Dungeon Raider System

Chapter 145 Can't take the fall

Although Uriel didn't know what would be the effect of storing a flux orb inside his museum, it could prove to be a useful thing to do. He couldn't let Luna see the entity level flux orb without explaining how did he manage to kill an entity rank cryptid by himself and that could potentially cause him problems.

Besides, he figured there shouldn't be a problem with storing the orb and he would be able to retrieve it later.

[System notice]

Entity flux orb consumed.

Flux orbs consumed (1/10)

"Dammit!" Uriel exclaimed in frustration realizing that he lost the orb for good, but on second thought he was actually glad about it. His stats had been maxed for a while, and now he figured out he could continue improving them by consuming flux orbs.

Luna finally showed up in the apartment after everything had been resolved and even the cryptid's remains had vanished. Her face was red and there was blood running down from her nose.

"What happened to you?"

"Uhm... I... tried to make the jump but..."

"Did you faceplant on the wall?" Uriel said, to which Luna simply nodded and remained silent. "How did you even survive falling from a tenth floor?"

"I grabbed on to a window ledge." Luna replied but their conversation was cut short by the neighbors.

"Was that a gunshot!?" A voice shouted from outside the apartment.

"Kristina, open the door!" Several people knocked on the door and tried to bash it open.

While neighbors wouldn't usually intervene in cases of domestic violence, things were different if firearms were involved. It wasn't because they were worried for their neighbors safety, but their own. Even if a crime was committed in an apartment next to them they didn't care, but firearms meant they could potentially be in danger as well.

Kristina was still lying on the floor in shock, she couldn't even begin to understand the scene that unfolded in front of her. She was certain that she was going to die, but then Uriel appeared out of the blue and saved her in a magnificent display of combat prowess.

She wanted to thank him, she needed to thank him, but by the time she finally gathered herself Uriel was nowhere to be seen and the neighbors were already inside her apartment.

Experience more tales on empire

Uriel took the opportunity created by the neighbors distraction to push Luna out from the same window they previously used to enter the apartment. Falling from that height was dangerous, even a heavenly rank hunter would think twice before doing something as daring as that, but that was preferable than getting caught in a murder scene without a plausible explanation.

Uriel saved Kristina's life and on his book that was more than enough and it was now her turn to deal with the aftermath.

"Why did you push me?" Asked Luna after the frightening experience of falling from such height, for the second time on the same day. "Did you try to kill me?."

"I wanted to kill you!? First, I almost died in there while you were taking your sweet time faceplanting walls. Second, you threw me to an apartment without so much as a warning. And third, if they caught us I would have been forced to reveal the presence of the cryptid and that would hinder your research." Uriel explained as they walked back home.

"You could have... uhm... showed the flux orb."

"Maybe, but I don't even have it."

"Why didn't you pick it up? Should we go back?" Luna asked, knowing how much Uriel needed the money.

"I just panicked." Uriel replied trying to drop the subject.

Although they were in the same neighborhood as the abandoned factory they called home, every neighborhood within a megacity was huge which meant the distance they needed to walk was long. Luna was impatient and she wasn't willing to wait until they arrived to start asking questions.

"What kind of cryptid was it? If you almost got killed it must have been a strong one." Luna asked with veiled excitement.

"It was..." Uriel would have loved to tell Luna the truth as it would allow him to complain to her for her tardiness, but at the same time he would be forced to tell her about Water warlock's blessing and he wasn't ready for that. There were too many unanswered questions and things he couldn't explain so he decided to lie. "It was just a monster rank, but I missed the shot and almost got killed."

"That is... too bad." Luna looked down and Uriel felt bad for keeping everything to himself and decided to at least share what he deemed safe.

"About the creature, I can't really describe it. It was ugly and had too many limbs but its body was relatively small and it mimicked human voice. Oh! It also had very sharp teeth."

"I figured that." Luna said after taking a quick glance at Uriel's shredded pants. "It looks like you came out of a blender. I guess it's a good thing it was just a monster rank because you're unhurt, but I wish I could examine at least one wound. That would allow me to know the shape and size of its fangs."

"They were like this." Said Uriel while curling up a finger.

"Hooked teeth, mimics human voice... did it replace a member of the family by chance?" Luna asked.

"I think that's a possibility."

"Then it may have been a changeling."

"I've never heard of something like that before."

"Changelings are creatures that take the place of a member of a family and drive them to insanity, only to feed upon them when they can't take the hunger anymore. Their favorite victims are grieving parents because of how easy they are manipulated.

In the old days they were portrayed as creatures that drew people to dark places by mimicking human voice and once they caught their victim, they would swallow them whole. In those tales they relied on surprise rather than force which would make sense considering how weak it was."

'Weak... That thing was anything but weak. If it wasn't for Water warlock's blessing I'd be dead right now.'

Even though Luna didn't show her emotions like most people, she was visibly happy after obtaining what little information Uriel shared with her and that made their way much more enjoyable.