Dungeon Raider System

'Curses! Is downgrading even possible!?' Uriel inwardly cursed as he helplessly saw the wind blades coming his way. As a heavenly rank, dodging the wind blades was easy for him thanks to Dash, but now that he was downgraded to an ascended his body couldn't catch up to their speed. 'Why now of all times?' He questioned himself, but then realized he was still thinking at a high speed.

It was a poor relief, but at least it gave him some time to think and also to scan his surroundings looking for something that could be useful. Unfortunately, most of the floating islands were just barren pieces of land with some grass patches and although the Central island was actually a mountain, the landscape was similar.

The only thing in sight was Tate, who now remained standing at a distance. 'At least he's fine,' Uriel thought relieved, but then continued. 'Why am I relieved!? This guy said he'd fight by my side and now he's...' An idea came to Uriel's mind and he darted towards Tate blocking as many wind blades as possible.

"Hey! Using human shields is not fair!" Bella stomped her feet in a pout that Uriel ignored altogether.

"Tate," Uriel spoke with a jagged breath after cancelling Dash. "Did you really mean what you said? That you swore your allegiance to the flag. Would you give your life for the flag?"

"It would be my honor."

"Good." Uriel grinned taking the short respite Bella gave them to not hit her brother as a chance to stab Tate on the gut with the 'Red thread of fate'. As soon as the red blade made contact with Tate's blood Uriel felt a surge of power coming back to him, he didn't even need to mind the system alerting him that he became a heavenly rank again as he felt it in his entire body.

Not just that, Tate's life force also served to recover a part of Uriel's life essence and his wounds closed entirely.

The soldier fell to the ground without ever taking his eyes from Uriel as the blade stole his vitality. Someone dying wasn't new to Uriel, but this was the first time he didn't see hatred or remorse, instead Uriel saw the man's relief for being helpful without being forced to act against his own family.

"Thank you, Sir." Tate muttered as he fell limp on the ground, which Uriel took as his cue to pull out the knife before killing him.

"Big brother!" Bella shrieked as the wind stormed up, but Uriel placed a hand in a gesture widely known as 'stop'.

"Let me treat his wounds, then we'll continue on our date." Uriel spoke as a sudden calm invaded him. He took out a bottle of serum and gave Tate what he considered to be considered just enough.

Applying it was difficult even for medics since the liquid would boost a hunter's healing capabilities in exchange for flux energy, but if the flux energy got too low the body would become unable to heal itself entirely resulting in death.

Bella watched the whole scene unfold in front of her eyes and although she didn't know what to make of it, she still allowed Uriel to continue until color rose back to Tate's pale face.

"I'm ready now." Uriel stood up as he took distance from the loyal soldier who would rather give his life for the flag than fight her own sister.

"You... how dare you." Bella Eurus eyes lit up in anger and she started with her wind barrage again, only this time Uriel was more than ready for it. She threw barrages of wind blades and blasts and Uriel effortlessly dodged each of them while closing in.

As soon as Uriel got in close combat range Bella activated her wind barrier once more, but it was expected by Uriel who took some distance at the precise moment and repeated the process.

Seeing that her brother was fine, a smile finally began forming again on Bella's face as the bloodlust turned into the pleasure of fighting. Each time Uriel dodged she attempted to correct her aim, but whenever she came too close to hitting him he would block with his dagger.

However, just because he wasn't getting hit didn't mean Uriel had the advantage as his flux energy was rapidly depleting and unless he landed at least a stab, he would be left with no choice but to kill Tate and make a run for it.

The problem with that was that Bella's defense was impenetrable no matter the angle, it was as though she had eyes on the back of her head as the barrier would activate even when Uriel attacked from a blindspot.

To make matters worse, the more the battle lasted the more enthralled Bella became and her continuous attacks became more vicious and precise.

Uriel pondered if it was a good idea to use the Jaguar spirit despite knowing that it would most likely drain whatever was left on his flux reserve and would probably downgrade him to the ascended rank to save battery. But then another idea ran across his mind.

'I can't shoot at her because I need to block her strikes and I can't get close to her because of her barrier, but what if I use both?' Uriel inwardly questioned himself as he summoned his revolver once more.

He drew close to Bella's again who now frantically waved her hands frustrated that none of her attacks were landing. The closer he got, the more he risked getting hit but once he reached melee distance, waited for the barrier to activate and took some distance like many times before, things changed. As soon as the barrier popped off, Uriel fired a single shot aimed at her heart.

"Ouch! You hit my boob!" Bella Eurus cried as she rubbed her chest. All of Uriel's efforts, the risks he took and even the energy he stole from Tate amounted to nothing but to make it to Bella's equivalent to reaching second base on a date.

The winds raged as though reacting to Bella's shock after being hit and Uriel stood his ground, his hair waving in the air and the blue glimmer still present on his eyes looking straight into Bella's. Shivers ran down her spine and a sudden heat rushed to her cheeks and she made a decision.

"I wanted to take things slow, but you're so straightforward. Just how I like them..." She muttered the last part to herself as the brightness in her eyes went up a notch, then Uriel did the unthinkable.

"Sorry, I remember I have a thing..." He excused himself as though bailing out of a bad date and turned tail, something Bella didn't appreciate.

"How dare you do this to me and then leave me!?" Her voice rose up in intensity and the wind responded to her will rising up in power as well. Uriel didn't know how much flux energy she had on her reserve, but she didn't even look tired and confirmed that running away was the right choice.

He didn't need to kill her, he didn't even need to defeat her. His whole purpose of staying back was to buy some time for his companions and then catching up to them thanks to his speed. The former was already achieved, but if he remained engaged on combat for just one more minute his flux reserves would impede him from the latter as he wouldn't have enough flux to catch up to them.

Thankfully, Uriel soon realized he didn't need to keep Dash active anymore as the hail was already starting to melt which allowed him to slide due to the sloped terrain and since Uriel took a posture that diminished wind resistance to a minimum Bella could do nothing about it, or so Uriel thought.

While it was true that she couldn't prevent Uriel from sliding downhill, she could follow him gliding down like a hawk about to snatch a prey. She leapt forward at a high speed, higher even than Uriel's, dodging without effort the few shots Uriel fired to slow her down.

'Why do I always get the crazy ones?' Uriel gritted his teeth as the shrieking figure that followed him reminded him of a harpy more than a human, though she didn't show any signs of being a hybrid.

"You're not walking away from me!" She shouted once more when she realized that Uriel was nearing the fog veil. She then channeled her flux for the first time since the downfall of the city where she had to fight her way out along with her family.

It was only a brief second, but in that short amount of time the amount of flux energy she managed to charge was enough to launch a powerful wind blade that cut deep into the mountain.

"Finally..." Uriel let out a relieved sigh once he found himself surrounded by the fog where not even Bella could reach. He was in dire need of rest, but decided not to stop his slide downwards and make the most of it since it would save him a lot of time.

Things seemed to have ended on the best possible outcome as the light from the above dimmed the deeper Uriel slid into the dangerous abyss, which ironically made Uriel feel safer. At least until he noticed it, he noticed the pain.

With Bella's last desperate attack a huge portion of the mountain was shaven by the charged wind blade and dirt burst out in many different directions, along with Uriel's legs.