Egaxo51 Welcome to the jungle
Uriel enjoyed life on the zeppelin during the rest of the trip. Lavish food, nice clothes and people who treated him nicely, in short, it was heaven, but as much as he enjoyed getting spoiled he was so excited about the expedition he couldn't wait to land.
If this was the old times, the zeppelin would have been able to fly over the ocean and arrive at their destination in a couple hours, but flying over the sea carelessly was too dangerous because of the unknown dangers that may be lurking under the dark waters. Instead of flying over the short distance they had to make a detour and fly only over land as it was easy to spot any possible threats at a distance.
When the zeppelin touched ground a big group of bodyguards were dispatched to clear the landing zone and only after a few minutes when they made sure it was safe, Uriel was finally allowed to set foot outside. He grabbed the backpack that had been prepared for him beforehand and ran outside along with Nika who was now his own personal assistant.
"This is amazing! I've never been in a place like this before!" He said after taking the first breath of humid jungle air. One of the biggest concerns within city walls was the air quality, it was precisely because of the tall walls that smog clouded up and it caused many citizens to fall due to illness, but it was also thanks to the walls that people were able to go about their daily life normally. Enjoying the breath of fresh air, Uriel advanced across the broad path in front of him following the leading Mapple employees.
"One thing they never tell you about the jungle is how many mosquitoes are out there seeking for blood." Uriel slapped his thigh killing the pesky little bug that just bit him. He had only been walking for about five minutes after disembarking and he was already being swarmed by all sorts of insects.
"Actually, they always warn people about them." Nika said as she stepped out of the shadows, startling Uriel.
"How come they're not biting you then?" He managed to say after regaining his composure.
"It's one of the perks of being a heavenly rank, my skin is too thick. Now that I think about it, perhaps if you were ascended you'd be safe too." She shrugged.
"Wait, you're a heavenly rank!? I see, that explains how you managed to knock Mark out with a single blow." Uriel gasped.
"Yeah, I'm that good. But jokes aside, even though there's a lot of difference in between ranks you need to keep in mind one single fact..."
"What fact?"
"That no matter what, I'm just unbeatable." She said with a smug grin.
Uriel had thought she was going to share some words of wisdom or a hidden trick to defeat higher ranked opponents but after realizing that his hopes were in vain he then fell in silent annoyance.
They were being accompanied on their way to the ruins by a small group, mostly comprised of Mapple corp. employees, all of them were ascended and well armed but some were also carrying luggage and supplies. One thing that called for Uriel's attention was how, even in this hot and humid climate, they were still wearing their uncomfortable long coat uniforms, now he regretted choosing to dress in shorts and a shirt with a sleeveless jacket. He was more comfortable than the ones dressed in long coats, but on the other hand he was constantly getting bit by insects.
Everything about the jungle sounded right in his mind, but felt wrong in reality. He had always pictured himself exploring the vast rainforest in a warm climate with a beautiful wild landscape on sight and a pretty assistant by his side. All of which he now had, but things weren't quite how he expected them to be. He was in an expedition abroad but this kind of climate was too humid for him who was born and raised within city walls on an arid climate, nature was beautiful but filled with bugs and his pretty assistant turned out to be a complete airhead.
'I guess that's why they always say that one should be careful with one wishes for.' He sighed.
The group advanced with ease across a path that had been previously cleared with machetes, it showed clear signs of being traversed on a regular basis but if left unattended the vegetation would quickly claim its territory. There were a few vehicles capable of moving despite the presence of cryptids stored inside the zeppelin, but Uriel was told it was safer to move on foot. The distance towards the ruins wasn't that long from where the zeppelin landed and also, the roaring of engines might draw unwanted attention, as powerful as the Mapple corp was, no one was truly safe against the unspeakable horrors that may be lurking in the wilderness.
"Do not stray from the road, there's an Ocelotl that's been giving us trouble around the road." Nika, the self proclaimed prettiest bodyguard in the world, who now was wearing camo pants and a black tanktop warned Uriel as he was carelessly gazing at his surroundings.
"Aren't ocelots just small felines?" Uriel asked with a confounded expression.
"Not an ocelot, an Ocelotl! It's a huge jaguar, he's always covered in blue flames but we've never been able to catch it unguarded."
"Why not?"
"He's really sneaky, he only attacks when he's certain he'll win and so far we've never been able to find his lair. Any time a group travels these paths without a heavenly rank hunter there's been casualties, it's also the reason why we can't get vehicles to the site."
Uriel wasn't that interested in cryptids, but he wondered if a cryptid's intelligence could be a sign of it's strength.
So far he had met three different kinds of cryptids. There were those that looked like animals with slight differences like the black dog or the horned rabbits, those that didn't look much like animals and were usually a lot bigger like they huge centipede-like creature miss Dragonfang killed, and then there were those that possessed strange abilities like the skinwalker or the slenderman.
Those two where the ones Uriel feared the most because they were cunning, smart and showed signs of intelligence. The skinwalker was strong enough to withstand a shot of his magnum and he knew that he wouldn't have been able to defeat it if they hadn't found out his weakness to silver. About the slenderman, just thinking about the tall creepy figure that drove Sam to the verge of insanity made him shiver, but even then, at least he knew that light would keep that creature at bay.
What about the jaguar? Uriel didn't know anything about it and he feared that if he was to be caught by such creature, his chances of making it alive would be slim to none.
He tried to remember if he knew any tales about a jaguar like that, there were many pre columbian tales that were preserved by christian monks, but most of the lore in this parts was lost after the spanish invasion. In the end, though, he decided to simply ask Nika who should be more familiar with the creature but she didn't know much either.
"So, no one really knows its weakness..." He pondered.
"It's not just that, we don't know much about it at all. I never seen it myself, remember that cryptids don't appear on photographs or video recordings so we don't have any evidence about its existence either. All we can rely on are the sayings of people who survived its attack and they're not that many." Nika's expression turned grim for the first time during the expedition.