84. The Curse Tree

"Why are you bothering that bird?"

"Because it's not normal for a bird to just follow us."

"Do you want us to just catch it?" Rodel said.

"Hmp! Good idea. Later, let’s have some snack first."

"I'll take care of it in case it's just a normal pigeon ah?" Rodel retorted.

Victor just signed okay. Grimm is currently taking the payment of their goods.

"Thanks Grimm ah? Next time again." Said the customer.

"You’re welcome and thank you too."

"By the way, did you pass by the river?" suddenly asked the store owner.

"Yes."

"Be careful there. It is said that a ghost is chasing there. It is better not to spend the night on the road."

"We'll remember that."

Because of what was heard everyone's attention was focused on the white-dove hovering over them. It is above the roof of the store. After they had a snack, they immediately walked home and as usual the pigeon followed.

Suddenly their group stopped by the side of the road. The dove also stopped and perched on a tree near them.

"Victor is right. That pigeon is strange. It keeps following us." Rusty's uncontrollable language.

Everyone got off their bicycles.

"Well then, Victor and I will catch the pigeon." Rodel said.

He approached the tree and immediately climbed it. He went to the branch where the dove was. When he got close to the bird he tried to reach it but it suddenly flew away. And exactly as it flew, Victor was quick to act. In an instant, it caught the white dove.

"Awesome!" Rodel said.

He quickly went down the tree. Everyone was staring at the pigeon Victor was holding. It struggles but Victor do not want to let go of the latter. Until, they were surprised when the dove suddenly turned white-smoke. Victor blinked and looked at the smoke slowly forming. There are no houses around and large corn fields are planted on the roadsides. It's a bit late. They were all amazed when a beautiful girl in a white dress appeared in front of them. Its wavy hair is tied with blue ribbon.

"What do you need from us?" Mikee asked immediately.

"I need help." Its answer.

"Help? What can we do for a ghost?" Salv asked.

"Someone must have taken my body there under the cursed tree. I can't be quiet because my body was not buried properly." the ghost’s language.

"How did you die?" Rusty asked curiously.

"I was killed. I fell into the deep river a long time ago. I would have swum back to the shore but there were roots that pulled my legs up to wrap my body and locked me in so many roots until I died. My family looked for me in that river but they failed to find my corpse. Until now, I have not been quiet." The ghost’s long story.

"Where did you drown?" Grimm.

"There in the river you passed earlier."

"Then let's go. Let's help her before it gets dark. We will definitely have a hard time at night." said Mikee.

Everyone agrees with this. It changed its form again and became a white-dove. They rode their bicycles and walked. They stopped at the river it says.

"My body is in that tree."

The ghost pointed to the dead big tree with lots of crows.

"Aha, that's it ah? I'll take it. I need to cut the roots of the tree so I can get her body." Victor's present.

He took off his upper garment and pulled out a sharp knife in his right hand.

"Just be careful because that tree has a guard..." the ghost said weakly.

Victor looked at the tree and at the river... They were all stunned as to what kind of creature was slowly rising from the water. They were all stunned as it finally went up in the water. A dead body without a head and holding a sharp axe.

"I-Is he the guard?" Rey swallowed.

"Yes, be careful because he does not let anyone get close to the tree and he beheads."

Hearing what the ghost said made Grimm smile. Exactly, he was a bit frustrated. He clenched his fists.

"Guys, protect Rusty. I will help Victor. I will take care of the tree guard."

"OKAY!" everyone answers.

Victor faced the headless body. It pointed the big axe at him and rushed quickly. He immediately backed away and immediately jumped into the deep part of the river. Grimm met the enemy, grabbed the blade of his axe and quickly lifted the corpse into the water. He threw it to the side and covered the body with thick ice. Victor dived under the water opposite the dead tree. He was surprised to see so many veins rushing at him but he quickly cut them off. He removed the other root cluster and was surprised at what he saw. Lots of human skulls there but no body. He went a little further and removed the other root of the tree. As he cut the tree the water became red because of its reddish resin that looked like blood.

Meanwhile... Everyone looked at the headless corpse covered in Grimm's ice. They were surprised when the ice gradually destroyed and it moved again. The axe chased them but Grimm rushed here again. He took the axe and stabbed it in the opponent's body. After that, he walked away. His eyes widened when he got up again.

