Arthas did give Kel'Thuzad the opportunity to capture a Gronn if he could, but Arthas also knew the difficulty of this task was not small, so he did not demand that a living Gronn must be captured.
A Gronn's corpse or skeleton would suffice.
At the same time, Arthas also had Kel'Thuzad search for another creature even older than Gronn—Magron.
However, after the world-shattering changes in Draenor, let alone Magron, even the number of Gronn had drastically decreased, especially the weaker, smaller Gronn.
They found it difficult to survive in the post-disaster environment.
Now, in Outland, the only remaining Gronn might be the one living here in Blade's Edge Mountains.
"Magron, that kind of thing, I'm afraid it ceased to exist even before the world shattered." Ogrim was also stunned for a moment when he heard this somewhat ancient term.
"They are said to be the ancestors of the Gronn, but in fact, I have never seen a living Magron.
Those giants, even older than Gronn, almost only exist in the deepest parts of the mountains."
"And now, the more remote mountains of Draenor have shattered along with the world." Lothar looked at the crack in the sky in the distance and couldn't help but sigh, "It seems our plan to find these ancient creatures is a bit difficult."
"Let's pause for a moment, gentlemen of the Death Knight, our primary task is still to collect the remains of those dragons.
As for the Gronn, that is just an additional task option." Kel'Thuzad waved his hand, temporarily halting the grand imaginations of the Death Knights.
"I have already sent Necromancers to summon Gargoyles to collect the dragon remains from high places, but there are still some dragon remains that have been collected by Ogres.
Those ignorant and crude fools actually only treat the dragon's flesh and blood as food; those precious dragon bones and sinews are not being utilized properly at all!"
The bodies of the Black Dragon race had long been permeated by the evil influence of the Old Gods, but this kind of evil-filled material was precisely the favorite of Necromancers.
Moreover, most of the Black Dragons here died in battles with Gronn and Ogres.
Their lingering souls were filled with resentment, which was also something the Scourge was happy to see.
Thanks to the strong physical constitution of the dragons, even after possibly several, or even more than ten years of time, they had not completely decayed.
These dead Black Dragons would soon become members of the Scourge.
"Ogrim, Grommash, the battle against the Ogre encampment is entrusted to you.
Kel'Thuzad and I will stay in the camp in case of any unexpected events.
The Nerubian led by Anub'arak will provide support whenever you need it."
Grommash and Ogrim led a team of Death Knights out of the camp.
The old Hellscream stroked the Death War Wolf under him and said in a deep voice, "I didn't expect that in the end, I would still have to go and hack those stinky Ogres."
"Heh, at least you can't smell the stench now, can you?" Ogrim chuckled.
"But we have to be careful.
If they can gather together and rebuild cities and fortresses, I'm afraid our opponents are not those stupid scumbags anymore."
"You don't need to tell me.
I know how to deal with Ogres better than anyone else," Grommash was reckless, but when encountering old foes like Ogres, he could be said to know them inside and out.
"According to the reconnaissance results, these guys have not yet rebuilt a true civilization.
To put it bluntly, the Ogre leading them is just a Warlord."
The orcs knew the strength of the Goria Empire, so when they conquered Hanging Fortress and Auchindoun, they were very ruthless, basically eradicating all Ogre culture and history, bringing them directly from a prosperous empire back to the primitive tribal stage.
This kind of cleansing was to make the remaining Ogres completely subject to the orcs, becoming their war weapons.
But no matter how thoroughly the orcs cleansed them, there would always be some who slipped through the net.
After the battle of Hanging Fortress and the establishment of the Old Horde, in the war of conquest to completely rule Draenor, the Horde's strength was at its peak, and almost everything in Hanging Fortress was destroyed.
However, the death of Auchindoun's leader, Korgoloch, stemmed from resistance to his tyranny.
Although the orcs and the Mok'Nathal Clan hated the Ogres, they could not clean them out as thoroughly and mercilessly as the Warsong Clan did to Hanging Fortress.
There must have been some who escaped, and even avoided the later second and third waves of cleansing led by Gul'dan and Blackhand, allowing them to hide in the shattered Outland and rebuild the former Auchindoun.
