As Arad and his party were about to get out of the guild, they saw Alcott enter with a skinny, wiggling hag.
“Arad! Come here for a moment,” Alcott waved his arm, and the entire guild stared at him with a puzzled faces.
“Who is that?” Arad asked, inspecting the woman from afar.
“A divination wizard, she can help you find your target,” Alcott replied with a smile, “Don’t worry, we can trust her.”
Arad looked back, “Nina. Can you get us a private room?”
“Of course, just a moment,” Nina replied, rushing back.
Only Alcott, Arad, and the hag entered the room. “How do we do this?” Arad asked, looking at the hag.
“Nothing difficult. Just give me your hand.” The hag extended her shriveled, shaking hand to Arad with a smile from her toothless mouth.
Arad took the hag’s hand, and she closed her eyes, looking directly into the future.
ZON! Suddenly, she felt like, falling into a deep hole. A massive pressure crushed her body as she rolled on sold ice. CRACK!
Opening her eyes, she stood before a massive black mass covered with shimmering light. Upon closer inspection, it was a dragon with skin akin to the night sky.
The titanic dragon grasped a wolf in his right hand and a giant bad in his right hand. Slowly opening his eyes, the creature glared down at the hag.
The hag felt her legs freeze from the fear. “Damn it!” With a growl, she bit her tongue(Doing zero damage) and rushed forward to the wolf.
ROAR! The dragon roared, opening its jaw and biting down.
CRACK! The dragon got her right hand, chewing it off.
Out of nowhere in the real world, the hag’s right arm exploded in a splash of blood, scarring Alcott. “Damn it, hag! I told you to be careful!” He quickly took a powerful healing potion and pushed it down her throat.
The hag rushed toward the wolf, leaping at it. Crunch! The dragon bit her left leg as she touched the wolf.
The entire world flashed again in her eye, hearing the dragon’s angry roars behind her.
The hag’s consciousness shifted over and over.
Once, the hag was a mindless monster roaming a dungeon, a man working the farm, and an adventurer wandering the wild. .𝙘𝒐𝒎
The sequences kept shifting till she saw him, a jacked werewolf, holding a church’s bell with his right hand, howling under the moonlight.
“Found him!” as the hags smiled, a massive crack emerged in the sky, and the dragon from earlier flew in, roaring with flashing purple eyes.
“Ah! Shit!” The hag immediately waved her hand, escaping back to reality. BAM!
When Arad opened his eyes, he saw Alcott chugging potions down the hag’s mouth as she bled from her lost right arm and left leg. “What happened?” He gasped.
The hag pushed Alcott’s hand away, staring at Arad, “Don’t worry, kid. This is to be expected, or to say I knew it was a possibility.”
“What?”
“Alcott here told me to be careful inside you,” she smiled, “Said I’m entering the dragon’s den. But I didn’t expect to find a real one inside.” She giggled, chugging another potion.
“That thing was holding the curses. I can’t believe it managed to spot me. I should invisibled to your mind.” The hag looked toward Arad.
“I told her about your draconic nature. She knows about Ginger and me as well.” Alcott said, explaining that she was the one who divined him before.
“That has to be Mom. She must have seen you as an intruder and wanted to eliminate you.” Arad replied.
“Your mother?” Alcott gasped.
“Is she a diviner? Because otherwise, it should be impossible to spot or hurt me like this.” The hag explained.
“I don’t think she is. That was just her will. The one inside me isn’t my true mother, but a part of her consciousness.” Arad looked at the hag, “I bet you won’t have survived if it was the real thing.”
“I would have died if she wasn’t holding two curses.” The hag sighed, “The church of Oakedge. I saw your target howling on the bell tower.”
“We’re going there on a quest.”
“Then you’re out of luck. You should probably get ready for a difficult battle.” The hag’s limbs started to grow back. “I would have usually stopped at seeing the farmer beside the village, but since I went all that way, I kept going for you.”
“Oakedge village got it. Do you know how strong the progenitor is?” Arad asked.
“I can’t tell, but he looked as Jacked as Alcott in his prime.” She sat leaning back on the couch, “Be careful, little one.” she smiled, falling asleep.
