"Hmph!" Magni suddenly appeared in an open space, leaning on a support frame in the cave, panting heavily. "This... it feels like someone is choking me."
"This is different from a mage's teleportation. It's normal for the living to not adapt well," Arthas said, appearing right beside Magni.
However, compared to the somewhat disheveled Magni, Arthas appeared clearly at ease, without any adverse reactions.
The Dwarves of Ironforge always prided themselves on having a will tougher than rock, but this peculiar sensation truly couldn't be resolved with willpower.
It was a physiological discomfort, like drowning someone in a pool and only pulling him out when he was on the verge of drowning. Magni almost thought his long-deceased father was waving at him.
"I really don't want to experience this kind of teleportation a second time." Magni took a while to recover, finally shaking off the negative symptoms of weakness and dry heaving.
When he looked up, he saw Arthas already standing before the tightly shut metal gate. Exquisite bas-reliefs were carved into the bronze-like gate.
"Why are there no Dark Iron Dwarves here?" Magni, holding his warhammer, began to survey his surroundings.
He didn't see any living Dark Iron Dwarves, but he did see many corpses of dead Dark Iron Dwarves.
The Dark Iron Dwarves had died in various ways: some were torn into several pieces by brute force, others had their vital points pierced by extremely crude stone weapons, and some had their heads completely missing.
The long-dried bloodstains on the cave walls and ground, partially covered by dust, indicated that these Dark Iron Dwarves had been dead for a long time.
"Ugh... they don't look like they died peacefully."
Even though the Dark Iron Dwarves and the Bronzebeard Clan had a long-standing feud, Magni felt no joy seeing the miserable deaths of these Dwarves.
Killing enemies and torturing enemies were two entirely different matters. No normal Dwarf would be excited by such a sight. These Dark Iron Dwarves were likely subjected to horrifying torment before their deaths.
"It's the trogg... only these barbaric monsters in this cave could have defeated the Dark Iron Dwarves' squad," Arthas said, stroking the bronze gate for a moment before turning around. "There are quite a few trogg, otherwise the Dark Iron Dwarves shouldn't have abandoned this nearby ruin."
"There are twenty to thirty dead Dark Iron Dwarves here, and judging by the bloodstains that extend all the way to the outside of the passage, the losses inflicted by the trogg on the Dark Iron Dwarves are definitely far more than that."
Magni analyzed, "But this might be good news for us. We can temporarily avoid encountering the Dark Iron Dwarves."
"It might not be as good as we think. The Dark Iron Dwarves will definitely not retreat easily, and such a large underground palace could very well have more than one entrance." Arthas took out a mana crystal and buried it among some debris.
This served as a spatial marker, allowing mages to sense the entrance's location, so Ironforge could directly teleport an expedition team here.
As for why Arthas didn't bring the Dwarf royal guards, the reason was simple: they couldn't recover their combat strength as quickly as Magni after experiencing a Death Walk.
Although Arthas had already scouted ahead and found no soul reactions in this area, he couldn't be certain that it was absolutely safe, so he could only bring Magni to investigate first.
And just as he expected, Magni also felt a bit weak from the side effects of the Death Walk, but his powerful body allowed him to recover quickly. In just tens of seconds, he had fully regained his combat ability.
Even if there was danger, Arthas could easily buy enough time for one person to recover, but if he brought others, Arthas couldn't necessarily guarantee everyone's safety.
"But what do we do now? This door... it doesn't look easy to open." Magni walked up to the tall metal door and tried to push it, finding it didn't budge.
What Magni found strange was that besides the exquisite, artistic bas-reliefs on this door, there seemed to be no magical traces. There should be a mechanism to open this gate.
"In my experience, a door like this should have a mechanism, like a button or a lever, for us to open it."
Magni looked around, trying to find a protrusion or something that looked like a button to open the heavy door.
"Is that so?"
Arthas also tried pushing the door. He suddenly felt like he understood how this door worked.
While Magni was still searching for some potential activation device, a heavy creaking sound slowly began. With the sound of metal axles turning and the door scraping against the ground, the long-sealed door was opened once more.
Magni was stunned for a full ten seconds. He stared at Arthas and asked, "Did you find the button?"
"No."
"Then how did you open it?"
"I just pushed it open."
Pushed it open?!
These simple two words almost made Magni jump three meters high. "You're not kidding, are you? Pushed this door open? This isn't any thinner than the door to the Ironforge throne room!"
Magni had tried just now, but the feedback he received told the experienced Dwarf that this door couldn't be moved by his strength alone, and perhaps not by any mortal.
And without him noticing, a human, a human whose pure physical strength was inferior to a Dwarf's, actually told him he had forcefully pushed this door open?!
"Arthas, by the Mountain King, I even suspect you're a transformed Dragon—that strange magic and your strength, what kind of monster did my brother teach?"
The outspoken Dwarf couldn't hide his thoughts when only two people were present, but Arthas didn't mind such a title.
Because, to be honest, to mortals, he was indeed no different from a monster. In some sense, he couldn't even be considered a living being.
Being able to push open this door was also thanks to the terrifying strength that "Titan Incarnation" brought Arthas.
As for why it was called Titan Incarnation instead of Iron Vrykul Incarnation, the reason was simple: Iron Vrykul sounded too unpleasant, and even Iron Vrykul might be far from Arthas's strength.
The first push of the door, that familiar feeling, told Arthas that the "person" who designed this door must have designed the simplest "lock."
It couldn't even be called a lock, because opening this door was both simple and difficult: it required sufficiently powerful strength.
