Episode 95 Madame Eight Legs (1)
When the warriors of Balak, including Bikir, returned, what they saw was the scenery of the village turned into a terrible ruin.
All the tall trees the house was on were broken and bent.
Naturally, the house, too, was seen to be shattered and sunk in the water, which was low to the ground.
Planks, pieces of wood, and various other items floating on the water after being smashed.
Floating houses built for the rainy season were all destroyed.
The warehouses where weapons, prisoners and other tools were stored were also destroyed. Everything that was inside was thrown out and left untouched.
Only the food warehouse where the dry goods were stored is broken and empty.
“…What is this?”
Chieftain Aquila looked around with a devastated expression.
The town is in this state, and there is no way that there are no casualties.
Bodies were floating all over the place.
Most of the warriors had gone to see the Iliad, so most of the people who remained in the village were children and the elderly, patients and women who could not fight.
Although there was a minimum of vigilance troops left, most of them had turned into corpses and were lying around.
“…”
Bikir regained his sanity faster than anyone else and soon began to figure out what was going on.
First of all, it was the air that caught Bikir’s mood.
The turbid, polluted aura went beyond Balak’s village and hovered over the entire forest.
Bikir followed this ominous smell with a keen sense of smell like a hound.
Soon, there were signs of something out of the ordinary.
The muddy water was up to my ankles, so I couldn’t see it well, but if I put my hand under the water and feel it, I can feel the ugly scars on the ground.
The scar of a deeply pitted earth. As if something like a huge log had been scratched once.
These deep furrows formed under the water were not one or two, but very complex and irregular.
‘……The width is at least 80 cm. It’s about 3m long.’
How many beings in the Sea of Water can leave traces of this size here and there?
Vikir could identify about three or four suspects in his head.
And clues that further narrow the line of suspicion continue to be discovered.
Sticky…
slime that hangs over your head.
As Vikir tilted her head, it passed over her body and landed on the surface of the water.
Looking up, I saw white, sticky mucus hanging down like a thread on top of the half-broken floating house.
There were heaps of black fur and dark red flesh that smelled disgusting.
It was also visible that the wood in the area where it touched was shrunken with a black discoloration.
It seemed that he was carrying a powerful poison.
at that time.
Splash – Splash – Splash –
There was someone approaching, breaking the ankle-deep sleep.
Alas. She appeared, breathing heavily.
During the uproar, she was able to save her life by hiding in a jar of spices. As soon as she saw Bikir, she burst into tears and ran to hug him.
As Bikir silently patted him on the back, Ahyul let go and cried.
“Madame is here.”
At that, all the warriors behind Vikir froze as they stood.
Madame Eight Legs! fear of floods. Nightmare of Red and Black Mountain.
Why did she raid Balak’s village!
Aheul stretched out his finger to answer such a question.
“Madam destroyed it from there as soon as she arrived in the village. And then, as if she was taking her anger out on us…” The
place she was pointing at was a tall building that was particularly badly damaged. It was a house carved out of stone located on a bedrock hill.
The festival of Ahheman.
The moment Ahul pointed to the place, the warriors realized.
“You’ll regret it! You’ll regret driving me this way…!…!
What Ahheman said before he died and the reason for his actions when he looked at a village far away in the last moment of his life.
Bikir climbed the bedrock and scavenged for the remains of a broken stone building.
This building was a festival where Ahheman usually held ancestral rites, and unlike the exterior, which was particularly badly destroyed, the interior was relatively intact.
Bikir removed the pile of stones and looked inside.
Sure enough, there were traces of strange kinds of herbs that Vikir didn’t even know about, which burned little by little as time went on.
The traces left by the burning of the herbs gave off a strange smell, and small insects the size of little fingernails flocked around them and seemed to be intoxicated by the smell.
Ayen gritted his teeth and said.
“Is it the grass that attracts insects?”
“…”
Bikir nodded.
Ahhemman had set up a device so that Madame Eight Legs would come here if she was away for a long time.
Normally, the fire is controlled so that the smell of burning these herbs does not spread beyond a certain area, but when there is no one to manage the fire, the fire continues to burn the herbs and this strange smell spreads without knowing the end.