"I can’t kill him!" his language annoyed.

"Because he's dead!" Rusty exclaimed.

From the back of the headless corpse it pulled out so many knives and rained it on all of them. Grimm moved quickly, made an ice wall to protect his friends and then rushed back to the dead enemy.

Mikee went to the side of the river.

"What will you do?!" Rodel asked curiously.

"I will look for the corpse's head so that he can stop. Stay here, I will take care of it!"

Rodel is stunned because Mikee seems to have changed who he knows. Behind it, it seemed to become familiar to him. He blinked as a knife sank into the ice wall. Mikee finally went down to the river and then dived. After he sank, Victor appeared to get some air.

"Seriously, the many pieces of corpse there!" he exclaimed.

Meanwhile... When Mikee finally dived under the water he used a little power. The roots try to attack him but they melt before reaching his body.

"I need to know the mystery of this tree." he said in his mind.

He swam closer to the clump root of the tree and he touched it. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Gradually, there were images already registering in his brain. A young sorcerer planted a tree. Many were killed and fed on trees. He even scratched the images he could see until he found what he was looking for. Grimm's opponent's corpse became the sorcerer's lover... With the sorcerer's greed, she killed the man. She beheaded him and made him the guard of the tree, following the imposition of the curse, the sorcerer committed suicide and laid herself on the tree she had planted. Mikee opened his eyes again. Very greedy creature.

He used his little power on the tree. It was enveloped in dazzling white-light.

Victor dived again under the water but he blew some air when he saw Mikee there doing something. He immediately ran out of air and swim back. He cough because he drank water.

"W-What is that one doing?" he exclaimed.

Meanwhile... Grimm continues to face the headless corpse. He keeps that away from his friends. He was surprised that the dead body did not move. It is covered with vines.

"Speed, while I can still stop him!"

The ghost woman helped him.

"Thank you!"

He jumped up and made a thick ice cage around the corpse. It tried to destroy the cage he had made but it can’t. Mikee came up shortly after. It holds a human skull. It immediately approached him.

"I had a hard time finding it, but I'm sure this is his head."

Surprisingly, Grimm took the skull from his best-friend Mikee. He slightly loosened some parts of the cage and handed the skull to the corpse. It stopped from destroying the cage and immediately let go of the axe it was holding. It gently took the skull and stroked it. After a while it slowly puts it on top of its body. The corpse is envelope in a light...

Victor was surprised to see that the roots of the tree were shining strangely and that the roots were no longer rushing at him. A part of the tree parted and he saw a girl's corpse clinging to the large roots of the tree. He immediately went to it and cut the roots so that he could get the whole body. When he got the body, he quickly got up and took his breath. He immediately swam towards the shore. He stopped walking when he saw the dead body with its head and its appearance had changed. A light blue light surrounds its body.

"Thank you..." the man said.

After that, its soul seemed to fly like a firefly into the sky. Victor approached the comrades and slowly laid the corpse he had found on the ground.

"Here she is."

"You're great!" Grimm praised the friend.

He smiled at it and looked at Mikee.

"I'm not that great. Someone helped me." he said.

Suddenly, the ghost appeared. She happily hugged the skeleton.

"It's true that I followed your group because you have an angel with you... Thank you!" it still cries.

Friends look at each other because they are looking for the angel that the ghost said.

"Which angel?" Rusty's uncontrollable language.

"Yes, where is it?" Ricky's second.

But suddenly the ghost disappeared. They just laughed a little and were a bit puzzled.

"Look oh, that's beautiful!" Salv exclaimed.

He pointed to the dead and ugly tree. His friends looked there and saw that it was enveloped in so much light that it was slowly flying in the sky. Looks like those big fireflies flying into the sky.

"Souls are free. They must be happy now." the language is Grimm.

"In that case, what are we going to do with it?" Rodel asked to him.

He looked at the skeleton next to Victor.

"We will bury her properly and Father Clemen will bless it so that her soul will be at peace. That is all she wants so that she can be free." he said.

Everyone agreed with what Grimm said. He didn't notice much that Victor was just staring at Mikee. After all, what he saw under the water could not be erased from his mind. The power he felt here earlier was also strange. High kind of power, not for man but for the high class of creature. He is curious to know Mikee's secret and he intends to ask Grimm about it because he knew it for a long time.