"What exactly happened here? Why is it such a mess?!"
Brann displayed agility completely disproportionate to his size, leaping onto a stone pillar to avoid being electrocuted by the violent Arcane creatures.
Arthas frowned, using his warhammer to smash the Arcane creatures that came forward to electrocute him, and said to Kael'thas beside him, "These guys are endless in number. Do you have any way to stop them?"
Although a single Arcane creature couldn't threaten them, the wide palace hall was now almost an ocean of Arcane energy, and this energy contained a very volatile source, making the derived Arcane creatures extremely violent.
"There's nothing we can do, there are too many of them. It's not impossible to rush in, but if anyone falls behind, they won't be able to get out."
Kael'thas maintained an Arcane barrier in front of him, blocking the clawing, grotesque Arcane creatures outside. This magic seemed to consume a lot of energy, but in this energy-rich environment, Kael'thas actually had little burden.
"I have already sent someone to notify Jaina."
"That's good. With an Archmage's help, we should be able to leave this wretched place."
They had entered this hall from a path guarded by ancient tree-men, but as soon as they emerged from the passage, they were targeted by the frenzied Arcane creatures.
Kael'thas didn't take long to figure out the problem. The Highborne had built the last two Arcane crystal towers here, and this was also, as Arthas said, the Highborne's living battery prison.
They never thought that anyone would enter this hall ten thousand years later, so the Elven mages probably never considered that an excessively high concentration of Arcane energy would make a mess of this place.
Anyway, those Arcane aberrations wouldn't threaten the prison, and instead, when they died, they would cause the Arcane energy around the prison to continuously increase, maintaining the prison's stability.
Moreover, they could also serve as a defensive line, because these Arcane creatures were all contaminated by the evil energy emitted by demons. Although they themselves were not peaceful creatures, the violent Arcane creatures would attack anyone who entered the hall.
Presumably, the Highborne must have had a unique way to bypass this group of blue guys and directly enter the place where the demon Immol'thar was being held.
Now, these creatures indeed caused great trouble for Arthas's expedition team. Not long after entering the hall, they were blocked in front of a sealed door, using the ruins there as cover to defend against the Arcane creatures' attacks.
As the battle became more intense, a wave of ice-blue magic swept in from the side of the expedition team's defensive position, significantly lowering the indoor temperature.
Where the cold wave swept, the creatures made of pure magic were frozen, and dozens of sparkling ice sculptures still glowing with Arcane light stood in place.
"Quickly retreat, the magic concentration here is too high, the freezing won't last long!" As Jaina's clear voice came, the magical torrent at the bottom of those Arcane creatures began to surge again, and the ice on their bodies gradually showed cracks.
"Everyone, retreat to the passage we came from and temporarily close the door."
At Arthas's command, the soldiers and Explorers quickly retreated towards the hall passage. He and Kael'thas, as the strongest members, stayed behind to guard against any unforeseen circumstances.
Just as the two of them were about to withdraw from the defensive position, Arthas suddenly realized that one guy seemed to not have come out yet. He looked up, and above the broken statue of the stone pillar, Brann was waving at Arthas.
"Hey, kid, guess what I found on this stone carving… Ah!"
Brann was about to show off his new discovery, but either because he was too heavy, or because the ten-thousand-year-old statue was too fragile, the tall stone carving cracked with a snap, and Brann and a part of its body fell to the ground.
"Brann?!"
"Cough cough! I'm fine, let's go!"
Amidst a cloud of dust, Brann coughed a few times, brushed away the dust in front of him, picked up his hat, and ran—if he could get injured from falling from such a height, he wouldn't be worthy of being a member of the Bronzebeard Clan.
"Why did you climb so high?" Arthas growled, "If you got crushed under the statue, I don't want to be dragging a dismembered adventurer around!"
"Hehe, let's get out of here first, and I'll show you my discovery once we're safe." Brann followed closely behind Arthas, grinning foolishly as he tucked something into his pocket.
"Arthas, get down!"
Kael'thas's shout came, and Arthas unhesitatingly bent down in a power slide, using his momentum to brake directly in front of Kael'thas.
The moment he bent down, a semi-circular burst of fiery flames erupted, and the magical flames instantly ignited the swarming Arcane creatures.
"Ah! Why didn't you warn me?! My hat is scorched!" Brann cried out, quickly taking off his hat to extinguish the flames on it, and then feeling his hair and beard to see if they had been damaged.
"That's why I told Arthas to get down. That magic wouldn't have burned you."
Kael'thas spread his hands innocently, and Arthas also stood up—Brann, despite being burly even among Dwarves, was, ahem, a little short compared to Arthas.
"But you burned my hat! This is a limited edition from the Explorer's League!"
"Alright, Brann, the Explorer's League is practically your family's business, are you afraid you can't get another hat?" Arthas helplessly tried to mediate between the two, "And you, Kael'thas, that was a bit dangerous just now."
Kael'thas smiled apologetically, "Sorry, but those Arcane creatures were chasing too closely just now. If you two were caught, it would probably be more troublesome, so I took a risk."
Arthas shrugged, noncommittal, then turned to look at Brann, who was still heartbroken over his hat, "What did you find just now?"
"Ah, this is indeed a major discovery!" Brann pulled out a dusty book from his pocket, carefully blowing off the dust.
"This is?" Arthas frowned slightly.
"I don't know, but I found it in a hidden dead corner behind the statue, where it was not easy to find. Someone must have deliberately hidden it there." Brann gently opened the book, afraid that his movements would be too rough and damage the hard-won book.
"What does it say?"
Brann's expression stiffened, and he gave an awkward smile, "Uh, my ancient elven language isn't quite fluent yet… There are some words I don't understand."