-----V-----

Goddammit, did he really have to show up now? How did he know that Nia was here? Wilmer, the leader of the Artifact Hunters Guild, likely thinks that I am not on his side and that I am not going to help him, and if he thinks so, then he is correct. I decided not to help him capture Nia back at Tyrida, it wasn‘t worth my time. It might have been worthwhile for me, but now I know of a way off this world, so there is no need for his rewards.

Wilmer and his guild surrounded us with weapons in arms, some were artifacts, some were not. Wilmer held a giant longsword that glowed grey. I noticed only four with ranged weapons, two blaster wielders, and two archers.

Some of these artifact hunters looked skilled, some had their artifact armor on and have looks that say „This is going to be our easiest job of all time.“ Wilmer must have put on a quest for these guys, and it looks like he is willing to pay quite a lot. The artifact hunters that didn‘t even have any artifacts on them did not look ready at all, they might have only accepted the quest to get some coins, I could easily see two people tremble, their weapons not steady enough to hit us with accuracy.

„What will it be? Are you going to give up that girl or not?!“ Wilmer shouted.

„Sorry, but we are not going to do that,“ Ethan said, hiding Nia behind him.

„Vincent!“ Wilmer looked at me. „Help me get that brat and you will be rewarded as I told you before!“

I could feel the others glaring at me.

„Sorry Wilmer, but I have changed my mind.“

I carefully activated a program on my screen and then quickly pulled out my artifact and aimed for the blaster wielders, and then fired quick stun shots, they fell with electricity flowing through them.

„What the hell?!“ Ethan yelled at me.

„What? Isn‘t it better to take the first shot?“ I shrugged.

Ethan enhanced his shield‘s energy around himself and pulled out his sword. The others readied their artifacts as well.

Nia pulled out a grenade from behind her back, the pin was already out and I could see the smoke slowly coming out of it. She threw it to the right and it released a large amount of smoke, covering us entirely, I could barely see in front of me.

„This way!“ Nia yelled and started to run.

I guess we aren‘t fighting then.

I ran with them, punching one of the hunters in the face that was in the way. If they would end up swinging their swords in that smoke, then they would just end up fighting each other, if I had popcorn then I would gladly see that stupidity, if I could see through smoke, of course.

Arrows flew at us, but Ethan had released a barrier behind us to block them. I could see Wilmer and his guild running at us, some were even quite fast. I guess having a backpack with supplies would slow you down. I thought about throwing it away, but I wanted to see how far I could go on with it. If it was only going to be a burden then I would throw it. Ethan had his own pack with cooking supplies that he bought at Tyrida, he hasn‘t even used it once yet.

I noticed more artifact hunters appearing before us from an alley, they either must have been hiding there, or it is just some ridiculous coincidence.

Reve charged at them with his large war ax and did a wide attack, calling out some program that made his artifact blunt, and hitting them all, flying to the side. These idiots stayed really close to each other when they ran at us.

A hunter was going straight for Nia with great speed. Ivona aimed with her crossbow and fired her arrow, it split and tied the man up with ropes.

I guess we all don‘t want to harm them, it would only end worse than we are in right now.

„Program! Speed Enhance!“ I heard someone call out.

I glanced back and noticed a hunter giving Wilmer‘s guild extra speed with Nanos, she had gauntlets on, but it wasn‘t Letya, it was someone else that also seems to have the same type of artifact as her.

They were much faster now, I wonder how that even works. Does her Nanos somehow go inside them to give them an adrenaline rush and increases their blood flow? Ethan would likely throw up when I told him that they might be able to do that.

They were catching up now, and I started firing a few inaccurate shots at them. Ivona also fired a few arrows that stopped them in their tracks.

Ethan tried to use his energy barrier to stop Wilmer, but he swung his longsword and shattered it. His sword was close at our heels.

„Through there!“ Nia yelled and ran through an alley, we all followed.

As we were running, I suddenly felt something strange going on inside me, the next thing I knew I started running faster, everyone else did as well. We then made some good distance between them and us. I didn‘t think much of it, where was Nia taking us?

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„Ethan, block them if you can! Reve, help me here!“

It looks like Nia has taken her role as the leader.

„Got it!“ We stopped and Ethan quickly managed to bring out quite a lot of energy and created a wall, stopping Wilmer and the others.

They swung their weapons at it, they only made a small piece fall off, even Wilmer was having a hard time taking the barrier down. I guess when Ethan stops, he can make his barrier stronger.

Then I saw a bigger crack show up.

„Whatever you two are doing, do it quickly!“ I shouted and glared back at them.

