LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 74
Human Sacrifice.
The act of offering a living person as a sacrifice.
This alien ritual, which began from the time humanity formed societies and religions, has evolved into a manifestation of human malice and madness.
In the Inca Empire, there was a ritual called Capacocha where children were offered as sacrifices, and in what is now known as the Middle East, newborn babies were placed in stoves and burned alive. The Maya civilization also believed that something precious must be offered to the gods, leading to the periodic sacrifice of children to the gods of the underworld.
In China, people were boiled alive for human sacrifice, and during the Shang dynasty, the state actively led human sacrifices using prisoners as materials.
The most severe human sacrifices during the Shang dynasty occurred in the late period when horrific ceremonies such as throwing people alive into snake pits or making them walk on heated copper pillars were conducted.
Such gruesome human sacrifice rituals were easily found around the world.
In some regions, people were fed alive to crocodiles, and in others, they were bound with iron chains and thrown into the sea to pray for good catches. In some places, it was said that the offerings were made to the gods housed in the shrines by locking up and starving them to death, and in others, it was said that illegitimate children had to be sacrificed to become Zashiki-warashi (座敷童子).
For religious reasons.
For magical reasons.
The madness of humanity seeking to return with immense costs after a horrific ritual.
The madness of humanity simmering at the sight of blood.
Human sacrifice was not just a simple magical ritual; it was a blending of human malice and madness, molded into a form of magic.
Is human sacrifice a vessel of human malice and madness?
Did human malice and madness create human sacrifice?
The term “human sacrifice” has become almost taboo in modern times, to the point where even mentioning it has turned into an act of blasphemy.
That ominous word burst from the mouth of a demon, from the lips of Iserin.
“H-Human sacrifice? What… what are you talking about?”
She looked at Jinseong with a face full of questions.
“Before I provide an explanation, I need to ask a few questions. Now, Iarin, have you never seen this pattern even once?”
Iarin briefly looked at the drawing before shaking her head.
“No, I haven’t.”
“Really? Then let me narrow down my questions further. Do you remember when you were on your way to meet your friend there was a fortune teller’s house? They had a drawing in that tent, and it wasn’t this kind of pattern you’d seen before?”
“Fortune… teller? No… I haven’t… Is that place strange?”
Iarin replied, showing a mix of fear and anxiety, but Jinseong seemed satisfied with her answer and turned to Iserin to ask.
“Have you ever looked closely at that fortune teller’s house?”
“Ah, no… I was just there for the first time yesterday… E-Ella and I weren’t really that close…”
Upon hearing his sisters’ words, Jinseong nodded.
‘At least these girls aren’t the main targets.’
Crom Cruach.
The name of the highest god worshipped by the Gael until the 5th century, and at the same time, the most feared being among the Gael.
Crom Cruach was known by many names, including Ken Cruach, Crom Dubh, and Crom Cruach. Most of these names carried horrific and cruel meanings.
Those meanings included twisted hills, bloody heaps, heads of hills, piles of grain soaked in blood, monsters clad in twisted blood, twisted darkness, and bloodied blackness.
At least the name Ken Croith or Cenncroithi meant “chief of all gods,” but this name was rarely used; instead, the fear-inducing aspects were widely utilized.
This terrible supreme god was responsible for abundance and the sun. It was said that offering human sacrifices to this god would bring about an immense harvest accompanied by warm sunlight, providing peace in people’s lives. However, over time, the symbols of the sun were taken from Crom Cruach by the Tuatha Dé Danann, and it became a god that only oversaw abundance.
The only price demanded by this twisted idol was one thing.
The firstborn.
It desired the first of all living beings.
The first fruit to ripen.
The first grain harvested.
The first beast caught in the returning season.
And, the firstborn child of the firstborn human.
Of these, the one favored most by this twisted darkness was the child born of a human, especially those untimely infants. Consequently, when people had a firstborn child, they offered it as a sacrifice to Crom Cruach, and if a newborn was not available, they would decapitate the firstborn child of the growing siblings and present that at the altar. If there was still nothing, they would invade elsewhere to capture and behead the firstborn.
