The boy caught a whiff of wet dog smell as he helped her walk, but he blamed the stench on her dirty tunic. Who knew when was the last time she had washed it.
Perhaps never.
"Mmm, what's he doing here? Where's Malia?" Krold and the other villagers gawked in disbelief.
The two Otherworlders present, Toby and Oliver, did not react in such a scandalized manner, but they were undeniably taken aback to see him here in the place of the village chief.
Grallu, unconcerned with their murmurs and comments, began the ritual without wasting any time and incanted her signature Language Spell,
"Gari gori, goru, giri..."
Ikaris, who was standing next to her, suddenly wondered why she needed to mumble this unintelligible gibberish but like the others he kept his thoughts to himself and waited for the spell to end.
There were only eight prisoners this morning. It was more than the day Toby arrived, but chances were that one or more villagers would be assigned to accompany them out tonight.
With Malia away, Grallu personally selected three blood donors from among the prisoners, but unlike the young woman chief, she did not ask for their first names. The difference in attitude was like chalk and cheese! The three burly men chosen for the sacrifice almost shat themselves when spears poked them in the back as they were dragged to the altar.
"Aaarrggh, please no!"
Ikaris and the other Otherworlders were still uncomfortable with the scene, but like the other villagers they were beginning to feel a certain sadistic joy for the mere fact that they were not in their place. It was a twisted way to gloat, but it came from the heart.
The blood was spilled and the screaming stopped with the end of the ritual. The prisoners were then left kneeling and tied up under the sun as usual and the villagers dispersed. No one spoke to them, not even the other Otherworlders.
Striding past them without glancing at anyone directly, Ikaris spoke only a few words to them,
"When it gets dark, hide but don't run away. Don't make any noise either, this is your best bet."
The prisoners gave him confused looks, but by the time one of them opened his mouth to fire another question he had already disappeared into the jungle.
"Black Veil." Ikaris muttered mentally as he targeted one of the villagers who had just entered the jungle before him.
He held the spell for only half a second, but he began to pant and sweat as if he had just run 800 meters. The poor aborigine bumped into the tree in front of him and started to insult the bastard who had pulled this bad joke on him. He then turned to the colleague walking next to him and punched him hard in the face.
"What the hell! What the fuck is wrong with you Grudi?!"
A fight broke out between the two aborigines, but Ikaris had already left.
'Now that my Divine Spark has gone from 0.001 to 0.002, all spells are less tiring for me, but it's still grueling even for a simple spell like the Black Veil.'
He mused further as he walked through the jungle, until he reached the edge of the territory protected by the Guardians, which he had never seen before. If he took another step, he would be trespassing into uncharted territory.
Although he was armed to the teeth, the teenager gulped nervously as he took a step forward. From now on, he could only rely on himself.
Oddly, he immediately felt the difference in atmosphere between these two areas. Near the village, the jungle was devoid of life except for trees and plants bearing no fruit nor flowers, as well as a few insects. As a result of the constant roaming of the Karragin villagers, the grass and bushes had been trodden on almost everywhere, making this part of the jungle very walkable.
Here, Ikaris had barely taken a few steps when he immediately found himself in difficulty because of the sheer density of bushes and weeds blocking his path. To keep going, he had to hack his way with his spear and knife, but there were also times when he had no choice but to crawl under the vines or climb a tree or rock to hope to reach the other side.
After fifteen minutes of strenuous progress, the teenager finally reached a clear trail. Something had trampled everything in its path and as he crouched down he found several huge hoof prints. A little further on, he found many more, but this time more reminiscent of a feline or dog's paw pads, but the size of a horse...
Bzzzzzzz!
Just as he was sincerely hesitating to turn back, a deafening buzz like a motorcycle droned unannounced overhead. The loud breeze was so strong that for a split second he thought a helicopter was trying to land right above him.
BzzzzzZZZZZ!
The buzzing noise intensified and his brain finally perceived that the thing at the origin of this noise was quickly approaching him. Out of sheer reflex, he dived to the side and heard an impact sound at his previous location, as if someone had flung a pebble at another rock.
As swiftly as he could, Ikaris spun around and swung his spear at the enemy, but his eyes bulged out like saucers when he saw what he was dealing with. With its long proboscis buried to the base in the dry earth almost as hard as clay, a mosquito the size of his head was trying to extricate itself from the ground.
His heart skipped a beat as he spotted the blood-sucking insect as big as a small bird.
"Wh-what the fuck is this thing?" He stammered with a sallow face, all his hair standing on end at the realization that he had just narrowly escaped death.
Then he noticed that slowly but surely the mosquito was pulling its proboscis off the ground and his instincts took over.
"Die, you damn bug!"
Undaunted, Ikaris thrust his spear through the insect dozens of times, continuing to strike relentlessly until the mosquito looked like a bloody mess. When it burst, its abdomen had spilled a good pint of red blood, proving that he was not the insect's first victim, but its dessert.
This near death experience instantly dampened his ambitions to venture into the jungle to hunt Demonic Beasts. If he had reacted a mere split second later, a proboscis of more than ten centimeters would have pierced a hole in his neck and sucked all his blood. Even if he had managed to survive, he would have been left in a terrible state.
After this first encounter, Ikaris promised himself to be more careful in the future. He checked the corpse to see if he could get anything useful out of it, but except for the trunk, which was intact, the rest of it had been crushed beyond recognition. He still picked up the mosquito's proboscis. He had a feeling that it might be useful to him.
On closer inspection, this proboscis was about 12cm long and actually looked like a stiff straw that was awfully rough to the touch. The tip was razor sharp, ensuring that this mosquito could pierce the skin of any prey. Trying to snap it in half with all his strength, the boy soon discovered that he was unable to do so.
'This proboscis can easily be turned into a hidden weapon, a straw or a needle.' His eyes shone with delight as he imagined the possibilities of this item.
With this he had an extra trump card. With magic, he could even turn it into a concealed, deadly ranged weapon. Of course, that would be when his Divine Spark had developed further.
Gurgle...
His stomach began to rumble and instead of giving up and turning back he gritted his teeth and decided to continue. If he didn't secure his food, his misery would only get worse in the days to come.
ROOARRR!
He had barely taken ten steps when a thunderous roar sounded in front of him. His blood ran cold and for a second he thought he was done for, until he realized the roar was coming from much further away.
As he listened, he heard monumental collisions, as well as other, more timid roars. Just as he was about to judiciously change his path, he heard a cry belonging to a familiar voice.
'Malia?'
She had not returned to the village to carry out the ritual and he suddenly wondered if it was because of the beast she was facing. Curiosity overcame fear and he decided to sneak up on her.
Making himself as small as possible, he tiptoed, keeping an eye on his surroundings until they reached a small clearing in the middle of the jungle. An unheard of sight awaited him there.
Several dozen Demonic Beasts resembling large bison were grazing peacefully in the clearing. Well, that was until Ikaris realized that they weren't grazing on grass, but on meat...
Looking at this grass more closely, he found that it was the scarce hair of many goblins... Their condition was unspeakable.
In the center of this clearing Malia was fighting against one of these carnivorous bison barehanded, the latter almost as big as an elephant. He momentarily thought that the young woman was after its meat, but when he caught sight of the thing behind them he changed his mind.