunting agency which regretfully meant skipping class. Even at such early hour there were already plenty of hunters waiting to get their assignments, but since Uriel was summoned he figured he didn't need to wait.

"Hey, someone's cutting the line!" An angry voice was heard from behind.

"Get back if you don't want to get in trouble." A tall man with the appearance of a boxer from the old times grunted, but Uriel ignored him too and spoke above him.

"I'm Sage." He said to the receptionist.

"And?" The woman asked with little interest, but her displeased attitude only lasted until her supervisor walked in with quick steps.

"She's waiting for you, please follow me." The supervisor said after directing a mean glare at the desk worker who shrunk in her own skin.

Most of the hunters present wondered if they just witnessed a celebrity and they readily discussed about it, yet no one had seen him before or knew of anyone famous who fitted Uriel's appearance.

"What took you so fucking long?" Sharp asked without taking her one eye from Uriel.

"I don't have a ride." He excused himself with a dismissive shrug.

"Did you come here on foot?" Sharp's eye became wide as she realized that it wasn't that Uriel took too long, but the contrary. She could have probably calculated Uriel's speed but she couldn't be bothered to break the numbers and settled with admitting he was just faster than her.

"I don't think you called me all the way here just to annoy me, so what is it?" Uriel replied.

"You're not surprised to see me here, so I take it you also know where Lily is."

"I do." Uriel nodded.

"She misses you." Sharp said with a deep sigh.

"If you're telling me you had me skip class just to lecture me about not being social then I won't bother returning here." Uriel grunted.

"Until you need something from the agency, right?" Sharp said in a sly grin as she placed a tier 3 battery on top of her desk. Uriel looked at the battery while pondering how much did she know about his current circumstances and how to address the situation.

'Killing her is out of the question. She's impolite and unnerving, but she's the closest thing to a family the wild girl has.' Uriel's honest thoughts left no space for doubt about whether or not he could defeat her, but the consequences of doing so.

"Shit, I'm not threatening you," Sharp quickly corrected herself. "the agency keeps tabs on how often hunters come to recharge their batteries, that's why I know you need so many. I don't know what you're using them for and I couldn't care less. I'm just offering you a deal."

"What deal?" Uriel asked. As long as his secret wasn't exposed or the current head of the Cryptid hunting agency didn't keep him from buying batteries there was no need for blood.

"It's nothing much, just a small thing I need you to do for me," Sharp smiled what was supposed to be a coquettish smile. In response, Uriel grabbed the battery and took a seat. "does this mean you're in?"

"Of course not, this is my price for hearing you out. I'll also need a ride back to college and you'll explain Professor Pangeotis why I didn't make it in time."

"Deal," Sharp replied unblinkingly then continued. "several hunters have gone missing lately."

"It's probably cryptids, mystery solved."

"You have a shitty sense of humor. Those were good people and they're probably dead now."

"It's an occupational hazard." Uriel shrugged.

"You're right about that, unfortunately. I would probably assign any other hunter to this task if not for our intel suggesting it's a horror level cryptid. I would be lying if I said you were my first choice, in fact, I tried to get the army involved but they're too busy sitting on their asses.

Besides, I thought this particular case might interest you since you're the only heavenly rank hunter who's ever defeated a horror level cryptid in this city."

"What's the bounty?" Uriel asked expecting Sharp to answer with an exorbitant amount of money, but she shook her head.

"None, zero, nada."

"You're not making a compelling case for yourself." Uriel hid his disappointment with a sarcastic remain.

"I know, but the problem is we have absolutely no idea of what kind of creature it is. All we know is it originated in the south district."

"No way, I'm not dealing with wendigos ever again. Those things are vicious and difficult to kill."

"Wendigos? Is that the creature you think is responsible for this?" Sharp asked with distrust. "It's not that I disagree, but from what I've read they're supposed to have what was it called... here it is! They have a fast metabolism that kills them if they don't feed."

"They do." Uriel nodded knowingly.

"Then it can't be those things. They were taken out before turning the south district into farms. Besides, they always leave a mess when they kill people and in this case we're talking about people disappearing without leaving a trace."

"Whatever it is, call me when there's a bounty. And don't bother calling me if it hasn't reached six figures, I won't get out of bed again for less." Uriel replied and turned to leave, but was stopped by the former ranger and current head of the Cryptid hunting agency.

"What the fuck happened to you? You did so much good back then... you even saved us." Sharp said in an uncharacteristic soft tone of voice.

"I grew up."