"I originally thought that only my people corrupted by Nightmare and the Scalebane Drakonid occupied this temple. But when I arrived, I discovered that the Atal'ai Troll had returned, and in great numbers, numbering in the thousands!"
Itharius gestured towards the stairs leading underground, and as he led Jiang Jie down, he said:
" The Atal'ai Troll have imprisoned my people and injected Blood of Hakkar into them to corrupt them, create more Blood of Hakkar, and summon Hakkar into this world. So what you should do now is kill those Hakkari and rescue my people."
Jiang Jie frowned and said, "Thousands of Atal'ai Troll? Even so, they might not be able to stop you, right? You are an ancient green dragon, an existence like Ysondre, or even more powerful Ysondre? And you should be able to mobilize quite a few uncorrupted Scalebane Drakonid, right? It's impossible for all Scalebane Drakonid to be in the Emerald Dream, is it?"
Itharius shook his head and said, "The reason I invited you here is because this temple is filled with the power of the Emerald Nightmare. Green dragons and Druid are easily corrupted, but you are not. Therefore, neither I nor the Scalebane Drakonid can venture deep into this temple, or we would be corrupted by the Emerald Nightmare like my people."
Jiang Jie frowned deeply.
This situation was unexpected.
If even Itharius can't intervene, how could he possibly deal with so many Atal'ai Troll on his own?
Those are Troll, not Goblin or Gnomes!
Troll are as powerful as Orcs in combat, and they also possess Regeneration abilities that Orcs lack, as well as terrifying Voodoo.
If I'm not mistaken, there are also quite a few Atal'ai high priests in the temple, which are equivalent to high-ranking Priest or even bishop-level Priest, not to mention " Jammal'an the Prophet," the Atal'ai leader who may have approached Legendary even reached Legendary status.
It's very dangerous!
Even the Green Dragonflight couldn't wipe them out back then, so how could we possibly do it on our own?
" Cenarius's student, don't worry, things aren't as bad as you think. Your task isn't to fight the Atal'ai Troll, nor to purify my people and the Scalebane Drakonid, but to bring out the ' Dragon's Call '."
Itharius said, "The temple is very large, and a large part of the center is still occupied by Scalebane Drakonid and Nightmare Whelps. Although they have been corrupted by the Emerald Nightmare and turned into Nightmare Dragonkin and Nightmare Whelps, they are not allied with the Atal'ai Troll. The Atal'ai Troll cannot enter the areas they occupy. Look, this is a map; this is the general situation..."
Entering a room below, Itharius unfolded an old map and pointed to a large area, saying, "This central hall is the Pool of Sacrifice, where hundreds of Nightmare Dragonkin and Nightmare Dragons reside. This is the Den of the Chosen; according to my information, the Jammal'an the Prophet and a group of Atal'ai Troll somehow entered there. And this place, this is the Sanctum of the Fallen God, the site where Hakkar was resurrected. If the Atal'ai Troll want to resurrect Hakkar, they will definitely choose this place."
Itharius pointed to the Sanctum of the Fallen God, his tone somewhat serious. "I sense the presence of the Wind Serpent. The Wind Serpent is Hakkar's offspring, so there must be many Wind Serpent here. Those creatures are incredibly perceptive; even Invisibility might not work. The Atal'ai Troll have recollected Hakkar's remains and gathered them together, ready to resurrect Hakkar's avatar at any time. However, the more Blood of Hakkar they collect, the later the resurrection, the stronger Hakkar's avatar will become. We don't have the ability to wipe out all the Atal'ai Troll, so we can only summon it in advance, then kill it and weaken it. This was originally our responsibility, but this time I can only trouble you."
Then, pointing to the innermost room, he said, "This is the Hall of the Sleeping. The shadow avatar of Eranikus, possessed by both Blood God Hakkar and the Emerald Nightmare, is inside. Luckily, Eranikus's true form isn't here; otherwise, we would have lost without even fighting!"
