Dungeon Raider System

To say everyone was shocked by Sam's revelation would be the understatement of the century. With just a few words, he admitted not only to allowing cryptids inside the city, but also to sacrificing humans to keep them under his control.

Uriel thought of sneaking his phone outside his trait to record everything and expose Sam, just how Sam leaked a video of a skinwalker that looked exactly like Uriel committing crimes. That, however, was unnecessary as everything was already on camera and Sam didn't seem to mind.

'Was he always this crazy?' Uriel questioned himself after realizing that, of all the possible scenarios, admitting guilt in the one place where two holy rank hunters witnessed it was the most disadvantageous to him.

Then he realized something he had forgotten, Sam was essentially a coward and even with the kind of power he acquired it would still be unlikely for him to take such a great risk and the only possible explanation was that at least one of the holy rank hunters in question was on his payroll.

Given the situation, Uriel expected everyone to grab their weapons and jump at Sam at any second, but that didn't come to happen. Maybe it was because of Sam's nonchalant attitude or maybe because they were too curious to hear what he had to say, but the room remained silent as a grave until Sam spoke again.

"As you all may know, this city has an expiration date. It may not happen today or even this year, but there's a titan at our gates and we all know what it means. So far, no human has ever been able to defeat a titan level cryptid, but that doesn't apply to cryptids. I formed the Fallen corporation with the sole purpose of weaponizing cryptids and..."

"This is outrageous! If it was possible to communicate with cryptids, the war would have been over years ago!" The head of the rangers shouted.

"No, that is correct. I've read several hunting reports claiming that cryptids communicated with them, only we thought they were only capable of mimicking our speech." The woman besides him spoke and then the room fell into disarray.

Uriel wasn't in the spot anymore, but he decided not to move from where he stood since stepping out would waste his chance to participate on the discussion and he wasn't going to waste his one chance to put Sam against the corner.

"So, you're saying you've been treating humans as cattle to feed cryptids and we should accept it and cross our fingers that they won't turn against us?" Uriel turned to Sam, who didn't bother to return the gaze.

"My actions are inexcusable and I'll accept whatever punishment you see fit, but I would like to show some of the progress I made before you pass on the sentence." Sam's golden eyes gleamed softly as he passed his gaze through all the members of the board.

"We should at least hear him out." Said the head of the hunters, the businesswoman who was clearly charmed by Sam.

"Let me introduce you to my soldiers," Sam pointed towards the Fallen corporation soldiers standing on the side of the room and three soldiers took a step forward and removed their helmets. Other than the Fallen corp. crest on their uniforms, there was nothing suspicious about them.

"Look at them, they look like regular humans, but looks can be deceiving." After he spoke, one of the soldiers shifted his appearance and became an exact copy of the head of the hunters which caused a great impression on the room.

"Is this a trait?" The head of the hunters asked.

"No, currently, her trait is the same as yours, both in nature and quality. They can copy any trait without issues, even the most complex ones." Sam explained.

"Sound the alarm! There's a cryptid in this room!" Someone shouted, but Sam calmly continued.

"It's not a cryptid, she's a human mixed with a cryptid, though it's not what you would call a natural hybrid but the result of humans and cryptids cooperating. The horror level skinwalker agreed to participate in our experiments and these soldiers are our most prided success.

They are stronger, faster and they retain some of the abilities of the cryptid they're mixed with, but the most important factor is that they're almost invulnerable."

"They can regenerate!?" Piero Celes gasped, though the most profound emotion he experienced was jealousy. As the CEO of the most important technology and weapon company in the city, the idea of crossing crytpids with humans to use against cryptids in war wasn't new. Unfortunately to him and to his test subjects, all of his experiments always ended in failure.

Instead of replying, Sam looked at the soldier who then proceeded to make a small cut on her skin with a combat knife causing a small wound that healed immediately after the knife passed proving that her regenerative abilities were on part with cryptids.

"Is this worth the sacrifice of those innocent people you killed to keep crytpids inside the city? Even if they seem powerful, they all share the same weakness." Uriel voiced out, expecting Sam to spit a poor excuse for his actions, but the one who replied was Samuel Song.

"It's worth ten times this sacrifice. I was aware of the costs when I gave permission for this line of research, which is why I personally provided some test subjects. While it is true I tried to pin everything on you it was for two reasons, the first was that I needed time before breaking this news to the board and also because like it or not you are guilty.

By turning vampires back into humans, you diminished our forces by one third, but the worst part is you killed a valuable asset that cannot be replaced. Do you understand now why killing the nosferatu is an act of treason?"

"I tried to be as humane as possible, at first I only killed the criminals provided to me, but when the experiments were successful I was forced to take over the fight club known as the ladder. It allowed my soldiers to gain incredible powers while disposing of hunters that decided to use their traits selfishly instead of saving people.

Unfortunately, the proximity of the titan rank cryptid forced my hand and I had no choice but to use the hospitals I built to hurry the process. By killing the weaker hunters, we were able to breed cryptids and create the first flux orb farm in human history.

My sins weigh heavy on my shoulders and it is a burden I must carry, but everything I've done is only to protect this city and my friends." Sam finished his explanation almost breaking into tears. His face was filled with regret to the point where he almost sounded like his former self for a minute.

"How was I supposed to know?" Uriel replied, though he sounded unconvinced. All the evidence was already on the table, but he always assumed the worst about Sam and never thought he could possibly be working towards saving the city. If sacrificing citizens was truly the only way to save the city, even Uriel would have been on board.

He witnessed first hand the titan's power and he knew that no city could possibly withstand its attack, just like it happened with the lost city in the wetlands where he found the wild girl. Being able to fight the titan level cryptid could prevent the city from being razed by the titan and becoming just another lost city, which could potentially save millions of lives.

Thinking like that, the lives of a few thousand people meant nothing against the fate of an entire megacity.

"You weren't supposed to know, no one was. I did all this to protect you all. In hindsight, it may have been better if I did tell you, but I was too ashamed to speak to you after what I did to Medusa." Sam looked even more regretful and when he mentioned Medusa, Sam's eyes filled with tears.

Sam's sincerity touched the hearts of everyone present, even Uriel felt moved. Deep down, he wished he could reconcile with Sam and pretend the last few months were nothing but a bad dream. He wished they didn't part as enemies and that Water warlock remained being his problem and nobody else's.

A thousand different scenarios went through Uriel's mind as he pondered the implications of what he just learned.

It meant that everything Sam had done since he came back from Rapa Nui had been out of concern for his friends and for his city, which made sense if Uriel took into consideration that, thanks to his trait, Sam should have seen the titan in the distance way before anyone knew about it. It explained so much, but in the end it all pointed to a single conclusion.

'All I've done since I came back has been for nothing,' He inwardly said as he pictured himself swimming against the current for so long, when the correct thing would have been to simply let go. 'and it's all my fault. It's my fault Sam didn't trust me enough to say anything because It was me who betrayed him...'