Chapter 71: The Awakening of the Tribe
"Stop them! Kill those traitors before they desecrate the sacred ground!" shouted the Shaman, beside himself, pointing at the group with hands trembling in rage.
The Clan Leader’s guards hesitated for a second, gripping their spears nervously as they looked at the imposing wall of shields formed by Krag and the veteran hunters.
"Dare to take a single step and this place will be littered with corpses!" shouted Marty, raising his sword before the guards. "The boy consumed the magic beast’s heart and is still standing! It is the ancestral law, and no one—not even you—can oppose the trial of the altar!"
"It is a fraud!" shouted the Clan Leader, stepping forward with his face flushed red with rage. "That scrawny brat is a curse upon this village! He is nothing more than a charlatan who tricked a few naive hunters!"
"A charlatan?!" shouted Brak’s wife, pushing her way through the crowd and confronting the Leader and the Shaman directly. "Yesterday the two of you condemned my husband and three other warriors to die like dogs! You said their wounds were beyond saving and that all we could do was wait for them to die!"
The crowd began pressing tighter around the square, fueled by curiosity and outrage.
"My four men are still alive and breathing thanks to Kellar!" shouted Krag, making his voice echo across the entire square. "The old man you call a Shaman knew how to do nothing but tremble and blame others! His power has rotted, his faith is a farce, and the tribe has fallen into decay under his rule!"
"It’s true! The old priest no longer holds the Bear God’s blessing!" shouted one of the hunters from the mob.
"Look at Kellar!" shouted Lupar, pointing at the boy in the center of the group. "He planned the hunt for the magical beast that will feed us through the winter, he saved our brothers’ lives when the Shaman turned his back on them, and he survived the fire of the Great Crocodile’s heart! The true birth of the new Shaman is right before our eyes!"
The tribe’s murmurs erupted into a collective roar of approval. The village families, fed up with the abuse and incompetence of the old leadership, began chanting Kellar’s name and shoving the Leader’s guards aside to clear a direct path toward the totem.
The Shaman, watching the entire tribe turn to Kellar’s side in an instant, backed away in terror until he tripped against the base of the altar, while the Clan Leader watched as his authority crumbled in a matter of seconds.
Krag placed a firm hand on Kellar’s shoulder and pointed to the massive wooden and stone figure towering in the center of the square.
"The time has come, touch the Bear God," said Krag, stepping back to give him space.
Kellar walked with a steady pace up to the altar and extended his right hand, resting his palm on the totem’s ancient timber. In that instant, the carved eyes of the Bear God began to glow with a blinding crimson light, while Kellar’s body was enveloped in a reddish aura.
Before Kellar’s eyes, system notifications began unrolling at rapid speed.
[External Synchronization Detected]
[Warning: Entity ’Bear God’ is attempting to trace the User]
[Trace Attempt Annulled by System]
[Initiating Process: Rewriting the Bear God Totem]
[...]
[Rewrite Complete: ’Bear God’ skills and records have been completely erased]
[The Bear God Totem will now serve as the User’s Totem]
The exact moment the rewrite completed, a tremor shook the entire square. All the warriors and hunters of the tribe felt a crushing weakness sweep through their muscles all at once, their robust frames turned heavy, bringing them to their knees in the snow, gasping for air.
"Heretic!" shouted the Shaman, pointing at Kellar in sheer panic as he fell to his knees. "Look at what you’ve done! You’ve angered the Bear God, and he has stripped away his blessing!"
"We’re dead! He has doomed us all!" shouted the people who supported the old priest.
Kellar slowly broke contact with the totem. As his hand pulled away, the statue of the Bear God glowed intensely one last time before cracking open, crumbling into fragments of stone and shattered wood right before the terrified eyes of the mob.
Kellar’s right hand, still radiating a deep crimson glow, rose into the air and pointed straight at the kneeling Shaman.
"Return the energy I have granted you, mortal!" said Kellar, his imposing voice echoing through the minds of everyone present.
The old priest opened his mouth in a silent scream as he felt his vital and magical energy forcibly ripped from his body. He tried desperately to use his control skill to retain his power, but it was completely useless: Kellar’s ability operated at an infinitely superior level. Within seconds, the priest’s energy was drained entirely, leaving him a withered, decrepit, and miserable old man on the brink of death.
"The Bear God has spoken! You have all been deceived by them!" shouted Kellar, turning his bloodshot glare straight onto the Clan Leader. "Kneel and beg for forgiveness, or die!"
The crowd of villagers collapsed face-first onto the snow, weeping and screaming for mercy. However, the Clan Leader entered a state of absolute panic; paralyzed by horror, he didn’t know what to do or say as he tried to scramble backward on all fours.
Kellar gave him no room to breathe. Raising his right hand, he condensed a sphere of reddish energy in his palm and launched it forward with a sharp crack. The impact of the mana sphere struck the Clan Leader dead in the chest, sending him flying through the air and slamming violently against a distant tree, killing him instantly.
The deathly silence that followed was shattered by Kellar’s relentless voice.
"Kneel!" said Kellar, looking over the entire tribe.
Krag, pushing himself up onto his feet with effort, raised his mallet toward the sky and roared with all his might.
"The Shaman is born!" shouted Krag, tears of joy in his eyes. "The new leader of the clan will bring us prosperity! Praise the Shaman!"
The entire square erupted into a deafening uproar. The families, hunters, and former guards began shouting blessings and cheers toward Kellar, surrendering before the manifestation of their new and undisputed lord.