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

did you go out and extend an olive branch to them?” She shouted in his face.

John stared at her. Why did he give them an hour? It wasn’t… because they tricked him?

“Forget this; forget you and that stupid goddess!” She shouted, turning her back on John. She quickly walked to the door, opening it and closing it behind her. She wanted to leave before John could snatch her up and strangle her for saying blasphemy; calling his precious goddess “stupid” wasn’t something he’ll hear without fighting the person who said it.

Hex watched as John raced to the door to catch Elenora, but she escaped. She ran off, leaving an even more seething John behind for the others to witness. “How… dare… she!” He grumbled.

Hex quickly excused himself, running off to his room in the house. Poppy and Ela followed his lead, leaving John to himself. He had changed significantly compared to how they initially met him. John saved Ela and Poppy from being enslaved and sold to the highest bidder. They owed him their lives, deciding to serve him to show him their appreciation and undying loyalty.

On the other hand, Hex’s story wasn’t as motivating. He had been in the dumps, feeling as if he was stabbed multiple times in his stomach by Heka, before being discarded into the trash. Be it though that none of those events occurred but Hex felt the emotions and they swayed his memory. He felt that Heka betrayed him, but knew that he also saved the poor kid he once used to be. He hated and loved his savior.

John had discovered him in the port city of Neptune’s Pillar, living on the streets after being thrown into the mortal realm by Heka. He saved Hex, bringing him along for the trip. With his mission of searching for the Fountain of Youth being brought into reality… then to be crushed once John’s dark desire to reincarnate the evil god named Calamity forcefully pulled Hex away from the Fountain of Youth and the Spirit Realm - towards a scheme to sacrifice an entire town.

Even so, he had already tied his life to John and wasn’t able to cut ties yet. For now, he’ll have to continue along with John.

 

Poppy and Ela sat in their room, facing each other on the floor. They didn’t speak a word, simply staring at each other. The atmosphere was suffocating as John’s loud and crazy curses and remarks filled the air. They nearly choked.

“What do we do? He’s…” Poppy couldn’t bring herself to admit the truth. John was no longer the same ever since his second death.

“I know… he’s not the same person that saved us.” Ela then leaned in, whispering to Poppy. “It’s all because of that Goddess.”

“He sold his soul to her for power,” Poppy muttered, nearly slamming her fists on the floor. However, it would attract John and his Goddess.

“He had to… you know why.” Poppy nodded, lowering her head. Ela did the same, both praying for the Goddess to return John to them. Return the kind and loving master, not the quick-to-anger and vicious person they now saw. All they wanted was for the person that saved them… to be returned to them. They wanted to revive the old John.

 

“Thorn! Start evacuating the citizens!” Ruben shouted. 

“We’re getting close to disabling the fireball!” Ice shouted, pouring more of her magic into her water skills.

Ruben shook his head. “We aren’t. You see that fireball.” He pointed at the fireball. “It’s stronger than any of us here. Only a rank SSS adventurer has a chance of stopping this fireball. We are simply a couple of drops of water being splashed onto the fireball.” He declared. 

He stopped pouring his magic into the fireball. He dropped his arms in defeat, knowing that their attempts were fruitless. “We will lose this town. The only thing we can change will be the casualties inflicted by the fireball. Evacuate the citizens immediately and call all guards to help move the citizens to the next town.” He ordered. 

Thorn, who helped replenish Ice and Ruben’s mana, nodded and ran off, yelling and shouting. With Ruben throwing in the towel, the remainder of the guards that tried to help extinguish the fireball, lowered their hands in similar defeat. If Ruben couldn’t stop it, then who could?

Even with everybody stopping and admitting defeat, Ice continued to pour her magic into the fireball. She wanted to stop it and become a true hero. However, the fireball was too large to stop and it was slowly nearing the town.

“Stop that, Ice!” Ruben declared. Ice turned her head to face him. “It’s pointless to attempt to put out that fireball. Focus on evacuating everybody now!” Ice opened her mouth to argue with him, but couldn’t think of a valid reason to continue fighting. Her efforts wouldn’t bear fruit. Instead, she dropped her head in shame and ran off to act on Ruben’s order.

Meanwhile, Ruben stood in the same place and glanced at the fireball. It was a tremendous fireball that would’ve taken a dozen rank S and SS adventurers to conjugate into reality. And a rank SSS adventurer to extinguish it.

***

Orion noticed the fireball and heard shouting. He left the inn with Dawn and Keagan following behind him. They were all confused by the situation, not being present during the initial chaos. He looked around as people ran past them to the entrance of the town. He took a step forward and caught a person as they ran by. He gripped a man in his forties with dark blonde hair and wearing silver armor. “What’s happening?” 

“I don’t know much. Some fireball suddenly appeared by the inns. We’re evacuating!” He spat out. 

“That’s it?” He shouted in the guy’s face.

“Yeah, that’s it.” The guy said. Orion loosened his grip on the man’s arm and allowed the man to run free. “Man, I shouldn’t have left Edurdale,” he heard the man mutter to himself as he ran away. 

“Let’s find Ruben!” Orion shouted. Dawn and Keagan nodded. They ran towards the guild to search for answers.

