Back in Hades Office, things were getting heated and crowded, and Helena hid in the corner with a Lampshade of Concealment over her head. She was thinking about just how wrong this had all went.

"3,000,000 Mana for Ace killing Halberd in a fit of rage for 5/1 odds!" Zeus called out, and Hades nodded as Persephone wrote it down with a Magical Pen of Betting. 

"I think that is a losing bet myself, and any bet against the boy is going to be. He is playing the game smart; even though my daughter is going to get a broken man to help mold, he is going to be gifted with many boons!" Hades said loud enough so everyone could hear, and the gathered Astral beings cheered, but then Hades looked in the corner. His eye could see her there whimpering. "Get that damn lampshade off your head and get up here! You should be proud of Halberd! He is getting you bonuses that you don't have to earn yourself! You should be celebrating!"

Helena stood up, whipped the Lampshade of Concealment off her head, and then into the back of Artemis's head. Keep in mind this light cover is made from solid gold and packs some weight. Needless to say, Artemis was knocked into the Slime Goddess, Melty, literally, but she grabbed him, and the two started to make out.

"This is not what I would call a good thing! Look at this man! Mommy issues?! Premature ejaculation?!" Helena said, but then Dwarf God, Dwayne 'The Stone' Mountain, spoke up.

"You know that is a real problem. Not saying I have any personal experience, mind you, but I have heard it is a real thang," Dwayne 'The Stone' Mountain said, and everyone started laughing; even Hades was chuckling, but then he stopped and looked at Helena.

"Now that everyone is here let's start the meeting so we can get this show on the road!" Hades said as he took his seat at the large table in the center of the room with all of his underlings sitting around him. "First order of business, Ace! He is progressing well, and everything is going according to plan! We have been making solid profits off of him, and I think that we should increase our bets."

Everyone started to agree with him as they placed their bets on what would happen next with Ace. They were all laughing and joking about how he was going to fail miserably, but Helena just sat there fuming. She knew that this was not going to end well for that idiot Halberd or anyone else involved when Ace finally snapped.

This was going to be a doozy for Halberd, but the chances for him to strike it big by taking an even bigger risk could pay off! Does he complete his mission? Or does it all end just like it started? Only one way to find out!

[Halberd]

The next day we all woke up early and started to pack up camp. We were planning on heading east today, and I wanted to make as much ground as possible. We all grabbed a quick breakfast before getting on the road, and within minutes we were back on the highway heading toward our destination.

I was driving again today, and Chloe was in the passenger seat while Ace and Grace were in the back. Everyone was pretty quiet this morning, but I could tell that Ace was still on edge. He kept looking around like he expected something bad to happen at any moment, but I just ignored it. If he wanted to be paranoid, then that was his problem; I had enough to worry about without worrying about him too.

We drove for a few hours before we reached the area that I had suggested yesterday. The place where I stopped the truck was the point where the canyon went under the orange rocky mountain range that ran north to south. There was no clear way down according to the map, but I had packed a bunch of different things to help us get down, depending on what we ran into.

Sadly, from this point on, we would have to be traveling on foot, and we would have to leave the food generator behind since it needed a power source. We had enough food to last us a few days, but after that, we would have to start hunting or find some other way to get food.

I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder before looking at everyone else. "Are you guys ready?" I asked as Ace and Grace nodded their heads as we all gathered at the tailgate of Ace's truck.

"Are you really sure we want to go down there? Because it isn't mapped means other people haven't gone down there, or they would have gotten the achievement for the first one to get to the bottom. City achievements are nearly impossible to get anymore, and even ones from the surrounding dungeons are all taken. The areas that are unmapped have extremely dangerous monsters that no one will go near, and you want to go to a place that we have no way to get out of?! The entire length, which is over 300 miles long, is unmapped! Why do you think that we have any better of a chance?!" Ace said as he looked at me with a panicked look in his eyes.

"Oh, I definitely want to go down there! Besides, if we can get to the bottom and find whatever is down there, then this place will be mapped!" I said with a grin as I pulled out my grappling gun. "Plus, Grace and you can make an awesome base camp while we explore the area."

"Yeah! We can have all sorts of adventures here!" Chloe said excitedly as she started to jump up and down. "I have always wanted to explore an unmapped area."

"Fine, but I am not going to like it," Ace muttered as he started to walk toward the edge of the canyon.

I followed behind him with Chloe close by my side. When we got to the edge, I looked down and saw that the drop was at least a few hundred feet, if not more. The canyon walls were sheer cliff faces with very few handholds or anything that we could use to get down safely. Even if we had rope, it would be nearly impossible to get down without getting seriously hurt in the process.

"Well, this is going to be interesting," I said as I looked over at Chloe, who was already pulling out her climbing gear from her bag. "I think we are going to have to find another way down."

"I think I can get us down," Chloe said as she put on her harness and started to attach herself to the rope. "Just be careful and don't look down."

"Okay, but be careful yourself," I said as I helped her get ready. Once she was all set, she started to rappel down the side of the cliff face slowly. It looked like it was taking forever, but eventually, she made it to the bottom safely.

Once she was down, I attached my own rope and started my descent. The climb wasn't easy by any means, but we both made it to the bottom without any major issues other than a few scrapes and bruises. When we finally got to level ground again, we both collapsed onto our backs, gasping for breath after using up all of our energy getting down here safely.

Strangely, we didn't get any kind of achievement, but the area we were in had nothing but rock walls. The two of us got off the ground and looked up, but there was only one person coming down the rope. 

"Why is only Grace coming down?" Chloe asked, but I got a sick feeling in my stomach as the other rope I had just come down passed Grace to the ground. The moment she was on the ground, the other rope fell.

"What the fuck just happened?" I asked as the last rope, and our only way back up hit the ground.

"I think that Ace is trying to kill us because he saw us on cameras that he had set up the first night," Grace said as she looked up at the cliff face, we had just descended. "He cut the rope."