Legend: Season Two, Nick Venom [epub ebook reader txt] 📗

now I mean my words.” Hex said, spitting on the ground near John’s legs. 

“Oh, so you dare disgrace my Goddess? Well, Heka must be blind to save a wounded dog like you!”

“Boys! Boys! Boys!” A voice exclaimed, entering the building. The voice belonged to a female cat beastkin with night-black fur. The beastkin’s gold-colored eyes dimmed as she entered the dimly lit room. Her attitude, on the other hand, shined brightly.

“No need to argue. We’re on the same side here, so stop the fighting. Instead, let’s focus on finishing phase one.” She declared. 

“Got it,” Hex muttered as he returned to his corner. He quickly swapped the broken chair for a new one, sitting back down and slumping onto the table. John, on the other hand, was still glaring at Hex for his disrespectful remarks towards Cask. 

“Stop it, John. You both disrespected your gods and goddesses and whatever, so you’re both even.” She muttered, walking up to the nearest window, in front of Hex’s corner. 

After staring out of the window for a few moments, she turned to face Hex. She dug through her pockets and pulled a piece of paper out, throwing it on the table. “Take this paper and head to the marketplace. Get me the Dragonbreath potion, six Mana Restoration potions, and two Strength potions.” She ordered as she threw a small clothed bag on the table with the paper. 

Hex raised his head, grabbing both items before standing up. “Got it, Elenora.” He muttered, heading out of the building and towards the marketplace. When he was out of earshot, Elenora ordered John to search for his subordinates to organize the first phase of her plan.

With both people out of the building, Elenora headed up to her room on the second floor. She quickly entered the room, locking the door behind her.  She then brandished a wand from her pockets, waving around in circles. She had her eyes closed, chanting something under her breath. 

“... and activate!” She exclaimed, completing the skill. A hologram then appeared in front of her of a middle-aged man who resembled a mountain. He wore red and gold clothes draped against his body, with one large gold print of the fading sun. 

“What is your report… Agent Kat Elliot.” The man’s booming voice spoke. He glared down at Kat---who masqueraded under the name of Elenora---as she kneeled in his presence. 

“Phase One is occurring as expected. Currently, I have the Discarded working under my tight grip; with none of them realizing the truth.”

“I see… are you sure that you can handle them? Must I remind you that the John fellow has Cask supporting him and Hika for Hex? If they were to betray you, could you defeat them?” The man bluntly asked.

“Uh… yes, your majesty. For now, they treat me as their leader. However, if they decide on betraying me, then I have a counterattack in place. Everything is flawless, as you prefer, your majesty.” 

“Excellent,” He remarked. “Finish the preparations and head to Great Wolfstein. Convince the king into war. Remember, this is an important part of the plan. Fail and our operations will be exposed and our territory consumed by the other kingdoms. Don’t fail me, Agent Elliot, or else.”

“I would never have that thought, your majesty. All I want is for the Asher Kingdom to prevail in the new age of Historia. Glory to Ash.” Kat remarked as the hologram faded.

***

Kegan carried Ace on a makeshift stretcher with the help of another citizen. Teresa followed the stretcher, her eyes bubbling with tears as she thought of the worst to come. She feared that Ace would succumb to his wounds and leave Teresa without a father. She barely got a father and it appeared that she would lose him a few weeks later. 

“Don’t cry,” Keagan told her, as he followed the citizen’s lead. The citizen, masked under a purple cloak, didn’t utter a single word. Instead, he led Keagan, Ace, and Teresa into Striktin’s only clinic; Lynx Clinic. 

Inside of the clinic was the only doctor in the town, Vivian Rowley. Vivian noticed their appearance, rushing to Ace’s side. 

“What happened?” She asked. 

“I’m not entirely sure. I showed up after, but I heard that it was a fight between some adventurers and him.”

“What’s the patient's name? Blood type? Adventurer rank? And kin?” Vivian asked, hurling a barrel of questions towards a confused Keagan. Unlike Teresa or Ariana, he didn’t know a shred of information about Ace. He was a simple adventurer roped into the action because of his leader, Orion. If not for Orion, Kagan wouldn’t be dealing with Ace or the Dragon King. 

“Uh… I don’t know him. I think his name is Ack or Ave or something.”  He remarked. 

“Ace!” Teresa shouted from the doorway. “His name is Ace!” She confidently exclaimed. 

“Oh, so you know him?” Vivian asked, beckoning Teresa closer. “Can you tell me his blood type?”

“O+, I think.”

“Okay, perfect. Now, what rank is he?”

Teresa shrugged her shoulders. “He isn’t an adventurer.” She said.

Vivian’s eyes widened as she quickly spun on her heels to begin treating Ace. Treating higher-ranking adventurers was a walk in the park as their bodies had developed a strong defense system due to their heavy training while normal people had weak defense systems. Normal people died much quicker than low and high-rank adventurers. In order to save Ace, she worked quickly to stop his blood from leaking. While working with the mindset that Ace was normal, she began to work on saving Ace’s “weak defense system.”

Unbeknownst to her, Ace’s defense system was stronger than a rank S adventure’s system. Originating from a world where strong immune systems were common, granted him an advantage over the citizens of Historia. 

