Mercenary Wars

Chapter 204 The Altar of Phoenix

After leaving the black market bounty office, Gaugano made a brief stop on Ocarigan Island before boarding a ship to Southsea Town.

After experiencing the Nemesis's incredible speed, the slow pace of ordinary ships made Gaugano somewhat impatient.

He once again conceived the idea of ​​running back to the mainland on foot.

With enough scrolls of water-walking spells, he could run back directly from the sea. Under the Blood Rush buff, his speed was definitely much faster than that of an ordinary ship.

But it’s just a thought.

Having experienced it firsthand, Gaucano knew that getting lost was not an obstacle that could be easily overcome.

Once you're far from the coast, surrounded by endless sea, it's easy to lose your way if you're not careful. Unless he has a sufficiently reliable method of navigation, the most reliable way to sail the open seas is still by boat.

A month later, Gaucano returned to Southsea Town.

Upon returning to Nanhai Town, he first secretly inquired about some information.

First, let's talk about the Brotherhood of Iron Fist. Lohar and Nils have been "missing" for two months now, but thanks to the smokescreen Gaugano had created, no one has suspected anything yet.

The only change was that Peter became the de facto leader of the Brotherhood, and over time, he naturally and continuously consolidated his power.

This is undoubtedly good news.

Given the current situation, even if someone realizes something is wrong, they would most likely guess that Lohar and Nils disappeared outside of Southshore. No one would suspect that Lohar and Nils died on their own territory.

Moreover, with a two-month interval, low-level tracking spells are unlikely to be effective.

In such situations, people usually resort to divination as the first choice for investigating clues, so Gaucano obviously doesn't need to worry too much about it. Given that the fortune teller Amaro risked his life for his cooperation, the difficulty of performing divination on him out of thin air is self-evident.

Therefore, it can be said that the deaths of Lohar and Nils have become a headless mystery, and it is unlikely that the investigation will lead back to Gaucano.

Upon realizing this, Gaucano breathed a sigh of relief.

He was initially worried that his secret would be exposed and he would have to hide his identity, but now it seems there is no need for that at all.

Not only did the "disappearance" of Lohar and Nils go unnoticed, but the "disappearance" of the Gray Eagle mercenary group did the same.

Since the Gray Eagle Mercenary Group did not reveal any information before setting off, and their destination and return date were kept secret, people only knew that most of the official members of the Gray Eagle Mercenary Group had gone to sea. They knew nothing else, and no one would have thought of the bloody changes on the deserted island.

Overall, Southsea Town continues to function as usual, even after losing its gang leader and the Gray Eagle mercenary group; the sun still rises.

After gathering the information, Gaugano immediately went to the Kiso Mountains.

A few days later.

In the dense forest on the edge of the Kiso Mountains.

Holding the Blood-Summoning Sword, Gaucano carefully traversed the mountains and forests, occasionally taking out Cassandra's map to examine it.

The Kiso Mountains are sparsely populated, and most areas lack detailed maps; Cassandra's map is no exception, consisting only of a simplified one.

Judging whether you have reached your destination based on this is not an easy task.

In fact, two days earlier, Gaugano suspected that he had already arrived at the location that Cassandra had marked with a red circle on the map.

But even now, he remains in this state of doubt and cannot make any further confirmation.

After wandering around for a while, Gao Jiano carefully compared the surrounding environment and gradually began to believe that he had indeed entered the red circle.

He came to this conclusion mainly because of the relatively dense tidal zone of the Kiso Mountains.

Compared to ordinary natural landscapes, tidal flats with clearly defined boundaries are undoubtedly easier to identify. Simply finding the nearest tidal flat and comparing it to a map greatly reduces the difficulty of locating it.

Convinced he was within the marked area, Gaucano did not relax his furrowed brow.

After all, the marked area is not small, estimated to be several hundred square kilometers, and with the surrounding mountains and forests dense, it is not easy to find.

A few more days passed.

Gaucano wandered around the area repeatedly, but he never saw any sign of the altar, nor any cave or any rift that might lead to the secret area.

This made him start to doubt himself.

