Above The Sky
Chapter 119 - 119 111 For Hope 1010

119: Chapter 111 For Hope (10/10) 119: Chapter 111 For Hope (10/10) The bonfire, the roasting pile, the burned stones, the wooden racks for drying fish, and the rudimentary encampment.

A giant eel stone statue, entwined together, a pitch-black basin soaked with blood, scattered bone fragments around, and a slowly burning incense burner.

A few men desperate with hunger, a few women and children with longing in their eyes, a few elders grinding their knife blades, and a disabled native tied up nearby, blind in one eye, with a numb expression.

This is a scene not uncommon among the Great Redwood Forest Natives— a scene where an ordinary, small native tribe offers a blood meal to the Totem Master, just so they can survive.

Those natives, covered in snake scales and coral products, gnawed by hunger, were naturally members of the Tenglan Tribe.

And of course, the one tied up and to be bled for the sacrifice later was undoubtedly a prisoner and a sacrifice from who knows which tribe.

To say that Weyges would lose his appetite over native sacrifices is to underestimate this Inspector Knight, who had seen far worse scenes dozens of times before.

From the nobility’s longevity sacrificial rites to the secretive cults’ horrifying rituals…

From emaciated disaster victims to commoners whose wives and daughters were seized…

Such things are not uncommon even in The Empire, which claims to be a bastion of civilization, and in fact, are even more repugnant beneath the guise of civility.

Rather, it would be said that the natives, who truly resort to cannibalism due to extreme hunger and lack of food, embody a primitive kind of helplessness.

“What are you going to do?”

Weyges did not conceal his figure; the natives spotted him as soon as he stepped out of the woods.

These Tenglan Tribe native hunters glanced at each other warily and then one of the leaders stepped forward, using his broken Imperial language to chase away the clearly Imperial visitor: “Leave this place!”

Beyond that, the natives did not utter any more harsh words.

They weren’t fools, after all; Weyges’s black full-body heavy armor was preposterously strong, an insurmountable iron bastion for the natives who could only use leaves and grass as protection.

—At least a fully-fledged knight…

the entire tribe together might not even be able to take him down.

Knowing this, the natives did not dare to issue threats, only repeating, “We have a treaty…

Port people, if you want to trade, go to the trade area!”

He didn’t even use the term ‘Imperial People’ anymore.

Weyges narrowed his eyes; he did not heed their warning but instead scrutinized the situation of the entire tribe intently.

A few hunters raising weapons, most captives retreating backward, a few elders clutching wooden sticks firmly…

Poverty, hunger, filled with greed, yet restrained by strength, a contradictory mix of timidity and savage courage.

He murmured in a low voice, “Something’s not right.”

This knight frowned, “No, it’s not right!”

Ignoring the warning from the hunter who was probably the chieftain, Weyges took a step forward and asked in a deep voice, “Are most of the tribes in the Tenglan as impoverished as you?”

“What?”

Although he didn’t feel any hostility, the chieftain took a step back half a step, perturbed and confused by Weyges’s earnest question: “Impoverished?

We are among the few coastal tribes that can eat to our fill!”

Though spoken with a bit of bravado in front of a foreigner, the tone told the knight that there was no lie.

“Wrong!”

That’s why Weyges murmured quietly; he turned his head, his dark green eyes locking onto the firmly bound sacrifice nearby, and said softly, “The sacrifice has to be a disabled person…

How is that possible?”

“Is this how Harrison Port treats its allies?

Impossible, if it were so, why would the Tenglan Tribe be willing to cooperate with them?”

Raising his hand, the knight pointed at the sacrifice: “How did he come to be here?

Did you capture him as a prisoner?”

“Of course not…”

The chieftain, though unclear why Weyges was asking these questions, also realized that the other did not intend to harm them, and thus after hesitating for a moment, he revealed, “Because of the war, the tribe lost many warriors, leaving many disabled.”

“In order to breed new warriors, the tribes exchange disabled warriors as sacrifices…”

Voices.

At this moment, Weyges could hear numerous voices.

Voices of humiliation, discontent, and regretful hatred after defeat.

And under the force of circumstances, voices admitting defeat and willing to submit.

Yet absent was the ‘voice of joy’ for being a partner of Harrison Port, for being a victor of the war!

Instantly, the Inspector Knight sensed something was not right.

