Chapter 455: Altar
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The chieftain’s face was mangled with blood and bruises, yet, his dying expression exuberated a rousing intoxication for battle. His eyes still shone with glory and ecstasy, devoid of agony and decadence. As though perishing in battle here was an honorable satisfaction.
After inspecting Cherokee’s dying demeanor, Sheyan found it rather peculiar. Logically speaking, to witness the collapse of such a dominant clan he had established himself, and having people rebelling while friends deserting, he should’ve been filled with grief and anguish. Such an expression now was absolutely illogical. Yet shelving this riddle aside, Sheyan and the rest didn’t have the luxury of time to deliberate over that.
To the entire party Ace and Sheyan, Chieftain Cherokee’s death was the most wonderful of news. Perhaps certain creatures could continue living after having their heads torn asunder, but the na'vi race wasn’t one of those. In this instance, Sheyan could hear the heavy breathing of Mogensha and Reef; as though relieved from a huge burden.
Following that, Sheyan casted his attention towards the headless Cherokee corpse, before pulling out a knife he had prepared beforehand. A minute later, blood soaked and dripping, the most crucial Chieftain Cherokee’s heart was finally in his hands. Despite that, the elation of the trio soon sunk into bewilderment…….
That’s right! Where is the altar?
Where’s that damned altar to sacrifice on???
The three glanced at each other with dismay. Previously, Sheyan had already investigated the entire Mosake clan!
As for that facade of a pyramid temple, Sheyan had previously peeped in through stony gaps, but didn’t notice a single thing resembling an altar. Fine, even if Sheyan was ill-informed and inexperienced pertaining to their custom, yet old Mourbo was clueless as well!
Moreover, regarding the exploration of the zerglings, there wasn’t anything resembling an altar within this underground space.
Mcdh on the other hand, had found what he required by now – the carcass of that legendary thanator. He then placed a golden colour nut over the carcass. Slowly, something floated out from the carcass.
That was something that didn’t have a concrete shape. Being more specific, it was just a hazy glow which fluctuated in colour, turning dull and fuzzy. Furthermore, it didn’t possess a concrete structure; if one were to place it in one’s palm, it would leak out through the cracks of one’s fingers. Dripping out as though it was a viscous semi-solid substance. Eventually, this glow turned golden!
Upon witnessing such a scene, Mcdh yelped loudly in delight; to the extent that he knelt to the ground and kissed the floor. Naturally, he acquired what he desired, living up to the laborious pains of going through fire and water to accomplish this! Instead, Sheyan shut his eyes as he pondered silently. After a while, he abruptly reached a resolution and muttered.
“This underground space is so vast, why did Cherokee choose to fight to the death here without retreating?”
The fretful Brother Black also swallowed his saliva, as he lighted a cigar before puffing it aggressively. He shook his head in response.
“No idea.”
Sheyan continued with a serious tone.
“Everyone, even animals, would possess a basic resistance towards death and danger! Even an innocent infant would naturally shrink away his hand from scorching heat, and cry aloud after falling!”
“This particular area is extremely disadvantageous, its vastness makes one susceptible to attacks from all sides. Considering the prowess of Cherokee, it is sufficient for him to slaughter out a trail of blood while retreating backwards. Though his death would be inevitable, he would have prolonged his life for a significant duration; even if he had his back against a wall while fighting!”
“But…….he still chose to safeguard here till he perished!! What kind of precious object is more important than one’s own life, that he had to persist in guarding?!!”
Listening to Sheyan’s inference, Reef’s eyes brightened up. Mogensha puffed his cigar violently as he pondered.
“In normal cases, the only things worth guarding are…...one’s blood-related family members?”
Sheyan gently shook his head in correction.
“He didn’t have any family members. That fact can be verified; or perhaps to be more accurate, he no longer had any living family kin since a decade ago. Therefore……..”
As Sheyan spoke till here, his eyes glittered to his own verdict.
“Maybe he was safeguarding that gigantuous conch. Thus, a careful inspection of it may result in an unexpected delight.”
Following Sheyan’s fading words, a large pack of zerglings swarmed in from all sides, and lurched fanatically towards that gigantuous conch. To their horror, when the zerglings reached within a meter of that gigantic conch, they began charging about in chaotic disarray; even mutually clawing and chomping at each other, completely oblivious to their original command.
It was as if that gigantic sea conch had an invisible line carved around it. Once those zerglings passed through it, they would lose control and turn berserk. Even Nature Goddess Eywa who had no solutions to the zergling sea…..yet the zerglings were astonishingly subdued right here!
