Chapter 169: The Sacrificer

"Listen up, boys, this won't do," EeDechi said, hands on her hips, lecturing the cavalry troop like a seasoned elder. "Sure, the villagers don't worship the Eight Greed Kings, but they're still your fellow humans, weak as they are. You've gotta put aside your religious biases and protect them. Got it?"

"Absolutely, you're right. We've been too narrow-minded," the cavalry captain admitted openly. EeDechi had single-handedly crushed a night raid by a dragonborn lizardmen tribe, leaving the entire troop in awe of her power.

Strength always commands respect, and the captain knew he was in the wrong. He didn't dare cross EeDechi, so he owned up to his mistake without hesitation.

"Mark my words: humans need to stick together to survive in this world. That's the core of the Six Great Gods' teachings…" EeDechi went on, her voice steady and commanding. The Slane Theocracy cavalry reined in their horses, listening obediently to her sermon.

…

EeDechi wanted to resurrect all the villagers killed by the lizardmen, but Barrett stopped her. A mass resurrection spell was nothing short of a miracle, and word of it would spread like wildfire, drawing the attention of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. If that happened, the entire village might fall prey to Ainz Ooal Gown's wrath.

The villagers began cleaning up the battlefield, gathering weapons and hauling away corpses to burn. They'd also captured a few unconscious lizardmen, locking them in a wooden shack.

"You're our savior! The hero of our village!" the village elder said, tears streaming down his face as he thanked EeDechi and her two companions over and over, barely stopping short of dropping to his knees by the campfire. "Without you, our village would've been razed, and we'd all be dragged off as sacrifices!"

"No need to be so formal, old man," EeDechi said generously. "But let me tell you something: don't butt heads with the Slane Theocracy over faith. Try to get on better terms with their missionaries. We saved you this time, but we won't be here next time."

"Absolutely, you're right!" the village elder nodded vigorously. "We'll move closer to the Slane Theocracy's border and integrate with them."

"By the way, can you tell me about these dragonblood lizardmen? What are their habits, and what god do they worship?" EeDechi asked, her curiosity piqued.

"They're a savage bunch!" the elder sighed. "With their dragon blood, they're barely dragonborn, I suppose. They worship some deity called the 'Dragon Progenitor.' No clue who this 'Dragon Progenitor' is—probably some ancient Dragon Lord from ages past.

"These lizardmen are always waging war, raiding villages, and ambushing merchant caravans. They snatch innocent people, tie them to altars, and carve out their hearts with obsidian knives as offerings to the Dragon Progenitor, praying for strength. Just a bunch of brutal, bloodthirsty lizards."

EeDechi asked, "Now that we've driven them off this time, will they come back for more?"

The village elder shuddered for a moment, as if the lizardmen's savagery flashed through his mind again. He let out a long sigh. "They'll be back. Their kind breeds like roaches. It won't take long for them to grow strong again."

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! A frantic ringing of bells cut through the air. The elder jolted upright, panic in his voice. "What's that? What's going on? Are the enemies back?"

A man clutching a torch sprinted over, bending over his knees, gasping for breath. "Elder, the lizardmen we locked up—they killed the guards and bolted out of the village! Should we chase them?"

"They escaped?" The elder clutched his forehead in distress, then looked at EeDechi with pleading eyes. "Adventurer, please, can you take care of those runaway lizardmen? I'm terrified they'll come back as an even bigger threat."

EeDechi thought for a moment, then said firmly, "No need. Let them run."

"Why?" The elder froze, stunned that EeDechi, who seemed to hate evil with a passion, would turn down his request.

EeDechi gave a sly smile. "Those fleeing lizardmen will head straight back to their tribe. We'll track them, find their lair, and wipe them out in one go!"

"Brilliant plan," Barrett said, clearly impressed. "Didn't expect you to come up with something like that, Captain. Feels like your brain's leveled up big time."

"Tch, my brain's always been top-tier!" EeDechi shot back, looking miffed.

…

No time to waste. Under the cover of the pitch-black night, the three adventurers tracked the lizardmen's escape route, weaving through forests and hills until they reached a desolate valley.

Crouched in the tall grass, they peeked out and saw lizardmen patrolling the valley with torches. In sheltered corners, crude huts made of wooden poles and thatch huddled together like a cluster of oversized bird nests.

"Should we hit them now? A night raid?" Barrett whispered, turning to EeDechi. He was already mentally sorting through the gear in his spatial ring, picking out items suited for arson and nighttime combat, plotting their strategy.

"Nah," EeDechi said, stretching with a long yawn. "We know where they are now. Let's catch some sleep and deal with them tomorrow."

"Captain's call, I'm in!" Franco, the mage with the weakest stamina, chimed in. For him, nothing beat a chance to take it easy.

He started crawling backward through the grass. "Let's head back and crash. We're big damn heroes now—maybe some village girls will offer to warm our beds."

"Keep dreaming," EeDechi said, grabbing his ankle. "We're camping right here."

Dawn broke with a pale sky, the morning star still twinkling on the horizon. The three adventurers crawled out of their sleeping bags, wiped their faces, brushed the dew off their pants, and got ready to stir up trouble.

Barrett took the lead, EeDechi followed, and Franco trailed behind, the trio crouching low as they crept toward the valley.

"The early worm gets eaten by the bird," Barrett muttered. "We'll catch them off guard."

But as they neared the valley's edge, they were surprised to see the lizardmen tribe already bustling. Groups of lizardmen, some tall, some short, emerged from their crude huts, hauling logs to build what looked like a massive bonfire pile in the center of the valley.

At the heart of it all lay a blood-stained, oval-shaped bluestone. A lizardmen shaman, decked out in a feathered headdress and sheepskin pants, was performing a bizarre dance. His arms and legs twisted into odd shapes, sometimes dropping to the ground to kowtow, other times throwing his head back to roar. The shaman spoke in the strange tongue of the lizardmen.

Barrett, with a magical device clipped to his ear, tried to make sense of it but came up empty.

"Must be some kind of ritual," Barrett said, analyzing the scene. "Probably for that 'Dragon Progenitor' they worship."

He'd seen his share of tribal rituals—shamans or witches doing weird dances, chanting gibberish spells. Some even munched on hallucinogenic mushrooms to amp up their performance, or rather, their "divine connection."

"Next, they'll probably bring out a sacrifice to kick off the ceremony," Barrett said, watching the shaman's movements.

Sure enough, two lizardmen dragged a dragonborn toward the bluestone, her hands and feet bound in chains. Her body was covered in green scales, with jagged horns crowning her head. The two prominent curves on her chest marked her as female.

BOOM! A magical spell shot into the sky, a thunderous crack echoing through the valley.

"STOP! What are you doing to a beautiful dragonborn girl?!"

EeDechi and Barrett exchanged stunned looks. They hadn't expected Franco, of all people, to be the one charging out to confront the lizardmen first.