Duke Hydraxis was silent for a long time after Arthas threw a pile of things "borrowed" from the elementals of Molten Core onto the shore.
He stared at Baron Geddon's glaringly large elemental shackles, held it in for a long time, and then forced a sentence out of his pure water body.
"You... you raided Ragnaros's territory?"
Originally, Duke Hydraxis only meant for Arthas to bring him some spoils of war sufficient to prove the Alliance's capability, but now, with this quantity, Duke Hydraxis felt that Arthas might have gone to Molten Core for a casual raid.
"This is the Alliance's sincerity. We have proven ourselves to be allies with sufficient strength. Now, it's your turn."
Arthas didn't stand on ceremony with Duke Hydraxis. They and the Water Elementals each had their needs, and both parties to the cooperation had to show enough sincerity to ensure the stability and longevity of their partnership.
Now that the Alliance had given its answer, Arthas hoped to receive a satisfactory reply.
Duke Hydraxis didn't pay much attention to Arthas's slightly sharp gaze, because he felt that since they could defeat so many of Ragnaros's minions, the Alliance was indeed worthy of their serious consideration.
However, Duke Hydraxis still had a question. The Water Elementals' Duke asked, "Of course, friends of Hydraxian Waterlords, but could you tell us how you defeated Ragnaros's army?"
"They were too arrogant, believing that mortals were insignificant before the power of the elements. So Geddon and this Salfuron Harbinger left Molten Core, intending to defeat us in Darkforge City. The result was that they paid the price for their arrogance."
Was Ragnaros's army strong?
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Of course, it was strong, but the Alliance did not face all the elements subservient to Ragnaros this time, and most importantly, they had left Molten Core.
Although Darkforge City was also beneath the mountains, in the outer battlefield, it was still too far from Molten Core. With the Alliance's current strength, defeating the combined forces of the elements and Dark Iron Dwarves was not a difficult task.
Without the Scourge and the Burning Legion poisoning the continent of Lordaeron, the almost peak strength of Lordaeron and Dalaran, coupled with the assistance of Ironforge and Gnomeregan, already surpassed the strength of the Alliance in its earlier days.
This was still the Alliance's strength with Stromgarde not significantly involved and Quel'Thalas in a special period, not to mention allies far across the ocean and the Stormwind Kingdom which had not exerted effort on the main battlefield.
The Alliance's strength had actually far exceeded the temporary alliance formed to resist the Orc invasion long ago. Arthas used the Burning Legion and various threats as pressure, causing the Alliance's internal cohesion to grow day by day.
"Although I didn't witness it firsthand, it must have been a very splendid battle, paladin." Duke Hydraxis raised his right hand and pushed a ball of pure water essence towards Arthas, "This is the charm of the Hydraxian Waterlords. When you need it, you can summon us to fight alongside you.
I have also obtained Neptulon's consent. As long as you can truly connect Molten Core with the ocean as you said, Neptulon will make Ragnaros understand why he can only cower inside a volcano."
Arthas held the elemental charm and smiled, "Of course, that day won't be too far off."
...
While the Alliance finally gained the trust of the Water Elementals and obtained a powerful trump card, inside Molten Core, the administrator Exoratus seemed somewhat anxious.
He had already received news of the demise of Baron Geddon and Salfuron Harbinger, which made him inexplicably uneasy.
Previously, for those who obstructed Ragnaros's will, merely sending out Dark Iron Dwarves was usually enough to solve the problem. The elements themselves rarely worried about it, at most sending one or two observers to oversee the Dark Iron Dwarves' work.
But today's enemies came fiercely, not only beating the Dark Iron Dwarves into self-isolation in Darkforge City but also scattering the elemental army sent out by Molten Core, which made Exoratus somewhat difficult to accept.
When did the power of the mortal world become so strong? An entire army composed of Dark Iron Dwarves and ferocious creatures from the elemental plane was beaten by the opponent without any power to retaliate?
