In front of them, hundreds of corpses lay on the ground, unlike the corpses found in Dumadalig, however, most of these corpses are intact, but their appearance is like that of mummies – seemingly their bodily fluids have been sucked dry. Aside from human corpses however, the police officers also saw corpses of various creatures, from dogs to creatures resembling giants and some half-man, half-horse as well. Seeing this scene did not prevent the police officers from investigating the area and soon found the giant body of the bal-bal that Lolo Gani killed the night before. From the area where they found the giant bal-bal, they also found several more but this time, the corpses are smaller.

“These corpses are like the head that the old man gave me a few days ago. Could it be that he knew about this? Is the old man related to all this incident, where is he and his apò then?” Said SPO4 Lamitan.

“Sir, we have verified that some of the dried-up corpses there are citizens of Tantangan. They were the people who disappeared two nights ago when ‘that’ incident happened.” While SPO4 Lamitan was deep in his thoughts, a police officer reported to him. The incident the officer was referring to is the night when many people seemingly went mad and started to kill anyone, they could lay their eyes on.

“What!? So, these are the people? But what are they doing here?” SPO4 Lamitan was surprised.

“Not just that, there appears to be some burnt remains as well.” SPO4 Bantugan interjected, “And all the corpses seem to be surrounding that small area.” She pointed to the spot where the narra tree stood before.

“Also, we have found some bamboo spears scattered in the area, and traces of a fight can be seen.” The woman senior officer continued.

“Sir! We also found these items.” Another officer came in to report and was holding an oval-shaped item in his hands, a sundang, and a broken buntot pagi.

Seeing the oval-shaped item on the officer’s hand, SPO4 Lamitan could not help but be shocked for he knew who exactly this item belonged to.

“That item is the old man’s possession!” SPO4 Lamitan declared in a surprised voice.

“Old man?” SPO4 Bantugan asked.

“A few days ago, I came to this barangay to investigate a brutal murder of a housewife. The way the woman died was also the same as most of the corpses we have found back in Dumadalig. However, when I returned the following day to continue my investigation, I was told that the woman’s husband had also died. At that time, an old man came to me and narrated what happened the night before I came back.” SPO4 Lamitan explained.

Stolen story; please report.

“And that old man has this item?” SPO4 Bantugan inquired.

“Yes. Apparently, he is a known albularyo in Dumadalig, and that item is his agimat. I know of this because he was wearing that when I met him. It is also safe to conclude that these other two items are also his possessions.” SPO4 concluded, this time a grave look was evident on his face.

“Sir, we also found several broken bottles near that small area that do not have any corpses. There’s also a trace of charred soil in there.” Reported another police officer.

“It seems that the old man is indeed related to this incident! However, as to what his role is, I can only speculate. Though, in my opinion, he was fighting against someone or something. But without him, we can never become too sure.” With his hands on his chin, SPO4 Lamitan pondered on the connection of these events to that of the old man.

“Sir, what are we going to do with the corpses here?” An officer inquired.

“Use this sundang and cut-off the heads of those monsters. Then bring them back to headquarters to be submitted to the forensics department.” SPO4 Lamitan commanded.

“Edgar, do you think these monsters are real?” SPO4 Bantugan asked.

“I am not too sure about that Kath, but based on the strange events that have happened in the past two days, I can only believe that they are true. No human being is capable of accomplishing such brutal methods of killing.” A serious look on his face, SPO4 Lamitan voiced out his opinion on the case.

“Officer Bantugan, you take charge of this area. I need to report back to headquarters and tell them that this event might be bigger and more complicated. They must decide what to do after seeing all these. Have someone to also control what the media sees and report to avoid unnecessary panic on the civilians. I will send four more teams to work here to bring back all these bodies. Look for any identifications on the human corpses and contact their families. However, until we have sorted things out, I want a total lockdown on the information of this place!” Taking a deep breath, SPO4 Lamitan released a series of commands before leaving the team of police officers in the forest.

When he came back to the barangay hall, SPO4 Lamitan was surprised to find Empoy and his father still there.

“Why are you two still here?” feigning ignorance, SPO4 Lamitan asked them.

“We wanted to confirm if you have found Gani and his apò.” Replied Empoy's father, deep worry could be seen on his face.

“No. We did not find him nor his apò, but we found this.” The senior officer then showed them the agimat that was always worn by Lolo Gani.

“That’s..!” a shocked expression decorated Empoy’s face when he saw the agimat.

“I believe this belonged to the old man. However, aside from this item, we also found a sundang, buntot pagi, and some broken bottles. But we were not able to find anything else.” Replied SPO4 Lamitan with an emotionless face. “If you have no other concerns, I will have to ask you to leave. This place is no longer suitable for civilians like yourself.” He ended his interaction with the father and son duo and then left to personally report back to headquarters.