48: Backstory and Werewolf
Nina left through the door of the building within the slum district, mentally scoffing while keeping a placid face as she returned to the filthy streets for travel.
Pathetic. Every single one of them.
Ever since hearing the news from Aidan, Nina had focused her entirety on gathering the people needed to face the threat that was coming to them. She had used whatever means she had on hand, finding people of high levels and rare classes that she could identify with her powerful talent.
She found some promising people, and went to them with a rewarding deal that would inevitably help them in return for a simple task of engaging a possible attack on the town, which of course she disguised as information she received from the outside sources beyond Forontia from the smaller nearby settlements that were ‘attacked’ the same way.
She couldn’t possibly say that some strange and mysterious demonic entity was about to lay siege on the city with a horde of monsters. She had to be realistic in her approach when dealing with other people.
Unfortunately her mindset was apparently too enthusiastic, as each and every person she managed to come across that would be suited for the city’s defense outright refused or even laughed at her, saying that they didn’t believe a single word she said.
Then again, that only made sense since she was known as the Key-Slinger, who was only out for herself.
Nina knew this, truly, but even then, she hoped that they would see past that label and see the danger for what it is. Unfortunately, the people that she came across were either mercenaries or old veteran adventurers that quit and settled into the life of a scumbag, committing crimes for profit for their own greedy sakes. Not only did they know who she is, they also knew that she loved to play the long game, often using people for her own ends and, if misfortune hit them, would be served with a binding contract that they couldn’t get out of.
She had hoped that they would see past that, but it was clear that they had a good reason for why they refused to help her. Some had assumed that she was just gathering up a team of worthwhile meatbags for her own enemies that were coming to hunt her instead. Some others earnestly didn’t care about what would happen to this city, because if things went wrong, they could always skip town and never return.
She could try to find adventurers and mercenaries from more well-respected avenues rather than from the slums, but they weren’t as powerful as the ones who truly survived through thick and thin from facing not just monsters, but other people. And as far as Nina knew, people are even worse than monsters when faced in combat.
At least that was what she believed the city needed if they were facing a leader who can control monsters at will.
She gritted her teeth as she recalled Aidan’s panicked face when he mentioned the possible attack, and how he wanted her and himself to leave the city as soon as possible. That just wasn’t possible.
She had nowhere to go. This city is the only place where she could make a powerful foundation for her plan to rise up in power, not just in levels, but in wealth and connections. She would then slowly dripfeed her authority onto other cities, eventually reaching the kingdom all the while keeping herself fairly safe and hidden away in this city.
The reason was quite simple. She didn’t want to go back to people like them.
She was born into a wealthy family, belonging to a well-known noble household situated in the Ghalea Kingdom capital city. Like any noble family, they lived joyous, luxurious lives with no care or qualm about anything else.
She, of course, was lavished with such a lifestyle, and always followed her parents’ wishes whenever she could. She wanted to be a good girl, and wished to be an essential part of the family standing within the capital.
That happened sooner than expected all thanks to the reveal of her special talent, the All-Seeing Eye. It was then that her family treated her more than just their little girl. They treated her like a secret weapon, bringing her to all sorts of meetings, places where children of her tender age shouldn’t really be allowed to go.
Her ability to pierce through veils, no matter how convoluted a person’s obfuscation enchantments were, was something her family greedily used for their own ends. Thanks to her, her parents used all the information they stole as leverage to bring some tycoons under their heels, practically forcing them to be their servants in every way possible.
They brought her to social parties, easily bypassing whatever little lies the nobles muttered for appearances’ sake, then bringing them over to a private room to ‘discuss’ potential relationships with or without their sentiment.
Her parents weren’t the only ones that took advantage of her ability. Others in her family also partook in her special talent, bringing them over to meet as many people as possible, recording their titles, spells, skills, abilities, and who knows what other potential powers they had for their own ends.
At the time, Nina loved the attention. How her family always relied on her to gather as much information as possible and then bring it to them on a silver platter, ready to be served whenever they could.
But that was also what tore her entire family apart.
