DOTM: Chapter 239/240

Chapter 239: The Proud Black Dragon

Katrana Prestor's father was a minor lord, and she was not originally a noble of the Kingdom of Stormwind. However, after the northern regions of the Eastern Kingdoms fell into chaos and most of the Seven Human Kingdoms were destroyed or severely weakened, many humans migrated south to the Kingdom of Stormwind or to Theramore in Kalimdor.

Katrana Prestor also arrived in the Kingdom of Stormwind in this way. Due to some actions taken by her father, she gained high prestige among Stormwind's nobility, which allowed her to smoothly enter the kingdom's ruling class upon reaching adulthood.

That was the surface story. The truth was that this "Lord Prestor" was actually Neltharion the Earth-Warder, one of the five Dragon Aspects of Azeroth.

Neltharion went mad during the War of the Ancients after being corrupted by the Old God N'Zoth. He transformed from a Dragon Aspect into the Destroyer, who found joy only in annihilation, and renamed himself Deathwing.

Though Neltharion desired destruction, he was a proud dragon. He not only wanted to prove that dragons were the most superior lifeforms but also sought to demonstrate that humans, as inferior beings, would crumble even in intelligence. So instead of brute-force destruction, he resorted to schemes and manipulation, intending for humans to destroy themselves.

He believed in that plan and acted on it, but an unexpected incident forced him to suspend his operations. After he left the human kingdoms, his daughter Onyxia inherited her father's grand ambitions. She remained in the Kingdom of Stormwind and continued to carefully execute his plan to destroy this human nation.

At present, the Kingdom of Stormwind was mired in unprecedented difficulty. Yet the nobles within the kingdom remained indifferent. Some even believed the lie that all was well, handing over most of their power and indulging in pleasure all day.

Even the current Regent, Bolvar Fordragon, placed immense trust in this Countess. To Ethan, this trust seemed inexplicable. He had privately grumbled more than once that this duke must be harboring malicious intent by willfully ignoring his duties.

In short, Katrana Prestor was currently the most powerful individual in the Kingdom of Stormwind. Her word carried more weight than Regent Bolvar's. If they could make contact with this black dragoness, Ethan might be able to achieve his goals with ease.

But!

"Do you think Katrana Prestor would be willing to cooperate with us?"

Ethan didn't believe for a second that the black dragon would be interested in an alliance. Setting aside values, motivations, or even Ethan's own intent, would Katrana Prestor even care about the hand of friendship they might extend?

If they really tried to pursue this path, what awaited them would likely be Onyxia taking a deep breath and breathing fire down on them, quite literally roasting them alive.

Before Loki could even give his reasons, Ethan raised a hand to cut him off.

"You might not be fully aware of Katrana Prestor's situation."

"A black dragon. Is there something I don't know?"

Loki knew that Katrana Prestor's true form was a black dragon. He knew she controlled power in Stormwind City and had the entire Kingdom of Stormwind in her grasp.

But he didn't know about Neltharion or the cataclysmic tendencies of this dragon family. With such a severe imbalance in information, his reasoning for approaching the one currently in power made perfect sense.

But Ethan knew the real story. This dragon bloodline was nearly impossible to reason with. Though Neltharion retained a twisted form of sanity after his madness, his values had been utterly reshaped. His arrogance and disdain for all races aside from dragons had been magnified to the extreme—and his children had inherited that flawlessly.

In Onyxia's eyes, humans were nothing more than playthings. She didn't need to ally with anyone. She didn't even need to unleash her true power to destroy the Kingdom of Stormwind.

In fact, she had done an excellent job so far. As long as no unexpected variables emerged, the fall of Stormwind was all but guaranteed. Right now, only Elwynn Forest remained relatively stable within Stormwind territory. The rest had already fallen into chaos and disorder.

Within ten more years, Elwynn Forest would descend into chaos as well. By the time the people of Stormwind realized what was happening, it would be far too late. The final great human kingdom would collapse under the black dragon princess's manipulation.

"I'm not human. I'm a god from Asgard."

