"Arthas Menethil, I am the Prince of the Human Kingdom of Lordaeron, a Paladin of the Silver Hand."
The identity Arthas introduced, especially the latter, made Archaedas feel nostalgic.
"The Silver Hand... I never thought that Tyr's symbol would be passed down among his beloved creations in such an unexpected way," Archaedas's voice was low and melancholic.
While Arthas couldn't fully empathize with Archaedas's experiences, he had to admit that Tyr was the Guardian of the flame of civilization for the entire Eastern Kingdoms.
If this Lord of Order hadn't made a resolute and noble sacrifice in the face of the enemy, perhaps the Eastern Kingdoms would still be a barren land today.
There would be no Human Kingdom, Ironforge, or Gnomeregan; everything would have been reduced to naught by the schemes of Yogg-Saron and Loken.
"I will help you check the records in the Platinum Disc, but after you find the troggs, I'm afraid you'll have to deal with them yourselves—at least for now, Uldaman truly doesn't have the capability to help you eliminate the trogg threat."
Archaedas was also very helpless; furthermore, he and Ironaya had to protect and repair this Titan ruin in Uldaman, so they couldn't exert themselves to help Arthas and Magni deal with the troggs.
In the end, he didn't help much, merely telling Arthas and the others the troggs' location.
"This has already solved a lot of trouble for us."
Hearing that Archaedas was willing to help them find the specific location of the troggs, Magni also breathed a sigh of relief. He had almost thought that he and Arthas would have made a wasted trip, but the final outcome was good.
Arthas was also content with this; it was already much better than his worst-case scenario. At least now they could obtain the troggs' lair location without bloodshed and had gained two Guardian allies, which was a huge gain.
"However, I also have some questions I want to ask you, Arthas."
To Arthas's surprise, Archaedas also questioned him. Though puzzled, he nodded and said, "Of course, I will answer everything I know."
"There are some Dwarves in Uldaman, and they are quite different from your friend here." Archaedas's gaze fell upon the Dark Iron Dwarves, and it seemed he had already obtained some information from the city's facilities.
"They are Dark Iron Dwarves, enslaved by the Fire Lord Ragnaros, attempting to excavate treasures useful to their master from Uldaman." The one who answered Archaedas's question was Magni. He might not know much about other secrets, but he had received a lot of information regarding the Dark Iron Dwarves.
Sometimes, the one who knows you best, besides yourself, might be your enemy.
To prevent the Dark Iron Dwarves from threatening Ironforge, Magni had been trying to gather intelligence about Blackrock Mountain, but after the Second Orcish War, the Dark Iron Dwarves were driven out of Hordemar City and hid deep underground.
Due to the harassment from the Blackrock Orcs, the Dark Iron Dwarves' movements became even more secretive, and Ironforge and Magni received very little news.
"The Fire Lord Ragnaros? Wasn't he banished from the physical plane by Odin and Tyr?" Archaedas was clearly shocked, having thought that this Fire Lord would never escape that cage.
Ironaya answered Archaedas's question with the information she had just obtained, "The Dark Iron Dwarves summoned the Fire Lord using ancient incantations. However, I suspect that the one under Blackrock Mountain might not be the Fire Lord's true form."
Hmm? Arthas looked at Ironaya with some surprise, not expecting this female Giant to so easily deduce the truth of the matter.
Indeed, Ragnaros, located in the Molten Core beneath Blackrock Mountain, was actually just a power projection of the Fire Lord in the physical plane. However, after such a long period of dormancy and accumulation, it was likely that the power this avatar could wield in the Molten Core far exceeded the imagination of ordinary demigods.
Perhaps his power was not as formidable as it was in the elemental plane of the Firelands, but he was still an existence beyond the reach of mortals, otherwise, the Black Iron Dwarf race would not have been enslaved by him.
Of course, Ragnaros's power certainly hadn't reached the point of being able to re-guide the physical plane back to the elemental chaos of ancient times, otherwise, he would have long since left Blackrock Mountain and "purified everything with fire."
