Demon Hunter - Season Two by Nick Venom (i can read book club txt) 📕

“I sense our future will end soon.” 

TBC…

Rik and Eric ventured farther into the dungeon, heading down a floor and encountering a large army consisting of a hundred demons with a demon lord at the helm. The demon lord was a demonic being that looked to be seven times the size of an orc. In addition to his massive size, the demon lord appeared intelligent as he gave a prolific speech to his army as the preparations for war were being wrapped up. 

During the speech, Rik sprinted into nearby cover to avoid being discovered by the demon lord or his army. Eric, on the other hand, disappeared into the faint shadows of the dungeons. Rik then called out to Eric in whispers, directing him to eavesdrop on the demon lord. Eric nodded and used the shadows to get as close as he could to the demon lord. 

“-preparation for the upcoming battle is nearly completed. As soon as tomorrow, we will charge into the repulsive human city and devastate it. Our kingdom will sprout from the ashes and reclaim the land that belonged to us long ago, bringing to an end, the era of the tyrannical bastard, Mestrellok.” He declared, raising his longsword in the air while chanting: “The kingdom will rise! The kingdom will rise! The kingdom will rise!” His army roared out the chant while brandishing their weapons. A loud roar erupted, following the chants, that nearly busted Eric’s eardrums.

Eric retreated to Rik’s position, crouching against a four-feet wall of debris. “What shall we do?”

Rik grinned before standing up, exposing himself to the enemy. “Are you afraid of death?”

Eric shook his head before kneeling to his master. “Death cannot affect me.” He declared.

Rik nodded before motioning for Eric to stand. “Prepare yourself. Our enemies will attempt to claw through us. Will you let this happen?”

“My life is yours. Whatever you command, I will complete it. I was made to protect you until my final breath.” Eric declared before brandishing his twin blades. Rik smirked as he brandished his chain from within his cloak, pointing it at the demon lord who, by this time, detected their presence. 

“Let the hunt begin,” He declared before dashing towards the demon lord. Eric nodded, standing up and traveling through the shadows to play a game of peekaboo with the army, slaughtering soldiers by the second. 

Rik faced off with the demon lord who put up an entertaining fight, slowly growing into a stalemate.

Meanwhile, Zoe and Ashley took the now healed party outside of the dungeon and towards the city. Titan ran in front to chat with the guards while the others, nervously, waited for the news. Fortunately, the guards allowed them to enter the city without problems. Once they entered, Titan pulled the group towards the city lord’s home to hand him the information of the pending catastrophe. 

The city lord, after hearing of the rumors of an invasion, allowed the adventurers to enter his home. The city lord invited the adventurers into a backroom where a large rounded wooden table sat several chairs in the middle of the room. The room had no windows and lacked a second entrance or exit.

“Welcome, I see that two of you aren’t familiar with myself. I am the city lord of Locket, you can call me Rech. Sit down, sit down.” He told them while sitting himself on one of the wooden chairs. White Den followed him, sitting on opposite and adjacent chairs. However, Zoe and Ashley refused his invitation, only listening to their master’s orders.

“Why aren’t you sitting down?” Titan asked them.

“Bad memories,” remarked Ashley.

“We only take orders from our master. As for her, she’s encountered bad men in the past. I would rather avoid questions about her.” She explained.

“Master? Oh, you must be talking about Rik.” 

Zoe squinted her eyes as her hand shifted towards her knife. A guard that stood in the room noticed her unnatural movement and pointed his spear at her. Rech waved the guard off before apologizing to her. “I don’t mean to cause any misunderstandings. I’m not here to hurt Rik. I’m only here to talk. Anyways, let’s focus on the task at hand.” He then directed his attention towards Titan while, simultaneously, dispersing the tension in the room. 

“We saw high-level demons and minotaurs clumped up in an army of sorts. We’re not sure about the commander of the army.” Titan told him.

“Were they preparing for an invasion?” 

“They seem to be.”

Rech stroked his chin while pondering to himself. “I’ll alert the knights and get Wiles to put up a special quest for adventurers.” He then shot up. “Where’s your master?”

Ashley tilted her head and furrowed her brows. “Master’s beating the demons.”

TBC…

Rik and Eric escaped the dungeon with heavy wounds. Eric held Rik up while he limped his way towards the city. Fortunately, a team of knights was dispatched by Rech to secure the dungeon’s entrance. One of the knights, Grant who wore the attire of heavy iron armor and a sharp sword, discovered the two and escorted them back to Locket. Meanwhile, his buddy Astro, a knight with a matching outfit and weapon, who had slicked-back blond hair, led the team of knights towards the dungeon. 