"Uh-huh. A god from another world. Do you think the dragons here will acknowledge your divine status?" There was no Norse mythology in this world. In the eyes of Azeroth's dragons, Loki was just a powerful mage—and a human one at that.

That fact nearly drove Loki mad. Short of drawing his weapon and teaching these ignorant reptiles what a northern god could do, he didn't know how else to argue the point.

"As the one currently wielding all the power in Stormwind, we also can't afford a direct military conflict with her. The army of Stormwind is the best shield protecting her."

That Countess didn't even need to fight herself. Though Stormwind was corrupt, that referred to the noble structure, not the military. Besides, Bolvar—who had been under her influence for a long time—wasn't weak either. As long as they were delayed even slightly, Stormwind soldiers would arrive in waves like a tide.

"Even if we successfully defeat the Countess and expose her identity, do you think a bunch of shameless nobles will acknowledge our contributions? More likely, they'll want to silence us to cover up the fact that they're idiots."

"Humans are truly despicable!"

"In that dragon's eyes, you're human too!"

At this point, everyone understood. No matter what, they had to rescue King Varian Wrynn. The King's character was trustworthy. If they could rescue him and reveal the black dragon princess's schemes, Varian would definitely reward Ethan with whatever he needed.

At the same time, both Varian and Reginald Windsor had immense prestige within Stormwind's military. With their support, the powerful Stormwind army wouldn't turn against them. And that fool Bolvar wouldn't dare issue such an order in front of his king.

Although Bolvar would one day go on to do great things for the world, that didn't stop Ethan from viewing this grand duke as a politician full of malice and rot. His actions over the years had made it impossible for Ethan to trust him in the slightest.

"So we're back to the same conclusion. The best choice is still to find Varian Wrynn." Logan's words brought the discussion to an end. There was no longer any debate. The target was set. The next step was deciding how to proceed.

"If Reginald Windsor is still alive, he'll be easier to find."

The former Marshal of Stormwind was imprisoned in the dungeons beneath the Dark Iron dwarves' city of Shadowforge. All they had to do was go to Blackrock Depths, enter Shadowforge City, find the prison, and break him out.

For many, the city of the Dark Iron dwarves was a dangerous fortress. But Ethan and his team weren't just anyone.

After packing their things, the group left Goldshire that very day, retracing the path they had taken to arrive.

To reach the Burning Steppes, they had to travel east through the same route, enter the Redridge Mountains, and follow the main road to Lakeshire. After resting there, they would head north, cross the Redridge Mountains, and reach the Burning Steppes.

There wasn't much danger along the way, but the distance wasn't short.

This wasn't a game where running through Elwynn Forest took just a few minutes. In this real world, that wasn't possible. Even Ethan didn't know exactly how long it would take. If it took too long, he might have to consider a backup plan.

The journey was somewhat boring, and the group often chatted about random topics along the way. For example, Logan suddenly brought up the physical fitness of humans in this world.

"I saw the armor worn by the Goldshire soldiers. They can move flexibly and even run at normal speed while wearing full heavy armor. The physical strength of people in this world is several times higher than ordinary people on Earth."

Similar heavy armor on Earth often required two or more attendants just to put it on. Even mounting a horse afterward needed assistance.

Without a warhorse, it was hard for ordinary people to move in such armor, let alone run. Even trained knights only wore full equipment during battle.

But here, even during daily patrols, those soldiers wore full armor. Armor weighing dozens of pounds seemed to have no impact on them.

Ethan had previously assumed that, since this wasn't the game version of Azeroth, warriors here wouldn't have something like the "Rage" resource to draw on like in the game. But now, he realized that warriors had always relied on their powerful physical strength. In this world, anyone who could become a warrior must possess exceptional physical talent.

"Unfortunately, this is talent. It can't be learned."

Ordinary people in Azeroth might not differ much from people on Earth in terms of physique, but those who became warriors were undoubtedly far stronger. Perhaps some of the more famous warriors weren't physically inferior even to Captain America after his enhancement.

Just as Ethan was thinking of Captain America as a reference point, he suddenly detected a faint magical fluctuation coming from Loki's body. The God of Mischief's expression instantly darkened.

