Galen carefully observed Emperor Thaurissan. This was the first time he had seen the final boss character from the previous life's dungeon, and also the first legendary figure of another race he had encountered in reality.
Dagran Thaurissan stood up from the Black Iron Throne. As expected of someone who had been king for three hundred years, his legendary power and long tenure in high office gave this Black Iron King, who had lived through the War of the Three Hammers, an imposing presence, much like Galen's father, Thoras.
Thaurissan was one of the dwarves with the purest bloodline. His height surpassed all other Dark Iron dwarves, reaching about one and a half meters. The ornate black and gold-trimmed robes couldn't hide his sturdy and robust physique.
The warhammer at his waist, named 'The Dissenter,' proved that he was a valiant and skilled melee fighter. Also, as the son of Thaurissan, the Witch King of the former Three Hammers, and his wife Modgud, he inherited the traditional wizardry of the Dark Iron royal family.
A legendary warrior who was also proficient in shadow magic, and the elemental curse of the Fire Lord Ragnaros had also enhanced his strength. He was not going to be easy to deal with!
While Galen was sizing up the Dark Iron King, the king was also observing the two intruders in the palace. One was a burly middle-aged human, with strength at the peak of the ninth level, not yet legendary, and he was with a young human whose facial fuzz showed that he was very young.
To have ninth-level strength at such a young age, he must hold a high position in human society. The middle-aged man should just be a guard. He wondered what they were doing invading Blackrock Depths?
As for intruders, no matter what their intentions were, intruding into the palace was already an offense to him. He gripped the Dissenter warhammer at his waist, conjured a shadow energy ball with one hand, and shouted loudly:
"Why have you invaded my palace? Are the knives of my Blackrock Depths no longer sharp? Or do you think you are immortal?"
"The Thaurissan family is infamous. Today, I represent the Holy Light to purify your sinful bloodline!" Galen spoke righteously, as if he was here to carry out a righteous cause, not to kill and seize souls.
"Arrogant fool, daring to disrespect the Emperor! For the ants who invaded the palace, you will be sent to the arena, never to rise again!" Orphiston, Thaurissan's secretly supported confidant, was furious upon hearing Galen's words. He tightened his grip on the battle-axe in his hand and launched a charge.
As Thaurissan's trusted subordinate, attending to his needs was a compulsory course. He could not tolerate his master being offended. Therefore, he chose Aragorn, who looked stronger, as his opponent, to defeat him, capture him, and finally torture him, repaying the humiliation a hundredfold.
Aragorn stepped forward to meet the challenge. This situation was in line with Galen's wishes. Aragorn was not yet strong enough to defeat Thaurissan; the difference in strength was too great. It seemed that the peak of the ninth level was only a small step away from the legendary level, but breaking through to the legendary level was a qualitative leap, and the soul would be sublimated.
If one was fortunate enough to break through to the demigod level again, they would receive the blessing of the Azerothian star spirits. Even if they died, their souls could remain immortal, entering the Emerald Dream to wait for their followers to resurrect them.
Aragorn and Orphiston fought fiercely on the edge of the palace. Both were at the ninth level, but Orphiston was slightly inferior to Aragorn. However, Orphiston attacked in anger, while Aragorn received a hint from His Highness the Prince to capture him alive, and for a time, they fought evenly matched.
In the center of the palace, Galen and Thaurissan faced each other.
"You never should have comed here!" Thaurissan raised the shadow ball in his hand and threw it at Galen.
"I am coming wherever I please!"
Galen didn't know why he blurted out this sentence, but his actions were not slow. He dodged the shadow ball, letting the power of the shadow smash a pit in the floor tiles, with gravel splashing everywhere, and the remaining power continued to corrode the floor tiles.
Galen drew his new sword from his back, held it in his hand, and adopted a fighting stance.
"Trollbane, the troll killer? So you're the little whelp from the Thoradin family! The newly appointed Duke Trollbane!"
