Chapter 435: Feed Her To The Leviathan!
The village had fallen eerily quiet.
The laughter, the warmth, the festival-like air that Cassius and Nala had created earlier, all of it was gone now. The courtyards were empty, the fires smoldering low, and the only sounds were the faint creaks of wooden shutters and the whisper of wind brushing against rooftops.
Most of the villagers, parents, elders, and the younger men, had gathered at the entrance.
The rest—mostly children, were hidden indoors.
Their parents had locked them in and told them to stay quiet, to be brave, to not make a sound. From behind the cracks of doors and windows, little faces peeked out, eyes wide with fear.
And at the village gates...chaos was waiting.
A mob of about forty men stood outside. They were armed with whatever they could grab, rusted swords, chipped axes, pitchforks, long fishing spears, even broken clubs.
None of them looked like proper men or defenders; they looked like hooligans, rowdy, wild-eyed, and grinning as if the violence ahead was entertainment.
Their laughter was ugly, echoing across the quiet lakeside air.
Inside the gate, the villagers had gathered in a tight wall of bodies, men and women, mothers and fathers, even elders leaning on canes, all standing shoulder to shoulder.
They looked fragile compared to the gang of brutes outside, but their eyes burned with conviction.
Then came the shouting.
"Bring her out!" Someone from the mob bellowed.
"Bring out that damned snake girl!"
"She’s the one who brought this curse upon us!"
"Sacrifice her! Her blood will calm the lake!"
"Give her to the Leviathan, and all will be peaceful again!"
Their voices rose higher and higher, a storm of hatred and fear.
But the villagers shouted back, their trembling voices full of courage.
"Never!"
"Nala is our child! We will never give her away!"
"She’s done nothing but good for this village!"
"She’s an angel, not a curse!"
"If you want to touch her, you’ll have to go through us first!"
Even as their bodies shook, their voices did not falter. They stood firm, blocking the way, hands gripping simple tools, hoes, walking sticks, and old hunting knives, but hearts burning with fierce loyalty.
It was a heartbreaking sight, one that showed how deeply they loved Nala.
She had no parents, no blood family. Yet the entire village had adopted her as their own. They had raised her, fed her, cherished her, and now, they were willing to die for her.
But it was also tragic.
Because the mob outside only sneered at their courage.
Their eyes gleamed with mockery, as if they were already looking at corpses. Some of them were even chuckling, spinning their weapons in their hands, ready to rush in and tear everything apart.
And just when the tension reached its peak,
A loud, commanding voice rang out.
"That’s enough!"
Every head turned.
Standing at the very front of the village defenders was Grandma Wanda, the oldest and most respected elder. Her silver hair fluttered in the wind, her wrinkled face set in a look of quiet strength.
She stepped forward, her cane tapping against the dirt, and called out toward the mob.
"I want to speak to whoever’s leading this foolishness!" She said firmly. "If there’s someone among you with half a brain, come out and talk. There’s no need for bloodshed."
For a second, there was silence. Then, laughter erupted from the mob.
"Peaceful talk?" One of them barked. "There’s no peaceful talk anymore, old woman!"
"Yeah!" Another shouted. "We already gave our warning weeks ago! Told you to hand her over, told her to leave, but you didn’t listen!"
The mob jeered in agreement.
From among them, a man pushed forward.
He was tall, lean, and unkempt, with greasy hair matted to his scalp, an uneven beard, and eyes that glinted with greed. His grin was crooked, vile, and his clothes were filthy, torn at the sleeves and collar.
Grandma Wanda’s face darkened the moment she saw him.
"Marcus..." She muttered, voice dripping with disgust.
Marcus spread his arms mockingly. "Ah, Grandma Wanda. Still alive, are you? I was wondering when I’d get to see your wrinkled face again."
"Get the hell out of here." Wanda snapped. "You’re not welcome in this village, and you know it."
