"Aargh!"
Neltharion let out a pained roar. His massive body was struck hard by a pillar of Void energy and sent flying like a deflated ball. Then, a golden hand formed of divine power seized him, dragged the Dragon back, and slammed him viciously into the ground with a thunderous boom, sending dust billowing into the sky.
Seven or eight Faceless Ones who had accompanied them immediately surrounded him, continuously casting mental weakening spells on the Black Dragon Aspect. While assaulting his mental defenses, they also began tracing the source of the mad whispers within the Dragon's mind.
The Highborne mages, meanwhile, had been ordered to storm the Black Dragon King's lair and loot the Dragon's treasures, along with the Goblin captives. They were all talented smiths; letting them go would be a terrible waste.
"Damn elf, you will pay for your actions! You will regret everything you have done! You—"
"Shut up, you mad Dragon. I only intended to use you to find traces of the Old Gods' energy. Keep babbling and annoying me, and I think your corpse could serve the same purpose."
Boss Hu snapped his fingers impatiently. Neltharion immediately felt his huge mouth seal tightly shut, leaving him unable to utter a word. Energy then hauled him up and smashed him brutally into the ground again.
Old Gods? What did him looking for Old Gods have to do with me? Was he sick in the head?
Wait...
As Neltharion gradually calmed down, he slowly recovered some of the dignity and reason he had once possessed as the Earth-Warder.
Ever since this strange yet incomparably powerful mage had appeared, the insane whispers in his mind, which had never ceased before, had fallen completely silent!
A Dragon's dog nose... ahem, a Dragon's senses were extremely sharp. As a Dragon Aspect, his perception was even more absurdly powerful—he was practically a fighter jet among police dogs.
This strange mage seemed to carry... the aura of a Titan creator?
Neltharion was not entirely sure. Scraping against the ground, he vigorously shook his enormous dragon head.
"Heh... back then, my people bestowed power upon you and elevated you into so-called Dragon Aspects. Looking at it now... that was not such a wise decision after all. Look at yourself—gradually corrupted by the Old Gods and falling into endless madness. How pathetic." Hu Feng sneered as he stared directly at Neltharion's enormous dragon head.
The latter was dumbfounded for quite a while...
What? He really was a Titan? Was this a joke? Was he messing with him?
When had the Titans returned?
At that moment, a Faceless One drifted over to Hu Feng and transmitted the final clues it had uncovered to its master.
A total of three Old Gods had participated in the corruption. The primary corrupter, N'Zoth, was far too cunning. The moment he sensed something was wrong, he fled ridiculously fast, so they had failed to track down his exact location in time. All they knew was that he was in an abyssal trench somewhere in the Endless Sea.
The locations of the other two had already been found. One was C'Thun, the Millennium Eye Demon, located in An'qiraj in the southwesternmost part of the continent, where the Aqir were sealed and imprisoned.
The other was Yogg-Saron, the Beast of a Thousand Throats. He was located in Ulduar, the eternal prison the Titans had created for him in the northernmost region of Northrend.
Neither destination was close, but Hu Feng was in no hurry. After realizing something was wrong, the two Old Gods had both gone into hibernation, trying to conceal their existence. Furthermore, once an Old God successfully rooted itself in and parasitized a planet, it could no longer move. There was no fear of them growing legs and running away. He could deal with them once he had time to spare.
But why had the Old Gods corrupted Neltharion?
Strictly speaking, the Old Gods and the Burning Legion were also mortal enemies. Their masters, the Void Lords and the Dark Titan Sargeras, were locked in a life-and-death struggle. If the demons truly succeeded in conquering the World of Azeroth, the Old Gods would not gain anything from it either.
Having obtained the information he wanted, Hu Feng set the matter aside and turned toward Neltharion, who was shaking his head in an attempt to clear his mind.
"As for you, little Dragon, what should I do with you... If you had not encountered me today, you would probably have fallen completely into madness before long. With your current mental state, I'd say you might as well give up treatment, go home, and wait to die."
Neltharion immediately struggled to raise his head.
"I... the insane whispers of the Old Gods erode my will every moment. I can feel my sanity shattering... I can barely endure it any longer... Please help me, supreme Creator! We are the Pantheon's first chosen people on Azeroth, the executors of your will and the will of your great people!"
"Shut up. Let me think." Boss Hu frowned and rebuked him softly. Neltharion immediately fell silent like an obedient child, waiting for the Titan before him to ponder in silence.
"Hmm... the corruption within you runs too deep. It cannot be purified or removed at all. There is only one way now. I can guide and suppress the Void corruption in your body, stabilizing your mind in its current state. At least you will not so easily descend into madness and lose your reason. But the corruption that already exists will still affect your mind, so say goodbye to the sanity you once had. You will never return to being the rational Earth-Warder you once were."
"Yes, yes, I am willing! As long as I can escape the Old Gods' control, then do it!" Neltharion immediately nodded his enormous head.
"I said I can do it, but who said I must do it? Before that, I think we should discuss the conditions." Boss Hu wagged a finger, wearing the expression of someone bargaining over a price.
The Black Dragon King froze again for a moment.
This was an incomparably orderly, great, and just Titan? Why did he feel more like some thug taking the opportunity to extort someone?
"The price you must pay... is that whenever I summon you, you will immediately appear before me. Perhaps I will still have use for a little Dragon like you, mad one moment and sane the next. As for the rest of the time, do whatever you want. Do not disturb me, and do not come cause trouble in my territory."
After hearing this, Neltharion fell into brief contemplation. In truth, he had no other choice, did he...? This Titan had clearly seized upon that point.
Rather than be slowly corrupted by the Old Gods and turn into a madman with no reason at all, he might as well continue serving the Titan creator. At the same time, he could preserve a limited degree of independent thought and sink only into a limited madness. Though it could not be completely eradicated, this was already the best solution.
Just then, a burst of commotion came from behind Hu Feng. When he turned around, he saw Rhonin's three-man treasure-stealing team had returned, all wearing frantic expressions.
"Divine Lord... huff... th-this is bad! The Dragon Soul was snatched away midway by Illidan and the Burning Legion's demons. Huh? Deathwing, he... uh..."
Hu Feng looked over the three's utterly bedraggled appearance and knew they must have expended tremendous effort to escape successfully.
"Give the order. Immediately split up and search for Illidan and his demon forces... They are clever enough to know you would return to find me, so they did not dare pursue you. But that is precisely the problem. They must be desperately fleeing toward Eldorei now. Search anyway, but do not hold out too much hope."
At this point, Hu Feng frowned.
"But I am more interested in what you just called him. Deathwing?" As he spoke, his gaze shifted back to Neltharion, who lay sprawled on the ground.
Rhonin was also in shock at the moment, standing there and muttering to himself.
"The restriction was lifted? I couldn't say it before... Deathwing, Neltharion, wing! Wing!"
Hu Feng shook his head upon seeing this. He roughly understood what had happened.
"All right, I suppose I have changed another being's predetermined fate... Rhonin, same rules as always. I hope you will keep this secret. After all, you are now a witness to the new history... And you as well, Malfurion the elf Druid, Brox the orc warrior. If you can cooperate, we will have opportunities to meet again in the future."
"Uh... all right, no problem... Wait! What about the Dragon Soul?"
"If we cannot catch Illidan, then we can only seize it back by force during the final battle, can't we?"
Hu Feng shrugged, turned around, and began suppressing the Void corruption within Neltharion, who lay on the ground.
It's officially signed~~~ Please send some recommendation votes our way~~~ And a little support would be appreciated too~~~~!
Before you continue