When the Zandalari took advantage of the weakness of the blood trolls and invaded Nazmir, the central area of the swamp, deep in the Titan ruins known as the Heart of Darkness by the Zandalari locals, was still bound by the Titan seal.
G'huun is listening to reports from his subordinates.
"Great master."
A faceless man raised the tentacle of his right hand and sent a small ball of condensed blood to the unable to move G'huun.
G'huun is a flesh-and-blood monster with a very twisted appearance.
Although it is a man-made product of Titan, its existence form is very similar to the real ancient god, and it can even fake it and seize the people under other ancient gods for its own use.
"Bliss!"
G'huun used his tentacles to suck the blood into his body without hesitation.
"This is...dragon blood?"
The faceless man bowed his head respectfully and replied: "Yes, this blood comes from a mortal with dragon blood. Through blood composition analysis, he is related to the giant dragon that had a battle with N'Zoth's men at sea a few years ago.
"
"Enzos..."
After G'huun was born, he never left the Titan laboratory of Odile, and all he knew about the outside world came from the subordinates of other ancient gods who had been plundered.
The relationship between the Old Gods is not friendly. Everyone wants to be the one who finally monopolizes Azeroth, and they often fight openly and secretly with each other.
In the eyes of the orthodox Old Gods, man-made products like G'huun are just defective products.
But the strength of this defective product was unexpectedly good. The three ancient gods who sent people to test it all lost some of their subordinates to it.
G'huun is also not interested in the old gods such as N'zoth, Yogg-Saron, and C'Thun who claim to be superior to others.
If there was an opportunity to severely damage them with the help of others, G'huun would not hesitate at all.
"interesting."
After pondering for a moment, G'huun said in a slightly lazy voice in the faceless man's mind: "Just wait and see what happens. Maybe that little hybrid dragon can bring us some surprises."
"As commanded."
The Faceless Man obeyed G'huun's order without any objection, and then raised another question.
"Master, do we need to send someone to support those stupid blood trolls?"
"Need not."
G'huun replied calmly: "I haven't completely broken free of the seal yet, and now is not the time to completely break up with Zandalari."
"Anyway, the fertility of trolls is very strong. As long as the blood trolls are not uprooted, they can recover in 1-2 generations at most."
"When necessary, I will take action to save some blood troll seeds. Leave Zandalar alone for now, just show weakness and paralyze them. When the opportunity comes, follow my orders and counterattack with all my strength."
"yes."
…
Zandalari, who mobilized most of the country's troops, advanced very quickly. Elite troops led by major generals surrounded and oppressed the Heart of Darkness from multiple directions outside the swamp.
Toga and Sharlayan teamed up to kill many matrons, and the blood trolls, who were busy fighting among themselves for status, could not stop the well-trained Zandalari army.
While Sharlayan was busy familiarizing himself with the newly learned necromancy and trying to balance the two opposite forces of life and death, the Zandalari trolls had already advanced their troops near the Heart of Darkness.
Including Nazwatha, most of Nazmir was recaptured by the Zandalari, and all the remaining blood trolls hid in the final camp outside the Heart of Darkness.
The blessings of King Lo'alezhan offset G'huun's ubiquitous whispers, and the Zandalari generals with overwhelming momentum planned to break through the Heart of Darkness in one fell swoop and completely liberate this homeland that had been eroded by dark forces for many years.
King Rastakhan and Prophet Zul who are sitting in Dazar'alor know that it is not so easy.
The people below did not know the details of G'huun, and only thought that it was an evil loa named the Blood God.
Rastakhan, who has a close relationship with Raizan, knows full well the true origins of G'huun.
Ancient gods are not that easy to deal with, even those who are sealed.
"Just accept it when you're ready."
Following Zul's advice, Rastakhan was not dazzled by the momentary victory.
Lazan's blessing is not omnipotent, and even it itself cannot guarantee whether it will be affected when facing G'huun's true form.
If G'huun feels that his life is threatened and takes full action, ordinary soldiers will not only be unable to play a role on the battlefield, but may even turn around and increase the enemy's strength.
The number of blood trolls in Nazmir has been reduced by at least 60%, and they will no longer pose a threat to Zandalar for at least 20 years.
To prevent G'huun from pushing too hard, Rastakhan adopted Zul's suggestion.