Could we have gone to the wrong place?
Or perhaps the markings on this map aren't altars at all, and I was wrong from the start?
Gaucano stared at the map for a while, then finally chose an area with fewer search points and went to search again.

He focused intently, observing the surrounding scenery.

Trees, river, rocks, hillside, grass...

Some time passed.

Still nothing was found.

Looking at the monotonous mountain scenery around him, Gao Jiano felt even more self-doubtful and somewhat irritable.

After some thought, he took out the ice coffin from his storage ring and opened the coffin lid.

Cassandra's body appeared before Gaugano.

A light mist rose from the ice coffin, and against the hazy backdrop, Cassandra, with her eyes closed, exuded a serene aura unlike anything she had ever shown before.

In addition, her body faintly emitted a red glow, sometimes bright and sometimes dim, as if she were breathing.

This faint light is clearly recent.

Over the past month, Gaucano had opened Cassandra's coffin several times without seeing any unusual phenomena, except for this time when a faint light appeared.

Looking at the flickering red light, Gao Jiano naturally wondered: Could this light be some kind of guidance?
With that thought in mind, he immediately hoisted the ice coffin onto his shoulder and continued searching for the altar while carrying it.

Sure enough, as he moved, the red light on Cassandra's body began to change, sometimes becoming more pronounced, sometimes becoming weaker.

Guided by the red light, and after some attempts, Gaucano gradually approached his destination.

Before long, when he arrived near a hillside, the red light on Cassandra reached its peak, almost like a ball of flame, and flickered rapidly.

But there was clearly nothing nearby.

Gao Jiano frowned slightly and first carried the ice coffin, moving it from side to side.

No matter where he moved, the red light around Cassandra only decreased, never increased. It was obvious that the area nearby was the closest to the altar.

Gaucano glanced at the bright red Cassandra, then at the hillside in front of him. After a brief silence, he began chanting the incantation to shape the clay.

Guided by magic, the soil in front of Gaucano slowly surged and parted to the sides.

Ten minutes later.

All the soil was divided to both sides, and a heavy stone gate appeared before Gaucano.

The stone gate has an ancient and simple design, and a mural that is still clearly carved on it is depicted: surrounded by flames, the phoenix is ​​reborn from the ashes, and its feathers blend into the surrounding flames, presenting a visually harmonious beauty.

Gaucano tried to push open the stone door.

However, the stone gate was more solid and heavy than he had imagined. He used seven or eight tenths of his strength to push it, but he still couldn't move the stone gate an inch, as if the gap in the middle was just a decoration.

Looking at the heavy stone door that remained motionless, Gaucano pondered for a moment, then picked up Cassandra's body and used it to prop up the door.

With a resounding crash, Cassandra's corpse pushed against the stone door, causing it to swung open with a heavy thud. As the door opened, the red light emanating from Cassandra grew even brighter, dispelling the darkness ahead.

Carrying Cassandra's body, Gaucano walked straight through the stone gate.

After passing through a short passage, a wide-open space came into view for Gaucano.

This place appears to have been transformed from a cavity in the mountain. Huge stone pillars and domes support a wide space, which is hundreds of meters wide at its widest point. In the middle stands a huge stone statue—the statue of the Phoenix.

The stone statue depicts Phoenix with its wings spread wide, the enormous wings and the flames attached to them resembling a giant umbrella, sheltering the area beneath.

Beneath Phoenix's wings, in the direction its beak points, stands an altar built of wood and stone.

Compared to the surrounding space and the statues of Phoenix, the altar appeared quite small, not much larger than a bed.

Without a doubt, this is the ancient altar of Phoenix that Cassandra spoke of.

It's called an altar, but it actually looks more like a bird's nest.

At least its upper part looks almost identical to the Bird's Nest, with several pieces of wood tightly stacked together to form a curved surface.

The lower part of the altar is a stone base engraved with mysterious runes and patterns, outlining its extraordinary origin.

Against the backdrop of the colossal phoenix statue, the altar resembles a nest overlooked by a mother bird.

Gaucano reached out and touched the wooden structure of the altar.

[Item: Unknown]

[Level: Unknown]

……

He was not surprised by the results of the assessment.