And in the end, the madam living deep in the floodwaters reacted to this smell.
Ahhun hit the stone wall with his fist.
“Damn it! He made everyone die when he’s gone!? Crazy bastard!”
It was a passage that showed how strong Ahheman’s desire to be recognized in Balak’s tribal society was.
However, the desire for recognition stretched in a crooked direction, and in the end it brought terrible ruin.
Although Ahhun came to understand his grandfather more deeply, he also felt a stronger hatred for him.
But everything is already too late.
Balak’s village was literally razed to the ground and was in a state of near inability to recover.
Fortunately, most of the population went outside to watch the Iliad, and most of those who remained in the village also went outside to gather fruit or grass roots.
It was because of Iyan’s instructions.
It was an instruction to prepare a reception for Bikir if he won the Iliad.
Aquila clenched her fists tightly enough to bleed.
“The fortunate thing is that there were no major casualties. The village can be rebuilt and food can be collected again. After all, these are floating houses that were made hastily because of the rainy season.”
Balak’s warriors worked diligently to collect the remains of the dead and rescue survivors who were still hiding.
He consoles himself by saying that the damage is so small that it is close to a miracle for Madame visiting the village in person.
Meanwhile.
“…”
Ahhun was in deep frustration with his head bowed.
Bikir patted Ahhun on the shoulder.
Ahhun looked back at Bikir and wept.
“Bikir. I should have listened to you.”
He spoke with resentment and bitterness.
“If I had listened to you right away when you asked me to decorate the end of Ahheman…” ”
…It is not your fault.”
Bikir turned his head. And said to all the warriors nearby.
“The real fault lies with the Empire or, to be more precise, with the Baskervilles.”
At those words, all the warriors turned their heads.
Apart from saying that the culprit was the Baskervilles, everyone knew that Bikir was originally from the Baskervilles.
But Bikir spoke without hesitation.
“The reason why the flood madam expanded her living quarters to this place and the reason why she attacked Balack’s village in a mad hunger is all because of Baskerville.”
As a result of actively subjugating the monsters in the Baskervilles, Madame’s food became scarce, and Madam soon expanded her prey hunting ground.
As a result, the natives of Balak had no choice but to move their livelihood to the lowlands of the mountain to avoid the starving madam.
Vikir pinpointed the hatred of Balak’s natives for the Empire.
And Balak’s warriors felt a strong affinity for Bikir’s attitude, which clearly condemned the wrongdoings of the family he belonged to.
But there was one thing Bikir didn’t say.
‘This is also because of the policies I made when I was in the Baskervilles.’
At the age of 8, Vikir presented a united front with Morgue and a grand subjugation plan against the enemy and the Black Mountain.
Of course, this was only a hint of Hugo’s strategy in advance with knowledge prior to the return, but even so, Vikir had some responsibility.
So Vikir wanted to use this opportunity to repay the many favors he had received from Balak’s warriors.
He fully recovered his body, gained strength from Hugo’s surveillance, acquired skills of various monsters, learned the bow master’s archery, learned and experienced the mysterious culture of unknown barbarians, learned tracking and chanang methods, and in the jungle Learned various survival techniques.
Moreover, as all the savage tribes of Suhae supported Bikir, they also had a strong political influence.
Bikir looked around to reciprocate all of this.
Aquila the night fox. As the chieftain of Balak, she was completely bruised from the fierce battle with Adonai.
Ayen steps out to help Vikir, but is hit by a poison arrow in the leg, making her gait unnatural.
Bikir said.
“Balak’s warriors have never neglected Madam.”
Then everyone looks at Bikir’s face.
Bikir continued talking.
“We held a sacrifice to Madame just a week ago, and we also offered sacrifices.”
Yes. When Balak always caught game, he chose the best part and presented it to Madame’s territory.
The same was true when taking prisoners of war.
“But she raided our homeland and killed innocent children and old wolves.”
Balak’s warriors listened to Bikir with bated breath.
Eventually, Bikir finished his speech with dark blood spraying from his eyes.
“I’ll have to see her now and see.”
