Because the Thorium Brotherhood joined the Alliance with great fanfare, forging weapons and equipment for them, their stronghold, Thorium Point, suffered a retaliatory attack from the Orcs and was completely destroyed in the war.
However, according to Durin, the essence of Thorium Point was not the buildings on the surface, such as houses and blacksmith shops, but the treasure vaults built deep underground by the Brotherhood.
The precious materials that had been treasured by the Dark Iron dwarf blacksmiths for hundreds of years were all stored here.
When Galen learned of this news, he almost transformed into a peerless thief, sneaking into the Thorium Brotherhood's treasure vault to directly absorb those precious materials into golden energy, ensuring that not a trace would be left behind. Perhaps a legend of an earth-shattering magical thief would have spread throughout Azeroth.
Galen's last vestige of conscience stopped him from abandoning his principles. After all, Durin was the Black Iron King in his plans, and it wouldn't be very ethical to shear his own sheep. Moreover, directly absorbing these materials would be a waste of resources. It would be more profitable to let the Black Iron dwarf blacksmiths forge them into weapons.
"Highlord, all the combat power that the Red Dragonflight can mobilize is here," Palthastrasz said respectfully, standing behind Galen , reporting on the Red Dragonflight's reinforcements this time.
In theory, the Guardian Dragonflights would not intervene in the wars of mortals, but thanks to the Dragonmaw clan, the Red Dragonqueen held a deep-seated anger towards the green skins. Therefore, with her tacit consent, Palthastrasz, the second-in-command of the Red Dragonflight and a double agent, led the team to obey Galen's orders.
We are not participating in the wars of mortals; we are simply avenging the Queen!
In addition to the Red Dragonflight's deployment, the Red Dragonqueen also sent a great gift: the second batch of red dragon whelps bred by the Dragonmaw clan. These dragon whelps, lacking the wisdom of higher life forms and possessing only bestial instincts, were discriminated against by other members of the Red Dragonflight and lived a hard life. Therefore, at Palthastrasz's suggestion, the Red Dragonqueen entrusted them to the Scarlet Crusade for proper care.
The number wasn't large, only two hundred.
Now, Galen looked at the dozens of adult red dragons, which meant dozens of legendary-tier combatants, and felt a little puzzled: "Is this all the adult dragons your Red Dragonflight has?"
This was too weak. Considering that they were a Guardian Dragonflight with tens of thousands of years of heritage, and the Red Dragons were known for their vitality, even if they were a group of pigs, they could have accumulated hundreds of legendary-tier members over tens of thousands of years.
Palthastrasz was also helpless and could only pour out his grievances to Galen.
After the Titans bestowed power upon the five chromatic dragonflights, there were five dragonflights. However, after the War of the Ancients, the Black Dragonflight betrayed and fell, the Blue Dragonflight was almost completely annihilated, the Green Dragonflight guarded the Emerald Dream, and the Bronze Dragonflight guarded the timeline in seclusion. Only Chromie, the workaholic, ran around diligently. The entire Azeroth was left with only the Red Dragonflight to deal with dangerous events in various places.
Even though the Red Dragons were strong, the enemies they faced were not easy to deal with. If the Red Dragons weren't known for their strong vitality and thick hides, perhaps their overall strength would be even worse now.
"This is only one-third of the Red Dragonflight's combat power. The rest are guarding Her Majesty the Queen, some are recovering from injuries, and some have disappeared without a trace.The Queen's offspring, Korialstrasz and Caelestrasz, went missing after the War of the Shifting Sands, and their fates are unknown. As for me and the Queen's offspring, Vaelastrasz, we lost contact after a mission some time ago."
Even though Palthastrasz was resurrected by Galen after being killed and having his soul collected by the Heart of Origin, he still had his own thoughts and feelings. He looked worried when he spoke of his offspring.
"If it's a red dragon named Vaelastrasz, then I probably know where he is," Galen said thoughtfully after hearing the familiar name.
"Highlord, where is Vaelastrasz?" Palthastrasz asked excitedly.
"He should have gone to track down the Black Dragon Prince Nefarian!"
"Nefarian!" Palthastrasz looked worried. "In terms of strength, Vaelastrasz and Nefarian are not far apart, but in terms of schemes and tricks, ten Vaelastraszes are no match for the son of that betrayer."
"Don't worry, we will soon enter Blackrock Mountain to investigate!" Galen wasn't too worried. This guy was tortured by Nefarian for more than ten years without dying, so his life wouldn't be in danger for the time being.
"Durin, is your Hill Guard ready?" This time, the main force was the Dark Iron dwarves of the Thorium Brotherhood, and the main combat power of the Thorium Brotherhood was the Hill Guard of Rendan Steelgut, the Ironforge Mountain Lord, whom Durin had subdued.
"Reporting to the Highlord, the Hill Guard is ready to depart at any time," Durin replied with a strong voice, wearing heavy plate armor. The warhammer and battle axe on his body clanged crisply against the armor.
"You brat, you have to perform well this time. Moira is about to give birth, so strive to conquer a kingdom, otherwise I'm afraid you won't have an easy time with Magni's scrutiny, haha!" Galen gloated.
Galen hadn't expected that the fair-skinned dwarf Durin had picked up two years ago was actually Princess Moira Bronzebeard. Galen was even more curious about how Durin had won the heart of the Bronzebeard princess.
Gandalf was wise and cunning, Aragorn was deep and reliable, while Durin, in order to contact the Thorium Brotherhood, was away all year round and had the least contact with Galen . He didn't expect this guy to silently give Galen a big surprise.
"I will work hard, Prince Galen ," Durin said, touching the back of his head, feeling a little embarrassed.
"Alright, back to the topic. Our main target this time is a fragment of the Firelord's power, but it is hidden in the Molten Core at the bottom of Blackrock Mountain. However, if we want to enter the Molten Core, we must first eliminate the Dark Iron dwarves and the remnants of the Black Dragonflight in Blackrock Spire!"
The structure of Blackrock Mountain is bottom-up. The lowest level is the Molten Core, and above the Molten Core is the so-called Blackrock Depths, where the Dark Iron dwarf city of Shadowforge City is located.
Above that is Blackrock Spire, a seemingly impregnable fortress, a masterpiece meticulously designed hundreds of years ago by the Dark Iron dwarf architect Franclorn Forgewright. Then, Blackrock Spire is divided into the upper and lower spires.
How about that? Does it make you dizzy? It's like a beehive, and you have to peel away your heart layer by layer to see Ragnaros.
Now, the Black Dragon Prince has taken a fancy to Blackrock Spire and led his Black Dragons to drive away the Dark Iron dwarves, occupying the upper spire fortress and launching an offensive against the Dark Iron dwarves in the lower spire.
Nefarian knows that the Firelord Ragnaros is the mastermind behind the dwarves. His goal is to defeat the fragment of the Firelord's power, completely occupy Blackrock Mountain, become the true master of Blackrock Mountain, and then build a laboratory here to study new dragon breeds.
The environment here is complicated, and after the Orcs intervened, it became even more of a mess. Back then, Galen got lost in Blackrock Mountain and became so irritable that he almost took it out on the mouse and keyboard.