The Halls of Stone was the first place the attacking army conquered in Ulduar. Led by Brann, the heroes witnessed the secrets of history, long sealed by the Ancient Court's mainframe, and glimpsed a deeper story behind this world.
When they confirmed that they could no longer obtain more secrets here, the heroes left, heading to the Halls of Lightning according to the mainframe's guidance, preparing to end the corrupted King of Wisdom, Loken.
They had all left, but Aiden quietly stayed behind—his mirror image still followed the attacking forces, just like he had done when eliminating Blackmoore last time, trying to deceive the Old God's surveillance.
The reason he did this was because he felt that the Ancient Court should hold more information than Brann knew. Because of authority—all Titan devices were related to authority. Brann was not the holder of any level of authority recognized by the Titan system. It was already difficult enough for him to obtain some superficial information from the mainframe. The real secrets must still be hidden.
Aiden believed that if there were truly hidden secrets, he would definitely be able to unlock them.
"Verify authority," Aiden said, finding the familiar bronze head statue in front of the mainframe.
"Accepting verification request…scanning begins…Identity verified: Titan; Authority verified: Highest authority."
"Welcome to the Titan system mainframe database!"
Hearing the mainframe's response, Aiden breathed a sigh of relief.
He sorted out his thoughts and asked the questions he had been considering for a long time one by one.
"How can the Old Gods be destroyed?"
"Retrieving data…analyzing…Respected Titan, the Old Gods are sealed within the defense system. To kill the Old Gods, the defense system must first be removed, and they must be purged from the planet's body."
Aiden's spirits lifted. "So, the Old Gods can be killed, right?"
"Yes, the Old Gods can be purged at the cost of all Titan systems being shut down and self-destructing, and destroying the planet's structure."
"In other words, to completely kill the Old Gods, all Titan systems must be shut down first, right?"
"Yes."
"What will happen if the Titan systems are shut down?"
"Analyzing…According to the results in the database, the system analysis results are as follows: The planetary defense system will fail, and threats from the Twisting Nether will enter the planet without restriction; The seals on the elements and the Old Gods will fail; The blueprint system, the preservation system, and the defense system will fail, collapse, or be corrupted…Analysis complete."
Aiden hesitated.
According to the system's answer, if all Titan facilities were shut down, Azeroth would undoubtedly return to the era when the Old Gods wreaked havoc—the Old Gods would break free, elemental creatures would ravage the land, and more terrifyingly, without the "firewall" system, the Burning Legion would be able to freely enter Azeroth without any restrictions.
This was the opportunity that Kil'jaeden had been dreaming of. With his strength and the number of the Burning Legion, he could easily engulf Azeroth.
Before eliminating the threat of the Burning Legion, this method was obviously too risky.
However, there was also a huge benefit—that is, if the Titan's seal on the elements was broken, then there would be no need to consider communicating with Stone Mother through druids and shaman priests to enter the Earth Elemental Plane—by then, it was estimated that many mages would be able to directly sense the elemental planes, and entering them would obviously be very easy.
But the risk was still too great. Aiden temporarily suppressed this idea and instead asked, "Is it possible to open only a part of the seal—for example, the seal on the Earth Elemental Plane?"
"Querying…The Titan's seals on the elemental planes of this planet are interconnected. Opening any one of the seals will cause the loosening of the seals of other planes."
"Can it be resealed after being opened briefly?"
"Yes."
Aiden immediately waved his fist. He had finally received some good news! Even just this one piece of information made the trip worthwhile.
Among the four elemental planes of wind, earth, water, and fire, the master of the Earth Elemental Plane, "Stone Mother" Therazane, and the lord of the Water Elemental Plane, "Neptulon the Tidehunter," had no malice towards mortals—since being sealed, these elemental lords had broken free from the control of the Old Gods.
However, the other two, Al'Akir the Windlord and Ragnaros the Firelord, were more unstable, and their restless hearts still leaned towards the Old Gods.
Aiden internally assessed the situation and felt that these should all be under control—because in history, during the "Cataclysm," due to the reappearance of Deathwing, the distance between the elemental planes and the real world was shortened, and Al'Akir and Ragnaros also became instance bosses, and the Titan's seal on the elemental planes was almost completely ineffective.
Even if breaking one seal caused all seals to be opened, it was acceptable, as long as Deathwing could be eliminated ahead of time during this opportunity, the dangers of the elemental lords would be almost negligible.
"How can I break the elemental seals?" Aiden quickly asked this question.
"It is necessary to close the elemental plane isolation system in the operating interface."
The operating interface was in the hall where Aiden was currently located. He suppressed the urge to open the elemental plane seals now and instead inquired about other questions.
"Where is the Pantheon?"
This question immediately "stumped" the system mainframe. It retrieved information for a while and finally replied, "Insufficient stored data, unable to answer."
Aiden was a little disappointed, but he didn't care too much. Asking this question was more to satisfy his curiosity.
