Chapter Forty-Four: Biological Research

Undying and indestructible? What truly defines such a state? Before encountering the Deep Divers, Artanis had always harbored doubts about this concept.

Although His Majesty Ael would never deceive them, Artanis remained deeply curious about these weak, immortal creatures. Were these frail, undying monsters resurrected after being slain, or were they somehow reborn anew? If it was resurrection, how did their bodies remain intact? If their forms were utterly annihilated, how could they possibly return?

Countless questions swirled in his mind, but it was only after Vorazun captured one of the Deep Divers that the possibility of answers finally appeared. Artanis extended his right hand and activated the scanner built into his armor, directing it at the Deep Diver.

“How does it look?” Vorazun had managed to capture three Deep Divers and trapped them each within a stasis field. They needed to test which methods might truly kill a Deep Diver, so Vorazun had deliberately seized several specimens.

As for the scanner on Artanis’s armor, Vorazun herself was not fond of such devices, and during covert operations, the fewer gadgets one carried, the better; thus, she had not brought one.

“Indeed, the results are unusual,” Artanis observed, “I detect a dense concentration of dark energy. Although these creatures are not powerful in themselves, each of their cells appears to be composed of pure dark energy. Even if they are disassembled, the dark energy simply coalesces once more—perhaps this is one principle behind their resurrection.” He studied the readout. “They are not truly made of flesh and blood. Their essence is a mass of dark energy; perhaps we might call them elemental beings.”

“Elemental beings? That’s rare. What about their core or soul?” Vorazun had some knowledge of elemental entities; during the Protoss Empire’s exploration of the cosmos, they had encountered such creatures. Yet those elemental beings lacked immortality—they were fragile, especially once their planet was discovered.

Composed of pure energy, their core was regarded as a treasure by local life forms and thus hunted ruthlessly. Only the quiet intervention of the Protoss Empire, who spirited away some of their kind to uninhabited worlds, preserved their species.

Their core was the seat of their soul; if the core was damaged, an elemental being would collapse into ashes. To kill one, one simply needed to destroy its core.

“But these are even more peculiar,” Artanis remarked, raising his brow at the unexpected revelation, “they lack a core entirely. Their whole bodies are elemental, so no matter how one kills them, the root remains untouched.”

“Elementals without a core?” Vorazun was astonished. “No wonder they are undying.”

Given that this was a task entrusted by His Majesty Ael, it was naturally not something that could be solved so easily.

“The scanners can’t analyze anything further. It seems we’ll have to investigate ourselves.” Artanis withdrew his hand and retrieved a set of experimental apparatus from his personal storage. As a scholar devoted to research, carrying a portable lab was entirely reasonable.

Vorazun silently produced a piece of Ulraki crystal—a byproduct of the Dark Templar’s long exposure to Khaydarin crystals, capable of storing void energy more efficiently. To the eye, the only difference between the two was their color: Khaydarin crystals flowed with purified psionic energy and glowed blue; Ulraki crystals pulsed with void energy and shone green.

Vorazun was not adept at research, so she could only channel her psionic energy into the Ulraki crystal to support Artanis’s experiment.

Artanis placed the strange elemental creature on the lab table. Thanks to their psychic deterrence, even when the fish-men emerged from stasis, they remained unconscious.

His first experiment was to cut the creature with a sharp blade. Despite previous tests revealing their elemental nature, he needed additional data for accuracy.

Eidman metal—the hardest alloy forged by engineers of the Protoss Empire—was widely used throughout their society: the personal armor of Templar warriors, the main hulls of motherships and carriers, the core plating of solar matrices, and more. Its properties were exceptional, its psionic responsiveness unmatched. Alongside Urul metal, famed for its magical affinity, Eidman was one of the two most precious metals in the universe, and both were the only known substances capable of blocking psionic blades.

For his first test, Artanis used a small knife made of Eidman metal, without any energy enhancements, to cut the specimen.

The blade sliced through the fish-man effortlessly, splitting it in two. Yet both halves seemed to possess life of their own, writhing ceaselessly. The viscous liquid seeping from the wounds transformed into tendrils, rejoining the two halves into one whole.

“It seems their form can automatically repair itself,” Artanis noted, and a line of text recorded his observation.

In subsequent tests, Artanis employed numerous methods to destroy the Deep Diver’s form: particle disintegrators, matter dissolvers, and other techniques. Ultimately, he confirmed that all physical means were ineffective, and the experiment naturally proceeded to the next stage.

“Why not begin with phase two?” Vorazun asked, unable to resist as Artanis completed the first stage.

“Though our goal is simply to discover how to kill them, we must also consider whether our warriors might encounter similar creatures in the future. If we find multiple solutions, we can offer greater strength to our soldiers,” Artanis said solemnly. “Besides, during my time in Midgard, I learned that certain evil beings react to specific materials—like how zombies fear sticky rice and peachwood swords, but not ordinary rice or camphorwood blades.”

Vorazun nodded thoughtfully. Though she did not know what a zombie was, she surmised it must be some malevolent life form from Midgard.

From afar, Ael’s lips twitched. After handling his own affairs, he had been watching the proceedings and overheard Artanis’s remarks about zombies. Yet as far as he knew, there were no such creatures on Midgard—merely folklore. Artanis, unfamiliar with mortal society, had taken the tales and records at face value.