Chapter 301

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Chapter 301: The Siege of the Undead

The two of them walked south along the street for a while, and Jesse felt that this place was even bigger than he had imagined when he first came in.

Especially looking from the east street, even with the ash all around, one could still sense the street stretching far, far away.

The old Dark Iron capital may be no smaller than Stormwind, of course, the Dark Iron Tribe who built the immense underground city of Shadowforge City, how could they have any leftover energy when building their own great capital with the same name as their emperor? It must have been a magnificent feat beyond imagination.

Just over a hundred years ago, it was engulfed in flames by the great explosion at Blackrock Mountain, almost forgotten by history ever since.

Walking among the streets, Jesse could even feel the dwarves’ pride and arrogance when building this city, the walls here were as solid as the underground dwellings of Aerie Peak, statues laid sideways on the streets, decorations filled with a powerful beauty, surely the abundant stone materials of the Redridge Mountains stretching for thousands of miles allowed them to be so extravagant.

It is said that before the explosion at Blackrock Mountain, Burning Steppes was also a lush and vast plain.

Recorded by human travelers hundreds of years ago, this was a place even more beautiful than Arathi Highlands, majestic red peaks contrasting harmoniously with endless green lands.

When the Dark Iron Dwarves settled here from Dun Morogh, they must have thought of this place as a promised land that could be cultivated for millennia.

However, the wizard Thaurissan didn’t want Thaurissan City, beautiful forests, or fields. He wanted Dun Morogh and Ironforge.

Jesse felt a strong, bone-chilling cold when he saw a burnt figure lying on the edge of the street.

He picked up his knife and stood in front of Vereesa, looking ahead for a while.

It wasn’t a sudden cold, but a chilling feeling blocking their way.

Judging from the feeling he had encountered those two ghosts earlier, there might be countless spirits watching them ahead, getting closer and closer.

"Maybe we shouldn’t go down here. I feel like there are way more ghosts here than before."

As he spoke, he stepped back and looked towards a passage to the west.

"This way, Vereesa, things are better this way."

After walking for a while, passing through a square, he looked at the endless layers of buildings in the distance and felt like it was becoming harder to see the end getting further away.

It was already morning, but it felt like they were deep in the Burning Steppes. Dark clouds covered everything, making it look the same whether it was day or night.

Jesse looked up and saw the tallest peak of the Black Mountain in the distance, with lava flowing down like a black-skinned monster covered in blood, even visible through the ash-filled air.

As he continued to gaze, he felt a bit dizzy.

After battling the Black Dragon, suffering serious injuries, hunting, and not sleeping for a whole night, Jesse had exhausted himself both physically and mentally.

Crossing the square and walking towards the front, he felt a cold chill again. He stopped and looked south. When he stopped, he even felt his body sway a bit.

Glancing back at the elf, he noticed a bit of blood seeping from a wound under her ribs.

"What’s wrong with you?"

"What?"

Vereesa looked at Jesse and then at her bandages. She said, "It might be from the ghost earlier… I’m fine, Jesse. Don’t worry about me. This wound won’t heal completely so quickly."

"Let’s find a place to change your bandage, I need to rest for a while too," said Jesse.

Vereesa reluctantly nodded, and the two walked along the edge of the square towards the north.

As they walked north, Jesse felt the chilling sensation from the ghost diminish.

Ahead, there seemed to be a somewhat intact building; although three floors were blown off and half of the second floor collapsed, the bottom looked sturdy.

"Let’s rest here," Jesse said, holding onto the door frame. "I’ll go inside first to check, you follow carefully behind."

Vereesa nodded, and Jesse instinctively bent down to enter.

Upon entering, he realized that the ceiling of the building was much higher than he had imagined, resembling a small palace.

Vereesa cast a Light Spell, the gentle glow she conjured felt incredibly soothing.

In the faint light, he saw the interior walls of the room, with unclear but somewhat intact reliefs, showing minimal damage. However, the overall style gave off an uncomfortable, oppressive feeling.

Perhaps it was because of the dark walls or the dust everywhere, the old and rundown place made the people living there feel sad.

The two of them walked deep into the place, stopped at a corner, and when they stopped, there was complete silence around them, only their breathing could be heard.

The distant rumble of a volcano reached here, but it was almost inaudible after passing through these corridors and walls, which further emphasized the absolute stillness.

Vereesa extinguished the Light Spell, and suddenly nothing could be seen around them.

Even after a long time adapting, they still couldn’t see their hand in front of their face, as no light could enter here.

"Can you still feel the presence of spirits?" Vereesa asked.

Although she had tried to lower her voice as much as possible, Jesse still felt that her words echoed throughout the entire space.

"No, it seems like the spirits have all stayed away from here." he replied, "Perhaps this place is also not to be offended by the Dark Iron Dwarves."

"Do you also feel like this place is some kind of temple?" Vereesa asked, "But what do Dark Iron Dwarves believe in?"

What do Dark Iron Dwarves believe in?

Jesse was puzzled for a moment because this was a very important question.

He cast a Light Spell, causing Vereesa to squint and turn her head away from the light.

Jesse stood up and placed the light on the wall to examine the carvings and paintings here. He realized that with his knowledge, he couldn’t quite make out the symbolic meanings of these already somewhat abstract patterns.

It looked like burning flames, but saying it was swirling winds also made sense, and maybe even ocean waves… but it felt a bit forced.

Following the patterns on the carvings, Jesse slowly walked to the entrance of another deeper corridor, where dwarf images were scattered around, not intersecting with the central patterns. So Jesse found it difficult to figure out what these things were through their interaction.

But the most likely explanation was flames, perhaps lava from Blackrock Mountain, or even the true form of Ragnaros, as this was the most historically fitting speculation.

Is this some kind of temple of a fire god?

But a vague sense of unease rose in his heart, as the Firelord Ragnaros actually served the deepest evil in this world.

Many thousands of years ago, even before anyone knew how many years exactly, the elements used to rule Azeroth. But soon, terrifying creatures from the void, called Old Gods by later ordinary people, invaded here and enslaved the elements, turning them into servants to corrupt the whole world.

Even though later the parasites were defeated by the Titans of the Pantheon, some were killed, some were sealed underground and in the deep sea, these enslaved elements could never escape the influence of the Old Gods.

Whenever Old Gods were mentioned, Jesse couldn’t help but think about shadows, mental manipulation, and such things.

Thinking about those dwarf ghosts just now, he started feeling as if these spirits were guiding him and Vereesa towards this temple… or maybe trapping them.

Was he overthinking?

But with Jesse’s sensitivity to the power of shadows, he couldn’t sense any dark forces in this temple, as if there was no magic present here.

After all, this was an ancient temple abandoned for over a hundred and close to two hundred years by now, even if it had some power back then, there should be very little left now.

Lost in thought, Jesse suddenly felt a shadow in the corner of his eye.

He quickly turned his Light Spell towards the corridor beside him and saw a faint figure standing inside. It was a human, most importantly wearing cavalry armor, with what seemed to be a lion head emblem of the Kingdom of Stormwind on its helmet, its distinctive plume fluttering in the air.

Before Jesse could say anything, the other person started talking first.

"Are you… from Stormwind?"

The ghostly voice sounded hollow, like drumbeats echoing deep within the heart.