Dungeon Raider System

Chapter 68 : The ossuary

Uriel spent a couple minutes studying the corpse that rolled down the staircase just like he thought Luna would have done in that situation. Although it was a fairly certain fact, he still needed to confirm it was the same panther he had fought just a couple minutes ago. The deep wound on its eye was all the proof he needed, but he also wanted to extract the flux orb from the corpse.

"What are you doing now?" Nika watched the scene with disbelief on her eyes.

"I want the orb." He nonchalantly replied. "Also, I think its fur would make a great coat..."

"Then you're out of luck, every part of a cryptid disappears after they die so you can't take any parts with you. Extracting the orb should be possible, but one like this is so strong will take hours to disappear but, even if we knew exactly where to find the orb, it would be impossible to dismantle that thing with the tools we have. If only your dagger wasn't blunt..."

At Nika's remark, Uriel gave up on the free entity level orb and focused his attention towards something else. The corpse of the panther was evidently bruised up, but it looked like it had been like that before his encounter with it, what worried him was the profound wound on it's chest. It was a cleave so deep it almost cut the feline in half.

"Then, what do you think did this?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure it wasn't any of us, I'm the strongest at the Mapple corp. regular security department. The only ones stronger than me are the higher ups from combat division."

"Combat division?"

"You could say they're something like an army. Bodyguards are usually tasked with protecting people from outside the corp or regular employees, but there's a whole level above us where only heavenly rank and above can join. It could be said that bodyguards deal with people, while the combat division deals against cryptids."

"Shouldn't they have brought the combat division to this expedition?"

"I guess you're right to think so, but even though this expedition is funded and led by the Mapple corporation, it's actually just one of Walter's side projects. The only ones from the combat division that tagged along are in the zeppelin protecting him.

Besides, everyone thought this place was as safe as can be, it's been going for over six months and the only casualties were caused by the Ocelotl."

"Is it safe to assume they will come and rescue us?"

"Remember that Schlieman dude? well, it seems he crushed orbs to his heart's content all over the place, it's no wonder the buildings got repaired." Nika said dismissively.

"I know, but the other ones didn't look nearly as good as this one. I wonder..." Uriel swallowed a lump of saliva and then continued. "If my theory is correct, crushing orbs near the structures repairs the buildings, when Schlieman went on his rampage he repaired most buildings which caused them to be activated and quickly drained the energy which, in turn, deactivated the protective barrier."

"You already mentioned this."

"This building is smaller, maybe it's in better condition because it required a lesser amount of flux orbs, it could also mean it's energy requirement is lower too. What if this building is still active? I mean, if it is we don't know what to expect, it may as well be related to the disappearance of the corpses." Uriel said, struggling to gather enough courage to climb the stairs.

"I don't know what got into you, but if you keep acting like a sissy you won't ever get a girl."

"Do you even know what an ossuary is?" Uriel glared at the unfazed Nika.

"Do you think I'm an idiot? of course I know." She scoffed, but then placed her index finger on her lip and looked upward in a pensive manner.

"You don't know, do you? An ossuary is something like a catacomb, which is why I thought there might be an underground passage. The whole purpose of this building is to place the remains of their fallen." Noticing that Nika still didn't get his point he continued. "Human remains... dead bodies."

"And there were no corpses on the way here..." At Uriel's detailed explanation Nika finally seemed to understand and she began crossing herself repeatedly.

"It's not possible... is it?" Uriel asked, trying to reassure himself.

"No, no, no, it's not possible... they must have gotten eaten or something..." She gulped down in fright, then continued. "So... is there any other way?"

"None that comes to mind. I'm not that familiar with this site."

And so, they went up the stairs of yet another mysterious structure in hopes of finding a way to bringing the protective barrier back up accompanied only by the sound of their own footsteps.