Abomination

"Watch out!" Soul Grayson, who was hiding to one side, spotted the change in the Witch's Heart and hurriedly shouted.

Before the black-glowing heart could move toward the Ghouls, the newly evolved Sharp Claw flipped over and leaped into the air, landing beside it with a gust of wind. He reached out and grabbed it, his five fingers hooked like claws as they tightly clamped around the beating heart. With that grab, waves of black mist poured from it and instantly enveloped Sharp Claw's entire body.

"Ha, ah!" Miserable, piercing shrieks echoed through the empty tower, lingering without end.

Within seconds, the black mist gradually dispersed, revealing Sharp Claw unharmed within. In his hand, the pitch-black heart had been pierced through by his sharp claws, and a woman's screams could faintly be heard from within. Black blood occasionally dripped from his snow-white claws, hissing as it hit the ground and corroding several large holes into the stone floor. Yet the skeleton seemed unaffected.

"This is the Witch's Heart!" Soul Grayson said fearfully, standing far away and not daring to approach.

"Looks like this Witch has a tough life force. How can we kill her?" The intermittent howls by his ear made Li Shaolin's scalp crawl as he hurriedly asked.

"I heard she has an Immortal Body. It seems only Holy Light can destroy the heart. Otherwise, she will be reborn from that iron box. I'm not too sure either," Soul said.

So that was it. Could this be a Lich?

Li Shaolin suddenly recalled the records about a Lich's Phylactery in Scourge Alchemy. Wasn't it exactly like this?

With that in mind, he immediately instructed Sharp Claw to hold the still-beating heart tightly. He found a stone table, blew away the dust, and took out Scourge Alchemy to read. Several skeletons stood guard nearby. Three Ghoul corpses lay on the ground, while Soul Grayson quietly stood to one side, waiting for Li Shaolin to help him break open the Sealing Box. Unlike the Witch, whose heart was sealed inside it, he was merely a soul and had no ability to open it.

Before he knew it, dawn had broken.

"Grrr!" Li Shaolin's stomach growled.

He put down the book, rubbed his sore eyes, and said to Soul, "Sorry for making you wait. I'll help you open the iron box now."

According to Scourge Alchemy, this type of Sealing Box merely used a tiny amount of Death Power as a lock. To force it open, one only needed to strike it with light or Death Power to break it easily.

As he spoke, he condensed Bone Fang and fired twice. The shots struck the lock, and with a crack, the lid flipped open. Inside was a red heart.

As the lid opened, the heart seemed affected by exposure to the air and began to emit wisps of green smoke. At the same time, Soul Grayson let out a scream and collapsed onto the ground, his body twisting and swaying as though someone were pulling at him.

"Not good!" Li Shaolin hurriedly shut the box, and only then did Soul stop screaming.

"What happened, Captain Greyson?"

Soul panted as he said, "Mage, this box must never be opened again. If this continues, I may not even be able to preserve my soul. Do you have any other way to help me? Oh, there are many more identical boxes upstairs. They should all contain hearts stolen by the Witch, but their souls seem to be imprisoned within them and cannot get out at all."

Another way?

Souls, hearts, Ghoul corpses?

His gaze swept over the three Ghoul corpses on the ground, and Li Shaolin suddenly remembered an entry in Scourge Alchemy: using the power of death to fuse damaged corpses and unwilling souls into powerful killing machines—Abominations!

The power of death could be stripped from the Witch's Heart, and weren't there already damaged corpses right here?

After clearing his throat, he stood and paced a few steps. After some consideration, he said, "There is a way. I can merge your soul into these three corpses and transform you into a species of the Scourge Legion: an Abomination. Of course, after the transformation, you will no longer be bound by this Lighthouse or the iron box. But you will become incredibly ugly, and may even know nothing but slaughter! Are you willing?"

"Um..." Soul hesitated and did not answer.

No matter what Soul thought, after spending the night together, Li Shaolin knew that this soul had no ability to harm him, so he was not worried about safety.

He moved aside the wooden boards and walked out. Taking the Bronze Skeleton and Black Skeleton with him was enough; the others could remain in the tower.

Outside, the rain still poured down relentlessly.

Affected by the rain, the Sand Strider Crabs that were normally everywhere had hidden away. After searching for quite a while, he finally found one, quickly caught it, and ran back to the Lighthouse. Unfortunately, his clothes were soaked through again, clinging to his body.

Fortunately, there was still some leftover wood beside the fireplace. Though old, it was dry and easy to ignite.

At last, amid the blazing flames, a large chunk of crab meat turned glossy and golden, its aroma filling the air. With no one else around, Li Shaolin naturally did not stand on ceremony. He opened his mouth wide and tore into it fiercely. Only after swallowing several pieces did he feel much better, strength returning to his body.