The humans established their empire more than two hundred years earlier than the dwarves, but dwarves lived longer than humans. As the king of the Dark Iron dwarves, he was very clear about the information of the human kingdoms to the north, and the Stromgarde royal family was the object of his focus. It was not surprising that he recognized this troll-slaying sword.
"Even if your father came, he wouldn't be my opponent. Let me kill you, you little whelp, first. Die!"
Emperor Thaurissan held his Dissenter in his right hand, closed the distance, and swung the warhammer directly at Galen's head. Galen dodged, and the warhammer grazed Galen's nose.
This warhammer did not know how many enemies' heads it had smashed. Galen faintly smelled a bloody scent.
Thaurissan's Dissenter and Galen's epic weapon, Trollbane, collided constantly. After a few exchanges, Galen fell into a disadvantage.
The difference in strength was too great. One was a Dark Iron Prince who had participated in two dwarven civil wars, with proficient combat skills, and then served as the Dark Iron King for two hundred years, during which he honed his dark magic and successfully stepped into the legendary level.
The other was a thirteen-year-old human prince who had just broken through to the seventh level a year ago, and had just reached the ninth level a few days ago by relying on the power of kingship, blessing the combined power of 100,000 people. He lacked control over his new power, and only had the level of the ninth level, but still had the consciousness of the seventh level.
"Is this all you've got? Little whelp? If this is all you've got, prepare to die!" Thaurissan probed Galen's true strength after a few moves. He guessed that Galen had received the infusion of the royal secret technique to be promoted to the ninth level, and came out to take risks after his strength inflated, trying to challenge him to make a name for himself?
Once this idea came out, he felt more and more that his guess was correct, and he couldn't help but underestimate him. There were too many young people who were ambitious but not talented enough, just like himself three hundred years ago?
Galen was parrying with great difficulty. After hearing Thaurissan's taunt, he remembered that he was going to experiment with the King's Summon?
"Let me show you my true strength, Super Saiyan transformation!"
Galen finished posturing and quickly connected to the Heart of Origin to find the newly unlocked skill of the Altar of Kings.
King's Summon: Summons a powerful being from the planet to possess the user, granting the combat power and combat experience of that target at their peak! After selecting the power of the summoning target, it needs to be unlocked before it can be used!
Legendary Level: Requires 10,000 units of gold to unlock.
Demigod Level: Requires 100,000 units of gold to unlock.
Quick unlock the power of Thoras, the current King of Stromgarde!
Galen seemed to hear the sound of gold flowing away in the resource bar!
Thaurissan said just now that even if Galen's father came, he wouldn't be an opponent, so he would let Thaurissan try to fight his father at his peak to see who was more awesome!
Thaurissan on the opposite side was really interested in watching Galen's transformation after hearing him roar and transform. After all, as a member of the royal family, having some trump card skills was a basic operation, and he had them himself.
He saw Galen's power surge, and even red energy overflowed from his body. His strength soared all the way to the middle stage of the legendary level, already on par with Emperor Thaurissan's level.
Then Galen's eyes became sharper, his height seemed to have soared by dozens of centimeters, his muscles bulged high, and his power resonated with the Trollbane sword in his hand, and the blade trembled slightly.
What the hell is a Super Saiyan transformation?
I was just talking nonsense, is the effect so obvious?
As Galen's momentum soared, Thaurissan's expression turned serious. He admitted that he had been toying with Galen earlier, not using his full strength, and had been careless.
The battle had only just begun, and Thaurissan didn't want to give this human kid any more chances. He gripped his warhammer in his right hand, gathered energy in his left, and lunged forward.
Approaching Galen, he waved his left hand, and a flash of fire erupted, striking Galen.
This strike was one of Thaurissan's signature moves, launching fiery power at the enemy to inflict fire damage. Furthermore, the impact of the flames would stun the target.
This move was named 'Thaurissan's Hand' by the Black Iron King!
Seeing his magic hit, Thaurissan laughed loudly, swinging his warhammer down towards Galen's crown. He had already won. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the next scene would be the human kid's head exploding.
