Hunters & Dragons, Nick Venom [free novels to read .TXT] 📗

her words. 

“I apologize if you believe that I have ill intentions against you. I simply need people who I’m sure can handle it to defeat a foe that has been threatening our village for generations. I can’t bear to lose more of my brethren to them.” Fox declared.

Noah looked over his shoulder at Russ, almost to say should we begin? 

“We agreed already,” Russ said, taking a step forward.

Noah nodded and turned towards Fox, now confident to answer. He gripped his longbow tightly in his grip. “We already took the request, so we can’t return it.” 

“I will be with the High Council. Return to me after you deal with the Vrikar tribe.” Katelyn ordered. Noah nodded, not bowing his head to her. She extended her hand, but Noah waved her off. 

“White Rose! Let’s go!” He ordered. His team nodded, turning away from Katelyn with sympathetic looks. They already knew how Noah was in front of royalty. 

They walked through the flat land and headed towards the Vrikar’s den, hoping to return before darkness.

 As soon as they were out of earshot, Fox turned towards Katelyn. “It seems like the leader isn’t fond of you.” He commented. Katelyn pressed her hand to her chest, a little sad to hear it out loud.

“It seems like he has problems with royalty. I’m unsure of how to… feel about his actions.” Katelyn whispered.

“Not everybody is fond of your family; I don’t want to speak out of line, but your family isn’t the purest. He may be one of the hundreds that have had bad experiences with them and now harbors these feelings towards your family and you, in turn. Leave the kid alone for now… don’t strike while the iron’s hot.” Fox said before turning around. He headed back to the High Council building. Katelyn lingered for a few more moments, staring at the White Rose team, before turning around and following after Fox.

***

Noah and the other members of White Rose ventured across the flat land towards the cave that the Vrikar lived in. Noah took in deep breaths quietly to avoid the other members from hearing it. Russ, who stood behind him, walked up to him and interrupted his breathing exercises. “I heard about this tribe before.” 

Noah nodded, turning his head to face Russ. “Mind telling me?”

“This is all the information that I’ve learned from the Forgotten Journals.” Russ started. The Forgotten Journals are a set of journals that detail numerous topics from ancient weapons to ruins to healing practices that could revive the dead. Access to these journals is limited by the royal family with only a selected few allowed to read one of them per year.

Noah raised his eyebrow. “How did you get access to them?”

Russ shrugged his shoulders. “I can’t remember… all I do remember are incomplete sections about different topics. One of the topics is the Vrikar demon tribe.” He whispered to him. “The Vrikar demon tribe are ancient warriors that were known as the fiercest military force in the ancient world. Their power had stagnated before decreasing over generations. Now they are nothing more than the subordinates on the Fire Dragon, but their strength topples a normal human… I fear that our power won’t topple theirs.”

Noah nodded. “We’ll have to see about that.” 

“The Vrikar demon tribe,” Jean muttered behind them. “We won’t die right?” She asked herself.

“We will survive,” Thatcher muttered, hearing her. “Don’t worry Jean. White Rose will prevail.”

 

TBC…

Episode Six "Vrikar (1)"

White Rose reached the cave that held the Vrikar demon tribe, hiding in nearby bushes. Jean peeked over the bushes at the entrance of the cave and noticed two guards in front of it. The demons’ skin color was a mix of black and dark red, creating a dark lava color. The demon guards wielded spears, stones at the tip, which they had standing vertically. “I see two guards,” she muttered, reporting back.

Noah turned towards Russ. “Think we can take them?” He asked. 

Russ nodded his head. “Those guards must be experienced killers, so we’ll have to do a sneak attack. It’s not a prideful attack, but…” His voice trailed off as he glanced at Thatcher.

Thatcher let out a small sigh. “Pride and honor differ us from others,” Thatcher noted. 

“You’re right, but you missed one factor. Family can change the worst man into a hero.” Russ declared. 

Thatcher nodded, not paying attention to his words. He didn’t like ambushes or attacking from behind as he thought of them as cowardly tactics that only the disgraceful would do.

Russ shook his head and chuckled softly, turning his attention away from Thatcher and onto Noah. “Noah, you’re the only one that can attack from afar. Aim at their necks. It’s the weakest part of their body and is often left exposed without armor.” He then switched his attention to Jean. 