A sudden sense of crisis made this cautious and timid administrator feel uneasy. He had spent a lot of time and effort to gain Ragnaros's trust and secure his position, but if the current battle situation were known to the sleeping Ragnaros, he would certainly face dire consequences.
According to his master's temperament, the best outcome would probably be to be sent back to the Firelands to feed the Molten Hounds; if it were worse, he himself might become food for those hounds.
"Damn it... I need to quickly make those useless wretches repel these hateful Alliance forces," Exoratus paced back and forth restlessly. He summoned a Fire Element herald and loudly commanded, "You, make all deployable elements quickly prepare for battle, await my command, and be ready to meet Ragnaros's enemies at any time."
After the Fire Element herald departed, the uneasiness in Exoratus's heart did not dissipate. He pondered, and another thought arose in his mind:
Should he awaken Ragnaros, who was still in slumber?
He believed his master possessed the ability to destroy mortal kingdoms in an instant, because centuries ago, the kingdom of the Dark Iron Dwarves was annihilated by Ragnaros's wrath.
If it weren't for the immense power consumption of leaving the elemental plane, and the need to guard against that arrogant dragon above, Ragnaros would not have chosen to remain dormant beneath Blackrock Mountain, slowly accumulating his power.
Ragnaros not only wanted to escape his cage; what he truly desired was to restore Azeroth to its state hundreds of thousands of years ago, a world exclusively for elements, where raging, chaotic elements surged everywhere—that was Ragnaros's true goal.
After the Old Gods were sealed, Ragnaros was liberated from enslavement, but also lost his freedom, being sealed with countless Fire Elements in an elemental plane forged by the Titan Guardians.
Fire cannot be constrained, and unlike the cunning Wind Elements that can always find cracks to slip away, fire will constantly try to destroy the cage that binds it. This is its nature, an instinct that Fire Elements cannot change.
Ragnaros seized the opportunity to escape from his prison. He certainly wouldn't want to be banished back to that cramped elemental plane. If Exoratus were to awaken him from his slumber, Ragnaros's wrath would surely descend upon those mortals who were hindering his affairs.
However, Exoratus was somewhat afraid to awaken Ragnaros, because before he fell into slumber, Ragnaros had specifically emphasized not to disturb his sleep unless something extremely dangerous occurred.
This made Exoratus even more indecisive, the reason being simple: would Ragnaros truly consider a group of mortals to be extremely dangerous?
It should be known that when Ragnaros was first summoned to the material plane, the power he unleashed destroyed half of the Redridge Mountains, turning valleys and plains into scorched wasteland.
Perhaps upon waking, Ragnaros would attribute everything to Exoratus's incompetence, and then it would be Exoratus himself who would be doomed.
Exoratus hesitated, or rather, he was afraid. He dared not take that risk.
Ultimately, he abandoned the idea, preparing to first test the Alliance's strength again, as what had been sent out before was merely the tip of the elemental army's iceberg.
While Exoratus was indecisive, Arthas decisively found Archaedas. Now was the perfect time for this Guardian who had reshaped the world to act.
"Archaedas, can you connect Molten Core and the Endless Sea?"
Archaedas brought up a 3D model of the mountain range where Blackrock Mountain was located on his workbench, and magnified it several times, clearly seeing the location of Molten Core.
"Ragnaros's lair is below sea level, which saves some effort, but it's not an easy task," Archaedas concluded after a simple analysis of the terrain. "Uldaman is, after all, just a storage facility and isn't equipped with any terrain reshaping devices. However, I've used existing materials to create a simplified version of a terrain reshaping device."
Archaedas pressed the side of his workbench and handed a cube-like Titan instrument to Arthas. "Without Mimiron's technical support, this thing can only be considered the most basic version, and it requires a massive amount of energy to activate.
However, you can use it to absorb the essence of those Fire Elements to power the device, so energy isn't actually the biggest problem.
