NOVPUBAs usual, when facing the option to back down or move forward, Uriel decided to continue on his way. He wasn’t the same scaredy student that would let himself be bullied or allow people to look him over their shoulder anymore, and he also wasn’t one to back down from a challenge.
If anything, he was thrilled to explore the wetlands, but he was no adrenaline junkie either. He knew full well the dangers of the swamp were real and a single mistep could be the end of not just him, but of his friends who relied on him too.
However, he wasn’t interested in studying cryptids like Luna. Instead, he hoped to stumble upon a POI, an archaeological site of the sorts or a dungeon. Of course he wouldn’t explore it right away and would most likely revisit the place after bringing back the parts Medusa needed to fix the engine, but he still kept his eyes peeled to not miss anything along the way.
The problem was that all he could see as far as his heavenly rank eyes allowed, was water and vegetation. It was boring, sweaty and uncomfortable. At some point he couldn’t take it anymore and decided to summon the jaguar spirit, only instead of using his own flux energy he put together a few tier 2 batteries and activated them.
The jaguar came out of the clay figurine, still wearing the improvised kangal dog collar he bought for it on the souvenir shop. The cryptid emitted a coughing sound and the flames on its loin erupted and then lowered its body to allow Uriel to ride it.
For a cryptid, even a summoned one, to behave like that was unheard of, but Uriel had no way of knowing it since he had never met another hunter with such an ability. Summoned creatures like the jaguar spirit, stablish a bond with their summoner but that didn’t mean they were obedient.
In fact, the sole reason why traits that allowed summoning cryptids was so rare was because as soon as they tested their traits for the first time, the summoned creature would kill the summoner’s entire party.
For Uriel though, as much as he denied at first, the jaguar spirit had become something like a pet. He trusted it enough to ride it even though the cryptid was always aflame, because he knew that the blue fire that came from its body would only harm the cryptid’s enemies. 𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒑𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝙤𝒎
"Take me to the closest city," Uriel commanded after hoping up and the Jaguar spirit climbed the nearest tree. "I said to a city, not to climb a tree!" Uriel grunted as he was taken by surprise by the sudden shift to an upward position, but the cryptid paid no heed to his words and instead showed him the reason why he climbed the tree.
As much as it was an ancient cryptid with mystical abilities and control over the fire element, it was also a feline, and felines loved to climb trees. But that wasn’t all, moving in a marshy terrain was also difficult for the cryptid, but that didn’t matter if it didn’t touch ground.
Jumping from tree to tree at an incredible speed, the jaguar spirit moved swiftly across the forest while Uriel clung to its loin to avoid falling in the muddy waters. The jaguar steps were so precise, most of the brances he stepped on didn’t break in spite of the heavy and sudden weight applied onto them.
"Right! You used to live in a jungle, it makes sense you know how to travel fast in a forest." Uriel complimented the cryptid with a pat on its head.
Travelling like that wasn’t comfortable, but it was way better than getting wet and muddy at ground level and it was also much faster. Uriel would have loved for the trip to be less shaky, but it was so convenient he endured the dizzyness for the sake of reaching his destination sooner.
A few hours and all of the tier 2 batteries later, the summon was coming to an end and Uriel allowed the jaguar to rest inside the clay figurine. Though now he realized the kangal collar he gifted the jaguar was also depicted in the ancient figurine, which surprised him.
"Does this mean I can buy armor and other stuff for it?" He questioned himself as he scanned his surroundings. The vegetation was pretty scarce now, at least compared to when he first set off and the shallow waters shifted into just a few puddles here and there.
"Are we there yet?" Nika poked her head outisde with a sleepy face.
"Can you stop it? We’re getting close, there’s the main road." Uriel pointed towards the distance where a gray line of asphalt signalled they reached what used to be civilization. Now that the road was clear, walking on foot wasn’t torture anymore and they walked along the highway.
There were destroyed cars here and there and even abandoned objects along the road, which was odd considering how neat the highways near their megacity was.
"This is weird, it looks like everything has been left untouched since the arrival..." Uriel muttered.
"Do you think there’s something valuable in here?" Nika asked.
"Maybe, but we don’t have the time to scavenge on this occasion, maybe we can get back here after getting the parts we need."
Fortunately for them, the rest of the trip was uneventful, safe for Nika’s impatient character that annoyed Uriel so much. However, when they reached the walls they noticed something odd.
"There’s no gate!" Nika gasped.
"Huh, there must be a gate, how are they supposed to go out and hunt without one?" Uriel lifted his brows, but a couple guns echoed in the distance getting him on high alert. He only lowered his guard once Nika tapped his shoulder and pointed upwards, where three flares were soaring the skies above them.
"I don’t think they’re happy to see us..."
