Berserk: The Prophet

.........

Beneath the dark curtain, a group of priestesses were chanting ancient incantations in a gloomy cave. Countless slender arms swayed at the foot of the stone steps, twisting their long bodies like a group of cobras in courtship, or like spider lilies woven by human hands swaying in the wind.

"...Great Azdalian, revered Serpent God, your followers are praying for your revelation. Send down your divine pronouncements, and we will unhesitatingly clear away all obstacles for you. (Serpent Cult)"

At the center of the stone steps, the Holy Maiden Reis of the Serpent Worship Cult was chanting an ancient and obscure incantation, holding a green crystal ball on her slender arms, which were covered with serpentine runes.

"Az... hiss..."

Above the crystal ball, an unusual force distorted the magnetic field in the cave, instantly lowering the temperature by several degrees. A strange rustling sound emanated from the crystal ball and echoed on the stone walls, spreading slowly outwards like ripples on a lake.

"Hiss... I smell that awful scent, it's Astalia's familiar... Reiss, find him, and then... I'll devour... his delicious heart... hiss."

"...This war will not end so easily. Her retinue deserves my most elite warriors...hiss."

"Call forth, you devourers who have perished in your homeland, your goddess is calling..."

Eerie laughter filled the cave, followed by a low murmur that seemed to come from the abyss. A hoarse and hollow voice sang an unknown imperial hymn, while the priestesses below rolled their eyes and waved their arms, as if they had entered a bizarre serpent cult ritual.

............

At dawn, Barkley's army was fully prepared for battle.

Trunks' three thousand men were deployed in the ranks, with Isole from the capital and Vilian, the vice-captain of the Silver Knights, leading the way at the front, and Salard of Rose Castle and several sons of Lord Weber leading the rear, with the Rose Knights also in the ranks.

A total of about 10,000 elite troops were deployed. Since it was located on the border, Rose Castle sent the most troops. After all, the battle on the border was related to the safety of Rose Castle, and the castle's people responded to the call and wanted to make contributions.

Their destination was the Serpent Cult army, which had already spread to the vicinity of Yaoyang Port and caused chaos. These guys were ruthless and had already burned, killed, and looted many villages. It was also said that many rogue knight orders had been recruited by them, and the entire army was expanding like a snowball.

Supply naturally became a problem, and they could only replenish their supplies through constant plundering. Wherever they went, they left behind a scene of devastation, with houses and crops burned to ashes. Many charred corpses were covered with flies, and carrion birds and wild dogs were gnawing on them.

Everyone's expressions were very serious, their brows furrowed. These snake worshippers were a bunch of lunatics.

"Don't just stand there, keep moving!!"

The leader, Isole, reprimanded them, saying that the current task was to punish the culprits who had caused the current situation, and that it was not the time to be sentimental. People from above would be sent down to deal with the corpses in due course.

"Poor thing."

Peggy Laed, the headmaster of the Azure Disciples who was accompanying them, sighed with his wrinkled old mouth opening and closing, but little did anyone know that the expression in his eyes was colder than anyone else's, as if he were looking at a trivial matter.

Only his disciples were shaking their heads and sighing, and with Peggy Laede's seemingly peaceful voice, no one noticed that something was wrong with the old man.

After three days of travel, both men and horses were exhausted. Once it was past noon, the knights would switch to another horse for the journey, while the warhorses used for combat would maintain their full strength.

"Huh? Why is it cloudy?"

The soldiers in the army whispered among themselves, and the men around Green also looked up at the dark clouds rolling in ahead, which looked like a gloomy storm that would soon block out the sunlight.

The air suddenly turned cold, and Green felt a strange unease. The icy sensation on his fingertips made him grip the handguard sword hanging at his waist tighter.

"Tick-tock" "Tap" "Tap-tap-tap"

Rain began to fall from the gloomy sky, mingling with the sound of marching footsteps to create a somber melody. Trunks frowned; this was not a good sign. However, the vanguard had not yet given the order to halt, so he could only silently lead his soldiers forward in the rain.

"Have the musketeers keep their weapons dry and replace them with crossbows."

"understood."

"rumble..."

Rolling thunderclouds surged overhead, and the ground gradually became muddy. It was precisely on this dirt road that we were traveling. In the distance, the woods exuded an eerie stillness in the rain, a terrifying silence, as if some unknown wild beast or venomous snake was lurking there.

Green's unease grew even more intense. He let the raindrops fall on his armor and semi-closed helmet, but even so, his vision was still obscured by the rain, as if he couldn't open his eyes.

"Trunks... do you think we won't be ambushed at a time like this?"

"It's hard to say, I have a very bad feeling about it..."

Green voiced his unease, and to his surprise, Trunks felt the same way. It was all too strange, especially since they were almost at the Snake Cult stronghold mentioned in the scouts' report from two days ago.

Green turned to look at Seranty, unable to see his expression behind the mask, but his silence made it seem as if he was carefully listening to the changes around him. Green could only cautiously observe the surrounding terrain, after all, being ambushed was not the worst thing, but being caught in the chaos and not even knowing how to run away.

"Xi Lu"

After traveling for a short while, Seranti's warhorse stopped, snorting as if in dissatisfaction and shaking the water off its mane.

"They're here, Trunks."

"Halt and be on alert!!!"

Almost the instant Thranduil issued his warning, Trunks's large hand immediately halted the army behind him. He also gathered the companions around Grimm, surrounding and protecting him.

From the jungle on both sides, a group of soldiers dressed in green cloaks and chainmail gradually appeared. The originally wet and muddy hillsides and meadows were instantly trampled into mud. They even disregarded their comrades falling and trampled on their bodies as they rushed forward to carry out their mission.

Their green robes bear a striking black serpent pattern in the center—they are warriors of the Serpent Cult!