Chapter 590
Chapter 590: Double Agent
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Without a doubt, this was a portion of Roy’s power that he had transmitted to Arthas through Frostmourne, allowing Arthas to experience what it meant to be a demon king.
Arthas reveled in this great power. He felt that if he wanted to, he could even freeze the entire continent of Lordaeron with a single blow.
Unfortunately, this power came and went quickly. After Roy let him experience it, he son withdrew it. This sudden feeling of falling back to square one made Arthas feel very uncomfortable, as though he had suddenly become empty.
Looking at Frostmourne in his hand, Arthas was not as happy as he was at the beginning. Comparisons were the scariest. Previously, he thought that the power bestowed upon him by the Lich King Ner’zhul was very powerful, but he no longer thought so. A stronger existence easily crushed the shock that Ner’zhul had given him.
“Demon king?” Arthas suddenly understood why warlocks liked to summon demons so much. Even ordinary demons were already very powerful, let alone the demon king behind Frostmourne.
“What… what should I do to obtain your power?” Arthas asked Roy through Frostmourne. “Do you want me to betray the Lich King?”
“No! There’s no need!” Roy said. “On the contrary, you can complete the orders that Ner’zhul gives you as usual. It won’t take long for him to get you to find the Book of Medivh and then get you to summon Archimonde with the book… You just have to follow all the steps. But after summoning Archimonde, you must continue holding the Book of Medivh and find a suitable opportunity and place to activate the Book of Medivh again and summon me!”
“Yes, I understand, Lord Osiris!” Arthas heaved a sigh of relief. This task sounded easy.
“That’s all. Ner’zhul doesn’t know that I have the highest authority over Frostmourne, so let him continue not knowing!” Roy said. “You continue to obey him, and the power you obtain from him will be enough for you to complete your task. After I come to Azeroth, I will give you even stronger power!”
With that, Roy removed his control over Frostmourne, and Frostmourne’s endless whispers echoed in Arthas’s mind again.
Although the exchange had only been less than fifteen minutes, Arthas felt as though he had experienced a lifetime. When he returned to his senses, he couldn’t help letting out a long sigh.
In the depths of his heart, there was not only the breeding greed for power but also the fear and timidity for powerful existences like demon kings. Facing the covetous eyes of the Scourge and the Burning Legion, Arthas knew that Lordaeron couldn’t resist this powerful force. Undead monsters and demons would engulf the entire Eastern Kingdoms. Every time he thought of this scene, he felt powerless. At the same time, he rejoiced that he had made the right decision to join them…
If he couldn’t beat them, he would join them. It was better to destroy Lordaeron with his own hands than let it perish in the hands of the Scourge and the Burning Legion…
All kinds of complicated negative thoughts kept intertwining in Arthas’s mind, causing him to fall deeper and deeper…
Two months later, Arthas’s ship docked, and he once again set foot on the land of Lordaeron and returned to his homeland. But this homeland that he had once dedicated himself to protecting could no longer attract any of his affections.
The return of the prince made all the people of Lordaeron rejoice. Capital City, the capital of Lordaeron, rang with the crisp chimes of a bell, and the ceremony to welcome Arthas’s return was so grand that a long carpet even reached the city gates. The civilians spontaneously sprinkled petals on both sides of the road to welcome their hero’s triumphant return.
Yes, hero! Under the maneuvers of King Terenas, the tragedy of Stratholme had been covered up. Terenas exaggerated the schemes of the demons. Not only did he cover up Arthas’s evil actions of slaughtering the city, but he instead portrayed his son’s actions of bringing the expedition army to Northrend to hunt down Mal’ganis as a heroic act. And now, although Arthas had returned alone, no one mentioned the others from the expedition force. People only knew that Prince Arthas had personally slain Mal’ganis and avenged Stratholme.
This was simply ironic. Uther and the paladins of the Knights of the Silver Hand, who truly knew the inside story, were strictly restrained by Terenas and were not allowed to tell the truth.
Terenas was very happy about Arthas’s safe return. This meant that the heir of the kingdom was safe and sound. In fact, he didn’t want Arthas to become an honest paladin like Uther. That way, he wouldn’t be able to rule a country. On the contrary, Arthas’s decisiveness in killing was what he really wanted to see. In his opinion, some moral flaws were not a big problem at all.