(To be continued.)

Chapter 240: Reins

"You've met Katrana Prestor?"

They had already left Goldshire far behind, but Ethan wasn't surprised at all by what Loki had done earlier. Seeing his expression suddenly turn so foul, he knew exactly what had happened.

"Yes." Loki disdained lying about such matters. He knew the magical fluctuation from his broken spell couldn't be hidden from Ethan. Lying about something so obvious would only make him look ridiculous.

"How was my previous assessment?"

"Your assessment of that crawling reptile was spot on. I'm looking forward to seeing what methods you'll use against that black dragon once you bring Varian Wrynn back."

Loki secretly stirring up trouble wasn't surprising to Ethan. Even Logan wasn't surprised. After spending so much time together and with both Logan and Selene being beings who had lived for centuries, that amount of time was more than enough to understand someone's character.

With Ethan's explanations, they all knew this Asgardian god wasn't the honest type. Even if Ethan had made things perfectly clear, he would still go behind their backs and attempt to contact Katrana Prestor.

As for the method used? It was nothing more than illusions, mirror images, teleportation, and other spells. These were Loki's specialties. Just as Ethan could now throw Loki into the Mirror Dimension without him noticing, Loki could also cast spells without Ethan being able to detect him.

These kinds of spells were especially suited for infiltration. Meeting Katrana wasn't difficult for Loki. The only true barrier was Katrana's own will.

However, just a few lines of conversation made it obvious that Loki's meeting with Katrana Prestor had not gone well—it could even be called terrible.

"Another reason I wasn't willing to contact that female dragon before was that I needed time to make some preparations."

"What preparations?"

"She's a dragon. Although Katrana appears to be a delicate human woman, her true form is a massive, powerful black dragon capable of using magic. Truly defeating or capturing her won't be easy."

"Wait."

Logan, who had been silent until now, suddenly cut in. "Did you just say 'capture'? You're not thinking…" He recalled Ethan saying something about 'considering getting a mount,' and now it all clicked.

"Of course. Don't you think capturing a black dragon as a mount would be incredibly cool?"

Loki, whose expression had been foul a moment ago, suddenly grinned as if nothing had happened. "I like your thinking. I think we're becoming more and more in sync. Maybe we can become real friends."

The idea of making that arrogant and conceited black dragon into a mount—what a delightful prospect.

Whether Loki meant it sincerely or just wanted to encourage Ethan to hold onto this idea, there was no denying that the notion of capturing a dragon as a mount was incredibly tempting. Even Logan felt stirred, though he knew it wasn't realistic for him.

"Isn't that too dangerous?"

"Yes." Ethan understood what Logan was worried about. "I need to create something that allows me to control her. I don't want to be bitten to death by my own mount."

The so-called "Reins of Onyxia" didn't exist in this world. Ethan would have to make one himself. Considering he was attempting to control the direct offspring of a Dragon Aspect, creating such an item wouldn't be simple. It would likely require Loki's help to become feasible.

This was also why Ethan had knowingly allowed Loki to cause trouble, so that he would experience the behavior of black dragons firsthand and hopefully become furious. That way, he would firmly stand on Ethan's side and help to the best of his abilities, regaining the pride he had just lost.

Ethan didn't deny that he also hoped to use the opportunity to learn something from Loki. His understanding of Asgardian magic was still superficial. The one who truly held the core knowledge was Loki.

Loki, who had been thoroughly humiliated, wasn't unaware of Ethan's motives. But he didn't care. All he wanted now was to see Onyxia get flattened, groveling and begging for mercy.

If that scene could really happen, what did it matter if he taught Ethan a little magic?

So, during their journey, aside from idle chatting, Ethan had a new task—constantly learning and absorbing Asgardian magic knowledge while also discussing with Loki how to create an item capable of controlling a powerful black dragon.

Having something to focus on made Ethan lose track of time. When he came back to his senses, they had already reached the Redridge Mountains. Not far ahead, they could see the region's largest lake, Lake Everstill.

"There's a big bridge over Lake Everstill. Once we cross it, we'll reach Lakeshire."

