Chapter 43: 42. Spiritual Guardians 1
"Y-you!!!! You came in!!! Into my!!!! HOUSE!!!!!"
Ivan exploded and the only reason he didn't attack the group was because he was held back by Gerard and Liem. Ivan hated it when people invaded his space, and he hated it even more when people messed with his things, even if that thing was a toxic pile in the shape of an animal.
Unlike war boars, this creature cannot be turned into dried meat and soup base, not for lack of trying but because the hide is so tough that skinning knives barely go beyond the first layer of skin, yet Although the swords, spears and boars were able to wound it, none of the wounds were very deep and the creature probably died from blood loss (and Tyler's help).
Another reason was the nature of the creature, no one could say what it was, just as they couldn't say what that monstrous goblin was. But they knew it wasn't something natural, according to Sofi's previous analyses.
Although this was not difficult to conclude since in all the points where the creature had been injured (and which had not closed almost instantly), instead of red blood, a clearly toxic black liquid came out, as if that were not enough for the flesh. The creature's appearance was also black with a gelatinous consistency that gave off a smell as bad as its own blood.
They had tried to burn the creature, but the hide seemed to be immune to flames and the longer the creature was out in the open the more its scent seemed to spread. They tried to convert it into fertilizer after Liem cut one of its paws with the sword that 'he' had sent and that had been used by Hannah. However, that didn't help either and they decided to bury the paw. The next day they saw that all the vegetation around the place had simply disappeared.
Not dead, or rotted, it simply disappeared and a 5 meter gray circle was left in place.
Seeing that they could not burn it, turn it into fertilizer or simply bury the creature, the only choice they had was to store it in a place that was not outdoors and that would be well protected. The only place that fit that description was Ivan's "basement."
After all, no one was crazy or stupid enough to try to touch the village hunter's possessions, especially with the anger he felt when they invaded his space without being invited. At least until now.
"What do you intend to do with this?"
Gerard coldly asked the five young men who had brought the creature. These five were well known in the village but in a bad way, always running away from work, disturbing those who were working and even stealing "small things that no one would miss", they were the five most problematic in the village and technically the first five Tyler's victims in the world.
"Now Mr Gerard, why that face?, we were just thinking about how we could thank 'him' for his help."
The oldest of the group responded with an obvious mockery, receiving surprised looks from people. There were very few people who had the courage to face Gerard when he was angry, much less mock him in such an obvious way.
"And together with our new friends from the town of Black Oak, we thought: What would be the greatest show of respect for such a powerful being?"
Another continued.
"It was then that Miss Sofi gave us the answer."
A third finished, making everyone look at Sofi who just looked at the young people with a mixed expression of confusion and anger.
"What do you mean?"
Liem asked, containing his anger at bringing Sofi into the conversation, for some reason just hearing her name coming out of these boys' mouths irritated him. The first responded with a mocking tone.
"The way in which Miss Sofi, 'returned' was quite... specific. Our friend Quiria told us about the Viazmands, the wars of the ancient north who fought both as ruthless warriors and with magic." He said calmly.
Even in a fractured world, some stories from distant lands continued in people's minds even after centuries and millennia. The stories of the Viazmands would be one of them, warriors and sorcerers who directly served the gods and are said to have received these powers to be the ones who send the worthy to the afterlife, in the culture of the Hazgarberns.
If Tyler could hear this story, he would immediately think of the Valkyries in his world and the Vikings. Although he already thought that as soon as he saw the look Sofi came back with the first time.
The young man continued.
"Lady Quiria told us that Miss Sofi's form was exactly the same as theirs. So we thought, if they were responsible for sending the souls of the worthy to the afterlife, and this 'god' basically turned Miss Sofi into one, then he would be something like a God of war and souls. So wouldn't the best way to thank him be to send a strong soul and we can for him?" He said in a very confident tone.
"And since we can't give away the giant goblin's body, since Miss Sofi made sure not to leave anything behind, the next best alternative was his mount, which unfortunately managed to kill some people and injure several others." Another of the group of five finished.
