Dungeon Raider System-Chapter 555: Be ready in ten

"We're technically good to go, but we can't enter a megacity's airzone without comms. We're going as fast as we can, but we need more people."

"I know, but you're the one who said you didn't trust people outside our company enough to let them get near your ship. You're the boss of the engineering team and it's your responsibility to fix whatever is wrong with the Pegasus in time."

"Why are you blaming me all of a sudden? I can't be the boss of a team that doesn't exist. Isn't it your duty as the CEO to hire people?" A painful silence filled the small room when they both remembered the one in charge of marketing and hiring new people was Sam, until a gulping sound followed with a gasp broke the spell.

"How?" A dumbfounded Uriel asked the shameless Nika in front of him who somehow managed to grab one of the beers without him noticing.

"I told you I picked up a few tricks." She winked at him at the same time a soft caress crossed Uriel's back, without moving from her spot making him cringe.

"You can control the shadows!?" Uriel gasped.

"It's because shadows are two dimensional, the concept behind her moving through shadows is actually quite interesting, but we can speak about that later.

There's two choices now, we can wait until morning and drop off the hybrids right outside the city when it's safe, or I can try fixing up the comms, but it will probably take me even longer than tomorrow morning." Medusa explained and Uriel turned to leave, then froze right in front of the door and shuddered.

"Nika..." Uriel let out in a low growl.

"It was just a love tap, feel free to return the favor." She giggled with a smile that vanished the moment Medusa gave her a bump on the head.

"That was well deserved..." Phlox chuckled once Uriel left the room.

"And well worth it too." Nika smiled.

Laughing and joking around with her friends was the only thing she could think of during the time she spent in the shadows and every minute she spent with them washed away a small portion of the hardships she endured in that time.

Uriel, though, didn't share the sentiment. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy spending time with his friends, but his mind was set on the mission. Especially now that his revolver at stake he knew it wasn't the time to be playing and joking around.

Albeit not the most powerful weapon, especially when compared to the 'Red thread of fate', the Magnum revolver was his only means of attacking at a distance. At first it wasn't too helpful since every time he emptied the chambers he would need to wait a long time for the bullets to be reloaded and because of his poor aim the only means he had to actually hit something was at pointblank.

However, with enough practice he became a better shot and as his flux reserve grew bullets reappeared at a faster rate, allowing Uriel to land deadly shots and lay waste to most cryptids.

But the biggest change came after he became a heavenly rank since, for some reason he still didn't understand, the bullets became faster and more powerful to the point where they could easily pierce through a cryptid's skin that even the most advanced coil gun would fail.

Needless to say, losing the revolver in a bet was unfathomable for Uriel, though despite his moody behavior he didn't actually regret what happened. Uriel had no idea of what prompted the system to bet against him, but as annoying and purposely insulting as the system was, the only constant so far had been that whenever a strange system notice popped up Uriel had the chance to become stronger.

At first Uriel thought the system to be nothing but a piece of software designed to measure the biometrics of a person, after all it was able to quantify strength, speed and even flux. But even then, a nagging feeling on the back of his head made Uriel think the system insulted him on purpose and that there might be some sort of sentience hidden behind the mask of a small icon on his smartphone.

"There will be enough time to catch up later, but now..." Uriel muttered to himself, then entered the bridge where the two hybrid teams were waiting for him.

"Mister Raider..." Elio greeted Uriel when he entered the room.

"So few?"

"I'm sorry, I wish I could say your fight inspired them, but it was a pretty gruesome sight for rookies."

"I can't really blame them...," Uriel sighed then looked around. ""here is Kalos? I asked Alessandro to send him to me." Uriel said in a cold tone of voice that let Kalos know his time had come.

"I'm here." Kalos gulped down a lump of saliva as he stepped forward from the group.

"Thank you, I really appreciate what you did for me back there. If it wasn't for the batteries, I'm afraid we wouldn't have made it." Uriel extended his hand to the young treefolk hybrid.

"Please, don't mention it." He said as the guilty consciousness weighed heavy on his shoulders. While he did take the chance to try and get Uriel killed, he didn't miss the fact that without Uriel's help they wouldn't have made it through the night.

"I'm being serious. Most people wouldn't give a stranger a credit if they were short a dime for a hear transplant and you trusted me even though we didn't get along well."

"That's all in the past." Kalos finally reached for Uriel's hand and shook it. "Is that why you asked for me to come?"

"Yes, but I think it would be nice if you tagged along with us. We're searching for your sister and it will be helpful to have you around in case she doesn't trust us."

"I guess..." Kalos caved under the peer pressure of the many stares fixed on him.

"Wow! You're so brave, Kalos!" Elio patted him in the back.

"What? I'm not."

"Don't act like it's nothing, I think Mister Alessandro will have no choice but to appoint you as the next guardian of the forest... if you come back, that is." Elio chuckled as he firmly patted Kalos on the back.

"Uh, mister Raider..." A woman who Uriel didn't recognized got near him with a bashful smile.

"Yes?"

"I volunteered as a thanks for what you did for me back there, but I also wanted to say it to you in person. It's very unlikely that we see each other again..." noticing Uriel's confusion she leaned in and whispered. "I'm the naga."

"It's nothing, really," he politely replied, then turned to address the rest. "Wait until dawn breaks and get on the move."

"We're hovering over the drop off point, I hope this helps." Emma handed Uriel a picture of the sight from the zeppelin.

"Kalos, grab your weapons and be ready in ten." Uriel nodded at the frightened young hybrid then turned to leave with an evil grin. 'I bet he's shitting his pants now."