Finally, the pterodactyl knights launched a large-scale air attack on the remaining blood troll stations, and then Rastakhan ordered the entire army to withdraw to Zuldazar.
"Ha~"
With the threat from the swamps to the north temporarily removed, Rastakhan felt relaxed and smiled, raising the golden wine glass in his hand to signal to Zul.
"Speaking of which, it's thanks to that intruder of unknown origin who helped us open up the situation."
"Zul, did Bwonsamdi and Gani say anything?"
Zul shook his head slightly: "Bwonsamdi still looks weird."
"Gani had brief contact with the intruder, who is said to be a half-elf hybrid with high elf blood."
"High Elf..."
A cold light flashed in Rastakhan's eyes: "Now is not the time to take full action against our elves' feud. Let's let them be happy for a while."
"Zur, I will give you another 10 years."
"Within 10 years, I want to see all the troll tribes surrender to Zandalari again. If they are still doing it in disguise after ten years..."
Zul's eyes flickered slightly, and he firmly accepted the task assigned by Rastakhan.
"Your Majesty, 10 years is a long enough time. I believe that far-sighted people from all major clans will respond to your call."
…
Due to Sarlayan's intervention, the situation on the Zandalar Islands has changed a lot.
After temporarily calming down the hidden dangers in Nazmir, Zandalari's top leaders began to focus on the world.
Under Rastakhan's order, Zul led the diplomatic mission to travel to all directions again.
This time, Zandalar diplomats will no longer be as tolerant as before, and must completely integrate all trolls within ten years.
After ending the conversation with Orfa, Sarlayan's face looked a little uncertain.
After finally seeing hope of rescuing his mother, Orfa poured cold water on him at the critical moment. It is understandable that Sarlayan was in a depressed mood.
Under Valeela's soft words of comfort, Sarlayan gradually corrected his mentality.
"Hey~"
"You are right, things must be resolved one by one."
"The top priority is to rescue the mother's soul from the gap between life and death. As for how to wake her up, we can only wait and see what happens after she is rescued."
After rubbing his cheeks, Sarlayan adjusted his mentality.
"By the way, I didn't have time to ask before."
Sarlayan looked at Valeera, who was dressed in black from head to toe: "Is Quel'Thalas so dangerous now? You can't even show your face?"
Valila smiled bitterly and spread her hands: "What do you think?"
"The return of Prince Kael'thas, who has traveled far away for a long time, is regarded by the traditional nobles as the Sun King's official showdown, gradually taking back the privileges in the hands of the nobles on the grounds of consolidating the royal power."
"With a knife on his neck, do you think those nobles who have been in power for thousands of years will simply surrender?"
"Let's stop talking about domestic topics here. Anyway, we won't go back for the time being."
Valeera's originally joking face turned serious: "Your Majesty sent me out not entirely to avoid the storm, but because you have something important to tell you."
"I?"
Sarlayan asked in surprise: "What's the important matter?"
"Julian."
Upon hearing his father's name, Sarlayan's expression suddenly became solemn.
"...tell me in detail, what happened to dad?"
Valeela rolled her eyes in amusement, raised her hands and pressed down: "Don't get excited, your murderous intention is revealed."
"Huh~"
Taking a deep breath, Sarlayan controlled his emotions.
Sarlayan has never seen his mother since he was a child. It was his single father Julian who brought him up through hardships.
Although Sarlayan doesn't have a formal name for Dad on the surface, Julian holds a status in his heart that is unparalleled by anyone.
Seeing that Sarlayan had controlled his temper, Valeera breathed a sigh of relief.
Having grown up with Sarlayan, she knows better than anyone else the violent temper of this childhood sweetheart.
'You have indeed grown up, at least in terms of emotional control, you are much more mature than before.'
Thoughts flashed through her mind, and with a serious expression, Valeera told Sharlayan the important information she had obtained before leaving Quel'Thalas.
"Julian did encounter some crises, but it should not be life-threatening for the time being."
Sarlayan asked calmly: "Where are they? What happened to them?"
"The continent of Kalimdor."
Valeela said in a deep voice: "The specific situation of Backlight Blade is not very clear. Based on the latest encrypted intelligence content he sent back, it is speculated that Julian encountered trouble in the desert area south of Kalimdor."