The dense and vast wilderness from the valley on the slopes of Mount Sumbing, made Arya still in the wilderness area.

When it started to get dark, he finally arrived at the end of the wilderness. However, the large river with murky and fast flowing water made Arya silent. Moreover, he realized that drizzle had fallen. Heavy rain would follow.

The young man also saw that there were no rocks that he could jump over to get to the other side.

"To cross the big river, I need a raft," Arya muttered.

Seeing the impossible situation, the young man then decided to spend the night on the edge of the forest.

Arya then chose the largest and most leafy tree for his place to spend the night.

Before it got really dark, he had collected dry twigs to make a campfire under the shady tree resembling a banyan tree.

"Hmmm ... here, I will be safe even though heavy rain will fall, it will not hit my body and also the campfire," Arya muttered again while directing his gaze to the campfire that he had lit.

 

His prediction was right. When the rain started to fall heavier and heavier, not a single drop hit his body and the same with the fire pit a few meters in front of him.

Only occasionally could the dew of rainwater be directed at him and also the campfire due to being hit by the blowing wind but it did not wet him and extinguish the campfire in front of Arya.

You can imagine how big the banyan-like tree is, to lean his body Arya doesn't need to lean on its trunk but rather one of its roots that spread in all directions.

Several times lightning flashed after first seeing sparks of lightning in the dark sky, Arya was only able to close his eyes with his body still leaning on one of the tree roots when it was quite late at night.

*******

 

It is not known when the campfire that Arya made went out, what is clear is, as soon as he woke up quietly when dawn began to break the campfire that was burning last night was now only charcoal and dust.

"Hoaaaaaam, it seems it's morning. I should look for a bamboo tree or whatever that I can use as a raft to cross the river." Arya talked to himself, then stood up and walked to the edge of the river where there were also various types of trees.

He didn't find a single bamboo tree on the river bank, only two banana trees whose growth was unclear because they were planted or grew themselves, but along the river bank, he certainly didn't find a single settlement or lake of people farming.

With two banana trees, Arya slowly crossed the large river with murky and fast-flowing water.

Arya, who was not using any paddles, seemed quite overwhelmed by the strong current.

However, he managed to get to the other side after Arya paddled the raft with both hands and his inner strength.

On the other side of the river, he was again faced with dense bushes and trees that were not too tall like the trees he had encountered in the wilderness.

Because he was quite tired after fighting the river current with a raft made of only two banana tree trunks, Arya decided to take a short break while looking around his eyes to the right and left and in front of the bushes and trees, who knows there might be fruits that he could pick to fill his hungry stomach.

"There are no fruits that I can eat to fill my stomach, even though there are many banana trees on the other side of the river, the fruit is all unripe. I should continue my journey," Arya muttered.

Just a few steps Arya walked through the bushes on the other side of the river, suddenly he was surprised by a sound coming from the edge to the middle of the river.

"Kraaaaak..! Kraaaaak..! Duuuuum..! Byuuuuuuuur..!"

The sound of bushes and small trees being pushed apart and broken then the sound of a bang accompanied by splashes of water.

Arya of course reflexively directed his gaze to the strange sound, like something moving from the cliff on the edge of the river until it ended with a loud bang in the middle of the pool to the right of Arya standing about 12 spears away.

"What is that thing that moves from the cliff and then enters the river?!" Arya exclaimed to himself.

Because the object moved so fast and entered the river right in the middle of a pool, Arya did not know what it looked like. He just looked dumbfounded with occasional scratching his head trying to guess what the object was, when he was still in his curiosity guessing the shape of the object suddenly not far in front of him there was a scream that seemed to come from a group of people.

"Help...! There's a kidnapping...! Help..!"

Hearing the scream, Arya then stomped both feet soaring up the slope of the river bank.

In an instant, he was on the cliff.

Not long after, dozens of people were seen running while screaming for help and shouting kidnapping towards the cliff on the edge of the river, Arya of course approached them.

"What happened, my friends, that you all screamed for help? Who was kidnapped?" asked the young man calmly.

"One of our residents has been kidnapped and taken into the skull hole..!" answered one of them.

"Kidnapping of one of the residents? Does that mean there is a village settlement not far from here?"

"That's right, my friends, we are all residents of Sedayu Village," explained the others in panic.

Arya fell silent. The young man remembered what his teacher said about a 'dangerous' place. "Then, in front of that hole is called the skull hole, right?"

"That's right, my friends, the most haunted hole in this river area." Again, one of them answered.

The young man then nodded his head. No wonder the residents here panicked. The kidnapping place was so difficult to reach.

However, there was one thing that Arya wanted to make sure of. "If I may ask, why did the kidnapper take one of your villagers into that skull pit?"

“He will be made a slave by the White Crocodile Demon Queen.”

“White Crocodile Demon Queen?!” Arya is shocked.

"That's right Kisanak, but..."