Dungeon Raider System
Chapter 706 - 706: Death Valley Dungeon Part 4

The moment Uriel was grabbed by the gigantic rock golem he felt a wave of relief as he finally had an excuse to send the students away and explore the dungeon on his own. Though his relief lasted only until the rock like creature opened its maw and swallowed him whole.

Cryptid's internal organs didn't necessarily resemble those of humans and instead of a digestive tube, Uriel found himself in a claustrophobicly small rock chamber where the only exit was similar to a meat grinder. Sharp rocks spun around an axis at a speed so fast it could shred a hunter into a pulp within seconds.

Thankfully for Uriel, his Dash skill allowed him not just fast movement but also an enhanced perception of time which gave him the chance to think of possible solutions. The first thing he did was to jab the Red thread of fate on the interior to keep himself from getting swallowed into the meat grinder organ of the cryptid.

Stealing some of the cryptid's life essence helped him recover from the bone crushing grasp the creature gave him before, but other than that his movements were limited as he didn't have enough open space to take impulse for anything. What little light his gas lantern provided him wouldn't last for long as the rattling movement against the rocks caused it to crack leaving the flame exposed.

Uriel grinned as he summoned the spirit jaguar from his trait expecting the cryptid to make enough space for him to move. What happened instead was the jaguar too fell under the crushing weight of the rocks and the place became even more cramped. The jaguar spirit roared too close to Uriel's ear causing a high pitched tinnitus louder than his thoughts, yet he managed to shout.

"lend me a paw, would you!?"

Using his legs to pry open the living rock's maw was difficult and painful since he exerted in a short span more force than his body could endure. It felt akin to torture, but thanks to the joined effort of the hunter and his guardian spirit the cryptid's maw opened just wide enough for Uriel to exit.

The jaguar emitted the equivalent of a sad meow as he was left behind which reminded Uriel to cancel the summon right before touching the bottom of the sinkhole.

Uriel now stood alone in front of a creature ten times bigger than him which alone was enough to overwhelm most hunters no matter their rank, but after seeing the interior of the creature Uriel wasn't too afraid of it's outer appearance anymore.

"Too slow." Uriel scoffed at the same time the cryptid attempted to crush him with a rocky hand, which he dodged by pulling on to the crimson dagger still jabbed inside the creature's maw.

Swirling around the cryptid while holding on to the Red thread of fate's detachable pommel was a new experience to Uriel, similar to a carousel. The difference being that his speed increased as the wire became shorter.

"There it is!" Uriel exclaimed with glee as his glasses showed him the point where the flux energy converged, which was directly in the middle of the cryptid's chest. Grabbing the Magnum from his trait and opening fire was almost instantaneous as it now had became almost like an extra limb for him.

His constant training also made his aim sharper to the point where moving at a high speed didn't hinder him in the slightest and each of the bullets hit the mark taking big chunks of stone with each shot.

[System notice] Guardian of the Valley of Death defeated.

Reward: Rock engine.

"That's a cool name for a band! I bet Medusa would love to study this thing." Uriel took out from his museum storage his reward. It looked underwhelming, but Uriel guessed its value didn't lie just in what it could be used for and it was actually what they could learn from it.

Uriel could have waited for the cryptid to disappear, but he was in a rush to investigate the dungeon and return to the caravan as soon as possible. Instead, he grabbed a pickaxe from his souvenir shop and made quick work of the rock surrounding the cryptid's flux orb until it popped off.

Uriel wasn't surprised when the orb turned out to be horror level as despite it being made of rock, the cryptid exuded an intense flux signature. A brief investigation of the bottom of the sinkhole led Uriel to find the entrance to the dungeon.

Contrary to the students who at that exact moment were begging Nika for help and would later find the scriptures to be unintelligible, Uriel was able to understand the glyphs.

"The most fearsome labyrinth has no walls..." He read the scripture and lingered for a few seconds before crossing the door.

To say Uriel was overjoyed when he noticed the dungeon was just an open area filled to the brim with cryptids would be an understatement. He jumped on top of the cryptids unleashing a barrage of attacks ranging from cuts, shots and even using the corpses of the fallen cryptids as throwing weapons.

It was in rare occasions like that when Uriel truly felt free. He didn't have to think about anything other than inflicting the most amount of damage in the shortest time possible. He didn't think about his friends, about his problems or even about his research.

Before the first flux orb hit the ground Uriel had already killed over a hundred beast rank cryptids, a feat made possible only thanks to his Dash skill. It was a huge payout that would have made him the happiest hunter to walk the earth if only it happened one year ago, but now things were different and he saw little value on the lowest level of flux orbs.

To find more deserving game, Uriel was forced to move away from the gate, but before doing so he was careful enough to tie the detachable pommel of the Red thread of fate to the door frame in order to be able to find his way out whenever he wanted.

Albeit weak, monster rank cryptids did actually pose a threat to Uriel which is why he proceeded with caution once the bony creatures appeared. It also didn't help that they looked just like insects, though instead of the dark colored shells he was met with a bone exoskeleton, but slowing down his progress was a small price to pay for safety.

"At least they're not gooey on the inside," He chuckled, then became serious once he felt the wire of his dagger being pulled softly at the same time three human flux signatures appeared inside the dungeon. "These idiots followed me!" Uriel snarled.

If that was bad, the system message he received made everything even worse.

[System notice] Battery level low.