Modern equipment isn’t much help in the Ituri Jungle. The security cameras and helicopters can’t aid operations which continued on ground due to the canopy. The helicopter pilot flying in low altitudes would suffer a revolt symptom, where the brain would mistake the canopy as the sky. The result of such a symptom is a crash.

  Vehicles couldn’t enter at all due to the harsh terrain and tight-knitted plants, while the concealed swamps and thorn bushes, which were more like iron fences, prevented bikes from moving too. Man-made roads disappeared in a few days. The magnetite mines above ground rendered the compass useless, while the binoculars and night goggles weren’t of much use either. The humid air broke electronic devices and broke down guns and bullets.

  Ituri’s devil is cruel and uncaring. The French special forces armed with modern weapons and equipment paid the price of arrogance. Ituri Jungle was the land of barbarism where pure strength clashed against strength. It wasn’t called the Devil’s Forest or the Dark Forest for no reason.

  Ouma was Madangkal’s best creation. The Ouma, incarnates of Legba and Damballah’s pieces, was just like its name: a nightmare. Even if special forces had gotten through the jungle, they had no chance of breaking through the wall of nature which the Ouma protected with crocodiles, hippos, and poisonous snakes. Budsela was certain that the gods wouldn’t be able to attack Kadangka.

  “Budsela, don’t be arrogant. While unblessed humans are unable to cross the abyss of curses, humans aren’t all that exists in this world. We cannot ignore Legba’s prophecy. While humans can lie, the Legba knows no lie,” Kamuge said warily.

  “Makangdal, one must cross the abyss of curses naked in order to reach our holy place without landing on the dock. Humans, no, not even petros (evil spirits) can cross that cursed swamp that the Ouma protects. It seems like the spirit has become more anxious since the birth of Lous Loue (evil warrior).”


  “Budsela, do not mention the Lous Loue. The Lous Loue is our hope, someone who’ll drive out the Mobutu and Tuchi tribe and create a voodoo world. It is not an existence you can simply bring up.”


  “I’m sorry, sir.”


  Budsela bowed towards the ground at Kamuge’s serious warning. The real reason why the Makangdal hid in Kadangka was to create the Lous Loue. The Lous Loue was a secret only he and the Mambo in charge knew.

  “There’s no need to worry about the abyss of curses that the Ouma protects. Strengthen the guard at the dock.” Kamuge took out a necklace with a skull the size of an egg dangling on it.

  “I don’t think you need to use the Pwen (a voodoo necklace which protects evil spells; it hides the user’s presence), Madangkal…”


  Kamuge slammed the mardu on the ground.

  “I’m sorry, sir. I’ll work on it now.” Budsela flinched and took the Pwen in a deep bow.

  Once Budsela went down the ladder, Kamuge complained, “Tsk, this is why I don’t like people in military uniforms. Their ears grow smaller and their mouths grow bigger when their heads start to roll.”


  Kamuge pulled on a pulley rope three times. A mambo (female follower) covered from head to toe in black robes appeared.

  “Are there any problems with the wica (plate. Here, it refers to the white pregnant females)?”


  “All is going according to the Makangdal’s wishes. Number three will give birth in two days.”


  “That’s faster than I thought. This is why white plates are good. Increase the amount of Yorunba given to the wicas to twice the amount starting today.”


  “Yes, sir.”


  Kamuge took out a bottle filled with red liquid from his breast pocket. “Increase the amount of Ouma’s blood to twice its amount, too.”


  “Great Madangkal, if the wica self-destructs….”


  “I will not hold you responsible.”


  “Yes, sir.” The mambo bowed and went down.

  “Why am I in such a rush when there’s no problem?” Kamuge calmed himself down.

  Kadangka was a God-given fortress. His loyal followers had armed themselves with fire weapons thanks to the slit-eyed friends. They weren’t some half-made rebels who carried spears and shot arrows. They were armed enough to fight against Ntaganda. Still, the Legba’s prophecy stung his throat like a thorn.

  “Hehehe, two days! Four Damballahs will be born to this world in five days. World, praise this Kamuge’s greatness! Beg for mercy! Ntaganda, I’ll show you what fear is!” Kamuge laughed arrogantly.

  It was dawn, where schemes and immoral activities were ripe. Humans create issues, while the heavens allow them to be achieved. Kamuge should have listened to Legba’s prophecy more carefully. Since the Ashura and Nachal, the enemy of all lwas, had appeared.

