Chapter 95: Madam Eight Legs (1)
When Ballak’s warriors, including Vikir, returned, what they saw was the horrifying scene of a village turned into ruins.
The tall trees that once stood around the houses were all broken and bent.
Naturally, the houses themselves were also shattered and half-submerged in the water on the ground.
Debris, pieces of wood, and various belongings floated on the water, swaying.
All the luxurious mansions built in anticipation of the rainy season had been completely destroyed.
Warehouses, where weapons, prisoners, and other tools were stored, were also in ruins. Everything inside was left untouched, scattered outside.
Only the food storage warehouse, which contained grain, remained broken and empty.
“…What on earth is this?”
Aquilla, the chief, looked around with a bewildered expression.
With the village in this state, it was impossible for there to be no casualties.
Corpses floated here and there.
Since most of the warriors had gone to see the Illiad, there were mostly children, old people, patients who couldn’t fight, and women left in the village.
There were still some minimal guard forces left, but most of them were writhing as corpses.
“…”
Vikir regained his senses faster than anyone else and immediately began investigating.
Above all, the first thing that caught Vikir’s senses was the air.
A thick, polluted energy circulated throughout the entire forest beyond Ballak’s village.
Vikir followed this ominous scent with his sharp sense of smell, like a hunting dog.
Before long, he saw some unusual traces.
The muddy water rose up to his ankles, making it hard to see, but when he reached down and felt the ground, he touched gruesome scars on the ground.
Deep scars in the soil, as if a giant log had scraped through it.
These deep trenches under the water were not just one or two; they were complex and irregularly scattered.
“…At least 80cm in width. About 3 meters in length.”
How many beings of this size could leave such traces everywhere during a flood?
Vikir was able to roughly identify about thirty suspects in his mind.
Clues that narrowed down this line of suspicion continued to be found.
Sticky…
Mucus hanging above his head.
When Vikir raised his head, it passed through his body and splashed onto the surface.
Disgusting black hairs and reddish flesh were stuck together.
The wooden parts that came into contact with it were blackened and shriveled.
It seemed to be infused with a powerful poison.
At that moment.
Splash-splash-splash-
Someone was approaching, breaking the surface of the water up to their ankles.
Ahul. She appeared, panting for breath.
Having hidden in a jar filled with spices during the chaos, she was able to survive and now ran to embrace Vikir, bursting into tears when she saw him.
Without saying a word, Vikir patted her back, and Ahul spoke through her tears.
“Madam was here.”
Madam Eight Legs! The terror of the flood. The nightmare of enemies and the black mountain.
Why did she attack Ballak’s village?
To that question, Ahul pointed and replied.
“As soon as Madam arrived in the village, she destroyed that place first. And then, as if venting her anger, she…”
She pointed to a tall building that was particularly badly damaged. It was a stone house carved from the rock, located on a rocky plateau.
Aheuman’s temple.
As soon as Aquilla pointed there, the warriors realized.
“You’ll regret it! Regret for bringing me here like this…! …! …!”
Aheuman’s final words, and the reason he was looking out at the village in the distance.
Vikir climbed up to the rocky area and searched through the ruins of the destroyed stone building.
This building was Aheuman’s temple, where he usually held his rituals. Unlike the severely damaged exterior, the interior was relatively well-preserved.
Vikir cleared away the rubble and examined the inside.
To his surprise, he found traces of some strange herbs gradually withering away over time.
From the remnants of the burning herbs, a strange smell lingered, and tiny bugs the size of a baby’s fingernail swarmed around the smell.
Aiyen poked at it with a finger and said.
“Is this a herb that attracts bugs?”
“…”
Vikir nodded.
Aheuman had set up a device that would attract Madam Eight Legs to this place if he left for a long time.
Normally, he controlled the fire so that the smell of burning herbs didn’t spread beyond a certain area, but when there was no one to manage it, the fire would continue to burn the herbs, and the strange smell would spread endlessly.
Eventually, Madam was drawn to this smell..
Ahun hit the rock with his fist.
