As the young hunters of the You Zui Hunter Team searched for their companions' tracks, with Maodou keeping them in contact,
deep in the Bewitching Forest, in the Zoogs' tribal camp surrounded by enormous stone "walls," several unannounced guests were receiving the hospitality of the entire tribe.
Yes, hospitality.
Once the elders of the Zoog tribe realized that their army of weak Bewitching Rats could not inflict the slightest harm on those red-eyed female demons, they immediately chose to submit.
They beat their chests and promised offerings to the three guests.
Just as they did for the cats in Ulthar.
A Zoog crawled forward, holding an oak-bark bowl, and respectfully presented it to the guests.
The bowl held a clear, emerald-green liquid, an offering blended from tree sap and mushroom juice. The Zoogs extracted the sap from a particular, extraordinary oak. It was said that a being from the Deep Starry Sky had dropped its seed from the moon. Once it grew into a great tree, it began providing the Zoog tribe with its most precious brew.
Nikita had no interest in the Bewitching Rats' offerings. She kept her eyes on the Little Witch in tattered clothes before her.
Soap bubbles were beautiful, but they burst so easily.
The demon took the blank sketchbook from the Little Witch's hands and flipped through it. The pictures on its pages had all lost their colors, leaving only empty outlines. A little black ash still remained between the pages.
Nikita picked up a pinch of ash with her fingers and held it beneath her nose to sniff.
Her eyes flickered slightly.
Having grown up in the Beta Town North District, she easily recognized that the ash came from matches with powerful hallucinogenic properties. Those matches had once been the North District's most sought-after