Divine Flesh

Malakas. His information had lain dormant in the depths of Shane's mind, only to be remembered again now. The future hex lord had enslaved four divine souls and offered them to the troll hero Zul'jin. Through his efforts, the forest trolls had nearly risen to power at the elves' darkest hour.

"Are you waiting for that to take shape?"

Malakas said nothing more. Shane pointed at the altar. Most of the dragonhawk's flesh had already been stripped away, exposing its white skeleton, while the flesh gathered in midair into a ball of blood.

"I can help you." As soon as he spoke, three sets of orbs above his head shot toward the altar. Just as Shane expected, Malakas blocked them before the blood sphere. Bang, bang, bang... The three sets of orbs struck nine times, scattering much of the green protective glow around him. The troll staggered back three steps before steadying himself.

"Now that every trump card you have is in my hands, what are you going to do?"

Three sets of orbs formed above his head again. Shane could hear the troll's breathing quicken. He clearly cared greatly about the dragonhawk flesh; the situation was gradually falling under Shane's control. Outside the altar, the cries of "Quel'dorei!" were growing louder. The rangers were closing in.

Malakas raised his staff. Green light flashed from it, swallowing all of Shane's vision.

Blink! He had calculated the distance and direction during their conversation. As though taking a single step, Shane crossed a short stretch of space. The instant his feet hit the ground, he cast Frost Ring. Without checking the spell's effect, he cast a fourth-tier Monster Summoning spell at Malakas's remembered location. Boom! A boar crashed onto the ground.

His vision returned. The spot where he had originally stood had been corroded into a collapse by green light. Malakas had run to the altar entrance and charged out without looking back. He decisively darted between Taigo's legs and simply ran away. Shane did not look down on him for it in the slightest. If a spellcaster did not value his own life, his path would surely be short.

The dragonhawk flesh had now been completely stripped away and condensed into something the size of a fist. Dark red streams of light swirled within it. Aside from its overpowering stench of blood and hexcraft, it emitted a fluctuation Shane could not comprehend.

Swallow it. Swallow it, and you can become a god too. A whisper suddenly sounded beside his ear.

What was that voice? Shane was certain he had not fallen under an illusion.

Swallow it. Swallow it...

Huh? The voice rose again. Looking at the flesh once more, Shane felt an urge well up inside him to swallow the blood sphere.

Shane sneered. If the power within the flesh were extracted, he could immediately advance to the sixth circle and perhaps even gain divinity. But did Malakas take him for an animal, stupid enough to fall for that?

"Eye of Truth, is the unknown fluctuation the dragonhawk's divinity?"

"Investigating. The unknown fluctuation belongs to some form of conceptual existence. Based on epic records, there is an 80% chance that it is the dragonhawk's divinity. The time required for a complete analysis is unknown."

"Can the divinity be extracted separately?"

"No. The divinity has already been contaminated by the blood sacrifice and contains voodoo. Use is not recommended."

Using Mage Hand, he removed the dragonhawk flesh and stored it in an alchemy vial. He did not spare the bones either, putting them into his magic pocket.

After finishing, Shane walked behind the pillar and picked up Sylvanas. The female elf was still weak, trembling like a little hen. He had never seen her so vulnerable before, and he could not help holding her a little tighter.

"Come on, let's go home."

"Wait, I have something to say."

"What?" Sylvanas's voice was as faint as a mosquito's, and Shane could not hear her clearly.

"Come closer."

Shane pressed his ear close. The female elf wore a triumphant smile. "Just one kiss."

Shane's head was suddenly pulled into an embrace, and her lips met his. His defenses were deftly pried open, his tongue skillfully hooked and entwined in a slick, lingering dance. A suction force arose from the female elf's body, drawing away his magic power along with his saliva. She had said one kiss meant one kiss, though it lasted rather long. Shane was nearly breathless by the time it ended, and there was no longer any secret in his mouth hidden from her.

Their lips parted. "You taste better than the Sunwell." Sylvanas licked her lips in satisfaction, pressed her cheek against his, and blew into his ear. "Put me down quickly. I can't be carried when I meet my subordinates."

The female elf's body no longer trembled, having returned to normal. The two walked out of the altar side by side. Before them, flames were gradually consuming the troll settlement, while the rangers had just charged to the altar entrance.

"Commander!" "Lady Sylvanas!"

"I'm fine. We leave now."

Her subordinates brought her a strider, and the rangers withdrew as swiftly as they had arrived.

The final battle of this armed reconnaissance mission was over. They encountered no more trolls on the return journey. Traveling day and night, they returned to Windrunner Outpost in just three days, and everyone let out a long breath. With their taut nerves finally relaxing, the rangers drank or slept to ease their emotions.

As one of the leaders, Shane still had much to do. Back in the mage tower, he prepared to report to the council. The bear meat from the voodoo cauldron, the black soil, and the dragonhawk bones were all to be submitted to the masters for evaluation. The hexer Malakas was included in the report as well.

"...This indicates that high-ranking priests or great hexers may emerge among the trolls. For the safety of the Ghostlands, it is recommended that the strength of the Red Sun White Tower be reinforced."

After adding his conclusions and recommendations, he used Targeted Teleportation to send the report back to Silvermoon City for his mentor to handle. On the second day after returning to the outpost, Sylvanas escorted the wounded and the dead to Quel'Thalin. She also had to report to her superiors.

Windrunner had been overshadowed by Dawnblade again? Shane had no time to care about that. Part of the dragonhawk flesh's functions had been analyzed. Its divinity possessed indestructibility, while its voodoo hexcraft bestowed a rotting curse. Many more unknowns awaited investigation.

In the laboratory, Shane poured a drop of flesh into a petri dish, cast protective spells on himself, and touched it with a fingertip. The flesh seemed to come alive and leaped onto his finger. The rotting hexcraft neutralized his shield until its energy ran out, then it fell back into the petri dish. A miracle occurred: that drop of flesh was slowly recovering its energy.

"Eye of Truth, report the observation results."

"Based on observation, it can be determined that the divinity is responsible for the recovery. The dragonhawk flesh possesses assimilative properties and can rot organic life into identical flesh."

The purpose of the experiment was to observe the process, summarize the experience, and derive results. To understand the dragonhawk flesh, Shane prepared more than thirty experiments. He tested its reactions with all kinds of different substances to determine its magical properties. After completing the series of experiments, he confirmed that when it reacted with metal and organic matter, it displayed a third magical property: assimilation.

Shane could not make use of the divinity contained within the flesh, but he had no intention of wasting it. He could use it to modify the puppet Taigo. The armor plate on Taigo's chest had been melted away, saving him quite a bit of work.

"Eye of Truth, observe every change."

"Understood."

After speaking, Shane smashed the alchemy vial containing the dragonhawk flesh onto the core. Wherever the flesh spread, the metal was dyed dark red. Corrupted by divinity, its structure changed. The original golden coating peeled away, exposing dark red metal that gradually spread across Taigo's entire body.

Several spikes grew from Taigo's shoulders. The edges of the hole in its chest writhed ceaselessly, like a gaping bloody mouth seeking to devour something. It picked up a metal plate itself and pressed it against its chest. Dark red metal threads extended like fleshy sprouts and connected to the plate. Assimilation, fusion, seamless connection—the gap in its chest was repaired.

"Besides the infected metal, the intelligence core has also been infected. Several behaviors have been added. The highest authorization has not changed."

The added behaviors could perhaps be called divine instincts, Shane thought.