Battles are always full of variables. If everything went according to one side's plan, then they'd have to be cheating like crazy.
Galen also hadn't expected that when he was receiving the energy infusion, he would be in a state of absolute defense. The system notified him that he had been struck by the flames, but the next moment, it notified him that he was receiving energy infusion from the Kings' Altar and was immune to the control effect.
No wonder the villain Digimon didn't attack when Agumon was evolving. Kakarot could transform into a Super Saiyan with peace of mind, and the magical girl transformation even had several seconds of close-ups. So there was an invincibility rule during transformations?
Galen's mind raced with thoughts, but in reality, it was only a moment. Looking at Thaurissan's increasingly close black face, filled with bloodthirsty glee, Galen felt a surge of displeasure.
I'll crush you old man!
Galen narrowed his eyes, pretending to still be dizzy, and tightened his grip on Trol'kalar in his right hand, secretly gathering power. His left hand also quietly moved behind his back, mimicking Thaurissan's earlier secret magic accumulation.
"Farewell, brat! You will pay the price for intruding upon the Emperor's throne!" Thaurissan looked like an inviolable emperor. With his full strength unleashed, the aura of a legend level permeated around him. If Galen hadn't just been infused with legend level energy and possessed his father's battle instincts, he really wouldn't have been able to see Thaurissan's movements clearly and would have been killed instantly!
In that instant, Thaurissan's warhammer was already close to Galen's head, about to hit. Galen finally stopped pretending, using his charged-up right hand to parry the warhammer and pushing forward with his left hand.
"Kamehameha!"
Thaurissan was shocked. What the hell was that?
He couldn't dodge in time at such close range and was directly hit in the chest by a huge, calm fireball. Years of combat experience saved his life. As he felt the pain, he immediately activated his unique innate talent, Divine Avatar!
Thaurissan's warhammer flew out of his hand, and his body grew larger as he was knocked away. This was Thaurissan's ultimate move, the Black Iron Dwarf version of Divine Avatar.
Galen remembered the skill description in the game: Emperor Thaurissan transforms into a Flame Avatar, lasting for ten seconds. The Flame Avatar is immune to all magic damage and inflicts fire damage with melee attacks.
However, Thaurissan activated his Divine Avatar after being hit by the calm fireball, so the fireball's damage should have dealt half its damage. The Black Iron King should be injured at this moment.
However, his injuries wouldn't erupt until the end of Divine Avatar.
Sure enough, after landing, Thaurissan simply adjusted his posture and quickly straightened up. The gigantic Thaurissan's face was gloomy.
If he hadn't reacted quickly, he would have been seriously injured by now. I'm going to kill him!
Galen saw Thaurissan stand up. At this moment, half of the Flame Avatar's time had passed. If he could delay for a few more seconds, the duration would end, and it would be easier to fight the injured Thaurissan.
Moreover, Galen cleverly stood between Thaurissan and where his warhammer had fallen, preventing him from picking up his weapon. Without a handy weapon, Thaurissan's combat power was weakened again.
Seeing this, Thaurissan felt a new surge of anger rushing from his dantian to the top of his head, his face so dark that it felt like it was dripping water.
However, he quickly suppressed his anger, calmed his heart, and took out a new weapon from his space equipment. Although the quality wasn't as good as Oppressor and it wasn't as handy, it was good enough. That kid's secret technique wouldn't last long!
Thaurissan began to sprint while launching shadow balls. Galen dodged while quickly approaching Thaurissan. He also wanted a quick victory.
Damn it, the Heart of Origin didn't say that after spending 10,000 units of gold to unlock it, using Legend-level power still required Renewal? At this moment, Galen's resource bar was losing gold at a rate of one hundred units per second. Six thousand gold was gone in a minute. No matter how rich he was, he couldn't afford to spend it like this!
The two clashed in the center of the palace, using armor-piercing, heroic strikes, slams, suppression, and various combat skills. Swords and hammers flew, and they fought fiercely.
