NOVPUBThe engine explosion was a huge setback for their plans to set off during the week and would probably mean they’d need to get accustomed to the Lousiana wetlands as even with the right parts, fixing the engine was a difficult task. The problem was they didn’t have enough materials to rebuild the engine and someone would need to go to the nearest city and buy them.
Medusa was beyond upset, it was the first time they saw her curse like that and they were so intimidated by her no one dared to oppose when she ordered Uriel and Nika to go find the parts. Even in her enraged mood, Medusa kept at least a hint of her logical thinking and asked them because Uriel could ride the jaguar while Nika remained on his shadow.
The fact that she didn’t want Luna to spend any more time with Uriel was completely unrelated to her decision. Well, maybe not entirely as Medusa couldn’t hide a smug when Luna complained because she wouldn’t be able to go with them.
Uriel, though, wasn’t that excited about the prospect of traveling hundreds of kilometers across a swamp filled with all sorts of hungry creatures. Especially now that he was a heavenly rank hunter since all the weaklings would probably remain hidden unless they found an opportunity, while the entity rank cryptid might actively hunt him down.
Hunting near the zeppelin was way safer given that he could return at any time and his friends would help, but what Medusa asked him to do was basically to head into no man’s land on foot, since it was bound to be a long trip and the jaguar spirit consumed way too much flux energy. 𝔫𝖔𝖛𝖕𝖚𝔟.𝖈𝖔𝔪
Still, he grabbed as many batteries as he could carry and headed outside with Nika hiding in his shadow. Right after setting off, Uriel thought the most difficult part of the trip was going to be the difficulty of the terrain, but after half an hour of walking he realized how wrong he was.
"Are we there yet?" Nika asked.
"I forgot how annoying you can be..." Uriel said under his breath, knowing full well that Nika would be able to hear him.
"By the way, what did Luna say to you before we left? Is she the one in charge of giving you the good luck kiss on the cheek now you’re broken up with Medusa?"
"She didn’t do that! All she did was warn me about the cryptids that might be present along the way, at least according to lore."
"Anything interesting about them?"
"Why don’t you just hop into my shadow and let me walk by myself for a while? You’re too noisy and your energy signature might cause more cryptids to appear." Uriel grunted.
"Isn’t finding cryptid precisely what we need? We could use some flux orbs to sell in the city."
"Listen, walking in this type of terrain is difficult and Ia only know the general direction of the city. What do you think will happen to us if we don’t get to the city before nightfall?"
"Huh... so, you’re scared. Don’t worry, I can protect you. After all, I’m stilal your bodyguard. As luck would have it, just as she finished speaking Uriel noticed a small disturbance in the shallow waters beneath Nika’s feet and he quickly buried his hand on the mud, pulling out a venomous snake.
"Got it." He said after squeezing it with his bare hand, thinking it was a regular animal. Much to his surprise, though, it dropped a beast rank flux orb.
"Was that thing a cryptid!?"
"I have no clue, it looked completely normal... do you think it’s possible it swalloed the orb?"
"Who knows, but going back to your shadow doesn’t sound so bad now. Call me if you need my help... or if you get lonely." She winked as she disappeared in his shadow.
"Like I’d call you..."
"I heard that!" A muffled voice came from his shadow, but Uriel completely ignored it and focused on the path ahead.
Luna had warned him about several cryptids, some of which were realy troublesome and he wished to not stumble upon them, particularly the swamp monster. His past self would have considered those creatures to be nothing but the figments of the overactive imagination of paranoid people who believed in conspiracy theories, but now he knew better.
How could he deny the existence of creatures because they seemed fake, when he had already met some creatures that had been present in literature and popular culture for years. If there was a connection between the lore and the real life cryptids that was a thing for an expert like Luna to determine and Uriel decided not to refute their existence or alleged abilities.
Instead, he decided to prepare himself in the off chance they were real and he was unlucky enough to cross his path with them.
Surrounded by water and mossy trees, Uriel continued walking all morning without stopping. Not even when cryptids blocked his way or attempted to ambush him. Instead of waiting for the cryptids to vanish, he tore apart the lizardy creatures and strange mammal-like creatures that stood in his way.
That wasn’t the case for bugs, though, as he hated them so much he asked Nika to take care of extracting the flux orbs from those creatures.
It wasn’t a graceful job, but Nika didn’t complain and dutifully obeyed Uriel’s commands. It somewhat reminded him of when he first met her. He thought she was beautiful beyond reason and really competent, but that only lasted until they set foot on Chichén Itzá and it had been a while since he last saw her being so reliable.
By noon, Uriel climbed to the top of a tree and realized he was nowhere near the city, or any landmark that could point him in the right direction. In fact, despite his best effort he wasn’t that far from the zeppelin and could still safely return there without too many complications. If on the contrary, he decided to venture further inside the wetlands, there would be no return.
