Uriel watched everything transpire, at first with curiosity as the alleged woman's shoulders heaved up and down like she was sobbing and then with horror as the the 'woman' snapped her head around in 180°.
The cryptid in question had everything a human was supposed to have. A head with a face, arms that ended in elegant soft hands, tender and shapely legs and large round breasts that might have caused most n to turn their head backs. Not in desire, but in utter disgust as there was no way anyone could have mistaken that thing with a human.
Even Luna who was always generous with the term 'antropomorphic' or, in other words, similar to humans refused to categorize that cryptid in such fashion.
Nika's face paled and her first reaction was to attempt to rge in the shadows, but failing to do so which caused her to fall in a montary daze. Even if just a second, that was usually more than enough ti for a hunter to be turned into a bloody pulp by cryptids, especially those who were adept ambush predators.
Much to everyone's confusion, rather than attacking Nika the cryptid turned to run, or crawl, or whatever the movent such a disgusting creature could be called.
"What the..." Nika attempted to swear, but Uriel covered her mouth in a rush.
"Don't you dare curse inside a dungeon, we don't know what's in there."
"Uhm... we actually do. That creature has been described previously." Luna muttered.
"Then why the f... why didn't you tell !?" Nika held herself in an attempt to stop shivering.
"Because it's harmless. It's called a collector, as their na implies they collect pieces they like from corpses and attach them to their bodies. Lore says they once were bullies who targeted people with low self esteem and will remain like that until they reach perfection." Luna explained.
"Fitting punishnt, especially since the perfection is unattainable." Uriel nodded.
"Exactly, that is why they're always sad. Because no matter how many parts they collect, they will never beco perfect." Luna said, evidently glad to be discussing her favorite topic with her favorite people.
Finding one cryptid was the cue for them to continue exploring the train, though they decided not to follow the pitiful cryptid that didn't pose a threat to them except for offending their eyes with its unsightly appearance. They moved from their wagon to the next, finding it to be completely empty.
"We're out of the dungeon." Uriel said in a gasp when the system inford him so.
"Don't look so surprised, we're in a moving train." Nika shrugged.
"Yeah, and we're also under the city." Nika shrugged, only this was another Nika who looked and sounded exactly like the first one.
"Don't worry, I got this," Said the first Nika as she grabbed a silver coin from herpocked and walked towards the unlucky cryptid, yet she took a pause to intently examine the cryptid's body with a curiosity that would have matched that of Luna's usual behavior. "man, I'm hot." She uttered before placing the silver coin in her look alike, causing it to burst into a bubbly ss of guts and blood.
"Does it not unsettle you to kill sothing that looks just like you?" Luna asked.
"Not really, it's a sha we can't be friends though. The world could use more of this." Nika pointed at her pronounced curves in an attempt to fish for complints, receiving only Uriel's and Luna's pale expressions as a reply.
While Uriel agreed Nika was indeed a beautiful woman, he was fully aware that skinwalkers also copied their victim's mories and mimicked their character to perfection.
"This world has already enough of that." Uriel said as he crouched to pick up the flux orb and after a mont they moved on to the next wagon.
There, they found an old bronze pocket watch and a few other items laying in the ground as though they were just forgotten by soone. According to what they heard from Hazel, it was how hunters found the artifacts they were now selling to the city, but sothing didn't add up to what Uriel expected.
"This can't be. It would be one thing if we found these items inside a dungeon, but we're currently not inside a dungeon."
"Are you implying these are not artifacts?"
"No, they absolutely are." Uriel confird after storing the bronze pocket watch inside his museum.
Pocket watch: This particular watch is a replica of the one invented by Peter Henlein circa 1500AC. It's monetary value remained high for a couple centuries turning it into a family heirloom until it eventually reached the pockets of a Spanish engine driver.
[Passive] Tells ti
"Quite shitty too." Uriel said out loud. Coincidentally, the lights dimd for a second prompting Nika to glare at him.
"I can't curse, but you can. How is that fair."
"Pardon my french," Uriel excused himself. "but I think what just happened is that we entered the dungeon again." Uriel explained as the train slowed down and eventually stopped. The doors opened for a short while like usual and while they could have gotten out, they decided against it as their exploration beca more interesting by the minute.
The next wagon didn't have any seats or anything to hold on, it was just an empty space with so lights and they simply passed it and the one that followed. As they continued exploring, they found out a couple oddities that piqued their interests.
Uriel noticed how the lights would dim down every ti they were about to enter the dungeon, which other than being an oddity didn't actually say much. They also found so strange wagons that didn't have lights, others didn't have windows and others were completely ordinary which the more they thought about it the less sense it made.
Luna, however, was ecstatic as they found a wide variety of cryptids, so of which she had never heard about. Most of them were urban, though there were also so cryptids that were obviously from the wilderness like so kobolds they happened to stumble upon.
Nika couldn't care any less for their findings, except that she did enjoy being able to finally shoot sothing in the face. The flux orbs were just the cherry on top. The lights dimd down a little, informing Uriel they were about to enter the dungeon once more, but the strangest thing happened. A group of hunters walked in, fully geared and ready for combat.
They introduced themselves individually, though Uriel couldn't care any less about their nas and he barely retained their hunting party na. The Gavilanes, as they chose to call themselves, were a new hunting party made from inexperienced hunters with moderate to weak traits. They brandished basic weapons and interdiate armor, which was a hint that they did posses at least so trace of common sense, though Uriel couldn't fathom what could they possibly be doing in such a dangerous place.
"We're trying to make it big, like everybody else. This place is big enough for many hunting parties, it's not like we're going to steal your prey or sothing." The leader shrugged as the took to the opposite direction from the Dungeon Raiders.
"Do you think they can get by themselves?" Asked Nika.
"They're good as dead." Luna nonchalantly said.
"Should we... you know... help them?" Asked Uriel fearing the answer, but neither Nika nor Luna had any intention to 'babysit' as they put it.
Uriel was glad that they agreed with him. Especially since those hunters, albeit ignorant of the actual magnitude of the danger they were in, had signed up for the risk in hopes for the reward being worth it. But in a sense, Uriel was also concerned that they could so easily dismiss the lives of people as though they were worth nothing.
He knew the right thing would be to save their lives, but the only way to do so without putting themselves through the hassle of taking care of them and also split the loot would be to forcefully take them off the train, which would only result in them getting back in the next opportunity.
"I think dusa made us better human beings." Uriel let out in a sigh.
"She did." Nika nodded.
"She did." Echoed Nika¿s voice, which was obviously a sign that there had to be a cryptid nearby, only this ti it wasn't a skinwalker, but an ordinary looking bird.
"It's one of those weird things that mimic human voice." Uriel said casually opening fire at the cryptid, leaving nothing but the flux orb and a handful of feathers in the train floor. This ti Uriel didn't have the ti to pick it up as Luna was the one who rushed in and knelt on the floor to grab the orb.
"We have to... uhm... we have to leave." Luna stuttered.
"What's wrong?" Uriel said as he grabbed Luna's shoulder, noticing her shivering in fear. He gently shook the tiny huntress expecting her to snap out of her reverie, but when he noticed what she saw he was also left in utter confusion.
"Co on guys, this isn't funny." Nika leaned in to look at what they were looking at and while it took her a couple seconds, she did understand the kind of trouble they were in.
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