"Is this scenery exactly the same as when you entered this world back then, Manna?" Gunnar asked as he stared at the path in front of him with the bones and skeletons that were hanging and displayed on the trees next to the path.
"Yes, it's still the same. Nothing has changed," Manna answered as she walked past Gunnar and looked at her surroundings. "Follow me, I know where we should go," Manna turned around and looked at them.
They walked for an hour and they were still in the middle of the forest with the skeletons facing the path as if they were welcoming them. It was so quiet, not even a sound of bugs or chirping of birds, but it wasn't eerie for them, it was kind of peaceful.
"I have been noticing," Jeanne paused as she looked at the skeletons. "All of these skeletons, where did their scalps go?" Jeanne asked as she looked at Manna and Rami in front of her.
Rami turned his head and stared at the skeleton on his right. "Ah, it's because the brain is their delicate food. They throw the scalps away since they're eating the brain right from their skulls," Rami answered, and looked at Jeanne with a straight face.
"Great, another cannibal people we are dealing with," Rozan said with his eyebrows raised as he sighed
"They're not cannibals, it's more like a ritual for them to sacrifice one of them to please the Gods and the Demons," Rami stared at Rozan from over his shoulder. "It's quite interesting if you want to listen to the story," Rami continued with a bit of a smile on his face.
Since everyone was curious about it, they decided to listen to the story behind the tribal people and the ritual of eating brains. Rami gladly told the story that he saw with his own eyes, and it was about the ritual of punishing anyone who didn't want to follow the tribe's leaders' beliefs or their ancestors.
The ritual could happen every day as long as there were people dissatisfied with the way the tribe leader treated them. The tribe leader would send his men to drag those people in and tie them to the altar. They burned those people alive, and at the same time, they cut their heads open so the tribe leader and his family could enjoy the delicate food.
It was quite interesting because the more pain the sacrificed person felt, the more delicious their brains were. Sometimes, they tortured them while they were burned alive by stabbing them with a spear or skinning them. It gave much more flavor to their cooked brains.
"How did they take the brain out from their skull if the flame was still blazing?" Rozan asked.
"The altar has a small pit that can fit a person inside, that's where they put them in. During the ritual after they cut open their scalp, they cut the brain into small pieces with a spear. They stab their spear on that piece of brain and eat it," Rami answered as he demonstrated how they did it.
Everyone was quite shocked when they heard it and didn't want to imagine how painful it would be to be killed like that.
"So, why the brain?" Sven asked.
"They believe that a human brain is special because they know a bit of science about how the brain works. So, they think that if they eat a human brain, they can become more intelligent and that also makes them superior to the others," Rami answered.
"That's stupid," Rozan scoffed and shook his head in disbelief.
"Yes, and I did some research but couldn't find the origin of this ritual. They have been doing this ritual for hundreds of years," Rami nodded in agreement.
The reason why they did that kind of ritual was that Belphegor sent Golgos to that world and pretended to be the tribes' God by showing what he was capable of. He showed them that if they ate a human brain, it made them more powerful like him, with that being said, all the tribal people believed him and started killing each other.
Belphegor knew how to conquer a world without even having to use a lot of effort. It was the same as in Veatika World. He barely did anything and it was enough to conquer Veatika.
Although Golgos was defeated, the tribal people still passed down the tradition of eating brains. It had become one with their flesh and bones to keep the ritual, and even if it was just a trick that Belphegor used, the tribes gained an ability to use dark magic which only a few of them had it.
"This is it, the first tribe, Cuttob tribe," Manna said as soon as she stepped her foot out of the forest.
The famous Aztec temple that stood tall could be seen in the distance.
They silently walked toward the temple and saw so many buildings that looked like houses near the temple. Manna and Rami casually kept walking without worrying about their surroundings. They both were known by all the tribes and believed the tribes still recognized them.
Manna stared at the top of the temple with a small square opening that looked like a door. She removed her gauntlets and clapped her hands toward the top of the temple. It surprised them when her claps echoed throughout the whole area the moment it reached the top of the temple, it was also louder than her claps and it sounded more like a bird chirping, which amazed everyone.
"This is how you call the tribes to gather around the temple, amazing, isn't it?" Manna said as she put her gauntlets on.
In less than a minute, the tribal women could be seen walking toward the temple. They all barely had anything on them, only a piece of cloth to cover their genitals while they were holding their bulging stomachs. Manna raised her left hand in the air and showed the back of her palm to them, and that was how they greeted them, and to show them that they came in peace.
The tribal women stared at Manna and then they looked at each other with a puzzled look. They seemed to not recognize them at all, but thankfully, a man in a weird giant mask with fangs around his neck raised his left hand and did the same gesture as Manna.
"That's the tribe leader, Manuk," Manna said quietly. "If you want to be safe, just stay quiet and follow me," Manna looked at Gunnar and the others, she then proceeded to approach Manuk.
"Manuk, it's been a while," Manna said as he looked at the tribal women that stood behind Manuk.
Manuk didn't say anything, and then he grabbed something behind his waist. He showed the head of an old man with the mouth sewn and eyes wide open that had been dried. Everyone was shocked, especially Manna because that head was Manuk's head.
"My father has died," The tribe leader answered.
"Minak?" Manna asked with her head tilted.
The tribe leader nodded his head and then removed the giant mask on his head. A man with black long curly hair with black eyes stared at Manna and Rami.
"They killed him, Manna," Minak said as he kept showing Manuk's head.
Manna gently grabbed Manuk's head and leaned her head on Manuk's head. Everyone looked at her with disgust because they had no idea that was how they paid respect to the dead of the previous tribe leader. The head of the previous tribe leader was used to identify the current tribe leader to the other tribes.
"They? Who?" Manna asked as she looked at Rami putting his forehead on Manuk's head.
"A new tribe that came after you left, they took more than half of our territory. They came with a powerful shaman and killed half of my people," Minak answered as he put Manuk's head back behind his waist.
"Where are they?" Manna asked.
"Beyond the waterfall," Minak answered as he pointed to his right. "You can't defeat them, Manna. We tried and we lost. All the men in my tribe are dead, now I'm the only one left," Minak warned Manna as he grabbed Manna's right wrist so tightly.
Rozan raised his eyebrows with a mild shock because all the women behind Minak were pregnant.
"Be at ease, Minak, we will help you, but we are going to need your help again because we will save your world again," Manna said as she put her hand on Minak's shoulder.
Minak nodded his head with understanding. "Please follow me, I will give you something to keep you save from the shaman," Minak said as he slowly walked away with Manuk's head moving around on Minak's butt.
"I can't stop looking at his butt because of that head," Rozan said.
"Dude, you need some help," Gunnar replied with a disgusted face.
