Witch Hunter: Goujian Sword

January 31, 2023

"Brother Sizhu, where are you going?"

Qing asked as she saw Sizhu walking toward the village. The night had grown darker. Yet there were no twinkling stars lighting up the sky. Thick dark clouds covered it.

"I'm going out for a moment."

"Don't go too far, we don't know when _that_ creature will come!" Qing tried to warn Sizhu about what happened earlier this evening. He still remembered the event like a vivid painting. His skin paled a little recalling it.

Sizhu waved his hand without looking back.

He arrived in front of the village chief's house. The two-story wooden house was quite grand and had a fairly spacious yard. It could be used as a field with three plots in front of the terrace.

On both sides of the house, there was a small path leading to the chief's livestock pen. The path on the right side led directly to the river since their house was only about fifty steps from the riverbank.

The lights were still on inside. Sizhu cautiously hid behind a tree beside the yard when he sensed someone approaching from the side of the house.

"Ugh, I never like this task. If only the village didn't have such terrible rules."

It was Muren, frowning while carrying a large wooden tray filled with offerings. He walked, trying to divert his gaze from the tray's plates.

If I'm not mistaken, that young man is named Muren. He is the second son of the village chief.

Sizhu observed silently in the darkness of the thick trees beside the big house.

Muren hurriedly placed the tray with offerings down, nearly spilling the dipper full of blood. A few drops flew and landed as stains on the terrace floor.

"Phew, almost. Father will punish me if I spill the offerings."

The brown-haired young man sighed in relief while wiping sweat from his forehead with the back of his right hand.

Alright, time to act!

Sizhu stealthily crept forward as Muren turned to walk inside his house.

Opening the wooden bar, passing through the front gate, Sizhu quickly ran silently to the side of the chief's house.

Hearing the gate door open, Muren immediately stopped his steps and looked back.

Seeing the gate wide open, Muren hurried to close it and slid the wooden bar to lock it.

Sensing the opportunity, Sizhu quickly grabbed the tray of offerings left in front of the house before Muren finished locking the gate.

Afterward, Sizhu watched Muren from the side of the house near the river, hiding behind the shadow of the building.

"Probably just the wind. That _creature_ wouldn't come that fast, right? Or maybe it's so hungry it took the offerings I just put down, heh."

When Muren turned around, his face instantly paled as if all his blood drained upon seeing the offering tray he had just placed seconds ago disappear without a trace.

Then out of the corner of his eye, he saw something by the right side of his house. A blurry shadow watching him, filling Muren with unspeakable terror.

"That... I'm just kidding... please don't eat me too..."

His legs hurriedly ran wildly inside the house. The sound of the door being locked slammed shut was heard fiercely.

Sizhu exhaled slowly upon hearing the noisy locking of the front door. That meant his mission was successful!

Tonight I will confirm the connection between the village chief and the giant wasp I saw earlier. That's why I tried to steal their offering tray. I want to see how the punishment from this village rule works.

Unbeknownst to him, Sizhu's behavior was being watched by someone from the second-floor window of the village chief's house. A shadowy figure stood beside the window, the eyes fixed on Sizhu, that just finishing his act.

Taking about twenty steps toward the river to discard the stolen items in his hands,

Something—a black shadow—rushed from behind so fast that Sizhu didn't notice it.

"Argh!"

The offering tray fell scattered on the ground. Sizhu's right hand immediately touched the pain in his left upper arm.

He was shocked to see blood filling his right palm. The pain didn't stop, and then he looked down at his feet to see a growing pool of blood dripping from the wound on his left arm.

Sizhu's breath became uncontrollable; he walked slowly like a blind man, his vision blurring, heart pounding wildly, sweat pouring from his pale skin.

Blood kept dripping from his left upper arm without stopping. Sizhu continued walking, trying to lean on the wall of a nearby village house.

Shit! Hah... I was careless. Hah... I didn't notice that creature behind my back.

He bit the sleeve of his left robe, tore it into a long cloth, then tightly wrapped it around the bleeding wound on his left arm.

Hah... that creature uses poison. Hah... the attack made my arm stiff. Hah... is this how the witch with the severed hand and the crocodile died from drying out?

Sizhu glanced sharply to his right. He saw it staring back at him, full of terror.

"Giant wasp, huh..." Grinning, Sizhu tried to take a fighting stance.

He raised his staff using only his right hand. For some reason, he couldn't move his left hand. Besides being poisonous, the wound also had a numbing effect. Anyone struck once by the giant wasp—about the size of a grown man's head—would surely die a gruesome death.

The dark clouds shifted, granting the moonlight permission to reveal the shadowy figure that usually dashed so quickly.

Ten sharp feet clung to the torso. Pretarsus with knife-sharp, reddish-black claws moved like a hungry human hand reaching for its plate.

Its body was covered with orange-yellow fur mixed with dark red. It had two antennae branching into two, and four eyes made of thousands of tiny hexagonal lenses layered beneath a pair of larger eyes above. Five small eyes sat atop its head with no eyelids.

Its jaws resembled crab claws, serrated and full of sharp thorns for chewing. Its mouth drooled, eyeing the live prey ten steps ahead.

Its abdomen had a large, very sharp stinger, looking like the tip of a cavalry spear.

The giant wasp, the size of an adult man's head, had four wings ready to maneuver anytime, continuously flapping to maintain stable flight.

One more strike and my fate is sealed here. I must avoid the wasp's attacks at all costs.

"Hah... I thought the creature would look scarier. Hah... I've seen big crocodiles, fish with human hands, hah... now I see a wasp that's many times the size of a normal one. Hah... Life is full of surprises, huh?"

Sizhu prepared himself as the wasp started to charge.

Rolling to the side, he didn't intend to fight the wasp weakly. He planned to find another way to fight it.

By running away.

Bruk!

The wasp crashed through the wooden window of a villager's house. The people inside immediately woke from their sleep, then were shocked to see the giant wasp enter their living room. Before flying back out again.

"I... hah... have to get away from the village... hah..."

Sizhu's legs moved heavily with his running speed. Normally he could run as fast as a forest wolf, but because of the poison in his body and the wound, he looked like an old man running.

"Aaahhhh! That creature! That creature is raging!"

The residents of the house, whose window had just been broken, screamed hysterically. The husband and wife trembled on the wooden floor with fear and shock that wouldn't go away.

"Hu Yuan, Wei Po, don't be afraid. That creature is not after you."

"Zhuangzhu Muzhe..."

Muzhe, the village chief, stood outside the broken window. He didn't look toward the house's residents but at the giant wasp chasing someone at the village path's end. The wasp turned toward the village gate.

That young man... I already warned him. Once those creatures mark someone as prey, there's no escape for them.

The thin white-bearded man calmly walked away from the broken house.

***