At the very least, the existence of the Black Dragon Prince Nefarian was something Ragnaros could not ignore, otherwise, the Fire Element and the Black Dragonflight would not have been in a stalemate in Blackrock Mountain for so long.
"An avatar of the Fire Lord is also a sufficiently dangerous existence... If not stopped, I'm afraid the elemental plane will once again dominate the surface of Azeroth, and our efforts will be in vain." Archaedas did not underestimate Ragnaros just because he was currently only an avatar; on the contrary, he took this matter very seriously.
"In fact, I originally planned to deal with the Fire Lord, but the troggs disrupted our plans."
Arthas revealed his original intention at this moment.
"A wise choice. The Fire Lord is an opponent not to be underestimated, but do you know that mortals alone cannot deal with Ragnaros and his servants? You should know that in ancient times, only the two most valiant warriors among the Guardians were able to banish and seal him."
Archaedas said somewhat sternly that the threat of the Fire Lord was imminent. Given enough time, his ambition would surely swell to the point of wanting to engulf all of Azeroth, but Ragnaros was by no means a problem that mortals could solve.
"I am well aware, but the Dark Iron Dwarves enslaved by the Fire Lord require a mortal army to deal with. As for the Fire Lord and his elemental Legion, I will summon the Alliance's champions to confront them."
"Your courage is commendable, but some things cannot be accomplished by courage and determination alone. Regarding the Fire Lord, I will provide you with the necessary assistance.
Once Uldaman's infrastructure is fully operational, we should be able to find a way to weaken the Fire Lord and his minions. However, you cannot place all your hopes on Uldaman's facilities; after all, this is merely a sanctuary and vault, and there aren't too many offensive devices."
Ironaya agreed, "If necessary, I will leave Uldaman and help you deal with the Fire Lord."
Preventing Azeroth from falling into chaos again was inherently the Guardians' duty. If Archaedas didn't also have to safeguard the even more important Platinum Disc, he would have joined Ironaya in the expedition.
Although Ragnaros's current manifestation was an avatar, a power projection, no one knew how much power he could truly wield.
Arthas replied, "Thank you very much, but I'm afraid we cannot launch an offensive against Blackrock Mountain in the short term, because Blackrock Mountain has more than just Ragnaros as a problem."
Archaedas's stony face almost twisted. Besides Ragnaros, there was another problem comparable to him?! What incredible things had happened in Azeroth during his slumber?!
Was it possible that if he slept for another one or two hundred years, he would wake up to find the Old Gods had re-devoured this world?
"Besides Ragnaros, what else threatens Azeroth?"
Arthas glanced at the two Guardians and Magni beside him, then opened his mouth and dropped a bombshell on them.
"The corrupted Earth Guardian, Neltharion's son, the Black Dragon Prince Nefarian, is researching something in the upper reaches of Blackrock Mountain that could threaten all of Azeroth, and his father, Neltharion, has been driven mad by the whispers of the Old Gods. Now, Dragons and mortals call him Deathwing."
"Neltharion..."
When this name reached Archaedas's ears, he wasn't overly surprised; instead, there was a sense of understanding and melancholy.
"Odin might have been right; the Guardian Dragons cannot truly bear this heavy responsibility. They have too much 'humanity' compared to us. Guardians forged from steel and rock, when first created, would not have excessive emotions and thoughts. This is actually why we were able to defeat the Old Gods.
We had thought that we had to watch over that dangerous prisoner and might not be able to devote ourselves to Azeroth's development, so we shared this responsibility with them. But we never expected that in the end, this would still become the beginning of a tragedy."
Archaedas shook his head. As the Guardian who personally bestowed Kaz'garoth's blessing upon Neltharion, he naturally knew what consequences this close connection with the earth would bring.
But he never expected that even the strong-willed Neltharion would break down amidst the endless whispers.
That's right... Even Loken could be influenced by the power of the Old Gods. As an indigenous species of Azeroth, Neltharion was naturally more susceptible to the Old Gods' power.
That Odin fellow was too extreme and stubborn, but perhaps on this point, his worries and doubts were not unfounded.
