Dungeon Raider System
Chapter 832 - 832: Matters of the heart Part 2

Luna had many things to think about and while Uriel wanted answers more than anything in the world at that moment, he now knew that pressing her would only result in upsetting her and the answers he sought would eventually come to him as long as he was patient. Having experienced what Luna went through every time she proposed an outrageous theory in his own flesh made Uriel understand that staying silent was not for the dramatic effect but rather to keep true to scientific reasoning.

Because of that Uriel decided to give her space and wasn't surprised when she rolled her wheelchair to her room where she would shut herself in until she either made a breakthrough or she was needed. Only, on this occasion it wasn't a breakthrough what caused her behavior but the fact that Uriel kept such a secret from her all this time.

Nika knowing didn't affect her since she couldn't compete with someone who was literally his shadow. What got to her was that the memory of her walking in on her mother's room and finding him shirtless, which meant she had to have known about the flux orb in his chest. Even then, it was not jealousy what caused her to cry herself to sleep that night, it was that he didn't tell her even knowing it was something she would have absolutely wanted to know.

Unaware of the pain he unwittingly caused to Luna, Uriel headed to the bridge where things seemed to be going well. They were currently flying over the channel that connected England with Europe and Phlox seemed to know exactly where they were going which took Uriel aback.

"Do you guys know where Medusa is?" Asked Uriel with admiration. It was on rare occasions such as this particular one that Uriel remembered his usually incompetent and silly companions were actually pretty qualified to the point where other companies would attempt to swoon them at every chance they got. The Mapple corporation attempted to recruit even the silly Miss Dragonfang at some point and Uriel still remembered how she placed the invite on his desk to ask for a raise to which he replied by wishing her luck on her future endeavors. Needless to say, Miss Dragonfang quickly backtracked and decided to stay.

Back then Uriel didn't make much of this interaction, but now he wondered how many times Miss Dragonfang made the difference between life or death without him even noticing. At that moment Uriel vowed to appreciate his employees even more and reward them for their loyalty.

"No clue, I'm just speeding because I don't like flying over the sea. Also, Bella could fall asleep or run out of flux energy any minute now and that won't be great." Phlox shrugged, prompting Uriel to quickly forget everything about any vows and storm out in annoyance.

"Are you there, it's time to work." Uriel knocked on Nika's room.

"I'm tired of crunching numbers, unless it's a life or death situation I'm on my rest." She grunted from the other side of the room. On most occasions Uriel would have just pushed her to work as she was usually pretty lazy, though after reuniting with the rest of the company she had truly put in a lot of work which is why Uriel had different plans.

"I really need you." He said.

"Now you finally understand how valuable I am, huh? Well, that is too bad because I'm on my time off." She cackled, determined not to give in to Uriel's demands.

"Guess I'll have to drink all this myself then." He said as he popped a can of beer and started gulping it down. He didn't like beer because although his 'uncle' who raised him turned out to be a cryptid that fed off of him for years, his altered memories made him up to be an alcoholic abusive person. However, that day beer tasted like victory when Nika opened the door.

"What do you want?" She dubiously asked as she eyed the six pack of beers in Uriel's hand the same way a wild animal would stare at a meal conveniently placed inside a cage.

"I need to find Medusa and I thought you would know where she is."

"Why don't you ask our tracker? She has a thing for you and I bet she would love to help. Poor thing, she doesn't know what kind of person you are." Nika shook her head then grabbed a beer.

"She explained how her trait works and it's convenient, but takes too long and is imprecise. Besides, she doesn't remember what Medusa's flux signal was like. But if as a former Mapple corp. employee you don't know where could she be, then I guess I'll have to rely on her."

"Fine! If it can't be helped then I will step in to save the day like usual." Nika stated proudly, one hand on her waist while lifting the other to chug down the beer can in a single gulp. After that she used shadowblink and appeared on the bridge to command Phlox where to direct the ship.

Nika's accustomed carefree and easygoing attitude made her seem lazier than she actually was. She had absolutely no qualms about drinking on the clock, hiding to slack off and taking naps whenever she could do so without facing any punishment. In truth, she was actually pretty efficient and the only reason she was able to take rests so often was because she would usually perform her tasks on an instant thanks to her trait.

"Your only reward for working is more work." She complained, though a grin was drawn on her face as she adjusted the rudder to the east. She didn't mind being nagged at and up to a certain point, she also didn't mind being punished by Uriel.

From the moment they returned from Chichén Itzá Nika decided she would always remain by his side no matter what. Of all the bosses she ever had in the past Uriel was the only one whom she could truly become friends.

it was uncommon for her to talk about her past and while most people didn't pry as they assumed it was due to trauma, the actual reason why she didn't like speaking about her past was because most of it was training or work as her childhood was cut short the moment her father died.

In the time since she joined Uriel she got to experience true friendship and love, though not quite the kind of love she wanted it was precisely the kind she needed to heal from all the bitter experiences she had in the past. Not just that, she also got to have fun and share the best moments of her life with people she truly loved and she wouldn't change it for the world.

Just thinking about her past caused her pain, especially the memories of her past 'assets' that took advantage of her being unable to refuse not just because they paid her salary, but also because her trait caused her emotions to merge with those of the person she was with causing some horrifying experiences. To make matters worse, after enduring so much pain and hardship, she then entered the Mapple corporation's training program where the same man who killed her father became her tutor.

And now, Uriel not only was asking her to think about her darkest times and the people she met, he asked her to go back to that place and risk facing the same people she inwardly hated for years. As if that was not yet enough, every Mapple corporation headquarter was an unbeatable fortification not even a holy rank hunter could infiltrate and now they were flying face first into such a place.

It was a lot to ask of her, more than Uriel realized, yet she gladly did what he asked with a smile on her face. A smile that instead of becoming dimmer when the English Mapple headquarter came into sight grew wide as she knew they would risk their everything into the boldest move no one could ever hope to pull, though she somehow knew in her gut that things would work out.

"Proceed to hail the enemy, identify yourself as part of the bodyguard division under Nika Garcia and land near the hangar without waiting for a reply." Nika commanded Miss Dragonfang whose jaw became loose.

"That's suicidal!" She managed to say right before Uriel burst into a fit of laughter.

"I like this plan, I really do," He said as though he heard the best joke ever. "it would be suspicious if you hesitate, so make it convincing."

Not being shot on sight was shocking enough for Miss Dragonfant, while Phlox could not believe Uriel could be dumb enough to believe they could just pass as Mapple corporation employees, though Uriel knew exactly what he was doing.

He was trusting his friend that despite him calling her a moron on a daily basis, was actually wiser and more intelligent than she looked. Or so he thought.