Chapter 350 |
“A truly marvelous world!” Late at night, a slightly thin figure stood in the barren wilderness, feeling the magical elements in the air as a breeze blew gently, speaking softly.
This figure was none other than the Ancient One, who had just arrived in Azeroth from the Marvel Universe.
Although she had long known from Josh about the differences between the two worlds, when she experienced it firsthand, she still felt the gap was greater than she had imagined.
So she didn’t rest at night but went to the wilderness to try various spells—long ago, Josh had already opened to the Ancient One all the magical tomes of Kirin Tor (Earth) written and recorded by the elven mages.
Therefore, the Ancient One was actually quite familiar with the magic of this world.
However, in terms of magical energy alone, Azeroth was far more abundant than Earth.
Even without borrowing the power of those dimensional demons from the Marvel Universe, the Ancient One could easily cast many large-scale spells on Earth that usually required preparation.
Yet the Ancient One’s control of magic had reached an extremely refined level, so she didn’t need to truly release the magic.
But even so, the Ancient One was not satisfied. From her perspective, the speed at which she drew arcane energy from the void was still somewhat slow.
Especially since here, she did not have the authority to manipulate time.
Thinking this, her gaze turned southward.
“C’thun, the Thousand-Eyed Horror…such a pity time is so tight!”
Though she could open portals anytime, the destination had to be somewhere she had visited or had sufficient knowledge of.
And the temple of Ahn’Qiraj in Silithus was too far from here. Tomorrow, she would depart with the fleet for the Broken Isles; there simply wasn’t enough time. It seemed she could only meet this Thousand-Eyed Horror after returning from the Broken Isles.
Just as the Ancient One was about to open a portal back to Dalaran, a dark portal suddenly appeared in the night sky not far away. It was almost invisible to the naked eye in the darkness, but the Ancient One could easily perceive its location.
However, she didn’t rush to act but quietly observed.
As the portal grew larger and stabilized, a huge and grotesque black head poked out.
An Infinite Dragon?
Seeing the massive creature’s head, the Ancient One immediately recalled the special beings Josh had once introduced to her.
But…why would an Infinite Dragon appear here? Could it be coming for her?
After all, this was the barren wilderness deep within the Barrens, with no cities or villages for dozens of kilometers around.
Only roaming hyenas, lion prides, raptors, and other beasts.
Sure enough, the Infinite Dragon emerged from the portal, looked around, and immediately spotted the Ancient One, cloaked entirely and seemingly ordinary.
With a flap of wings, it flew to a spot about ten meters in front of her, carefully landed, transformed into a black-haired high elf, and then half-knelt before her.
“Greetings, Supreme One!”
“…You know me?” The Ancient One raised an eyebrow at the Infinite Dragon’s behavior.
Interesting. She had just arrived in this universe, and already an Infinite Dragon with some control over time had come to visit. How fascinating!
Before coming, Josh had arranged for everyone traveling here to study the common language of Azeroth, which was quite close to English, so language was no issue for the Ancient One and company.
Moreover, due to long communication with Kirin Tor (Earth), the Ancient One’s elvish was also quite advanced.
“Of course, Supreme One, this is a gift presented to you by my lord!” The Infinite Dragon said as a sandglass and a tightly sealed box appeared in his hands, which he then respectfully offered to the Ancient One.
“Who is your lord?” The Ancient One asked.
“My lord said that you would understand after using these two items!” The Infinite Dragon did not answer directly, speaking ambiguously.
Seeing this, the Ancient One did not press further. After sensing briefly, she accepted the two items.
The moment she took the hourglass, the Ancient One instantly became ethereal, as if about to leave this world.
The Infinite Dragon quietly stood aside, not surprised.
“Damn monster, got you!” At that moment, where the Infinite Dragon had appeared, another golden portal opened, and a deep voice echoed from within.
Upon seeing the golden portal and hearing the voice, the Infinite Dragon’s expression instantly changed. He immediately transformed into dragon form, blocking in front of the Ancient One, watching the portal warily.
But then his black dragon face darkened further.
Because the originally single golden portal quickly multiplied, almost instantly turning into dozens, surrounding the Infinite Dragon and the Ancient One. The deep voice also multiplied into dozens.
The Infinite Dragon immediately breathed a dark dragon’s flame at one of the golden portals.
But the portal instantly emitted a golden dragon’s flame that countered the Infinite Dragon’s breath.
From the golden portals emerged dozens of nearly identical pale golden dragon figures.
They were the Infinite Dragon’s eternal rivals—the Bronze Dragons.
Though dozens of portals and dragon shadows appeared, only one adult Bronze Dragon had actually come.
This was the terrifying aspect of the Bronze Dragons—they could summon versions of themselves from different times to attack simultaneously.
“I am one, and I am ten, a hundred.”
“If powerful enough, there could be thousands, millions.”
Seeing the Bronze Dragon, the Infinite Dragon grew serious.
Although the Infinite Dragon was a fallen form of a Bronze Dragon and had essentially the same abilities,
The problem was he was only a young dragon, able to summon at most a dozen versions of himself, while the opponent was an adult dragon, able to summon many more.
But faced with the current situation, he had no choice and began summoning different versions of himself, preparing to fight.
“Hmph, finally stopped running? Monster! Looks like you’re still protecting that human…What did you do to her? Hmm? Wait…why can’t I find her in the flow of time?” The Bronze Dragon finally revealed its full form, dozens of meters long, more than twice the size of the Infinite Dragon.
But upon appearing, it was immediately drawn to the Ancient One’s ethereal form, a sign she was deep in the flow of time.
