"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." 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 thought she was going to share some words of wisdom or a hidden trick to defeat higher ranked opponents, realizing that his hopes were in vain he then fell in silent annoyance.

The group that accompanied them on their way to the ruins was mostly composed 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.

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 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. There were a few vehicles capable of moving despite the presence of cryptids inside the zeppelin, but 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 and, 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." The pretty bodyguard who now was wearing camo pants and a black tanktop warned Uriel who was walking carelessly gazing at his surroundings.

"Aren't ocelots just small felines?" Uriel asked with a confounded expression.

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"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."

Uriel wasn't that interested in cryptids, but he wondered if a cryptid as intelligent as that could be as strong as the ones he met before.

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 and he knew that he wouldn't have been able to defeat it if he didn't find out about his weakness. About the slenderman, just thinking about the tall creepy figure made him shiver, but even then, at least he knew that light would keep him safe.

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."

When they finally reached the settlement located within the borders of Chichén Itza, Uriel noticed how neat and orderly the archaeological site was.

"I see they've been taking good care of the ruins." He gasped at the sight of all the yellow tapes covering even the smallest structure, the high end equipment and the way people seemed to walk by with respect towards the ancient ruins.

"I'm glad you see it that way, I made sure to keep those annoying warmongers far from the valuable remains." A man on his thirties walked in, he was wearing khakis and an explorer's hat making him look like a stereotypical archaeologist.

"He's professor Schlieman, an archaeologist just like you Mister Sage." Nika introduced the pompous man.

"Mister Sage? So it's true what they said, that you're only a college student after all." Professor Schlieman said out loud, deeply embarrassing the young student. "Oh! I didn't mean it like that, I'm actually impressed that someone so young managed to identify an unknown language."

Of course that was a lie, the minute he heard that a college student was getting invited by Walter Works himself he already planned to humiliate him at every possible chance.

"Thanks, I guess..." Uriel replied scratching the back of his head.

"So, do you think you can provide us with a codex so we can start translating?" Professor Schlieman blatantly asked.

Thanks to the presence of the glyphs inside his museum Uriel was able to do that and even more. Not only he figured out the alphabet, but he somehow was able to understand the meaning behind the words. Still, that didn't mean he was willing to share any of that information because he knew the minute he provided a codex, his presence would be redundant.

"I'm sorry professor, but I was under the impression that I was brought in here to translate, not to share my research." Although Uriel had a lot of blank spaces in his common sense and knowledge of modern society, he wasn't as naive as to share his research without putting up a fight.

Noticing professor Schlieman's intention, Nika glared at the man in silence until he apologized for his 'mistake'. After that short interaction, Schlieman muttered an excuse and went out to do his business leaving them free to settle in the camp.