The group of five were riding along with the Richlow Group merchants. While chatting with them. They were trying to figure out why Rudy had stolen their Overlander and who the second person might have been.

  “I can’t say for sure why he did it. However, I will say that he has been oddly obsessed with Angelica and Lindsay. Earlier today, he even attacked our vehicle, putting a rather sizable dent in the door. We had to take it off just to get in and out through that entrance. I’m guessing that he was hoping they were still in the RV when he initially entered it, but when he learned they weren’t, it was already too late, and he needed to keep going.” Nate said, having explained some of his thoughts.

  Angie winked at him, understanding part of what he was doing. “Didn’t you mention that when we first met him, Aura said he smelled of blood?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, I didn’t give it too much thought at the time. Professional hunters always smell of blood.” That was an outright lie, but he didn’t want to tell them just how intelligent Aura was.

  As they continued to chat, Lindsay grew pensive, her eyes flicking to the windows in concern. “Does it seem to anyone else like the road is getting closer to the ravine?”

  They were still on the paved road, but this section was getting ever closer to the side of the ravine, allowing them to glimpse over its edge.

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  Before any of them could say anything, the lead scout vehicle was t-boned and sent careening into the void beside them. The vehicle that had rammed them was a massive six-wheeled truck that wouldn’t have been out of place on a military base on Nate’s Old Earth. However, to his knowledge, they didn’t have those here.

  At least they didn’t in the sections of the country they had been through up to that point. The country was too broken and un-unified for a proper military to be an option. Each city had its guard and security divisions in addition to the hunters, but no actual military. Not anymore.

  On the back of the truck, a large arbalest unit had been welded to a swiveling pedestal, while two smaller models were on a ‘U’ shaped rail that ran the entire rear and side of the vehicle and allowed them to be easily moved.

  As soon as the truck stopped, the large arbalest fired, sending its massive bolt through the cabin of the nearest rig.

  The tip of the bolt poked clear out the back end of the hunter rig. There was a disturbing coating of red dripping from the tip.

  Jean cursed as their own cramped semi and trailer skittered to a stop, the driver doing their best to keep the wheels from locking up.

  “I don’t see anyone in the mirrors for the moment. At least it looks like we only need to worry about them being in front of us.” Another member of the Richlow Group named Lester said.

  “That’s all well and good, but I still can’t back up. There are too many other vehicles in the way.” The driver snapped angrily.

  They had hired the professional expedition hunters to act as guards to protect them. Now, on their first trip out, things were going wrong again. They weren’t blaming the hunters, but they certainly were annoyed. If they had come from a larger town or city, they almost would have thought that someone had it out for them. But that wasn’t the case. They were just a small-time merchant group.

  Both the initial calamity they had experienced years before and this one were simply bad luck. Nothing more.

  Nate pulled out his crossbow, slipped a bolt into position, and charged the bow. With that, it could be fired at any time. He liked the crossbow. It was the same one he’d gotten almost a year before, but it was still useful, though a little underpowered. Occasionally, the bolts would fail to pierce something, but that could be solved by swapping out the heads on the bolts for something better and sharper.

  He would need to get a new crossbow fairly soon. However, he wanted one from the dungeon system, and it hadn’t decided that he was in desperate enough need just yet.

  Truthfully, all of them needed to start upgrading their equipment soon, Aura included, as she barely had anything in that department.

  The doors of the rig that had a bolt pierced through it burst open and the surviving hunters jumped out and escaped to the back of the vehicle. All but one of them were able to make the short run. The single one who died was shot by the smaller movable arbalest.

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  Nate tapped Angie’s arm next to the wrist computer. “Be prepared to go inside to the first dungeon with Lindsay if the chance arises.” He whispered to her, getting close to her ear.

  She nodded and quickly told Lindsay the same thing.

  Unfortunately, he would be stuck outside with Mika, unable to escape inside. He did have the dirtbike in his storage he could use in a pinch. It would really need to be an emergency though for him to risk revealing the capabilities of his storage, or the storage itself. While they were now in an area where storage items were known, if not exactly common. Something told him most would not be able to store or take out an entire working dirtbike.

  For the moment, everyone was just sitting inside the rig, watching the chaos unfolding outside.

  Lindsay was watching the mirrors along with Jean and Lester, who were all convinced that at any second someone was going to come up behind them. Nate agreed with them, but he was more worried about what was going on in front of them at the moment.

  They had hunter squads behind them who, at this point, were aware they had run into trouble. Whereas the squads who had been at the front actively guarding them were clearly struggling at the moment.

