Chapter 363 |
Chapter 363: Loki’s Mutation
After ending the communication with Hilda, Josh fell into deep thought.
Although he had promised Hilda to help her get out of trouble, he had not yet fully decided on how to do it.
After all, the Nibelungen Ring is an artifact, not just some ordinary item or tool whose curse can be casually lifted.
At present, there seemed to be only two ways to solve the problem.
The first was to trade Hilda an artifact at least of the same level as the Nibelungen Ring, just like in the story where Seiya used Odin’s sword to destroy the ring.
The second was to send a god-level strong warrior directly over.
However, Josh didn’t have many options on hand for these two methods. He couldn’t just send Margot over before fully understanding the enemy’s combat strength. If anything happened, Josh wouldn’t even have a place to cry.
Josh looked and saw that it was Abbendis contacting him.
Without hesitation, he opened the communication.
Soon, the somewhat spirited Abbendis appeared on the screen.
“Seeing you so happy, I guess things are going quite smoothly!” Josh smiled.
“Indeed, much smoother than previously planned. Most areas of the Broken Isles are now under our control. Of the five Pillars of Creation, only the Aegis of Aggramar and the Eye of Aman’thul are still out of reach. The others, even the Tear of Elune, are already in hand!” Abbendis said with great satisfaction.
Among the five Pillars of Creation, the Tidestone of Golganneth and the Hammer of Khaz’goroth were undoubtedly the first to be obtained.
Though the former had been destroyed, its fragments were still kept within the upper elf ruins of Nar’thalas Academy in Aszuna. With Josh acting as the “Seer” and a large number of high-level warriors, the upper elf spirits haunting the ruins couldn’t cause much trouble for Abbendis.
The Hammer of Khaz’goroth was even simpler, always kept by the Tauren of Highmountain.
Although the Highmountain Tauren tribes and those of Kalimdor share a common ancestry, the two sides had been separated for nearly ten thousand years.
“Tear of Elune? Didn’t I say before? Don’t get involved with that deity for now!” Josh frowned slightly when he heard the name Elune.
As far as Josh was concerned, the most worrisome element of the Azeroth universe was this moon goddess who spanned all Azeroth’s history. Although never truly appearing in person, she constantly influenced the entire world.
“I understand that, but the one who took the Tear of Elune wasn’t us, it was the Nightmare Legion of Xavius. You don’t know, those nightmares, now with our secret backing, have suppressed the Night Elves on the Broken Isles so much that they can only cling to me. Throughout this process, they prayed to her a lot, but received no response. I guess she really doesn’t care much about what happens on the surface!” Abbendis was not as worried about Josh’s concerns. After all, now that he had come this far, he couldn’t be overly cautious just because of some reverence toward Elune.
“Hmm, as long as you have a scale in your heart!” Josh neither agreed nor disagreed with Abbendis’ words. After all, the other party was now a hegemon; Josh couldn’t treat him like a child. Everyone has to walk their own path. Talking too much would only backfire.
“By the way, there’s one more thing, regarding Lord Loki!” After briefing Josh on the current situation, Abbendis added.
“Hm? Loki? What about him?” Josh frowned again. He knew his cheap son-in-law wasn’t a peaceful fellow.
But this time Josh was actually wrong about Loki.
The matter started with the Ancient One going to Northrend.
Compared to the Beetle Wall seal set by the Guardian Dragons, the prison Ulduar built as a Titan guardian was far more solid. The sealing place of Yogg-Saron was also far deeper, so it wasn’t as easy for the Ancient One to reach Yogg-Saron as it was for her to get close to C’thun in Silithus.
Therefore, she needed someone’s help.
That was why when she arrived in Northrend, the first person she sought was Loken.
But unfortunately, Loken, a traitor among the guardians, though cunning enough to deceive the other Titan guardians later, looked down arrogantly on humans.
After all, for these Titan guardians, the humans of Azeroth were, after all, defective products formed after their creations were corrupted.
Even the flesh-and-blood Vrykul were beneath Loken, let alone humans?
So he was doomed.
The Ancient One didn’t bother wasting words and simply dismantled Loken.
To her, Loken was only one option to approach Yogg-Saron, not the only one.
Since she had already ruled over the Aqir Empire in Ahn’Qiraj, it wasn’t a problem to also rule one of the Aqir branches.
The Aqir Empire, which once resisted the Troll Empire, besides the Ahn’Qiraj Aqir, had two other branches.
One was the ancient underground kingdom deep beneath Northrend, still little known and destined to become one of the Scourge’s core factions: the Acheron Nerubians.
The ones called Spider Demons or Crypt Fiends in the game.
The last branch became the Mantid of Pandaria.
Yes, as a race created by the Old Gods, their branches naturally couldn’t escape the Old Gods’ control.
Of course, there was some resistance; for example, the current Acheron Nerubians do not submit to Yogg-Saron.
But that didn’t stop the Ancient One from using these Aqir to help dig out Yogg-Saron.
So if Loken died, he died.
However, it was precisely when the Ancient One killed Loken that at the same time, on Azsura of the Broken Isles, Loki, who was clearing upper elf spirits, suddenly experienced a surge of tremendous thunder power within him, instantly forming a small thunderstorm that swept away the spirits around him, startling Loki and the others present.
If those present weren’t familiar with Loki, they would have mistaken him for Thor standing there.
This event was immediately reported to Abbendis and the Ancient One.
After all, these two were the masterminds behind the Azeroth plan.
Abbendis didn’t feel much about it, but the Ancient One found it hard not to connect Loki’s change with Loken.
After all, before coming, she had gained some understanding of this world from Josh.
She knew the composition of the Titan guardians, which was very similar to Asgard.
Not only Odyn and Helya, but in Loken and Thorim —these two brothers among the Titan guardians—there were clearly heavy shadows of Loki and Thor.
However, these Titan guardians were brothers, while her Loki and Thor were Odin’s sons, and Loki wasn’t even a biological son.
In this world, Loken and Thor, the Titan-created brothers, jointly controlled the powers of storm and thunder.
So she told Abbendis her guess and asked him to inform Josh.