Chapter 619: Key

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

As soon as they entered Karazhan, a smell of dilapidation and decay immediately assaulted them.

Unlike what Roy imagined, the Karazhan he saw was not the dungeon in the game but the real Karazhan tower. And the real Karazhan was actually a ruin that had been abandoned for more than twenty years.

Collapsed masonry and wood could be seen everywhere. They were overlapping chaotically, and cobwebs were already covering the gaps. Thick dust coated the ground evenly, indicating that no one had been moving here for a long time, and large rats were scurrying about under the corners in the darkness. A musty smell filled the entire hall.

Even Roy felt a little uncomfortable in the dark environment, so he summoned a ball of flames for lighting. Under the light, he looked at the hall on the first floor of Karazhan. Except for the stone arch opposite and the tall steps that felt a little familiar, the other sights didn’t match his memories.

This was not surprising because, after Sargeras’s defeat and Medivh’s death at the hands of Lothar, this mage tower had lost its owner. And after the mage tower of the once strongest mage lost its owner, its end was naturally conceivable. In the past ten years, in addition to Khadgar, a spy from the Violet Eye, helping Dalaran steal a large number of books from Karazhan, this mage tower had suffered no less than a hundred thefts and ransacks. Many bold thieves who wanted to make a fortune had visited this place.

After the numerous ransacks, the once glorious and dazzling Karazhan had long changed beyond recognition. A large number of decorations and valuables had been stolen, leaving only some bare stones and bricks. It was basically in a state of poverty. It would be strange if it matched Roy’s memories.

After figuring this out, Roy shook his head. He looked at the collapsed stable in the hall on the first floor. The horse named Midnight had long died there, leaving only a pile of bare bones that had a trace of the horse’s appearance. Roy didn’t know where Attumen had died… So he stopped thinking about it and brought Julia and Benia up the stairs to the second floor.

Similarly, the once magnificent banquet hall was nowhere to be seen here. There was no need to mention the chandeliers in the hall. It was unknown which thieves had stolen the banquet tables. As for the carpets, there were only circle and square marks on the floor to indicate that carpets had been laid here.

“How tragic. Are the thieves here so poor that they’re crazy?” Julia complained after seeing this scene.

Just as Roy was about to say something, he suddenly froze. He seemed to sense something and turned to look at a corner of the hall.

In this corner, he saw a corpse. This corpse was wearing tattered clothes and curled up motionless. At first glance, it looked like a corpse. But because demons were sensitive to souls, Roy found that there was actually a weak soul reaction in this corpse, which meant that this corpse was likely an undead creature.

Even so, Roy found that this undead creature was trying its best to hide its soul fluctuations. It appeared very afraid and didn’t dare to expose itself.

After some thought, Roy immediately understood. After Medivh died, a powerful curse had erupted in Karazhan, affecting many creatures in the tower and turning them into monsters or undead. Perhaps the thieves who intruded here would encounter the obstruction and attacks of these monsters and undead, but they would definitely not dare to appear in front of Roy.

It could be said that Roy was the strongest and most terrifying demon who had ever entered Karazhan, so no monsters and undead dared to act rashly in front of him…

Roy stared at the corpse and sneered. He found that the soul in the corpse was trembling even more violently. He didn’t know who this corpse was, but since it was curled up and didn’t dare to expose itself, he wasn’t interested in dealing with such a weak fellow. He waved his hand and continued to explore with Julia and Benia.

Because Karazhan’s mage tower had been built on a fragile spacetime node, the builders of the tower had set up many barrier runes to stabilize space here in order to construct it smoothly. Although many of these spatial barriers had been destroyed when the curse broke out later, at least the lower floors of the tower were very stable. This meant that Roy couldn’t use teleportation skills to explore this tower. He was unwilling to fly in this narrow tower, so he could only explore floor by floor.

The third floor of the tower was a reception hall. Roy vaguely remembered that there seemed to be a Maiden of Virtue on this floor. She was a very tall woman who could use powerful Holy Light power. It was said that she was an existence known as a titanic watcher and had lost her way in the chaotic spacetime of Karazhan. Her origin was quite mysterious. Roy wanted to see her, but he didn’t expect that he couldn’t find her after searching the entire third floor. He didn’t know if she had disappeared or something.

When Roy entered the opera house on the fourth floor, he finally saw… monsters. At the entrance of the opera house, two skeletons with weak soul flames in their eyes were wandering around aimlessly. Their clothes were tattered, and their bones had countless cracks, as though the intruders in Karazhan had not been able to eliminate them completely over the years and had only shattered their bones. After the intruders left, they slowly recovered and stood up again.