Usually this would result in an even stronger unison of rejection than the idea of offering the goblin corpses. Sofi herself said that it shouldn't even be a real animal and just an amorphous mass that took the shape, or more likely, was induced by another to take that shape. Probably the result of experiments with dark and abyssal magic, the only two forms of magic that did not appear to be affected by the Corruption.
But one doubt left everyone unable to deny the idea was simple. What if they were right?
Realistically, they knew nothing about this 'god', not even if he was really a 'god' and not a demon, or some extremely powerful spirit. They saw him cause agonizing pain and death, send weapons and throw lightning in broad daylight, and even bring Sofi back to life. Which lined up well with the way the Hazgarbern gods behaved, and as they didn't know the name or appearance of the 'god' they couldn't say for sure that he wasn't one of the gods of the far north.
The group that wanted to harm him was excited about the idea, after all the chances of him really being one of these gods existed, but this led to the question of why he was so far south?
They were confident that 'he' was not really one of these gods, but using this card offered an advantage to finally tarnish the 'perfect' image that people had created of this god. After all, even the most benevolent gods of the north were also known to accept human sacrifices.
Feeling on top of the world after a long time of having to "behave" thanks to 'him', one of the young people wanted to increase the blow in some way.
"What do you think Hannah, we should at least try, right? After all he accepted the goblins, he will certainly accept this creature?" He said happily seeing the young woman not knowing what to answer.
Hannah didn't hear any of the buzzing like before, nothing just a silence, nothing welcome in this situation.
But before anyone could speak or do anything else, the altar shone brightly, even as it accepted the corpses of the goblins. From it, 3 tentacles of light will come out and quickly go towards the creature, when they touch it, instead of it just disappearing as it usually happens. The tentacles seemed to be looking for something in the creature and when they found it, the body of the huge creature disappeared, but not suddenly, it seemed more like the body was falling apart and being sucked into the center of the light.
Moments later, in the creature's place was a perfectly polished navy blue sphere, but before they had time to appreciate it, it simply got up from the cart, went towards the altar and settled right in the center of the stones. When everyone present, including the group of troubled people, saw the stone on the altar, they felt a strong presence above them, the wait almost seemed like eyes were judging them for their actions, preventing anyone from trying to do anything even remotely disrespectful.
Everyone except Quiria, she was amazed and outraged by what had just happened, her last attempt ending in another failure. Although if she had been calmer she would have seen that this would be the obvious result, if 'he' would have accepted goblins that were already rotting, why wouldn't he accept a creature that was externally intact but rotten on the inside?
Obviously this didn't matter to her, she only cared about thinking of another way to reduce the prestige and respect that this 'god' had, this was the only way she could think of to get revenge for not protecting her grandson, her children or your home.
Suddenly for the 3 second time in one day the altar shone again, this time with a blue-white light similar to when 'he' had sent the weapons, but this time everyone felt something different. Something deep in their souls said that whatever 'he' was doing was something much more important than just giving away weapons. Even Quiria this time didn't even dare to think about interrupting.
And from the sphere in the center of the altar another blue sphere came out, as soon as it rose into the air it soon divided into 10 smaller spheres, followed by another now white sphere that also divided into another 10. These twenty spheres remained in the air for a few moments but they soon turned towards the members of the dissatisfied group.
Everyone held their breath thinking that this would be the way 'he' would punish those who irritated him and many didn't know if he wanted to know their fate or if now they preferred to remain unaware. Indifferent to people's thoughts, each sphere stopped in front of a person, who remained frozen in the same place, not daring to breathe while the spheres circled them.
Once again, Quiria was the only one who could still breathe and move, even though she was astonished and scared. She was about to grab a piece of wood she had saved in case she needed to defend herself in the commotion she intended to create, when the blue sphere in front of her stopped and began to grow and take on a humanoid shape.
Before Quiria knew it she was no longer staring at a ball of blue light but at the face of her grandson who had died 2 days ago.