Worgen

The Kirin Tor Council is the leadership organization of Dalaran, and its leaders are the Archmages from the Alliance. Its ruling class consists of six Archmages, currently Antonidas, Drendan, Modera, Krasus, Kael'thas, and Aiden. Major events that require the joint resolution of the six Archmages are convened in a secret room in Dalaran, high in the sky, so the Council of Six is also known as the "Sky Council." Other members of the Kirin Tor are of lower status than them.

Not all Archmages can become members of the Kirin Tor Council. One must be excellent enough, responsible, and have made special contributions in certain areas to be eligible to join.

There are over fifty Archmages in the entire Dalaran, but less than half of them are qualified to join the Kirin Tor Council.

Archmage Arugal is one of them.

Originally, these highly respected Kirin Tor members should have been revered, but his inclusion made many people feel unfair—Arugal's qualifications and strength were not outstanding among all the Archmages, and could even be described as mediocre. The Kirin Tor decided to absorb Arugal because, a few years ago, during meditation, he inadvertently sensed a strange "alternate dimension," and sensed from it fleshy creatures different from elemental servants that could be used for summoning.

You should know that normal mages can only summon some specific elemental servants, and even those warlocks who secretly try shadow magic can only summon different kinds of demons, and necromancers can only summon undead creatures.

Obviously, Arugal's unintentional research can be considered a new breakthrough, although it has no practical value, it is still barely qualified for the Kirin Tor to absorb him.

But after that, he never had any more remarkable performance. He remained mediocre, and even now, he has not been able to successfully summon the kind of fleshy servant he sensed from the alternate dimension.

Because of this, he is ostracized and despised by other Archmages. Other Kirin Tor members believe that he is famous in name only, and the Archmages who have not joined the Kirin Tor believe that he is pretentious, and may even be a boaster.

It was against this background that the Kirin Tor Council assigned Arugal a task that most mages disliked—stationing in Theramore.

At the meeting in the Throne Room of Lordaeron, Antonidas chose to stand on the side of the Valoran Federation. This was not only his personal decision, but in fact, the vast majority of mages later strongly supported it.

The discord between mages and clerics has a long history, and the Dalaran mages are very willing to get rid of the influence of the old Alliance.

The old Alliance countries, led by Lordaeron, were not very friendly to mages and arcane magic. They believed in the Holy Light, and priests and paladins were the forces they trusted, and mages who played with mysterious arcane energy were obviously not popular.

At this time, the Valoran Federation appeared. The spells of the Valoran system and the spells of Dalaran complemented each other, and the Valoran Federation was powerful, not weaker than the Kingdom of Lordaeron, or even stronger. Most importantly, it had great tolerance and did not discriminate against mages.

Since the old Alliance didn't like mages, how could mages willingly condescend to cater to the Lordaeron Alliance when they had better choices?

However, in order to maintain formal contact, Dalaran needed to send an Archmage to Theramore to express their attitude of belonging to the same alliance. But how many mages were willing to deal with those stubborn and ignorant clerics? So this naturally became a thankless task.

Then, the unpopular Arugal became Dalaran's ambassador to Theramore.

In fact, Arugal didn't think this was really a thankless task. He knew that he was unpopular in Dalaran, and people were talking about him behind his back, saying that he was not worthy of his name. How could he not know?

Being able to leave the Violet Citadel, which was incompatible with him, allowed him to devote himself more to his research.

He believed that when he showed the results of his years of painstaking research, everyone would look at him with new eyes.

The Nightmare Invasion was undoubtedly a catastrophe for others, but not for Arugal.

"Nightmare, hehe... Worgen..." Arugal showed a mocking smile, and in front of him, a group of large, strong, upright wolf-like creatures were extremely respectful to him.

After years of exploration, during the Nightmare Invasion, he finally successfully summoned the fleshy creatures he sensed from the alternate dimension!

"This is a race I created, so I rightfully have the right to name them!" Arugal looked at these creatures excitedly, "Worgen, that is your name from now on."

"Now, let me see how powerful you are?" He gave the order, and the Worgen immediately began to kill each other.

Arugal then witnessed the Worgen's strength and agility far exceeding that of humans, as well as their powerful fighting instincts and bloodlust.

They were simply born killing machines!

Arugal was very satisfied with this. He thought complacently that as long as he summoned ten thousand Worgen, everyone would look at him with new eyes; and if he summoned one hundred thousand Worgen, then he could subvert the entire world!

—

Arthas, Uther, and Daelin, the three high-ranking officials of Theramore, gathered together. Now the situation in Theramore is critical. According to the attack pattern of the past few days, En'Zoth's minions will launch a new round of offensive in at most half an hour. However, this gathering was not to discuss how to deal with it, but to decide on another matter.

The three of them scrutinized Arugal, who was talking eloquently in front of them, and his large pet—the Worgen—with stern eyes.

