The Three Otherworldly Heroes: by Nick Venom (spicy books to read TXT) 📕

“Uh, how do I activate my Brute Force?” Mike asked. Nick face-palmed, shaking his head at their lack of knowledge.

“It’s simple. State your skill while imagining the effects of it. You need to imagine what you would look like if you were on steroids.” Nick told him. 

Mike nodded, standing up and activating his skill. His body changed, changing him into a buffer version of himself. He smiled as he observed his body becoming muscular. He looked up at the goblins and charged at them, flinging his limbs everywhere. 

Macy activated her Invisibility skill as one of Nick’s wolves---Lucy--- appeared from his shadows. Macy turned invisible, effectively disappearing. Lucy chased after Macy using its sense of smell to track her. 

Nick watched as the two took the goblins out without suffering any major damage. Zane stayed behind with his head lowered. He believed himself to be a burden as his skills weren’t suited for battle in the slightest. He looked up and noticed the carnage the two created without his help. Zane shook his head as Nick got up and congratulated the two, leaving Zane out. 

“I need to be stronger,” muttered Zane. “Otherwise I will be a burden.”

TBC…

Nick cashed in the goblin ears, finalizing the teenagers' first quest. Mike and Macy managed to kill the goblins with very little damage while Zane healed them. Mike and Macy praised him for his healing abilities, but it didn’t raise his spirits. He was bummed out that none of his skills allowed him to aid his friends in battle. He had the skills to support them through healing, but he didn’t want that. He wanted to be on the frontlines with them. 

Nick glanced over his shoulder at Zane and recognized the situation he was in. However, he didn’t speak a word of it. Instead, he led the teenagers to his inn after completing the quest. The inn that he stayed at---Element Inn---was a shabby building with few rooms and fewer guests. It looked to be on its last legs, but Nick didn’t mind that. He enjoyed the quietness of the inn and the special treatment he got, like extra meat and longer showers. 

He brought them to his room in the inn. His room had a single twin-sized bed, a small coffee table, and a lonely poster. The poster was of a teenager with light blue hair who was wearing lightweight blue clothing. He held a gun in one hand and a sword in the other. A large name printed in bold and cursive was ‘Legend’, directly under the teenager. It was large and nearly took the main stage on the poster. 

Nick motioned for them to sit down on the bed. Mike and Zane quickly sat down while Macy shook her head, deciding to stand. Nick also stood, a few feet from them. He stared at them, not speaking a word. He quickly analyzed them before letting out a sigh. 

“I want to know if you’re from a different world?” He bluntly asked. He didn’t intend to ease his way into the question. The three teenagers glanced at each other, hesitating to speak. They didn’t know how to answer his question without revealing their otherworlder status.”Well, are you?” He asked.

“U-Uh.. “ the three simultaneously muttered.

“Ah, I get what’s happening. You must think that I’m here to expose you or something, That wasn’t my plan.” He took a step back, taking in a deep breath before exhaling. “Actually, my wife was an otherworlder. I think she said she was from Illinoh… or was it Ill-Illinose?.”

“Illinois!” Macy blurted out.

“Your wife is from Illinois? That’s where we’re from!” Zane shouted.

“Where’s your wife?” Mike asked, oblivious to Nick’s use of the words “was an otherworlder”. Macy and Zane’s heads snapped to Mike with shocked expressions.

“Don’t worry about it, I’m fine with talking about her. Her name was Stacy and she landed in this world seven years ago. She had numerous high-level skills to the extent that many considered her a goddess.” He told them. He looked down at his palms and wiped the sweat onto his pants. “We were in a party for over four years, developing a relationship during that time which led to marriage.” Nick took a moment to breathe before continuing his story. “We then faced a dragon known as Saturn and believed that we could’ve killed it. We had plans to retire after killing Saturn and begin our retired life together, but then…” His word then trailed off. The three teenagers sat in silence as Nick bit his lips. He was struggling to continue the story as memories of Stacy flooded his mind. A tear escaped his eye, streaming down his cheeks. 

Fortunately for Nick, an alarm blaring outside interrupted the awkward atmosphere in the room. The alarm gathered their attention and alerted them to an incoming threat. Nick recognized the alarm’s meaning, dashing out of the room and towards the main gate. The teenagers followed after him. 

“Wolves from the King Wolf’s Plains are attacking!” A guard shouted.

“All guards protect the gate!” A guard’s voice shouted from atop of a watchtower.