Therefore, he arranged such a grand welcoming ceremony and waited for his son’s arrival in the palace.
But he didn’t know that Arthas was no longer the son in his impression. He had already… become another person.
Arthas walked into the palace in silence. Under the cover of his hood, no one could see his expression clearly, and naturally, no one could sense the… coldness on his body! But after arriving in front of Terenas, he still bowed to the king. But seeing Frostmourne, Terenas felt a little strange.
Moreover, gone was the paladin armor decorated with golden lion and eagle heads that Arthas used to wear. In its place was a suit of armor that had the withering aura of winter. The parts exposed by the cloak, such as the sabatons, poleyns, and vambraces, were even sinisterly decorated with skulls.
Although Terenas felt that Arthas had changed a lot, he didn’t pay much attention to it. After all, he was in a very good mood at the moment. Sitting on the throne, he said happily, “Ah, my child, I am very happy to see you return safe and sound…”
But Arthas acted as though he didn’t hear anything. He held the runeblade with both hands and lowered his head.
You don’t have to sacrifice yourself for your people anymore…
Terenas was a little puzzled and called out to Arthas again.
You don’t have to bear the heavy burden of the crown anymore…
I have… arranged everything!
It was unknown whether Frostmourne had conveyed these thoughts to Arthas or if he had conceived them himself. But after these thoughts appeared, he suddenly raised his head, straightened up, and lifted the hood on his head, revealing his long grayish-white hair.
His eye sockets were sunken, and his face was thin, but his eyes were full of coldness!
Holding Frostmourne, Arthas took two large strides forward and arrived in front of Terenas’s throne. He stretched out his left hand and held Terenas’s shoulder.
“What are you doing? My child, what are you doing?!” Terenas asked anxiously, dumbfounded. He looked at Arthas’s cold gaze and suddenly had an extremely bad feeling.
“Succeeding your throne, my father…” Arthas raised his right hand and pierced Frostmourne into Terenas’s body without hesitation.
Terenas fell, and the crown on his head fell to the bottom of the throne with a series of clangs. His blood drew a dazzling mark on the carpet of the palace.
All the palace guards who witnessed this scene were stunned. They couldn’t believe that Arthas had killed his father with his own hands in front of everyone…
After doing all of this, Arthas held the blood-stained Frostmourne and strode out of the palace without looking back.
No one dared to stop him. Everyone was still in a daze, allowing Arthas to leave the capital easily. By the time Uther and the Knights of the Silver Hand heard the news and rushed over, Arthas had already disappeared.
The chimes of the bell were still echoing, but this sound had turned into a death knell. It was so desolate, so soul-stirring…
This kingdom is about to be destroyed…
A new order will be born in the ruins…
It will shake the foundation of everything in this world…
And I will be crowned king…
Arthas had left, but his act of killing his father shocked everyone, especially Uther. When he was in Stratholme, he had already discovered that Arthas was becoming a stranger, but he never thought that Arthas would do such a treacherous thing.
But before they could crusade against Arthas and capture him, they found that the plague had already spread throughout Capital City.
This was the last gift that Arthas had left for the people of the capital before he left…
Regarding the spread of the plague, Uther was utterly helpless. He could only evacuate the capital with the Knights of the Silver Hand and some surviving soldiers. They couldn’t even save the civilians because the plague spread too quickly.
In just one night, the capital of Lordaeron fell and became a silent city. The undead monsters transformed from the civilians attacked everywhere, driven by instinct, searching for the aura of the living everywhere in Lordaeron.
As these undead monsters roamed Lordaeron, they spread the plague and calamity, and the Undead Scourge began to sweep through the entire kingdom.
The former glory was now nothing but an empty shell…
Everything was happening like the history that Roy knew. He knew that the act of patricide was Ner’zhul’s final test for Arthas, and Arthas had completely fallen, just as Ner’zhul had expected.
From this moment on, the former paladin Arthas had disappeared, replaced by the death knight Arthas, the strongest minion of the Lich King.
But what Ner’zhul didn’t know was that before becoming a minion, Arthas had already become a… double agent…