Chapter 31: Delving into the Canyon

[Soulstone: Kerrigan]

[Quality: Gold]

[Activation Count: 5]

[Obtained Buff: Heart of the Swarm (Permanent), Psionic Control (Permanent)]

After inspecting this Soulstone, Fang Zheng was surprised to find that, unlike the Lich King, the Soulstone of the Queen of Blades was actually more practical.

The reason for this lay in the nature of their Soulstones. Arthas's Soulstone, for example, when embedded in the Dimensional Codex, only granted the "Undead King" buff that affected Undead Creatures unless he actively activated it. To unleash the full power of the Lich King, the Soulstone needed to be fully activated.

However, the Soulstone of the Queen of Blades was different. Despite having the same number of activations as Arthas's—five times—Fang Zheng found that the true power of the Queen of Blades was just the opposite of the Lich King. While the Lich King required the consumption of its activation count to exhibit its full power, the Queen of Blades's Soulstone could only reveal its greatest strength when not activated.

The reason lay in the buff "Heart of the Swarm (Permanent)."

As for this buff, its description was just one sentence: "Heart of the Swarm (Permanent), Allows the creation and control of a Zerg army."

Just from this single sentence, Fang Zheng immediately understood what it meant.

In simple terms, while embedded with the Queen of Blades's Soulstone, he could directly open a Zerg Base and play real-time strategy. After all, the most powerful aspect of the Zerg was their endless swarms; their true power lay in their overwhelming masses. On the contrary, Kerrigan's personal combat power was quite limited. To put it another way, if it were Arthas, he could still rely on his power to reverse the situation even after the Scourge Legion was defeated. But if it were Kerrigan, once the Zerg army was destroyed, she barely had any choice other than to run.

So for Fang Zheng, this Soulstone was more suitable for regular use. But… Kerrigan, oh Kerrigan, why did it have to be Kerrigan?

The Lich King was already disliked by many, and the Zerg were even worse. Fang Zheng could be sure that the moment this thing appeared on the surface, it would definitely be regarded as a demonic invasion force… Oh come on, couldn't you have given me Jim Raynor or Artanis instead? Why did it have to be Kerrigan?

Fang Zheng already sensed the deep malice this system had towards him. After all, he was its creator, and if this game were a child, he would be its father. Were there really such troublesome kids around?

Come to think of it, troublesome kids were indeed troublesome.

Although feeling helpless, Fang Zheng still chose to put away the Soulstone. It was certainly unusable in the Main World, but maybe it could be used in an instance world. Who knew what world he would be transported to next when the mission teleportation activated?

With that thought, Fang Zheng couldn't help but glance at the Dimensional Codex in front of him once more, seeing that the cooldown timer had already entered its countdown phase.

Just 13 hours left before the teleportation would reactivate.

Night passed.

Early the next morning, everyone set out again. To their surprise, unlike the previous day, they didn't encounter a single Undead Creature along the way. This made Mart et al. even more grim-faced. After all, they were not escaping Shadow Canyon but retracing their steps. Logically speaking, the closer they got to the central point, the more enemies they should encounter. Before, when Fang Zheng and Knight Conan were on their way to Blood Riverbank, they had faced several waves of Undead soldiers. It made no sense for their "return to the lion's den" to go unnoticed by the enemy now.

There could only be one reason. Clearly, something more important had captured the Lich's attention.

And that more important thing was the dark ritual Mart had mentioned.

"It seems the situation is really dire."

Standing on the cliff, looking down below, Mart's face was as grim as ice. Below the cliff lay an abandoned stone quarry. It seemed ancient, a relic of bygone days. However, Mart wasn't here for archaeology.

"That quarry is the Lich's lair. We were ambushed here back then, but now there's not a single Undead in sight… Could the ritual have already begun?"

Hearing Mart's muttering, Fang Zheng raised an eyebrow. Thanks to Arthas's Soulstone's special effect, he had a strong sense for Undead Creatures. As Mart had said, he couldn't feel any Undead presence around the quarry's perimeter, but that didn't mean they weren't there. In fact, Fang Zheng sensed something abnormal deep underground. A large number of Undead were gathering beneath the quarry. No need to ask, it was clear they weren't there for a party.

"What's next?"

Fang Zheng didn't tell Mart what he had sensed. He was not fond of risking his life for an uncertain dark ritual. Who knew, maybe the ritual was meant to bring back someone's beloved from the Underworld? Honestly, after spending time with these Templars, Fang Zheng found them to be true to the knight's code—fair, kind, brave, willing to sacrifice, fighting for justice, without any sordid thoughts, and overall very amicable. Fang Zheng respected them a lot, even if he himself didn't share the same mindset. It was like watching a Hollywood blockbuster; seeing soldiers willing to sacrifice for their country to stop some monster or demon beast was moving, but volunteering to die oneself was a different matter entirely—why should he sacrifice his life for another country?

Moreover, Fang Zheng had only been in this world for less than a month and had no emotional attachment to it. To be strictly precise, he only knew Shi Dong and Ms. M. It was impossible for him to risk his life for this world. So Fang Zheng decided to let Mart take the lead and simply follow along. He could always retreat when things went south.

After all, his teleportation cooldown was almost over. Finding a chance to use Hearthstone's invincible teleportation to escape wouldn't be too difficult.

"Let's go down and check it out."

Finally, Mart made a decision.

"Something's definitely wrong here. I can't believe the enemy would be so careless. Even if they're holding a ritual, there should be at least some scouts outside."

Since Mart had given the order, Fang Zheng naturally didn't object. He cautiously descended the cliff with the others, keeping an eye on their surroundings as they approached the quarry.

The large quarry was empty. Only the whistling wind echoed through the crevices. Fang Zheng gripped his Sky-Cleaving Sword tightly, surveying the area—Arthas's sensing ability was limited to the Undead, and didn't work on the living. The absence of Undead didn't mean rushing in blindly.

"Hm?"

However, soon, Fang Zheng felt something was off. Near some ruins close to the quarry, he found scattered bone fragments that appeared to be the remains of defeated Undead. Initially, Fang Zheng thought these were remnants of Mart's group's previous battle, but then he noticed a set of footprints nearby—fresh footprints, not remnants from long ago but rather recent, occurring just before they arrived.

"..."

Fang Zheng frowned, tightened his grip on his longsword, and slowly followed the footprints toward the ruins. The place seemed to have been a foreman's quarters, now nearly collapsed, with only a few walls standing. Fang Zheng watched the walls for a moment, then raised his sword.

"Slash!"

But before Fang Zheng could swing his sword, a black shadow suddenly leaped over the wall and lunged straight at him. Startled, Fang Zheng swiftly raised his sword and collided with the shadow. A loud "thud" echoed as the shadow flipped back and landed steadily on the ground. Now, Fang Zheng could see its true form.

"What is this thing?"

Fang Zheng was dumbfounded. The creature before him wasn't the Undead he had expected but a pitch-black leopard. Unlike normal leopards, its body seemed to have a cosmic, starry blue hue, semi-transparent. Inside its body, Fang Zheng could see silvery-white lines connecting its limbs and head. If the leopard stood still, it would have looked more like a constellation against the night sky.

What on earth is this?

Just as Fang Zheng hesitated, thinking of calling for Mart and the others, an excited voice suddenly rang in his ear.

"Mr. Fang Zheng! Thank goodness you're okay!"

Hearing this voice, Fang Zheng was stunned for a moment. Then he saw a cloaked girl emerge from the ruins, panting, waving at him excitedly. Fang Zheng wasn't very familiar with her, but she was not a stranger either.

"...Ms. M?"