This battle was a beautiful victory!
But what truly stirred the Cave Dwellers was not the victory itself, but the awakening of the Great Priest!
This was the response granted by the Crystal Great Tree, a sign that their supreme faith had not abandoned them.
It was an event worthy of celebration for the entire tribe!!
So…the Tribe Chief did not kill the invaders, but instead prepared to bring all those who had stopped resisting into the tribe and lock them up.
These people would serve as living sacrifices to celebrate the awakening of the Great Priest, as an offering to the Crystal Great Tree that protected them…
From this day on, the Dark Tunnel Tribe would usher in a new era…a better era!
“The Great Tree has bestowed its blessings upon us! Great Priest!”
The Cave Dweller Tribe Chief, half of his body crystallized, leapt down from the giant rat with fervent eyes, kneeling respectfully on one knee…welcoming the awakening of the Great Priest.
And the Great Priest before him seemed like a Cave Dweller?
And yet, not quite.
Because this “Cave Dweller” was entirely different from the ordinary ones.
The difference between the Great Priest and the regular Cave Dwellers was like that between a plump-feathered “silkie chicken” and a flock of bald, featherless fowls.
Indeed, the Great Priest was that silkie chicken….
His entire body was covered in a layer of black-purple feathers, even his face was not exempt, making it nearly impossible to see his features or expression.
Yet…he did not have the beak or wings to match those feathers, but rather, like any ordinary Cave Dweller, he had the physique of a half-human, with fingers and toes…
In fact, judging by the Crystal Cane he leaned on and his hunched posture, one could tell that this extraordinary member of the Dark Tunnel Tribe might actually be physically weaker than a robust adult Cave Dweller.
“The Great Tree grants us shelter,” the Great Priest nodded slowly at the Tribe Chief.
Then he glanced sideways at the humans who had their hands bound and were being led back to the tribe like livestock, faces twisted in terror…
These prisoners of war were the best sacrifices and food…and only while alive could they serve their greatest purpose.
However…it seemed he had noticed something.
Leaning on his Crystal Cane, the Great Priest walked slowly toward the captives, raising one hand and waving it in the air.
“Stop! All of you, stop right there! Boys! The Great Priest wants to inspect our spoils!”
The Tribe Chief shouted, making the warriors escorting the humans halt at once.
Those human prisoners, already listless, fell into deeper panic upon seeing the Great Priest’s bizarre appearance.
The unknown is always the most frightening, and even after seeing his form, uncertainty about what he truly was only made their fear more suffocating.
Of course, this feathered black Great Priest did not linger long before the human prisoners.
Instead, as if with a set purpose, he walked directly toward one person….
“Priest, this…is the leader of the invaders!”
Seeing the direction the Great Priest was heading, the Tribe Chief quickly ran to Blue Crow’s side.
They’re coming?
Blue Crow’s entire body tensed, muscles straining as he tried to break free, but the Crystal Shackles binding him were far too sturdy, impossible to break by brute force.
It’s over.
What should he do?
How could he possibly escape…
He…did not want to die here……
He had to find a way to survive, at least…
Step, step, step…
But before Blue Crow could finish his thought, the Great Priest didn’t even look at him, walking right past him as if he didn’t exist.
“Huh?”
“Found it……”
The Cave Dweller prophet, leaning on his Crystal Cane, stopped behind Blue Crow.
A pair of eyes hidden behind black feathers fixed on the person behind him—
Nolan Sereton.
“I have never seen…such a weak kin, my brother…Why would you do such a thing?”
The Great Priest spoke slowly, but in the human tongue.
He even spoke with a bit of an East County accent.
Huh?
Not only were those around stunned, even Nolan himself couldn’t react for a moment.
Was the other party…talking to him?!
“Answer me…my brother.”
The Great Priest spoke again, his tone even sterner.
“You—”
Nolan opened his mouth, wanting to say something.
But for a moment, he didn’t know how to talk to this creature.
Brother…
How could he possibly be his brother?
He’d never even seen such a strange being…
“Nolan! What’s going on! You know him?!”
Nolan hadn’t answered, but Blue Crow in front couldn’t hold back any longer…he roared out, like a drowning man clutching at a floating log!
“This…this elder! I’m Nolan’s best brother! About him…you…you can ask me anything! I know everything!!”
“Blue Crow?!”
“Captain, what are you doing, captain!!”
$70…
“Silence this coward…”
The Great Priest rubbed his forehead, apparently unable to stand such noisy blabbering at close range at his age.
“Yes!”
The Tribe Chief immediately responded, then used the stone spear in his hand as a club, smashing it down on Blue Crow’s head!
Whoosh—!
Thud!
“Wait…huh?!”
Thump!
The captain collapsed to the ground, and everyone else who wanted to speak instantly fell silent.
“Huff…It seems…you don’t realize your predicament, my brother…”
The Great Priest shook his head and continued speaking to himself.
In the next moment, he stretched out his feathered finger and lightly tapped Nolan’s forehead.
Whoosh!
“Ugh…”
A wave of dizziness hit, and Nolan’s consciousness faded into darkness.
Thump…
“Take him to my room…Lock the others up and prepare for the ceremony when I give the order……”
The Great Priest gave one last look at the unconscious Nolan, then instructed the Tribe Chief.
“Yes, Great Priest!”
The Chief nodded slowly, just about to carry out the order but….
Tatte! !
“Chali?!”
At that moment, the mine…shook ever so slightly!
Bang!!
This tremor and the crash that followed were even louder….
Even stone chips began to rain down from the tunnel walls…
“Chali…That’s…the Crystal Wall at the front of the tribe—”
Bang! Crash——!!
Before the Chief could finish, the Crystal Wall at the front of the tribe exploded apart!
“Uwaaah——!!!”
In that instant, a pitch-black figure, shrouded in the aura of death, howled as it charged in.
The Cave Dweller warriors still cleaning up the battlefield had no time to react, and were sent flying like bowling pins, slammed into the upper walls and the sides of the tunnel…
They became a pile of sticky, bloody flesh.
“Chali Blue!? What kind of monster is that!?”
The Tribe Chief trembled slightly at the sight of the black-armored giant.
Because he could feel a crushing sense of oppression from this thing! It had nothing to do with courage—this was a difference of level!
“Well, well……”
Crash…
And behind the black-armored monster, a petite figure stepped in, treading upon shattered pale purple crystal.
The girl’s white hair draped over her shoulders, and her crimson eyes glowed with a savage, unfathomable light in the dim mine.
Looking at the corpses left from the previous battle, still not yet dealt with…the corners of her mouth curled up beneath her black veil.
“What a…refreshing sight~”
The scent of death, the smell of blood…made Ileya feel excited, exhilarated….
“Devotee”
“What?! Great Priest…Is she also a Devotee of the Supreme One?!”
The Chief’s body went taut, his beady eyes staring at the Great Priest in disbelief.
Huff…
Yet this was a question that didn’t need the Great Priest to answer…
Because……
“Ugh…… ah……”
On the battlefield, whether Dark Tunnel Tribe warriors or human invaders, the remains of both began to tremble at the same time, emitting hoarse, inhuman wails…
“……”
Under the horrified gazes of the Chief—and indeed, all the Cave Dwellers of the Dark Tunnel Tribe—their dead tribesmen stiffly rose to their feet once more……
In their eyes, there was no longer the terror of being killed, nor the bravery of dying in battle.
Instead, there was only boundless hatred, a deep-seated enmity toward the living, toward the world itself!
What is this, wrong chapter