The Auchindoun rebuilt by these Ogres naturally could not compare to the former Auchindoun that once ruled almost the entire Frostfire Ridge and suffocated the local Orc clans, but it was still a very strong Ogre force, at least in the territory of Blade's Edge Mountains, no one could shake their position.
"There are many Ogres, and a direct assault will only waste our troops," Grommash's words somewhat shocked Ogrim.
Grommash pushed Ogrim away with annoyance, almost pushing him off the War Wolf.
"What do you mean by that look?
Are you trying to say that I wouldn't have analyzed the difference between us and the enemy so carefully before?"
"I didn't say that, haha," Ogrim wasn't angry, just laughed heartily.
"But it seems that dying once has actually made your mind calmer."
"I've always been calm, even when facing death," Grommash was very indignant, but Ogrim wasn't talking nonsense.
He was indeed the kind of person whose body moved faster than his brain.
Many times, choosing to back down could avoid a lot of trouble, but he still chose to charge forward without hesitation.
Perhaps the blood flowing in his veins made Grommash never fear challenges.
Even in a life-or-death predicament, Grommash dared to wield Gorehowl, scattering his enemies, and then breaking through the encirclement bathed in blood and glory.
"Auchindoun's terrain is perilous, built in a valley plain with narrow cliffs on both sides, but those blade-like rocks actually provide them with cover.
For creatures as large as dragons, even flying through it carries the risk of injury."
"If we want to collect as many dragon corpses as possible, we must enter the heartland of the Dota Ogre, so a direct conflict with them is almost unavoidable." Ogrim observed the terrain of Blade's Edge Mountains and Auchindoun, and then focused his attention on the plain outside Auchindoun.
"But fortunately, we don't have to rush into a life-and-death struggle with the Dota Ogre."
Ogrim took out a map and pointed south.
"At the end of the southern valley, there is another canyon, where there is also a smaller Ogre gathering place.
They call themselves the Bloodmaul Ogres.
Although their numbers are fewer and their weapons and equipment are worse compared to the Ogres of Auchindoun, as our first outpost to conquer, they are just right."
"In that case, what are we waiting for?" A grim smile appeared on Grommash's face.
…
Bloodmaul Outpost, the largest gathering place of the Bloodmaul Ogres in Blade's Edge Mountains, but now, it was a mess, with weak, sick, and already dead Ogres everywhere.
Starting a few days ago, the Ogres of the Bloodmaul Clan had contracted a strange plague.
The Ogres, who had always paid little attention to hygiene and had no awareness of disease and plague, never expected that this sudden and terrifying plague would spread so quickly, engulfing an entire Ogre town and outpost in just a few days.
But these Ogres, who had lost their ancient traditions and relied on the most primitive instincts to treat injuries and diseases, were completely helpless against such a plague.
Their food and drinks became terrible sources of infection, and the Ogres who ate these things became the first "victims."
Some Ogres, for once, were clever enough to try to survive by hunting and finding water in the wild, but with the natural environment of Outland almost collapsing, coupled with the Ogres' destruction of the environment, hunting alone could not gather enough food to feed such large-stomached Ogres.
The hungry Ogres grew weaker day by day, and their weakened bodies made them even less able to resist the plague, even dying before the Ogres who first contracted this strange plague.
The Bloodmaul Ogres did not have the relatively complete traditions of the Dota Ogre, nor did they have the spell-casting two-headed Ogres.
They were the clan that Lothar described as still being in the primitive tribal stage.
The Scourge's plague was almost like a dimensionality reduction strike, quickly destroying most of this clan's resistance.
When Grommash and Ogrim led the elite Death Knights into the outpost, the dead Ogres had already been transformed into servants of the Scourge by the plague, madly attacking their own kin.
The Death Knight troops led by two powerful Death Knights easily cleared out the Ogres in Bloodmaul Outpost.
Under the iron hooves of the Scourge, this place quickly fell completely, and the Ogres who luckily did not die in the plague became prisoners of the Scourge.
And Bloodmaul Outpost, this highland in the canyon, became the Scourge's temporary new stronghold.
"Well done," Kel'Thuzad floated in front of the two Orc Death Knights, and at the same time, he looked with great interest at the Ogre zombies who were constantly doing hard labor in the camp.
