Molten Core

"I'm not going anywhere, I'm staying by your side!" Moira's tone was resolute. She knew what her husband was thinking. He must be feeling guilty for his previous arbitrariness. Now that disaster was imminent, he wanted to do something to make up for his mistake, such as buying time for his wife, son, and others.

He looked at his wife's determined eyes. He knew Moira's character very well. She was willing to break off relations with her own father and give up her noble status as a princess of Ironforge in order to bravely pursue her love. She was never an obedient woman; she was too opinionated!

"What about our son? He's still so young!"

"Let your guards and generals send him away! I believe they will treat him well."

Thaurissan was silent, his eyes moist. To have such a wife, what more could a husband ask for? He reached out and embraced Moira, whispering in her ear, "I love you, Moira."

"I love you too, Dagran."

"Having you is the most successful thing I've ever done in my life." Emperor Thaurissan's eyes dimmed. He gently patted Moira's back, quietly releasing the power of magic.

Moira only felt very sleepy, and after blinking a few times, she fell into a deep sleep.

Her husband was a powerful mage, and hypnosis was just a simple little spell for Emperor Thaurissan.

Thaurissan picked up Moira and placed her on a chair. He instructed his guard, "Call General Angerforge over."

During this time, he found his son, stuffed a handful of candy into his hands, and smiled kindly, "Son, call me Daddy!"

"Daddy, Daddy!" The little prince happily held the candy, tore one open, put it in his mouth, and called out sweetly as he chewed.

"Good boy! In the future you…" Emperor Thaurissan wanted to tell him a few words, but what could such a young child understand? He changed his words, "Daddy loves you!"

"Daddy, Daddy!"

—

After arranging for General Angerforge to lead the elite forces of the Dark Iron dwarves, along with his wife and children, to evacuate, the Burning Legion's army arrived at the door in less than an hour.

The demons seemed to know the situation here in advance. They didn't go to the upper levels of Blackrock Spire to find the black dragons and orcs, but went straight into the underground, knocking on the door of Blackrock Depths.

The Dark Iron dwarves resisted wave after wave, but the speed of the enemy's advance far exceeded the expectations of Emperor Thaurissan and the defenders. All kinds of bad news kept coming to the palace, making Thaurissan more and more restless.

The demons were unstoppable and had already attacked the arena. In at most two more hours, they would reach the palace. Perhaps even faster. It would only take such a short time for the demons to raze this place to the ground. The troops led by General Angerforge, who had just withdrawn, would probably be caught up very soon.

In the end, he still had to take that step—Thaurissan knew that he had no way to escape.

"Let me do one last thing for my wife, children, and surviving people!" Thaurissan muttered to himself. He dismissed the others and walked alone towards the depths of the abyss. After passing through a secretly built bridge, he used a secret key to open the heavy door at the end and stood in front of a deep cave.

There were no torches here, and natural light could not possibly reach this place hundreds of meters underground. But there was no lack of light here. Hot lava flowed everywhere, illuminating the entire cave in red. The air was filled with sulfur and other pungent smells, making people uncomfortable.

Dagran Thaurissan knew what was in this cave, and he was very clear about what kind of fate he would face once he stepped in.

Behind him, above his head, was the magnificent and complex Blackrock Depths, the capital of the Dark Iron dwarves. He thought it would be indestructible, but that was not the case. He heard the roars of demons and the screams of warriors above. Under the destruction of the Burning Legion, the aerial bridges were destroyed, and a large number of fragments and boulders crashed down, falling into the lava at the bottom. Also falling were various corpses. Some were of Dark Iron dwarves, some were of elemental golems, and some were of demons.

Perhaps they were still screaming in the air, still temporarily alive, but after falling into the lava, almost no other creatures except fire elementals could survive. Not even demons.

Thaurissan sighed and strode into the cave.

"Moira, may you and our son be safe!"

Tall rock golems and fiery fire elemental monsters brought him before Exorcist, the steward of the Fire Lord.

Exorcist looked down at Dagran Thaurissan, who seemed incredibly small in front of him, and said, "Mortal, you should not have come here."

Exorcist was the leader of the Flame Walkers. His appearance was like a magnified version of a male naga, with a humanoid face and a snake-like lower body, covered in scales, and exhaling a flame-like aura.

Flame Walkers were unique creatures of the Firelands, possessing both elemental and physical characteristics.

He recognized this dwarf. This was the direct descendant of the dwarf who had summoned his master, the Fire Lord Ragnaros, more than two hundred years ago. But no matter what, even if Thaurissan was the king of the Dark Iron dwarves, he was just an insignificant servant to Exorcist.

Without his permission, how could this mortal dare to break into the territory of the fire elementals? He decided to punish this arrogant mortal a little.

