"Whew..."
The heavy stone hamr, with an astonishing swoosh, roared down! Death ca suddenly, and Jaguar shivered all over with fright. Agile and quick, he dodged backward. If that hamr had hit ho, never mind a person's bones, it could even smash a hole in the toppled earthen hut nearby!
"Whew!..."
Maha Agudah, swinging his massive hamr like a bear, created gusts of wind with his sturdy arms. Jaguar, dodging repeatedly, was as swift as a monkey. The warriors from both sides in the camp responded, with five Kingdom Warriors drawing their bronze axes and over a dozen warriors from the Fish-Skin Sect raising stone hamrs and bone clubs. Just as a battle seed imminent, the two leaders had already decided the outco!
"Whew!!..."
"No!!..."
Jaguar fell sitting on the ground, his eyes filled with a mix of terror, extre anger, and the fear of death. Amidst his furious shout, the heavy hamr roared down, sweeping off the Priest's Feather Crown and then suddenly stopping re inches above his crown. The Fish-Skin Great Chieftain Maha Agudah paused the stone hamr with ease and shouted loudly.
"Speak! You ship-using leader who cannot be fought! Are you appearing here to covet our camp!..."
"Damn it! Damn it!! You foolish Chichic, you crazed Fish-Skin Barbarian!... We have plenty of rich and vast territories! We have no interest in your barren, cold swampy woodlands!!"
"You lie! You are plotting against our camp!..."
"I am not! I swear I am not!..."
"Then why are you heading south? Insisting on contacting the Southern Great Tribes!..."
"It's the prophecy of Your Majesty, the enlightennt of the Chief Divine! We are to trade with the Southern Great Tribes, using the gold they are obsessed with to exchange for their craftsn and technology!..."
"What? The prophecy of your Tribe's Great Chieftain Shaman? To bring craftsn from the south to make things? What use are craftsn, can they make food to eat?..."
Maha Agudah blinked in confusion, unable to grasp the other party's motive. Indeed, the Fish-Skin Tribes, always engaged in brutal battles for survival, had little regard for the craftsman's skills.
But after a mont's consideration, he discerned the truthfulness of these words from the opponent's angry, unwilling, and sowhat aggrieved expression with his keen, beast-like intuition. Almost instantly, the fierce murderous intent receded from his scarred face, turning back to the simplicity of a Barbarian, making Jaguar's heart skip a beat.
"Ship-using one! I have wronged you! So you truly have no designs on our fine territory? Strange, I thought you were deceiving ... Then, where is your territory? Could it be better than here?..."
Maha Agudah muttered to himself, casually tossing the stone hamr aside, which landed with a "thud" creating a pit in the mud. He then bent down, picked up the fallen Feather Crown for Jaguar, and skewed it onto his head. Finally, he extended a large hand, pulled Jaguar up with force, and surprisingly showed a smile on his face.
"Ship-using one! I believe you! You brought us food, have no designs on our territory, and still want to head south to face death... You truly aren't a wolf in deerskin, but rely a deer bringing at!... Ha ha! Tigers can't be friends with tigers, but I can be friends with you!..."
"..."
"Here, I have a good thing for you, as thanks for the porridge you brought !..."
"..."
Jaguar, with a sullen face, gestured to the five Kingdom Warriors around him. The Fish-Skin Barbarians in the camp were generally tall and fierce. These five loyal warriors were tightly surrounded by over a dozen warriors holding hefty blunt weapons, making it impossible to win with numbers. The temperant of these Fish-Skin Barbarians was, like beasts, sensitive and suspicious, more savage and peculiar than the Mountain Part and Rokube, truly unpredictable…
"Co! My friend, ship-using one! Co over here!..."
Sighing, Jaguar approached the campfire where Maha Agudah had stopped. Maha Agudah, half-kneeling, was using a dull stone knife with great force, handling an exceptionally large prey, the bones cracking loudly.
"Chief Divine! What is this? Could it be?… But how could it be so large?! It's the Rain Divine's Jaguar?"
At a glance, Jaguar froze; it was a dead "Jaguar"! But its massive size was at least twice that of a jungle "Jaguar", much larger than a human. It was like the mythical Giant Beast ridden by the Rain Divine!
