CHAPTER 26

Title: My First Trading Partner is An Awaken

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"That familiar foul smell!"

Henry opens his eyes as he is disturbed by the spreading of smell in the surroundings.

"I thought they would not come tonight!" It was Mang Dondon, holding his oil talisman that is literally boiling to the extreme.

They have been waiting for hours as it's already two o'clock in the morning where everyone is asleep. As for Henry, he already knew that even if he will not sleep for three days, he can still be in his prime condition.

"You said earlier that if your oil talisman is burning like that, this means that there are many of these Aswangs nearby, isn't it?" Henry asked.

"Yep, and look outside the fence," Mang Dondon pointed out as they clearly saw outside the glass window.

"Red eyes! These are Aswangs?" Henry asked. He noticed that there are at least six pairs of eyes outside the fence.

"Those are what we have been waiting for. I really thought that they would not notice the changes in Alfredo's condition. It seems that there are capable individuals in their group," Mang Dondon said.

"Yeah, I forgot to ask questions about those Latin words of yours. You seem to categorize it as forbidden knowledge," Henry asked as he observed the movement of the so-called Aswangs outside the villa.

"Right, I can teach you how, but we need to kill these creatures first," Mang Dondon said, glancing at Henry's side.

"It's your first time, right?" Mang Dondon asked. He can read people and the young man with him is a newbie in terms of this kind of situation.

"It will be, Mang Dondon. However, do we really need to kill them?" Henry asked. You can see hesitation in his eyes which gives clues to the old man.

"How about I open your spiritual eyes with my method so that you can see what I am actually seeing. Although, you can achieve this in your ways soon. I need you to be decisive here as these creatures are here to kill. Hesitation is not an option."

Mang Dondon replies as he needs Henry's help after recognizing one of the Aswang outside the villa's fence. He knew that with his old age, he can't compete with that higher rank kind of Aswang.

Although Henry hesitated, he still agreed to it.

Mang Dondon just drew an overlapping cross on Henry's forehead and said some Latin words again. He then blows the symbol and when Henry opens its eyes, he is stunned by what he sees.

"You old thing… you seem to have blue lights around you and your eyes seem vibrant! What is going on?" Henry was confused.

"Truly amazing! You can see more than any people with spiritual eyes!" Mang Dondon exclaimed. "You can clearly see my aura!"

"Yeah, and the heck, why am I glowing too?! Is this the thing that made you say those words after you saw me for the first time?!" Henry asked.

"It is. Look at those people's outside," Mang Dondon said, pointing outside the window.

When he managed to do it, Henry was even stunned by what he saw. "Monsters!"

It took him a while to recover as he finds that the people outside had this kind of true form that uncovers along with the opening of his spiritual eyes.

The old man laughs."Those are the true forms of the people you refer to a while ago. I open your spiritual eyes so that you can be decisive in killing them. I know you can do it."

"Hey, Grandpa, can they see our aura?" Henry asked.

"I believe not. I'm not sure with the details but when they met me, they said that they can't look at my face." The shaman said.

"Alright, next question, why does it seem that one of them is more than two meters in height and with a bat wings but the other Aswangs are similar to the height of men?"

Henry clearly sees that one of the six monsters that seems to be observing outside the fence had this kind of feature.

"Well, that's why I had asked you to open your spiritual eyes. I need your help with that giant Aswang," the old shaman said.

"Know that this group is led by a higher rank Aswang called Gabunan. They have around triple the speed and strength of a common Aswang. I believe he is the one who detected the changes of Alfredo's," Mang Dondon explains.

"I see," Henry said but he was cursing Tyler for his mouth. "I never thought that I could be in the midst of these in just a few days!"

"What are they waiting for?" Henry finally asked as he was agitated. When he saw the faces of these creatures, his mind treated them as monsters or someone that should be destroyed.

"They are trying to destroy my ward," when Henry heard this from The old shaman, he eventually noticed that the giant Aswang was murmuring things on his end.

"When you said ward, are those the trinkets that you placed around the villa?" Henry asked. He remembered that the old man was placing items in the villa and didn't ask about it.

"Yes. I need to since the windows of the villa are not secure to these kinds of creatures. They can shapeshift to cats or dogs and can sneak into the house," Mang Dondon explains.

"I can't see your ward, Grandpa. Is it really being destroyed?" Henry asked.

"Yep, brace yourself up. We also need to wake those people up so that they can defend themselves when an Aswang reaches them," the old man said.

And as a respect for a senior citizen, Henry volunteered to do it. He wakes up the mayor and his bodyguards and driver, and even the couples.

"So, they really came." The mayor who had just woken up tensed up. Even the security guards are on alert. However, the couples are worried as they have two children in their care.

"Yes. The old man said that you stick with the plan as we deal with those creatures," Henry said.

The mayor didn't ask but he too wanted some confirmation from the young man, "I'm sorry Henry if you had been in this kind of mess, but Mang Dondon said that Alfredo's condition is caused by Aswang, I partially believe it but I'm not sure now. Coming from you, you seem to really confirm their existence right."

