Mercenary Wars

Chapter 218 Undead Giant Bear
Gao Jiano held the Summoner's Blade in his hand and examined it for a while, feeling the subtle fluctuations emanating from the weapon.

Looking at the gleaming silver dagger, he couldn't help but think of the "Elementary Demonology" book he had bought in Raven Town not long ago.

Now that I have a method to summon demons, tools to assist in the summoning, and materials to summon the Beholder...

Shouldn't we put the plan to summon the Eye Demon on the agenda?
In fact, if one wanted to summon demons, this water cellar ruin would be a good place. It's far from populated areas and extremely secluded.

Not only is it well-hidden, but you can also find help. The Sindragosa undead here are all mages; if anything unexpected or difficult happens during the summoning process, they can be of some assistance.

In a human town, finding someone to help is by no means easy. After all, who knows if the person who helps will report it to the church? In fact, it's almost certain that they will be reported. Even a novice believer would not stand idly by while a demon summoning ritual is performed.

The few Sindragosa undead certainly wouldn't report it; they themselves were taboo in the eyes of the Church, so of course they wouldn't go and walk right into a trap.

Unfortunately, Gaucano had not yet learned the magic to summon demons.

The entrance exam for the Ax Magic Academy is about to begin, so his priority now is to get to Ax City as soon as possible and he cannot stay here for long.

After a moment's thought, various plans flashed through his mind, and Gaucano put away the Summoner's Blade.

After a while, everyone divided up the spoils.

At this point, Gao Jiano asked, "Oren, can we find any skeletons in this area?"

Oren: "Before the construction began, the Desert Bishop instructed us to clear away the nearby corpses—we piled them all up in one place, and I'll take you there."

With that, he turned and walked away.

Others followed.

But as the group passed the room where Gaucano and the Desert Bishop were fighting, Dariss suddenly pointed at Little Black's corpse: "By the way, boss, maybe we can try turning Little Black into an undead!"

Gao Jiano was taken aback; this idea was somewhat unexpected. He couldn't help but ask, "Will this work?"

“We still have three Undead Awakening Potions,” Darius said. “Each time we use one, the chance of a corpse turning into an undead increases… Shall we give it a try, boss?”

"And I also have an incredibly powerful staff now!" She shook the level 10 staff in her hand again.

Gao Jiano thought for a moment: "I have to remind you, these are the last three bottles of Undead Awakening Potion. If we fail all three times, we won't have time to go back to Raven Town to buy more. Are you sure you want to use them to transform Little Black?"

Daryls hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded: "Yes!"

Since Dariss had already made her decision, Gaucano had no objections, since the Oracle was Dariss's mission.

However, when they decided to implement it, a problem arose.

Little Black is too big.

The magic circle stone tablets that Dariss had prepared in advance were far from enough.

This almost made them abandon the plan.

Until Oren said, "Let's go see the altar built by the Desert Bishop; it can be used as the ritual site for transforming Little Black."

Gaucano and Dallis then followed Oren to an altar not far from the Seth Church.

Judging from the size of the altar, it can undoubtedly serve as a site for transforming Xiao Hei.

However, there are some problems that need to be solved.

For example, there is a statue on the altar—a statue of Set, the god of the desert. The statue is exquisitely carved and lifelike, but it seems particularly out of place to the people.

After all, Set and Sindragosa are enemies. Transforming Sindragosa's undead under the gaze of Set's idol is a form of NTR, and it's hard to say what might happen if it provokes Set's anger.

Therefore, they had to first dismantle the statue of Set, and naturally, other decorations related to Set also needed to be removed.

This task can only be completed by Gaucano. After all, while destroying a statue is not as egregious as outright NTR, it still carries a high chance of triggering a curse and will likely ignore conventional magical protection measures. Only the Curse of Fairness can be effective.

Indeed, when Gaucano removed the statue of Set from the altar, the curse immediately descended, only to be instantly lifted by the "Curse of Fairness."

After erasing the traces of the Desert God, the magic circle on the altar also needs to be changed.