“Use your magic to distract them. Use a spell that will pique their curiosity.” Noah and Jean both nodded. Jean held out her small dark green wand close to her chest and began to mutter a chant. She placed an illusionary spell on the guards that prompted them to believe a human woman walked past them and into bushes on the opposite side of White Rose. The guards staggered towards the bushes that the woman disappeared through, 

Noah popped his head up and drew an arrow, taking in a deep breath, before releasing the arrow towards one of the guards. The arrow cracked through the air and made contact with one of the guards’ necks.  The guard tensed up before collapsing under his weight. The second guard didn’t notice his friend dying next to him as he remained under the illusionary spell. 

As soon as Nick fired off the first arrow, he reached behind him and grabbed another arrow from his quiver. He placed the arrow on the string and calculated the trajectory of the arrow’s flight. He pulled the string back and closed one of his eyes to look down the sights of the bow, releasing it and letting it fly. The arrow flew from his bow and went for the second guard’s neck, hitting him directly. The second guard’s body tensed up before collapsing as well.

“Yes,” Russ said, fist pumping in the air. Thatcher, however, ignored him as he walked past Russ and the others and approached the entrance of the cave. 

“What are you doing?” Russ asked, jumping out of the bushes. Jean and Noah followed suit.

“Honor and pride… is all I have.” He said, facing the cave. His words traveled through the cave, most likely alarming the inhabitants inside. 

“Thatcher! Do you truly believe that you can defeat the Vrikar?” Russ asked. Thatcher looked around his shoulder at Russ.

“Maybe I can’t but… I was raised as a knight. I can discard everything, including my life, but my honor and pride is something that I can’t throw away.” Thatcher declared. Russ shook his head.

“You’re not going into the cave by yourself.” Noah declared. “You are part of White Rose. We stand together no matter the threat.”

“I agree,” Jean said.

Russ looked around before facing Thatcher and the others. “Sometimes I wonder why I joined this party.” He joked. “Okay, then I’m going with you as well.” 

Thatcher smiled before turning back towards the entrance. He took out his iron longsword and his shield. Noah took an arrow from his quiver and placed it on the thin string. Jean raised her wand and began chanting strength buffing skills while Russ held his bo-staff vertically with his right hand while his left hand gripped onto the potions snugged in his belt. 

“White Rose! Let’s shred them to pieces!” Noah declared. His team nodded and charged into the cave.

 

TBC…

Episode Seven "Vrikar (2)"

The White Rose party ventured into the cave and made contact with the Vrikar demons, barging into a large room holding all of the demons, who noticed them immediately as Thatcher’s shouting had alerted them and given them time to prepare.

The demons looked the same as the guards from outside with the only difference being their weapons. Most of the Vrikar demons wielded swords or axes while the guards carried spears. 

Noah pulled the string of his bow back before releasing it. The arrow flew off his bow and hit one of the demons in the neck, killing him instantly. 

Thatcher charged towards the demons and rammed through them, swinging his sword around in swift motions and killing a large number of them with ease. Jean stayed behind the others and cast buffing spells on them. 

A demon took notice of Jean and charged towards her. Jean noticed the demon, turning her wand towards the demon and chanting a short spell that she fired at the demon. A wave of red light emitted from the wand and slammed into the demon and entered through its nostrils. 

“Burn,” she muttered. The demon stopped in its track and tensed up. The demon then began to swell up with its muscles bulging up until it exploded - throwing blood, guts, and sparks up into the air. Jean smirked at the near-disintegrated corpse of the demon. Her spell was able to infiltrate into the demon’s stomach and begin a fire there. The fire slowly caught up to the other organs and flowed like blood, hitting the rest of the body. The fire expanded significantly until the corpse blew up into pieces. 

The remainder of the Vrikar demons were being trampled on by the White Rose party. Noah burned through arrows while Russ used up most of his healing and strength potions; including a couple of poison potions. 

Thatcher plowed through the demons, slicing and dicing the demons into bite-size pieces. Jean stayed behind them, chanting spells that buffed the team and disintegrating demons at will. The team managed to kill ninety-nine percent of the demons with a few stragglers managing to escape. Russ turned towards the stragglers and attempted to chase after them, but Thatcher blocked him. “Mercy,” he muttered.

“Mercy? They wouldn’t show us---humans---mercy!” Russ shouted in his face. “I get that you were trained as a knight and you believe in honor, pride, mercy, and justice, but… “ His voice then trailed off as he looked away from Thatcher. 

Noah shook his head. “Let’s go,” Noah said, turning around and heading to the entrance. The stragglers who remained in the cave were children who watched them with big eyes. “Let’s go get our rewards.” He said as they passed by them and escaped the cave.

“I agree with Noah,” Jean said. “Let’s not cry over spilled milk.” Russ nodded and backed away from Thatcher. Thatcher nodded his head as well, following