"No! Arthas, don't pick up that sword!"
"This is my destiny, Jaina."
The cracked ice shards penetrated Jaina's magic shield and body, and she fell to the ground covered in blood. Arthas, holding the long sword that exuded a strange aura, knelt beside her, making the final move for herself. treat.
Unfortunately, everything was of no use, and Jaina finally breathed her last in Arthas' arms due to excessive blood loss.
The last sentence she heard before she lost consciousness and indulged in darkness was a sentence from Alsace:
"I'm sorry...but I have no choice."
--call! !
Jaina suddenly stood up from the bed, and the silk quilt on her body slowly slipped off. The female mage was wearing a white lining, sitting on the bed, with cold sweat on her forehead.
"Was that...a dream just now?" Jaina held her forehead with her hands, her thoughts still stuck in the nightmare just now.
Did you dream of Alsace? The snow and cold wind outside... I'm in Northrend with him? Where is that cave, and what is that sword?
Questions appeared in Jaina's mind one after another. The dream just now was extremely real. Jaina could even feel the pain and coldness of her body being pierced by the cracking ice edges.
Of course, what impressed Jaina the most was the rune sword lingering with an evil aura. The empty eyes of the goat-headed demon on the hilt of the sword are burning with blue flames. Just one look at it makes people feel as if their souls will be sucked away.
"No...something's wrong..." Jaina put on a coat and paced in the cabin. The familiar sound of waves on the sea not only made her unable to calm down, but made her even more anxious.
This extremely realistic dream has quite a prophetic meaning in the field of magic. An archmage with full mana and normal mind will not have such nightmares for no reason.
When Jaina was trying to recall the specific environmental features in the dream, she found that she had no memory at all. The only things she could remember were herself, Arthas, and the rune sword.
"Alsace..."
…
"Arthas, are you sure it's okay for us to leave the camp like this?" Brian Bronzebeard was also a little confused. He thought he was bold enough, but Arthas actually rushed into the snowfield with several personal guards like this. .
"Don't worry, Brian, I have a teleportation scroll that can definitely send us away."
"According to my many years of experience, teleportation scrolls...well, don't work that well most of the time." Brian Bronzebeard has been around for so many years, what ups and downs has he not seen? It is common for teleportation scrolls to have problems.
"Don't tell me that you are using old inventory taken from Ironforge's inventory..." Arthas has never encountered a problem with the teleportation scroll, unless someone forcibly locked the teleportation, but now Not many people on Azeroth can do this, at least not Mal'Ganis.
"How can you say it's old stock? It's just a Dalaran scroll from fifty years ago."
"Fifty years?! Don't you know that this type of teleportation scroll has a shelf life of fifteen years at most? I think you are just lucky to be alive!" Arthas was also shocked after hearing this. How dare a professional adventurer use a magical product that is more than thirty years out of date?
Isn't he afraid that the teleportation scroll will not completely fail, but only his upper or lower body will be teleported away?
Brian's old face turned red and hesitantly said, "Ahem, the Explorers Association's funds are relatively tight."
"I remember that the Explorers Association seemed to be established under the leadership of King Magni. How could it be short of funds?" Arthas thought of a question.
"Didn't Muradin bring a group of people to Kalimdor for investigation, and then we discovered a large group of ancient ruins in the desolate land. Those ruins are even older than those of the elves." Brian explained. The reason was, "However, the Dark Iron Dwarves also discovered the place. Our archaeological activities were forced to suspend, and a large part of the association's funds was used to solve the problems there."
Remains in a barren land? Arthas didn't expect that the dwarves had figured out part of the truth about creation so early, but now was not the time to disturb the things sleeping there. Waiting until the undead were defeated and those damn demons were killed, After following the footsteps of the Burning Legion, Arthas will consider getting in touch with those "old antiques" left over from ancient times.
The snowfields in Dragonblight seem to be endless, and everything is a vast expanse of white. Only distant mountains and animal carcasses can be seen.
"Alsace, I feel something is wrong," Brian noticed something unusual. "It's too quiet here. Even in the snowfield, there should be wild animals."
[Revenge of the Holy Light], this warhammer was selected from the Silver Hand arsenal and is Arthas' current weapon. Compared with [Power of Menethil], it can strengthen the user's power of the Holy Light. And when the Paladin becomes emotional, his Holy Light will be amplified.
However, the reason Arthas chose it was simply because it had the ability to amplify the Holy Light, so it could withstand his too strong Holy Light better than other war hammers.
There is no better substitute for the time being. Powerful weapons are not just cabbage on the ground. They can be picked up everywhere. Otherwise, Arthas would not risk facing the Dread Lord to find [Frostmourne]. 】.
Calculating the difficulty of obtaining [Frostmourne] is already very low, because the Lich King and the Nasrezim originally planned to use this sword to corrupt Arthas, so it was almost a free gift.
But Brian obviously didn't think so. Ever since he heard Arthas talking about the ability of [Frostmourne], he felt that this sword was a huge hidden danger, but no matter how he tried to persuade him, Arthas insisted on taking a look. See, in order to protect the safety of his friend, Brian had no choice but to follow him.
I don't know how long they searched in the snowfield. Arthas and the knights also solved some wandering undead. Just when they were about to arrive at the border of Zul'Drak, the territory of the Frost Troll Empire, Arthas suddenly felt the throbbing in his soul. move.