Reve was helping Nia to quickly pull up a secret stone tile that was on the ground. It looked heavy. They managed to get rid of it and tossed it to the side, making a loud thud.

„Down here, then we are free!“

Nia jumped down, Reve and Ivona followed.

„Ethan!“ I called.

„You first! I need to hold this barrier as long as possible!“

You idiot, you are the only way off this rock!

I grabbed his arm and quickly turned and jumped into the hole, Ethan lost his footing and almost hit his head to the ground. Ethan‘s barrier broke and the guild started rushing in.

„Come on, come on!“

We moved through a tunnel as fast as we could manage, I needed to crouch a bit, it was quite small. I could feel my blood flowing, I strangely felt like I was going quick, even though I was crouched.

„Alright, I‘m throwing the grenade!“

Grenade?! In a tunnel?! What was she thinking?!

Nia threw her grenade past us, and a few seconds later, a loud bang erupted and the tunnel‘s entrance collapsed. A rush of dust flew past us as we moved through the dark tunnel, the only light we had came from our artifacts.

----------

We climbed out of the tunnel, we were quite far away from the walls of Dunwich, rocks and a bit of vegetation were around us. Nia closed the hatch, hiding it with shrubs and stone.

„That tunnel, is that how you always go in and out?“ Ethan asked.

„Yup, but now that they know about it, I am not going to use that one again.“

„Did you dig out that entire tunnel yourself?“

„Nope, I just found it, I haven‘t seen anyone use it before, though.“

I glanced around and noticed a person running towards us.

„We should keep on running,“ I said.

The others looked towards the person I gestured at.

I was just about to run when Ethan stopped me.

„I think it is fine,“ he said.

„What do you mean?“

I looked back, and once she got closer, I saw that it was Letya who was running towards us, thankfully no one was following her.

„Did you feel something strange earlier?“ Ethan said.

„Yes, it was the rush that we feel when running away from danger,“ I said with sarcasm. I was sure that the thing we felt earlier was Letya. She told me what her gauntlets could do back when we were on the carriage. If I didn‘t see her in the distance I would not have guessed it was her who did something to us.

Ethan gave me a side-eye and walked up to Letya.

„What are you doing here?“ Ethan asked.

„I was just walking out of my house when I noticed all of you running away, so I decided to help.“

Eh, what? Even though she saw that we were being chased by Wilmer, she decided to help us?

„So you were the one that helped us run faster, I figure.“

Letya nodded.

„Vincent said that you wanted to join us! If so, then you are welcome!“ Nia said as she shook her hand with joy, welcoming her to the party.

Is it just me, or did Nia suddenly become the leader?

„We should get a move on, Wilmer might have sent people out to find us by now.“

„Where are we going?“ Letya asked.

„To Midhaven in Simul.“

„Midhaven? I have been there before, some people know me there.“

Simuluna, that makes sense, it is the closest friendly country. When we take a break and Ethan and I are alone, I am going to make him check out the program that he should have.

---------

Letya knew the best way to cross the desert. So she took the lead to the small town at the edge of the desert. We haven‘t even entered the desert when I noticed that it stretched out a long way, even though the sand dunes blocked most of my vision to see further I just knew the desert was enormous.

Letya and Reve talked to a local and managed to get three giant spiders that we could ride on through the desert. I saw Ethan shudder when he saw them.

These spiders live in the desert, how they could survive in the large sand ocean was beyond me. Like most spiders they had eight legs, but the four legs in front looked more like tools, the two in front were spiky and bulky, maybe to dig through hard surfaces. The two in the second row had the looks of shovels that they would likely use to dig down into the sand.

„Is this the best way to cross?“ Ethan asked.

„Don‘t be such a coward, you could easily handle the spiders we fought before.“

„Yeah, yeah.“

Ethan sighed and placed his backpack along with mine on the abdomen of the spider.

I am not really sure when he started getting feared by spiders, it might have started when we once were surviving from a rogue nanomachine infestation on a distant world. That is my best guess. Because before that he was quite fine holding small ones with his hands back in a tropical world, even though we couldn‘t know if they were dangerous or not. He isn‘t as scared to the big ones, but he shudders a lot more to the smaller ones.

Ethan sat behind me on the saddle of the spider, Nia and Reve were on theirs behind us. Letya finished paying the amount for the spiders, then hopped on one with Ivona. With Letya in the lead, we started heading towards Midhaven.

Even though the desert was empty, I could just feel Amara pursuing us from afar. She did say after all that she was going to follow us in the shadows, and I am the only one who knows that in our group. I‘ll think about maybe telling them, but for now, I need to find out if Ethan really is going to have me around. He is surely going to ditch me soon, and I won‘t be there to help him with Amara.