She had a rather large noble family, consisting of many uncles and aunts, sisters, brothers, and cousins. They were a rather well established noble family with plenty of connections and even a successful relationship with the royal family of Ghalea. Of course each one was as greedy as they come, so they didn’t even hold back on using Nina to spy on their own family members.
Backstabs, betrayals, and deception soon became the norm in their everyday life. One moment she believed she was helping a dear family member, and the next was told that they planned on hurting her by another. The same was told throughout the entire range, eventually involving the entire bloodline of the noble family as a whole.
When a noble girl who had only wished to appease her family had been met with lie after lie, each one as complex as possible to make it believable for her–it eventually broke Nina down to the point where she couldn’t even trust her own life-and-blood parents for anything anymore.
That was when Nina grew up. She learned then that everyone was selfish, even her own parents and siblings. Everyone was out to get one another, and never once saw her as their family, but as a useful tool to get ahead. Throughout all of this, she grew up to wish for power herself, something that her family had never once wanted her to have.
Because why would they want their precious secret weapon to get strong and independent? There were too many potential problems to have if such a weapon gained its own standing.
So she ended up having to play her own games, often hiding what she had learned from others, and using the very same information they sought for against themselves.
But unfortunately, she wasn’t able to get away safely. Eventually, her family grew too desperate, and ended up taking emergency measures. When they realized that Nina was slowly gathering power for herself, one of her aunts kidnapped her and chained her in a basement. It was at that moment that her aunt revealed that Nina would either listen to what she said, or be forced to be a slave forever.
Then another family member broke in and tried to save her, only to do the same thing. Then the next, and the next.
It slowly became a rampant slaughterhouse, often ending up with many people under her family’s service dying in horrific ways that would push even a veteran to be traumatized. A war was made with Nina as the center of it all, and Nina was smart enough to understand one thing.
She could no longer be with her family. They grew up too twisted, too reliant on her powers of observation. She thought she could at least use them to get ahead in the kingdom, but now they had become a horrific monster that she couldn’t handle alone.
So, using all of her available wealth and connections, she vanished from the capital city and ran to the only city where she knew her family couldn't find her. Within Forontia, a far-away city that lies near the border of the powerful Ruinga Mountains, where crime and gangs ran amuck with no end in sight–Nina found her home to stay and grow in power.
And once she grew in power, she could successfully outpace her own family, and soon be free of the shackles they left in her heart.
But what’s going to happen if Forontia was destroyed? She had to live somewhere to grow in power, but the other cities large enough to do so were connected to her noble family in some way or form. Even if her family is now no longer deemed fit to be known as a noble household, they still had their hooks on different social circles, and they knew exactly how to use them. And knowing how valuable Nina was, she knew they would use anything in their arsenal to find her, capture her, and force her to become a good little slave for the rest of her life.
She had nowhere near enough capital and social power to defend against her family’s control, and one way or another, they would tear her future away and leave her to rot in prison, forced to be nothing more than a little tool for her family’s use.
That was the one thing she definitely didn’t want to happen. She didn’t care how many people she would kill or how many futures would be destroyed. She would never become a tool for someone else ever again. She would use everyone else instead, and she would be at the top.
But she needed to protect Forontia before she could even do that. While the idea of a demon invasion seemed ludicrous, especially after a week passed since learning of Aidan’s warning about the attack, she knew it could be trusted.
Because Aidan was special enough to understand what he was talking about. He even saved her when the relic was about to be used on herself, something that she never planned to happen at all. After seeing what happened to Pummel, which was also thanks to Aidan due to his abilities, she understood that Aidan had a good sense for all this.
But now she was faced with a dilemma of having nobody take her side to defend their city, which in short was Nina’s only safe haven away from her cruel family. She looked up to the sky, cursing the gods for the hand she had been dealt.
“...Maybe I need to go back,” She whispered to herself. “See how Aidan is doing. Did he run yet?”
After their last encounter over a week ago, she had thought a few times that Aidan would do what he could to run away as he promised. Normally that would be impossible as her contract made it clear. He wouldn’t go far enough away without it going against the contract’s clauses, otherwise he would suffer a horrific penalty.