Fortunately, it didn't have to be completely changed. After some observation and discussion, they discovered that there were still some parts of the magic circle that could be reused, and quite a few at that. In fact, the magic circle on the altar had a total of five parts, four of which were only auxiliary and had no affiliation. Only the core part belonged to Set and needed to be replaced with Sindragosa's magic circle.

Daryls was an expert in this field, and Pierce was also quite knowledgeable about it. So the two of them immediately set to work and began to modify the magic circle on the altar.

After several days of hard work, the magic array modification was completed.

Afterwards, Gao Jiano transported Xiao Hei's body to the altar.

This step almost exhausted him.

After all, Xiao Hei was about the size of an elephant. Dragging it to the altar was one thing, but delivering it to the altar was a huge undertaking, as its heavy body was almost crushing.

Fortunately, the undead were all mages, and they knew some wind magic. With the help of their magic, a gentle breeze swirled around and lifted Little Black. At this moment, Gao Gano activated Earth Skin and finally managed to transport Little Black to the altar.

Little Black's body was placed in the center of the altar. Its body was undamaged, so it looked as if it were asleep.

Daryls stood before the corpse, staff in hand.

Then have four necromancers stand on the magic circle to assist in casting spells.

Seeing that everyone was ready, Daris poured a bottle of Undead Awakening Potion into the magic circle and began chanting the incantation.

The four necromancers chanted incantations together.

As the five voices rang out simultaneously, creating a mysterious resonance, the staff in Dariss's hand gradually shone brightly.

Before long, the light at the tip of the staff shone as brightly as a blue sun, standing out starkly in the dark environment, almost blinding people.

Gaucano had no choice but to turn his head away.

"Coo." Little Coo did the same, turning its head directly to its back.

This is considered one of the side effects of darkvision. Whether it is temporary darkvision obtained through magic, potions, or scrolls, or permanent darkvision obtained through blessings or magic runes, in most cases there will be a side effect of "intense light intolerance".

The five undead who were casting the spells naturally felt uncomfortable as well.

But they must endure this feeling until the spell is complete.

"Sindragosa... Sindragosa..."

The name Sindragosa echoed repeatedly in their incantations, each recitation imbued with devout faith, while a brilliant blue light continuously flowed across the altar.

After a while.

The spell is cast.

The blue light quickly faded, but the giant black bear remained motionless, lying on the magic circle without any reaction.

“It failed.” Darius frowned slightly.

Pierce's voice held a hint of relief: "Let's discuss it."

The five necromancers discussed and reviewed their spellcasting, analyzing every detail in an attempt to find the reason for the failure.

After the discussion, Daris poured out the second bottle of Undead Awakening Potion, and the five necromancers began chanting incantations again.

The second ritual also failed. Little Black remained unresponsive, lying silently in the center of the altar like a giant stone.

Darliss was now anxious. After all, after two failures, she only had one Undead Awakening Potion left.

To perfectly complete the Oracle of Sindragosa, one more undead is needed.

This forces Daryls to make a choice: find an easily convertible corpse in the ruins, or continue converting Little Black?
Finding a corpse that is easy to transform would certainly have a much higher success rate, but emotionally speaking, she clearly preferred to awaken Xiao Hei, with whom she had spent several months.

After some deliberation, Darliss decided to ask Little Gu.

“Little Gu, do you think I should continue trying to wake up Little Black?” she asked through animal communication.

"Goo." Little Goo seemed to think for a moment, tilting its head nimbly to one side. "Although this guy is a bit of an idiot, to be honest... I still really hope it can wake up."

Darius was silent for a moment, her gaze lingering on Little Black for a long time, before finally nodding: "Alright, let's hope Sindragosa blesses us."

After saying that, she took out the third bottle of Undead Awakening Potion and poured it into the magic circle.

The mages then began their third spellcasting.

Their expressions—if they had any—were all serious.

After all, this is the last time the spell will be cast.

If we fail, then we have truly failed.

Not to mention them, even Gao Jiano and Xiao Gu felt nervous.

As the ceremony reached its climax, Gaucano involuntarily clenched his fist. This time, he didn't turn his head, but simply squinted, gazing directly at the center of the altar against the dazzling blue light.

