Dungeon Raider System-Chapter 587: Hunting done right Part 4

Thanks to Bella's wind barrier, all she felt was a slight prod on the back of her head. It was absolutely harmless and only moved her field of view for a second, but that didn't reassure her in any way.

If she felt something, it meant the cryptid had to be behind her and she couldn't keep herself from turning back and seeing the thing in full causing Bella to emit the most ear piercing shriek she had ever mustered.

Nika took it as her cue to enter the bathroom and took advantage of the bidimensional nature of shadows to pass beneath the door. It took her an instant, but when she entered there was nothing to see other than Luna staring at the mirror and Bella standing there confused.

"Why did you yell like that?" Nika asked while still scanning the room.

"I... don't remember." Bella scratched the back of her head.

"Interesting... it seems this cryptid can only be seen through reflections and people who see it become unaware of its existence once they stop looking directly at it. It doesn't fit the description of any cryptid in the lore, which means I get to name it."

"Luna, I don't mean to spoil your discovery, but we need to kill it."

"Uhm... yes." Luna nodded and pointed at a corner on the ceiling prompting Nika to open fire.

Although she coulnd't see or sense anything, if Luna pointed a target she would fire without asking any questions. She was younger than herself, but had proven the worth of her knowledge on almost every encounter they've had.

Unfortunately, Nika's coilgun didn't so much as scratch the cryptid's flesh or whatever it was made of and it only resulted in the thing dropping from the spot at the ceiling to the floor.

This forced Luna to climb into the wash basin to not lose sight of it which allowed her to confirm that it didn't have legs either as it slowly oozed its way to the bathroom door.

"Gastropod." Luna stated the way it moved, though Nika took it as the name of the cryptid.

"Weird name, but at least you didn't name it after something cute. Why isn't the flux orb dropping?"

"Because it's not dead." Luna explained.

"Dammit... Oh!" Nika inwardly scolded herself for forgetting about the Colt Peacemaker Uriel gifted her, but she was ready to atone for it by putting it to good use. The moment Luna's finger pointed at a direction Nika put a single bullet in it, causing it to burst in the most disgusting goo only Luna could see.

"Kill confirmed." Luna declared the end of the fight.

"Look at that!" Nika crouched and picked up a flawless entity rank flux orb. "Good job, Luna!"

"Yay, I did it. This is one of the best days of my life." Luna uttered like she was reading a grocery list, though Nika knew she was being honest and held her in her arms.

"It doesn't matter if you can't express your emotions, I'll always smile for the both of us." Nika kissed Luna's forehead with the widest grin she could muster.

"Thanks." Luna's eyes were starting to well up, both because of her emotions and also because of the sudden relief she felt once the cryptid was killed.

"I remember!" Uriel shouted from the other side of the door, then barged in to squeeze both Luna and Nika in a hug. "I remember everything!"

"Oh my god! I remember too." Nika rushed in to the shower and threw up in there since Bella was doing the same on the toilet.

Uriel and Luna turned to see Medusa with curious eyes since she seemed to be unaffected. It was one thing if Uriel who was raised in the slums had the ability to withstand the grossing feeling caused by the sight of the cryptid, but Medusa should be different.

"I didn't see it." Medusa shrugged.

"This is even more interesting. The cryptid either hid from you or it was unaffected by your trait because it didn't have eyes." Luna theorized, but Uriel went a step further.

"What if your trait didn't affect it since it could only be seen in reflections? I mean, what if your trait is countered by reflections? I didn't want to mention this because I didn't want to give you false hopes, but on Medusa's tale she was defeated by a man who used a reflective shield and used it as a mirror."

"That would be awesome!" Medusa cried tears of joy.

"I just said it's only a possibility, nothing certain."

"I don't care, it's the first clue we have about my trait and maybe even to my race. If I'm actually a descendant from Medusa..."

"That's impossible, gorgons are extinct." Bella answered covering her mouth. Not a single molecule of filth was able to take hold in her body even after puking her guts out, but the same didn't apply to her breath.

Medusa would have loved to ask her how could she know for sure that the mythological creatures actually existed at some point in time, but noticing everyone's pale face she decided to leave it for another time.

At first they thought it was the smell what triggered their nausea, but after disposing of the cryptid they realized it wasn't so bad and the actual cause was the presence of the cryptid. Nika was the first to open the bathroom door and she was immediately affected by the gastropod without even noticing, then forgot about it.

"Such a nasty cryptid, I'd rather fight a beast ten times my size than another one of those things." Nika said.

"Yeah, I hope I never see anything like that ever again." Bella added.

"Uhm... that is... unlikely." Luna countered with her somber face.

"What do you mean?" Bella asked before anyone could warn her about Luna's bad habit of turning everything into a horror story.

"Have you ever woken up with a strange feeling in your gut? Ever wondered why do you feel sick in your stomach in the mornings? Tell me, has it ever happened to you that you're washing your hair and you get shampoo on your eyes, then you close them only to get the imminent feeling of danger? The feeling that something dreadful beyond what words could describe is watching you?"

"I... uhh..." Bella stuttered.

"Then you wash your eyes and open them as soon as you can, but you can't fully open them and your vision is blurry, then you think you see something in the corner of your eye and your heart races and then..." Luna fell silent.

"And then!?" Nika asked biting on her fingernails.

"And then you forget about it." Luna finished with a dramatic tone that sent shivers down their spines. Especially Medusa who was forced to remain blinded only now she pictured all sorts of nasty creatures lurking around her, though nothing she could ever imagine could ever be as disgusting as the gastropod cryptid.

"It wasn't so bad, I actually had a good time. To me it felt like being on vacation. I had no worries, no memories of Chichén Itzá, the nameless horrors, Sam and what happened to our city... Oh, shit!" Uriel started with a smile but ended with a deep frown.

"What is it?" Nika and Medusa asked in unison, worried that there might be another gastropod lurking nearby.

"I remember everything." Uriel clicked his tongue leaving the rest of the group with the itch of curiosity nagging inside their minds.

Contrary to their expectations, as soon as they released the man he didn't thank them nor offer them any sort of payment and instead called the authorities on them.

Sometime in between the appearance of the cryptid and the arrival of the Dungeon Raiders party his house was ransacked and due to him being affected by the cryptid for so long, his memories were still fuzzy and had no clue of who might be responsible.

It forced the group to leave the scene in a hurry, though Uriel didn't miss on the opportunity to steal a glass ashtray that crowned a tall circular table.

"That's stealing!" Bella scolded thinking that such an action wasn't fitting of her future husband.

"It's not, we were called in here and did our jobs, but he refused to pay. I consider this as compensation."

"Now, that's what I call petty theft." Nika laughed. Contrary to Bella's open disapproval, the rest of the group backed him up. In fact, Nika regretted not taking something with her.

That night in the Pegasus, a party was held to celebrate their first cryptid kill in the megacity of hollywood. Since they weren't paid it could be argued that it was an empty achievement and other hunters would probably laugh at their naivety.

But nothing, not even Uriel's bleeding wallet as he had to foot the costs could, not even their newly acquired fear of bathrooms could cast a shadow on the joyful celebration held around a cheap glass ashtray made in China.