On the crimson land, almost identical to the Blasted Lands, Lothar slowly rode his Deathcharger across the vast, endless plains.
The sky above him was a dark curtain, adorned everywhere with streaks of countless stars.
At the farthest reaches of his vision, Lothar could see that this land was still continuously breaking apart, the energy collapse caused by the portal's explosion having spread throughout the entire Outland.
Every second, countless planetary remnants were swept into the Dark Void, becoming part of the universe's cold dust.
Even as a Death Knight, he was startled by the desolation displayed by this land; the creatures that could survive on Hellfire Peninsula were basically all thoroughly contaminated by various energies.
They had long since departed from the realm of living beings, transforming into crazed monsters.
The shattered planet could no longer provide any guarantee for the life of this world; the moment the planet disintegrated, the power from the Dark Void and the residual fel energy of the Demons impacted every inch of Hellfire Peninsula.
Lothar couldn't help but worry: Could the Alliance Expeditionary Force, which had entered the Dark Portal back then, truly survive in such a world?
Even if the Scourge were stationed in Outland, they would have to worry about the various energies constantly eroding the world's remnants.
Desolate, broken, and lifeless were Lothar's only remaining perceptions of Hellfire Peninsula during his journey.
After wandering on the plains for some time, besides slaying some native mutated species, Lothar had not yet seen any signs of intelligent life activity.
He found a hiding place, threw down all the useful materials he had collected from those monsters, and plunged his Runeblade into the ground.
Lothar fumbled in his pouch for a moment, pulled out a yellowed parchment scroll, spread it open, and using gravel from the ground dipped in the monster blood he had collected, he dabbed a corner of the scroll.
However, the scroll did not react as he desired. Lothar frowned, realizing that the monsters' blood had also undergone denaturing and could no longer activate the scroll.
Putting down the stone chip, Lothar took out a small vial of fresh blood from his pouch. This was brought from Azeroth, but he could not carry many materials, so he had thought of trying to use local creatures instead.
The result was clearly disappointing; in any case, this blood was very difficult to use directly for the original magical ritual.
But it didn't matter; Lothar had considered this situation before coming, and the materials he carried were enough for him to complete the next task.
Tearing open the enchanted scroll, the magic stored within it surged out, beginning to outline one light blue rune after another in the space before Lothar.
These runes were arranged in order, sometimes glowing brightly and sometimes dimming. Lothar thought for a moment and took out another item from his pocket.
A bottle of golden liquid, which was the water from the Sunwell.
The magic in the scroll seemed insufficient to complete this ritual; fortunately, he had brought a bottle of Sunwell water as a precaution.
The process of infusing energy into the runes was not complicated; even Lothar, a Death Knight who had started halfway, could easily manage it. Soon, when the water in the bottle was nearly half consumed, all the runes simultaneously lit up with a deep blue light.
Immediately after, they rapidly dispersed, spreading out on a planar surface in space. As Lothar capped the bottle of Sunwell water, a biting cold wind blew over him.
Hellfire Citadel certainly did not have such low temperatures; the other side of the runic teleportation array was the top level of Icecrown Citadel, where the Frozen Throne was located.
Archlich Kel'Thuzad's figure stood majestically on the throne platform. He had already prepared the magic array, just waiting for Lothar to open the portal.
Under the gathering of soul energy at the Frozen Throne, following the Archlich's spell, the temporary portal, built with the magic from the Sunwell water, was forcibly expanded several times.
The doorway, which could originally only accommodate one person, was now large enough for Anub'arak's massive body to pass through.
"It worked!" Ogrim's face showed excitement; Lothar had actually found a way to open a portal to Draenor!
But this excitement lasted only a few seconds before it was extinguished by the sight Ogrim saw before him.
"This... is this Tanaan?" Ogrim looked at the land on the other side of the portal with some disbelief.
Grommash's mouth also moved, but he ultimately chose to accept this reality.
"It must be. At Lothar's pace, in such a short time, he couldn't have gone far from the Dark Portal."
