Chapter 618: Karazhan
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Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Rafaro was flying high in the sky. Roy took Julia and Benia across the Great Sea again, planning to return to the Eastern Kingdoms.
The World Tree had been destroyed, the Well of Eternity had been seized, and Kalimdor had fallen into unprecedented chaos. The demons separated from the Burning Legion were still on this land, and the elves, orcs, and humans were all currently overwrought. This chaotic situation was beneficial to the Burning Legion. Roy knew very well that Kil’jaeden would command the Legion to launch an invasion on Azeroth again, so he didn’t need to do anything else during this time.
Just as he had planned, he had made a fortune in this invasion, but he hadn’t let the Legion’s invasion go too smoothly. This way, when he revealed his intention to leave, Sargeras had to find a way to stabilize him. No matter how unwilling he was, he had to fulfill the contract he had made with Roy.
This trip to the Tomb of Sargeras allowed Roy to complete his expected goal. Sargeras claimed that he had placed the one hundred trillion souls in Karazhan, which didn’t surprise Roy. After all, Sargeras had possessed Medivh’s soul, and Medivh had been the lord of Karazhan. During this time, Sargeras had controlled Medivh’s body and became the lord of Karazhan, so it was entirely possible to do this.
However, although Sargeras had told Roy where the souls were, he had kept the exact location secret. Roy had to find them himself.
On the way, Julia asked Roy curiously, “Darling, are you going to let that elf named Illidan Stormrage go just like that? I can tell that he’s quite ambitious! He dares to covet Sargeras’s power…”
“Don’t worry. I have my plans!” Roy smiled. “Moreover, even though he obtained the Eye of Sargeras, he can only use the power inside at most. It’s impossible for him to touch Sargeras’s divine spark fragment.”
Roy knew very well that although his sudden appearance had made Illidan terrified and uneasy, he was a person with strong willpower after all. So when he found that Roy didn’t care about him at all, he would still continue to fight against the Burning Legion.
Defeating the Burning Legion and driving all the demons back to the Twisting Nether was Illidan’s original intention that had not changed for more than ten thousand years.
Roy knew this very well, so he had thrown the Eye of Sargeras to Illidan.
The Eye of Sargeras indeed contained formidable power, but this power had been condensed from the destroyed body of Sargeras’s clone. To Roy, this bit of strength was nothing. The most precious thing in the Eye of Sargeras was actually the divine spark fragment, but Roy couldn’t touch it. If he did, it would lead to Sargeras’s endless pursuit. This wasn’t worth it for him at all. He still had to wear the coat of the Burning Legion for the time being, so it wasn’t suitable for him to become an enemy of the Legion now.
To him, the so-called artifact known as the Eye of Sargeras was actually useless. He might as well throw it to Illidan and let him continue on his path.
Moreover, Roy had left a card in Outland and was waiting for Illidan to pick it up. How could he interfere with Illidan’s plan?
After chatting for a few days, Roy and the others crossed the Great Sea and arrived at the Eastern Kingdoms.
The weather was clear. In the sky, Roy could see the coastline appearing from afar. Under the contrast of the blue seawater, a white city appeared. This city was built by the sea, and in the curved bay, there were many ports and docks, and countless s.h.i.+ps were moving in and out of the bay. Above the bay, against a cliff, a circle of towering city walls meandered for a long distance, wrapping around the entire city. All kinds of tall buildings in the city were distributed in an orderly manner, protecting the tallest palace in the center of the city. Under the sunlight, the entire city reflected white, illuminating the lush green forest in the distance, looking very beautiful.
It was apparent that this was a very prosperous city. Roy had never seen such a bustling scene in Lordaeron before.
This place was the most dazzling pearl of Azeroth, Stormwind City!
While Lordaeron suffered from the Scourge catastrophe, the Kingdom of Stormwind had also been affected. But in any case, the Kingdom of Stormwind had been the least affected. During the process of resisting the Scourge, the entire kingdom even had the strength to accept refugees from other nations.
Now, with the Scourge following the Burning Legion to partic.i.p.ate in the war in Kalimdor, the catastrophes and disasters in the Eastern Kingdoms had been greatly alleviated. Although the remnants of the Scourge had not been eliminated, the scenes of hordes of undead wreaking havoc were no longer common. The Kingdom of Stormwind, which had been holding on and had not evacuated with Jaina and the others, welcomed a huge opportunity for development while winning a breather. Refugees from various countries increased the population of the kingdom, which also naturally expanded its army.
Moreover, the current king of Stormwind was Varian Wrynn. Although Varian was young, he was a king with great talents and strategies. Under his leaders.h.i.+p, not only did the kingdom not suffer heavy damage from the Scourge catastrophe, but after the fall of Lordaeron, it had already faintly become the strongest kingdom in the Eastern Kingdoms.
