Dungeon Raider System

Chapter 71 : Eulogy

Sweating and palpitating with anxiety, Uriel turned his head and then sighed in relief.

"Oh! it's just a skeleton."

"Just a skeleton you say!? It wasn't here before, how did it get behind you without us noticing in the first place?"

Uriel's eyes widened as all of his fears were confirmed. Somehow, that skeleton was able to move and appear behind him. Although skeletons didn't scare him, a reanimated one definitely gave him the chills.

"Run!" Uriel shouted as he darted across the path that somehow felt narrower than before.

Nika followed closely behind, but the cracking sounds soon gave way to the clattering of bones all over the place. The walls were indeed closing on them but that wasn't all, the sounds became louder and louder behind them, evidencing that they were being chased by something unnatural.

"They came back to life, the dead are walking among us! we're going to die and become like them!" Nika cried as she ran past Uriel.

"It's just as we suspected, somehow the ossuary seems to be able to bring the dead back to life. It was a short glimpse, but that skeleton was standing on its own, it makes no sense since there wasn't anything keeping them together. In museums they usually put them together using wires." Uriel excitedly rambled after the adrenaline rush had subsided.

"Of all things that's what worried you!?"

"That's not all, I mean... It's creepy, but it's also interesting. They should be harmless, even if they look creepy, without muscle or ligaments they shouldn't be strong."

"I see where you're going with this! Cover me, I'll do it." Nika stopped in her tracks, dropped the flare on the ground and turned around with the coil gun on her hand. Uriel still had the high tech rifle he took from the corpse, but he was torn in between using it or his magnum.

In the end he figured that, as long as he had enough batteries his rifle would still work while his magnum ammo was limited.

They waited for a few seconds, but then everything became silent. The clattering of bones, the cracking sounds, everything faded into silence.

"Maybe it was our imagination..." Uriel whispered ready to continue on his way but as he turned around he was startled by the presence of a skeleton.

Uriel's heart was calm now, even a seemingly supernatural apparition from beyond the grave was something he was ready to accept as long as it made sense somehow but, contrary to him, the usually cool and battle ready Nika was scared out of her mind.

"Who's the sissy now?" Uriel whispered with an unseen smirk.

"Are you Implying I'm a sissy? I'm a veteran in combat, versed on all sorts of firearms and melee weapons."

"Then let go of my hand." Uriel said coldly.

"That's a no, I'm only holding your hand to keep you safe. You're still my asset after all." She blatantly lied amidst stutters.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine... If it was a zombie I would have been grossed out, but if it's just skeletons then..."

"Fine! I'm not great with horror stuff! I could fight a beast twice my size with no issues, but undead stuff is just too creepy." She admitted after having her bluff called.

Not long after they finally reached the end of the way. The wall in front of them was clearly constructed so people could use it as a ladder but the way up was completely dark. Nika was about to light up a flaregun, but Uriel quickly stopped her.

"From now on we'll need to be more careful, we don't know what could be above our heads." He whispered.

"But the skeletons didn't harm us."

"They were just resting, we might bump into something different. Do you remember how Flanagan called Kukulkan's pyramid a castle? well, a castle is bound to have guards. We can't rule out the possibility to encounter something, not when we're so close to our goal."

Although it looked dangerous, the ladder wasn't exactly at ninety degrees which made it safer. Even if they fell down, they should be able to grab on to it before hitting the ground. As they climbed, a distant echo was heard in the distance, the closer they got the more it resembled a conversation of the sorts.

When they reached the top of the ladder a small chamber opened before them, it was a three by three meter square with two entrances, but what drew their attention even more was that now they were close enough to distinguish Flanagan's voice.

Nika was about to call out to him when Uriel silently stopped her shaking his head. If their guess that on top of the pyramid was a cryptid strong enough to dispose of the panther they encountered in a single blow was correct, whatever Flanagan was doing up there couldn't be good.