"Stop talking nonsense! This portal can't be maintained indefinitely. Quickly, get people through the portal!"
The Archlich urged the Scourge generals; maintaining such a portal required a massive amount of magic, and although most of it came from the shattered souls lost in Northrend, Kel'Thuzad, who was responsible for guiding the magic, was still under considerable pressure.
Ogrim and the others stopped talking nonsense, leading a portion of the Scourge's elite quickly through the portal. Kel'Thuzad took a look, confirmed that everyone had passed through, and then floated into the portal himself.
Without Kel'Thuzad's support, the portal quickly dissipated completely, but no one was worried.
"Did you get the exact coordinates?" Ogrim asked Kel'Thuzad.
"Of course, but I need some time to establish contact with Azeroth. The Lich King told us not to establish a permanent two-way channel, so we can only try to make a semi-permanent one."
Kel'Thuzad's vast knowledge and powerful magic quickly allowed him to understand the operating rules of Outland, this shattered world. His mandibles opened and closed, as if he were laughing, "Interesting, this world has not yet been completely swallowed by the Dark Void. This is an unprecedented discovery in the history of magic."
After speaking, Kel'Thuzad summoned a group of Necromancers he had brought and began to build a position in the hiding place Lothar had found.
Anub'arak, meanwhile, led the Crypt Fiends to dig tunnels beneath the ground, preparing to turn this place into a permanent Scourge outpost.
Ogrim and Grommash did not need to interfere with the construction of the camp. The two of them walked to a high point and looked at the desolate, crimson land, and a strange emotion arose in their cold hearts.
"This... is the world we once lived in." Grommash sighed.
Ogrim patted Grommash's shoulder, "Look at it this way, when we chose to walk that path, this was already destined fate—it's just that Ner'zhul, that scoundrel, sped up the process a bit."
Grommash suddenly wanted to talk about the orcs who had remained on Draenor, but he stopped himself just as the words were about to come out.
He was no longer an Orc of the Horde; now he served a powerful dark entity.
It was just that this dark entity seemed to be fighting against "evil," which Grommash found somewhat incomprehensible.
"Is this your original homeland?" Lothar came over and asked casually, "It certainly wasn't always like this."
"That's right, before Gul'dan lured the Old Horde to build the Dark Portal, can you imagine, this was once a dense jungle full of thorns, home to all sorts of animals and plants, a perilous but vibrant land."
Ogrim shrugged, "But after Gul'dan and his Warlocks' fel corrupted this land, Tanaan Jungle withered day by day until it was completely reduced to a wasteland.
And given the miserable state of Tanaan, I speculate that Draenor must already be unrecognizable, and I don't know if we can still find what we need on this land."
The Scourge had not come to Outland to reminisce; they were here to scout the situation in Outland and to find ways to further strengthen the Scourge's power.
"You're here," the Archlich floated silently behind the three Death Knights.
"What's wrong? Don't you need to continue supervising the camp's construction? Speaking of which, leaving that large Bat alone in Naxxramas, I always feel a bit uneasy." Ogrim turned his head.
"Half of that Demon's soul is in the Lich King's sword. I didn't let him come purely because I didn't want him to attract the attention of the Burning Legion—this isn't Azeroth; the Burning Legion's forces are still stationed on the planet's ruins," Kel'Thuzad said.
"The Archlich is right; we must be extremely careful in Draenor. It's far more dangerous here than Azeroth."
Grommash pursed his lips, "Let's change the name. This place is completely different from the original Draenor. We probably need to get to know it all over again."
"There's no need for that; the Lich King has already prepared for us." Kel'Thuzad's clean white finger bones pointed, and three maps appeared in the hands of the three Death Knights.
They opened them and found that the basic terrain of most areas of shattered Draenor was already fully marked, even with names and the areas before they were destroyed.
"This map makes me feel... that the Lich King seems to understand this world better than we do." Ogrim held the map and examined it for a long time, finally only saying this sentence, "Then according to the markings on the map, let's call shattered Draenor 'Outland'... an area on the outer layer of the planet, truly a fitting name."
