Dungeon Raider System-Chapter 638: Santa Barbara outpost

Taking Uriel to the communication outpost was difficult for Mayhem who wasn't accustomed to using subterfuges to get people to do her biding. Raw physical strength, the power of her trait or her army rank were usually more than enough to make people do whatever she wanted, but none of that would work on Uriel.

Heavenly Sword had warned Mayhem several times that killing Uriel would be way easier than getting him to do something he didn't want to do, which is why Mayhem didn't hesitate so sign the contract he presented to her.

Employing him as a mercenary gave her the perfect excuse to get him out of the city, though she had no actual need for his services as it became evident after the short trip to the Santa Barbara outpost where everything was in order.

The few cryptids that followed them on the way were just stray beast rank cryptids, starved enough to not care about the high caliber rounds that could pierce through their bodies with such force they rendered any beast rank cryptid's regeneration ability useless.

"There is also the Wichita, a tribe whose territory extended through what afterwards would be known as Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma too. They had advanced agricultural methods, though they also relied on buffalo hunting.

They made the most remarkable bead jewelry and interestingly enough..." Uriel continued his explanation of the Native American tribes while the engineers worked on the communication array.

Uriel found it odd they didn't encounter any dangerous cryptids on their way as he expected the way over to the Santa Barbara outpost to be nothing short of a meat grinder that would justify his presence, but was easily distracted by Mayhem asking him about archaeology.

Mayhem knew about Uriel's burning passion for archaeology due to their first incursion together, though now she wondered if she made the right decision after finding herself nodding at unintelligible babbles about stuff she couldn't care any less about.

"Excuse me, am I boring you?" Uriel politely asked when he noticed Mayhem was starting to fall asleep.

"No, not at all, go on," She replied with a wry smile which turned into a genuine one when an engineer informed her the communications had been fixed. "Oh! Too bad, it seems we ran out of time."

"I have to say, I'm surprised I had so much fun in this trip." Uriel patted Mayhem's shoulder in comradery after being led to believe she too was interested in archaeology. Many glares were thrown his way due to the breach of protocol, though the impetuous colonel had forewarned them to not mess with Uriel.

The soldiers took it as though he came from a powerful family and had no issues following her orders, though that didn't stop them from feeling bitter by his lack of respect to the chain of command and military protocol.

"This is Colonel Mayhem on behalf of Hollywood megacity, do you copy?" Mayhem spoke as soon as the lights stopped flickering and turned into a steady green color.

"This is Jupiter, what's your status?" A distant voice that could barely be heard through so much static noise replied.

"We're at the Santa Barbara outpost waiting for orders."

"Evacuate the zone, I repeat, evacuate the zone ASAP." The volume of the voice rose up and everyone heard it, though no one dared to move a muscle until the colonel gave the order.

"What's the situation? We're here to find out why the ships stopped coming to our city." Mayhem was more annoyed than worried. She had chosen only people whose fighting prowess was higher than their ranks in order to draw the least amount of heat while giving them the upper hand in a fight.

She had even gone as far as mounting the heaviest most advanced minigun turret she could strap into an ATV and while Uriel's presence was just a lucky coincidence, it worked in her favor.

"We are at war."

"No shit." Mayhem mocked.

"We are at war against an enemy of humanity. He's..." The voice was cut short when the lights suddenly started shining brighter until they burst producing a rain of sparks above their heads.

Uriel was taken by surprise, especially since the way the lights exploded was nothing similar to anything caused by a cryptid's FOD he ever experienced. Instead, it looked more than what happened when Jon Hunter lost control while purging his flux energy. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

The soldiers grabbed their weapons and stood at the ready. Being inside the outpost made them feel safer, but deep down they knew it didn't amount to much in terms of protection as even beast rank cryptids could raze the entire building to the ground if they formed a stampede.

"What on earth are you waiting for? Assume defensive positions, I want every single combat station occupied at once!" Mayhem growled her orders as she stepped outside to look outside the window. It was supposed to be just a peek, yet she became enthralled by what she saw to the point of lowering her arms and falling on her knees.

"Don't move!" Uriel shouted, his voice carrying an intensity that didn't match the picture of the wealthy son of a rich family with a mind numbing passion for archaeology the soldiers thought he was.

The soldiers found themselves incapable of moving without knowing the reason with Tate being the sole exception. He also couldn't move, but he knew the reason all too well. It was Uriel channeling a great amount of flux energy in a sudden burst of aura that enveloped the room.

Contrary to his companions, Tate was aware that Uriel was a heavenly rank hunter and though he was supposedly able to withstand the pressure he emitted, especially after becoming aware of the reason, he still found himself unable to move.

"She's fine... I think." Uriel let out a sigh after checking up on Mayhem who despite being unharmed didn't react when Uriel gave her a couple slaps in the face.

"Is it a cryptid?" Tate asked after gulping a lump of saliva. Uriel's flux energy signature was supposed to reassure him, but it had the complete opposite effect.

"No." Was all Uriel said as he took a step outside to face the enemy, his enemy.

"I knew this moment would come sooner rather than later." Sam hovered in front of the building entrance, his pristine wings unfolded behind his back in the most majestic way possible. His childish features were long gone, his golden eyes being the only thing that reminded Uriel of his friend, Sam.

"Cut the drama, let's get this over with." Uriel cracked his knuckles as though preparing for a fight, while inwardly racking up his brain for an exit.

"You read me like a book," Sam covered half of his face pretending to hide a sinister chuckle. "I'm not here to kill you. How many times do I have to tell you this until it gets into your stubborn head?"

"If you're just here to visit you should have called. I could have brought the girls to have the old gang back together." Uriel snickered, annoyed that he had to crane his neck up to speak to Sam's face.

"Even if I was to come back with you, she would never let me heard the end of it. I can't come back anymore, not after what I've done, not after what I'm about to do." Sam's voice became thunderous when speaking the last words as though he was a judge passing on his sentence on the accused.

"What is it you're about to do? Why don't you..."

"There's no time. See you soon." Sam cut Uriel short and shrugged his shoulders and disappeared in a bright flash of light. The booming noise that followed left Uriel even more dazzled as the figure of Jon Hunter appeared seemingly out of thin air.

"Dammit! I almost had him this time!" Hunter snarled.

"What the..."

"Don't bother, I'll explain everything once we're back in the city," Jon placed his hand in front of Uriel's face to prevent him from speaking anything else. "Just tell me one thing, how come you're still standing?"

"He didn't do anything," Uriel replied before realizing everyone inside the outpost had lost consciousness. "I guess it's because I channeled as much flux as I could without even noticing. It must have protected me from whatever he did."

"Well done, that's the only way to deal with those feathered assholes. It's not what they do, by the way, that's just their presence." Jon grabbed his flask and took a sip from it then wiped his forehead.

"When you say their, do you mean..."

"Yep, there's plenty of those things going around. They just never bother to intervene meddle with us mortals."

"Can you stop interrupting me for one second and answer my damned question! Is Sam an angel?" There were many reasons why Uriel couldn't believe he was asking that question, his skepticism being just one of them.

"Yes, no... I don't think. I mean, he looks like one, but as far as I know he's still a human," Jon sighed, then continued. "I have a lot of questions of my own, but we're not going to get any answers by standing here like an idiot. Let's grab all these guys and head back to the city."