***

Mace and Silver returned, after talking with Havok, to find Ariana, Teresa, and Catrina missing. They were then informed by Kira about their kidnapping. With Ace and Aver broken, they pushed forward to find them. Although they didn’t have much to work on, they concluded that the warehouse in the middle of the forest was an obvious hint. It was a suspicious place, to say the least.

They discovered it when Mace went to talk with Havoc while Silver scouted out the nearby forest for clues towards their attackers. Silver discovered the conspicuous warehouse, deducting it a perfect place for evil to brew. 

Mace acted on Silver’s gut instinct and raced with him towards the warehouse. However, two minutes into their adventure, they were met with opposition. A man stood in their way, dressed in a familiar cloak with his face being masked by the hood. He wielded a spear, handling the long weapon with ease. “Good day,” He muttered.

“Who are you? Silver asked, arming himself almost instantly. He pointed his longsword at the man. Mace did the same, brandishing his sickle. 

“Me?” The man questioned, pointing at himself. “Oh, my name is Alka…” His voice trailed off as he went into a laughing fit, unnerving Mace and Silver. “You’ll be dead soon, so I’ll be fine revealing my name. It’s Alka Day, the best Shadow here.”

“I’ll add it to your gravestone.” Mace flatly said. He bolted towards Alka, slicing at him once he was close enough. The slices fell short by a few inches. 

“If you can kill me.” Alka mocked, raising his spear and thrusting it at the guards. Mace dodged the attack, but Alka used his skill, Wind Arts, to redirect the spear. It changed directions instantly, piercing Mace and creating him a shallow wound, before retracting to his side. Mace collapsed, feeling his wound. It was poisoned with a greyish substance.

Alka noticed the grey substance leaking out of Mace and tilted his head. “My poison is purple, not grey. Wait, what-” Silver interrupted him, slashing at Alka. He dodged the attacks and retreated a few steps. He shot a glare at Silver before glancing at his waist, three bottles attached to a belt. Two of them were purple while the third one---half-empty---was grey.

“Sears!” He shouted suddenly. “Switched out the poison, knowing that I wouldn’t recognize everything. All so you could become the leader; I despise you.” He muttered to himself. However, he couldn’t do anything as he was still in a fight with Silver.

Silver slashed at Alka, piercing him while he was confused about the sudden equipment switches. He reacted quickly, counterattacking by thrusting his spear at Silver. Silver dodged the attack, but Alka used Wind Arts to redirect the spear. He released his grip on the spear and watched as it flanked Silver, piercing his back. The guard grabbed the spear’s tip and ripped it out of his back, discarding it like a worthless piece of trash. 

Alka watched with glee, not realizing that Silver had an ace up his sleeves. He believed that Silver was going down, which was half-true, but he held onto an ace. He activated his skill, Multi-Strike, and charged with all of his might. Alka underestimated Silver, not expecting a swift counterattack. It caught him off-guard - Silver piercing him in the gut multiple times. His Multi-Strike allowed him to put the remainder of his energy into striking all of Alka’s vital organs within a few seconds and kill the Shadow standing in their path.

As he wanted, he pierced all of Alka’s organs and splattered them on the grass, staining them. Alka was dead, a Shadow was killed on their way to the warehouse. Unfortunately, Mace was knocked out by the substance with Silver not far off from him. He had a few seconds left before his energy left him and knocked him unconscious. 

Before it happened, he checked up on Mace to see he wasn’t dead, only resting. With a smile on his face, Silver collapsed next to him. The guards were knocked out by the deceased Shadow; Alka Day.

***

 

Wolfe rounded up Ace, Aver, and Kira, bringing them through Astrial Forest. He tracked the scent of Teresa through her Aresa doll and brought them through the vegetation of the Astrial Forest to an abandoned-looking warehouse in the forest. The warehouse was surrounded by trees on all ends and submerged under the tops of the trees.

“In there,” he noted. “I sense nine people.” 

“That should be everybody,” Kira whispered.

“I’ll distract the guards, and you guys get into the buildings,” Wolfe said. 

“Will you be fine?” Aver asked.

“Yeah, I’m much stronger than that wolf you have, if anything. Still, I’m surprised you didn’t bring it with you. A wolf could be helpful.” Wolfe remarked.

Ace shook his head. “Act needs to become stronger before he could help us. For now, it’ll be just us.” He watched as a door opened and two men in iron armor walked out. They exited the door, standing by the side of the building. “Let’s focus on Wolfe’s plan. Let’s go get the girls before they’re killed.” They all nodded, following the plan. Wolfe rushed in and whirled his large battle-ax around. He threw his ax at the guards stationed outside of the building, killing them on impact. Ace, Aver, and Kira followed behind him. He gripped the ax and ripped it out of the guards’ skulls. 

“Go! I’ll cause a commotion.” He shouted. Ace nodded, following Kira who opened the door. Before they entered the building, Ace stared at Wolfe. Wolfe noticed, tilting his head.

“Thanks,” Ace remarked before following Aver and Kira into the building.

Wolfe let out a small chuckle, thinking what a weirdo before charging forward to deal with incoming reinforcements. He attracted a large portion of guards outside, dealing with them as best as he could - with his fists and battle-ax.

 

TBC…