After hearing the footsteps, the two wandering skeletons turned their heads to look. But when they saw Roy’s tall demon body, they appeared terrified. They stood rooted to the floor in a daze, their entire skeletons trembling. A moment later, they fell apart on their own, and their old bones scattered all over the floor.

Sensing that even the soul flames in the skeletons were slowly dissipating, Roy was a little speechless. Is that necessary? Two undead can actually be frightened to death?

The dilapidated opera house on the fourth floor didn’t start a performance because someone had broken in. It seemed that the souls lurking here were all hiding in fear when Roy appeared. What Roy saw was only a dilapidated stage with a lot of cobwebs.

The library on the fifth floor was even more unbearable to look at. There were a large number of empty bookshelves, and many of them had even collapsed. Not a single book was preserved. Even the arcane construct that the high elves had given to Medivh, the Curator, who guarded this place, had turned into a pile scattered on the floor at some point.

In fact, it made sense. This was the real Karazhan. The things inside would not keep refreshing like in the dungeon. Once many things were destroyed, they were really destroyed and wouldn’t stand up again. The most valuable thing in Karazhan should be the large collection of books on the fifth floor. Be it the mages of Dalaran or the thieves who intruded here, it was impossible for them to let go of this floor, so this floor was probably the cleanest one in the plundered Karazhan.

Seeing this, Roy realized that it was probably impossible to find the place where Sargeras hid his souls on the lower floors. If he wanted to find them, he would probably have to go to the upper floors or even the top of the tower.

As they continued going up, it was not as desolate as the lower floors. Some strange creatures appeared sporadically in the tower. These creatures were not native to Azeroth, so Roy immediately guessed that these creatures had probably entered through the randomly appearing spacetime rifts in Karazhan.

Karazhan still had a lot of energy, and the flavor of knowledge in this mage tower was still very rich, so it was not surprising that it attracted these creatures from alternative spaces. Even after more than twenty years, these creatures still appeared sporadically in this tower.

However, due to the terrifying aura emanating from Roy, none of these creatures dared to appear in front of him. Only through the rustling sounds could the group of three detect their hiding actions.

It could be said that wherever Roy went, gods and ghosts made way, which saved him a lot of trouble.

While moving forward, Roy was searching for possible spacetime rifts in the tower through his perception. He put himself in Sargeras’s shoes and pondered. If he were Sargeras, he would definitely not place a hundred trillion souls within reach. With so many souls, it was enough to drive any demon creature crazy. So if he wanted to preserve these souls, they were definitely in a place that couldn’t be reached by ordinary methods, and a spacetime rift was the most suitable.

Therefore, Roy guessed that there must be a relatively stable spacetime rift in the Karazhan tower. It might be in a certain room. Not only would there be powerful restrictions, but it should also be invisible under normal circumstances. Otherwise, many intruders and thieves would have long discovered this place.

“Who… is that?” Benia suddenly asked while Roy was still thinking.

Roy looked at where Benia was pointing and found an enormous room. There were also many bookshelves in this room. But interestingly, although most of the bookshelves in this room had been emptied, there were still many books scattered on the floor. It was strange that no one had taken them.

And among these scattered books, a lone figure was sitting alone in a translucent state.

This figure looked like a human mage. He was wearing a gorgeous purple robe, and the collar on the back of his neck was raised high. He had white hair, and a thick beard covered his face. He was completely pale. He was just sitting on a pile of books with lifeless eyes, holding a staff in his hand and muttering something.

Seeing this figure, Roy was very surprised and immediately remembered who it was.

This illusory figure should be Medivh’s father, Nielas! The court conjurer of Stormwind, Nielas Aran!

What appeared in this room was Nielas’s soul. Medivh’s father had died when he was thirteen years old, and he had died to save Medivh. His father had always favored him. But when he was thirteen years old, he had been awakened by a nightmare, and the vast energy in his body had erupted uncontrollably. In order to suppress the immense energy in Medivh’s body, Nielas had joined forces with no less than one hundred clerics. Although they had succeeded in suppressing the immense energy in Medivh’s body in the end, Nielas had died because of his exhaustion.

As for why Nielas’s soul was trapped in Karazhan after his death, it had always been a mystery. But the moment Roy saw Nielas, he immediately understood.

This was probably Sargeras’s doing. Sargeras’s soul had been lurking in Medivh’s body, and it was very likely that he had caused the energy in Medivh’s body to lose control. As Medivh’s father, Nielas had a bond of kinship with Medivh. His existence might allow Sargeras to shake Medivh’s mind better so that he could complete the possession. This might be one of the reasons why Sargeras imprisoned him in Karazhan.

Another reason was probably the whereabouts of the one hundred trillion souls. Roy was certain that Nielas’s soul was very likely the ‘key’ set by Sargeras to open the soul treasury!

Thinking of this, Roy immediately strode into the room…

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