Dungeon Raider System

Despite their reckless spending habits, the Fallen corporation's crew members were competent enough to gather information as they moved across the city. Bars, restaurants, hotels, they inquired everywhere about the Dungeon Raiders, finding no clues about them whatsoever.

They did hear about the Defenders and although Sam knew they had some sort of relationship with Uriel in particular, he assumed they would not know anything about him since they didn't travel together.

Due to this failure to acquire any relevant information, Sam commanded the crew to leave first thing in the morning to Madrid which was the largest megacity in all of Spain and also an obligatory stop for anyone who wanted to exit the country.

However, before they reached Madrid Sam saw a strange group of horseback hunters who moved about the wilderness with clockwork precision. They cornered big cryptids in numbers, then spread across the wilderness to scout for their next prey.

They were efficient, evidently well armed and more importantly, they carried a couple tents Sam recognized as the ones Uriel usually bought from his trait.

Sam commanded his crew to launch flares to hail the group before starting the landing sequence to which the hunters replied with flares of their own in a sign that they agreed to meet.

When the landing bay opened and revealed the two mysterious and beautiful women standing next to Sam the hunters reacted in a way much similar to when they saw Nika only this time the women in the Tercio also joined in when they laid eyes on Sam deeming him the most handsome man they had ever seen, though much of his charm was taken away when Uriel left him buried in the salt pan.

"Where did you get those tents?" Sam asked with a coldness different to Uriel's that came off as way more intimidating.

"To ask questions before introducing oneself is rude and rude people deserve no answer." Alonso spoke solemnly.

Sam kept his gaze set on the old hunter's eyes for a moment before turning to Wendy who replied with a one word question that prompted the entirety of the Spanish Tercio to ready their arms.

"Kill?"

"Of course not, you moron. You can't get answers from the dead. Ika, why don't you give it a try?" Asked Sam politely, dismissing the myriad of guns pointed his way.

"Why do we need to fight? Why can't you just tell him your name and be friends?"

"An old friend once told me the most basic measure to protect yourself in the wilderness is to never say your name in front of strangers." Sam replied.

Alonso was not easy to intimidate as not even in his near death experience during his fight against the giant did he let his emotions take over, but when Ika touched ground with her bare feet Alonso felt shivers he could not control along with shortness of breath and a rise in body temperature that could have been easily explained by a strange trait, though in reality it was due to his most concealed secret. He had an incurable case of foot fetish.

The young woman's exotic features and alluring curves, the softness of her skin and her flawless body that had been refined by her becoming a holy rank hunter meant nothing to Alonso, but when she landed her perfect feet decorated with a simple seashell ankle bracelet on the ground and wiggled her toes on the dry earth, Alonso nearly died.

Just as he nearly died when Ika failed to contain the strength of her punch and sent the poor old man flying fifty meters away managing to do what not even Uriel mustering all of his strength could. Under the disbelieving eyes of the Spanish Tercio, their leader Alonso was knocked out cold by a thin woman.

Ika ran towards the unconscious hunter worried she might have killed him and heaved a sigh of relief when she confirmed he was still breathing which gave Alonso's men enough time to shake off their astonishment and open fire at the huntress.

Bullets bounced off her and though she suffered little to no damage, they still hurt and bruised her otherwise pristine skin. It was akin to a regular human to be poked at by a stick, it didn't really hurt but it caused enough pain to cause her to retreat while yelping.

"Kill?" Wendy asked with eyes glimmering in hopefulness.

"Don't be stupid, they're too many. If one of them escapes we're done for. Let's retreat for now." Sam waited for Ika to cross enter the ship before shutting the gate. The barrage of bullets hitting the metallic hull sounded like rain in a winter day and just like rain, it took a while before it calmed down.

After a while, a knocking on the gate let Sam know that Alonso had regained consciousness and wanted to speak. Sam knew himself to be immortal, but he was fully aware he was not immune to pain which is why he opened a window to a slit in order to speak with the man.

"Why do you want to know about them?" Alonso asked, his nose still bleeding probably because of the punch he received.

"They are my friends and I'm worried about them." Sam replied.

"How can I believe you?" Although Alonso was usually naive and trusting to a fault, after what happened he didn't allow himself to lower his guard.

"I have proof, but promise you won't shoot at us." Sam said, then opened the door after receiving an affirmative answer. He then pulled out his cellphone and started showing his gallery to Alonso. The photographs showed Sam as he looked before becoming a heavenly rank hunter and even though he looked nothing like his old self, the yellow eyes that came along with his trait reassured Alonso it had to be the same man in front of him.

Next to Sam, a scrawny looking kid with scruffy hair and a nerdy look to him appeared in some of the pictures. In this case, Alonso was also able to recognize Uriel due to his eyes, though it was completely unrelated to his trait and had more to do with the cold glare he maintained up to present days. Most often than not Uriel was portrayed with a semblance of a smile which meant they had to be somewhat close.

With this, Alonso's demeanor shifted from his solemn persona to his true self. He recounted in exquisite detail how him and Uriel fought against the giant making Sam flinch at every mention of the red dagger Uriel wielded against the cryptid.

The more Alonso spoke, the more information Sam gained about Uriel's current strength and although he kept a smile frozen on his face the entire conversation, anyone who knew Sam from before could notice how fluster he was behind that mask, though he listened to the entire tale.

As soon as Sam entered the ship he let out a sigh of relief and commanded the crew to take immediately take flight. Wendy couldn't help but feel curious about whether or not what Sam told Alonso was the truth and seemed shocked when Sam confirmed he was indeed friends with Uriel at some point.

Soaring across the skies, they reached the radioactive wastelands before nightfall though unfortunately to Sam, he as unable to see past the cloudy dust that covered it and was forced to spend a few days searching blindly for his former friend until Wendy sensed a strange energy signature at the distance.

She pointed at a general direction and from then it was only a matter of time until Sam found what he was looking for. Uriel, Nika, Luna and a woman Sam didn't know were lying on the ground unconscious. Their bodies had gathered so much dust, if not for Sam's trait they would have walked past them without ever finding them.

"Are they okay?" Sam asked Wendy, the only person who was brave enough to go out with nigh zero visibility.

"They're not. It seems the radiation has been causing them wounds they constantly regenerate at the expense of their energy. If we leave them as they are they will never wake up. Even if we help them now it's possible they suffer permanent damage due to cellular degeneration." Wendy explained casually.

"Did you just say radiation?" Sam couldn't get past that statement and shivered in fear as the very air felt poisonous now he knew about the radiation.

"Don't be a sissy, it takes weeks for something like this to kill a hunter and you... you can't die." She rebuked, then added. "Should we take care of them now?"

"Yes," Sam nodded, then hurriedly stopped her. "actually take care of them, not kill!"

"But why!? We have them at our mercy right now. An opportunity like this doesn't come often. What can have you, the only truly immortal hunter in the entire world, so scared?" Wendy tilted her head with a puzzled expression.