Resurrection is, after all, a miracle, which can only be accomplished by divine power.

These pieces of wood, used as tools to achieve miracles, must have far exceeded the comprehension of ordinary people.

Gaucano even doubted whether it was actually wood.

Judging from the feel, these pieces of wood are far too heavy and sturdy.

He probably wouldn't be surprised if someone told him that these pieces of wood were actually a pile of guardian stones painted with wood grain patterns.

Gaucano really wanted to pick up a piece of wood and examine it closely.

But he worried that this might damage the altar, preventing Cassandra from being resurrected.

After all, the arrangement of the wood is very regular, presenting a highly symmetrical shape that can be described as precise. Even without studying magic runes or magic circles, it is not difficult to guess that this strictly symmetrical shape is likely closely related to magical functions.

Therefore, he only touched it briefly before withdrawing his hand, and then carefully placed Cassandra's body in the center of the altar.

The wooden structure, shaped like a bird's nest, was just the right size to accommodate Cassandra's body.

Cassandra lay in the center of the altar, her long, fiery red hair flowing freely, resembling the wings of a legendary phoenix, appearing especially sacred under the red light.

As Cassandra was placed on the altar, her radiance reached its peak, like a dazzling sun illuminating everything around her.

Under the dazzling light, Gao Jiano squinted and took a few steps back.

Then he took a deep breath and began to chant Cassandra's holy name: "Atalanta Omfitrite Atlasti Phoenix Michaela..."

A moment of silence fell.

Gaucano swallowed hard, raised his voice, and repeated: "Atalanta Oanfitrite Atlasti Phoenix Michaelai!"

As soon as the words were spoken, a golden-red light appeared out of thin air, tracing a graceful arc in the air like a swallow returning to its nest, before gently landing on Cassandra's corpse.

"boom!"

Then, with a loud bang, flames shot up and instantly engulfed Cassandra!

The altar was also set on fire.

"Boom!" Another loud noise came from behind.

Gaucano turned his head to look, only to find that at the same time the altar was set on fire, the stone door leading to this place also slammed shut.

It's probably a defensive magic that comes with the resurrection ritual.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Gaucano turned his gaze back to the altar.

Flames roared and heat surged from the altar.

In the firelight, some sacred images could be vaguely seen, like a phoenix flapping its wings.

Cassandra's body quickly dissolved.

The dissolved corpse didn't turn into ashes, but instead turned into... an egg?

At first, Gao Jiano couldn't see it clearly.

After a while, he finally saw for sure that an egg had indeed appeared in the flames.

A giant, golden-red egg.

The flames continued to burn.

Only a small portion of the altar's wooden structure was charred, suggesting that the burning ceremony would continue for a long time.

Gaucano was unsure whether he needed to continue reciting the holy name. To be on the safe side, he decided to continue until Cassandra completed her resurrection.

“Atalanta Omfitrite Atlasti Phoenix Michaela…” he repeated.

Time passed little by little.

As Gao Jiano chanted Cassandra's holy name, he nervously gazed at the golden-red giant egg in the fire.

Meanwhile, outside the stone gate.

Several figures dressed in black were groping their way forward through the mountains and forests.

“Dude, are you sure you’re not mistaken?” they asked as they walked. “Is there really a Phoenix Blessed One nearby? I don’t sense anything about it.”

“Yeah, I can’t feel it either,” another person said. “I’ve seen Phoenix’s recipients before, and the feeling was disgusting, absolutely awful. I almost wanted to kill him in public!”

The leader of the men in black said, "This is a divine decree personally issued by Nidhogg. Are you questioning the supreme Black Dragon King?"

The other men in black remained silent.

The leader of the men in black continued, "To be precise, there is a Phoenix benefactor trying to resurrect. He is a dead man, so of course we can't sense him."

"So what we need to do is interrupt the resurrection ritual?"

“That’s right! As long as we interrupt the resurrection ritual, Nidhogggan will bestow upon us a generous reward!” The leader of the men in black said excitedly. “We might become the favored ones of the Black Dragon King and gain even greater power!”

(End of this chapter)