There was no harm without comparison. Just look at other princes during this period of time. Arthas had fallen and destroyed his country. Kael’thas was in exile and had led a group of blood elves with unbearable magic addiction to join the Alliance. These two had no hope of rising again. With this comparison, didn’t Varian, who was sitting firmly on his throne, seem more wise?
Sometimes, Roy even wondered about one thing. After Medivh was reborn, did he trick Jaina’s Kul Tiras and the Horde into going to Kalimdor to create this great development opportunity for Stormwind?
Medivh actually felt guilty about the Kingdom of Stormwind. It was precisely because of him that the orcs of Draenor had invaded Azeroth, and his former close friend, the former king of Stormwind, Llane Wrynn, had died during the First War…
Roy didn’t know if his guess was right. After all, he wasn’t Medivh. Only Medivh himself knew what he was thinking…
Although Stormwind City was enormous, for the flying Rafaro, it only took a few seconds to cross this city. It could be said that he flashed by, and the people of Stormwind City didn’t even notice the shadow pa.s.sing above their heads.
Roy’s destination was not Stormwind City but Karazhan. Karazhan was southeast of Stormwind City, in a basin between the Duskwood and the Swamp of Sorrows. This place was called the Deadwind Pa.s.s. Although he only knew the approximate location, he could easily find it in the sky, so he wasn’t afraid of missing it.
As Rafaro flew, Roy soon found Karazhan. Compared to the surrounding dense forest and endless swamp, the basin where Karazhan was was gray.
Roy flew down with Julia and Benia. While slowly landing, he checked the scenery around Karazhan. The entire basin was full of gray fog, and thick dark clouds covered the sky all year round. No sunlight could penetrate here, and the trees growing on rocks and cliffs were all dead. The branches extending out no longer had green leaves, and the bare branches looked like fangs and claws, looking ferocious under the twilight.
There were no signs of animal activity. At most, they could only hear the cries of unknown crows from time to time, and the shrill cries echoed in the valley. The streams in the valley had long dried up. The ground was covered with a thick layer of black ashes, and it was unknown what the ashes were from.
This lifeless, decaying scene was the overall scene of Karazhan today, and Medivh’s mage tower stood in this decay without any light to speak of. At first glance, it looked like an inconspicuous enormous stone pillar.
“It’s the power of a curse, and it’s very strong!” Benia frowned as she sensed her surroundings. “This is Karazhan? What happened here?”
“The former owner of this tower was the strongest mortal mage in the world of Azeroth!” Roy explained. “But because of his strength, he was coveted by Sargeras, and his soul was parasitized by Sargeras. But later, with the help of an insider, the army of the Kingdom of Stormwind raided this place and killed this mortal mage. At the moment of his death, Sargeras’s power erupted from his soul, forming an immense fel contamination, causing the surrounding hundreds of kilometers to be cursed!”
“The power of fel energy is really terrifying!” Julia said with lingering fear. “No wonder you didn’t let us come into contact with it.”
“Fel energy contains part of the power of the Void…” Roy said solemnly. “So its contamination is incomparable to other powers. I didn’t let you come into contact with it because you’re not like me, who has Chaos power to stop this contamination. If you come into contact with it too deeply, it’s hard to say what changes will happen…”
“This place is already abandoned, but I can sense some creatures moving inside the tower!” Benia said. “Are they demons?”
“Not only demons, but there are also Void creatures, elementals, and even some strange creatures.” Roy nodded. “But these creatures aren’t a threat to us. The true trouble is probably the chaotic s.p.a.cetime in the tower…”
Under Julia’s and Benia’s questions, Roy explained things to them.
Karazhan had not only been built on a magic network node of Azeroth, but it was also the most fragile s.p.a.cetime node of Azeroth. Here, the spatial barrier was so weak that as long as there was enough energy, it could easily collapse the spatial barrier.
During his time in Karazhan, Medivh had used the unique spatial location here to open paths to various worlds, summoning many strange creatures from them. Then he had researched their habits.
Among these creatures, there were demons from the Twisting Nether, elementals from the Elemental World, and even Void creatures from the Void! These were special creatures that Roy had never encountered when he fell into the Void.
The s.p.a.cetime node of Karazhan was so fragile that s.p.a.cetime distortions often occurred. Although the entire Karazhan Tower looked small, it was actually very vast inside. The reason was that s.p.a.cetime distortions existed. If people who didn’t know the rules entered rashly, they might fall into these s.p.a.cetime distortions and become lost, never to return. Therefore, Roy reminded Julia and Benia to be careful after entering.
Hearing how dangerous Karazhan was, Julia and Benia said angrily, “Sargeras actually hid the souls you want here. He’s up to no good!”
“Of course!” Roy sneered. “It would be strange if he could give me the souls so easily… But don’t worry. I’ll definitely find them!”