Valeera just nodded, not continuing to speak.
Arthas, seeing her expression, guessed something and asked, "How many people have turned into worgen because of this?"
"Many."
Valeera's gaze was somewhat dim. "Before our people discovered the worgen's tracks, worgen had already attacked pedestrians and some small villages. Although we knew to avoid being injured by worgen, those residents didn't know.
At first, they even thought they had encountered wild beasts in the forest, and those who fortunately survived also carried injuries caused by worgen."
After speaking, Valeera pursed her lips. "We have secretly led small teams to control those who have already turned into worgen, or those who are injured and have a tendency to transform. But some of the transformed individuals are truly difficult to control, and to avoid greater casualties, we had no choice but to kill them."
"Where are those people now?"
"They are confined in a cave. We have dispatched heavy guards, and for every worgen, we have the alchemists use large doses of sedatives to put them to sleep—this might be the only good news. Those who turn into worgen also gain superhuman physical abilities; a dose that would be fatal to an ordinary person only puts them into a comatose state.
But this is not a long-term solution. If the worgen problem cannot be solved at its root, I'm afraid the entire Silverpine Forest will—"
"It can be solved…"
A somewhat weak but clear voice slowly sounded. Everyone turned their gaze to the speaker, who was the Night Elf being helped up from the bed by Tulani.
"Is she awake?" Valeera raised an eyebrow. Their people had tried many methods to wake this Elf, but the mysterious cloaked person Arthas brought succeeded so quickly?
Well, although she was already accustomed to the Prince's various unusual behaviors, Valeera was still a bit surprised.
The speaking Elf spoke fluent Common Tongue. "I am Velinde Starsong. I apologize, I overheard your conversation… and the appearance of the worgen is related to me."
Velinde's expression was downcast, full of guilt and self-reproach, but Arthas did not comment on it. He was only curious as to why Velinde would appear in Silverpine Forest.
"Apologizing now won't solve the problem," Valeera said when she heard Velinde's words, not blaming her, but asking, "If you really have a way to suppress these worgen, then speak quickly."
Velinde still looked ashamed. "I originally came to solve the worgen problem, but I didn't expect to cause even greater trouble… But no matter what, we must reclaim the scythe from the alpha worgen's hands. Only then can we suppress the worgen pack's madness."
"Scythe?"
Everyone except Arthas was stunned for a moment, not knowing what this female Elf was talking about.
Velinde, however, nodded. "The moon god scythe. This is a weapon of immense power. I originally intended to use it to deal with the demons in Felwood Forest, but I didn't expect that overusing its power would summon great trouble."
"That trouble must be those worgen, then," Valeera spread her hands. "Alright, but why did the worgen you summoned in Kalimdor now run to Lordaeron?"
"I… I don't know either." Velinde stammered. "But the scythe told me that a human mage was trying to do the same thing I had done, so I took the scythe and traveled across the ocean, hoping to find this mage, both to stop him and to find a way to deal with this scythe.
Following the scythe's guidance, I came to this forest. In the south of the forest, I met the human mage from my vision—but I found that the one truly controlling the worgen was not him, but another alpha worgen whose size far exceeded the others.
The alpha worgen attacked me and took the moon god scythe. I used all my strength to escape from the worgen pack's pursuit, and you know the rest. When I woke up again, I had already been rescued by you.
The moon god scythe has the power to summon worgen, but if its power is not suppressed, it will continue to summon those worgen, the worgen curse will spread among the populace, and the number of worgen will increase endlessly."
After listening to Velinde's narration, Arthas roughly understood. It seemed that the moon god scythe and Arugal had both become anchor points for the worgen to escape the Emerald Dream. They used these two, one person and one item, to escape from the Emerald Dream and return to the real world.
He suddenly thought of something. "You said you saw Arugal, but you said he wasn't the one controlling the worgen pack?"
"Yes… At that time, I was still holding the scythe and could communicate mentally with the worgen. I found that the mage standing behind the worgen pack was not their true master. This mage must have also been used by that alpha worgen, but he himself didn't know it and thought he controlled the worgen pack."
Well, Arugal, this guy, really is more trouble than he's worth. He painstakingly summoned these worgen, but they don't even obey him? As expected, the real problem isn't this second-rate mage, but the moon god scythe weapon.
But the current problem is that these worgen, beyond Arugal's control, obey an alpha worgen with extremely high intelligence. Arthas is not sure if this alpha worgen is the one he knows, but he still needs to treat it carefully.
Moreover, the moon god scythe had already fallen into the worgen's hands, but in recent days, the number of worgen has not exploded. In that case, where did that alpha worgen take the scythe?
Arthas doesn't believe Arugal could have obtained this scythe. Arugal, this half-baked mage, is merely a tool for the worgen pack to reappear in reality. Whether he's even alive now is a question.
Suddenly, Arthas thought of a very bad possibility: if the worgen needed some kind of ritual after obtaining the moon god scythe to break free from the Emerald Dream's shackles…
"Velinde, do the worgen need more than just the moon god scythe to escape from the Emerald Dream?"
Velinde was momentarily stunned by Arthas's sudden question, then she nodded in response, "The scythe actually still needs to be guided by someone to summon the worgen. Although it seems like the scythe's spontaneous action, it is actually the corrupted worgen in the Emerald Dream guiding the scythe and the worgen to help them escape.
I speculate that to complete this ritual with maximum efficiency, it should require a place particularly close to the Emerald Dream, but fortunately, the Eastern Kingdoms should have—"
Arthas sighed. "There are such places, and quite a few. In the forests of the Gilneas Peninsula, there is a very ancient tree, and that place is unguarded."
Upon hearing this, Velinde's face instantly turned pale. She suddenly understood why the worgen and the scythe were guiding her here.