"Are you sure this is the place, Bonehead?" Captain Plank stood on the deck, gazing at the small island that had appeared on the distant horizon. "Doesn't look like much!"
"Pirate, don't give me nicknames." Karthus' eyes were fixed on the island, where a powerful voice was calling to him. According to Gul'dan's memories, it was the legendary burial site of Sargeras, leader of the Burning Legion!
The Broken Isles.
When Gul'dan entered Medivh's memories, he learned of this place. It held the key to becoming a god, the very thing he desired most!
Gul'dan, with his immense magical power, forcibly raised this island, sealed beneath the sea. However, he underestimated the guardians within and died at the hands of the demons guarding Sargeras's tomb.
"This is it, this is the place!" Karthus murmured to himself.
The minotaur chieftain Alistar strode forward, pushing aside Plank, who was blocking his path. The pirate captain wanted to explode, but remembering his drunken bet, he suppressed his urge to retaliate—even a pirate had to honor his word!
"Want me to protect you guys inside? You look frail, Karthus." The tauren chieftain sniffed the air. "I smell something bad from there. Something inside keeps muttering, it's annoying!"
"No, that's the scent of fragrance, the call of power!" Karthus let out a "cackling" laugh. "No need to accompany me. Let Hecarim come with me. That place is a forbidden zone for the living, but for us, it's the most familiar scent."
Hecarim walked up on his four hooves, leaving trails of fiery hoofprints in his wake, causing Captain Plank to frown. Fortunately, the The Abyss was a magical warship; otherwise, ordinary ships probably couldn't accommodate this undead monster at all.
"Indeed, it does resemble the scent of the Shadow Isles. Karthus, is this the place you were talking about?"
"Yes."
"I want half." The centaur wraith unhesitatingly demanded his price.
"I'll only absorb what I need to restore my power. You can have the rest!"
"What if it's not enough for you? Wouldn't that mean I get nothing? No, this plan won't work!" Hecarim immediately shook his head. "How about I absorb what I need, and you get the rest? That's more like it!"
"Deal!" Karthus immediately agreed.
Hecarim was stunned, only then realizing—he didn't possess an artifact capable of containing divine power. How much power could he absorb with just his heroic body?
Hecarim immediately regretted it: "No, no, I've been thinking, a fifty-fifty split is better."
"It's settled. Best not to go back on your word." Karthus didn't even look at him, his eyes fixed on the approaching Broken Isles.
Tidal Trickster Fizz was riding a large shark, chasing schools of fish in the water, having a great time. With him escorting, they hadn't encountered any threatening enemies on the sea route.
As the The Abyss approached the island within a mile or so, Karthus turned back and said, "See you later," then floated towards the island. Hecarim was unwilling to be outdone, directly charging off the deck railing and leaping into the sea. His four hooves moved as if on flat ground, even faster than Karthus flying in the sky! And where he stepped, even the seawater ignited with ghostly blue flames.
"Those Shadow Isles guys are just weird!" Gangplank spat.
---
Hecarim, being faster, arrived at the largest island first.
Here stood an ancient temple, with exquisitely carved reliefs on the supporting pillars, some of which had collapsed. If there were elves here, they would certainly recognize the decorative style of the elven empire from tens of thousands of years ago. The doors, corridors, and walls within all exuded the same aura.
Besides the usual weeds and bushes, there were also many dried seaweed and corals. This was because it had only risen from the seabed to the surface a dozen years ago.
"You're slow." Hecarim ruthlessly mocked.
"Let's go, let's unearth our treasure." Karthus was unwilling to pay attention to this guy. Although they both came from the Shadow Isles, to be honest, they had hardly met before joining the League of Legends. He also didn't like dealing with such ancient specters.
The path deep into the temple was covered with all kinds of bones. There were animals that had strayed in, and there were also those who had deliberately disturbed the slumber of the tomb's master and were mercilessly killed.
Especially some of the skeletons that resembled humans. The flesh on their bodies had long been eaten by insects and ants, and their clothes and armor had long rotted and fallen off, with weapons nearby. Rusty axes, withered staffs, and so on.
"These should be the orcs Gul'dan brought."
Karthus became interested. He wanted to see where Gul'dan's own bones were. Since the orc's skull had magical power, what about the other parts of his body?
Neither the lich nor the centaur wraith needed lighting. Even in the dark temple, their vision was unobstructed.
Hecarim suddenly trotted forward, coming to a skull-less corpse beside the passage: "There's still some residual magical power in this skeleton."