The wind and snow in Dragonblight suddenly became stronger here, and the flying snowflakes obscured everyone's vision. Everything looked white. Brian held down his hat to prevent the wind and snow from hitting his face. At this time, he heard Al Sasse's words.
"Here we are."
"Are you there? Where are you?" Brian asked loudly, with the howling north wind in his ears. It was in this environment that the dwarf developed his loud voice.
"The halfway point of destiny."
Alsace's answer left Brian confused, but the prince didn't give Brian any time to think. He held the warhammer instead and slowly walked towards the edge of the vaguely visible mountains in the knee-deep snow. .
The Privy Knight's bodyguard followed closely behind him, and Brian had no choice but to follow after seeing this.
Gradually, the snow became lighter. The first thing that caught Brian's eyes was a cave on the edge of the mountain. The dark entrance looked like a beast that preyed on people. Years of adventures made Brian suddenly feel bad. premonition.
Brian quickly chased after Alsace and asked hurriedly, "Alsace, where are we?"
"The location of [Frostmourne]."
"Are you really looking for this magic sword?!" Brian was shocked. "You don't want your life. You know there's something wrong with this sword, and you still come here?"
"Brian, I will explain to you when this matter is over," Alsace sent a Privy Knight to guard the entrance of the cave and continued to say to the dwarf, "Do you plan to go in with me to see the cursed rune sword, or stay with them? outside?"
Brian turned his head and looked at the silent knight, who looked like a black statue, and sighed, "I'd better go with you. If something happens, I can help you take care of it."
The reason why Brian was willing to take risks this time was not his strong curiosity, but his worry and commitment to his friends. The dwarf would never abandon his friends and run away alone.
"Don't worry, nothing will happen."
Alsace's words did not reassure Brian too much. He still felt that this matter was too strange. Maybe he was cursed from the time he first learned the name of [Frostmourne].
The two entered the dark cave together, and Arthas raised the torch to light up the path under their feet.
"Huh~" Brian's breath condensed into icy mist in the air, and he noticed that the temperature inside was much lower than outside.
And this kind of coldness was different from the normal low temperature. After walking for a while, Brian felt that even his consciousness was a little slow. This cold seemed to have a magical effect, and Brian quickly understood this.
"The cave is filled with the power of dark magic... Arthas, I'm afraid we are in the wrong place."
After hearing this, Arthas used a ray of holy light to protect Brian, "I know, follow me closely, my holy light can help you."
"Ha, I feel much better now." With the protection of the Holy Light of Alsace, Brian felt that his limbs and thinking were no longer so stiff, and he was back to his best condition.
But before he took two steps, his nose hit Alsace's hard armor. Brian covered his face and took a step back, "I think you'd better tell me before you stop..."
"Going into a little trouble, Brian."
Stopping at the edge of the cliff, Alsace raised his torch and looked down. At the bottom of the cave's naturally formed circular stairs, he saw a blue light in the darkness, but at the same time there were clusters of light spots. Float on the way to the bottom.
Brian squinted his eyes and looked carefully at the strange light group in the cave, and whispered, "Are those ghosts? Are these the guardians of [Frostmourne]?"
"Anyway, maybe we should get ready for a fight, Brian."
The permanently frozen continent of Northrend is not only a restricted area for life, but also the "door" between the Kingdom of the Dead [Shadow Kingdom] and the material world: further to the north, the peak of Icecrown Glacier is where the Kingdom of Shadow and the Realm of Shadows are located. The weakest junction between the two planes of the material world.
Attracted by the Kingdom of Shadow, the souls of all the dead in Azeroth will unconsciously move closer to Northrend. Coupled with the powerful pulling effect of [Frostmourne] on the souls, some souls that should have gone to the Kingdom of Shadow are stranded. Here it is.
However, Arthas understood that the souls here were not evil spirits, and what they were guarding was not the cursed rune sword at all, but the living beings who went deep into the cave.
All living people who enter here will be driven away by them to prevent ignorant people from touching [Frostmourne] and being controlled and cursed by this sword.
The soul itself is a mysterious thing, and the vision of the dead is different from that of normal life. Therefore, they can feel facts that ordinary people cannot -
The first victim that [Frostmourne] will devour is the first creature holding this sword.
Arthas noticed that quite a few of the ancient spirits next to the sword looked like humans. It seemed that these human ancestors had sensed something and were waiting for his arrival here.
Thinking of this, Alsace handed the warhammer to Brian. Brian looked at Alsace in surprise, wondering why Alsace did this.
"[Holy Light's Revenge] can amplify Holy Light, but this also determines that it cannot carry another kind of power." Arthas saw Brian's doubts and explained.
"Another power?"
Brian caught the key words in Alsace's words, and just when he was about to ask what he meant, the next change made Brian's pupils shrink slightly, and the hairs all over his body stood up.
The feeling called [death] seemed to linger in Brian's heart, making him seem to be facing the most critical life-and-death moment in the adventure.
The old dwarf watched helplessly as Alsace's blond hair slowly turned into a lifeless pale color, and the surging dark magic replaced the warm holy light. Under the influence of this power, even Alsace's blue-gold color The cloaks began to change, as if cast a shadow.
Brian could hardly believe his eyes, but everything actually happened. This made the dwarf hold the war hammer tightly in his hands, and his muscles tensed up. He spoke the next words in a dull voice from his throat.
"You... Arthas... no no no! Who are you?"