Still, Nina had seen a lot of people go on with their lives even after suffering the penalty, something that crippled or outright killed them soon after. She knew Aidan wasn’t dumb enough to risk something like that, but her constant failures on finding people to defend the city made her re-think her strategy.
She would go back and see how he was doing. Perhaps he might even have a plan for the attack to come. If there was anything she could trust–she believed that Aidan would bring an interesting proposition for her to consider.
….
Aidan rushed through the forest, bypassing every root and branch that stood in his way with ease as he bounced around, landing on the trunks of trees and nearby boulders before jumping off with a sudden burst of pure force.
He looked back to see a creature that he hadn’t expected to see in the nearby forest. An evolution of sorts from the Horned Wolves that usually occupy the forest that stood on two legs, packed with muscle, and enough power and speed to easily catch up with Aidan’s increased agility.
Windslicked Horned Werewolf, Level 21.
A special type of monster known as a werewolf that stood over 7 feet in height, with broad shoulders and packed muscle that would make a bodybuilder look on with shame. But that wasn’t all. The name implied that the monster has good control over air magic, which was proof considering how it caught up with Aidan, using wind blasts to destroy each surface that Aidan landed upon to escape.
Aidan was getting more and more experienced going around the forest, entering deeper into its domain and finding more monsters that were higher in level. That unfortunately got the attention of the werewolf that just so happened to pass by when Aidan was taking out some annoying horned wolves that were nipping at him.
Considering that the werewolf had a horn on its head much like the other horned wolves, it was possible that their pack leader meant to take revenge for its brethren. But Aidan wasn’t really worried about that.
In fact, he was fully prepared as he landed right on the ground to spot the werewolf jumping across an entire expanse of the forest in a single leap straight towards Aidan. It wrapped itself up in powerful wind, creating a sort of barrier that would rip apart anything it came across.
This would normally put it at the same level as the Prime Dweller back at the dungeon, but Aidan wasn’t slacking off in the slightest during the week he started furiously training himself.
Five swords were pulled straight from his spatial bag, and began spinning around Aidan in a torrent of fast blades. Then Aidan picked two swords, one straight and one serrated, into each hand before his mind willed the air around the werewolf to cease.
His Craft flared and the wind that was creating the barrier around the wolf vanished instantaneously, surprising the werewolf before Aidan met it with all of his swords coming in full swing. The werewolf was at least fast enough to recover, though two swords managed to cut across its arm and back.
The werewolf roared as it gathered powerful wind around its hand and launched it straight at Aidan. It was so fast that he wasn’t able to fully Craft the air away on time.
But he didn’t mind. In fact, he welcomed it as he pushed himself forward, bringing his swords to bear. Just when the air-covered fist was about to punch a hole straight into his chest, Aidan cast Phase and let the empowered fist pass right through him, finishing the exchange with only the werewolf getting stabbed into its neck with two swords.
Three other swords also took their chance and stabbed right at the werewolf’s back, still stunned at its failed attack. Aidan left the swords stuck into its neck as he phased out of the arm and into the open space around the werewolf. Despite having five swords sticking out of it, two of them straight into its neck, the werewolf still stood and roared in defiance before pouncing towards Aidan again.
Aidan grinned as he stomped the ground, forcing it to come alive from underneath and pierce the wolf over and over again with spikes made out of the earth. Once more, the werewolf was stuck in place, having so many different things piercing its tough body and struggling to break free.
Aidan figured it was enough as he approached the werewolf from the front, seeing its defiant self roaring at its prey and wishing to tear him limb from limb. Aidan moved his hand to the front of the werewolf, and with an added push of his will, blew off the wolf’s head with a powerful air shot using Craft.
All the swords were pulled from its body and the earthen spikes quickly dissolved into soil and dirt as the body of the werewolf slumped to the ground, lifeless. A notification was sent to his vision a moment after.
You have slain ‘Windslicked Horned Werewolf’
You have gained a large amount of experience points.
His first ever fight against a boss-level monster by himself was finished, proving that his training for the week had borne its fruit before long.
“I think it’s time that I expand a little further,” Aidan said to himself, confidence filling him as he processed his recent kill to bring over for later use.