Chapter 32: The Evil God Ceremony
2015-07-28
Author: Zhuseng Futu
Under the Shadows.
Figures slipped into the shadows, these slender, tall Wanderers quickly disappearing from sight. More than half of the Wanderers that Soren brought were Half-Elves; naturally, the church of the ‘God of Half-Elves and Wanderers’ would not be left with only a few Priests. In fact, there was a special department within the church, which housed a considerable number of mid to high-level Wanderers. Unfortunately, very few Wanderers could cross the threshold of Legend; they found it harder to advance to the Legendary Domain than Warriors, so even though the church serves [Wanderer] priesthood, the highest-level Wanderer was merely an 18th-level Stealth Assassin.
This was primarily because the original ‘God of Half-Elves and Wanderers’ was too weak!
A deity with weak divine power finds it hard to bestow much strength, and He had been severely wounded by the Lord of Shadows, even causing many Wanderers to take on a level or two of Priest; one couldn’t help but wonder if He had lost his mind to let the church make such a decision. Given the limitations of this era, many deities did not have lofty visions.
“No enemies!”
“Unknown creatures detected! Everyone, be careful!”
“Ah!”
“Prepare for battle! Prepare for battle!”
“It’s mutated plants! Be careful of those vines!”
Figures spread out to carefully scout the nearby terrain, but soon cries of anguish arose, and Soren also disappeared from his spot in an instant.
Clang!
The cold flash of a blade cut through the air, and Soren’s figure darted like a gust of wind, slicing a bizarre mutated vine into countless pieces in the blink of an eye.
“My Lord!”
The Half-Elf Wanderer, entangled and injured, landed and painfully knelt on one knee before Soren.
Soren glanced at him and waved his hand, instructing, “Help him down for treatment. Everyone else, be extra cautious; there are many mutated plants here.”
The elite pirates began to move as well.
In this dense jungle, there were hardly any paths; they had to clear out a way themselves. At the back of the team were some longbowmen. The Half-Elves were known for producing excellent archers, but Soren didn’t bring many with him, as the pirates’ fighting style already included ranged weapons—throwing axes, throwing knives, hand crossbows, etc. Their combat skills far exceeded those of systematically trained soldiers, and their equipment was naturally more diverse and flexible.
Huge footprints appeared on the ground.
Many places on this island were owned. The footprints Soren saw had three jointed limbs, resembling those left by some kind of dinosaur, but it could also belong to another creature.
The team did not linger and quickly passed through the area.
……………
On the other side.
About ten kilometers away from Soren, a group of indigenous people, dressed in simple clothes and painted with war paint, was hunting.
“Stop!”
Suddenly, an elderly, grim-faced indigenous warrior raised his hand to signal others to halt. He then leapt onto a tree trunk and said in a deep voice, “There’s something over there!”
Finding enemies does not necessarily require seeing them.
The indigenous people were very familiar with this geographical environment. The old warrior watched the birds startled from the jungle in the distance, as if sensing a looming danger, and slowly said, “You few go back!”
“There might be some fierce beasts migrating over there; the rest come with me to take a look.”
With a scale of two thousand people, it was no small number.
Soren was extremely cautious and managed to slip past the indigenous people. However, the birds and beasts within the area were not deceived; the team’s advance startled many birds, and the beasts fled as far away as possible upon seeing them. Such occurrences were enough to alert the indigenous people familiar with the environment. However, the leader of these warriors seemed to believe it was some fierce beast approaching, as this island hadn’t had visitors from the outside world in a long time.
Under the Shadows.
Shadows of figures were advancing slowly.
Suddenly, it seemed they discovered something and all fled into concealed corners. Some small, hunched figures, painted with war paint, appeared, gripping iron spears. They crept closer to the area.
A cold light glimmered in the darkness!
In an instant, seven or eight Wanderers shot out from the shadows, followed by the chill of cold weapons, and immediately over half of the indigenous warriors fell to the ground.
“&*%%（￥#*……*&￥%……￥……”
The elder warrior at the front emitted strange sounds, but nobody present could understand. The Wanderers did not stop their attacks; they quickly formed a pincer movement from the sides, and soon the leader’s corpse was seen slowly collapsing to the ground.
“Target eliminated!”
“No enemies nearby!”
The scent of blood created a dead silence around, as the beasts’ keen senses detected the danger and many fled the wooded area.
“Looks like a minor leader!”
Soren scanned the feathers stuck in the indigenous body and slowly said, “Continue moving forward. Do not spread out too much.”
Everyone brought along this time were advanced professionists.