Grant brought them through the city’s entrance as a lockdown went into effect, quarantining the citizens into their homes. They passed by Rech, who was busy giving a speech to his citizens that uplift their spirits. Rech detected Rik’s presence, nodding at him as he passed by him. Rik ignored Rech and continued towards the town square where Ashley had set up a medic’s tent.

Ashley set her eyes on Rik and dashed towards him, hugging him while in tears. “I-I-I tho-thought you were go-going to die.” She wailed while pounding on him, which affected his wounds negatively. 

“You’re hurting master,” Eric shouted as he peeled Ashley off Rik before ordering her to heal him. She nodded, puffing her cheeks out, and healed Rik’s wounds before, reluctantly, healing Eric. Once she finished addressing his wounds, she shot out her tongue and pulled down one of her eyelids while remarking with “Nyah!” 

Eric ignored her taunt and walked to Rik’s side before taking a few steps backward. “What shall we do?”

“Protect this city. I need to claim every demon’s soul before we depart. Can’t do that if there’s no place to live in.” Rik muttered before brandishing his bloodied chain. “I will ask you once more. Are you afraid of death?”

“Death cannot affect me.” Eric valiantly declared before disappearing in the shadows, as the sunlight began to retract and allow the nighttime to take over. Rik smirked before dashing to the frontlines but was stopped by Rech. 

“What are you doing?” He asked after the crowd of citizens dispersed.

“Protecting the city with my hands.”

“Did you protect the last city?”

Rik furrowed his brows as he jerked his head back. “What do you want, grand and inspiring city lord Rech.” He retorted. 

“I want to know why the marking of a suspicious person is printed on your card.” 

“You want to know?” Rik asked as he closed the distance between them. Nearby guards pointed their weapons at Rik, but Rech waved them away. 

“Eventually,” he remarked before walking off with his bodyguard platoon of guards. Rik spat on the floor in front of him before turning back towards the frontlines.

The team of knights that were sent to the dungeon was devastated by the survivors of Rik and Eric’s rampage. Their murder spree had crippled the grand army of over a thousand to a mear hundred soldiers with their commander in decent shape. Unfortunately, Rik didn’t manage to kill the demon lord, but a large and long scar was forcefully shaven into his face. 

A hundred survivors escaped the dungeons and made their way to the entrance of Locket, which was under heavy supervision by guards and adventurers. Rik, Eric, Wiles, Titan, and his party, Grant---the black mohawk knight--- and the receptionist Bates, stood on the top of the wall surrounding the perimeter of the city. Rech was nowhere to be seen to many people’s dismay. 

The head knight pointed his weapon in the air before chanting: “Locket will survive, Locket will survive, Locket will survive!” Others followed his chant as it spread like wildfire through the defense, even Rik found himself whispering the chant. “Locket will survive! Locket will survive! Locket will survive!” The demon lord found the chant annoying, allowing his soldiers to run free and create chaos. Locket’s defense stood like an iron wall, as the city’s only defense, waiting for the demon soldiers to close the distance. Once they did, the scene erupted into a bloody and limb-losing clash that caused the first fatalities of both sides. Titan led his party, even the frail boy that had the grim reaper hovering over him, into the battle. Grant and Bates followed in Titan’s footsteps as they headed to the frontlines to save their comrades. 

Meanwhile, Rik began walking alongside the wall to the left side of the demon army, sliding down the wall to reach the ground.

“Eric! Flank the army. Leave the demon lord to me!” He declared. He heard a verbal response before pushing himself to reach the demon lord, who hid behind his army. He wasn’t charging with his army, instead, letting them be slaughtered. Rik despised cowardly men and needed to strike them down. 

The demon lord detected Rik once he reached a ten-yard distance from him. “You are the human who gave me this scar.” He said while pointing his sword at Rik.

“Yeah,” 

“I see… this will be our final clash. One of us will lose their life here.”

“I see that you’re intelligent.”

“Intelligent? You could say so.” He said while his eyes glazed over but suddenly reverted within a few seconds. “My name is Demon Lord Wrickven. You may remember my name!”

“Rik,” He said bluntly. 

“Rik,” Wrickven repeated. “A worthy foe I can tell. A duel is what we-” His words were cut short, suddenly, by a chain piercing his throat. A large chunk of his throat was ripped as Rik retracted his chain.

“I don’t have time for intelligent words. Go to hell and we’ll have a fair duel there. Today, I must survive, through any means necessary, if my family is to ever be avenged.” He remarked before dashing towards the demon army. Without instructions from their commander, the army fell apart and was quickly done in by the remaining knights and adventurers, bringing an end to the sudden Locket Invasion.

A man dressed