The Rise Of A Tribal Deadbeat - Chapter 86

Back in the wilderness, Sofina’s predictions proved to be correct. Two days after Zok and the others left the wilderness, the Shamanka showed up there with an armada of shamans behind her. Just by looking at the sheer size of her army, it was clear that she was there to end Zok once and for all.

She had been waiting for that moment for a long time and finally, it was time for her to prove that the prophecy was wrong. However, her plans were shattered the moment they entered the glades. After looking for an entire day, they found the cave where Zok had been living.

The way the cave was protected made it all the more obvious that Zok was inside. But when they entered the cave, there was nothing. They found a second cave behind the first one, however, that cave was empty as well.

Other than a few signs, it was clear that the place had been abandoned recently. For the next week, the shamans didn’t leave a single inch of earth unturned to find Zok. But their efforts were wasted.

Zok was nowhere to be found. It was as if he had disappeared in thin air. The Shamanka was pissed like never before. She was sure to get him this time but it seemed like the bastard’s luck hasn’t run out yet. But her patience had.

“You said he would be here… then where the HELL IS HE!?” The shamanka roared before using her ability to kill the follower who was standing next to Naalnish, “I gave you one task! ONE TASK to bring that bastard to me. Alive or dead… and you screwed it over!?”

Everyone around the Shamanka was shaking in fear of their lives. It was the first time for all of them to see the patient Shamanka lose her crap and it was quite horrifying. However, Naalnish was far from scared. The Shamanka’s anger wasn’t justified in his opinion.

If anything, she was the one responsible for this mess and not him. Naalnish was the one who suggested she try finding Zok in the Glades. However, she and her lover Skah, overruled him stating Zok wouldn’t even dare to step a foot in the glades.

When Naalnish asked for enough people to hunt down Zok, all she gave him were a bunch of corpse beetles and a dozen or so low ranked shamans. The fact that he managed to find the kid with such a useless team was a miracle in itself.

Thus he wasn’t going to stand there and let the Shamanka berate him because of her incompetence. It was her fault and Naalnish was going to make sure she knew that much.

“With all due respect, if you have listened to me and provided me with a bunch of high ranked shamans then the tale would be very different from what it is now.” Naalnish talked back, albeit with the utmost respect.

“You’re saying it’s my fault that your incompetent ass could not even handle one kid and his wolf?” Shamanka was on the verge of having another breakdown and killing someone else. But Naalnish still didn’t back down.

“That’s precisely what I’m saying. If I had adequate backup then I would have not only captured the kid but everyone who was accompanying him. Including the special beast, I told you about.”

The look on Shamanka’s face turned violent as if she was ready to spew fire at any given moment. But the following moment she calmed down. No matter how angry she was, deep down she knew it was her fault to not trust her most reputed fighter.

The fact that Zok slipped right under her fingers infuriated her so much… she could have put an end to it all, but… there she was back at the beginning.

“My apologies for acting out…” She mumbled softly before looking at everyone around her, “I shouldn’t have directed my anger at all of you.”

‘Tell that to the one you just killed without any reason…’ Naalnish shook his head before praying for the peace of their fallen comrade.

“Start making way for the desert. That’s the only place that bastard could have gone to-”

“I don’t think so.” Nallnish interrupted her once again, “The last time I saw him, he was running away from the desert after being chased away by those… eight-legged creatures… what were they called again?”

“Scorpiones, my lord.” Tsula confidently replied.

“Yeah. One of those. Hence, I don’t think he would be foolish enough to trade one way to die with another.”

“What are you suggesting then? He just disappeared? The Glades is in between the desert and the plains. We came from the plains so he could not have escaped from there. Which leaves us with the only possibility that he went into the desert.”

Naalnish smiled before looking towards the Shamanka, “You seem to have become forgetful, your holiness. he could have used the same way you use to travel short distances, but only on a bigger stage.”

The Shamanka was confused with Naalnish’s suggestion. She had obtained the ability to teleport short distances after years of doing dirty work for the god she served… and Naalnish was saying that bastard Zok got a better skill than her?

“Impossible! Do you have any idea how long it took me to get that ability?”

“With all due respect, your holiness. I never said he was the one with the skill.” Naalnish immediately started explaining it all to her before she mistook the meaning behind his words, “There was a girl with him while I was fighting with him… a cannibal. If it’s her then it could be possible after all the Cannibals had been praising the gods long before we did.”

“The cannibals… those bastards.” Shamanka mumbled in fury, “I thought I had gotten rid of them for good!”

“Well, you didn’t do that great of a job. Seeing of them had survived.” Naalnish shook his head, “However, the thing is, if they had used teleportation skill to get out of here, then it’s next to impossible for us to find them anymore.”

“Fck it! Inform everyone that we are going back.. I’ll think of a plan when we get back.”