Dungeon Raider System-Chapter 755: Europe Part 3
The company known as the Defenders had a humble origin, more so than most companies as they didn't participate in any incursions whatsoever which caused them to take longer than most hunting parties to grow into a working company. The reason for that was as simple as it was regretful, each of their participants had a bitter experience with cryptids within city walls.
Marina's husband was replaced by a skinwalker, Baldie lost his best friend in the slums after the curfew, Kristina's son was replaced by a changeling and Hazel's brother was killed by an unidentified cryptid and so on.
They all went through the same experience; pleading for help to authorities, losing all their money offering bounties and even attempting to reveal to their neighbors and everyone who listened that cryptids lived inside the city.
This brought them together with the objective of making their city safe, a noble purpose that turned them into popular heroes after the city of Texas fell and eventually became New Texas.
Why would such a group leave their home city for Europe was a mystery to Uriel, who knew each and every one of their members as he was somewhat involved in some of their individual stories. Anyone would have guessed they had a change of mind, but nothing could differ more from the truth.
After long nights out hunting with Kristina as their tracker, they saw their income dropping dramatically as the amount of cryptids was reduced to the point it wasn't profitable anymore and the growth of their company came to a halt.
To address this situation, their only choice was to look for a change of scenery and visiting other cities seemed like the right decisions, but traveling from one city to another also meant crossing no man's lands where cryptids reigned unchallenged which is why they needed a ship.
Now, they found themselves walking aimlessly in a foreign land with the threat of sunset dangling over their heads like a damocles sword.
"Halt, we're setting camp here." Hazel commanded and the group quickly unpacked their modest tents. They were out in the open, close enough to the shore so they could see the beach yet not close enough to be taken by surprise.
Their food was comprised of whatever they could fit in their backpacks, mostly military rations and dried fish. It wasn't much, but it was way more than they could have ever dreamed before joining the Defenders.
Once night fell, they became enthralled by the sounds and smells of the ocean as the waves clashed on the rocks nearby and despite them being in the wilderness, they still felt safe. But that only lasted until several flares were shot around them, partially blinding them and taking them by surprise.
They stood up and readied for a fight and waited for Hazel to give the order to engage, but instead she remained calm and spoke softly.
"We made it."
"Welcome, Defenders, we've been expecting you," A woman on her thirties, with brown hair and gray eyes spoke from a distance. "I heard the news that your ship was taken down, but I knew there was no chance hunters like you could have died just like that."
"That bastard Roberts set us up, but we're all fine. Was this necessary?" Asked Hazel pointing at the flares while the rest of the team was led to an ATV that was parked nearby.
"Of course it is, this place isn't safe. Light helps keeping those pesky mermans away, but only until their eyes get accustomed. They are so sensitive to light they can't come out of the sea right after sunset, but that's the only silver lining.
They live in the deep seas where there's high pressure so when they venture into land they're stronger, faster and to make things worse, they only drop beast rank flux orbs."
"I see you're still obsessed with cryptids, Mathilda," Hazel chuckled as she too climbed up the ATV. "by the way, there's another group of hunters that came along with us. We got separated to avoid crypids noticing our flux signature."
"That's not necessary, the only cryptids around this places are the ones that come from the sea. That said, if they stay here they will die in the next two to three hours. If they're friendly, perhaps it will be better if we give them a ride. We're not that far from the city anyway and it would be a shame losing good hunters just to save some gas. The only problem will be finding them."
"Not really, Kristian." Hazel said to her companion who immediately began channeling her flux energy until she picked up on Luna's signature.
"That way." Kristina pointed at the ruins of the Moorish castle where Luna and everyone but Uriel remained.
"Whew! They couldn't have chosen a better place to take refuge." Mathilda exclaimed then started driving following Kristina's directions.
Despite the asphalted road, there was so much debris lying around it proved to be a tough drive even for the modern ATV forcing them to go slower than they would have liked to. Still, they made it to their destination in time and before they were even able to shoot their flares Nika had already noticed them.
After catching up and explaining Nika what their circumstances were she was left with a tough decision to make, one that could potentially cause them to get separated from Uriel before their first day in Europe came to pass.
"Are you sure we can't wait for him? He must be right around the corner chasing after one of those monkeys." Nika asked with a wry smile.
"We can't do that, ma'am. Time is of the essence." Mathilda said apologetically.
"He's not," Kristina said as her face went pale. "He's not close at all. He's by the beach."
"And how exactly can you tell?" Nika asked.
"I can follow Flux energy traces as though it was my sense of smell, only thousands of times better." Kristina explained her trait in short, then continued. "Even if we wanted to go look for him, it would be an hour long round trip."
"Then... let's leave a note." Said Luna from inside the ATV.
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