Chapter 9

Translator: Exodus Tales

Editor: Exodus Tales

The time it took from Tristram to Wortham was longer than Fang Zheng had imagined. By the time he was woken up by the boatman to step onto the Wortham docks, it had already been five hours.

Five hours wasted, just like that?

Looking at the figure of the boatman leaving into the distance, Fang Zheng frowned. He didn’t think it would take this long, let alone the fact that it was a one-way trip. The boatman had told him that he would only send people here, and there would be no boat back. Fang Zheng was still a bit confused about that at first, but some thought cleared it up. There was a portal under Wortham’s church, that was way faster than boats.

Regardless, he should just go find the shard first.

And so he stepped onwards to Wortham.

The small town of Wortham wasn’t under attack by the cultists like it had been in the game. They were still in peaceful lives, and he could even see some fisherman boats passing by as well as kids playing in the fields. Seeing all this gave Fang Zheng a sense of melancholy. He could imagine just how little would be left after the cultists sent an attack here.

But unfortunately, Fang Zheng could barely survive himself. The only hope he had now was to bring away the shard as soon as possible so the cultists wouldn’t even have to attack Wortham. By switching their gaze, he’d be able to keep them away from this peaceful town.

Fang Zheng didn’t attract much attention as an outsider, though, probably due to the fact that most of these people were busy working. The entire place seemed so serene, but Fang Zheng wasn’t planning on causing any trouble in the first place. He quickly located the church within the town and knocked on the heavy door. A priest-looking person came walking out curiously.

“Hello, stranger. May I ask what business you have at Wortham?”

“Hello, priest.”

Fang Zheng nodded as he looked at this priest. He took out a letter from Captain Rumford.

“I am a militiaman from Tristram. A meteor has fallen there, and I heard that a shard of it had fallen onto Wortham. I’m here to look for any clues.”

“Meteor?”

Hearing Fang Zheng’s reply, the priest paused for a while before nodding understandingly.

“I know what you’re talking about, a coincidence, we’ve found an odd thing ourselves indeed. Please come with me…”

The priest turned away and gestured inward as he spoke. Fang Zheng took a deep look as she listened to the words. 

He entered.

Inside the church was a darkness lit only by faint candlelight, just enough to barely see where everything was.

“Just what is this odd thing?” Fang Zheng asked as he walked inside. Just then, a creak from behind sounded. It was the church door being shut. The priest started speaking again.

“Oh, it’s something our fishermen fished up. It emanated a mysterious power of sorts, and even the fishermen didn’t know what it was, sending it to the church… I was planning on safeguarding it, but I never thought it would have anything to do with that meteor…”

The priest stared intently at Fang Zheng’s back as he spoke, quietly taking out a dagger. Fang Zheng didn’t seem to notice, but was instead looking around curiously and asking questions.

“Then, where is the shard?”

“Right down there…”

As he spoke, the priest stepped forward silently, approaching Fang Zheng’s back and lunging with the dagger!

At the same time, a flash of frost sliced by!

“Hng-!” The priest had his eyes wide open as he looked at the cold blade that had been plunged into him. “How is this… possible…”

The frost from Frostmourne started spreading, and he felt himself getting colder, body and soul together.

“How did you… realize…”

“Your acting’s horrible. Go home and practice first.” Fang Zheng said with a cold smile as he looked at this shocked priest. The first time he’d met this guy he felt something was off. The man was filled with concern at first, but the moment he’d learned of Fang Zheng’s intentions those eyes started carrying an anxiousness. What made Fang Zheng the most suspicious was the fact that this guy just scanned through the letter without much effort, not even bothering to check on Fang Zheng’s identification and claims before letting him in!

Fang Zheng had always been observant as this helped him obtain information. Though, this was the first time he used this habit of his to find something wrong with his situation…

What made him even more certain was the fact that the priest started walking behind him instead of in front of him the moment they entered. Usually, with him having hidden the shard, it would naturally be expected of him to lead the way. Yet the guy started closing the door behind him, of course, there was a problem!

The most important factor was the priest’s sudden heavy breathing when getting ready to strike. This was human nature, either he was really emotional, or really nervous. Fang Zheng had no cause to hesitate before summoning Frostmourne and striking behind him.

And he had been right to do so. The priest was a cultist!

Following the cry of pain, the cultist’s soul was forced out of his body and sucked into Frostmourne and a message appeared in front of Fang Zheng.

“Soul points +45.” 

As expected, living souls were stronger than undead souls.

Looking at the message before him, Fang Zheng curled his lips as he put the sword away and started looking for the shard. The priest was a cultist. This meant that Maghda was at least aware of information regarding the third shard piece of the divine sword. Thinking about it, it was possible that the opponent was intentionally dragging time out so that the Nephalem wouldn’t be on the right track fast enough! It was also possible that in the game, before the Nephalem even reached Wortham, that the shard had been taken away by Maghda!

Fang Zheng felt that it had to be the truth at this point. Why else would the game let the Nephalem meet Maghda’s illusion underground, and to make it seem like it had been waiting for the Nephalem all along? It was clearly a trap, wasn’t it?

“So it’s not here after all.”

After checking the church quickly, Fang Zheng concluded his search. Though he wasn’t too worried, this did confirm his judgments; the priest hadn’t hidden the shard in the church like he had claimed in the game before changing it over to the cellar. It had always been down there!

Perhaps the cultist wanted to make sure of things, in case he messed up, though he evidently didn’t know that Fang Zheng had learned of the cellar’s location beforehand in the game. After an unfruitful search in the church, he immediately left using the back door, entering the cellar beside it. This was naturally locked, but Fang Zheng didn’t mind small details like that. The cultists and even their leader might appear at any moment, after all. Raising his alertness, he sliced down the door and walked right in. 

The whole place looked no different from what was depicted in the game, and when Fang Zheng walked through the hallway to the central area of the cellar, he quickly spotted the gentle radiance of the sword handle, resting on a platform.

This was the shard of the divine sword! Luckily for him, it was still there!

Seeing the shard, Fang Zheng was about to relax when he remembered to carefully inspect his surroundings upon reaching the platform. After seeing that there weren’t any traps, he took the sword handle and put it into one of his pockets, feeling relieved.

“Alright, all done. Easier than I thought. Next, I have to go back to Tristram…”

A sudden flash interrupted his thoughts, it was coming from the platform, and what followed were yellow-robed, cultist-looking people walking out of it. They stared at Fang Zheng, taken aback, to which he reacted with the same stunned silence, though it didn’t last long. He reacted right away.

The cultists had used the portal to come here!