Free Web NovelChapter 309: Chapter 162: Great Desolate Starfall, Stunning Everyone
Lin Ye became an invisible phantom.
He hugged the jagged cliff face, completely concealing himself within its shadows. He made no sound, nor did he stir so much as a speck of dust.
Lin Ye pressed deeper.
He didn’t dare take the main path. Instead, he stuck to the side routes where he wouldn’t leave footprints and was less likely to encounter anyone.
Even so, he soon faced the most perilous moment of his journey.
An Eight-armed Race patrol of more than fifteen members passed right in front of him, the closest coming within two meters.
Lin Ye held his breath, intentionally slowing his heartbeat. He even worried that the heat radiating from his body might be detected by this race with their acute senses.
Fortunately, the concealment granted by his Shadow Scale was flawless.
The patrol was composed entirely of six-armed elites, their gazes sweeping the area like blades. Yet not a single one of them glanced twice in Lin Ye’s direction, as if he simply didn’t exist in this world.
Only after the patrol was far in the distance did Lin Ye breathe a sigh of relief and press onward.
As he pushed deeper, Lin Ye gradually approached the heart of the Blood Slaughter Tribe’s territory.
He discovered the entire tribe’s layout was centered on the massive altar in the middle of the canyon, with all the structures radiating outward from it.
That meant the magnificent fortress behind the altar, constructed entirely of black basalt pillars, was almost certainly his final objective for this journey—the residence of Chieftain Kargath.
The closer he got to the center, the more members of the Eight-armed Race he saw, and the more frenzied the atmosphere became.
Lin Ye even witnessed an incredibly bloody scene with his own eyes.
In a relatively open clearing, two four-armed slave soldiers, both of equally robust build, were locked in a savage, bare-handed brawl.
Their fight was devoid of any technique, a brutal exchange of blows, trading wound for wound.
Dozens of members of the Eight-armed Race had formed a circle around them. Far from stopping the fight, they let out excited roars, cheering for every heavy blow.
Finally, one of them seized an opportunity. It used its four arms to lock its opponent in a death grip, opened its gaping maw, and tore out the other’s throat with a single bite.
Blood gushed out like a fountain.
The victor didn’t stop. With a triumphant roar, it twisted the loser’s head clean off and held it high, letting the warm blood rain down on its face and body before opening its mouth to greedily gulp it down.
The onlookers grew even more frenzied, beating their chests and letting out deafening roars.
Lin Ye noticed that after drinking the blood of its kinsman, the crimson war markings on the victor’s body seemed to come to life.
The markings visibly spread by a fraction, and the aura emanating from its body grew even more potent.
’I see.’
Lin Ye now understood. The Eight-armed Race used this cruel and bloody internal strife, this cannibalism, to ensure the survival of the fittest and weed out stronger Warriors.
The blood-colored war markings on their bodies were marks of honor, earned only by devouring the blood of their own kin.
DONG!
DONG!
DONG!
Just then, three deep, resonant bell tolls rang out from the highest point of the Basalt Fortress, echoing throughout the canyon.
The tolls seemed to carry a magical quality.
The next moment, every member of the Eight-armed Race in the canyon—whether they were fighting, patrolling, or simply idle—froze in place.
Then, expressions of fervent devotion appeared on their faces as they, in unison, broke into a mad dash toward the central altar.
From the caves lining the cliff walls, more of the Eight-armed Race poured out in a continuous stream, like a swarm of ants returning to its nest, merging into the torrent of bodies rushing toward the altar.
Lin Ye pressed himself into the shadow of a massive stone pillar, carefully avoiding the frenzied members of the Eight-armed Race.
He saw them all gather around the massive altar—a dense, dark mass of bodies. The sight was spectacular.
Soon, a contingent of more than thirty six-armed elites ascended the altar, the focus of all eyes.
Their bodies were dark and powerful, and they took up formation in the center of the altar.
DUM! DUM! DUM!
A low, rhythmic drumbeat began.
The elites on the altar began to perform a bizarre war dance.
Their movements were broad and sweeping, filled with a primal power. At times they beat their chests and stomped their feet, letting out guttural roars.
At other times, they mimicked the postures of fighting beasts, contorting their bodies and splaying their limbs at inhuman angles.
The dance was less a form of worship and more a raw display of slaughter and violence.
As the drumbeat grew faster, the hundreds of members of the Eight-armed Race below the altar began to let out war cries in unison. The resulting wave of sound seemed powerful enough to shake the blood-red sun from the sky.
Amidst this frenzied atmosphere, Lin Ye finally laid eyes on the true ruler of the Blood Slaughter Tribe.
He was a member of the Eight-armed Race, standing over two and a half meters tall, his frame larger and more formidable than any of his kin.
Flanked by a retinue of six-armed elites, he slowly emerged from the fortress and ascended the altar.
Kargath.
The Chieftain of the Blood Slaughter Tribe!
This was the first being Lin Ye had seen who truly lived up to the name of the Eight-armed Race.
Kargath possessed eight arms. Dense, blood-colored war markings covered nearly every inch of his skin. The markings were the color of deep, clotted blood, looking as if they might begin to drip at any moment.
A necklace strung with the skulls and fangs of various creatures hung around his neck, a testament to his glorious victories in battle. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
At the Chieftain’s appearance, the clamorous war dance came to an abrupt halt. The frantic drumbeat ceased in an instant, and an eerie silence fell over the entire canyon.
