The moment Kel'Thuzad's name was spoken, the lich himself gave no response, but Ansirem and Modera were both startled.
"Kel'Thuzad?"
"It was actually him?"
Hearing this familiar yet unfamiliar name from Antonidas so suddenly, they were first shocked, then came to a realization.
If it was him, then everything could be explained.
Why the Cult of the Damned had developed so rapidly,
Why the Scourge had been able to sweep across the world so easily,
Why, despite Dalaran having prepared long in advance against the Scourge, unexpected incidents had kept arising,
Why they had been able to so easily steal an artifact from Dalaran's heavily guarded treasury...
If Kel'Thuzad was the mastermind behind it all, then everything made sense.
As they understood the truth, the two of them looked at the lich with a trace of wariness.
As his former colleagues, no one knew Kel'Thuzad's exceptional abilities better than they did.
Before his death, this Archmage had been a rare genius in Dalaran. Compared with most councilors who reached the legendary rank in their forties or fifties before relying on seniority to rise through the ranks—Ansirem and Modera were typical examples—Kel'Thuzad had been more like Antonidas, Ye Ting, and Jaina.
All of them had mastered formidable power at a young age, and all had achieved tremendous academic accomplishments early on.
In any world, geniuses were always frightening.
And in a profession like magecraft, which depended on intelligence, geniuses held an even greater advantage.
It could be said that even before leaving Dalaran, Kel'Thuzad had already possessed strength worthy of their awe.
Not to mention that so much time had passed since then. Who knew what breakthroughs his forbidden research had made? The lich standing before them was proof enough.
With his identity exposed in a single sentence, Kel'Thuzad himself was