The professionists far surpassed ordinary humans in terms of physical capabilities, enabling them to endure this long-distance march. Soren had no time to waste here and prepared to strike at the heart of the matter by evening.
To the east of the river, there was a village.
Nearby, land had been cultivated, and irrigation ditches had been dug; from a civilized standpoint, this place was much more advanced than the indigenous people of Modo Island. The former seemed like a primitive society, while this place had some contours of a slave society. Tall wooden walls, nearly one or two meters thick, surrounded the village, seemingly built to defend against some monstrous beings with terrible power. There were arrow towers on all four sides of the wooden walls, where warriors kept watch, and numerous slaves were working. If not for the rough and simplistic nature of many areas, one might well mistake this for a large town.
Indigenous people liked the slave system.
Every tribe’s internal structure was supported by numerous slaves.
Dong, dong, dong!
Weird drumbeats echoed from within the village, followed by a somewhat frenzied shouting accompanied by strange, harsh syllables.
In the central area of the village, a group of priests with strange masks stood atop an altar, in front of them was a dark red stone. With the frenzied cries of their tribesmen, a group of strong warriors escorted a group of captives. The captives were also indigenous people, but unlike them, they were painted with white oil, while these indigenous people wore dark blue paint.
“#￥%……”
A series of strange sounds arose, sounding like a chant. When the shaman priest before them raised his hand, all the indigenous people knelt down, crying out a name.
“Sa…gu…si!”
This syllable, somewhat resembling a common language, should represent the name of something.
“Drink!”
A cruel smile appeared on the lips of the shaman priest as he approached the first captive with a bone dagger, a cold glimmer accompanying it. The captive’s throat was slit, and blood gushed out wildly, flowing along the rock and onto the altar. The crowd below went into a frenzy as the blood soaked the surface of the altar, some kind of evil and bizarre energy emerged, causing wild, intoxicated, and lustful expressions to appear on all indigenous faces.
Blood sacrifice.
The most evil form of sacrifice among indigenous people, using blood, slaughter, and death to worship certain existences. This was done to please them and provide them with power!
Looking at the dark red stains on the altar, one could not tell how long this ritual had been held.
This was the favorite of the Evil God!
Also the most violent and direct way to enhance power, rejected by the majority of deity churches in most parts of the continent. Even among deities of the Evil faction, many had ceased this primitive form of sacrifice. It was far superior to develop believers than to rely on bloody sacrifices like this, and probably only the abyssal demons were still indulging in this blood sacrifice’s bloodshed pleasure.
Soon.
The second captive was dragged out.
Such rituals often made it difficult to satisfy the Evil God easily. If powerful offerings could not be provided, one had to rely on quantity to appease them. Often, a bloody sacrifice would last a long time, and when night fell, the area would be filled with torches, followed shortly after by a bacchanal after the ritual. The indigenous people believed that mating during such times could produce strong offspring. Such offspring would receive blessings from the deities, possessing powers that made them frenzied.
This mating could last until dawn, continuing until the tribe accumulated enough offerings for the next ceremony.
……………
Twilight gradually descended.
It seemed that this time the number of prepared offerings was not very large. After killing more than ten captives, the shaman priest brought forth some trapped beasts.
For these non-human offerings, some existence clearly felt dissatisfied.
Because an evil, chilling aura spread, seemingly in anger, causing many to tremble. It was no longer a weak spirit, which could only passively wait for the tribe’s offerings, but it could actively request the entire tribe to serve it, requiring bloody sacrifices regularly to increase its power.
A glimmer of cold light appeared in the old shaman priest’s eyes, and he soon issued a few heavy orders.
Immediately, cries of pain echoed, and strong indigenous warriors dragged out some thin men and women. They bore the same war paint as the other indigenous people, but all were ragged and frail. Along with the cold glimmer, the first slave had their throat cut, and with blood spilling over the entire altar, a powerful consciousness immediately revealed a hint of satisfaction. The indigenous people kneeling on the altar soon displayed expressions of excited frenzy.
A smile appeared on the lips of the old shaman priest.
He felt his strength growing further; every time a bloody sacrifice was held, his power would increase by a portion, which was the strength granted to him by the deity.
……………
In the darkness.
Figures were quickly approaching the area, and further back, warriors were gearing up.
Soren gazed ahead.
As a being about to be granted divinity, he could see the thick blood-red spiritual light hovering over the indigenous tribe and the power fluctuations generated by some ritual.
Evil God!
A chaotic and evil Evil God.
It was still unclear whether it was a Demigod or a False God, but it could certainly be confirmed that it was one of the most chaotic and evil beings.
……………… (To be continued ~^~)