“Wolf pack on me!” Nick shouted. His shadow extended, allowing his wolves to jump out of his shadow. “Alpha!, lead Omega and Red for a full-frontal assault! Lucy and Woods, flank the wolves!” He ordered. The guards at the gate struggled to deal with the overwhelming wolves and they would’ve been easily annihilated if King Wolf had appeared in front of them, however, the king never arrived. 

Meanwhile, Alpha, Omega, and Red dealt with the wolves from the front while Lucy and Woods attacked from behind them. The three leading wolves pushed the untamed wolves back with the help of the guards. Nick brandished his sword and headed to the front lines where he slaughtered wolves that attempted to bypass him, his wolves, or any of the guards. The three teenagers stood near Nick and helped with slaughtering the wolves. Macy and Mike fought on the front lines while Zane healed the wounded guards. As they fought, Nick noticed one of the guards barely missed one of his wolves, mistaking it as an untamed one.

“Guards! Don’t you dare attack any of my wolves!” Nick shouted as he sliced a wolf in half. The guards pushed the attacking wolves until only Nick’s wolves were left. The attacking wolves were slaughtered without any survivors. 

Nick, his wolves, the three teenagers, and the guards stood in front of the gate wielding their weapons with tattered clothes and blood. The sudden ambush was dealt with, with relative ease. King Wolf hadn’t appeared, allowing the protectors of Tanri to deal with the attacks quickly. They won the ambush with a few casualties, of which Zane healed most of them without collapsing. He healed most of them, allowing them a brief recovery before joining the others on the frontlines. Everything had worked near-perfectly. 

TBC…

The day after the sudden ambush, the protectors began to recover. Zane managed to heal all of the wounded and ensured that everybody would return to their families in one piece. The city calmed down as guild workers were sent out to collect the wolves’ corpses. Others chipped in to pile the corpses as dismantlers dismantled them all. The city was recovering and profiting from the ambush.

Meanwhile, Zane approached Element Inn and went up the stairs to Nick’s room. He rattled his knuckles on the door, calling Nick out. Nick---who was resting on his bed, slightly muttering to himself---stood up from his bed and approached the door. He grabbed the doorknob and turned it, revealing himself to Zane. 

“What happened, Zane? Is something wrong?”

“I need you to do me a favor,” Zane said. 

“A favor? Depends on what the favor is. If you want me to slay an ancient dragon, then count me out. If you need a wingman for a date, then… maybe.” Nick joked. 

Zane shook his head innocently. The idea of love rarely crossed his mind. He never wanted to think of love ever since he was bullied for having a crush on the popular girl during middle school. He was fortunate that he met Mike and Macy in high school. 

“I want you to teach me how to fight. I don’t just want to be the healer of the party. I understand that it’s an important task, but…” His voice trailed off for a moment. “I don’t want to be left behind.” 

“Huh, you’re sure?” Nick asked, his voice devoid of silliness or jokes. He had a straight face. 

“I am sure. I don’t want to be a supporting character, I want to be a hero. I don’t want to be a burden anymore." He remarked.

“Ha! That’s good. If you gave me a weak answer or something like ‘I just want to learn how to wield a sword’, I would’ve thrown you out until you could give me a better answer.” Nick told him. “However, I must warn you.” He brandished his black leather sword. “I can only teach you how to wield a sword, nothing more.”

“That’s all I need,” Zane told him.

“Perfect, then let’s get you armed. Follow me outside.” Nick then led him out of the inn and entered the inn’s training grounds---a medium-sized space with a few sparse dummies and a small circle for duels. It wasn’t the best place to train at, but it was the cheapest choice.

Nick grabbed a training sword, handing Zane a two-sided sword. He brandished his sword, turning the sharp side towards himself---and created distance between them. He stood twenty feet from Zane, waiting patiently for a few moments as Zane prepared himself. Once he was prepared, Nick rushed at him. Zane picked his sword up and parried the first blow, surprised at the fact that he could defend from a blow. 

“Don’t forget that you can use your magic.” He told Zane as he brought his sword high up in the air. He slashed downward, nearly hitting Zane. However, he dodged the attack and went to attack, but felt something squishy rubbing against his back. He glanced behind him and noticed a wolf---Alpha---behind him. 

“When did you summon him?” Zane asked, scratching his head.

“When I charged at you during the first attack. You were too busy trying to block my attack that you didn’t notice Alpha flanking you.” Nick explained.

“It’s my loss then.”

“Want to try again?” He asked, beckoning Alpha back into his shadow. Alpha nodded and jumped back into his shadow, disappearing from sight. 

“Yeah,” Zane muttered. They then created distance between each other. Zane prepared himself,