He lightly dried his clothes by the fire and was just about to lie down for a short rest when a moldy stench drifted into his nose. Turning his head, he saw that it came from the three Ghoul corpses. His hunger had been unbearable earlier, so he had overlooked it, but now that he had recovered somewhat, the smell became utterly revolting.

Since throwing them away would be wasteful, why not turn them into an Abomination's body? Without a soul, it would still be better than letting them rot and stink like this.

The idea excited him somewhat. He immediately took out Scourge Alchemy and was about to chant the incantation described within when he suddenly discovered a serious problem: he had no Alchemy Stone!

He was not a true Scourge Legion mage and had no ability to summon death. Therefore, if he wanted to create a monster that should have emerged from the Scourge War Factory, he needed a medium. The book recorded how to absorb the Death Force contained in graveyards or dead creatures, which was simply done by converting it through a Scourge Alchemy Stone. Yet it did not mention a single word about how to make one.

He took out Scourge Alchemy and read it carefully again. Sure enough, there was no record of the Alchemy Stone. It turned out that summoning Undead creatures was supposed to be the work of Liches, Undead mages, or Dreadlords; outsiders were not qualified to participate. Later, the high-ranking Scourge Legion Lich Kel'Thuzad and the Lich Lord of the Plaguelands founded the Cult of the Damned to make humans believe in the dark power of the Lich King Ner'zhul, specifically beguiling human mages into spreading plague and disease for them. Those who made outstanding contributions were taught Dark Curse Magic by Kel'Thuzad and granted the Power to Create Scourge. Thus, the Scourge Alchemy Stone came into being.

Karnak, the cursed mage Li Shaolin had killed at Jason's Farm, was one of them. He possessed the prestigious Scourge Alchemy and was responsible for spreading plague throughout Westfall, yet Li Shaolin had inexplicably killed him.

"Didn't that old Karnak leave behind a pile of miscellaneous stuff? I wonder if there's one of those Scourge Alchemy Stones in there?" He hurriedly searched through his Storage Space. Sure enough, he found a round, transparent Crystal Ball.

Holding it in his hands, he tried shouting, "Dust to dust, earth to earth, death, return!"

Sure enough, after he finished chanting, a force surged from within his body and caused the Crystal Ball to emit waves of black light. Within it, a gigantic armored man sat atop the Frozen Throne, flickering in and out of view, while Li Shaolin's familiar magic power rapidly declined. Then streams of black mist rose from the heart held by Sharp Claw, circling the Crystal Ball. The piercing shrieks abruptly grew louder, echoing through the tower like the wails of a hundred ghosts.

When he felt that his magic power had nearly been drained away, the Crystal Ball finally stopped. The black heart held by Sharp Claw had turned into flakes of dust and scattered across the ground. The transparent Crystal Ball in Li Shaolin's hand had completely turned black, and the image of the Lich King within it had vanished.

"Flesh and bone, heed death's command. Assemble!" He pointed the Crystal Ball at the three Ghoul corpses and chanted again.

Amid a series of cracks, black mist swirled around them. The flesh on the ground fused together in a bizarre manner and began growing along the bones. Then a three-meter-tall Flesh Abomination rose to its feet.

Its left hand had transformed into a massive bone hook, while its right hand held nothing. Behind it, a thick, enormous hand dragging a bone chain had miraculously grown. Its huge, split-open abdomen revealed writhing organs within. With one pale eyeball staring, its mouth slightly open, it looked utterly ferocious. Unfortunately, it stood there blankly like a dead object. Naturally, that was because no soul had merged with it.

Captain Greyson had long since been frightened into hiding at one side, keeping far away. Li Shaolin could not understand why even a soul would be afraid.

After the Abomination was created, the black aura inside the Crystal Ball had only been slightly depleted. It seemed this Witch had been very powerful. Right, hadn't Soul said there were other iron boxes upstairs? He had the Black Skeleton bring them down to take a look.

At a thought from him, the Black Skeleton leaped back and forth several times, and soon the hall was filled with iron boxes.

Just as he was about to examine them, something strange happened!

Black mist suddenly rose from the iron boxes. In an instant, shrill screams rang out endlessly. The magical locks on the boxes opened by themselves, revealing slowly rotting hearts inside!

"Save me! Save me!" The black mist transformed into soul after soul, all rushing desperately toward Li Shaolin! One soul had already opened its mouth and was about to bite him!

"Ha!" A Blood-red Skull emerged above his head and swallowed that soul in a single bite!

That action instantly frightened the others, leaving them too afraid to move. Then, as one heart completely decayed, a soul let out a piercing shriek and transformed into white light before vanishing.

Suddenly, the souls seemed to discover that the black Crystal Ball could protect them. They swirled around it and drilled inside one after another. In the blink of an eye, amid their cries, every soul had entered it. As the final face appeared, it was Captain Greyson! What was going on? Even he had been absorbed?

Turning his head, he saw that all the iron boxes had opened. The hearts stored inside had all turned into black powder, their unique fluctuations gone forever.