"Worry not, as I too believe it, but now, that old man opened my eyes to see their truest form," Henry said. "I hardly believed it at first, though."

They were interrupted when Mang Dondon called Henry informing him about the ward's destruction.

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"I never expected that it was the famous Babaylan in the province that really succeeded in tampering with one of my seeds!"

It was the Gabunan that spoke. He was pissed off when one of the target people he wanted to be part of their race had successfully broken his links from him.

It never happens for decades. He was responsible for those black chicks as he took good care of them for the expansion of their race.

He came from the lower region of the country and he travels to this province after detecting that the chick is about to transform inside of Alfredo's. Yet, now it came to a surprise for him when in only days of the transformation, the chick died.

However, he learned from the local Aswangs in the province that Alfredo Sales is being taken good care of by Mang Dondon, the renowned Babaylan and the only Babaylan existing in the province.

Thus, in his five days of stay in the province, he investigates the said old shaman. With all the details and background he learned from the other Aswangs, Mang Dondon is truly a power to behold.

"It seems that you had been brief with your fellow. I'm not sure why a Gabunan of the higher race of Aswang had business with these Aswang na lakad," Mang Dondon asked.

They were in the courtyard and confronted the group of Aswangs after the Gabunan partially destroyed the first shielding of Mang Dondon's ward.

Henry was informed by the shaman that Mang Dondon had placed three spiritual shieldings to the villa and the Gabunan leading the Aswangs who knew something about forbidden knowledge, had successfully destroyed the first shielding.

"You know our race, old man. We took vengeance to the aggrieved family of one of us. Instead of killing him, our patriarch decided to give him a chance and be one of us to serve the family," the Gabunan explains.

"Why take this personally? He is a soldier and he follows instruction from his direct superior or commander at that time. Your kind made the first move and attacked Alfredo's unit that night. It was a self defense act." Mang Dondon defended.

Henry was already brief about what really happened when Alfredo Sales came to his senses. Thus, he knows some of the back story of what took place according to Alfredo.

"Enough with your words old man. As you said, I also followed what was instructed to me, and that is to transform that man and it should have been successful without your intervention!" The gabunan exclaimed.

"Ah, that's not my doing. It was this young man who cured back Alfredo to his human form," The old shaman shamelessly pointed to Henry's side.

"You crazy old thing!" Henry had this black line in his forehead as he heard that the old shaman had really pointed him out about Alfredo's situation.

"Oh, I wonder who that young meat is with you. Why do you want your discipline to take credit for what you did, Babaylan?" The gabunan asked.

"Tsk. Tsk.I know you wouldn't believe it. Let this young one deal with you Gabunan, I deal with your minions as my bone is too weak now to fight you," the old shaman said as he readied himself.

The old shaman got rid of his relaxed face and now replaced it with a more serious one.

He also started to chant another series of Latin words and before Henry knew it, the old shaman seemed to teleport right before the nearest Aswang na lakad, and with his right first, he punch it and made the Aswang flew for a certain distance.

The others can't see what had taken place. The mayor and his group were also stunned by what the old man did. Even the Aswang growl when they see it.

"What had just happened?" The driver asked.

"That old man can fight!" One of the bodyguards saw how the old man had teleported and punched the aswang.

"Come on, be ready. Mang Dondon had made the first move and we needed to be vigilant afterwards," the mayor reminded the others.

Back to the courtyard, the Gabunan nodded to the strength and speed that was displayed by the Babaylan. Henry too saw it but he finds that the speed is just his speed when he optimized his body to the limit using the F-rank healing potion.

"I never expected that a human could achieve such power… that is even the speed of an entry level F-rank awakened!" Henry exclaimed in his thought.

"So we too have a version of awakened beings!" Henry thought but he noticed that the old man was chanting again and blew his first and got ready for action.

"Dodge!" The gabunan cautioned.

The Aswang immediately listened while Mang Dondon smiled and still attacked the other Aswang nearby. However, the effect was reduced as the other party had some time to prepare against the shaman's attack.

[Author's Note: Gabunan are mutated Aswangs and are stronger than their counterparts. According to some myths, they can have the same strength in daytime unlike typical kinds of Aswang that are weak during such moments. They can also eat human flesh once a year but are still superior in power compared to the common Aswang. There are gabunan that mutated that can either fly or not. They command lower rank Aswang due to the suppression of bloodline. Like any other myth where dragon suppresses lower rank magical beasts]

[Author's Note: Aswang na lakad means Aswang that can't fly. However, they can transform with their visage appearance and other four legged animals like black dogs, cats, carabaos and some other form]

[Author's Note: Babaylan is a visayan term for shaman. Although Babaylan refers to female practitioners, the author collectively used it for both genders. However, the proper term for male Babaylan is ASOG. These practitioners mostly use natural healing methods for both physical and spiritual illness. They also have spirit familiar which were collectively called Encantos]