After the Temple of Atal'Hakkar was sunk to the bottom of the lake,
Eranikus vanished without a trace, and no one knows where he went. The avatar here is actually a product of his power being invaded and distorted by Hakkar and the Emerald Nightmare. Of course, it is now certain that from that time onward, Eranikus was probably corrupted by the Emerald Nightmare and turned into Tyrant of the Dream.
" The Dragon's Call resides in the Hall of the Sleeping. You must defeat the Shade of Eranikus to obtain it."
Itharius drew a large circle around the temple's perimeter with his finger and said, "Thousands of Atal'ai Troll are entrenched on the outer perimeter. You must find a way to cross the Pool of Sacrifice and enter those areas from the inside to complete three tasks. I will meet you in the Hall of Masks."
Follow Itharius down, cross a body of water, and you will eventually reach the very bottom of the temple.
There are three entrances ahead. The middle entrance leads to the core area of the temple, which is the area that Itharius just introduced. The two entrances on the left and right lead to the outer perimeter of the temple, which is where the Atal'ai Troll are located.
Without a doubt, the Atal'ai Troll could not have entered the Den of the Chosen and the Sanctum of the Fallen God through the central entrance. Therefore, if they entered the outer perimeter through the two side entrances, there must be another entrance that leads directly to those two places.
In other words, once Jiang Jie goes to war with the Jammal'an the Prophet and Hakkar's avatar, Atal'ai Troll will definitely come to his aid. And once he goes to deal with Shade of Eranikus avatar, those Nightmare Hatchlings and Nightmare Dragonkin will definitely surround and attack him.
Therefore, the truth is not as understated as Itharius makes it out to be.
"It wasn't easy..."
Jiang Jie sighed.
In the middle of the three entrances is a spacious hall, which Itharius referred to as the " Hall of Masks ".
In the very center of the hall was a sunken pool. The pool was empty of water, but contained the corpse of a giant dragon, reduced to bones.
Having slain countless dragons, Jiang Jie could immediately tell that this dragon was at least twenty meters long in its lifetime, a true adult dragon.
A dragonman over three meters tall stood at the entrance on the right, while several dragonmen about two meters tall stood at the entrance on the left. The area around them was littered with the corpses of Atal'ai Troll, dragonmen, and baby dragons.
Without a doubt, a bloody battle took place here not long ago, where hundreds of Atal'ai Troll died, along with many dragonkin and whelps!
As for that giant dragon, it must have been dead for a long time; only its bones remain.
Upon seeing Jiang Jie and his group arrive, the dragon people let out a series of unintelligible roars and then charged forward.
"That corpse was that of my people. They died in that battle, and this is their grave."
Itharius raised his right hand, and suddenly vines sprouted from the ground, binding all the dragonmen.
The other dragonkin were one thing, but that dragonkin, who was over three meters tall, covered in hard dragon scales and wielding a weapon nearly three meters long, could probably take on three to five Felguard at once. Even a small squad of Paladin might not be able to defeat it. But Itharius simply raised his hand, and it was completely immobilized.
Even disregarding his ancient green dragon identity, Itharius is absolutely worthy of being ranked among the Legendary based solely on this nature magic!
Indeed, any ancient dragon that has lived for at least ten thousand years is no ordinary creature!
Even someone as lowly as Farad has a template for a Legendary rogue, so how could the other ancient dragons be inferior?
"It was Captain Wyrmak, a very good dragonman officer, a beloved subordinate of Eranikus, now turned into a servant of Nightmare. They have been completely corrupted, beyond redemption!"
Itharius clenched his fists, and the vines pierced the dragonmen's bodies, taking their lives.
Their vitality was stripped away, but their souls vanished, returning to the Emerald Dream.
Their souls will not be purified as a result; instead, they will continue to serve as servants of the Nightmare Lord, creating and Nightmare Nightmare.
These guys are just so hard to deal with!
"Alright, I can't go any deeper. The power of the Nightmare is getting stronger and stronger, and it's hard to resist."
Itharius handed the map to Jiang Jie and said calmly, "After you go in, I'll create a commotion to attract the Atal'ai Troll and give you an opportunity. But I can't hold out for long, so you must hurry, not a second can be wasted... Good luck!"