Arugal once again demonstrated his absolute control over the Worgen in front of the three: the Worgen ran, jumped, fought, and even killed each other under his command, and when Arugal called to stop, no matter how fiercely they had fought before, they would stop immediately.

"You see, they are so obedient, they will obey my every command, how could they harm the Alliance?" Arugal looked high-spirited, and he believed that his achievements were enough to make all his colleagues in Dalaran, as well as all the lords, nobles, and kings, look at him with new eyes. He could imagine what the expressions of those who once looked down on him would be like if his pets solved the human crisis.

He believed that the shock and disbelief of those people would make him even more satisfied.

"This kind of creature, 'Worgen', they look very bloodthirsty. Mage, are you sure you can always control them?" Uther was the most opposed to using Worgen to help defend the city. He could feel the wildness and danger of these Worgen. Now they were so obedient, but once they were out of control, the damage they would cause would probably be no less than that of the En'Zoth Legion.

As a warrior who uses the Holy Light, Uther firmly believed that only the Holy Light was the safest and most selfless. And intuition told him that this mage was not reliable!

His intuition was still very accurate, and Arugal did have extraordinary ambitions.

In fact, Arugal had lobbied Jaina a few days ago. He showed her his great research results. But Jaina held almost the same view as Uther, the Worgen did not seem so easy to control, they were more dangerous than the wolves in the wild, and most importantly, their origins were unknown. And except for Arugal, no one has successfully summoned this creature, they do not understand the origin of the Worgen at all, and do not know whether they can control them.

Unknown means risk. At a time when Theramore is facing internal and external troubles, summoning Worgen may lead to more serious consequences than the En'Zoth Legion breaking the city.

If the city is broken, the Alliance can retreat; if the Worgen lose control, then everything is really over!

Arthas knew Uther's attitude, but he didn't think so.

When Jaina told him that Arugal could summon a large number of Worgen, he immediately wanted to verify it. When he found that Arugal could indeed control these Worgen, he even wanted the other party to immediately summon a large number of Worgen to help them defend Theramore.

"I think it's worth a try." Arthas said, his tone seemed very affirmative, "The current situation is very critical, our strength has been greatly damaged due to the Nightmare Invasion, and reinforcements do not know when they will arrive. We don't have to completely trust these Worgen, but we can try them to a limited extent, such as summoning a small number of Worgen to try first. If we can control the situation, then they will not be a threat, but a help!"

Daelin frowned. He didn't like this kind of beast, especially since these beasts only recognized one master. If Arugal had any ulterior motives, or encountered any accidents, the already weak Alliance would likely suffer another fatal blow.

But Arthas's proposal wasn't wrong either. They had suffered heavy casualties defending Theramore, and the Worgen might alleviate their pressure.

Daelin tried to convince himself. He glanced at Arthas, the young prince now shouldering the leadership of the Lordaeron Alliance. He looked exhausted from not resting for days, but the prospect of new aid also made him seem very excited. These two contradictory expressions appeared on his face simultaneously, making him seem somewhat... unusual. He was too mentally stimulated, perhaps because the continuous pressure of the past few days had led him to regard the Worgen as the only lifeline to break the deadlock, so he couldn't wait to use this unfamiliar power.

It was just a very dangerous way of thinking.

"He will soon be my son-in-law," Daelin consoled himself. Losing Tandred had dealt him a huge blow. Two wars, and he had lost two sons, an unimaginable pain for any father. Now he only had Jaina left, so his perspective on Arthas was different.

"Then let's try it," Daelin said in a muffled voice.

—

Leading the troops to support Theramore were Highlord Darius Crowley of Gilneas, the Draenei forces led by Maraad, who had just arrived in this world from Outland, and the Demacian Legion led by Garen, drawn from Los Angeles.

They were marching very fast and should arrive a day earlier than Theramore expected.

The last night the reinforcements marched towards Theramore happened to be the moment when the Emerald Dream forcibly merged with reality. The eerie green mist spread, causing panic. From this moment on, no one fell into a bizarre sleep again. This should have been good news, but the green mist from the dream made the Nightmare Claws even more powerful, while ordinary people were greatly restricted.

Originally, this elite reinforcement force had easily dealt with the Nightmare Claws that occasionally came to attack along the way, but when the green mist descended, the Nightmare Claws became elusive. That night, the number of people they lost due to Nightmare Claw attacks was more than the previous few days combined.

Darius and Maraad became very worried as a result.

"It will be better once we enter the city," Garen comforted them.

"I hope Theramore can hold on," Darius said in a deep voice. He had also been fighting all these days, and he understood the kind of pressure the coastal areas would face. Moreover, many people had fallen asleep due to nightmares before, leading to low morale and a very worrying combat situation.

"No one has fled here, which means they are at least safe now," Maraad said.