  “Ne jette pas, je vous écoute mais elle ne pas…”


  Instead of singing the last verses of Michel Polnareff’s chanson, Samedi mumbled “jipjiphae” as he picked the leeches off Black Mamba’s body and swallowed them one by one.

  “Agh! Yeon Soon will faint if she sees you doing that.”


  Black Mamba’s face crumpled. While he knew Samedi could eat insects like peanut snacks, he didn’t know he’d eat leeches too. He cursed himself for considering Samedi as Yeon Soon’s potential husband material.

  Samedi took off his clothes and shook it. All kinds of creatures dropped from his clothes. Once he swiped his body with his hands, all the black leeches which had been clinging on fell off too. The leeches’ bodies were thin. It seemed like even Ituri’s leeches were unable to digest a zombie’s blood.

  “Eh, those don’t look good.” Samedi crushed the thin leeches and swung the clothes back on.

  “Well, what can’t a human eat?” Black Mamba nodded.

  He’d survived on centipedes and millipedes in Bang Tae San. He was overjoyed if a large centipede somehow found its way into the cave. Even the worms he ate as he wandered the underground caves of Kaparja had been delicious. An organism puts its survival at the highest priority. There’s a saying which goes, “the mind makes up everything”. Water gathered in a skull can be an oasis. While humans could eat anything when it came down to survival, his problem was that Samedi ate anything as snacks.

  Samedi took off his bulletproof vest. He tightened his backpack’s straps, and tapped on the MP5sd3.

  “Wakil, let’s begin.”


  His playful eyes flashed with murderous madness. The tame herbivore had turned into a predator in a moment’s notice. It was Samedi’s born nature. Black Mamba wore the close-range communications headset and taught Samedi how to use it.

  “Let’s get rid of the guards around the dock first.”


  Black Mamba and Samedi crossed the sandy shore while hunched and jumped into the thick forest. Their tracks remained in the sand, but it was show time anyways.

  “This way.”


  Black Mamba flew through the darkness like a leaf floating in the wind. Samedi followed without a sound. While it was a jungle with indistinguishable North, East, South, and West, Black Mamba could tell the difference between the trace of a man and animal by looking at the direction of pressed leaves and width of folded grass.

  The human tracks led them to the dock. Black Mamba, who had been ahead, raised his hand. Samedi lowered his stance immediately. The sour smell was the smell they scented on the Damballahs who had swept through Kidamba’s village. Black Mamba pointed at the limbali tree where five to six had been arranged in a hideout. It was a location that had the entire dock in sight.

  The limbali, which is from the legume family, is a tree which grows to shoot high up into the sky and a dominant breed of Ituri Jungle. It has the ability to make its first canopy 20-50 meters up in the sky and creating a second canopy in its branches.

  “It’s precise!” Samedi exclaimed from the bottom of his heart.

  There were three tree houses made from vines 20-30m above ground. It looked just like a bearded eagle’s nest. If his master hadn’t pointed it out, he wouldn’t have noticed.

  Samedi increased his touch, smell, and hearing. He could hear the moth’s flutter, and the sound of beetles biting into trees, but not the presence of humans. No matter how concealed a human could be, they were bound to smell, their livers grumble, and their breaths audible.

  “Is it really a bearded eagle’s nest?”


  – Samedi, did you figure it out?

  – It’s weird. There’re no traces of humans.

  ‘Does he have sinusitis?’


  Black Mamba tilted his head. Samedi was struggling despite being close enough to notice. It didn’t make sense for him to be unable to smell that putrid scent they smelled at Kidamba’s village.

  Boom! His dimensional sight spread through the area. There was a tunnel-like boma 50 meters to the right and left of the limbali. There were three people in each.

  – There’s a boma underground 2 and 5 o’clock from the limbali, 50 meters away each. Three in each boma, clear!

  – Clear!

  Samedi repeated and disappeared into the thick forest. They were 170m away from the boma in the tree, which made it hard to shoot at with an MP5. A Dragunov wouldn’t work either. There would be a large sonic boom even if they used the modified silencer. A proper sight couldn’t be secured either due to the obstructing thick branches.

  The crescent moon, more like a half-moon now, was bright. Black Mamba took off the night goggles, as it got in the way. While the voodoo priest’s spells weren’t that threatening, they were tiring. It was likely that the guards’ presence and smell were erased by Kamuge’s drug. He’d gain nothing out of killing them haphazardly. The success of operation Fist of Justice depended on secrecy. He had to rescue the hostages after getting rid of the guards without a trace.

  While it could be easier using his “becoming one with nature” skill to kill them all, the skill used high amounts of concentration. There were over 500 of them. He had to maintain his strength and concentration the best he could.