Noteworthily, the path towards the gigantic conch, was naturally behind Cherokee’s corpse.
Sheyan immediately contacted Queen-zerg Jenny who was outside, and quickly received an answers. All zergling movements were controlled a spirit dominion by the Mothernest of the Overmind. However, upon treading past that region, an exceptionally powerful spirit disturbance was present; seemingly the same cursed source affecting the entire Windstone Highland. If the Mother of the Blackthorn was here, she could easily surmount such spirit influence. Instead, Queen-zerg Jenny, who was merely acting like a network hub, was incapable of that.
This signified that within a short span of time, zerglings were completely incapable of scouring that conch. At this moment, Sheyan and friends could finally experience how terrifyingly difficult this Golden Side Mission was. Their current feeling was truly, ‘the closer one was to accomplishing the task, the tougher it gets’. The nearer they got to the finishing point of the mission, the stronger the force of resistance became; it was excruciatingly challenging!
“How about destroying that conch?” Reef suggested.
Sheyan shook his head slightly.
“If we did that, there’s a chance of accidentally wrecking the altar. Furthermore, if I haven’t guessed wrong……...forget it. Anyway, it seems like we’ve to probe it ourselves. Fortunately, the na'vi warriors are highly intellectual creatures and shouldn’t be too affected by that spirit interference.”
“Let’s do it!” Sheyan took the lead with a gloomy expression. His perceptive sense was highest in his party, naturally he would take the lead in probing. As he approached that invisible spirit line, he had already prepared his mind. Yet as he strode through, he merely felt a threatening dark aura; causing the hairs on his hand to stand, although nothing abnormal happened.
After going closer, he finally discovered the gigantic conch had protruding solid lines carved into its shell, that spiralled upwards to its apex. These protruding lines were approximately separated from each other by a metre, appearing like a spiralling flight of stairs leading towards the pinnacle of this conch. The conch’s surface was extremely smooth, looking individuals had moved about it frequently. Not a single clammy moss, mud or excrescence adhered onto its shell.
This discovery undoubtedly solidified the contestants’ conviction, as they speedily climbed up following the spiralling protruding arc. The contestants possessed far superior physical abilities to average humans, and rapidly climbed up the conch with their utmost strength; scaling it one second at a time.
(TN: I imagine this to be like rock climbing)
If it was other times, Sheyan and buddies would absolutely not permit that formidable Growth-hunter to follow them. Except right now, this Growth-hunter only wished to assist Sheyan in accomplishing the Golden Side Mission. Putting it bluntly, there was no advantageous motivation for Mcdh, and thus they tacitly approved of his conduct.
Of course and most importantly; though the zerglings were not allowed here, old Mourbo and the remaining 15 Takji warriors followed them. Prior to this, Sheyan had already warned old Mourbo; if there should be any unexpected misfortune befalling him, then his good brother Blackthorn would surely cleanse the Takji clan to accompany him in burial! Hence, he wasn’t afraid of old Mourbo slacking off.
A single file quietly climbed in the darkness. When they reached the pointed summit of the conch, a door could suddenly be seen by the side of the shell. This door was decorated with pure gold and ornamental designs, looking exactly like the na'vi style. One could vaguely decipher that this should’ve been a shattered hole that appeared on the conch a long time ago, and was artificially crafted into a door by na'vis.
Mcdh then wielded his flare gun again; reloading a flare before blasting it in.
In a flurry, a reclining stairway greeted everyone’s eyes. This stairway appeared extremely smooth, and was definitely frequented by beings. Therefore, Sheyan continued taking the lead, as he scanned around the bottom. Instantly, he beholded a magnificent fantasy like scenery.
The flesh of this gigantuous conch had long been decomposed throughout the centuries. Due to the vast expanse of this gigantuous conch, its interior space was roughly the size of a soccer field. Yet a major portion within, was shockingly occupied by a crystalline lake of sparkling water.
The water quality of this tiny lake had unparalleled clarity, with a myriad of phosphorescence vegetation growing within; yellow, red, green...….swaying gorgeously within the lake. Sparkling and translucent bubbles popped out occasionally, it was simply breathtaking. Except near the center of his lake, a luminous swirl like darkness anchored downwards; it was extremely dark, as dark as a bottomless pit! Evidently, the water source of this lake should be from there!
Sheyan was currently observing closely, but Mogensha suddenly nudged him; his following words carried a hint of joy.
“Boss, over there!”
At the left shore of this lake, was a stunningly erected altar!!