Alcott stared at her for a moment, “Rest well, Chibaba.” He then turned toward Arad, “I will follow you after I finish a few things here. Don’t engage the beast before my arrival.”
“Can’t you go with us? Or should we wait for you?” Arad stared at him.
“No, you must go.” Alcott shook his head, “It would be worse if the two of us stayed here.” Alcott said with a smile, feeling a sharp tingle under his teeth.
“Is there a way to kill him? An easy one.” Arad looked at Alcott with a smile.
“There are two ways to have an advantage against a werewolf. The first is silver weapons, preferably ones forged under the moonlight.” Alcott explained, “But your fire magic should be just as effective.”
Arad nodded, “And the second one?”
“Sex, werewolves are lusty monsters. But they lose about a quarter of their strength after the deed, so you can try and get that.” Alcott explained.
“That’s unexpected, to say the least.” Arad scratched his head.
“True lycanthrope pass their genes to their children. That is why after the act, they lose some power.”
“So they gave that quarter is sent with their seeds.” Arad started thinking, “I heard there is distract specializing in that. Can I hire someone?”
Alcott shook his head, “No, werewolves mating is violent. No woman will subject herself to that willingly. Unless she really likes the man and the same for him. No werewolf would resist the urge to chew a woman’s head if he didn’t really love her.”
“That’s a lot of talking about living with a monster.”
“That’s why werewolves are always associated with romance in folklore. The love between a progenitor and his mate is nothing but unbreakable.” Alcott said with a serious face.
“Is there anything else I should know?” Arad asked.
“He should have sharp senses all the time and regenerate at night. You better arm your party with silver, and especially silver bombs.” Alcott took a small ball from his hand and threw it to Arad. “It’s filled with silver dust and explodes three seconds after being lit. Use it on the beast when he is injured if you fought him before my arrival.” Alcott smiled, throwing a small bag at Arad.
Inside the bag, Arad found a bunch of the bombs.
“Thanks for your help,” Arad looked toward Alcott.
“Don’t mention it.”
***
Arad left the room, regrouping with his party as they headed toward Mira’s shop. “What did she say?” Jack looked at Arad.
Arad looked back at him, shifting his glance at Lydia, “The progenitor is in Oakedge. We might clash there.”
All of them froze in one place. Lydia’s face paled, “The beast is there? Should we call the mission off?”
“She is right. It’s too dangerous to go just like this.” Aella stared at Arad, “We have to plan first.”
“They are right,” Jack added.
Arad shook his head, “Alcott will follow us after he got some things done.” He stared at them, “The mission will not stop, even if I had to go alone.” Arad didn’t care as much about lifting the curse as he wanted to bring Mom back.
“What are you talking about, Chief? Of course, I’m going with you. We need to get a few things ready first.” Jack patted his back.
“Like what?”
“Say goodbye to my sister,” He smiled, “Can we meet her immediately? She is close.” Jack pointed toward an alleyway.
“Of course,”
They followed Jack for a few moments until they heard a man scream, “AGRAAAA!”
Looking into the darkness, Arad recognized him, “Isn’t he that weird elf we saw before,” He looked at Aella.
“Yeah, the elf who explained the feet to his party.” She replied.
Jack looked at them, “Do you know them?”
“No, just saw them from afar.”
“Sister!” Arad shouted, and two red-yellow flashes in the darkness.
Thud! Thud! From the shadows, a red-skinned, horned woman with a long tail walked out, pushing the eld down, stepping on him like a carpet.
Behind the woman, a human and a barbarian emerged, helping the elf stand.
“Jack, who did you bring this time?” She looked back at the elf, spitting by his side, “This one you sent kept lusting over my legs,”
“Come on, sister. He’s the only one. Is their job any good?” Jack smiled, and his sister scratched her head.
“Enough for me to put with this pervert. I quite fancy Gug over there.” she pointed toward the muscular Gug behind them.
“I came to inform you that I’m going on a dangerous quest. We’re hunting a werewolf.” Jack scratched his head.