"Is there any way in Titan technology that is effective in resisting the corruption of the Old Gods?"
"Retrieving information…Second-generation Titan constructs have enhanced resistance to the Curse of Flesh and can be produced through the Creator Engine."
Second-generation constructs refer to the constructs produced by the Titans using the Forge of Wills when they returned to Azeroth to resolve the scourge of the Old Gods. Such as second-generation earthen and giants, etc.
The Creator Engine is a part of the Forge of Wills, and the Forge of Wills can basically be regarded as the Titan's creation equipment—simply put, if the Creator Engine is a production line, the Forge of Wills is the entire factory.
Aiden thought for a while and then asked, "Is there any way to immediately weaken all the corrupted individuals within the Ulduar prison?"
"It is possible to lock down all passage entrances and isolate the major areas by activating the defense mechanism."
"That's great! Can I activate it here?"
"Yes, please execute the command on the operating interface!"
Aiden immediately rushed to the operating table. After communicating with Aman'Thul, he had already mastered how to use and operate the Titan's system—treating them as computers was basically correct, and its encoding method was actually obtained from the Naaru's passwords, which made it even easier for him, who had mastered all the Naaru passwords.
He entered the command on the interface and then received a prompt: "Highest authority activated, isolation system activated, defense mechanism activated!"
A virtual image of the interior of Ulduar appeared in front of him. The isolation walls of the major areas inside suddenly appeared out of thin air, strictly separating all the areas. Now there were only a small number of enemies in each area, and now only he could operate the switches of these isolation doors!
Even Loken could not operate this defense system now!
Although as the leader of the guardians, Loken nominally possessed the highest authority to manage the entire Ulduar prison, he was always only a servant of the Titans, and his highest authority was only the highest authority of the guardian servant level.
Even the authority of the observers was higher than that of the guardians, let alone Aiden's highest Titan authority?
Now Loken could only drive those corrupted troops who obeyed the Old Gods to fight, and they could not join forces with other troops, which meant that they would inevitably be defeated one by one, with no power to resist!
If all the troops in the Ulduar prison were gathered at the gate, I am afraid that the Azeroth Allied Forces would have to pay a very heavy price to enter it—you must know that there are a large number of Titan creations, mechanical creations, Titan technology, weapons, equipment, as well as powerful giants and guardians, and even Yogg-Saron's servants, whose combat power definitely exceeds that of the Scourge during its heyday, and can even be comparable to the Burning Legion—only lacking an invincible Archimonde.
The closing of all the passages had one good consequence: Loken of the Halls of Lightning would definitely not be able to escape—though Aiden didn't yet know that this guy had already taken a step ahead, leaving his old nest and going to the interior of Ulduar to direct the resistance forces.
After activating the defense facilities, Aiden asked one last question: "Are there any weapons or devices in the prison that could severely damage Yogg-Saron?"
"Searching… No content matching the search keywords found."
"Alright, I was thinking too much."
Aiden chuckled; if there were, then this attack on Ulduar would be like cheating.
After confirming that no other issues were overlooked, Aiden immediately disappeared from the Halls of Stone to meet up with the others.
With all the passages closed, the Alliance needed him to open the way if they wanted to attack Ulduar.
—
"Damn, this place is really… somewhat magnificent."
"Indeed, the Titans are worthy of being called creators, but the guards here are a bit too powerful, it's really exhausting to deal with them!"
"Look, those semi-transparent statues, will they suddenly stand up and join the battle?"
"It's always good to be careful, let's go take a look!"
The Halls of Lightning, lacking Loken to oversee the guards, still had several golems and giant generals commanding their servants to fight, but they were quickly and completely defeated in the face of the overwhelmingly superior Azeroth Alliance.
Although progress was smooth, the sights and sounds along the way did refresh the understanding of everyone who entered—what was presented to everyone was the miracle of the creators, an underground city among the mountains, grand and magnificent, with huge corridors and all kinds of incredible devices giving people a sense of awe.
The Explorers' League had previously excavated Uldum, but that underground city was like the difference between collapsed ruins and a newly built city compared to this place.
The most frequently mentioned word by everyone was "unbelievable!"
Unfortunately, the master of the Halls of Lightning was not here.
After they captured this place, their path forward was blocked by a huge door.
"What to do? Break it open or blast it?"
Muradin Bronzebeard, who was leading the way, looked at his brother.
"This door looks like it was just closed recently, Loken probably escaped from here."
After looking around, Brann made this guess.
He tapped the door with the hammer in his hand, and the vibration and echo from the door gave him some bad news, "I'm afraid we'll have to use explosives, this door doesn't seem so easy to break through with brute force."
At this time, Prince Liam stepped forward, he frowned, and some memories naturally emerged in his mind.
"This is Ulduar's isolation defense facility, I'm afraid ordinary blasting won't open it."