  He got out of the forest region and approached, leaving 90 meters between them and himself. A sandy field emerged ahead without a single obstacle to hide in sight. Black Mamba waited until the guards revealed themselves. He wasn’t in a rush since Samedi had to take care of the bomas too.

  “Did these bastards cast a spell?”


  Samedi felt something strange. He’d approached the place his master had mentioned, but he felt nothing. There was no breathing or smell. At this rate, he was going to be embarrassed again by failing to complete his master’s task.

  – 7m ahead at two fifteen from your location.

  Master’s words rang out of the headset like lightning. He concentrated until his eyes bled. Flash! He noticed a faint reflection. His sensitive eyes, as good as an owl’s, captured the sight of a gun barrel sticking out.

  “This is embarrassing!”


  Samedi approached the boma from the back and gently raised its lid made of entwined bamboo sticks. Moonlight poured in. Surprised, the three in ambush craned their necks back as far as they could. A black devil was looking down on them with the moon behind its back.

  “Uwaaa!”


  From the shapes of their mouths, they were screaming, but there was no sound. The Squeaker sliced through the air horizontally. Crack! Crash! Human heads were also sliced horizontally.

  “Uaaaagh!”


  The surviving rebel, no, voodoo follower turned his gun around. Slap! A hand much like a frying pan slapped his cheek squarely. The guard collapsed. The necklace he had been wearing around his neck fell to the ground at the impact.

  “Uuuuh!” a groan rang out from the guard’s mouth.

  “Is that…?” Samedi’s eyes grew wide. He picked up the necklace and carefully observed it. There was a skull the size of an egg hanging off of it. He put the necklace back on the guard’s neck. His groan disappeared instantly.

  “What a strange object.”


  To think such an object existed! Samedi clasped the necklace around his own neck. One of the five Pwens that Kamuge had made with extreme effort was now in Samedi’s hands. Pwens are originally used to obstruct the other person’s spells, but also to erase all sounds within a certain range.

  “Hehe, now I know what’s happening,” Samedi smiled.

  He could hear the sound of rustling, and a putrid smell attacked his nose. It was the presence of the ambushers hiding in the second boma. The necklace was an item which could erase his presence and disturb the spells of others. It seemed like he’d saved a village in his past life to obtain such a treasure for free.

  Crack! He wrapped his log-like arm around the guard’s neck and twisted it. He had been given a painless death for providing such a strange item.

  There wasn’t time to waste now that their locations were revealed. Whoosh! Samedi moved without a sound, then jumped. There was nothing to fear since the item killed all sounds. Bang! The lid shattered. It was a bamboo lid disguised with grass and bushes. It didn’t have the power to withstand a weight of 120kg.

  The guards didn’t have the time to be surprised. Bang bang! Three faces were crushed underneath his military boots with a large kick. He didn’t have to check; it was instant death. Samedi checked the necks of the dead. There was one wearing a skull necklace, as he had expected. Samedi gathered the necklaces and turned on his headset.

  – All clear.

  – Roger, stand by!

  Unlike Samedi who had finished quickly, Black Mamba was in a difficult spot. The guards on top of the tree weren’t moving at all.

  “Bastards, you’re dead as soon as I see your skull.”


  But even if he begged, they didn’t move. And insects were attacking him as he waited. Diedlin wasn’t working. Mouths and stingers continued to push and shove into him. He envied Samedi in such moments.

  He ran out of patience. He was just about to cross the sand field using “Becoming One With Nature” when footsteps rang from behind him. Black Mamba became one with the tall grass. Three men appeared in a ready position.

  A man who was wearing a Boonie hat shouted a passcode, “Lwa Amir!”


  “….”


  He tried again, hearing no response, “Lwa Amir!”


  “….”


  “Kurutara an ja-five ta ha-ee? (You bastards, are you sleeping?)” the man in the boonie hat shouted.

  “Damballah victory!” that was when a slurred voice rang from above the tree.

  “Huh, those bastards were sleeping.”


  Black Mamba felt peeved. He thought they were followers trained to the level of snipers, but they had been sleeping instead. If he’d known, he’d have twisted their necks by now.

  Three guards came down from the tree. The boonie hat bashed them up. The sound of slaps and shouts rang across the riverside.

  This was pure fortune for Black Mamba. He silently raised his MP5. Papapa! Papapa! The three guards who had gone against orders and the three new guards who’d come to replace them collapsed at once. There was no choice but to exterminate them all since words wouldn’t do.