Dungeon Raider System-Chapter 513: New home

*Beep beep* *Beep beep*

[System notice] Battery level low.

"Ugh... five more minutes, please..." Uriel said as he attempted to cover his face with a blanket that wasn't there anymore. Getting out of bed had always been a difficult task for Uriel, made only worse by the many sleepless night he spent before finally finding a suitable place for him and his friends to live.

To call it a house would be an overstatement, but it was the closest thing to a home they could manage with the little building materials they were able to secure. Of course Uriel could have simply bought a tent from his souvenir shop, but he decided not to since he knew they would need more permanent accommodations anyway.

[System notice] Battery...

"I know, shut up already!" Uriel grunted.

"Grrr... let me sleep." Luna growled in a deep voice that didn't fit her innocent face in the slightest.

"This is your fault!" Uriel rebuked.

"Uhm... no."

"It is! You're totally a bed hog." Medusa argued as she emerged from behind Uriel, wearing nothing but her blindfold and the silky night gown Uriel bought for her the night before, while he could do nothing but think 'How did I get myself into this?'.

"I see you're not an early bird, boss." Phlox greeted Uriel as he exited his makeshift hogan shelter. As primitive as it looked, it performed pretty well against the relentless winds of the second world, though it wasn't spacious enough for Luna's sleeping behavior.

She not only hoarded all the bed sheets, but she also turned and twisted so much during the night it made sleeping a difficult task for the tired hunters who were forced to share the bed.

"You could say that," Uriel turned to glare at Luna who was just exiting the shelter wrapped in all the blankets like a burrito then asked Phlox. "Did they finish crossing the citizens over to inhabitable islands?"

"Not at all, they're still coming. I came to bring bad news, It's just as you suspected, the neighboring city closed its borders and they're not taking any refugees."

"Can't say I'm surprised, last time I went there it was filled with pretentious people." Uriel shrugged.

"There's something else..." Phlox awkwardly continued.

"There's more?" Gasped Medusa as soon as she walked out the shelter still wearing her daring attire.

"No wonder you didn't bat an eye in the night!" Laughed Dragonfang as she walked in.

"Didn't I send you to gather the remaining members of our corporation?" Uriel massaged his temple to fight the sudden morning headache.

"You see, Captain Silvermane asked if he could borrow some of our members to help build their shelters. They've been able to gather some construction materials, but building suitable shelters has been a challenge for the tired and overworked soldiers." Miss Phlox explained.

"And by asking, you mean he commanded it. He probably thought that since I'm a lieutenant and both of you are corporals he could order us around, right?" Uriel finished with a scoff.

"No," Phlox shook her head. "He was very polite about it."

Had it been anybody else, Uriel wouldn't even consider losing manpower to help someone. Especially after how much they've done already to evacuate the citizens and build bridges in between the floating islands. But not only Captain Silvermane had always been good to him, he also didn't try to force them which made things a lot easier.

If it was an order rather than a favor, Uriel would have immediately declined regardless of the circumstances because it would have stated a dangerous precedent and more army officers could try and force them to do things for them. As a favor, though, Uriel was able to refuse and it also meant that the army would be indebted to him.

"I think it's best if I teach them how to build a hogan instead of sending people to do it for them, but before that, does anyone have a battery? Mine ran out yesterday and it's driving me crazy."

"No problem, just let me recharge mine first" Medusa replied with a smile and went inside to recharge her phone, the whole process took no more than ten seconds. Uriel then took out his smartphone and activated the tier 2 battery Medusa just handed him and the usual arcs of electricity began charging it, only instead of a few seconds it took a lot longer than a minute.

By the time the battery was completely drained, the smartphone had yet to reach ten percent of its capacity, which shook Medusa who knew exactly how much energy was contained in a battery. "This is weird, a tier 2 battery is meant to feed coil rifles for a day of intense use. A phone should use nowhere near this much energy."

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.

"Maybe it was depleted before you activated it." Phlox who was also a combat engineer tried to provide an explanation.

"No, it's actually pretty common. This thing is pretty useful, but ever since I became a heavenly rank hunter it's been a pain to keep it charged." Uriel explained with a shrug. The fact that a smartphone consumed so much electricity didn't faze him in the slightest. It was his first smartphone and simply assumed it was completely normal.

Usually, keeping it charged wasn't so difficult since it used Uriel's own flux energy, but now he couldn't spare any flux on that, at least until their reserve of batteries ran out.

The floating island they chose as their new home was located in a secluded spot at mid height and because of the absence of a sun it was impossible to tell which direction was east or north and they had yet to come up with a system to navigate the islands.

In spite of all this, Uriel knew the way back since he participated in the construction of the many bridges that helped those without a trait to come and go from island to island.

However, this didn't mean that the trip towards the entrance where the army had made camp was easy or safe. This wasn't the case, especially for people traveling alone since after the dungeon break, many cryptids that used to dwell on the lost city above them infiltrated the abandoned dungeon and it was impossible to tell what kind of cryptids inhabited the depths of the second world.

This didn't mean Uriel was scared. If anything, it was the complete opposite. Stumbling onto a cryptid could mean death for the average hunter, but Uriel was far from being average. To him, it was the same as picking up a flux orb lying in the ground and he kept his eyes peeled to not miss an opportunity.

"Nothing..." Uriel muttered to himself when he finally spotted the military camp in the distance. Maybe due to the unending light or perhaps due to the sudden shift in the flux energy caused by the countless people now seeking refuge in the dungeon, no cryptid showed up on his way.

"Halt! No civilian is allowed beyond this point." A soldier greeted Uriel with the tip of his handgun.

"I'm Uriel Sage..." Uriel attempted to speak, but the soldier cut him short.

"No exceptions." The soldier didn't budge. It was annoying, but Uriel knew he was just doing his job and decided to wait for the Lieutenant to show up.

"That's not the way to treat guests, corporal. Good morning, afternoon, night or whatever..."

"Good morning," Replied Uriel after swiftly checking the time of day on his phone. "I'm here to help you guys with your housing problem."

"I'm well aware, we've been expecting you. I sincerely hope you excuse our corporal's rude behavior, but we've been working non stop with the exodus. I'm Lieutenant Ridge, it's a pleasure meeting you, Mister Sage." Ridge was a young female soldier who rose in the ranks of the army before she even became an ascended.

She was dutiful and loyal to the flag which made her the perfect candidate to put in charge of non violent activities.

Uriel pondered for a second if he needed to correct the way she addressed to him, since he was also a lieutenant, but ended up deciding against it. 'What's the worst that could happen?' He inwardly asked himself as he followed the lieutenant inside the perimeter they called 'camp'.

More than a military camp, though, it was nothing but shabby buildings put together, accompanied here and there by some standard tents the soldiers managed to bring along in the zeppelins.

"I know it's not much. That's precisely why, when Dragonfang mentioned you guys had shelters I begged Captain Silvermane to send you guys here. By the way, when are your men arriving?" Ridge asked when she noticed the awkward expression on Uriel's face.

"We can't spare anyone at the moment, I'm here to teach you how to efficiently build properly insulated lodgings with few resources, but you'll have to put in the work." Uriel replied unfazed by the disappointment in Ridge's face.

"I see... beggars can't be choosers, I guess..."