Chapter 249: Mob’s fury.

As usual, when such a thing happened, Zyra wished she could hide in the beast domain and avoid such trouble for a while. It was like the more she told the truth about not being the Divine Soul maiden, the more they fell at her feet and called her that.

Right on cue, the offerings started. People were bringing bits of food, energy stones, flowers.... anything they thought she would appreciate was being dropped before her.

She sighed, putting her right hand to her forehead.

Far up in the trees, the men from Hollomgad didn’t stick around to ask questions or understand the bizarre moment. All they knew was that it was time to vanish, before they got noticed.

"We got the footage! Let me tell you, Crown keeper Tobias is going to flip out when he sees this footage!" the scout leader whispered in a low voice. "Move, move, move! Back to Hollomgad!"

They turned around and sprinted through the tree canopy as fast as their legs could carry them.

Lucian stepped over the scatter of dropped weapons and approached Zyra and Hunter, letting out a heavy, weary breath. He wiped the dirt from his brow and bowed his head slightly in genuine gratitude. "Thank you," He said, his voice rough. "Both of you. These cannibals have been terrorizing us for years_ It feels like a curse. Every time we manage to wipe one group out, another shows up to take its place."

Zyra slowly turned her head and met Hunter’s eyes. Without a single word, a mutual, crystal-clear understanding passed between them: This isn’t our fight, and we’re not staying around to play savior. Not everyone hiding in the wild lands was good after all, half of them were criminals. It was enough that they had taken in one group of survivors.

Solange crept out from behind a pile of broken wood, dusting off her pants. She looked left, she looked right, squinting her eyes.

"Hey_ " she called out, scratching her head. "Where did Master Zoo go?"

Lucian walked over, using a dirty cloth to wipe a smear of red blood off his cheek. He looked around the empty bushes, noticing a pair of muddy footprints leading towards Zoo’s house. They had the ’Z’ pattern which Zoo imprinted on the bottom of all his shoes.

"Hmph! That old turtle!" Lucian spat on the ground, his eyes narrowing. "He realized that his son is dead! He must be on the run right now!" He tightened the grip on his bow, turned around, and broke into a fast towards Zoo’s house. "You can run, old man, but you can’t hide from my arrows!"

They watched him run off, then Zyra gave a small, polite nod. "If you’ll excuse me, I need to go check on the Soul Maidens that is why we here," she said calmly, turning on her heel to head toward the shelter.

"I’m coming with you!" Claudia chimed in, trotting quickly behind her like an eager younger sister.

Etania stayed behind, standing near Hunter. She glanced over at the surviving cannibals kneeling in the dirt, their hands raised high in the air. She turned her head, her eyes narrowing as she looked at Hunter.

"You don’t actually plan to let them just walk away, do you?" Etania asked, her voice tight with suspicion.

Hunter casually leaned his arm against the hilt of one of his dagger, his eyes cold and calculating as he swept his gaze over the kneeling prisoners. "Relax. I just have a few questions for them first, then I’ll finish them off."

Before Hunter could even take a step toward them, the surviving townspeople began crowding around the prisoners. Their faces were red, their teeth gritted, and their eyes burning with years of built-up hatred and trauma.

"Why are they still alive!" a man with a bloodstained bandage roared, shaking a heavy wooden club in the air. "They are monsters, they took my neighbors_ the entire family!"

"That’s right!" a woman yelled, picking up a heavy, jagged rock. "Why wait for permission from the outsiders?! Let’s beat them to death ourselves right now!"

The crowd surged forward, shouting and screaming for blood. They all knew that if these men were released, they would return for blood.

Hunter pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out an annoyed huff. "Alright, shut it! Shoo! Keep your shirts on!" he yelled over the noise, raising a hand to hold the crowd back. "Of course I’m going to finish them off. Just give me two minutes to_ "

"Wait! This isn’t fair!" one of the cannibals squeaked, shrinking back into the dirt as he looked up at Hunter. "We dropped our weapons! We surrendered! How can you kill unarmed men?"

A woman spat right on the cannibal’s face and sneered. "Oh, now you care about fairness?! Were we armed when your crew raided our homes, burnt our homes, and took our people?! You treated us like meat!"

"Worse, unpaid labor. Practically slaves." Another pitched in.

The cannibal wiped the spit from his nose and hissed, his pale face twisting into a nasty, desperate smile. "Hmph! Spit on us all you want! It doesn’t change a thing. More of us will come! Five times as many!" He jutted his chin out arrogantly at Hunter. "And what about him? He’s a traveler! He won’t be here forever to hold your hands and play bodyguard! The moment he leaves, your town is dinner!"

The other cannibals laughed, mocking the town’s people.

That hit a raw nerve. The crowd broke into terrified, angry whispers. The fear of future revenge completely wiped away whatever sanity the villagers had left.

"Kill them all! Don’t let a single one breathe!" Solange screamed.

The mob snapped. Driven by pure frenzy, the towns’ people pounced on the kneeling cannibals like hungry wolves. Rocks slammed into heads, rusted farm hoes swung wildly, and fists rained down in a absolute storm of chaotic vengeance. The air filled with shrieks, sickening crunching sounds, and heavy thuds.

Hunter stared at the madness, his jaw dropping slightly. "Hey! Hey! Stop! I said hold on, you crazy fools!"

Nobody listened to a word he said. They were completely deaf to reason.

Hunter groaned, "I hate dealing with angry mobs."

He lunged forward, shoving three screaming villagers out of the way with his elbows. He grabbed one skinny, terrified cannibal by the back of his collar, ripped him out of the chaotic pile, and dragged him ten feet back into the clear dirt.

The skinny cannibal was shaking like a leaf in a thunderstorm. He looked back over his shoulder in pure horror_ the town’s people were still smashing his buddies with heavy stones and stabbing their corpses over and over again, even though they were already long dead. The ground was turned into a bloody meaty mess mixed with mud.