Galen wantonly unleashed the power infused by the Kings' Altar. With each strike, he felt that his understanding of combat had reached a new level. His strength had broken through too quickly in the past six months, and what he lacked was the accumulation of this kind of combat experience.
It was a hearty and enjoyable battle. Sure enough, Krypton Gold was Cool for a while, and Krypton Gold was always Cool. Galen felt that every sword he swung and every strike he made was a desperate gamble. It seemed that a -100 could float above his head with every sword, making his heart ache.
As the gold flowed away, Galen gradually gained the upper hand. Emperor Thaurissan had already used the second Flame Avatar, which made him feel that the situation was very unfavorable. When the first Flame Avatar ended, he could still suppress his injuries and fight vigorously.
As Galen's understanding of combat deepened, and Galen's never-ending secret technique made Thaurissan a little irritable, after the second Flame Avatar ended, he was already in a defensive state, unable to make an attack.
He repeatedly tried to create distance to use powerful black magic, but Galen interrupted him.
Orphister at the edge of the palace was even more uncomfortable. His strength was slightly inferior, and Aragorn's defense was too hard. Moreover, he could attack and heal, so he couldn't deal effective damage at all. He originally wanted to wait for His Majesty the Emperor to end the battle to support him, but he didn't expect that it hadn't ended after so long, and it seemed like he was being suppressed.
Thaurissan regretted it in his heart. Today, in order to secretly meet with the leader of the Thorium Brotherhood, he dismissed the Iron Fury Guard and councilors outside the palace, causing himself to be isolated and helpless now. Otherwise, a large number of soldiers would rush into the palace and swarm these two humans.
Galen felt that it was about time. He had already tried the effect of the King's Summon. In addition to allowing him to have enough strength to fight against the enemy's high-end combat power, it also allowed him to gain valuable combat insights. Although the tuition fee was very high, it was worth the money.
He felt that today's combat skills had reached a bottleneck, and there was no need to continue dragging it on. It was time to give the Black Iron King the final blow and let him despair!
Galen silently calculated the cooldown time of Calm Mind, and in the last second of Thaurissan's Flame Avatar, as his body recovered, his old strength had passed and new strength had not yet been generated. A Calm Mind fireball the size of a washbasin went straight for Thaurissan's face.
At the same time, Galen abandoned all defense and thrust his sword towards Thaurissan's heart.
In such a close-range situation, Thaurissan had no choice but to use a dark secret technique with serious sequelae, erupting with amazing speed to dodge the fireball.
At this moment, Galen's sword was already close to him, and he couldn't dodge a second time. Seeing that he was about to be stabbed in a vital spot, Thaurissan was worthy of being a ruthless character. He gave up the idea of dodging and swung his weapon straight for Galen's head.
What a good move taking your opponent down with you. In terms of the Black Iron King's strength, he really had a way to continue his life with black magic after being stabbed in the heart, and then break out of the palace to warn, summoning the Grand Physician and Black Iron Shaman to heal him.
As for Galen, his head would be smashed to pieces, and he would be dead.
What he didn't know was that Galen saw him do this, and a hint of joy flashed in his eyes.
At the critical moment, a golden shield in the shape of an eggshell appeared on the surface of Galen's body. Thaurissan's warhammer hit the Holy Shield, making a deafening sound.
And Galen, in Thaurissan's astonished expression, pierced his heart with a sword, and at the same time, the power in his hand erupted, directly shattering his heart, not leaving him any chance to turn the tables.
Dark Iron Kingdom, Emperor Thaurissan.
Dead!
"No, what have you done!"
The leader of the Thorium Brotherhood in the corner of the palace let out a miserable cry, never expecting that the wise and mighty, and then powerful, Dark Iron King would be killed beside his own throne. For a moment, he felt his world collapsing.
"Aragorn, stop playing around, let's finish this quickly and get it over with! Gandalf, come in and clean up the battlefield!" Galen urged Aragorn while waiting for the Origin Heart's prompt.