At this mont, however, the strong beast lay quietly by the fire, being skillfully skinned, deboned, and gutted by Maha Agudah. Its fatal wound was on its head, pierced halfway by a "Heavy Spear Arrow". The white-spotted tiger skin, carrying an indescribable sacred and strange aura, was slashed open from the belly by Maha Agudah, and was soaking in the dark red of tiger blood…
"Howl, howl!"
Sensing the pungent sll of blood, a few of the strongest Khitan hunting dogs howled madly, circling around Maha Agudah. Drooling with wide-open mouths, they anxiously awaited but did not dare to take a bite. One dog got a bit too close, prompting Maha Agudah to slap it away. The strong, wolf-like large dog yelped and was knocked half a ter away, tucking its tail between its legs.
"Ha ha! Ship-using friend, catch this! It's a powerful good thing! I'll give you the loins along with it as my apology!..."
A mont later, Maha Agudah laughed heartily, tossing a bloody bundle over. Jaguar instinctively caught it, examining the rough bloodletting technique from a priestly perspective. Then, recognizing what it was, his expression turned complex, and his mouth twitched.
"Maha Agudah! What do you an by giving the tiger penis and loins of this Giant Tiger?!"
"Ha ha! You can't beat , ship-using chieftain. You gave spicy fish porridge, and I'll give you the most potent tiger at!… I think you'll make good use of these two things!..."
"No! Chief Divine as my witness, I don't need them!..."
"Ha ha! You definitely need them!..."
Maha Agudah wiped his hand on the hunting dog's fur, which remained perfectly still, obedient as ever. He then gave the dog's head a firm pat, pointing at the dead tiger.
"Go ahead and eat! It seems no one will die today, and there are no corpses to feed you!… Bite gently, if anyone damages my tiger skin, I'll skin you all!..."
"Howl, howl!"
The hunting dogs howled excitedly, pouncing on the tiger's corpse, blood spraying everywhere as they tore into it. Nevertheless, surprisingly, not a single hunting dog dared to bite the mostly skinned tiger hide. In the resource-poor mountain forest, feeding dogs with dead bodies was common practice. Yet these fierce dogs, having tasted human flesh, remained obedient to their Fish-Skin Tribe's bipedal masters, showcasing the Fish-Skin Tribe's ferocity and barbarism, surpassing even theirs…
"Ship-using leader! If you insist on heading south to your death, I won't stop you!..."
Maha Agudah laughed jovially, his fish-skin stained with tiger blood, and ca once more before Jaguar. Jaguar cautiously stepped back, but the smile on the other man's face remained, as he pointed to the "gift" on the ground.
"Ship-using leader! We can be friends, and I can give you a local tribe slave as a guide for your journey south!"
"But the condition is, you eat the gift I gave you and sleep with the tribe's won for a night before you leave the next day!"
"..."
Hearing this familiar demand, Jaguar's mouth twitched again. He glanced around the camp to those wild won, thicker in the arm than leg, and larger in the body than he, and for a mont lost his courage to devote himself to the Chief Divine. He paused for a mont, looking at the "grinning" Maha Agudah, and with furrowed brows, asked.
"Why do you insist on having leave offspring?..."
"Because that way, when you die in the south... I can take your child to your tribe and inherit your legacy! Ha ha!..."
Maha Agudah laughed out loud but then gradually grew serious. He stared into Jaguar's eyes for quite a while before finally repeating.
"Ship-using leader! Do not head south! Do not head south!... Going south ans certain death!..."
"Heading south... Even if you manage to cross the long and dangerous Great River, survive nurous deadly battles, and find the legendary Southern Great Tribes..."
"They are certainly no kind folks! On these chaotic and bloody lands, there isn't a single gentle tribe!... They'll devour you with your wealth, leaving not even the skin!..."
"And even if by luck you manage to trade sothing of value from the Southern Great Tribes... you won't be able to bring those items back across the long dangerous sea or survive the countless tribal battles again!..."
"That's all I'll say! If you persist in heading south, at least leave so offspring, and leave your precious things to !..."
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