He guessed that this should be a reminder from Tyr; as the King of Order, he certainly knew the functions of various facilities in Ulduar.
Brann said: "Then let's try it first, the explosives developed by Ziggs, the blasting expert from the Valoran Federation, are very powerful, I think it should work.
If blasting doesn't work, then use magic!"
Archaeology often encounters times when explosives are needed.
In the past two years, the Hextech explosives researched by Ziggs, after being brought into the Explorers' League by Ezreal, have become famous among the explorers and have been widely praised.
Of course, its destructive power in war is even more well-known.
It was at this time that Aiden's main body returned here.
He canceled the mirror image spell and saw the explorers filling the door with explosives, and immediately stepped forward to stop them.
"I can open these doors!"
He stepped forward, and after verifying his identity, the door opened automatically.
Muradin laughed loudly when he saw this: "Haha, look, brother, our ally is more useful than explosives!"
"It does save a lot of trouble."
Brann shrugged, expressing his agreement.
After passing through the Halls of Lightning, the gate of Ulduar's prison was finally completely opened to everyone.
Because Ulduar was separated by isolation facilities, all the internal troops failed to complete their deployment smoothly and were isolated in small areas.
If it were a real war, Loken would definitely order all the troops to gather together, use the terrain to resist step by step, consume a lot of the attacking side's strength, and finally lead everyone to Yogg-Saron's prison, so that all enemies would fall into the madness whispers and illusions of Yogg-Saron and become servants of the Old Gods.
This was originally supposed to be Yogg-Saron's plan, but before it could be implemented, the defense mechanism inside Ulduar was activated, and all the passages were closed.
If it had been a little later, even Loken would have been forcibly left in the Halls of Lightning.
It should be known that after the defense mechanism is activated, all the teleportation mechanisms inside Ulduar will be invalid.
If that were the case, what awaited Loken would be the fate of being forcibly pushed down by the heroes of Azeroth.
This was originally supposed to be his fate, but this time he saw the opportunity quickly and temporarily avoided a disaster, but it was only temporary.
Because now he is still Detention in the room of the Iron Council, unable to advance or retreat, and can only wait for the enemies to come to his door…
Now no one can save him!
The activation of Ulduar's defense mechanism turned a protracted war into a standard dungeon process—the elite troops of Azeroth pushed all the way from the square, and the mechanical legion left by the King of Creation, Mimiron, did not last long before being completely wiped out by the heroes, dragon legions, and elite troops.
The four leaders of the siege district, Flame Leviathan, XT-002 Deconstructor, Ignis the Furnace Master, and Thorim's former flying mount, "Mimiron's Head", were all destroyed one by one.
When the gate of Ulduar's front hall was opened with a bang under Aiden's operation, Loken's servants hurriedly reported the news of the enemy's attack here to him.
He was silent for a while before slowly saying: "Iron Council, follow me to meet the enemy!
Eliminate all invaders!"
—
The resistance of the Iron Council was even weaker than that of the siege district—because the mechanical creations in the siege district were numerous and armed with Titan technology, it was like a big battle, compared to which, although the Iron Council was elite, their numbers were small and could not form a scale, so their obstruction to the heroes was of course smaller.
To compare elites, the heroes attacking Ulduar were much more elite than the Iron Council!
Aiden rushed to the front, successively killing several stone statues and iron vrykul.
Just then, a huge roar came from not far away.
He could feel the rhythmic vibration of the ground under his feet, as if a giant beast was walking over.
After clearing the enemies in front of him, Aiden signaled everyone to stop and be on guard.
Although he did not think that under the isolation of the defense mechanism, there was any force in the front hall that could stop them from advancing, it was still best to be careful.
He could basically guess what the monster that was making such a huge noise was.
Soon a huge head popped into his view, and then quickly revealed its full figure—it was a giant over a hundred meters tall!
In comparison, even the dragon kings in their original forms were just little things in front of it!
Stone Giant—Kologarn, the BOSS guarding the Shattered Walkway.
In the game, you have to interrupt its two arms, push it down, and use its body as a bridge to go to the next location, but now this guy has actually left his post without permission, left the Shattered Walkway, and rushed to the front hall here!
Then Aiden saw the other smaller figures next to Kologarn, and immediately understood.
Because the King of Wisdom, Loken, the female giant Aurial, and the three guys from the Iron Council also rushed over together.
Aiden did not expect that Loken, who had escaped from the Halls of Lightning, was actually locked in this place, and now he was leading his servants to prepare for a desperate fight!
Even if he gathered all the remaining people around him, he might not be able to win, let alone just a small number of servants in the front hall?
This was a battle whose outcome was determined before the start!
Loken had been monitoring the advance speed of the Azeroth Alliance, and he was shocked by the power of these mortals, but he would not be willing to fail like this.
As the King of "Wisdom", he wanted to show off his expertise in this area.
So his opening remarks amazed everyone:
"You must not kill me!"