To say Uriel's plan was offensive to his friends would be an understatent. Especially on Nika's case who felt insulted by his comnt about the coloring book, though inwardly she wished she had one to pass the ti instead of looking at stones on the ground. But dusa felt offended for a different reason.
"Why are you saying we should only try the chanisms you point out and not the ones we identified? You always dismiss us like we don't know what we're doing." dusa narrowed her eyes, both giving him a chance to rethink his suggestion or to prepare for the consequences.
"I think the sa, we should try and activate the ones that reference to cryptids." Luna comnted.
"No, that's not a good idea. We don't need any cryptids to show up." dusa replied.
"You are just as bad as him."
"Guys! I'm only saying we should activate the ones with cultural significance because thousands of people went through the trouble to pass on the knowledge about these symbols for generations. It's only fair to assu they had a reason."
"Don't you always say that people are inherently evil? Maybe it's a trap." Luna rebuked and the professional discussion turned into bickering. They all tried to speak above the other and though Luna's voice didn't convey her passion, she was able to speak loud when she wanted to. And she really wanted to see if they could summon cryptids by activating the stones related to cryptids.
"We're just wasting ti! I never second guess you guys when you offer input related to your fields of expertise. I'm an archaeologist, you should trust in what regards to dungeons!" Uriel exclaid offended.
"Actually, you always do precisely that! Whenever we try to give our ideas you shut us down like a know it all, without even explaining your reasoning." Luna said, her eyes emitting a faint silvery light.
"Excuse ..." The Mapple corp. hunter Luna recruited attempted to speak, but was cut short by a 'shut up' shout in unison.
Nika didn't have anything to offer to the 'conversation' as she didn't possess any education on cryptozoology, engineering or archaeology. The technological prowess, wonders of the supernatural and even the cultural value of dungeons had her without a care and she actually found anything that couldn't be helpful a waste of ti.
That was precisely why while everyone was busy bickering she took it upon herself to press each of the chanisms by manipulating the shadows. Due to the strange phenona taking place inside the building it took her many attempts, lots of focus and a good chunk of flux energy, but she eventually managed to reach all the stones that depicted animals at the sa ti.
That was precisely what the hunter wanted to warn them about, but after being turned down he just watched as Nika activated the chanism.
When the grinding of stone echoed in the chamber Uriel checked beneath his feet to see if he accidentally stepped on a trigger.
"It wasn't ." dusa said when Uriel looked at her quizzically.
"That was , you guys were too busy wasting ti so I just went on and pressed on the buttons with animals." Nika said, the grinding of unseen chanisms beneath the ground resounding in the vast chamber.
"Why would you do that!?" Uriel leapt over to Nika who dodged him by blinking next to Luna.
"Because, the only thing all dungeons we've been to have in common are the animals. The serpents and jaguars on xico, the turtles you ntioned in Easter island, even the pillars on the Alamo." She shrugged as though it was the most obvious thing.
"Nika, you... you... you're a genius!" Uriel said, then started to fumble to himself unintelligible words as he pondered the implications.
"Animals have been present in this planet far longer than our species, but the ancient species didn't look exactly like the ones we know." Luna said and dusa quickly picked up on her suggestion.
"Which ans this buttons were made by humans, since those animals do look like the ones we know nowadays. Though so of them went extinct." She finished regretfully.
"Yes, all the species of animals depicted in the stones are tied to the latest anthropocene." Uriel muttered to himself, but everyone's attention shifted the mont the grinding of stone stopped for a brief second, only to beco louder as two huge platforms appeared on the sides bearing all sorts of treasures.
"This must be the dragon's den." Luna said, her explanation going over Uriel's head who was almost drooling in greed.
"Roman coins from different periods, gold, jewels and everything in between." Uriel gaped at the sight of the treasure.
"Talk about a wet dream." Nika too oozed greed, though whether or not it was due to her bond with Uriel it was unclear even to her. All she knew was that there was more than they could ever spend.
"Is it safe to loot?" Uriel asked dusa, who crossed her arms in a hostile manner and looked the other way before replying.
"How would I know, I'm not an archaeologist." She scoffed.
"Safety is overrated anyway." Uriel said before taking a literal dive into the treasure. He passed his hands through anything and everything hoping there was sothing he could store inside of his trait, but the treasure was so vast it was bound to take a long ti.
Faithful to her duty, Nika followed suit to provide safety to her boss and absolutely not to fill her pockets with coins. dusa also couldn't keep herself from joining in and even Luna asked her new assistant to wheel her over to the treasure. She didn't have much need or care about treasures themselves, but she didn't like remaining in the sidelines while all of her friends were having fun.
"Taking this back to the zeppelin will be a pain in the ass." dusa complained, knowing full well that that task fell directly on her job description.
"Sure, but just think about the things we can buy!" Nika said sliding down a proverbial mountain of gold.
"Just out of curiosity, what do you think would happen if we were to activate the stones that resemble circuits?" dusa asked, sowhat unfazed by the treasure.
"Who cares, thanks to Nika we got the prize already." Uriel said, still undecided if he wanted the Victorian age chandelier or the dragon effigy he found by the top of the mountain.
"It turns on the lights." A charming female voice replied from a distance.
"Thanks." dusa replied, then froze on the spot not daring to even look back as she realized that the voice was not accompanied with any energy signature whatsoever. This ant that whoever spoke, could not be with Magellan's crew.
"I'll show you how it works," The woman said as she flicked her fingers, causing the stones with depictions of circuits to sink deep into the ground after which the entire area beca brightly illuminated putting an end to the strange phenonon that seed to dim all light sources.
The vast treasure they had uncovered was revealed in full and while Uriel would have loved to bask in its sight, he noticed how Magellan's crew was looting the other platform which was also filled with treasures. Had that been all, he could have solved it by simply shouting at them to stay away from his treasure, but he also saw the woman who turned on the lights. And she was by no ans an ordinary woman.
Her black hair reached her waist and her delicate facial features along with her deep purple eyes made her almost inhumanely beautiful. Her posture carried the elegance of nobility, yet her voice was casual. Describing each of her features would paint an unfair picture of such beauty and the word to fully represent her had yet to be invented, or perhaps had been long forgotten.
"That hat! Where is he?" The woman said, an accusatory finger pointed in a straight line towards Uriel along with eyes filled with power.
"We didn't touch anything, I swear." Uriel said when he found himself caught red handed despite the fact that he was doing precisely what he claid he wasn't.
"You can take all those trinkets for all I care, just tell how long It's been and where is Jon?"
"Do you know uncle Jon?" dusa asked in disbelief.
The woman took a brief look at the uneven group of hunters then huffed in annoyance. They displayed a colorful range of emotions that went from Uriel's panic, Luna's curiosity, dusa's shock and Nika's envy, yet no one answered a single one of her questions.
"Whatever." She scoffed before seemingly disappearing into thin air leaving everyone pondering if what they just saw was real or just an illusion.
The woman passed through the gates like she owned the place at a speed no one could match, passed the groove filled with cryptids that seed to be completely still and then headed straight outside imdiately noticing the zeppelins at the distance.
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