Lothar said, "You all stay at the outpost first. I'll go explore this unknown territory. After all, a map alone cannot provide a comprehensive understanding of this place."
Lothar did not ask for help, because his strength was sufficient to operate alone in Hellfire Peninsula, and too many people would only cause unnecessary trouble, such as alerting the enemy.
Moreover, they had already established basic communication. With the help of Rune magic, Lothar could immediately get aid from the Scourge camp, so there was no need to bring people with him.
So Lothar once again traveled alone across the desolate lands of Hellfire Peninsula, only this time he was not aimlessly searching for a suitable place to build a camp, but heading towards the fortress that the Expeditionary Force had built, marked on the map.
However, this journey was not as smooth as Lothar had imagined.
After Illidan's forces entered Hellfire Peninsula, they inevitably clashed with the current ruler of Outland, the Pit Lord Magtheridon.
Of course, Illidan also wanted to clash with Magtheridon; he needed to resolve this hidden danger so that Outland could truly become a place under his control.
However, the conflict between Illidan and Magtheridon was not limited to their two sides' battles; this great war also affected other factions.
One of the unfortunate parties caught in this war was the Alliance Expeditionary Force's outpost in Hellfire Peninsula, Honor Hold.
As Lothar galloped on his horse, his keen soul perception suddenly detected a place not far from him where there seemed to be very intense soul reactions.
That was definitely not a struggle between wild beasts. Lothar pulled on his warhorse's reins, riding the Deathcharger and pacing in place for a while.
Finally, Lothar decided to go and investigate. If it was Illidan's forces clashing with Magtheridon's subordinates, he would choose to leave immediately.
However, when Lothar's figure silently appeared at the edge of the battlefield, he discovered that one of the warring parties was indeed the orcs enslaved by Magtheridon, but the small squad of soldiers surrounded were wearing old Alliance armor.
These armors, worn for an unknown duration, were already battle-scarred, and the Expeditionary Force soldiers' weapons were also heavily damaged. Lothar even doubted whether those broken blades could cut through the simple protection on the orcs.
The Expeditionary Force squad was guarding a horse-less supply wagon; the corpse of the pack horse lay beside it, a short-handled axe embedded in its neck, the wound still gushing blood.
There were some supplies on the wagon, and the Expeditionary Force squad had paid a heavy price to protect this "precious" logistics vehicle. Many of them had already fallen in the orcs' encirclement.
The number of orcs was not significantly greater than the Expeditionary Force squad, but they were all orcs who had drunk demon blood, and the amount ingested might even be more than the orcs who had originally invaded Azeroth.
Such orcs, even unarmed, could tear through the worn armor of the Expeditionary Force, while the Expeditionary Force soldiers had to hit multiple times to bring down a tenacious Orc.
With this disparity, the Expeditionary Force soldiers quickly fell into a predicament, and coupled with their constant protection of the wagon and its cargo, they were unwilling to break through.
"What a bunch of fools..."
Seeing this scene, Lothar shook his head, unsure what to say. He knew, of course, that these seemingly scarce supplies might be very important to the Expeditionary Force, and it was understandable for the soldiers escorting the supplies to defend their safety to the death. However, in such a fundamentally losing situation, trying to break through was the best way to minimize losses.
Otherwise, when the Expeditionary Force soldiers were slaughtered by the orcs, the supplies would also fall into the enemy's hands, and they would all lose their lives.
This was rare and valuable courage, but it was not a commendable tactic in this particular period.
Seeing that the Expeditionary Force squad was about to be completely wiped out, Lothar no longer stood by. He focused his gaze on the fallen Orc corpses.
The members of the Alliance Expeditionary Force fought desperately, causing considerable losses to the orcs. The number of fallen orcs was almost equal to the number of living orcs, and these now all became Lothar's weapons.
Under Lothar's control, dark energy silently seeped into the orcs' corpses. The orcs, whose minds were filled with demon blood, did not notice the strange changes happening to their companions' corpses behind them.