Dungeon Raider System
Chapter 828 - 828: Shadow of the Pegasus Part 1

It may have been months since the last time Uriel saw it and the ship was far enough to be mistaken with just anything, but there was no mistaking it, it was the Pegasus. No other crew would be as bold as to fly into a distress signal sent from a secret military facility in a no fly zone.

Noticing Uriel's hesitance to land the finishing blow, Nika followed his gaze to the figure that grew in size at a rapid pace as it became closer and she too recognized it. Medusa's hurried design and makeshift ship was faster than most zeppelins Nika had ever seen and by working for the Mapple corporation she had seen plenty. Thanks to the improved engine, the Pegasus soared the skies at a staggering speed, quickly closing in on them.

Unfortunately for Uriel, his lost of focus gave the deity enough time to come back to its senses and it bellowed a challenge never heard before causing ripples in the air itself and hulking waves in the nearby shore.

Uriel dislodged the Red thread of fate from his victim and attempted to take flight, yet he found himself unable to do so. His muscles were paralyzed and cramped and the air he breathed didn't feed him enough oxygen causing him to hyperventilate.

Now that Uriel's flux signature was stronger than ever, Arausio had no issues locating him and proceeded to slap itself the same way a human would slap a mosquito. The hit boomed in the distance sending a downward current down to the ground which produced whirlwhinds.

With such a gigantic hand, the odds of survival were nigh zero, but Uriel managed to lodge himself directly beneath a shell plate which saved his life for the time being. But although he dodged death, he knew no one could come rescue him as even Nika suffered a great deal of damage by just poking her hand out of his shadow. No one but him could withstand the godly presence Aruasio emitted, let alone the effects caused by his attacks.

Brown, Kristina and Luna were knocked out just by the wave of flux energy that encompassed Arausio's roar. Nika and Atkinson were somehow still conscious, yet in so much pain they could barely stand up on their own.

Flying away was impossible and letting himself fall was the same as giving up on life. He needed to move faster than Arausio, but his muscles refused to obey. Unbeknownst to Uriel, the flux energy he absorbed from Arausio was too dense for his body to manipulate and instead of feeding him, it caused a chain reaction within his body Luna would describe as an autoimmune response.

The crystal dagger was still an option, but Uriel wished he could negotiate with the deity and offer once more to each go their own way and forget they stumbled upon each other just so he could save the dagger for Water warlock. Unfortunately, the time for bargaining ended the moment he used his repentance skill on the deity who now was raging like a mindless beast in spites of its intellect superior to that of humans.

Just when Uriel had readied himself to 'waste' the dagger on the ancient deity, a cyan projectile emerged from the distant ship. It was a ball relatively small in size when compared to the ship and utterly minuscule against the deity and it splattered on the hard shell like a water balloon.

It looked like nothing much had changed, but Arausio stammered from side to side and took a step back as the plasma round caused way more pain that it should have been possible. Although small in size, plasma rounds were not just hot but incandescent and they didn't rely on a heavy impact but rather on the heat produced.

Arausio felt as though its insides were boiling down in the small patch hit by the plasma round and right before it let out a pained shriek that would echo throughout the surface of the continent Uriel summoned his jaguar spirit and commanded it to take him to his friends.

After all they've been through the jaguar was not even shocked when it was summoned on top of a deity and it proceeded to perform his duty inwardly thankful he wasn't summoned inside the beast instead.

"I wouldn't do something like that to you," Uriel patted the jaguar on the head. Despite not knowing what the cryptid thought, he could perfectly understand his emotions through the emotional bond they shared. "fine, I wouldn't do it again." Uriel continued when the jaguar reminded that very scene happening in the past against a dreadful creature.

"We're saved!" Said Nika as the zeppelin initiated its landing sequence. Though zeppelins were horizontally fast vehicles, moving up and down was an entirely different matter.

"Wake up Luna, they're here for us." Uriel nudged on Luna, though she was sound asleep.

The cryptid screeched once more and this time both Atkinson and Nika fell on their knees while covering their ears and instinctively opening their mouths, but Uriel did no such thing. He kept his eyes set on the zeppelin the entire time without bothering to check on whether or not Arausio had recovered from the pain as there was nothing he could do to run with all his friends even if he wanted to.

By then his proto wings were nothing but mere decorations and he put them away by simply wishing it. Now he finally understood what most hunters said using their traits was as natural as breathing for them since he was able to do the same thing with his proto wings. After all, albeit clumsy, his first flight was nothing to scoff at considering he didn't even know he would grow wings out of nowhere.

These thoughts occupied his mind as he secured Luna into the hanging ladder that came off from the zeppelin's cargo bay as they didn't bother landing. He then strapped Kristina and Brown with a rope and made sure both Nika and Atkinson had a firm grasp on the ladder before holding onto it and shooting a flare to signal they were ready for evacuation.

The ship took flight at an unnerving slow speed and though it accelerated it didn't seem they would be able to dodge Arausio's revenge on Uriel. The gigantic figure had now closed in and waved its armored hand against the hanging ladder, a furious slap that could have meant the end to a holy rank hunter at their best but that didn't come to happent as the ladder was retracted at the precise moment.

The cryptid snarled something unintelligible for mortals as it failed to reach Uriel, though it didn't persist in its attempts and retreated silently into the sea as it had no means to reach a flying ship despite all its might.

"That was close!" Uriel grabbed his fedora hat that was almost blown away by the powerful gust of wind caused by the hit. He then craned his neck up in anticipation of who will greet them. His mind drifted from what would he say to Medusa when he saw her to Mister Scofield's request to inform him about his daughter.

Uriel was so engrossed in his anticipation to reunite with his friends he missed the fact that the ship's hull was damaged to the point the orichalcum wiring frame was exposed, he missed how rusty the ship was despite it being made mostly of alloy plates and he also missed a crucial detail that Nika caught.

"Where's the logo? Our logo is not on the ship anymore!" She blurted out at the exact time she was pulled inside the ship along with her portion of the ladder.

Uriel had yet to make sense of her words when he too was pulled inside and was met not with a merry crew wearing their company's uniform or even a fedora, it was a long coat displaying the Mapple corporation's colors.

The face of the man who pulled him in was also unknown and Uriel's first reaction was to lunge forward with a growl.

"Woah, chill, my dude. I'm just following orders." The Mapple corp. employee lifted his arms in surrender when Uriel grabbed him by the collar. He felt tempted to throw the 'pirate' off board, but although he seemed rabid his mind was actually clear.

"Whose orders exactly?" Uriel asked as he put more pressure into the grasp.

"I warned you to keep your distance from him," An annoyed sigh followed the words uttered by Miss Dragonfang whom Uriel barely recognized as she also was wearing the Mapple corp. attire. "long time no see, boss."

"Miss Dragonfang? Is that really you?" Uriel had to do a double take on Lizzie not just because of her outfit, but because she looked professional rather than playful.

"Of course it's me, but feel free to toss me a coin if you want to be sure," She winked, then continued. "everyone says I'm cursed because I always encounter powerful cryptids during incursions, but you're on the next level. Stumbling on a titan like that." She chuckled.

"That was no titan, it was actually an ancient god." Uriel let out a relieved sigh after realizing it truly was the Miss Dragonfang he knew.

"Good one, ha, ha." She chuckled some more.

"It's the truth." Nika nodded.

"Uh-hu, sure," She chuckled once more, then retreated inside the ship, walked through the halls and reached the halls where Phlox steered the ship. "go faster."

"I'm exerting the engine already." She grumbled.

"Go- fas- ter-" Lizzy managed to say right before fainting.