Dungeon Raider System-Chapter 536: The society Part 3

"He's just old," Jon shrugged and then continued. "That's one of the reasons why he's so obsessed with the fountain of youth and the other is your mother..."

"My... mother?" Medusa echoed feeling like a passenger in her own life. Many questions filled her mind at that moment, but Jon shook his head.

"I don't know much else, sorry."

"Am I a werewolf?" Medusa asked after lingering for a few seconds.

"No," Jon chuckled. "I didn't figure out any of this, so I think it's best if our host continues the explanation."

"I don't know what you are exactly, but I can tell you're one of us. We've lived alongside humans for millennia, but as you may have guessed things weren't always peaceful and we were forced into hiding. One of the only reasons we survived this long is because we kept our distance from others and we tried to keep our lineage as clean as possible.

We also had some version of what people nowadays call traits, but with so few flux energy in the atmosphere it didn't amount to much. We were branded as criminals, hunted like animals and slain by thousands, until..."

"The arrival." Medusa muttered.

"Precisely, that's when things started to change. Humans were able to acquire a trait, but we became able to finally make the most of our hybrid nature while also acquiring traits thanks to our human nature."

"This is incredible! I need to let Luna know!" Medusa smiled as she realized she had never seen Luna use her trait.

"If she's a hybrid she probably knows already. Passing down our history from generation to generation is one of the most important precautions we needed to take, but we are also forbidden from disclosing any of this to people outside our own families."

"Then why are you telling me all this?"

"Because we're in danger, we're all in danger." Alessandro said in a hushed voice.

"Have you ever heard about the masonry?" Jon asked.

"Yeah, the guys who work with stone?" Medusa replied a bit confused.

"No, well, yes, actually... it's difficult to explain. I can't believe I'll say this, but where's your friend? The cheeky lad."

"He's out on a field trip. Looking for artifacts or something like that. If I didn't know him any better, I would believe he's fooling around with Luna's sister." Medusa said with a hint of anger in her voice.

"Artifacts? What artifacts?" Jon asked with interest, though he then shook his head and remained on topic. "Listen, we need to get you out of this dungeon. That's all I care about."

"No way I'm going without my friends."

"They'll be fine, as long as they're not hybrids," Seeing how Medusa reacted before, Jon knew that at least some of her friends were hybrids and he massaged his temple with his only remaining arm. "How long until they return?"

"I don't know, maybe a day or two." Medusa replied.

"What do you think, Alessandro?" Jon asked the man by his side.

"We need to go now, they're becoming bolder and more dangerous by the minute. It's only a matter of time until someone does something stupid."

"Like what?" As though prompted by her question, the entire island began trembling and a shockwave burst out in the distance and Medusa fell silent as an ominous feeling erupted in her spine.

"Bloody hell." Jon let out after a seemingly endless gasp.

"What is it? Uncle, you're scaring me." Medusa asked, evidently frustrated that she couldn't take the blindfold off and see what happened herself.

"They," Jon pondered on whether he should tell Medusa the island she called home had just popped like a balloon or if it was better to hide that fact from her. Had it been his cute little adoptive niece he would have kept it from her, but she was now a proper woman and a hunter at that.

It led Jon to the realization that keeping the truth from her would be patronizing at best and plain evil at worst. "I'm afraid they found you already and it seems they blew up your island."

"Hmm..." Was all Medusa replied.

"What is it?" It was now Jon's turn to being confused as she didn't react in the way he expected her to.

"Why would they target us?"

"It's all because of that bloody kid. It seems 'Raider' garnered a lot of popularity among civilians and hunters alike. This becomes a problem to them since they lack in numbers to oppose public opinion." Jon replied.

"I see... then it's probably fine," Medusa chuckled and explained when the silence became unbearable. "first, Luna and Uriel aren't supposed to be there so I'm assuming they're safe elsewhere. Second, that explosion was likely caused by the self destruct mechanism I installed on the island. Professor Fermi said it was ingenious and cost efficient, It can also be activated remotely. I only had to..."

"Why would you even do such a thing?" Jon asked lifting his brow.

"Uriel told me that Sam once attempted to bring down one of those islands. They're just floating masses of dirt filled with hot air and they're quite frail. I thought of reinforcing it, but evacuating and destroying the island is way easier. It also leaves our research and resources outside the reach of our enemies."

"That's... a bit too much, but I guess that works in our favor. If only your company had better reputation, we could turn the tides on them." Jon finished with a long sigh.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Raider may be popular, but most people blame your company for what happened thanks to your winged friend."

"About that..." Medusa meant to ask Jon what happened, but he suddenly stopped her.

"There's no more time for catching up, I'm afraid. We need to get out of here right now."

"We can't just leave my friends behind!"

"You said it yourself, your friends are probably fine and I'm in no condition to fight. Heck, even if we leave now they'll probably get out before we do."

"Impossible, Uriel would never abandon me... us, I meant to say us as in the company." Medusa let out bushing like a tomato.

"I doubt he's so stupid as to head over there like a twat," Jon said with little confidence in his own words. From the first time they met, Uriel left a deep impression in him.

Not just because of Uriel's rare knowledge about archaeology, but also because he had the guts to oppose him in spite of being inside the headquarters of one of the strongest companies in the world and surrounded by hunters stronger than him. "fine, maybe he will, but we have our own worries."

"I can't..."

"Precisely my point, you can't. Even if you went there you'll only be a hindrance to him. Listen, they're gathering everyone at the main island, I don't know what they're going to do but I know their goal is to claim this dungeon for themselves. Inside the dungeon we're easy targets, they could kill us and no one would ever know. However, they don't have any influence outside the dungeon... yet."

Jon's usual carefree and playful attitude made it easy for Medusa to forget he wasn't just a hunter, he was 'The hunter'. It was hard for her to reconcile the mental image she had of him with the prominent hunter that commanded respect everywhere he went.

She felt tempted to throw a tantrum or beg him to help his friends, but although she couldn't see how injured Jon was, his serious demeanor could only mean that it wasn't great.

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"If they're gathering at the central island, how are we supposed to exit?" Medusa asked after taking a long sigh of surrender.

"The same way we brought your uncle in without anyone noticing." Alessandro Dolminico answered with a grin.