However, upon inspection, the Bronze Dragon found no trace of the Ancient One in the flow of time.
“Die!” The Infinite Dragon did not respond but started to gather dragonfire, preparing a desperate attack on the Bronze Dragon.
“Hmph, futile struggle!” But the power gap was too great; the Bronze Dragon lightly waved its claw and shattered the Infinite Dragon’s dragon eye.
Then with another swipe, it pinned the Infinite Dragon to the ground.
The battles in other timelines were similar.
After easily subduing the Infinite Dragon, the Bronze Dragon’s gaze shifted to the Ancient One.
“Let me see what secrets you carry!” Ignoring the Infinite Dragon’s furious roars and struggles, the Bronze Dragon reached out its claw toward the Ancient One.
Though the Ancient One was in the flow of time, for the Bronze Dragon, who specialized in time-space manipulation, this was not a big problem.
However, just as the Bronze Dragon’s claw was about to touch her, the Ancient One suddenly opened her eyes and began to solidify.
Her pupils, pitch black for some unknown reason, resembled black holes in the universe, making the Bronze Dragon’s heart tighten.
But the Bronze Dragon quickly recovered. It was a powerful Bronze Dragon and would not be intimidated by a mere mortal.
The Bronze Dragon’s anger surged, adding strength to its claw and slamming it hard toward the Ancient One.
Yet in the next moment, its pupils suddenly contracted because, just as its claw struck down, the Ancient One’s hand appeared holding a strangely shaped dagger, glowing with black light and shining with unknown runes.
And at her feet lay a box.
This box was exactly the one previously handed to the Ancient One by the Bronze Dragon, and inside it was this very dagger.
The Ancient One merely waved her hand gently, and this seemingly small dagger appeared to slash through time and space, stabbing into an unknown corner of the river of time.
The Bronze Dragon felt a sudden pang of dread and wanted to flee, but could not move an inch.
Finally, as the dagger struck, the Bronze Dragon felt a soul-shaking tremor and unbearable pain, worse than death.
It wanted to roar, but could not produce a sound.
It wanted to escape, but could not move at all.
In the end, a dark force spread from its soul throughout its entire body, and it, along with all its counterparts across all timelines, began to be eroded and corrupted, eventually turning into a handful of black smoke and completely dissipating in the river of time.
This Bronze Dragon was completely wiped out by the Ancient One’s dagger across all timelines.
With the Bronze Dragon eradicated, the Infinite Dragon, who had been restrained, regained its freedom.
“Congratulations, Your Majesty!” The freed Infinite Dragon looked at the Ancient One holding the dagger and, without time to rejoice, knelt respectfully to congratulate her.
“Rise...I understand now...Although this choice was somewhat unexpected, it is indeed not bad...Xal’atath? Your name is hardly impressive, but it is indeed a fine weapon!” The Ancient One gently stroked the dagger in her hand and whispered.
This dagger was none other than the famous Shadow Priest artifact from the Azeroth universe, Xal’atath, the Blade of the Dark Empire.
However, it was unknown why it was sent into the Ancient One’s hands by this Infinite Dragon.
“By the way, I still don’t know your name!” The Ancient One sheathed the dagger and asked the Infinite Dragon.
“Slockna is willing to serve you!” The Infinite Dragon lowered its head and replied respectfully.
“Good, I’m just missing a strong pair of legs. You don’t mind, do you?” The Ancient One patted Slockna’s head like one would a puppy.
“It is my greatest honor!” Startled by the pat on the head, Slockna responded immediately.
“Very well, then now, come with me to Ahn’Qiraj. You will also meet your counterpart from this world!” The Ancient One nodded.
Slockna, hearing this, said nothing but lowered its body, showing its attitude.
Seeing this, the Ancient One didn’t hesitate, stepping steadily into the void, climbing onto Slockna’s back.
Feeling the Ancient One settle on its back, Slockna slowly rose and opened a portal before them, then without hesitation dived through it.
When they appeared again, they were in a vast desert of yellow sand.
In the distance stood an imposing and magnificent high wall, and beyond the wall, one could faintly see a grand but somewhat dilapidated complex of buildings.
Behind the wall lay one of Azeroth’s most dangerous regions, the prison of the Old God, the Faceless One C’thun, the core of the Azj’Aqir insect empire.
The Ahn’Qiraj Temple and the scarab wall that served as its seal.
Normally, the Scarab Wall carried seals left by the guardian dragons and night elves, making it very difficult for ordinary people to open (although having played Warcraft for over ten years, the author admits never having completed this quest chain fully, being an occasional casual player!).
But to the Ancient One, this seal was nothing.
She quietly approached the Scarab Gate, and Xal’atath appeared again in her hand. With a gentle stab, infinite dark power surged from the dagger, spreading around the massive stone gate.
Soon, the same dark power was felt within the gate.
That was C’thun’s response, sensing Xal’atath’ power as another ancient god — this ancient god sealed for countless ages thought its followers had come to rescue it.
With the two forces resonating, the originally formidable seal instantly shattered; even the towering Scarab Gate cracked inch by inch under the stimulation of the dark power and finally collapsed completely.
The magnificent ancient city of Ahn’Qiraj officially appeared in the Ancient One’s sight.
And just as the seal shattered and the Scarab Gate collapsed, hundreds of kilometers away at the Cenarion Fortress, the night elf commander Mar'alith, originally asleep, suddenly woke in alarm, sensing the overwhelming dark power.
Within minutes, a desolate horn blast echoed throughout the Cenarion Fortress!
At the same time, several magical owls took flight into the sky, rushing at high speed toward Feralas!