"The Earth Guardian's corruption is also related to me; this is a dereliction of duty for all of us Guardians. I will do my best to help you with the Black Dragonflight's affairs."
Archaedas did not dwell on this topic too much. In his opinion, things that should have been forever buried in history should not be brought to the forefront of Azeroth again.
Arthas also tacitly did not press the issue. He also knew that now was not the time to make the Old Gods' affairs public—once the names of these evil deities were known, people would also be affected by them.
Magni, who had seemed somewhat bewildered during this discussion that started strong but fizzled out, also noticed the strange sense of tacit agreement between Arthas and Archaedas. He instinctively closed his mouth, temporarily suppressing the Dwarves' innate curiosity.
"The threats you face are more numerous than I imagined. Perhaps I must immediately offer you some tangible assistance." Archaedas proposed his idea.
Helping Arthas, to him, was equivalent to helping himself. He knew very well that under Loken's trickery, one day, Yogg-Saron would break free from Ulduar's prison. At that time, if no one stopped the Old Gods, the world would eventually meet its end.
He and Ironaya alone would certainly not be a match for Loken and his subordinates, so they had no choice but to temporarily place their hopes on Arthas.
They had initially thought Arthas was undoubtedly mortal, but Arthas's "Titanization" truly surprised them, and it also gave them hope of defeating Loken's scheme.
Archaedas's idea coincided with Arthas's. He also hoped that Archaedas would join his faction, because sooner or later, the Scourge would have a "friendly" neighborhood greeting with their neighbors.
"Although my combat ability is not as good as Tyr's and Odin's, the blessing of the Father God has granted me unparalleled forging and construction skills. Perhaps I can use the materials in Uldaman to reinforce your weapon and armor."
Archaedas looked at the longsword at Arthas's waist, "Please let me see your weapon."
Arthas thought for a moment, then unbuckled Frostmourne from his waist and handed it to Archaedas.
The moment Archaedas took Frostmourne, which was shrouded in a magical illusion, his expression froze. He didn't even observe it more closely before returning the sword to Arthas.
"I'm sorry... I truly cannot enhance this sword any further."
It wasn't that Frostmourne's forging technique surpassed Archaedas's skill, but rather that this sword followed a path completely different from the Titan legacy. Archaedas could not strengthen this weapon any further, otherwise, it would instead destroy its nearly perfect "balance."
One should know that even the knowledge Odin obtained at the cost of an eye only allowed him to add a few decorative runes to Frostmourne, slightly stabilizing the blade. To truly strengthen this weapon, one would probably have to find the sword's true forger.
Archaedas's answer made Magni stare at the now seemingly unremarkable Frostmourne in surprise. Magni, skilled in forging, immediately understood that this was by no means the sword's true appearance; Arthas must have used some method to conceal its true form.
Although he didn't know why Arthas would do this, it didn't prevent Magni from realizing that Arthas's sword was no ordinary item.
The Dwarves' forging skills were inherited from the Earthen. Although they had been passed down and improved through generations, Magni would not dare to boast that their forging techniques could surpass those personally taught by the Titan Father God.
One could only say that the Dwarves' forging skills represented the pinnacle of the current era, but Archaedas represented the pinnacle of Azeroth's "mythical era."
"It seems I can't help you with this matter..."
Archaedas thought of Arthas's steel body and understood that armor held little meaning for him; after all, no metal would be tougher than the Guardians' own bodies, for they were the Titans' masterpieces.
And Arthas's form was already nearing perfection, no less resilient than the Guardians' steel bodies, so armor was more of a decorative element than a practical one for Arthas.
However, a single sentence from Arthas made both Archaedas and Magni perk up simultaneously.
"Can this crystal be turned into a weapon that strikes fear into the hearts of evil beings?"
Brilliant Holy Light erupted from Arthas's hand, almost bathing the spacious hall in golden light, while a ethereal yet soothing chime echoed through the hall like a melodious song.
The core of the Ashbringer, the life essence of a Naru, the purest light in the universe.