Chereads / TEMPEST IN THE LAND OF SEVEN ESTUARIES / Chapter 6 - Sacrificial Altar

Chapter 6 - Sacrificial Altar

Adanu Raksa is concerned that the girl is being possessed by the same malevolent spirits that pursue him each night.

 

He's hesitant to approach because his unusual condition, which has been marked as sacrifice to the devil, tends to provoke the evil spirits nearby. He fears that the evil spirit might become even more enraged and attack him by using the girl's body.

 

But then, something silly suddenly crosses his mind. "Chief, tells the other to let the girl leave," he suggests.

 

"What? Are you out of your mind?" The Chief responses in a confused face.

 

"If she is really being possessed by the evil spirit that works for the shaman, we can follow her to find where that shaman is," Adanu Raksa explains.

 

Quite understanding with Adanu Raksa's idea, The Chief tells the others to let the girl leave.

 

Since there is no more distraction, the girl's ruthlessness and madness seem to lessen. She is walking staggered in the middle of the main village street, with a few people still looking so alert in following her.

 

"Sir, I need to get back to the woods. I'll keep following you guys from there," says Adanu Raksa.

 

"Why?" asks the chief.

 

But Adanu Raksa just ignores him and then jumps over a house heading back to the woods.

 

"Just keep following the girl," he shouts before landing on the backyard of that one house.

 

He climbs one tree and then leaps from branch to branch. He really has no other choice. It would be catastrophic if the demons come to him during this situation.

 

Once he reaches the northern edge of the village, the girl enters the woods, making her way up the hill. She continues deeper into the rainforest, while Adanu Raksa watches her from the treetops.

 

Eventually, Adanu Raksa catches sight of a small bonfire flickering on a distant cliff. He then get of the tree and approaches the village chief.

 

"Sir, that's enough. Get the girl and take her back to the village," he says.

 

"Have you found the shaman's whereabouts?" asks The Chief.

 

"I'm not so sure. But it will be too dangerous to let her go any further. Please, leave the rest to me," says Adanu Raksa, immediately leaving him without waiting for his affirmation.

 

Adanu Raksa moves quickly, climbing the hill to investigate the area where he spotted a small bonfire. Along the way, he encounters a large river.

 

Perched on a tree branch, he is startled to see that the river is almost completely dry, with hundreds of forest demons gathering upstream, forming what appears to be a dam.

 

"What are they doing there?"

 

 

As far as he knows, forest demons and undeads had always been acting like creatures without any intelligence. Building a dam like that is not a work of some stupid demons, he believes.

 

"What moves them to act like this?" he mutters.

 

More and more forest demons from the other side of the river rush down, pushing and shoving as they block the flow.

 

While parts of the river downstream remain dry, Adanu Raksa is determined to cross it in his search for the shaman. Ignoring the demons, he jumps from the tree and moves toward the dry riverbed.

 

However, as he gets closer to the demons and undead, they begin to notice him. And soon, he realizes that a part of the dam the demons are building is starting to weaken.

 

"You stupid. Just mind your business, would you?" He shouts, his face looks annoyed.

 

Knowing the dam is going to break, he rushes to leave the river. And yes, the dam of those forest demons toppled over, leading to a sudden flood. Luckily, Adanu Raksa has already reached the other side.

 

"Hopefully that much water won't damage the villagers' paddy fields!"

 

Some of those forest demons are swept away. But some of them managed to leave the river, and are now back hunting him.

 

He glances around, and finds more of the undeads approaching him from all directions. The evil spirits are also hovering between the tree coming to him.

 

There's no other choice but to release the ribbon wrapping his sword to fight them. He is back to his nightly labor, slaughtering the forest demons and evil spirits by himself.

 

It creates commotion in the woods as more fleshes scattered around. The evil spirits keep screaming in their agony. But their numbers don't seem to be decreasing.

 

"I have no time to do this kind of shit all night. I need to leave this place immediately."

 

Later, he then only slaughters a few of them just to open the path, so he can keep ascending to the top of the hill. He keeps moving, leaving traces of so many fleshes of forest demons all around the places.

 

Upon reaching the top of the cliff, he finds several headless bodies of girls, completely naked. They pile up in a place that looks like an offering altar which is made from the remains of a large tree that has been cut down, with a few torches on the edges.

 

There's a shirtless man sitting behind the headless corpses. Adanu Raksa can only see the back of the mysterious man from behind. But he is sure that's the man he is looking for.

 

"Finally," mutters Adanu Raksa in relieved as he wipes his forehead.

 

The mysterious man grabs his long wooden staff and looks back. He does look quite young for a shaman, and quite similar to the bounty poster given by the village chief.

 

"So it's true you're the mastermind behind all this? Intentionally creating havoc in Kulonsewu village, offering a help by demanding a sacrifice?" utters Adanu Raksa rhetorically.

 

Instead of panicked or shocked after being exposed, the mysterious man somehow looks curious, realizing something different in Adanu Raksa. "I see! Now I understand why these demons and evil spirits are so hard to control. They are attracted by you, someone who has been marked as an offering for the Carrion Flower Devil."