Chapter 654: Mbenga’s bitter fate
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
Guarga heavily drilled his golden scepter into the ground.
With an awe-inspiring presence and unrivaled loftiness, he gripped the attention of the entire field. Right in the face of the Coiled Serpent subtribe, his voice thoroughly suppressed them.
"Gundazan is already possessed by a demon. The obsession of that evil spirit is inconceivably strong, and has been enhanced by the witchcraft of our enemy. Only by killing me, can all grievances be resolved! Attempting to spit at the sky will only humiliate yourselves. Fools that wishes to go against me, shall be reduced to dust by the scorching sun. Your act of protecting him is simply digging your own graves!"
The two elders of the Coiled Serpent subtribe exchanged glances. Clearly, they understood the truth in Guarba’s words, still, they remained unwilling.
"Bearing such immense trust from the old Gundazan, we swore to protect his son from the depths of our soul before he died. To uphold the final bloodline of the Bayin Clan! How can we betray our oaths?"
Guarba laughed hysterically in response, before contemptuously chiding.
"Your Gundazan was an utter trash! He even lost the sacred artifact of the Coiled Serpent subtribe. How dare he claim to be the final bloodline of the Bayin Clan!?! He should be claiming the biggest responsibility of our Ndipaya kingdom’s decline! Death merely freed him of that. Just look at your latest leader, he can’t even defend against an invasion of that evil spirit, yet you dare talk about leading your tribe to glory?"
The two elders revealed an indignant countenance as they rebutted.
"Guarba, you have the cheeks to bring up what happened? Those invaders dare covet the divine powers of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’, naturally, they deserved to be eaten by us. But eating them is fine, there was no need for torturing them with such ruthless and cruel methods right?"
"If they hadn’t been forced to such despairs, the shattering of souls would’ve have invoked such a bitter curse! If your divine powers are that formidable, why did you flee in the face of that soul-shattering curse that year? If you hadn’t ran like a cowardly rat, would our Gundazan have been mistakenly inflicted by that terrifying curse of a hundred grieving assembly?"
Guarba’s expression instantly changed, as he lifted his golden scepter and heftily smashed it into the ground again. Rocks dispersed under his impressive might.
Then, Guarba ingeniously changed the topic and exclaimed.
"Just look at the current crisis! The Sun god is testing our faith once again. I will send the forces of my Sun subtribe to reinforce the defense, only I shall remain in this Flame Plaza. You two old farts and your Gundazan can remain here. Get the rest to scram and guard the sacred mountain! Today, the four of us shall settle the matters of past once and for all!!
The two elders immediately glanced at each other with indecisive hesitation. Instead, Guarba fumed out.
"Only by killing me, can you dissipate the grievances of the entrenching evil spirit in your Gundazan. Only then can he fully recover! Leaving myself to battle the three of you, are you perhaps afraid? When did the courage of us grand offsprings of Ndipaya, degrade to the extent of a lizard of the wetlands?"
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Listening till here, yet another one of Sheyan’s riddles was finally resolved…..
As it turns out, the Mbenga he had been getting along with all day and night, was actually a so-called ‘evil spirit’! His true identity was one that could stand on equal footing with Guarba, the chieftain of the Coiled Serpent subtribe – Gundazan!
No wonder Mbenga could grasp the secrets of the Ndipaya Tribe like the back of his hand. He was even aware of the various snare mechanisms, the hidden treasures, and even the pathway to acquire their greatest secret – the ‘Stairway of the Sun’.
As the Gundazan who could stand on equal footing with Guarba, who was clearly the high priest, if he didn’t know about these mysteries, no one else would be qualified to.
From this, Sheyan could further deduce. Those Ndipaya barbarians of the Kijuju Outer Reaches, were very possibly descendants of the remnant citizens after the destruction of the Ndipaya Kingdom!
"The truth of that year is most likely this."
"This happened many years ago, when an old chief of the village at Port Qom contracted a disease. In order to cure his father’s disease, Aram seized the opportunity when the subtribes of the Ndipaya Tribe, the Coiled Serpent subtribe and the Sun subtribe, were fighting internally and attempted to harvest the powers of immortality from the ‘Stairway of the Sun’."
(TL recap: Aram is the current chief at Port Qom)
"An unfortunate mishap struck in the end, and the result was the complete annihilation of Aram’s forces. During that year, Mbenga had personally witnessed his kin being mercilessly and cruelly tortured to death. Thus, at the expense of all else, he and the remaining hundred captives, had activated a desperate soul-shattering curse. In the end, the crafty Guarba managed to escape. Instead, the curse was befallen unto the next inheritor of the Coiled Serpent subtribe, the young Gundazan."
"This so-called ‘soul-shattering curse’ in current context, should be employing an unknown power to forcibly split the consciousness of a target, causing a secondary persona to emerge in his sea of consciousness! That secondary persona, along with a hundred grieving souls, then suppressed the primary persona deep within the Gundazan’s sea of consciousness. As for this secondary persona, it inherited the memories and thoughts of the curse caster."