Grommash somewhat disdainfully pushed away an Ogre zombie that was blocking his way and seemed to have crashed.
"These idiots, there's no difference between them dead or alive, still just as stupid!"
"After all, they are just some low-level Ogres.
If they were those in Auchindoun, the plague would not have been able to destroy their combat effectiveness so quickly." Ogrim also made a rough estimate of the existing Ogres in Draenor based on the condition of the Bloodmaul Ogres.
It seems that the orcs' previous great cleansing indeed almost wiped out everything of the Goria Empire, otherwise, these former overlords of the continent would not have turned into a bunch of guys no different from savages.
In the war for survival between races, there is no such thing as justice; only the side that ultimately endures is the final victor.
Ogrim was only thinking about how to completely end the Dota Ogre's rule in this area.
"I'm going to take some living Ogres with me later; some experiments require their assistance," Kel'Thuzad naturally didn't have any excess sympathy; they were subordinates of the Lich King and only needed to complete their tasks.
The Lich King granting them relatively free will was already a blessing.
Of course, even without such free will, Kel'Thuzad would still choose to pledge allegiance to Arthas; besides the Scourge, where else in this world could the Undead find a foothold?
Apart from the satisfied Ogrim and Archlich, Grommash seemed less thrilled; he grumbled to himself, "What's the point of this kind of battle? Those guys are all sickly; I could take them down with my bare hands!"
In truth, this was the real difference between Grommash and Ogrim; as a former Warchief of the Horde, Ogrim had long set aside personal glory and valor, caring more about whether his subordinates could effectively achieve victory.
But as the chief of the Warsong Clan, Grommash had always valued the honor of a warrior, otherwise he wouldn't have clashed to the death with the Night Elves in the Ashenvale forest, causing such a huge commotion.
"Don't be so impatient, Grommash, the Gorehowl Ogres are just the beginning, and we need to use our most elite forces against suitable opponents, not waste our strength on these weak Ogres."
Ogrim patted Grommash's shoulder, soothing the mood of the Warsong's foremost warrior.
Just then, Lothar returned to the camp, holding a strange glowing ore in his hand, tossing it as he walked over.
"Wait, Lothar, what are you holding?" Ogrim seemed to recognize the ore, asking with some shock.
"Oh? You mean this?" Lothar steadily caught the transparent, crystal-like stone and held it up to Ogrim's face, "At the end of the canyon, there's a mine, where Ogre laborers dig this stone day and night, but now they all work for us.
I found a power I've never seen before in this stone, so I brought some over, planning to let Kel'Thuzad take a look.
What, you recognize this thing?"
The environment of Draenor had undergone drastic changes; the surging portal energy both tore Draenor apart and altered the planet's former creatures and minerals.
Ogrim and Grommash couldn't claim to know the current Draenor inside and out.
However, the stone in Lothar's hand, he recognized.
As Blackhand's former subordinate, Ogrim had often dealt with minerals, and even orcs who weren't particularly knowledgeable about these things knew the familiar name of this ore.
"apexis crystal ore? I thought these rare minerals had become cosmic dust along with the Arakkoa peaks!"
Ogrim took the ore, his eyes filled with disbelief.
"Is this stuff very valuable?" Lothar didn't know the rarity of this ore, but he had seen the mine and thought the extraction volume should be considerable.
"This ore isn't actually rare in terms of quantity, but it's considered the cornerstone of another civilization on Draenor, so it's difficult for other races to access large amounts of apexis crystal—I suddenly understand why these Ogres chose to stay in the harsh environment of Blade's Edge Mountains."
Although the natural environment of Draenor wasn't great, there were still three relatively better places for life to survive: Terokkar Forest, Nagrand, and Zangarmarsh.
Yet, these Dota Ogres, in such a harsh environment, didn't think of migrating, but instead settled in Blade's Edge Mountains; there must be a reason for it.
At first, Ogrim thought the Dota Ogres wanted to rebuild their kingdom, or use the Gronn as a protective umbrella, but now, he seemed to have found a more reasonable explanation.
"apexis crystal is a special ore; it contains unimaginable energy.
According to our ancestors' descriptions, long before the Ogre Empire, there was an extremely powerful civilization that dominated the skies of Draenor.