And you must remember, this thing is single-use. Due to the materials, a one-time release of enough energy to reshape the landscape will cause the device itself to be unable to withstand it. You must place it in the correct position before activating it, otherwise the effect will be greatly reduced, and it may not be able to open a path between the ocean and the mountains."
After hearing all this, Arthas put away the inactive device and then asked, "You don't seem to have mentioned the 'biggest problem' yet?"
Archaedas nodded, his muffled voice echoing through the hall, "When the Titan device is activated, it will emit a special signal. Although very faint, it is not impossible to detect.
The other Guardians are far from our location now, so they shouldn't sense the anomaly when this device activates, but... Mimiron might be able to receive this signal."
"You mean, Ulduar might detect our activity?"
"Exactly, and what's worse, existing instruments and devices basically have data backups in Mimiron's laboratory. Although this new device I've built has tried its best to mimic the prototype, it will still be different."
Archaedas's gaze fixed on Arthas, "So, after activating this thing, I will immediately hide Uldaman to see if it can evade Mimiron's detection. For a period in the future, I'm afraid I won't be able to provide you with further assistance."
"This shouldn't be the worst-case scenario, right, Archaedas?" Arthas asked.
"Yes, according to my estimation, even if I hide Uldaman, Mimiron still has a very high chance of identifying that this device came from me. When Loken finds out, he will certainly spare no effort to track down Uldaman's whereabouts. Uldaman being discovered is only a matter of time.
In the worst case, my hiding measures might have no effect at all, and Mimiron could directly track down Uldaman's location based on various parameters and information."
At this point, the Guardian paused for a moment before continuing, "However, the probability of this worst-case scenario is not very high, because even if Mimiron is deluded by the Old Gods, unless the Old Gods or Loken personally twist his mind, he will most likely not be willing to concern himself with matters outside of his experiments."
Although the influence of the Old Gods caused some of Ulduar's Guardians to develop incorrect and distorted perceptions, such as Loken, whose ambition and desires were twisted to a terrifying degree, in any case, the current influence of the Old Gods must be an extension of the Guardians' own will.
Because if they were to corrupt the Guardians in too abrupt and aggressive a manner, they would probably realize something was wrong instantly and beat Yogg-Saron before he could break free. Therefore, the Old Gods cannot spread their influence recklessly; they can only plant seeds of corruption in the Guardians' hearts.
And since it is in line with the host's own wishes, Mimiron will probably become even more obsessed with his experiments and creations. Before Loken discovers anything amiss, there's generally no need to worry about Mimiron actively tracking down Uldaman.
Arthas understood this, but it was still a very difficult choice. Using this device would allow them to defeat Ragnaros with the least cost, and completely integrate the forces of the Eastern Kingdoms.
But once done, there would be the risk of exposing Uldaman and the Discs of Norgannon, indirectly attracting the attention of Yogg-Saron and Loken.
However, if they didn't do this, the Alliance's difficulty in defeating Ragnaros would increase by several levels, and the cost would be even heavier. Plus, they would also have to clear out the threats of the Blackrock Orcs and Dark Iron Dwarves. It's likely that after the Blackrock Mountain campaign, the Alliance would need a considerable amount of time to recover.
Time waits for no one. Every bit of strength Ragnaros recovered meant a more severe threat to the Eastern Kingdoms. Moreover, Ragnaros's complete resurgence could very likely make the "Twilight's Hammer" that was still hiding in the shadows become even more rampant.
This was also a form of stimulation and encouragement for the Old Gods' forces.
Since both options could potentially touch upon the threat of the Old Gods, Arthas would definitely choose the method that kept the initiative in his own hands.
"You just need to make a decision," Archaedas nodded. "Then I will cut off all contact between Uldaman and the outside world for a period of time. Seize this opportunity and drive Ragnaros back to his lair—it's up to you, my friend."
"I never disappoint those who trust me."