RBCT Chapter 529 Cultist of Evil God: Rebirth - I'm Missing a Leg?
Chapter 529 Cultist of Evil God: Rebirth - I'm Missing a Leg?
"Jiraiya, you don't understand. The temple of knowledge is built from these unknown rubbishes. And I am just a diligent scavenger."
"..."
Jiraiya was speechless.
He could never understand his companion's thought process.
Orochimaru poked the black chunks of flesh with a kunai, while taking out blank storage scrolls from his pocket and carefully sorting and collecting the remaining tissue.
His movements were very delicate, as if he were handling the most precious work of art.
"The structure of this biceps brachii is very complete and can be studied."
He sealed a relatively intact, blown-off arm into a scroll.
"That leg has nice calf muscles."
They sealed another leg inside.
Tsunade felt a wave of nausea wash over her as she watched Orochimaru pick out pork at a market, barely managing to hold it in.
"Hey you... can't you be serious for once? We're still on a mission!"
"I've always been serious, Tsunade."
Orochimaru raised his head, licked his lips, and said, "For me, exploring the truth is the most important thing. These materials might help us unveil some aspects of their story; isn't that meaningful?"
He then sealed his other arm and leg into the scroll, and only after doing all this did he jump up, satisfied.
"Alright, all collected. Spalashi, this has been quite a haul."
Orochimaru clapped his hands, as if he had just had a relaxing picnic.
"..."
Looking at his satisfied expression, Tsunade took a deep breath and decided not to argue with him anymore.
She turned to Jiraiya: "Is the report finished?"
"Finished writing."
"Let's go. The town of Frost Kingdom should be not far ahead. Let's rest there for a while and then continue our journey."
She turned around first and walked towards the north.
Jiraiya and Orochimaru exchanged a glance and followed.
The three of them reassembled into a standard tactical formation and quickly disappeared into the vast snowfield.
Time flows slowly by.
One hour.
Two hours.
Three hours.
As night once again enveloped the devastated ruins, the cold wind grew even more biting.
At the very bottom of that enormous pit, the scattered, fragmented pieces of black flesh began to undergo a strange transformation.
A thin, black tentacle emerged from a piece of flesh the size of a fingernail, trembling slightly as if sensing something.
Then, more and more tentacles emerged from the different chunks of flesh. Like living vines, they wriggled and extended on the ground, finding each other precisely, and then... entwined and merged.
The process was eerie and silent.
Those scattered, shapeless chunks of flesh, connected by these black tentacles, were like building blocks being manipulated by an invisible hand, slowly and irreversibly beginning to reassemble themselves.
Muscle tissue, energy crystals, black mucus... they recombine and reshape themselves in a way that defies the laws of life.
Gradually, the four blurry human figures reformed at the bottom of the pit.
After some time, the outlines of the four figures became clearer and clearer, and eventually, they reverted to the appearance of the four cloaked figures from before.
They lay quietly at the bottom of the pit, motionless, like four newly made wax figures.
Sudden.
One of the figures twitched its finger slightly.
Immediately afterwards, the four of them opened their eyes wide at almost the same time!
A faint light shone again in those murky, lifeless eyes.
"...He survived..."
The leader of the cultists struggled, supporting himself on his elbows, his voice hoarse and weak.
"The evil god... has not abandoned us..."
The other three also sat up one after another. They looked around, their faces filled with relief and elation at surviving the ordeal.
"The mortal body is finite, but flesh and blood ascend... the doctrine... is true..."
A cultist struggled to stand up, swaying as he leaned against the pit wall, using all his strength to support his heavy body.
However, the very next second after he regained his footing.
"Ouch!"
With a cry of pain, he lost his balance and fell heavily to the ground again.
Almost at the same time, another companion next to him also let out the same exclamation and sat back down on the ground.
"What happened?"
The other two believers also noticed something was wrong.
They looked down at their bodies, and then... froze.
One of them raised his right arm, only to find it empty.
The other person was in the same situation; his left arm was reduced to a bare, small portion.
"My hand...where is my hand?"
"Grass!"
The man who had just fallen cursed angrily. He stared at his empty right leg, his face filled with disbelief. "Where's my foot?!"
The four of them looked at each other.
One of them lost his left hand.
One of them lost his right hand.
One of them lost his left leg.
One of them lost his right leg.
The atmosphere at the scene suddenly became incredibly awkward and strange.
The leader of the evil god cultists suddenly remembered something.
"Damn it!"
The leader's teeth were clenched so tightly that they were grinding together, his voice filled with endless anger and humiliation.
"Those Konoha ninja! ...They should have taken our 'parts'!"
"What?!"
"We got tricked!"
"asshole!!"
The euphoria of surviving the ordeal was instantly replaced by endless shame and anger.
They are indeed immortal, but now that their parts have been stolen, how can they reassemble themselves?
"Chief, what do we do now?"
A believer who had lost his left hand asked anxiously.
The leader took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
He looked around at the holy site that had been completely razed to the ground and finally made a decision.
"This place has been exposed; we can't stay here any longer."
"Let's find a new place to recuperate and await the summons of the evil god!"
After speaking, the leader of the evil god cultists looked at his three other incomplete companions, his eyes hardening.
"Let's go!"