  After the initial crash and launch of bolts from their arbalests, bandits had begun to creep out of the forest. Then the energy skills had begun to fly through the air, one after another, from both sides of the engagement.

  The damage to the road and the surrounding area grew by the second as people that far outstripped Nate and the others in power fought just ahead of them.

  “I really think we need to get out of here,” Jean ground out angrily. Her hands were fisted so tightly that her fingernails were almost cutting into her skin.

  “What about our-” A girl sitting next to Lester began before shaking her head. “Never mind, our goods don’t matter if we’re dead. I almost forgot what happened last time.”

  Nate held back a groan as he stared up at the ceiling of the truck. He was about to do something stupid. Hopefully, he didn’t later come to regret it.

  “I might be able to help with that,” He told the group, still looking at the ceiling. “I have a storage device that is a little unique. The amount it lets me store at any one time is rather high. I’ve put our entire Overlander in it before when we needed to go over areas like that broken bridge.”

  Angie groaned aloud and covered her face. She didn’t have anything against these people, but she had an even better idea than he did just how abnormal their storage abilities were. She really wished he hadn’t revealed its existence to everyone.

  The atmosphere inside of the rig grew solemn as the members of the Richlow Group each quickly caught on to why the merchant girl was groaning. Despite the excitement going on outside, Jean acted first, bowing her head.

  “I swear on my cultivation, meager though it may be, that I will never reveal any of your secrets to another soul without your permission.”

  A moment later, the others quickly repeated the serious vow. The vow was not to the level he had read in some stories where it could cripple your cultivation if you broke it. However, it could set your progress back a full realm in the most serious of cases. You could get it back, but that was a lot of time and effort lost.

  Nate nodded in appreciation of their vows. They weren’t something he had expected them to do.

  Lindsay directed their attention to the battle going on outside. “It looks like Shane and the others up front are being captured one by one. If we’re going to make a move, it needs to be in the next few seconds, otherwise it might be too late.”

  Lester, who was keeping an eye on the hunters behind them, cursed as they began to run away. “The hunters we’ve been paying to guard our rear are fleeing. They aren’t even trying to ensure that we are safe or doing anything for Shane and the others that were up front.”

  He started to turn away from the rear-view mirrors, only to snap his head back towards them a moment later. “Never mind. It looks as though additional bandits have arrived.” He said with more than a little resignation.

  The appearance of the bandits at their rear had cut off any chance the driver might have had of backing the truck and trailer up. Not that there had been much of that to begin with. It was possible to reverse their way out of this situation, but it would take time. Something that they didn’t have to begin with.

  “Are you going to run for the trees or go over into the ravine?” Nate asked as they all prepared to make their escape.

  “There’s no telling how many bandits are hiding in those trees,” Jean replied instantly while digging around underneath her seat, and coming up with a small bag covered in a layer of dust from the road. The others in her group did the same. “I had hoped we would never need to use these.” She unzipped the top of the bag and removed a length of rope along with a single-prong grappling hook. “These bags contain our emergency supplies. Our go-bags as they are. Each one has some rope and food.”

  They were going down the side of the ravine, in other words.

  “Go now then! As soon as you’re clear, I’ll store everything and then we’ll make our own escape. Make your way back to the damaged bridge from earlier. It’ll be easy enough to hop over the broken section and reach the other side.”

  Jean nodded once and motioned to her people. “Be careful and stay safe.”

  As soon as those words left her mouth, she flung open the door next to her and leaped directly from the truck. She sailed over the railing and landed right next to the edge of the ravine. A moment later, the rest of the Richlow Group followed after her and then began to descend into the ravine.

  “Okay, you three, it’s your turn. Aura, keep them safe if anything unexpected happens inside the dungeon. Lindsay, don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on Mika.”

  The three sank into his core and entered the first dungeon, while Mika climbed onto his neck, acting as a furry scarf.

  Nate took a deep breath, nerves suddenly getting the better of him as he thought about what he was going to do. This was something crazy, and highly visible. There would be no hiding his actions afterward. What he was about to do would undoubtedly bring them a lot of trouble later, and yet he was still going to do it.

  There was one more thing he needed to do before actually making his escape though. Nate needed to find and retrieve their RV.

  He slapped his cheeks and hopped out of the truck cab, his hand already manipulating the menu on his Sub-DCD. Nate hit the ground next to one of the large wheels and slapped the side of the truck, selecting it and the attached trailer as the items he wanted to store.

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