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Here weare, starting Book 3! This brings us to 10/20 chapters, including the addition this week.
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Wiro Sableng Book 3 – Revenge of the Mighty
Wiro Sableng Book 3 Chapter 1
The wide deep wound in his stumped right shoulder gradually drained his strength. If previously he could muster his strength to escape from Djatiwalu cemetery, running frantically like he was being chased by the devil, now he could barely walk, let alone trying to run. His body staggered and swayed heavily. His breath was gasping like one of a dying person!
He was at the edge of a ravine. In his frantic escape, he no longer cared where he was headed until he unknowingly arrived at an isolated place humans rarely came. Dead silence lurked, tingling his skin. His dazed eyes, increasingly blurry vision and severe fatigue led him to fall into the ravine when his leg stumbled upon a protruding rock at the edge of it.
He was lucky it was not a ravine full of jagged rocks, but one filled with overgrown bushes. His body rolled down against the bushes, roughly scratched by the twigs and sprigs. He felt immeasurable pain, and even more so on the bleeding stump on his right shoulder. When he crashed at the bottom of the ravine, he pa.s.sed out!
When he came to, it was already at dusk. The bottom of the ravine was cold and dark because the last reflected light of the sun could not cover up the bottom of the ravine where he laid helplessly. He thought where he was at the moment, before the throbbing pain on his the stump of his bleeding right shoulder reminded him everything he had experience before.
The man - Kalingundil - few hours ago had battled an overwhelmingly formidable opponent, a young man who went by the name of Wiro Sableng. In that vicious battle, not only he was forced to flee but he also had to lose his right arm when it was wrenched out by his opponent!
Recalling this, among the unrelenting pains, a deep bitter vow for vengeance quickly raised. After all he must be able to move forward, albeit his one-armed condition. No matter what the costs would be, he must exact his vengeance due to what that d.a.m.ned brat Wiro Sableng did to him, crippling him for life.
When his eyes stared at the stars glowing on the sky, he just realized that it was already nightfall. Kalingundil knew that he should not spend the night lying there weakly. He turned his head to the right. All he could see in the dark was bushes and broad-leaved trees. Then he turned his head to the left. Initially it was only darkness he could see. However, between the bushes he could still see vaguely a distinctive gap among rocks at the bottom of the ravine. It was around ten spear distances from where he laid. Rather than lying in the open like that, Kalingundil thought it would be better to move into that gap.
Yet with such weakened body and worn out condition, it was not easy for Kalingundil to move. He could barely crawl, let alone stand up. Moving an inch would cause him to winch in agony, the bones in his limbs felt like they were dislodged and broken off, thus he could not imagine if he drag his body to move! With his persistent conviction that he could survive this, gathering the last sparks of his strength, inch by inch Kalingundil managed to reach the rock cl.u.s.ters. It turned out that the rocky gap was a cave mouth. Once he reached the cave mouth, Kalingundil pa.s.sed out for the second time.
Kalingundil finally regained his full consciousness in the morning, a couple of hours after sunrise. It was weird that the pain in his battle-worn body eased off compared to yesterday. Kalingundil could not help but thinking why this happened. Even when he tried to move, he could slowly regained his strength which he exerted beyond his limit last night. He sat with his back against the cave wall. It was in that moment when he felt a strange, stinging lukewarm sensation emanating from inside the cave. This sensation was probably stimulating Kalingundil"s body to restore his strength.
When he looked around examining the cave walls around him, obscurely, covered by the dust thicket, swept away by the ages, Kalingundil saw a great deal of inscriptions. They were unsystematically written, but when observed and linked one by one, it formed a series of sentences which explained an instruction of martial arts! Realizing this, Kalingundil opened his eyes wider. Initially, the inscription he read was difficult to comprehend, this was because the inscription explained instructions of martial arts lessons which was indeed rooted from mysterious origin and unknown school branch. As the morning turned to noon, Kalingundil felt better.
Hunching and wobbling, Kalingundil walked a bit deeper into the cave after reading the inscription found on the outer wall of the cave. The further he went into the cave, the stronger the lukewarm sensation he sensed earlier. Taking a breath of the air, Kalingundil felt his body refreshed, his chest relieved. And going further into the cave, Kalingundil saw more and more inscription on the wall. What was written now was about strange swordsmans.h.i.+p technique which Kalingundil never heard before. However, unfortunately most of those martial arts learning inscriptions were blurred or unreadable.
The lukewarm sensation was becoming more intense. Kalingundil forced himself to move deeper to the cave until he stopped in a place with a view he could not believe at the first sight.
The cave ended in a small underground lake. This lake could as well be considered a pond because it was encircled by rocks. The water was dark blue and emitted bluish fumes. These fumes was the one spreading lukewarm sensation and possessing magical power to heal Kalingundil"s body! In the middle of the pond, there was a slippery bluish rock and on the top of the rock lie a broken sword, its hilt was still intact but its broken blade remained two-inches long only. Just like the water in the pond and the slippery rock, this weapon was also blue-colored and emitted blue light. Why that sword was broken and fractured in such way, where would be the rest of the sword blade? And why did the sword get there?
Standing at the side of the pond for few minutes, Kalingundil felt his wounds and fatigue gradually recuperated. When examining his stumped right shoulder with its severe wound, it looked much better than before.
"This water contains great healing power…" Kalingundil thought. He bent to scoop out some water and took a closer look at the broken sword on the rock. On the cave wall at the far end of the lake, beyond the puffing fumes there was obscure inscription engraved which had been somewhat difficult to read but could still be interpreted by Kalingundil.
It was written: THIS CAVE IS CALLED "AZURE DEMON CAVE"
THIS POND IS NAMED "AZURE DEMON POND,"
THE SWORD ON THE ROCK IS "AZURE DEMON SWORD,"
YET IT IS UNFORTUNATE THE HILT AND THE PART REMAINS
THE ONE FINDING AND UNITING THE LOST BLADE,
THE ONE MASTERING THE BLADE SKILLS,
"KING OF SWORD" ONE WILL BE HAILED FOR LIFE.
Reading the inscription, Kalingundil looked around. All the inscriptions he had read from the cave mouth to the pond were indeed fragments of an uncanny martial arts and sword arts. Everything he witnessed in that cave led Kalingundil to conclude that the cave was the abode of a mighty ascetic possessing the "Azure Demon Sword." But why was the sword abandoned with such condition, and where was its remaining blade hidden?
Kalingundil bent over again. With his left hand, he managed to hold the Azure Demon Sword in his hand. The second his fingers gripped the sword hilt, a stream of healing power was channeled to his body, causing Kalingundil to recover from his severe wounds and back to his full strength! Moreover, his body somehow felt lighter. When he drank the water from the pond again, more powers and miracles did he gain!
Kalingundil was overjoyed.
Without waiting any longer, he knelt by the pond and said: “The keeper of the Azure Demon Cave, wherever you are, whoever you are, this Kalingundil thanking you for what lies in your cave has healed me from the pain and injury I suffered. Today, I – Kalingundil – expect all your willingness to take me as your disciple. Whatever is written in your cave, I will learn thoroughly…”
Thus began the day when he pursued everything written in the inscriptions in the cave walls alone. The martial arts and sword arts that he tried to practice all by himself were mostly lost and unreadable thus it was only a third of the whole Demon Sword Techniques that Kalingundil managed to learn and comprehend. Nevertheless, they were already extraordinary techniques. Four months later when he left the Demon Cave, the current Kalingundil had now completely transformed in his martial arts level! And this only increased Kalingundil"s conviction that he had found new powers to settle the scores with the 212 Fighter, Wiro Sableng!