Chapter 32

Translator: Exodus Tales

Editor: Exodus Tales

[Soul Stone: Kerrigan]

[Quality: Gold]

[Usage Count: 5]

[Additional benefits: Heart of Swarm (Permanent), Psionic Manipulation (Permanent)]

Having examined this Soul Stone, Fang Zheng was surprised to discover that Queen of Blades’ Soul Stone had stronger practical applications, unlike Lick King’s.

The reason for this was because of the nature of their Soul Stones. For Fang Zheng, Arthas’ Soul Stone was equipped in the Dimensional Codex. If he didn’t activate it, he could not enjoy the Undead King buff that was only effective on undead creatures. If he wanted to play the real power of the Lich King, he could only do so by completely activating the Soul Stone. 

But the Soul Stone of the Queen of the Blades differed from this. As a matter of fact, her usage count might have been five, the same as Arthas’ but after careful investigation, Fang Zheng discovered that the true strength of the Queen of the Blades was just the opposite of the Lich King. If Lich King’s true might could only be unleashed by expending the Soul Stone’s usage count, then Queen of Blades’ Soul Stones could only exert their strongest might even when they weren’t activated.

And the reason lied in its buff, the Heart of Swarm (Permanent).

This additional buff was described in just one sentence, [Heart of Swarm (Permanent)]: Zerg army can be created and controlled. 

Fang Zheng immediately understood what it meant just from this.

In short, he could directly open the Zerg base and play a real-time strategy once equipping the Queen of Blades’ Soul Stone. After all, the strongest aspect of Zerg was the endless swarm of insects. The army of Zerg that could blot the sky and the earth was their real power. In contrast, Kerrigan’s personal combat ability was actually quite limited. In other words, if it was Arthas, he could still retrieve a defeat on his own after losing the Scourge. But for Kerrigan, once the Zerg army was reduced to nothing, she would be left with no choice but to escape.

So, as far as Fang Zheng was concerned, this Soul Stone was more suitable for him in normal use. Only… Kerrigan, why does it have to be Kerrigan?

The Lich King wasn’t that popular and Zerg wasn’t much better. Fang Zheng was sure that when this thing finally saw daylight, it would be regarded as a vanguard of demon invasion… Why couldn’t you give me Jim Raynor or Artemis? Why did it have to Kerrigan?

Fang Zheng could already feel the deep malice the system had towards him. In any case, he was its creator. If the game was a child, then he was its father. Is there such a naughty child who would pit his own father? 

It seems this naughty child is hell-bent on pitting his father.

Although he felt helpless, Fang Zheng still chose to collect this Soul Stone. I might not be able to use it in the main world but I sure can use it in this instance. Who knows where I will be teleported to in the next mission transmission? 

Thinking of this, Fang Zheng could not help but glance at the Dimensional Codex before him, on which the cooldown period was already counting down. 

After another 13 hours, the transmission would be triggered.

The night passed uneventfully.

The team set off again at the crack of dawn. But much to their surprise and dismay, they didn’t even encounter a single undead creature along the way like yesterday. This, on the contrary, caused the faces of Marth and the others to become bleaker. It should be mentioned that they weren’t escaping from Shadow Canyon; on the contrary, they were backtracking their original steps. In light of the general principle, they should have encountered more enemies as they walked closer to the center. Previously, Fang Zheng and Knight Conan had encountered several waves of undead soldiers on their way to Blood River Beach. It didn’t make sense that when they were throwing themselves into the net, the enemy wasn’t even paying attention.

There was only one reason for this; obviously, something more pressing than their presence had attracted the Lich’s attention.

And that more pressing thing was none other than the dark ritual mentioned by Marth.

“It’s looking really bad.”

Standing by the cliff and looking down, Marth’s gloomy face appeared colder than the ice itself. Below the cliff was a quarry that seemed to have been abandoned. It seemed to be a very long time ago, God knows when it came into being. However, Marth obviously hadn’t come for archaeology.

“That quarry is the lich’s nest. We were ambushed here at the beginning, but we haven’t seen a single undead, not even a shadow… has the ritual already started?”

Fang Zheng raised his eyebrows after hearing Marth’s mumbles. He was very sensitive to undead creatures, thanks to the special effect of Arthas’ Soul Stone. As Marth said, he could not sense any of the undead creatures around this quarry, but this didn’t mean that they had ceased to exist. In fact, they were deep underground; Fang Zheng had found some clues. A large number of undead creatures were gathering deep under the quarry. Needless to say, there were certainly not here for a party.