“Okay, honey. I need you to tell me who his next kin is? Is it you?” She calmly asked. 

“Me… I think,” Teresa whispered, her voice faint.

“You think?” Vivian questioned. 

“He… adopted… me.” She whispered. 

“Oh, I see,” Vivian muttered as she patched Ace up. With Teresa feeding her information, Vivian was able to do her best to seal Ace’s wounds. However, it would take hours before he could wake up and move. Until then, Teresa and Keagan stayed in the clinic. The man who assisted them, hiding under a purple cloak, departed quickly and silently. Keagan wasn’t given any time to thank the man for his help, noticing ten minutes later that the man had left. 

Ignoring the strange man, he sat down on a wooden chair beside Teresa. She slumped down against his shoulder as he stared up at the ceiling. “How did I get myself stuck in this? When I see Orion, I’m going to give him a good smack for dumping this babysitting job on me.”

 

TBC…

Episode Seven "Nitarr"

A few hours later, Ace woke up from his deep slumber, awakening to Teresa’s sobbing. She rushed to his side, crying on his lap. Vivian, who watched from the other side of the room, smiled at him. 

“My name is Vivian, Striktin’s only doctor.” She said, introducing herself. “Answer some questions with me and I’ll let you go.” She told him while holding a clipboard.  Ace nodded as he patted Teresa’s head. 

“First, what is your full name and occupation?” 

“My name is Ace Cross and I’m a bodyguard.” Ace said. 

Vivian looked at him strangely before taking a few notes on the clipboard. “Okay, now what is your relationship with the girl? Is she your daughter?”

Ace glanced down at Teresa. “My daughter, Teresa Cross.” He responded earnestly. 

“Good, good, good. Now, can you explain to me what happened in full detail?”

Ace nodded, taking a breath in before starting. He explained what happened, even his skill, Bloodlust, activating out of nowhere, and attracting the adventurers’ attention. Fortunately, Ruben appeared and stopped the situation from escalating, saving Ace in the process. As Vivian listened, she grew disgruntled with the adventurers that he mentioned---the infamous demon-slaying group known as the Demon Hunter party. 

After Ace wrapped up his explanation, Vivian allowed him to leave with Teresa and Keagan. Ace thanked her before waking the sleepy Keagan up and leading them out of the clinic. 

As they left, Vivian’s eyes lingered on Ace. She sensed a malicious force attached to him but wasn’t sure if it was real. She had thought something similar, leading to an innocent person’s death. She couldn’t bear to falsely accuse another person. 

Meanwhile, Ace and the others stopped by their inn, chomping down on food provided by the staff. The staff was happy to give the food for free, but Ace insisted on paying them for it. Keagan, on the other hand, appreciated the offer and decided to accept it, to be then disappointed when Ace denied their request. He was forced to pay for his share of the food. 

Aside from Ace, Teresa, and Keagan, there were two other customers in the room. However, these customers had malicious intent aimed at Ace. A female beastkin named Elenora masked herself under a thin cloak while chatting to another person hiding under a cloak. 

“Are you men ready?” Elenora asked. 

“At your disposal. They’re all waiting for your orders.” The man responded, his voice sounding hoarse. 

“Good, let’s initiate the plan. Get Ace to the forest and ambush him. We eliminate him from the equation.”

“Perfect, let’s begin.” The man responded, taking his hood off. He exposed his night-black hair and crimson-red eyes. His eyes glowed in the fading sunlight, appearing redder than normal. 

“Ahem,” Elenora started. “I heard rumors about a god hiding in the east end of the forest. The god has been said to only appear for naturally good-hearted people. It’s said that the god grants the people strong skills and weapons.”

“The East End? Could you be confusing the god with the Dragon King?” The man said, continuing with the fake conversation. 

“Nope, I heard the guild master became powerful because of the god,” Elenora remarked loudly. This conversation attracted Ace’s ears. He was nearly killed because of the Demon Hunter party and Teresa could only watch with fear as his body was ripped through. Fortunately for him, Ruben arrived and stopped the party, but the damage was already done. 

Ace hated him for being so weak that he was nearly killed by normal humans. He was an otherworlder, blessed with strong skills, yet he was caught off-guard by the adventurers and nearly killed by them. He didn’t want that situation to be repeated in the future, deciding to act on the rumor. He pulled Teresa and Keagan along with him, dragging them to the east end of Astrial Forest. Elenora and the man watched as they left the inn, chuckling to themselves. 

“Send the order, we’re ambushing him before nightfall,” Elenora ordered. The man nodded, disappearing from the inn and headed towards the forest to alert his men; they were hidden on the tops of the trees. 

***

Ace and Teresa headed to the forest, roaming around the east end of the forest. Keagan felt something wrong with the rumor, deciding to stay behind to search for other rumors that spoke of gods hiding in the forest. Ace agreed with him, leaving to the east end with Teresa.

The pair aimlessly walked around to search for any markings of a god. However, they couldn’t discover anything pointing them in the right direction. During their walks, Ace’s Bloodlust activated again, but he ignored it. By this point, he didn’t