After finishing his talk with Hilda, Josh fell into deep thought.
Although he had promised to help her, he still hadn't fully decided on how to do it.
After all, the Nibelungen Ring was a divine artifact. It wasn't something where just any random tool could remove its curse. As things stood, there were only two possible ways.
The first was to trade Hilda an artifact at least equal in level to the Nibelungen Ring—like in the story where Seiya used Odin's Sword to destroy the ring. The second was to send a skyfather-level powerhouse directly.
But Josh didn't have many choices in either case. He couldn't possibly send Margaret—if anything went wrong before he was sure of the enemy's strength, he'd have nowhere to cry about it.
Just as Josh was lost in thought, the system rang. He looked—it was Abbendis contacting him.
Without hesitation, Josh accepted. At once, the image of a spirited Abbendis appeared.
"Judging from how happy you look, things must be going very well!" Josh smiled.
"Very well indeed. In fact, even smoother than planned. Now most of the Broken Isles are under our control. Out of the five Pillars of Creation, only Aegis of Aggramar and Eye of Aman'thul aren't in hand yet. Even Elune's Tear has already been taken!" Abbendis said proudly.
Among the five Pillars, the Tidestone of Golganneth and Hammer of Khaz'goroth were of course the first to be secured. The former was destroyed, but its fragments had always remained in the Highborne ruins of Nar'thalas Academy in Azsuna. With Josh as a "prophet" and plenty of high-level power, the Highborne ghosts there posed little trouble.
The Hammer of Khaz'goroth was even easier—it had long been kept by the Highmountain tauren.
Although the Highmountain clans and Kalimdor tauren came from the same line, they had been apart for ten thousand years.
"Elune's Tear? Didn't I tell you not to get involved with that goddess for now?" Josh frowned slightly at the name. Of all the powers in Azeroth's universe, the one he feared most was Elune—the Moon Goddess who, though never directly appearing, had influenced the world throughout its history.
"I know. But we didn't seize it ourselves—it was Xavius' Nightmare Legion. With our secret support, they've crushed the night elves on the Broken Isles so badly that they have no choice but to rely on me. During all this, they prayed to Elune again and again, but got no answer. It seems she doesn't care too much about what happens down here." Abbendis didn't look worried. At this stage, he couldn't afford to act timid because of Elune.
"As long as you know what you're doing." Josh didn't comment further. Abbendis was now a ruler in his own right. Josh couldn't treat him like a child anymore. Everyone had to walk their own road—too much warning would only backfire.
"By the way, there's something about Lord Loki." Abbendis added after his report.
"Loki? What about him?" Josh frowned again. He already knew his tricky son-in-law wouldn't stay quiet.
But this time, Loki was innocent.\\
The matter started when the Ancient One went to Northrend…
Compared to the Scarab Wall seal built by the dragon guardians, Ulduar's prison—created by the Titan keepers—was far stronger.
Yogg-Saron's seal was also buried much deeper, so for the Ancient One, reaching him was far harder than when she contacted C'Thun in Silithus.
That was why, after arriving in Northrend, the first person she sought was Loken.
Unfortunately, Loken—the traitor among the Titan keepers—was indeed clever and scheming, enough to later outplay the other keepers.
But toward humans, he was extremely arrogant and dismissive.
To the Titan keepers, humans were nothing more than flawed creations, born from corrupted constructs.
Even the fleshy vrykul, Loken barely respected—let alone humans.
So he paid the price.
The Ancient One didn't bother with words—she simply tore him apart.
After all, to her, Loken was only one possible way to get close to Yogg-Saron, not the only way.
Since she had already taken command of the qiraji empire in Ahn'Qiraj, there was no problem in ruling another branch of their kin.
Long ago, the aqir empire that fought against the troll empires wasn't limited to the Ahn'Qiraj brood. Two other branches had also existed.
One was the nerubians, dwelling deep under Northrend, little known now, but destined to become a core part of the Scourge in the future.
These were the spider-like beings—called nerubians or crypt fiends in the game.
The last branch were the mantid of Pandaria.
As creations of the Old Gods, none of these races escaped their grasp.
Of course, some resisted—for example, present-day Azjol-Nerub did not bow to Yogg-Saron.
But that didn't stop the Ancient One from using them to dig out Yogg-Saron.
So Loken's death didn't matter.
But the moment the Ancient One killed Loken, something strange happened.
Far away, on Azsuna in the Broken Isles, Loki was helping clear the lingering Highborne spirits.
Suddenly, a huge storm of lightning burst out from within him.
Thunder and lightning surged, sweeping away the ghosts around him in an instant.
The sudden storm shocked everyone present.
If they didn't already know Loki so well, they would have thought Thor himself stood before them.
This event was immediately reported to Abbendis and the Ancient One, since they were the ones leading the Azeroth plan.
Abbendis didn't think much of it.
But the Ancient One couldn't help connecting Loki's change with Loken's death.
Before coming here, Josh had already given her some knowledge about this world. She knew the keepers' lineup was very similar to Asgard's.
Not only Odin and Hela had their echoes here, but in Loken and Thorim—the keeper brothers—there were clear shadows of Loki and Thor.
The difference was, the Titan brothers were equals, while in her own world, Loki and Thor were Odin's sons—Loki not even his real son.
And in this world, Loken and Thorim together held the powers of storm and thunder.
So she shared her guess with Abbendis, and asked him to pass it on to Josh.