Dungeon Raider System
Chapter 734 - 734: Dungeon of disease

The system notification Uriel received brought a smile to his face, not despite Luna's condition but precisely because of it. He had his suspicions before, but now he was fairly certain that the dungeon was indeed related to the sickness outbreak, especially when he saw the dungeon was already open.

'Life can not be created, it can only be taken.' Read the words right outside a cave that seemed to be in the center of the devastation.

"Good job." Uriel patted the jaguar's head then cancel the summon to save as much flux energy as he could before stepping inside the cave. After just about twenty steps inside the place became pitch black which forced him to summon a gas lantern from his trait.

As soon as light was made Uriel noticed the presence of a few corpses scattered around the place and he quickly started tying the facts together.

"These people must be the town's missing hunters. Since they're dead and their corpses are unspoiled, it's safe to assume no cryptids are present which, in turn, means they must have either fallen to a trap." Uriel said out loud as he proceeded to investigate the cave floor.

Although the floor was just rock, Uriel was able to identify some sort of improvised pressure plates that were presumably connected to traps. They looked like regular rocks, though they somewhat stood out since they didn't match the rest of the cave, though noticing it was difficult under a dim light.

A bone chilling breeze came from the inside of the cave emitting a guttural sound similar to a beast roaring accompanied by a foul stench, though since it didn't come accompanied by any energy flux signature Uriel assumed it was just an effect caused by the wind corridor in the cave along with the smell emanating from the corpses.

As he walked ahead, the dim light provided by the lantern became ineffective to spot the traps and Uriel was forced to grab a few flares from his trait, yet he was so enthralled in the sense of discovery that their costly price didn't even cross his mind.

The only thing he could think of now was to save Luna and if that meant he had to spend up to his last dime, he would consider it worth it. To him, she was worth more than any amount of money he could possibly acquire.

"I'll make her pay me back anyway." He laughed at his own mischief unaware that his laughter would wake up a creature as old as the cave itself.

At first it seemed like an earthquake, but then the gigantic monstrosity breathed in it sucked in so much air from the exterior of the cave it instantly pulled Uriel further inside and caused him to fall off a dark cliff into what seemed to be an unending abyss under the measly light of his flare.

The unseen creature bellowed a roar so loud, had Uriel not been a heavenly rank hunter he would have gone deaf on an instant, but the worst part was the smell. It could only be compared with the stench of a thousand rotting corpses, but Uriel had little time to ponder about the creature beneath him as he barely managed to jab the Red thread of fate onto the cliff.

The darkness beneath him shifted moodily as Uriel dropped his flare and he only caught a glimpse of the creature, confirming its size wasn't just huge but massive.

[System notice] Boss discovered.

Chindi: The Native American tribes believed the last breath of the deceased would sum up into a creature. Said creature was deemed as the cause of ghost sickness.

"Ghost sickness!" Uriel said out loud before detaching the dagger's hilt and sliding downwards as he learned in the ranger course. In just a matter of seconds he managed to land on the floor directly beneath the creature. His minute presence was tiny in comparison to the massive beast in front of him, but Uriel didn't falter and instead launched a vicious attack on what he assumed to be its leg.

The cryptid roared a challenge as it attempted to locate its enemy, but due to Uriel concealing his presence amounted to his diminutive size it was unable to do so.

The orichalcum dagger cut through the beast with ease, but the length of the blade was too short to cause any real damage and Uriel found himself missing Thunderbolt Iron once more. The lighting sword would have come in handy, but the Red thread of dagger had an ability that the former didn't and it proved its worth once more.

The wounds the townsmen previously inflicted on Uriel started closing at a speed visible to the naked eye at the same time Uriel's flux energy recovered. He watched inside his trait how the battery counter went up with a gleeful smile as he continued his onslaught against the imposing creature that could end him with just a stomp.

He also felt as his stamina recovered enough to allow him to activate Dash, which he happily did to increase his damage output. The small cuts on the creature's limb were shallow at best, but they were starting to pile on as the dagger stole its life essence with each strike.

In order to maximize his damage, Uriel also summoned his magnum and opened fire at the general direction of the cryptid causing several holes to appear in its thick skin, only for them to be closed shortly after by what seemed to be a myriad of worms.

"Is this thing infected too?" Uriel looked up and attempted to spot anything that could resemble a head, but the deformity lacked any recognizable features leaving Uriel to question himself about how to behead a creature that didn't have one to begin with.

With the help of Dash Uriel was able to remember everything he knew about the Chindi, which were allegedly spirits of the deceased and the memory of an ancestral ceremony to restore the balance came to mind.

"What was that thing about?" He muttered to himself at the same time he dodged a tail-like limb that was about to fall on top of his head.