The three of them finished off the orcs on their side, while the Red Dragonflight over there had already lain down and placed the pendant it had been holding in its mouth on the open ground before it, seemingly waiting for someone to pick it up.
Aaron raised his shield and cautiously approached the pendant. He reached down, picked it up, and hurriedly retreated. The dragon seemed to have no objection, merely giving Aaron a couple of curious looks.
"The way ahead is safe now." Aaron suddenly heard Krasus's voice coming from the pendant. "I've soothed this poor child. He won't hurt you anymore."
Aaron meant to hand the pendant to Vereesa, but she looked with distaste at the dragon saliva coating it, tore a piece from the tattered cloak behind her, and handed it to Aaron along with the pendant. "You keep it."
Apparently, this high elf ranger was quite the clean freak. Aaron wasn't particularly disgusted, though. He gave the pendant a quick wipe, hung it around his neck, and casually asked, "Which way now?"
Following Krasus's directions, the three wound their way into Grim Batol. From what Aaron could see, Krasus's plan had been quite successful: the orcs were already preparing to move out. Krasus sounded pleased. "It worked, just as expected."
"Look over there!" Falstad suddenly said, keeping his voice down, which was no easy feat for this dwarf.
Aaron followed Falstad's gaze and saw a short green figure running toward a tunnel entrance. Vereesa's voice sounded beside him. "I think that's Kreel."
"So he really was with these orcs," Aaron said in disappointment. He had already decided there was something suspicious about the goblin. He had originally thought Kreel was one of Deathwing's underlings, but it turned out the fellow served the orcs.
Yet the fellow hadn't brought them here and handed them over to the orcs. That made Aaron feel certain there was something suspicious about him. If only they could catch that little thief. At that thought, Aaron quietly asked the pendant on his chest, "Krasus, can you help us get to that goblin? Hello? Krasus? Bastard!"
Even after Aaron resorted to foul language, Krasus on the other end of the pendant still gave no response. Aaron had ample reason to believe that bastard Red Dragonflight had abandoned the three of them just as he had abandoned Rhonin.
"We can only rely on ourselves now." Falstad had distrusted Krasus somewhat from the start, and his reaction now was fairly calm.
Vereesa's expression, however, turned frosty. Apparently, the mage's desertion had made her furious. "Then we'll find that goblin ourselves!"
With an elven ranger among them, catching a goblin who hadn't expected anyone to break in was hardly difficult, especially when the orcs were all too busy moving to spare any attention.
Facing this goblin who had already betrayed them once, they showed no courtesy this time. Aaron and Falstad teamed up to give him a full-body massage that was anything but gentle.
Afterward, under Vereesa's coercion, the battered and bruised goblin reluctantly led them to the cell where Rhonin was being held.
"Tsk, this guy's in a sorry state. Even his fingers are broken." Taking in his employer's wretched condition, Aaron cast a few healing spells on him. As Rhonin slowly woke, all three looked relieved. But thinking of how Krasus had used this mage filled Aaron with sadness. So what if he could get married after this adventure ended? Wasn't he still just a poor soul being used over and over?
Aaron had also figured out something else along the way. Deathwing probably intended to use Rhonin too. After all, once the orcs moved the dragon eggs outside, Deathwing could plunder them at will.
Aaron still remembered Deathwing boasting to Alexstrasza about how he had corrupted those members of the Red Dragonflight during the Dragon Soul raid. Those dragon eggs probably came from here, Aaron thought. After all, this should be the only occasion when Alexstras laid eggs on such a large scale.
The unlucky Rhonin had probably served as a pawn for both sides, and he had likely realized something of it himself.
Yet just as Rhonin slowly opened his eyes, Aaron suddenly felt the temperature inside the prison rise considerably. Turning around, he saw a golem wreathed in flames appearing out of thin air.
This golem was unlike the pure fire elementals Aaron knew. Its main body was metal, while its joints were flowing magma. A thin layer of magma also flowed over its surface, with another layer of fiercely burning flames outside it.
Seeing the monster approach them, Aaron hurriedly raised his shield and closed in on the flame golem. His shield met a sticky resistance as it struck the golem, giving him a bad feeling. Not only did this thing have strong defenses, it was sticky too. This would be tricky.
On the other side, Falstad also struck the flame golem with his axe. When he tried to launch a second attack, the golem caught his axe. Only then did Aaron notice that the flame golem actually had fingers.
While Falstad held the flame golem's attention, Aaron swiftly raised his sword and thrust at it, forcing it to release Falstad's axe. Focused on wrenching his axe free, Falstad was caught off guard and fell backward.
The flame golem suddenly opened its mouth and spewed a blast of flames at Falstad. Fortunately, Aaron managed to place a Divine Shield on him in time. The dwarf hurriedly scrambled out of the flames and retrieved the axe that had flown from his hands.
Just then, the goblin suddenly shrieked, "You mage, do you know you're going to die? You're going to die at Kreel's hands!"
Aaron looked back to see the goblin strangling Rhonin with the chains that had bound him. Just as Rhonin was about to breathe his last, he suddenly reached out and pointed behind him. As though struck by something, Kreel released Rhonin and made to flee before anyone could react. But just before leaving, he still taunted them. "You fools can die here! My 'friend' will take good care of you!"
The sight of that little green-skinned monster looking so smug filled them all with indignation. However, with Kreel hiding behind the flame golem, they had no way to deal with the self-satisfied fellow for the moment.
Yet, to everyone's surprise, something seemed to provoke the flame golem, and it actually turned around and spat a blast of fire at the goblin too. The goblin, who had still been shouting a moment before, instantly turned to ash, leaving only a pendant to fall to the ground.
The pendant looked much like the one Lom had given Aaron, except that the one from Krasus was set with a red gem, while Kreel's held a black gem... The color gave Aaron an idea. Deathwing probably gave Kreel that pendant.
Aaron had no time to verify that now, however. After burning the goblin to death, the flame golem turned its attention back to the people inside the prison.
Aaron sighed and advanced with his shield. Seeing the flame golem spew fire again, he had no choice but to place a Divine Shield on himself. Fortunately, its flames couldn't penetrate the Divine Shield's protection, which left Aaron fairly reassured. The others only needed to stay behind him and dodge a few scattered flames to remain safe.
Yet as Aaron gradually approached the flame golem through the flames, he noticed something he hadn't expected: some of the fire before him was being reflected off his shield and back onto the golem.
To Aaron's surprise, those flames actually surrounded their master and ravenously penetrated the armor on its body.
A tremendous roar erupted from the fire golem's throat, an unbearably savage roar.
The terrifying golem trembled for a moment, then abruptly exploded, spraying fragments into every corner of the small cavern at astonishing speed.
At the very front, Aaron only had time to activate a few defensive skills as best he could. His strongest defense, Divine Shield, had just expired. Then the blast wave and flying fragments struck him, and his vision went black.
What the hell was that?! That was Aaron's last thought before he passed out.