When it came to Aaron's impression of Kel'Thuzad, the first thing that sprang to mind was certainly a skull with horns on its head and black robes on its body. By then, Kel'Thuzad had already died once and become the Lich King's right-hand man.
But the man before Aaron now was nothing more than a very ordinary-looking mage, without a pack of abominations or ghouls following him. Apart from the faint stench of decay on him, there was nothing unusual about Kel'Thuzad.
"Hey, Rhonin, who is this Archmage? You seem really afraid of him," Vereesa suddenly asked quietly from beside him. Rhonin's behavior really did make one want to get to the bottom of it.
At Vereesa's question, Rhonin first cast a guilty glance at Kel'Thuzad's retreating back before answering in a whisper, "That's Master Kel'Thuzad. He's highly accomplished in magic. They say Master Antonidas intends to make him his successor."
"And that's why you're so afraid of him?" Vereesa frowned. "No, that doesn't add up. You weren't this scared when you went to see the Council of Six earlier..."
"All right, but don't go spreading what I'm about to tell you, especially not to Master Antonidas." Rhonin spoke with an air of mystery. "Master Kel'Thuzad has been researching a forbidden kind of magic lately, and he's been acting strangely too. They say someone saw the master going into the sewers himself to catch rats, and the screams of rats often come from his laboratory."
"No wonder he smells. So that's the smell of the sewers." Vereesa nodded. "But what kind of forbidden magic needs rats as test subjects?"
"I'm not really sure." Rhonin shook his head. "Master Antonidas doesn't allow us to discuss these things in private. No one can say for sure what Kel'Thuzad is researching."
"I happen to know a little..." Aaron looked up at Kel'Thuzad's back as he was about to disappear around the street corner, a mysterious smile appearing on his face. "You two keep looking around. I'm going to have a few words with the master."
"Wait!"
"Aaron!"
Before either of them could react, Aaron had already raced after Kel'Thuzad, leaving the two staring at each other.
"Should we follow him and take a look?" Vereesa glanced at Rhonin and asked.
"That wouldn't be right, would it?"
"No, it wouldn't. Forget it. Let's ask Aaron when he gets back."
"Do you still want to keep looking around, then?"
"Forget it. Let's go back and wait at the inn so Aaron won't have trouble finding us."
Naturally, Aaron could no longer hear their conversation. He had already caught up to Kel'Thuzad and was calling out, "Wait a moment, Master Kel'Thuzad."
"Were you looking for me?" Kel'Thuzad stopped at his call and looked at Aaron in surprise, then suddenly exclaimed, "Oh, it's you, Paladin boy."
"Have we met?" At Kel'Thuzad's words, Aaron glanced down at himself. He had long since put away his heavy armor, shield, and longsword to make moving around easier. If Kel'Thuzad could still tell he was a Paladin, that could only mean he had seen him much earlier.
"Ah, didn't we just... no, never mind." Kel'Thuzad broke off halfway and brushed it aside with a laugh. "What did you need me for?"
"Although I'm a Paladin, I've respected mages ever since I was little. I just heard Rhonin mention your recent research, Master, and I'm very interested. Could you tell me about it?"
"You're interested in my research? Ahaha, I knew it couldn't be that no one understood my research." Kel'Thuzad grinned and laughed twice. A smile spread across his previously stiff face, and he grabbed Aaron and ran toward his laboratory.
Isn't he a little too easy to fool? Aaron grumbled inwardly. Is Kel'Thuzad some sheltered little kid? A few words I made up off the top of my head were enough to fool him?
What Aaron didn't know, however, was that Kel'Thuzad was among the most reclusive of even the eccentric mages. Especially since he had begun researching necromancy recently, the other mages' disgust toward him had grown by the day, almost matching their disdain for Rhonin.
Besides, Kel'Thuzad himself was a shut-in sort of mage who rarely dealt with people. Otherwise, Ner'zhul would not have so easily tricked him into going to Northrend. Now that someone had suddenly shown an interest in his necromancy, how could Kel'Thuzad spare a thought for anything else?
"Look, this is the result of my recent research." After bringing Aaron into his laboratory, Kel'Thuzad immediately began showing him his latest progress, unable to wait.
But the moment Aaron entered the room, the stench of decay filling it nearly overwhelmed him. Looking closely, he saw lively rats scurrying everywhere, with some suspicious rat remains in the corners.
What Kel'Thuzad showed Aaron was a large rat chained inside a wooden box. The rat was struggling constantly, but Kel'Thuzad paid it no mind and simply concentrated on chanting his spell.
As his chanting ended, an icy blue magical radiance bloomed from Kel'Thuzad's fingertip, then became a streak of light that sank into the large rat's body.
The instant it touched the blue light, the large rat's struggles abruptly paused. Then it began struggling even more violently, occasionally letting out chilling screeches.
"Please wait a moment. The effect will show itself soon," Kel'Thuzad said quite patiently as he watched the constantly struggling rat.
Barely had he finished speaking when the rat's struggles abruptly stopped. Its eyes suddenly widened, then its limbs stiffened and it moved no more.
Finger of Death? Aaron muttered inwardly. This move really wasn't very powerful. Even a rat could withstand it for a long time. If used on a person, it probably wouldn't do much at all. Still, the effect looked quite horrifying. If it could achieve the same effect on a person, it would certainly shatter an enemy's will to resist with ease.
But just as Aaron was inwardly assessing the power of Boss Kel's finger, something new happened before his eyes.
A cloud of ghostly blue smoke suddenly rose from the rat's stiff body, then formed into the shape of a translucent rat above its corpse.
After taking shape, the ghost rat first stood dazed for a moment, seemingly unable to understand the changes that had happened to it. But it was a rat, after all, so one couldn't expect it to be very smart. Soon, realizing it was free, the ghost rat let out a threatening shriek at Kel'Thuzad, then lunged straight at him.
Just as Aaron was about to pull out his shield to block the rat, he saw the ghost rat's body begin to dim and fade. Before it could get close to Kel'Thuzad, it disappeared.
"Well? The results of my research are wonderful, aren't they?" Kel'Thuzad calmly watched the ghost rat disappear, pulling a battered notebook from a nearby table and beginning to jot something down as he spoke to Aaron.
"Wonderful, wonderful..." Aaron had fallen into a daze the instant the ghost rat appeared, and his reactions were a little slow. Hearing Kel'Thuzad's question, he mechanically gave a couple of replies that agreed with him.
But Aaron soon came to his senses. This must be an unfinished version, right? The ghost rat had lasted only three or four seconds at most before dissipating. It was nothing like the banshees who later served under Arthas, which could remain in existence and even possess enemies' bodies.
"Master, forgive my dullness, but what use does your research have? Are you planning to scare people on Halloween?" Looking at Kel'Thuzad's expression, which all but begged for praise, Aaron had a thought, but the words he spoke made Kel'Thuzad's expression change drastically.
At Aaron's words, Kel'Thuzad, who had looked rather pleased with himself a moment earlier, immediately became somewhat dejected and murmured, "True. Producing only this sort of effect really isn't much use. If those orcs come again, what use could ghosts like this possibly be?"
Huh? Aaron froze for a moment at Kel'Thuzad's words. From the sound of it, Kel'Thuzad was researching necromancy to use against the orcs? So this guy wasn't rotten to the core from the start?