Thanks to the Draenei's innate strong physique, their resistance to the green mist was much stronger than that of humans. However, Maraad realized that Azeroth was really not a pure land.

In this universe with frequent disasters, where could there be any pure land?

After dark, the joint Draenei and Gilnean force was still half a day away from Theramore. The commander ordered them to camp and rest.

Because the green mist spread last night, and the Nightmare Claws became very powerful, causing great losses to this allied army, Darius arranged very thorough security measures on the last night of the march.

But in the second half of the night, a terrifying howl rang out in the wilderness.

"Wolves?" The guard on duty recognized the wolf howl.

"Don't worry, the wolves don't dare to approach our camp. Beasts are afraid of light at night, and there are many of us here," another soldier seemed very relaxed. "As long as those damn crawling monsters don't appear, we'll be thankful."

The Draenei illuminated the entire camp with Holy Light, making it as bright as day. The light gave the soldiers ample confidence, and the warmth of the Holy Light also allowed them to sleep peacefully.

But soon after, the guards heard a faint tremor of the earth, similar to that of a cavalry charge.

Both guards saw horror in each other's eyes.

"Enemy attack!" A shrill bugle call pierced the night sky.

The soldiers on guard at the outermost perimeter of the camp tried to overcome the fear in their hearts. They didn't know that there would be something like cavalry among the Nightmare Claws.

But as the sound approached, the soldiers saw in the dark night, in the green mist, pairs of eyes glowing with a dark green light.

After discovering the enemy, this group of terrifying enemies began to howl like wolves.

—

Two days ago, Archmage Arugal summoned the first batch of five hundred Worgen to help defend a section of Theramore's northern wall. These Worgen, as they had demonstrated to the leaders before, were fierce, brutal, and agile. Their sharp claws allowed them to easily climb walls and tear enemies to pieces. They cooperated in hunting like a real pack of wolves, and they could perfectly complete the hunting mission without the master's command.

"Perfect, very perfect!" Arugal watched his pets fanatically. After seeing their excellent performance in the war, Arugal's ambition also swelled.

"If I had ten thousand Worgen..." He once again had that ambitious thought.

Because of Arugal's perfect control over the Worgen on the first day, Arthas couldn't wait to order him to summon another two thousand Worgen the next day. Uther and Daelin tried to dissuade him, but neither strongly opposed it.

Arugal also wanted to summon so many Worgen at once, but his mana was not enough to complete such a task. Summoning five hundred a day was his limit.

Arthas was somewhat disappointed when he got this answer, but after all, this was also a great help, enough for them to hold out until reinforcements arrived. On the contrary, Uther and Daelin breathed a sigh of relief when they heard this news—the smaller the number, the easier it was to control.

But when the green mist of the Emerald Dream spread into reality, Arugal suddenly discovered that the plane where the Worgen were sleeping in his perception became very clear. The mana that used to be consumed to summon a Worgen was now enough for him to summon ten or even twenty!

After discovering this, Arugal completely understood that the Worgen came from the Emerald Dream.

The merging of the dream and reality was a disaster for others, but for Arugal, this was a rare opportunity!

It would have taken seven months to summon ten thousand Worgen, but now it would only take half a month!

"Half a month later, hehe." Arugal let out a cold laugh. Opposite him, the eyes of the Worgen began to slowly turn red.

Arugal did not publicize this change to others, and he kept the secret to himself. After night fell, he quietly concealed himself, sneaked out of the city alone, summoned all the Worgen exceeding the number of five hundred, and appointed the strongest "Alpha Wolf" among them to lead the Worgen to lurk in Dustwallow Marsh.

In two nights, three thousand Worgen appeared on the wilderness of Dustwallow Marsh.

Arugal only gave the Alpha Wolf the task of "preying", but he was not a Worgen, so how could he know that for Worgen, weren't all edible things prey?

The Worgen, freed from Arugal's control, gathered together and swept across all the animals, large and small, in the territory they passed, but their hunger was still not satisfied. And the arrival of the reinforcements gave these beasts a new source of food.

This sudden battle caught Darius and the others off guard. They had experienced all kinds of cruel wars and faced many powerful enemies, but the Worgen still exceeded their imagination.

"Quick, surround them!"

"Use the Holy Light!"

"Gather together, quick, quick, quick!"

"Kill these damn beasts!"

The camp was filled with all kinds of shouts and curses. The attacking Worgen quickly broke through the outer defenses of the camp and were exposed to the light of the Holy Light.

"Holy Light above..." A soldier saw his comrade being pinned to the ground by a pouncing Worgen. It tore open his chest with its claws, blood sprayed on the Worgen's head and chest, and it took out the bloody, still-beating heart and stuffed it into its mouth to tear it apart.

The eyes that had originally glowed with a dark green light turned blood red after eating human flesh.