“What’s next?”

Nevertheless, Fang Zheng didn’t tell Marth what he had felt. As a matter of fact, he didn’t want to risk his life for the so-called dark ritual that he had no clear idea about. Maybe it was just for calling his lover back from the underworld? To be honest, after getting along with these Templar Knights, Fang Zheng found that these people were indeed worthy of the title, knight; just and kind, brave and sacrificing, they fought for justice. They were devoid of dirty ideas and most of them were quite approachable. To be honest, Fang Zheng still respected them but he didn’t have any special thoughts about this. It was like watching a Hollywood blockbuster; it was really touching to watch soldiers willing to sacrifice their lives just to stop some monster or villain. However, it would be a completely different matter if someone asked him to do the same… Not to mention, why would I sacrifice myself for other countries?

More importantly, Fang Zheng had been in this world for less than a month. He didn’t have any feelings towards this world, what so ever. Strictly speaking, he only knew Shidon and Miss M, that was all. It was impossible for him to work hard for this world, quite naturally. Therefore, Fang Zheng decided that everything had to be headed by Marth. He would just mind his own business. It would not be too late to withdraw when the situation turned for the worse.

Anyway, the cooldown for the teleportation was almost over. Even if he couldn’t find an opportunity to escape through the invincible Hearthstone teleportation, it would still not be too difficult for him.

“Let’s get down and check things out first!”

At last, Marth came to a decision.

“There must be something wrong here. I don’t believe that the other party would be so negligent. Even if they are really holding a ritual, they would have placed a scout at the very least.”

Since Marth had given the order, Fang Zheng had no intention of objecting to it. Rather, he just vigilantly walked down the cliff with the other people, walking towards the quarry while keeping an eye on their surroundings. 

The huge quarry was completely deserted. Only the wind could be heard whistling through the cracks. Fang Zheng tightened his grip on the Skybreaker as he vigilantly glanced around. The Lich King’s senses were only limited to the undead. They had no effect on the living, what so ever. There weren’t any undead creatures here, but that didn’t mean that they could rush right in and send himself to death.

“Hmmm!?”

But very soon, Fang Zheng discovered that things weren’t quite right here. He found pieces of bones scattered among the several ruins near the quarry. Judging from the appearance, these should have been the remains of undead creatures that should have been eliminated. At first, he thought that these were left behind by Marth and his team as they fought through the ambush. But soon, he found a set of footprints next to it. These footprints were quite recent. They didn’t seem to have been left a long time ago. On the contrary, they seemed to have appeared just recently… just before they arrived here.

“…”

Fang Zheng furrowed his brow as he tightened his grip on the sword. Step by step, he backtraced the footprints towards the ruins. Judging by the outer appearance, it once used to be the supervisor’s house. But now, most of it had already collapsed, leaving only a few walls standing. Fang Zheng stared intently at the wall in front of him. He contemplated for a moment before he raised the long sword in his hand.

SWISH!

But much to Fang Zheng’s surprise, a black silhouette leaped from the other side of the wall and threw itself straight at him before he could swing his long sword down. When he saw a black silhouette suddenly leaping out, he too was taken aback. He hastily raised his sword and swept forward, hitting the black shadow with a loud clang. The black shadow suddenly flipped back and then, stood firmly on the ground. Only at this point did Fang Zheng get to see the true face of the black shadow.

“What’s this?”

Fang Zheng’s jaw went slack. What appeared before him wasn’t an undead creature as Fang Zheng had imagined. On the contrary, it was a black cheetah. However, unlike an ordinary cheetah, its entire body was translucent and dark blue in color, like the dark starry sky. Not only that, but Fang Zheng also noticed silver lines connecting its limbs and head. If the black cheetah stood still, it would look more like a constellation in the dark sky.

What the hell is this?

Fang Zheng was in a state of shock. He was about to call Marth and the others when a cheerful voice rang in his ears.

“Mr. Fang Zheng! It’s great to see that you’re doing fine and well!”

Fang Zheng was momentarily startled by this voice. Immediately after, he saw a young girl in a cloak running out of the ruins, panting behind the cheetah, waving at him happily. Fang Zheng might not have been overly familiar with this girl but he wasn’t unfamiliar with her either.

“…Miss M!?”