Warlord Oz was killed, and the Faceless Ones, deprived of their commander, could only be slaughtered by the Red Dragons and Valarjar.
Seeing that defeat was certain, the Faceless Ones began to flee. However, under the pursuit of the Red Dragons and Valarjar, they were all killed before they could escape Dragonblight.
Upon receiving the news, the Faceless Ones of Ahn'Qiraj immediately retreated back into Ahn'Qiraj, holed up in the city, and dared not come out again.
Alexstrasza asked Gale, "Should we take this opportunity to conquer Ahn'Qiraj?"
Gale shook his head, "No hurry! The Faceless Ones are a small problem; Loken and Yogg-Saron are the big problems."
Alexstrasza nodded and said regretfully, "I never imagined that the Titan Guardians would fall so low as to ally with the Old Gods."
"Time can change everything!" Gale asked, "To kill Loken and Yogg-Saron, we must enter Ulduar. However, we don't understand the current situation in Ulduar at all. If we attack rashly, the losses will be enormous."
Alexstrasza thought for a moment, "Perhaps I have a way to find out what's happening inside Ulduar."
"Oh?" Gale looked at her in surprise. He had been wondering if Vrykul or Earth Spirits could infiltrate Ulduar! After all, Ulduar had not yet been sealed, and Loken's army still occupied The Creation Platform.
However, since Alexstrasza had a way to gather internal information about Ulduar, he decided to entrust this task to her.
Alexstrasza had the Red Dragons fill in the caves created by the Faceless Ones, and then she flew northwest.
Gale scratched his head a little. Shouldn't she be going north? Was she taking a circuitous route?
Unable to figure it out, Gale didn't dwell on it. As long as Alexstrasza could gather useful intelligence, she could fly south for all he cared.
Because Metri had not activated the beacon crystal, Gale had ample time to help the Red Dragons deal with the corpses of the Faceless Ones. He used the Soul Gem to extract the souls of the Faceless Ones, ground them into soul energy, and stored them in the Soul Gem.
The souls of the Faceless Ones originated from the Old Gods, so their souls were exceptionally powerful, essentially making up for the losses incurred from strengthening the Valarjar.
This made Gale involuntarily look towards Ahn'Qiraj. He thought, if only he had agreed to Alexstrasza's suggestion earlier. Breaking through Ahn'Qiraj would yield a lot more soul energy.
However, Ahn'Qiraj wasn't going anywhere, so Gale wasn't in a hurry.
He began to fantasize again: if he absorbed Yogg-Saron's soul energy, would the Soul Gem experience a qualitative improvement?
At this thought, Gale grew excited.
There was just one problem: how to kill Yogg-Saron?
In the game, it was a matter of finding a few dozen adventurers, but reality wouldn't be so easy. Let alone adventurers, Gale wouldn't even let weaker generals face Yogg-Saron directly, because that would be suicide.
At least those of Archmage level or higher, and various professions possessing artifacts, would be qualified to face Yogg-Saron directly. Counting them, only the high-ranking generals of the Kaldorei Empire would qualify.
Adding the Four Dragon Aspects, and at most El, Heimdall, Huln Highmountain, and the Stone Giants.
The Stone Giants could only serve as cannon fodder, so they were temporarily excluded. With those guarding various places who couldn't come, having twenty people would be good.
Facing Yogg-Saron with twenty people was an act of suicide.
After some thought, Gale added a few more Titan Guardians.
Of the nine Titan Guardians, Leiden was imprisoned on Thunder Isle, Tyr, Odyn, and Torim were dead, Azadas was in Uldaman, and Loken had betrayed them. Only Freya, Hodir, and Mimiron remained, all imprisoned within Ulduar. Therefore, to gain their support, Ulduar had to be taken.
The problem returned to square one.
Kaldorei have a long reproductive cycle, and even with Teldrassil's blessing, it takes twenty years to mature. Therefore, Gale could only deploy forces from other sources.
He first thought of the Vrykul of Northrend.
As a warrior race, the Vrykul lived in most parts of Northrend.
The strongest were certainly the Dragon Rider Clan living in Howling Fjord, but most of this Dragon Rider Clan had already been eliminated. Their territory was now occupied by the Bearman and Tuskarr, with only Utgarde Keep occupied by Darkmoon City, serving as a new trading center for transactions with the Bearman and Tuskarr.
With newly occupied lands and the need to guard the Drakkari Trolls, the Bearman could not send troops to support. Even the two demigods had to remain vigilant against the Drakkari Trolls' loa and could not disengage.
Large numbers of Vrykul lived in the Storm Peaks, and El had already identified three types of Vrykul. One was the Ice Vrykul, the Brunnhildar, who served Torim; most of them were female, making it a matriarchal society. The second type were the Frost Giants, who served Hodir and called themselves the Sons of Hodir. The third type were the Steel Vrykul, who served Loken and occupied The Creation Platform, which was the Frost Giants' homeland.
The first two were potential allies, while only the Steel Vrykul had to be defeated.
There was also a Dragon Rider Clan in the Icebound Glacier, residing in Yodenheim. However, the journey was long, and they were difficult to tame, so they were temporarily not part of Gale's plan.
Upon returning to Twin Peaks Fortress, Gale had El arrange a meeting with the Brunnhildar chieftain.
The two met on a mountain west of Brunnhildar Village. Gale presented Torim's warhammer and told the chieftain about Odyn, Torim, and Loken.
"Although I don't know the specifics of what happened, it's clear that Loken orchestrated the entire affair from behind the scenes. Torim's death at Loken's hands is an undeniable fact, and his revealing to Torim that Sif died at Hodir's hands was clearly also a deception, allowing him to ensnare both Torim and Hodir."
The Brunnhildar chieftain fell into deep thought, "After we went to war with the Sons of Hodir, the fighting was brutal. Later, Loken did intervene and defeated us all. However, at that time, Loken also attacked Hodir and imprisoned him in Ulduar, which is why we didn't suspect much. Now it seems that Loken was indeed the only one who benefited from the entire affair."
Gale said, "Since that's the case, we cannot let Loken get away with it. I have been entrusted by El and Heimdall to help them avenge Odyn. You also need to avenge Torim, and the Sons of Hodir need to rescue Hodir. If we fight individually, none of us will be a match for Loken. But if we unite, Loken will be at a disadvantage."
The Brunnhildar chieftain hesitated, "But we and the Sons of Hodir have already broken ties. Can we still fight side by side?"
Gale said, "I will have El contact the Sons of Hodir. We share the same goal, a goal that can make us put aside our differences: to kill Loken!"
"Good, if you can truly get the Sons of Hodir to agree to cooperate, we Brunnhildar will not refuse this matter!"
Gale nodded to El, and El flew up, heading towards Dannifernre.
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