That civilization flourished to its extreme, even the later Goria Empire could not compare to it.
Even to the end, how this civilization was destroyed is unknown, and by our era, only some legends remained.
And the name of that civilization is derived from this ore—Apexis."
Ogrim squeezed the ore, examining the beautiful stone that resembled crystal yet wasn't quite the same, his expression gradually becoming serious, "But this is not good news for us.
If the Ogres established their fortress here because of the apexis crystal, then the Dota Ogres are probably even more difficult to deal with than we imagined."
apexis crystal can enable a race's civilization to emerge from nothing, which means the power it contains can cross many divides, and Ogres are not an entirely "nothing" race; they once possessed an extremely powerful civilization.
If someone among them is guiding the entire tribe in excavating this crystal ore, it means their danger level has risen by more than one notch.
What was once a chaotic town built from ruins has become a center where civilization and power are re-emerging.
Although the situation in Draenor is not optimistic, with demons eyeing it, ready to turn it into cold cosmic dust, the Ogre civilization is highly likely to become nothingness again before it can fully develop.
However, before that, the Scourge forces will have to face a fortress with a large number of Ogre spellcasters, some Goria Empire heritage, and the protection of the Gronn.
"Things have gotten tricky.
With apexis crystal, perhaps a new 'leader' could truly emerge among the Ogres, at least a ruler with normal intelligence, rather than those intellectually inferior warlords who rise by brute force."
Ogrim's words also put Kel'Thuzad on alert, but the Archlich did not show it directly.
He merely nodded slightly, "I will relay all of this to Your Majesty.
At the same time, your actions must also be careful.
If it is truly as Ogrim says, you may leave immediately if necessary."
Although there were still many Black Dragon remains to be collected in the heart of Auchindoun, if the Dota Ogres were truly that dangerous, Kel'Thuzad thought it better to plan carefully, at least until those plague researchers developed new deadly plagues.
"Lothar, you all discuss how to proceed next.
I will go report the situation here first."
Kel'Thuzad's cold voice lingered, but he himself had already vanished from their sight.
...
"So, Blade's Edge Mountains might have rich apexis crystal deposits, and those Ogres should be intentionally mining it?" Arthas leaned back in his chair, rubbing his forehead with one hand, "How is the collection of Black Dragon remains progressing?"
"We are currently collecting the outermost remains, and it is estimated that the collection will be completed within half a month.
At the same time, those Gorehowl Ogres have filled the void in our forces in Draenor."
"What about the Gronn? Have you seen any living Gronn? Or even Gronn remains would do."
"I have already dispatched Gargoyles and some Necromancers to search for possible buried Gronn remains, but there has been no success yet.
As for living Gronn, we found one in the mountains of Blade's Edge Mountains."
"Only one? Alright, if there's an opportunity, capture it, but remember not to attract Gruul's attention.
If he shows up, I'm afraid all the Ogres in Blade's Edge Mountains will swarm towards you."
Arthas was not clear about the exact status of "Dragon Slayer" Gruul among the Ogres, nor did he know the precise relationship between them.
However, according to the information collected by Kel'Thuzad and others, Gruul seemed to have become a guardian deity-like figure for the Ogres.
The Gronn wandering in Blade's Edge Mountains were mostly Gruul's offspring.
Although the Scourge didn't need to capture the patriarch of the Gronn to make them all submit, if they captured Gruul's offspring, he would definitely react.
A terrifying beast capable of clashing with Deathwing, Arthas didn't want his subordinates to engage in useless attrition with it, because although Gruul's strength alone might overshadow many adult dragons, his intelligence was always a major flaw.
As long as there was a suitable opportunity, capturing Gruul was not impossible, and besides, the Scourge's "need for people" didn't necessarily mean they had to be alive.
"Then proceed with the original plan.
Oh, right, since those Ogres have already become our laborers, let them continue to mine those apexis crystals."
Arthas decided.
"As Your Majesty wishes," Kel'Thuzad bowed his head, and at the same time asked the last question, "Your Majesty, I would like to use the new plague developed by Naxxramas when necessary, if it is permissible...?"
"Don't attract too much attention."
After leaving this sentence, Arthas cut off contact with Kel'Thuzad.
The Archlich humbly bowed in place, seeing off his king's departure.