Contrary to what he had imagined before, the Tenglan Tribe didn’t hold back their strength; they had also participated in the war against Harrison Port two years ago and suffered considerable loss of warriors!

At this time, the entire tribe consisted mostly of women, children, and the elderly, with only a scarce number of young men apparent.

“Hehe…”

At this moment, the previously silent and disabled sacrificial victim laughed.

His laughter was incredibly wretched, and his voice was as harsh as scraping sandstone.

The Tenglan Native who was sharpening a knife nearby couldn’t stand it, approached with knife in hand, seemingly intending to cut out the man’s tongue.

“Let him speak.”

But Weyges raised his hand, and the bone shards around the altar vibrated, an invisible power stopping the Native.

The sacrificial victim looked at Weyges in surprise, but as a man close to death, he had no more concerns.

He swept a hateful gaze over the Tenglan Natives before him, cursing, “We, we should have been victorious!

It was these mongrels, their Spirits didn’t mobilize!”

“The Mountain Master had already breached the city, only if the Spirits of Tenglan cooperated, driving away the Sea Beasts, Harrison Port would have fallen!”

“If it weren’t for their mistakes…

If it weren’t for that single cannon fire…”

“We fought!

It’s your own failure that you didn’t capture it!”

“It’s your flawed intelligence that caused the Sea Master to be injured, you should bear the greatest responsibility!”

At this point, unable to contain himself any longer, the Tenglan Native roared and slit the throat of the sacrificial victim, but he still laughed with a ‘hehe,’ apparently not afraid as his own blood gushed out furiously.

He continued to glare at the others—whether they were Natives or Imperial People, issuing his final cry, “Betrayal…

you have betrayed…”

He died quickly.

Weyges did not stop the killing amongst the Natives.

Because at this moment, he had fully realized the error in his previous conjecture!

Without a sound, he had disappeared.

Arriving at another coast that offered a view of the distance, Weyges gazed at the distant sea, murmuring to himself, “I got it all wrong from the start.”

“The Tenglan Tribe didn’t just summon their Totem Master to drive away the Sea Beasts and attack Harrison Port…

Even their Totem Masters, those two Soaring Surge Giant Eels, were mobilized only to return without success!”

“Someone blocked the Sea Beasts—and even those two Totem Masters, inflicting heavy damage upon them!”

“Now, having lost all their support, the Tenglan Tribe had to strike a deal with Harrison Port; hence, despite being allies in name, they gave a lot but gained astonishingly little in return!”

He had realized the true truth… but couldn’t bring himself to believe it.

The Natives had emerged in full force, but the Sea Beasts and Totem Masters had been blocked for some unknown reason.

The Mountain Master directly confronted Viscount Grant but was ultimately driven back in disarray by a squad of city guards and a young Spirit Energy User using an Alchemical Cannon.

And at the heart of it all…

“It was the Daoist…

it was the Daoist who drove away the Totem Masters, blocked the Sea Beasts, causing the Natives’ attack to fall short!”

Affirming this, Weyges had no joy in his expression.

On the contrary, he even showed an extremely puzzled, even furious expression, “But how could this be possible?!”

“Fighting against the Totem Masters at the Peak of the Second Energy Level, for a Daoist already riddled with the erosion of the Originium Plague, it’s practically a battle with his life on the line!”

This was why Weyges had never considered the possibility that Hiliard had taken the initiative to stop the two Sea Masters…

Others might not be entirely clear, but how could he not know the injuries his Daoist had suffered back then?

That was the Originium Plague that originated from the depths of the Labyrinth, known as ‘Ice Prison Calamity Ash,’ which could poison Ancient Dragons and cause Titan Beasts to erode into a pile of decaying bones, the most malevolent of plagues—Even The Immortal City of the past, once infected, had no chance of immunity.

The fact that Hiliard was still alive today was a miracle; how could he possibly engage in such an intense battle?!

“In the entirety of Harrison Port…

no, after the Emperor’s death, on the entire Terra Continent, there shouldn’t be anything that would compel the Daoist to fight at the expense of his life!”

“Unless…”

Murmuring softly to himself, the Knight of Melodious, who had listened to countless people’s voices, lowered his tone.

“Unless…”

His voice became somewhat perplexed, filled with confusion and jealousy.

And a hint of reminiscence.

“It was for hope.”

Meanwhile.

Having just finished making berry stew, Ian was at home, inspecting one by one the methods he could now utilize.