"Respected Steward, I have a reason why I have to come." Dagran Thaurissan lowered his head, "The Dark Iron dwarves have diligently served the Fire Lord for generations, but now—my kingdom is being destroyed, and only the great Fire Elemental Lord can save my country!"

"Is it those orcs and black dragons on the spire?" Exorcist said, "If it's such a trivial matter, I will never wake up my great master for you!"

The steward knew the Fire Lord's character very well. He was now recovering his strength in slumber and hated being disturbed the most. If there was not a sufficient reason, the furious Fire Lord would definitely kill the person who woke him up. Now the Fire Demon Lord no longer needed the help of the dwarves. The dwarves were just servants to them. The cautious steward was unwilling to anger his master for a group of servants.

"No, it's not them. It's a more terrifying group." Emperor Thaurissan's voice trembled. He was not exaggerating. Perhaps by the time he summoned the Fire Lord, Blackrock Depths would have completely fallen.

He was not even sure whether the Fire Lord could defeat the demon army.

Emperor Thaurissan told Exorcist what was happening, and gritted his teeth and said, "These demons are coming for the Fire Demon Lord—we Dark Iron dwarves have done our best, but we can't stop them, and we are almost completely wiped out. I risked my life to come here to notify you, hoping that you can tell the Fire Demon Lord and let him make preparations early!"

Emperor Thaurissan's statement was only to allow the summoning of Ragnaros to be carried out. He did not know whether the demons knew that the Fire Demon Lord, a powerful existence, was sleeping in the Molten Core underground. But by accident, Archimonde was indeed preparing to take the Fire Demon Lord as his target.

"Burning Legion?" The steward would naturally not be as ignorant as the Dark Iron dwarves. His erect pupils stared at the dwarf king, threatening, "You better not lie to me. Otherwise, I will make you wish you were dead!"

"I wouldn't dare, how could I dare to deceive you?" Emperor Thaurissan replied humbly. But he sneered in his heart. Since he stepped in here, he had not prepared to leave alive. The threat of death was useless to him. Summoning the Fire Lord was only to use his power to avenge his people and buy time for Moira and the others.

The steward led Thaurissan through the winding road through the complex caves of the Molten Core, eventually bringing him to a large cave surrounded by flowing lava.

This was Ragnaros's lair!

The steward stopped and said to Emperor Thaurissan, "You, stand aside!"

Thaurissan retreated to the wall. He saw the steward chanting the Kalimdor language of elemental creatures and began to cast a spell. Thaurissan did not understand what this elemental language meant. He was both uneasy and hopeful. After his ancestors personally summoned the Fire Demon Lord, they were immediately burned to death by the appearing Ragnaros. He also possessed the method of summoning the Fire Demon Lord passed down by his ancestors, but now that "Steward" Exorcist had done so, did this mean that he could escape death?

If the Fire Demon Lord defeated the demon army, perhaps he would still have a chance of survival.

Thaurissan thought so.

As the spell was completed, a huge fire elemental rose from the lava. It only showed the part above its waist, but it was already more than twenty meters high. Its body contained the purest fire element. Even from a distance, Thaurissan could feel the terrifying high temperature in this body.

The Fire Demon Lord, this was the great being that his ancestor Prince Thaurissan summoned to this world!

Ragnaros held a huge and burning warhammer in his hand, and some natural armor grew on his body, making him appear majestic and terrifying.

"Why did you wake me, Exorcist, why did you disturb me?" The anger in Ragnaros's tone burned as fiercely as the flames on his body. He was recovering his strength in slumber, and he wanted to ignite every inch of Azeroth with relentless fire. And this took time. So he hated being disturbed the most. His anger had once turned fertile land into scorched earth, and those who disturbed him would definitely pay an absolutely terrible price.

Exorcist immediately pointed to Thaurissan and said, "It's because of this mortal, my master! He broke in to tell you an important message!"

Ragnaros turned to Thaurissan, his tone cold: "Speak, what news is worth waking me up."

Emperor Thaurissan was terrified. He swallowed to moisten his dry throat, both because of the high temperature here and because of the oppression brought by the Fire Demon Lord.

"Great Fire Lord, a group of Burning Legion demons are attacking your temple. The one leading them is a powerful demon named Archimonde. We Dark Iron dwarves have done our best to block the demons for you, but they are too powerful, and my kingdom has been destroyed. I came at the risk of my life to inform you to guard against them!"

"Burning Legion? Archimonde?" Ragnaros muttered these two names, and he shouted angrily, "When I came to this world, the Burning Legion had not yet been born! How dare he disturb me? I will let him taste the flames of Sulfuron!"