Chapter 99: Chapter 099 Swamp Monster
Although the temperature had dropped a bit in the swamp at night, it was still somewhat muggy. Dragging up the disfigured Water Ghosts onto shore, Roger carefully surveyed his surroundings.
Then he drew his dagger, removed certain parts from the Water Ghosts’ body, and carefully stored these objects away. Roger found a few stones by the bank and stuffed them into the ripped-open stomach of the Water Ghost.
Finally, he sank the corpse into the bottom of the lake.
After completing all this, he sheathed his sword and headed towards the distant lights.
The darkness was pitch-black around him, and on his way, Roger did not know where he had been dragged to by the Water Ghosts; he must find a way to quickly return to Danielle’s home.
If he was late, that woman would probably run away.
But to be honest, Roger still didn’t know how he would face her, perhaps the subconscious slap he had given her on the back of her head had already exposed his feelings.
Emptying the water from his boots, Roger marched on. The distant light seemed so close, yet as he walked, it felt far away.
Before he could get close, a series of eerie chanting sounds came wafting over, causing Roger to pause slightly; he suddenly remembered the weird text he had heard being recited at Travis’s home the day before.
“It sounds almost the same.”
Through the bushes, Roger spotted a group of people.
He remembered when leaving Travis’s house, there was a group of people heading deep into the swamp.
“Could it be that group of folks?”
“What are they doing in the forest so late at night?”
In that settlement, the black people all had tribal ancestry, and Roger didn’t have any particular thoughts about these traditions.
However, the Array in Travis’s house, his rotten corpse, and the mention of the Prophet by Travis’s mother, all gave Roger some ominous premonitions.
He subconsciously lightened his steps and slowly crept forward.
A group of people held torches, illuminating an open area as if it were day.
The kneeling figures were draped in garments made of black feathers, their faces painted with oils, expressionless.
In the pitch-black forest, this scene indeed looked rather eerie.
His gaze shifted slightly, Roger noticed two figures standing in the middle of the crowd. His pupils contracted slightly.
A familiar face came into his view.
Associating this with the series of changes after Amanda returned to Baytown, Roger vaguely had some guesses.
“She must have seen something here.”
Seeing the current situation, if someone were to tell Roger that these people were just in a parade or a gathering, he would undoubtedly spit in their face without hesitation.
He had also learned some knowledge from Henrik, and the pomp before him was a typical Voodoo ceremony.
Far stronger than the one Hannam had performed; it wasn’t just half a star stronger.
The crowd’s chanting grew louder, and as all the syllables came together, reaching a climax, everyone simultaneously used a dagger to cut across their palm.
They pressed their blood-stained palms onto the ground.
It was then that Roger noticed the large clump of entwined Vines on the ground where they kneeled.
Standing next to Betty, a middle-aged woman spread her arms wide. Her eyes turned a ghastly white as she chanted something, seemingly making contact with some entity.
Betty knelt on the ground.
In her hand was a heart, nearing rot.
Betty shouted loudly, and then a scene that surprised Roger unfolded.
A floating Spiritual Body emerged from the heart; although he was some distance away, Roger could still identify the person at a glance.
“Is that woman the so-called Prophet?”
“What are they going to do with Travis’s soul?”
A wisp of black mist appeared out of nowhere and pressed Travis’s soul into his heart, and then Betty opened her mouth.
She swallowed the rotting heart, bite by bite!
Her face was covered with thick, green veins, her pupils whitened, and this girl who once looked full of youthful vitality now resembled a ghastly ghost that had crawled out of Hell.
The chanting stopped, and the vines on the ground, as if alive, grew tiny branches that pierced into the wrists of the kneeling people around them.
Blood stained the green plants red, and some around had already passed out due to excessive blood loss.
At that moment, Betty, who had just swallowed the entire heart, suddenly changed color, her abdomen swollen, as she violently vomited out the remnants of the heart she had consumed.
The scene was extremely horrifying.
It was as if someone was vomiting out their own innards alive.
The chunks of the heart sprayed blood as they fell to the ground but then congealed into the shape of a small figure, the size of a human head.
Right after, these pieces of flesh contracted inward as if they were alive.
The next instant, all the vines twisted together, enveloping the bloody little figure layer by layer.
A creature nearly two meters tall, composed entirely of green vines, rose from the ground!
Its appearance was close to that of a human, but its feet were like the roots of a large tree, anchored in the ground, with its arms exceedingly long.
At the tips were tendrils like venomous snakes.
“It’s finally successful!”
The middle-aged woman let out a breath, staggering slightly, nearly collapsing to the ground.
“We didn’t have to make it this complicated.”
She “looked” at Betty, “This is all because of your choice.”
“Now, with its following, even though you have just started cultivating, you are strong enough to deal with anything less than Transcendent beings.”
“Travis was carefully selected by us, it’s a pity he died a bit too early, otherwise, he could have been your best partner.”
Betty’s complexion had returned to normal. She didn’t speak but instead stepped forward to touch the green creature.
“It will become your most loyal servant.”
“And it will grow stronger as your power increases.”
“Your sacrifice has been answered. Go to Baytown, the information given by the divinations suggests our chance to rise lies there.”
“If I find the so-called Saint Heir, can I and it subdue him?”
“No problem, the feedback from my energy fluctuation is very weak. It’s an insignificant existence, but it is also our opportunity.”
“Things are not always absolute. Sometimes, big secrets are hidden in beings that seem insignificant.”
“Finding it might help you achieve Transcendence.”
“Having a true Witch recognized would allow us to integrate ourselves into the new reshuffling of power.”
“The rise of the tribe rests on your shoulders!”
Betty turned her head back to look at her tribespeople kneeling on the ground, involuntarily clenching her fist.
This wasn’t the life she wanted, but she had no other choice now.
At that moment, the green creature’s feet pulled out from the ground, signaling the complete end of the ritual.
“You can’t fully control it yet. Establish a link with it using your blood and then try to control it.”
Betty nodded, scratched her brow with her fingernail, and a dot of blood fell on her finger.
She dotted the blood on the monster’s forehead.
But just then, the green creature, which had been motionless, suddenly turned around, facing a direction in the bushes, and let out a roar!