Individuals like Arthas, the Titan Guardians, or the Steel Soldiers that were created, their strength could easily open this great door.
Therefore, Arthas thought that perhaps after Magni activated his Divine Ascension, with a bit of effort, he should also be able to open this door. However, Magni clearly hadn't thought of this; his habitual thinking led him to believe that a key or a mechanism was needed to open the door.
It's just that this "key" was actually inherent to a specific group of individuals.
The moment the great door was pushed open, Arthas truly sensed that something had been activated, sending a message deep into the underground palace.
That was definitely the "doorbell" left by Azadas, one of Uldaman's builders, a Titan Guardian. Any outsider who opened Uldaman's main gate would transmit the message to him within the underground palace.
However, the Guardian allowed himself and his creations to fall into slumber in Uldaman, hoping that one day their companions would discover the truth and recognize the true betrayer, but he forgot to consider the passage of time.
This long slumber spanned from an era before civilization arose to today's era of numerous mortal civilizations. It's understandable that when the Guardian was disturbed and awakened from his slumber, upon seeing a group of creatures corrupted by the Flesh Curse rush into the underground palace and destroy Titan creations, his first reaction would undoubtedly be to retaliate.
Due to the immense generational gap, when the exploring and slumbering parties collided, there was almost no room for discussion or communication; the only option was combat.
Although this "misunderstanding" of a battle ended in the "explorers'" victory, when the self-righteous adventurers uncovered the final door of the underground palace and understood the truth of the matter, they were shocked to discover—
They were not heroes who defeated evil Guardians, but a group of reckless fools who didn't understand the truth.
The Guardians who attacked them didn't go mad because they were awakened from their long slumber; it was simply because in their era, there were no races like Humans, Dwarves, orcs, or even Elves.
Facing unknown invaders who triggered the underground palace's defense system and even penetrated to the deepest vault, Azadas, as a Guardian, naturally assumed these people were true invaders, enemies of the Titans.
Coupled with an immature and irrational view of flesh creatures, this led to an almost irreconcilable conflict between the two sides, causing the Guardians, who needn't have died, to lose their lives.
One side was mortals eager to resolve the immediate crisis, and the other was Guardians with rigid thinking who were sworn to defend their mission until death. The conflict between them was thus triggered.
Now, the underground palace's gate has been opened by Arthas, and the information of outsiders entering Uldaman has once again been transmitted to the Guardian's slumbering place.
...
Kaz Modan, northwest Dun Morogh, among the mountains behind Gnomeregan.
The naxxanar is suspended in the clouds above the mountain peaks. The Scourge generals are planning their operation against Gnomeregan.
"His Majesty's decree is for us to eliminate the subterranean creatures invading the Gnome city, and we must not reveal too much information to the living," the Archlich succinctly explained the current situation.
"Subterranean creatures... the Nerubian can make these inferior races understand who the true underground kings are." Anub'rekhan rubbed his sharp claws. "We will be responsible for cutting off the retreat of these filthy creatures."
"Since we cannot be exposed to mortal sight, we can only try to cut off these trogg at their source." Ogrim stroked his chin. "Death Knights can establish formations and barriers with Necromancers. If all goes well, we can infect these creatures with the plague and turn them into our weapons."
"Plague, Doomhammer, aren't you afraid of these deadly things leaking out and turning those adorable little Gnomes into mindless zombies!" Varimathras waved his hand, not favoring Ogrim's suggestion.
"Demon, don't be too arrogant, unless you want to become the next Mannoroth." Grommash stepped forward. Although Ogrim had been trying to "persuade" him, as a former member of the Horde, he would still speak up for Ogrim.
"Hmph, you orcs are not much different from that brainless fool Mannoroth—Doomhammer, the plague can be used, but you'd best consider the pros and cons carefully. Those fragile mortals can't touch a speck of this stuff."
Varimathras's sarcasm did not embarrass Ogrim; instead, he began to seriously consider the matter.
The Dreadlords were right; once the plague spread to the trogg, it would become uncontrollable. After all, this dangerous power, from the moment it was created, was not meant for control, but for rampant proliferation.
"We need samples. With specific trogg samples, the Necromancers should be able to create a 'specialized cure' for this type of creature." Ogrim glanced at Kel'Thuzad. "I will first lead the Death Knights to hunt enough samples."
"I will have the Necromancers speed up production, but it's best not to have too high expectations. These subterranean creatures have particularly strong vitality. A plague that affects them without affecting other life forms will always be very difficult to achieve."
Kel'Thuzad nodded slightly. To quickly reduce the number of trogg, the plague was an excellent choice. And the trogg's strong vitality meant that even if they contracted the plague, they could still run around, spreading these deadly things.
However, they weren't the only ones who wanted to eliminate the trogg. The Gnomes who were currently fighting the trogg could also become victims of the plague, so before deciding to use this power, thorough preparations must be made.
"I will provide you with assistance and information from the naxxanar. Anub'rekhan and his Nerubian forces will transmit the underground situation to Naxxramas immediately."
Kel'Thuzad threw out several soul crystals, distributing them to the Scourge generals. "Use this to contact me at any time. I will use this to inform you of your tasks and other information.
Oh, and if you encounter trouble, throw this crystal out. My magic will harvest those fragile souls.
Don't be stingy; this thing is meant for war, and I am very interested in the souls of these wonderful little fellows."
The Archlich's voice, like a cold wind, swept into the hearts of every Scourge warrior. They knew well that as the Lich King's dark blades, they were about to truly reveal their sharpness.