Marcus chuckled, tapping his pitchfork against the ground. "Now, now. Don’t be rude. I came here for justice."
"Justice?" Wanda spat. "You’ve never known the meaning of that word in your entire life."
The villagers behind her murmured angrily. Everyone knew Marcus.
He was infamous across the lakeside villages, a thug who never worked a day in his life, a bully who robbed fishermen along with his lackeys, harassed women, and spent the rest of his days drinking and stirring trouble.
Every time the local guards caught him, he somehow slipped away, always released the next day, always back to cause more chaos. And now, here he was, leading a mob.
"You’re using this chaos as an excuse to attack us." Wanda said sharply. "You’re hiding behind talk of curses and justice just to steal and destroy."
Marcus laughed, loud and mocking. "You wound me, old hag! You think I’d go through all this trouble for selfish gain?"
"Yes." Wanda said flatly.
"Well...maybe there’s a little profit in it." His smirk widened.
The men behind him laughed, banging their weapons against their palms and shouting in agreement.
"But let’s not twist the story." Marcus continued, raising his voice so the mob could hear. "This isn’t just me talking! Every single village around this lake feels the same!"
"You think I came here alone?...I walked through every settlement on the way here, told them I’d be coming to bring that snake girl back and sacrifice her to the Leviathan, and do you know what happened?"
He spread his arms wide, grinning.
"No one said a word. No one stopped me...Not a single one of them protested. Isn’t that enough to tell you what they want?"
Wanda’s heart sank.
It was just as she feared.
Even though the other villages hadn’t sent their own people, they hadn’t stopped Marcus either. They hadn’t spoken against it. Which meant they silently agreed.
They truly believed Nala was the cause of their suffering.
Wanda closed her eyes for a moment, a weary sigh escaping her lips. She had known this day might come, but not like this. Not so cruelly.
Still, she couldn’t let it turn into a slaughter.
When she opened her eyes again, her voice was steady.
"Marcus..." She said. "...you’re after money, aren’t you? You always are. You and your band of thugs. We’ve already given away forty percent of our treasury to help the struggling villages...But fine."
"If that’s not enough, we’ll give you thirty percent more. You can distribute it however you want. That should be enough to feed your people for another month. By then, the Holy Guard will have dealt with the Leviathan. The curse will be gone."
Marcus’ face twisted into an ugly sneer. "The Holy Guard?" He spat on the ground. "Don’t make me laugh."
The men behind him cackled.
"Those self-righteous fools won’t help anyone." Marcus went on. "Just like every other so-called noble warriors, shows up, pokes his nose into things, and disappears when things get tough."
"Even the royal family couldn’t do anything about the Leviathan in the past...So what makes you think your precious ’Holy Guard’ can?"
He turned, spreading his arms wide to the crowd behind him.
"They’re useless! All of them!"
The mob roared in laughter, echoing his words, jeering and taunting the village defenders.
Then Marcus’s grin dropped, replaced by a look of mock solemnity. "Besides." He said, tapping his pitchfork against the ground. "I don’t need to negotiate about money."
"What do you mean?" Wanda’s eyes narrowed.
He leaned forward, his tone turning cold and venomous. "Why take a share when I can have everything?"
The laughter from his men grew louder.
"We can ransack your village, take every coin, every piece of food, every bit of wood that burns. And then we’ll burn this place to the ground."
The villagers gasped. Some of the younger ones gritted their teeth, clutching their makeshift weapons tighter.
Marcus, seeing their anger, smirked wider.
"But don’t worry." He said mockingly. "I’m not just doing this for myself. I have a duty, a duty to the other villages. To bring that damned snake girl out and sacrifice her to the Leviathan."
He raised his voice so the entire mob could hear.
"Only when her blood spills into the lake will this curse end! Only when the monster that walks among us dies will peace return!"
The mob cheered wildly.
"Yeah!"
"Bring the bitch out!"
"Cut her open!"
"Feed her to the Leviathan!"