Dungeon Raider System

It was a dark and cold morning like many others on top of the wall where the rangers stood watch on a daily basis, but this particular morning was different. The usually fresh wind that would wash away the city smog and bring new life to the sleep deprived hunters of the night watch had become stale and carried the familiar stench of dead bodies.

The smell was so strong many of the rangers fell sick and puked their guts out in the trash cans put in place for that very purpose just so they remained on their posts. But after releasing themselves instead of relief, the stench coming from those trash cans only made things worse for them.

A hunter's constitution was supposedly stronger than that and they should have been able to continue their watch like always, but the true reason why everyone felt sick was the boundless flux energy emitted by the titan level cryptid besieging their city.

To them, it looked like an unnatural mist that crept their way, hiding the true nature of the impossible threat not far enough from the wall.

"Do you think they'll make it?" Asked a veteran ranger with unease.

"Of course they will, we have two holy rank hunters by our side and you know what they say, 'a holy rank hunter can wipe out an entire city' so there's no doubt we'll win. Stop worrying about them and worry more about us." Charlie replied.

"What do you mean?" Truesight asked.

"I've been on the side of cryptids, albeit for a short while, and let me tell you, we don't stand a chance against them. I felt like I could do anything, kill anything, I was faster, stronger and even more beautiful if you can picture that." Charlie said striking a pose that brought a veteran ranger like Truesight to blush.

"But we still have some of those freaks by our side, don't we?"

"Yes, but we lost one third of our forces because Magnum killed the horror level vampire."

"Right, you were more powerful and all. But didn't you say you also couldn't fight against the urge to drink blood? Human blood! That is so nasty. I'd rather have more kids like Magnum by our side than freaks like those doppelgangers." Truesight blurted out.

"You're missing something. With the army of skinwalkers by our side, we can have more kids exactly like Magnum on our side. They would be just as strong, but more manageable." Charlie sighed thinking on her past with Uriel, thinking of the many times she wronged him despite of being so indebted to him.

She wished she had a better relationship with him, not just because he was strong, but also because she thought he had outstanding morals and would make a nice addition to the rangers.

But no matter how much she felt she owed Uriel, she still resented him for taking away her newly found power as a vampire. Granted, while she was a vampire she couldn't refuse any command given by Mark and she hated his guts, but the power was so intoxicating she didn't mind it that much.

"Hold on, I think I see something," Truesight leaned over the ledge as if that would help him see better, but all he saw was the eerie fog getting closer at the same speed. "Don't mind me, It was just my imagination."

Just as the veteran ranger finished speaking and the rangers around him heaved in relief, the radio began chirping with static and a barely intelligible voice screamed.

"Men down! Men down! The east wall is collapsing, we need backup, I repeat..." The voice announced, but the repeat message never came through.

"This is Ranger Charlie stationed in the north gate wall to command center, over." Charlie spoke to the radio after shifting the radio frequency.

"Proceed Ranger Charlie." Replied her father on the other side of the line, evidently fighting against the impulse to speak to her in a cutsy voice like usual.

"The east wall is down."

"Roger that, deploying holy rank hunters by the east wall. What's your status?"

In the short span of their conversation, the fog briefly retreated in an unnatural way, just like a snake before biting, only to expand at lighting speed until it clashed against the wall. It looked just like a tsunami and the rangers atop the wall braced themselves for impact, but the ethereal fog caused no damage whatsoever to the sturdy alloy wall.

Then, after a bone chilling pause, the distant noise of something clashing against the foot of the wall reached their ears. Once, then twice, in a rhythmic fashion until it became a myriad of clanging noises.

"We're under attack!" Charlie shouted at the radio as the wall trembled under the merciless onslaught of a thousand unseen hands. "Daddy, I love you."

***

"We're clear to proceed." The head of the hunters nodded at Samael Song. In front of them, two fully equipped holy rank hunters awaited their orders.

"Hunters Quill and Hunter, I hereby grant you permission to activate your traits however you see fit to protect the city and its citizens under the section 73 of the world government law." Samael Song voiced solemnly and the two hunters retreated.

Usually, Jon and Mister Scofield would race to see who got there first. Although he didn't look like it, Mister Scofield was actually pretty competitive, especially when it came to proving his own worth against younger hunters like Jon.

But things were different now, they knew how dangerous the situations they were about to put themselves in was and the only way to make it out alive was to cooperate.

Traversing the crowded city would usually pose an obstacle for most hunters and taking a vehicle should have been faster, but for holy rank hunters crossing the whole megacity was a matter of minutes instead of hours since they were able to jump from building to building, despite wearing a full set of orichalcum armor that would leave any heavenly rank hunter grounded.

With each jump they got closer to the east wall which was the first to fall, though it took them a while to orient themselves properly since only a small portion of the wall had fallen. It was just a small breach, probably three hundred meters long, through which the fog entered unhindered.

From the heights, they were able to see the fog creeping inside the city like tentacles probing around its surroundings. It filled every nook and cranny, it even climbed the buildings falling down through open windows.

What little information they had about the titan cryptid was more than enough to let them both know getting inside the fog was a bad idea and yet, that was precisely what they intended to do.

It was only once they set foot on the ground that they noticed the streets were already empty and there were no corpses or signs of struggle nearby.

Their first instinct was to cover their mouths, but the orichalcum helmet provided to them by the city had an integrated gas mask that kept them safe from any harmful substance, even though holy rank hunters were able to resist most poisons and illnesses.

"We're clear." Jon spoke to the radio, but it failed to reach its target.

"It's useless. Even if their field of disruption doesn't affect us, the radio signal won't be able to get far from our position." Mister Scofield explain.

"No one likes a know it all." Jon scoffed, though he was thankful that their devices allowed them to communicate with each other. Everything about what they were doing felt wrong and he had no issues admitting to himself that he was afraid.

Their first encounter with the revenants came before they reached the breach in the wall in the form of many glaring green eyes all around them. Unbeknownst to them, the fog let them inside without opposing any resistance just to surround them.

They were everywhere, from eye level to way up in the skyscrapers and even on top of the wall. The unnatural green light that came from those creatures gave Jon the chills, but before he could mutter a single curse word, the loud noise of shots being fired broke through the dense silence.

"Go ahead, the Fallen corp. will take care of this." Sam ran behind the holy rank hunters, breaking through the mist followed by at least a hundred soldiers all of them firing at the enemy. Sam himself joined the fray, firing single shots in spite of carrying a high performance automatic coil rifle. It was all he needed since his gleaming yellow eyes caused his shots to always reach his mark.

"Thanks for that kid," Jon said awkwardly. "We can stick around while you guys repair the wall."

"Don't worry, we'll take care of this city." Sam replied without taking his eyes from Jon's.

Hunter didn't know the reason, but looking directly at Sam's eyes he felt as though the young CEO of the Fallen corp. was spitting a threat instead of reassuring words. It got him to wonder if leaving him in charge of the city defense was the right thing to do, but Mister Scofield was already outside the wall and there was no going back.