Observing the Bandit

  Ryker had never seen Era look so murderous before. Neither those everyone else. They all have the same thoughts as they watch the look on her face.

  'I so don't want to be on the receiving end of her fury,'

  Thankfully, the look disappeared as she calmed down. "As much as I want to kill the bastard, I'm not strong enough to even touch him in a fight. They are too strong for us, we should wait until we grow strong enough to kill them,"  she said.

  While Ryker could fight them, she didn't know if he could win against one, much less two Genesis Foundation experts. If her lover died because of her desire for revenge, she would never forgive herself.

  "What? We could handle the Genesis Foundation expert," Ryker asked in confusion.

  "We?" Era returned, Ryker pointing to himself and Mashia.

  "Mashia is at the peak of Genesis Condensing realm, and she is a dragon so fighting people a realm above her is possible," he told them, Mashia nodding in agreement.

  "Besides, I'm stronger than her so I will handle the stronger of the two," Ryker exclaimed, Era giving him a worried look, one he answered by kissing her forehead.

  "Don't worry, I intend on returning alive," he calmly said, Era tried and failed to calm her beating heart.

  "While I love to watch you flirt," the sarcasm is strong in Mashia, "There are still bandits at Genesis Condensing realm. We need to concentrate on handling the two leaders. If they came to help them, we wouldn't stand a chance. 

  If we even run, we lose our element of surprise, so we can't do this again. Attacking the weaker bandits would make them let their guard up so we have to target the leader, which likely surrounded by the other bandits," she pointed out.

  Ryker thought about it before nodding. They needed to come up with a plan that would give them the highest chance of success. After thinking it through, he thought of something.

  "In that case, let's do this...."

  By the time he explained his plan, the others looked at him in worry, as he would be the one in most danger. However, he assured them they would only do this after confirming his suspicion. In the end, they 'talked' with the captured bandit, getting intel 'willingly' from them.

-x-

  Ryker observed the bandit group. From what their prisoner explained, the bandit group split into several smaller groups, to raid villages and caravan better. They only merged when they were dealing with stronger caravans.

  Because of the way the bandits operated, the guards sent after them only destroyed a small group, most of them escaping destruction. He would have applauded their thinking if not for the fact they used to rob others.

  From what the prisoner said, they were a small group sent to scour for the treasure's whereabouts. The second leader, the traitor, told them the chance of the Era's father hiding it somewhere in the town is below average but still needs to be done in case he hid it there.

  While the bandits stationed at the town had been destroyed, it seemed the main group still didn't know of the tragedy befallen one of their groups. However, he didn't know how long it would last so the faster he could find the main group the better.

  He followed the bandit group, the size smaller than the usual bandit group but larger than a squad the bandit usually deployed to do small raids and scouting. If he's correct, it's likely the bandit group he was following belonged to the main group.

  Using the Shadow Traversing Art, he followed them, before finding them stopping near a small hill. He went close to them, his breath could have touched one of the bandits' necks if he breathed too hard, he was that close.

  A formation suddenly appeared, a gate appeared, no doubt a Concealment Formation had been used, further evidence that a powerful family supported the bandits. He went inside, following the bandits as carefully as possible, not wanting to trigger any other formations inside.

  He released his divine sense discreetly, before sensing two strongest aura. Realizing who the owner of the aura was, he went there, remaining hidden as he closed in on them. 

  He got close, so close he could punch one of them if he was suicidal. He remained near them, intending to hear what they had to say.

  "We should go to the town. With how things started to calm down and fewer guards were sent after us, we could perform a more thorough inspection," the traitor said, the other leader looked at him in doubt.

  "What made it you so certain he hid the treasure in the town? We had already spent a long time looking there," he voiced his concern.

  "It's because I had monitored him for some time before his death. He never took out the spatial tool he got from the baron, so he must put the treasure there. Besides I have never seen him leave the town, only going out a few times, likely to make him believe the weapon isn't here.

  The spatial tool he owned also can remain undetected though it is not permanent, only used if the owner decides to. Meaning we could miss it for a long time. The only time we could sense it was when the presence of concealment wore off.

  So we should go back and perform a more thorough check if we want to have any hope of finding the treasure, or the Tol Family will come after us," the traitor said, sounding desperate.

  The other leader also has a pale stricken face, their deal with the Tol was similar to the deal with the devil.

  Having heard enough, Ryker decided to leave, heading towards the area he came from. Thankfully, he didn't have to wait too long, the messenger made the thing faster. 

  He ran towards the destroyed town, a plan forming as he thought out ways to destroy the bandits.

-x-

  "So, they coming to this town?" Mashia asked, wondering if it's a good news or a bad news.

  "Yes, so we could move my siblings and the others to somewhere safe. Besides, trying to fight them in their base is the equivalent of suicide, they must have more traps than what I've seen,"

  "We could also ambush them, a surprise attack would allow us to hurt them if we can't kill them. Hopefully, the surprise attack took one of them down, so we could focus on killing them all,"  Mashia proposed, Ryker, nodding in agreement.

  "And, what are you going to do to Era,?" she pointed to the other girl, her hand clenching.

  "I'm going to let her deal the finishing blow, let her vent her frustration on the one who nearly killed her,"