Little Gu was also watching intently.

Not only that, it couldn't help but flap its wings, taking a low flight and circling repeatedly in the air.

The ceremony ended after what felt like a very long wait.

The air fell silent for a moment.

Suddenly, the huge black bear trembled: "Roar..."

"Yay!" Daryls jumped up excitedly and hugged Little Black. "You're awake, Little Black!"

"Roar?" Little Black blinked its bell-like eyes, completely bewildered. Its voice sounded almost exactly the same as when it was alive.

Gao Jiano asked through animal communication, "Little Black, how are you feeling?"

"I..." A hint of confusion appeared on Xiao Hei's face, and he shook his enormous head. "I feel like I've forgotten something important..."

The air was quiet for a while.

Then it suddenly cried out, sounding both surprised and excited: "Strange, I...I don't feel hungry anymore!"

"You'll never be hungry again," Gao Jiano said.

"Really? That's great!" Xiao Hei said, his voice tinged with innocence. "I think someone used to say I ate a lot, but now I don't have to eat anymore, hehe!"

Gaucano frowned.

After hesitating for half a second, he tentatively asked, "Little Black, do you still remember Hicks?"

"Hicks?" Little Black thought for a moment, his eyes becoming even more confused, then he shook his head. "I don't remember."

Gao Jiano fell silent for a moment, his feelings becoming complicated.

The little black creature, now a ghost, had forgotten its master.

However, this was somewhat expected, as this situation is common and almost inevitable in undead conversion.

After all, the personalities of the vast majority of the dead originate from "secondary souls," which are not the same as those in life. It is fortunate if they can maintain a normal mind, and it is almost impossible to maintain complete memories.

Thinking of this, Gao Jiano couldn't help but glance at Dalis.

Daryls possesses all of her memories from her previous life.

Gaucano hadn't realized it before, but now he understands how rare this situation is.

In any case, with the successful transformation of the little black demon, Darius also perfectly fulfilled the oracle given to her by Sindragosa.

You can open the Oracle Chest now.

Of course, they dared not open the oracle chest in front of Pierce and the others.

In fact, they never even mentioned the existence of the Sindragosa Oracle Chest to outsiders, nor did they ever reveal Darius's undead identity to Pierce and the others.

After all, the box contained a shapeshifting mask, a treasure coveted by all the undead.

With it, the spirits of the dead can return to the society of the living.

It can be said that the shape-shifting mask is the passport for the dead to pass through the human world.

Pierce and the others are undead who have retained their humanity, but humanity itself is not entirely reliable. One should always be wary of others, and it is hard to guarantee that they will not have other ideas in the face of such a treasure.

So, to be on the safe side, Gaugano and Dariss did not immediately open the Sindragosa Oracle Chest, but instead bid farewell to several Sindragosa undead.

Gaugano: "We have completed the oracle of Sindragosa; it is about time for us to leave."

Pierce said, "Aren't you taking this black bear with you?"

Gaucano: "Humans will not accept the dead, and the undead black bear is no exception."

Pierce: "What I mean is, it looks exactly like a live bear, and with some magical means, it shouldn't be difficult to conceal its undead identity."

Xiao Hei's appearance is indeed almost identical to when it was alive.

"If it were small enough, I might do it," Gao Jiano said, "but it's too big, so it has to stay here. I believe it can be your friend."

The spirits looked at Little Black, and one of them said, "At least its appearance reminds me of my past life."

James then asked, "Are you guys getting ready to leave now?"

“Yes, I need to go to Ax City. The entrance exam for Ax Magic Academy is coming up soon,” Gao Jiano said. “To be honest, I also want to be like you—I mean, a mage.”

The two exchanged farewell words.

Pierce suddenly remembered: "Do you have an elemental clock or a magic clock? We can't tell time here, I think we might need a clock."

Gaucano took out an elemental clock and handed it to Pierce.

Element clocks are quite expensive.

Pierce then offered to pay.

Gao Jiano smiled and said, "This is a loan for you. I'll come back again."

Pierce chuckled. "Alright, Mor... well, Sindragosa bless you."

(End of this chapter)