Dungeon Raider System

Thanks to his enhanced perception of time he was able to keep control over the battlefield which allowed him to somewhat gauge the enemy strength.

In terms of numbers they were three against hundreds. It may have seemed like the odds were against them, but there were a couple dozen hunters inside the Pegasus waiting for the signal to step out and join the fray. Uriel had decided to leave them in standby since the enemies were being careful to avoid damaging the Pegasus which meant they would be fresh and ready to join at a moment's notice.

Despite knowing that quantity had a quality of its own to the point where even holy rank hunters like Jon were open about being afraid of getting surrounded by beast rank cryptids for too long, Uriel failed to see where did Anvil's confidence came from.

"Kill... the rest?" Uriel echoed still trying to make sense of the situation.

"What? You think you won just because you pierced by arms with that needle?" The towering man said with a smirk as he showed Uriel that his wounds were already closing thanks to the medics healing him at a distance with both the use of serum and their traits. "I gave you many chances to surrender, but you were too stubborn."

As the detective spoke a distinctive sound of hydraulic machinery came from all directions prompting Uriel to take a glance around him and watch in disbelief as all the automatic turrets that protected the airport from outside threats were slowly turning to face the inside. Contrary to the turrets placed on the outer wall, those on the airport were designed and programmed to target enemy hunters.

Dodging bullets from regular firearms was optional for heavenly rank hunters, while dodging heavy artillery projectiles was a matter of life and death. A single explosive cartridge possessed enough power to blow an ascended to pieces or disable a heavenly rank hunter, and unfortunately to the Dungeon Raiders there were about ten of them.

Medusa hesitated for a few seconds pondering whether or not to activate her trait or rush towards the control room to seize the turrets until Uriel snapped her out of it.

"Grab Phlox and fix this before they target us." After speaking this words a fist the size of his head landed on his face and sent him to the ground. The sheer force behind that hit was so tremendous, Uriel only managed to stay conscious thanks to his will to protect his friends.

"You shouldn't look away in a one on one fight!" Anvil attempted to step on Uriel's head, but the young archaeologist rolled on the ground and countered with a slash on the back of his leg.

"Too shallow." Uriel cursed as he spat a mouthful of blood on the ground, though his face bore no injuries thanks to the life essence stolen by the crimson dagger.

Anvil didn't have the time to ponder about Uriel possibly having a third trait on top of the previous two he thought to have discovered because Uriel didn't stop circling around him. It was a strategy to prevent Anvil's allies from shooting at him without the risk of friendly fire, but it also allowed Uriel to look for a weak spot.

In response to Uriel's movements, Anvil lowered his center mass and spread his arms as though he was waiting to hug an incoming child, but his bearing made it evident it wasn't the case. His face was stern and his movements didn't show any of his pain, though every lap Uriel took around him forced him to use his now injured leg that wasn't healing fast enough for his liking.

It turned out that going for his legs had been the right decision due to his weight, but after a while of Uriel taking laps around him he couldn't find any openings.

"What's the matter? Don't tell me you're scared now? You should have just given us your ship." Anvil taunted him just to stall for time. Every passing second allowed the slow moving turrets to position themselves, but the moment they were done the fight would end.

"We figured that's what you wanted. If you're about to say you would have let us go if we gave it to you, spare it. I'm not so naive." Uriel glared at the detective.

"Of course not, you were dead either way." The detective shrugged.

"What the hell is this weird gas?" As if running out of time wasn't enough, the pink gas cloud had grown in size and it started taking effect. Uriel's eyes became itchy and red despite Uriel being cautious to not breath in the strange substance.

"It's an organosulfur, it reacts when in contact to humidity. Uhmm... mustard gas!" Luna explained after entering the Pegasus and shifting back into her human form. Their lives were in danger, but Medusa had warned her many times not to turn back into a human in front of people.

Luna had difficulties reading social cues and communicating with people, but rules were something she could understand and follow with ease.

"Great." Uriel replied with sarcasm. The fact that it reacted to humidity confirmed him that it was dangerous to breathe it in, but what troubled him the most was that for some reason it affected him despite being a heavenly rank hunter.

At that moment everything seemed lost. Luna was forced to retreat after she soaked too much damage from enemy fire, Medusa was too far to provide any help, Nika was replenishing her flux energy inside Uriel's shadow and the rest of the crew couldn't so much as step down the ship without getting killed.

Uriel was completely alone against too many enemies, one of which was powerful beyond reason thanks to being reinforced by many different traits at the same time.

Uriel knew they would have been able to end the fight before it even started just by asking Medusa to take off her blindfold and the only reason why he didn't do so was because killing so many people would have probably scarred her for life. Not just that, if any witnessed managed to escape the Dungeon Raiders would be kicked out of the city if not hunted down all over the continent.

"I really thought this time things would be different, I really thought we could make a living in this city and save the citizens. This is what I get for trying to be someone I'm not. Jon was right, I really should be more arrogant.

Instead of chasing after the governor begging for an appointment we should have barged in and let him know our demands." Uriel helplessly chuckled as the blue light in his eyes brimmed more intensely than ever and matching sparks of light burst enshrouded him.

"It's good that you're reflecting on your actions. I hope you have enough time to do it in the afterlife!" Anvil waved his arm at Uriel with all his considerable strength and long reach in a move that could only be dodged by either crouching on jumping, but the outcome didn't match Anvil's plan.

"Time, I always seem to be short of time. I would love to watch TV, read or learn to play a musical instrument, but I always end up stuck with idiots that want to take my stuff." Uriel's voice came from behind Anvil, but when he turned he couldn't see him.

"Where is he?" Anvil asked via his communicator. Instead of words, the sound of pained screams and gurgling gasps for breath overlapped both around him and in his earpiece accompanied by a slow but steady decline in his physical prowess. As the one in charge of his men, Anvil knew where each team was located, but things took such a sudden turn he was left in a daze.

First, Anvil started feeling the stamina loss caused by the serum he was provided with by the medics. It wasn't enough to hinder him in any way, but it was noticeable. "How is this possible!? With so many physical boosts I shouldn't feel tired!" Yet reality begged to differ.

One by one, Anvil started losing the effects of the supporting traits bestowed to him by his men, yet it was only when he actually saw Uriel slicing a combatant's throat from behind that he realized what was going on.

"I'm you opponent, leave them alone!" Anvil growled as he lunged like a torpedo in a risky move that left him exposed as he lacked Uriel's enhanced perception of time which allowed Uriel to experience life in slow motion.

Unfortunately to Uriel, his perception of time was faster than he could react and he watched helplessly as the massive torpedo of a man bashed at him breaking his spine at the height of the thoracic curve. It wasn't the first time experiencing something similar and he could almost identify the specific vertebrae that were shattered.

'It's not as bad as being stomped on by the Moai, but it's close. At least I can't feel any pain from the neck down.' Unable to move or even speak, Uriel kept busy in these thoughts while the detective looked at his broken enemy on the ground with spite.