Karthus sensed the same aura as the Skull of Gul'dan there. He floated over and saw a scribbled piece of writing carved on the wall behind the headless skeleton. He recognized it as Orcish writing, having absorbed some of Gul'dan's memories:
'I am Gul'dan, the most powerful warlock of Draenor, chieftain of the Stormreaver clan, master of the Shadow Council, founder of the Twilight's Hammer, the true leader of the Orcish Horde.
I led my people through the Dark Portal to this world called Azeroth, all for this place—the Tomb of Sargeras!
Buried here is the body of Sargeras, lord of the Burning Legion, the dark titan, as well as the artifact he used in life, and most importantly—the power of divinity!
That is the power I crave most. With it, I can become a true god!
Finally, I have come to this place, the burial site of Sargeras!
I opened the Black Iron Gate leading to the tomb—but Sargeras deceived me.
I was ambushed... by those guardians.
I... am dying.'
Karthus read Gul'dan's last words almost in a lamenting tone, but anyone could see the sarcasm and ridicule in that tone.
"This one's for you." Hecarim glanced disdainfully at the dilapidated corpse. Although there was still some power inside, it wouldn't affect him much.
Karthus didn't stand on ceremony, absorbing the power of this skeleton, which could be considered to make Gul'dan's soul complete—he stretched out his staff and pointed it at the skeleton, absorbing the remaining energy. Then, the originally smooth and jade-like skeleton completely lost its luster, and when he retracted his staff, it directly turned into dust scattered by the sea breeze that swept into the passage.
Karthus said, "There are guardians inside, you heard it."
Hecarim sneered, "Then kill them!"
"Good idea."
The lich and the centaur jointly pushed open the Black Iron Gate, which was completely inconsistent with the architectural style of the ancient elven temple, and strode in.
The secret chamber behind the black gate was Sargeras's tomb. Even though it was cold and dark, Karthus could still "see" with his mind that there was an altar at the innermost part of the secret chamber. And on the altar was suppressed a green gemstone filled with magical power.
The light in the secret chamber was all absorbed by a strange monster. This was a semi-illusory, semi-solid monster, the edges of its body seemed to be condensed from shadows, with no fixed shape. It kept wriggling, its body covered with huge tentacles, the spikes on them like claws, shaped like an octopus, with no eyes on its head. That could hardly be considered a head; the top of its head was an open mouth, full of sharp teeth.
Seeing someone open the sealed door, its tentacles waved more joyfully, rushing towards the intruders, wanting to feast.
"What a lovely creature."
"It's dominated by hatred and loathing, not bad, not bad."
Seeing the monster rushing over, Hecarim, who was still on guard, raised his halberd, but now he put it down. Karthus did the same. He even put his staff back into the void.
"Agthss'ma, N'Zothzzqowgshtkg, gu'hala!" The monster's mouth made strange sounds.
"What's it muttering, a spell?" Hecarim asked strangely, "If it's casting a spell, I think I should be prepared."
"Give up resistance, become servants of N'Zoth, it is your honor!" Karthus said, "That's what it's saying."
"How do you know?" Hecarim asked strangely, did the lich know so much?
"It conveyed its thoughts, didn't you hear it?" Karthus retorted.
Hecarim answered plausibly, "Of course not, I just want it to occupy me quickly, so I can absorb its power."
Seeing that the two really gave up resisting, the twisted monster immediately wriggled over at a faster speed. It stretched out its tentacles, tightly entangling the two intruders. It could feel the power of these two souls. By absorbing them, it could leave this place sooner!
But when it drew on their soul power, a sudden change occurred—
The tentacles should have been needles for absorbing power, and the two intruders should have been containers, but when the power absorbed by the container was stronger, the monster itself turned into the one being absorbed, a container!
Its soul power flowed out rapidly through the tentacles, absorbed into the bodies of the lich and the centaur. When it gathered its strength to counter-absorb, the soul power flowed out even faster!
When it learned its lesson and wanted to withdraw its tentacles, changing to killing the two intruders, it found that it was already impossible—the lich and the centaur were like magnets, and the tentacles were like iron filings. When the power was unequal, there was no possibility of resistance.
Just like what it had done in the dozen years since it and its kind were awakened. It had absorbed the power of its kind to become as powerful as it was now.
"Qlw'noh! ykanohala!" the twisted monster roared madly.
"Who are we? Hahaha, we are the ones who will kill you!" Hecarim heard the twisted monster's thoughts this time.