"If the soul-shattering curse had successfully struck Guarba then, Mbenga would’ve undoubtedly chosen to perish with Guarba; turning him into an idiot. Instead, when the secondary persona, Mbenga, infiltrated into the young Gundazan’s body, he was unable to perish because the oath of grievances was sworn to slay Guarba. On the contrary, the Coiled Serpent subtribe now had to protect Gundazan’s body, thus allowing Aram and ‘Mbenga’ to successfully escape."
"However, it seems that Aram did in fact, managed to profit. Looks like he had stolen the sacred artifact of the Coiled Serpent subtribe. Maybe, that artifact is the main reason for the biohazard outbreak in the entire core inner reaches of the Ndipaya tribe!
"But why didn’t the Coiled Serpent subtribe mount a campaign to retrieve Mbenga?"
Sheyan immediately understood. This had to be considered in the perspective of one’s character and ambition.
"When the tribe’s sacred artifact had been stolen, it ultimately led to the old Gundazan chieftain of the Coiled Serpent subtribe dying from shame, and the blow of the next Gundazan turning deranged, or rather, being possessed by an evil spirit. Therefore, I can inevitably deduce, like a headless dragon, the Coiled Serpent subtribe fell into chaotic confusion!"
"That became the golden opportunity for the Sun subtribe’s ambitious Guarba to annex the Coiled Serpent tribe!!"
"Plagued by mutual hostilities for a thousand years, Guarba naturally understood that if the Coiled Serpent subtribe, the faction adept in far range combat, pledged allegiance to him, how mighty that alliance would’ve been! Probably, he thought they could’ve reinstated the glory of the ancient Ndipaya Kingdom. As such, Guarba must’ve tried his best to prevent the chaotic Coiled Serpent subtribe to rescue their Gundazan."
"Moreover, after the evil consequence of losing their sacred artifact became prominent, when biohazardous creatures proliferated the place, the Coiled Serpent subtribe couldn’t even fend for themselves anymore. Even the contact with those Ndipaya tribesmen at the Kijuju outer reaches had been severed. No wonder saving the young Gundazan became an impossibility."
"It is no wonder Mbenga could willfully massacre the Ndipaya Kingdom Guardians back in the tunnels of the sacred mountain range. The other party didn’t even dare to resist him!"
"Refraining from shooting at the rat for the fear of breaking the vases. The Coiled Serpent tribesmen are afraid of harming their own leader. They believe that one day, their Gundazan will come back and lead them once again."
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Presented with Guarba’s solution, the two Coiled Serpent tribe elders continued hesitating. Instead, Guarba commanded loudly.
"Warriors of my Sun tribe, return to the sacred mountain tunnels at once to withstand those demons. This is a test of the sun god. Only by enduring, shall the brilliant rays of the scorching sun bathe our bodies and the Ndipaya Kingdom shall rise again! You of the Coiled Serpent Tribe are equally sons of the Ndipaya Kingdom, this is the time we stand against our demons!"
Following Guarba’s command, though the Sun subtribe guardians remained extremely concerned about the high priest, they still retreated immediately.
At this instant, Sheyan was widely praising the incomparably sly Guarba.
After taking such a magnanimous and lofty stance, how would the Coiled Serpent tribe warriors stand up to him? After all, worshipping the strong is an inherent nature of humans. Moreover, they were also worried about the crisis at their sacred mountain. Regardless of all, even if the Coiled Serpent warriors remained here, they would be devoid of all will to fight.
Once again, Guarba roared sonorously.
"Thiago, Hecaosi! You are loyal priests of Gundazan, but, do you wish for your brave Coiled Serpent warriors to perish in vain? Where are your guts? Are you truly afraid of battling me?"
With all his words, the two elder priests had no choice but to take up the challenge. Otherwise, it would be them agreeing with Guarba’s words, which translated to treating their own warriors as cannon fodder.
With downcast countenances, they ordered their tribe to withdraw and return to guard the sacred mountain.
Those Coiled Serpent Warriors had been evidently stirred by Guarba. After offering formalities to the two elders and the blood-soaked fiend, Mbenga, they hastily withdrew.
Several minutes later, only five individuals remained in this vast bonfire plaza.
Mbenga, the two Coiled Serpent subtribe elders, Thiago and Hecaosi, and Guarba.
Of course, don’t forget Sheyan who was feigning death.
The sun rays beamed onto the bodies of the four individuals atop this bonfire plaza. However, only a terribly fatal chilliness could be felt in the air.
Soon after, following the reinforcements of the elite warriors, the crisis at the distant sacred mountain was swiftly alleviated. One after another, those thick blood red smoke emitting from the tunnel exits were sealed up; indicating their hold of the situation.
Evidently, those biohazard abominations failed to obtain any benefits within the labyrinth of tunnels, and were successively slaughtered.