“Damn! Did he set it up so that everyone would die if he was gone?! Crazy bastard!”
This was a moment when you could see how strong Ahun’s desire for recognition within Ballak’s society was. However, that desire for recognition took a twisted turn and ultimately led to a terrible disaster.
Ahun came to understand his grandfather even more deeply, but along with that, he felt even stronger hatred.
But it was already too late for everything.
Ballak’s village was in complete ruins and almost irreparable.
The one fortunate thing amidst the misfortune was that most of the population had gone outside to watch the Illiad, and those who remained in the village were mostly children, the elderly, patients who couldn’t fight, and women, busy gathering fruit and roots outside.
This was thanks to Aiyen’s instructions.
She had instructed them to prepare a feast to be offered to Illiad in case Vikir won.
Aquilla clenched her fist so hard that blood almost came out.
“The only fortunate thing is that there are not many casualties. We can rebuild the village and gather food again. After all, the floating mansions were hastily built for the rainy season.”
Ballak’s warriors worked diligently to recover the bodies of the dead and rescue the survivors who were still hiding.
Considering that Madam had personally visited the village, the damage was miraculously minimal.
Meanwhile.
“…”
Ahun was sunk deep in frustration, his head lowered.
Vikir reached out and patted Ahun’s shoulder.
Ahun spoke through tears, his voice choked with bitterness.
“Vikir, I should have listened to you.”
He expressed his regret and anger.
“If I had heard your words when you asked me to decorate Aheuman’s last moments if I had heard them sooner…”
“…It’s not your fault.”
Vikir turned his head and addressed all the nearby warriors.
“The real blame lies with the Empire, or more precisely, with Baskerville.”
All the warriors turned their heads.
The name “Baskerville” might not mean much to them, but they all knew that Vikir originally came from Baskerville.
However, Vikir spoke without hesitation.
“The reason Madam Eight Legs extended her hunting grounds to this place, the reason she attacked Ballak’s village out of hunger, all of this is largely due to Baskerville’s fault.”
As a result of Baskerville’s vigorous campaign against monsters, Madam’s prey had become scarce, and she had expanded her hunting grounds.
This forced Ballak’s indigenous people to move their territory to the highlands of the mountains to escape the starving Madam.
Vikir pinpointed the hatred that Ballak’s indigenous people had for the Empire.
Ballak’s warriors admired Vikir’s attitude, which clearly condemned his own family’s wrongdoing.
But there was one thing Vikir didn’t mention.
“All of this is also because of the policies I established when I was in Baskerville.”
At the age of eight, Vikir proposed a large-scale extermination plan against the enemy and the black mountain by suggesting an alliance with Morg.
Of course, this was nothing more than catching up to the strategies Hugo had already put in place, but Vikir still bore some responsibility for it.
So, Vikir wanted to repay Ballak’s warriors for all the kindness they had shown him.
Having fully recovered his body, escaped Hugo’s surveillance network, gained strength, obtained various skills from monsters, learned archery from the Bowmaster, and learned the mysterious culture of the unknown tribes firsthand, Vikir had grown tremendously.
Moreover, with the support of all the savage tribes of the flood, he gained significant political influence.
Vikir looked around for a way to repay all of this.
Aquilla, the Night Fox. She was covered in injuries from her fierce battle with Adonai.
Aiyen had stepped forward to help Vikir but had been hit by a poison arrow in the leg and was walking unnaturally.
Vikir spoke.
“Ballak’s warriors have never been negligent to Madam.”
Everyone turned to look at Vikir’s face.
Vikir continued.
“We offered sacrifices and presented the best parts of our prey to Madam regularly.”
That’s right. Ballak had always offered the best parts of their hunt to Madam, even when they captured war prisoners.
“But she attacked our territory and killed innocent children, the elderly, and the wolves.”
Ballak’s warriors listened to Vikir’s words in silence, holding their breath.
Finally, Vikir, with thick crimson in his eyes, concluded his speech.
“Now, I want to meet her and ask her why.”
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