"Legendary-tier spirit detected. Absorb?"
"Absorb!"
Immediately afterward, a semi-transparent spirit emerged from Emperor Thaurissan's corpse, slowly rising and disappearing.
After Gandalf entered, he unleashed a wave of bursts in a few moves, freezing Orphiston into an ice sculpture. Then, he opened a portal. Aragorn carried the ice sculpture into the portal, and Galen also picked up Emperor Thaurissan's corpse and put the Oppressor's Hammer from afar into his bag, stepping into the portal as well.
Gandalf stayed behind, disrupting the elemental forces within the palace to prevent the Dark Iron dwarves' mages from tracking them. Otherwise, a group teleport could only bring their own people, and Galen's next plan required the leader of the Thorium Brotherhood, making such complexity unnecessary.
After Gandalf cleaned up the bloodstains on the ground with flames, he also used a group teleport to leave. The palace returned to silence.
The next day, the guards outside the palace began their patrols, but no one dared to enter the Emperor's Seat. It wasn't until a Dark Iron councilman came to find the Emperor for a meeting that he discovered traces of battle in the palace. Their King was also missing, and they immediately issued a warning!
Before long, the two most powerful figures in Blackrock Depths besides the Dark Iron King led troops to seal off the Emperor's Seat.
General Angerforge, the commander of all Iron Fury Guard members in the city, was a qualified general. His lifelong goal was to protect Blackrock Depths and his King. He had different views on the enslavement of the Dark Iron dwarves, which aligned well with the Dark Iron King's ideals. Therefore, although he had angered his King many times, he was still deeply trusted by Emperor Thaurissan.
The other person was High Interrogator Gerstahn, the puppet commander in the city. Unlike General Angerforge, his position leaned more towards the Fire Lord, and he was very close to the fire elemental leaders in the city. Thaurissan couldn't deal with him for the time being and could only slowly accumulate power.
"Any discoveries?" General Angerforge's garrison was in the West Barracks, and he arrived one step later than Gerstahn. Although the two had political disagreements, they had to temporarily unite when it came to their King.
"There was a fierce battle in the palace, probably a melee between four people. The battle level was at least two legendary tiers!" Gerstahn himself was also a Tier 9 powerhouse, proficient in dark magic. Although Gandalf had disrupted the arcane elements, he could still feel the aura of experts permeating the air.
"At least one person was seriously injured in the battle. The soldiers found fragments of flesh and blood, but they were burned by flames, making it impossible to identify the race they belonged to." Gerstahn revealed everything he knew. This matter might be related to the life and death of the Dark Iron Kingdom, so it was not the time to create obstacles.
"Shaman, get a shaman here to investigate whether anyone died!"
A burly Dark Iron dwarf stepped forward, carefully sensing the interior of the Emperor's Seat. Although the Dark Iron dwarves' shamans were more skilled in elemental power, they also had some knowledge of souls.
"Report, General, there are no traces of soul power inside the Emperor's Seat. No one should have died!"
The Dark Iron shaman's words relieved the high-leveling officials present. No definite news was the best news. At least they could guess that their King had not died, but was merely missing!
Little did they know the efficacy of the Origin Heart's ability to kill and seize souls. It was like plucking feathers from a passing goose, leaving you with nothing, not even a trace of aura.
General Angerforge and High Interrogator Gerstahn summoned the Dark Iron council members of the city. They were all great nobles and great slave owners in Blackrock Depths, and together they could stabilize the situation in the city.
"His Majesty is currently confirmed missing. First, we must block the news, and at the same time, secretly send Dark Iron spies to investigate the surrounding forces, mainly the territories of the Thorium Brotherhood and the Morgan family, to find our King as soon as possible!"
"The city will be guarded by me and Gerstahn, and the council members will assist in appeasing the people! Gentlemen, Blackrock Depths has reached a critical moment of life and death. Our King's whereabouts are unknown. I hope we can cooperate sincerely and overcome the difficulties as soon as possible!"