According to the folk legends known as Dindsenchas in Ireland, the repercussions of this cruel, bloody human sacrifice ritual were so severe that even digging a bit deeper in the field would reveal unsullied corpses appearing with glaring eyes due to their grudges, and the severed heads used in the rituals formed hills.
These bloody hills emitted all sorts of foul odors and unleashed vengeful words upon passersby; this horrid structure remained intact until one day it was broken by Saint Patrick, who appeared much later.
In English, he is known as Saint Patrick, while in Ireland, he was called Naomh Pádraig mac Calprainn. This hero is said to have circulated Christianity while carrying a three-leaf clover, performing miracles with the clover and a hammer to defeat the wicked and shatter the twisted idol.
‘Even if they say firstborn, twins represent different symbols, so they wouldn’t have been selected as offerings.’
Jinseong turned to see his innocent younger sister unknowingly sticking her head into a rat’s mouth and pulling it back.
The human sacrifice rituals to Crom Cruach proceed according to procedure.
And one of those procedures is confirming the ‘eligibility of the offering.’
A process was created to verify whether the child captured from another tribe is indeed the ‘firstborn’ or whether the child taken from a poor resident attempting to escape human sacrifice is truly the ‘firstborn.’
For a human sacrifice to be accepted, it was imperative to offer the firstborn, as otherwise, drought or calamity would strike instead of a good harvest; hence, this confirmation was necessary.
What was required for this confirmation was the pattern of Crom Cruach.
This pattern was recognized solely by the offering, hidden among other symbols.
The firstborn child.
In other words, the being suitable as a sacrifice for human sacrifice could recognize this hidden pattern.
Moreover, the pattern contained restraints and spells to subdue the offering, to make capturing those who recognized the pattern easier.
In essence, once seen, it was like a death sentence.
Fortunately, his younger sisters did not recognize the hidden pattern of Crom Cruach, and there seemed to be no trace of other spells, so for now, they could breathe a sigh of relief…
‘Tsk. Danbi. Danbi…’
Could his former comrade and Iarin’s friend, Ella B. Winter, also feel secure?
* * *
Jinseong’s explanation was brief.
The tent he saw while visiting Ella’s home had raised suspicion, it reeked of blood, and upon investigation, it was found that the pattern for human sacrifice rituals was drawn there, indicating that the diviner was attempting to use someone as an offering.
That someone could be Iarin, Iserin, or Ella.
Furthermore, considering that neither Iarin nor Iserin appeared to recognize the pattern, Ella also needed to be checked.
Although the explanation was short, it contained sufficient information for Iarin and Iserin to comprehend.
After hearing the story, Iserin readily accepted Jinseong’s request.
And Iarin…
“To-Toad! The toad is in danger!”
With a face pale as a sheet, she was ready to dash towards Ella’s home.
Jinseong calmly looked at the agitated Iarin, stretching out his hand before her face. Then, without hesitation, he clutched her face and recited a mantra.
“In pace in idipsum dormiam et requiescam quoniam tu, Domine, singulariter in spe constituisti me.”
As he held her face and recited the invocation, Iarin’s expression shifted to tranquility, and perhaps due to the relaxation, her body became limp, causing her to collapse onto the bed. In addition, as if drowsiness were creeping in, her eyes began to halfway close.
Seeing this, Jinseong chided her.
“You haven’t been practicing your martial arts properly. You shouldn’t just focus on physical conditioning and Qi accumulation; you need to train your mind sufficiently too.”
Iarin tried to open her eyes wide with concern for the toad, but upon witnessing Jinseong’s disapproval, she simply closed her eyes.
“If you’d studied the heart properly, you could have resisted the drowsiness. No matter how much it is about training martial arts that mimic beasts, this level of resistance should be possible…”
And then she simply fled.
Into a world of sleep where she could no longer hear the nagging.