Dungeon Raider System-Chapter 784: The devil’s monastery Part 2
Uriel had absolutely no doubt that Nika could handle the man in the flowery shirt on her own and was in no rush to get to the room. In fact, he believed that by the time he got there she would have already extracted the information from the man and things would resolve quickly.
His confidence lasted until he opened the door and found the room the exact same way he left it before with no traces of Nika ever reaching the room. Luna sniffed the air and confirmed that the man who identified himself as Alfaro wasn't taken there.
"Okay, this doesn't make sense." Uriel let out in frustration. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
"It doesn't. It has all the indicatives of it being a dungeon, but you say it is not. All evidence points to cryptids being involved, yet the lights still work. The only missing people also happen to be the ones with the strongest flux signature, but for some reason no one even had the time to call for help. Nika could shadow blink right back to us and yet she hasn't... It means she is either unconscious or dead." Luna said with only an apparent calm.
"Or her trait may not work. If she's in complete dark she can't activate it." Uriel said in an attempt to comfort Luna who loved Nika beyond what her limited expressions could show.
"Do you know something about this place? Uhm... anything?"
"Absolutely nothing, the only thing I can tell is it's not as ancient as it looks and it was renovated recently. Probably after the arrival to convert it into a hotel, but who knows for sure." Uriel let out a sigh.
"The receptionist." Luna said and Uriel agreed it was probably time to inform the hotel staff of what was going on. Luna followed her nose and quickly found the receptionist who at the time was at the laundry room, but despite her keen sense of smell following the convoluted halls across the old building was still a chore. They explained everything to the woman who seemed shocked for a moment, then truly concerned.
"And you say there was a murder!? Now that you mention it, I did think it was weird that most hunters left without so much as saying bye." The woman said.
"If you could tell us the story of this place, then maybe we can figure out what we are up against. My friend is an expert cryptozoologist and can make sense of even the most outlandish stories." Uriel explained and Luna nodded.
"This little girl? I thought she was your child." The woman said, now truly shocked.
"I'm his girlfriend." Luna replied nonchalantly.
"She's an adult," Uriel explained when he noticed the woman paling at Luna's statement. "and also not my girlfriend."
"This monastery was built a long time ago for the Franciscans, they loved secluded places and they thought it would make a nice home but for some reason crops didn't grow. This caused the poor men to starve and although they resorted to begging and even the townhall attempted to give them a hand, they still became crazy one day and hung themselves in the basement. Then, it became a convent and something similar happened. From that moment this place has been known to be haunted. I know it sounds spooky, but I think it's the benevolent souls of the religious men who lived here that keep this place safe at night. I wish I could tell you more, but I only work here." The woman said with a regretful expression on her face.
"What makes this place haunted, other than the doors closing shut at night." Luna asked.
"Well... there's been tellings of people hearing moans at night. Also, sudden changes in temperature. Those things have always been related to ghosts."
"Yeah, ghosts don't exist. The moans can be people being tortured and the temperature changes can be explained by a strong flux energy signature." Luna nodded towards Uriel.
"To the basement we go, then." Uriel said.
"I'm sorry, but the basement has been sealed for years. I don't even know where the entrance is." The woman apologized.
"You've done more than enough, thanks." Uriel said with a pained expression as he grabbed a thousand credit bill and handed it to the woman. She smiled at him and went to grab it, but Uriel's instinct made him hold on to it as though it was a lifeline until the woman pulled it hard enough that it could start to rip making Uriel come to his senses and let go.
"Thanks." She retreated.
"You didn't have to tip if you really didn't want to." Luna said, amused by the previous silly scene.
"One of the things Jon taught me was to always be generous with tips." Uriel replied.
"I thought you hated him."
"I hate most of people, but that doesn't mean I can't learn from them." He shrugged and retreated to look for the basement.
They examined every corner in the first floor finding no evidence there was ever a basement at all. They moved across the convoluted halls, some dead ends and they even entered some of the rooms in hopes of finding a clue, but there were none to be found.
Just when they were about to give up on the idea of finding it, Uriel had a revelation inside the kitchen.
"Do you know what this is?" Uriel pointed at what seemed like a box embedded on the wall.
"Yes, I have seen it in many apartments. It's where they drop trash."
"Not really, you see, back in the day there were no elevators and building stairs was difficult. That is why the kitchen was connected to the other floors by a small elevator they called dumbwaiter. That way they could send food up and the dishes back down saving time for everyone." Uriel informed.
"You are hungry too?" Asked Luna who had been thinking about food the entire time.
"No, I need you to stay here and I'll send you something from the second floor." Uriel said and rushed upstairs so fast he became dizzy with all the turns he needed to make just to reach the stairs.
Once there, Uriel placed a trite in the dumbwaiter and slowly cranked it so it would go down. The screeching sound it made was a sign it hadn't been used in a long while, but that was something he was already expecting since there was a restaurant inside.
"Did you get it?" Uriel asked but received no reply from Luna. He then attempted to call her on her phone, but she didn't pick up. It wasn't rare for Luna not to pick up the phone and the most likely explanation was that she was distracted with the food since she was at the kitchen. The thought of her stuffing her mouth with raw ingredients got him to chuckle, until he realized he would probably need to pay for them.
Uriel then knocked on the dumbwaiter and rattled the crank a little hoping that Luna would reply and when she failed to answer in any form he started to become worried. He rapidly pulled the dumbwaiter back up finding the trite was no longer there, which made absolutely no sense since that would mean Luna was on the other side and refused to answer.
"Unless it wasn't Luna and this isn't connected to the kitchen," Uriel inwardly pondered, then cursed at his own mind for always fearing the worst possibilities. It didn't mean his assumptions were usually wrong, but that only amounted to his stress levels. "only one way to find out I guess." Uriel said as he pulled out the box with his bare hands, tearing it off from the wall as though it was made of paper.
Next thing he did, he dove inside the empty vent that was now open and used his hands to slow his descent and exit on what he thought would be the first floor, but great was his surprise when he found himself in complete darkness and without wasting a second summoned a gas lantern from his trait.
It was only a glimpse of it, but the most dreadful creature appeared on the corner of his sight. A black slender creature with elongated claws and a texture similar to the bark of a really old tree, but when he turned to see it, there was nothing there and he assumed it was just his mind playing tricks on him.
"Uriel, you came for me!" Nika let out as she crawled out from his shadow and kissed him repeatedly on the cheeks. "You know how much I hate to be in the dark, not only because I can't use my trait, but also because it was starting to drive me crazy."
"How so?"
"I thought I saw something, but it's impossible, because it was completely dark." She replied while taking advantage of the fact that Uriel seemed distracted to rest her head on his chest.
"We need to get out of here, now." Uriel said.
"What's the rush? This place is scary, but it's safe." Nika said, wanting to extend her time alone with Uriel if only for a minute.
"Because I saw it too."
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