Standing on a hillside nearby, they could already see the outline of Lakeshire on the far side of the lake. However, Ethan had no intention of stopping there. He even instructed everyone to cross the bridge and bypass Lakeshire, continuing northward.

"We're not going into town to rest?"

"No. Loki already met Katrana. Who knows if that Countess will send people after us? Staying out of town helps us avoid unnecessary trouble."

Entering town would expose their location and could easily lead to an ambush by Stormwind's assassination units.

"Anyway, it's not a big deal if we don't rest. Traveling overnight is fine too."

Among them, only Laura had relatively weak stamina, but even hers far surpassed that of ordinary people. Traveling overnight was no problem. Additionally, they were well-equipped with modern gear, so there were no issues with visibility.

With the multifunctional glasses Tony Stark had provided, not even the dangers lurking in the Redridge Mountains could approach them easily.

That included not just orcs and gnolls, but also an experienced assassin skilled in concealing his presence.

Under normal circumstances, this assassin could hide perfectly. Someone even two meters away might not detect him. Unfortunately, all of that was meaningless. On Ethan's lenses, the assassin was as conspicuous as a bonfire in the night. By the time he realized something was wrong, he had already been pulled into the Mirror Dimension by Ethan—unable to escape.

"Not entering Lakeshire was the right choice. These guys move fast."

They had just been resting by the campfire. Dinner was set beside the flames when they noticed this uninvited guest.

"What do we do with him?"

Logan looked at the assassin, who sat calmly in the Mirror Dimension, silently observing them. Logan had already made a basic assessment of the man.

A classic veteran—experienced, calm, and composed. He was still looking for an opportunity to escape while using this time to gather intel on their group.

"Doesn't matter. I don't care about small fry like this."

Ethan truly didn't see any value in wasting time on such minor characters. Onyxia might be aware of some of Loki's abilities, but as a black dragon, her arrogance would prevent her from taking Loki seriously.

Furthermore, her commands would likely be somewhat 'distorted' by the time they reached lower-level subordinates. So while Stormwind had indeed dispatched an experienced assassin, they didn't really consider the mission high priority—at least, not yet. If Stormwind Intelligence began to take notice, that might change.

If it came to that, Ethan might feel a bit of pressure, but he wouldn't panic. What made Stormwind Intelligence dangerous was their ability to operate in the shadows. You never knew when they might strike.

But this wasn't an issue for Ethan. His companions were these few people, and none of them were easy to impersonate. Without being able to pass as one of them, getting close was impossible unless they could bypass Tony Stark's detection devices.

Having avoided the assassination attempt, it was clear Stormwind Intelligence's capabilities were limited. Their strength lay in reconnaissance and stealth assassination. In direct combat…

"Should we kill him?"

"Kill him."

Letting him return would be asking for trouble. Ethan wasn't that naïve. Leaving him trapped there? That would be no different from releasing him. Taking him along? That was even more impossible.

Besides, if he remembered correctly, not everyone recruited into Stormwind Intelligence was a good person. Ethan had little regard for the agency itself—so-called elite spies who couldn't even prevent the Kingdom of Stormwind from collapsing. They were always one step behind, circling the edges of major events.

And Ethan wasn't from Stormwind Kingdom. He had no reason to worry about its political damage or strategic losses. From his perspective, this was Katrana's dog. If it dared to bite, it should be cut down on the spot.

"Who's doing it?"

Ethan looked at Loki.

"Why me?"

"Your scepter is perfect for destroying the body without leaving a trace."

This wasn't just teasing. Since the core of Loki's scepter had changed, it no longer had mind control capabilities. However, if it touched a target, the powerful, dominant frost magic would turn the target into a fragile ice sculpture. Then, with a light tap, the body would shatter into pieces.

In the current temperature, that icy residue would quickly melt away, leaving no trace. With such a convenient option, why bother with other messy methods?

After resolving the brief interlude, the group continued north. They eventually reached the Burning Steppes, which were no longer under the control of the Kingdom of Stormwind.

Once they arrived, they were already very close to the location where Windsor was being held.

(To be continued.)