Chapter 585
Chapter 585: Arthas’s Mental Journey (1)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
In fact, if one looked back at what Arthas had experienced since he was a child, they would find that Uther the Lightbringer was actually partly responsible for Arthas’s final fall into depravation.
Uther was a powerful paladin with a pious and firm faith in the Holy Light, but he was not a good teacher.
In fact, his devotion to the Holy Light made him a little pedantic. He didnt understand that there was a difference between religion and royal power many times.
As the crown prince of Lordaeron, although Arthas was brave and tenacious, he also had the arrogance and impulsiveness of a young man. Because he had had high hopes placed on him since he was young, the responsibilities and obligations of the crown prince were pressuring him as he grew older. This made him doubt whether he could lead the people of Lordaeron like his father.
Such self-doubt was something that everyone encountered during their growth. But his mentor, Uther, didn’t have the ability to enlighten his disciple. Every time Arthas doubted himself and sought help from Uther, Uther would only use a hearty duel to deal with him.
No, it couldn’t even be said that he was dealing with Arthas. It was completely perfunctory. Uther didn’t understand psychologically educating Arthas at all.
As an old man, he didn’t understand the psychology of young people at all. Perhaps in his opinion, Arthas’s self-doubt was simply a trivial matter that was not worthy of attention.
Therefore, the generation gap between him and Arthas was huge…
Because he had missed the best period of psychological development for Arthas, after Arthas reached adulthood and won some honors, he had already formed his own cognition and values of the world, and he was a little impatient with Uther’s teachings.
To put it bluntly, Arthas already had some psychological problems at this moment. It was just that he had hidden these psychological problems very well, and no one had seen through him yet…
Uther seemed to have been blinded by the Holy Light. His faith was firm, so he felt that others should also have firm faith in the Holy Light like him.
The outbreak of the plague was an opportunity. When Arthas found that Holy Light couldnt solve the problem of the plague, his faith in the Holy Light wavered, so he decided not to abide by the path of a paladin and instead planned to solve the problem in his own way.
His solution was very rough and simple. He would kill the people infected with the plague to prevent them from eventually transforming into undead monsters… Or he would directly kill the mastermind behind the plague, the dreadlord Mal’ganis!
Yes, after killing Kel’Thuzad and eliminating the believers of the Cult of the Damned, Arthas and Jaina obtained a piece of information. It was said that the mastermind behind the plague was a dreadlord named Mal’ganis. The minions of the Burning Legion were trying to create a plague and spread chaos in all of Lordaeron, and a batch of grains infected by the plague was currently being shipped to Stratholme.
After Arthas heard this news, his heart turned cold. He knew very well that
Stratholme was a densely populated city. Once these grains were shipped to Stratholme and eaten by people, it would cause the entire city to be infected by the plague.
Arthas and Jaina realized the seriousness of the matter, so they immediately headed for Stratholme, wanting to intercept this batch of food when it reached Stratholme.
However, this entire matter was planned by the dreadlords, so how could they let Arthas intercept the shipment so easily?
So when Arthas and Jaina passed by a village along the way, the villagers were infected by the plague, and a sudden outbreak occurred. A large number of undead monsters began to attack the village guards, trapping Arthas and Jaina here.
Arthas and Jaina fell into a bitter battle. The guards in the village helped them resist for a while, but they were soon killed by the undead. These dead guards stood up again every so often and turned into the same undead monsters to attack Arthas and Jaina.
Fortunately, both Arthas and Jaina were well-trained. Although they were in a predicament, they still persevered and finally waited for the support of Uther and the paladin army.
“For Lordaeron! For the king!”
Uther shouted loudly and rushed into the group of undead with the paladins. Powerful Holy Light power erupted and burned the bodies of the undead. Soon, they cut out a bloody path and met up with Arthas and Jaina.
“I’m surprised you lasted so long, young man. If I hadn’t come in time…”
Uther only said this to liven up the atmosphere and tease Arthas. But this paladin, who was usually too serious, didn’t seem to have the ability to joke, so his words immediately agitated Arthas.
Panting, he explained himself, “I’ve already done my best, Uther! If I had an army of paladins at my command, I would have had it as easy as you!”
“Okay, okay. Now isn’t the time to discuss dignity…” Uther quickly changed the topic. “What we’re facing now is only the beginning. Every time our warriors die in combat, the army of undead expands.”
Arthas replied angrily, “Of course I know that!”
With that, he told Uther the information that he and Jaina had obtained. “We should attack their leader! I will personally go to Stratholme to kill Mal’ganis!”
Uther stepped forward, stood in front of Arthas, and patted his shoulder. “Relax, young man. Even though you’re very brave, you cannot face the man commanding the undead army alone!”
“You can choose whether you want to go or not!” Arthas slapped Uther’s hand away and said coldly, “Uther, I’m leaving. No matter what you think, I will use my own method to solve this matter!”
Then Arthas walked away, grabbed a warhorse that had survived the battle, mounted it, and galloped away. He was so anxious that he didn’t even bother to call out to Jaina.
Riding on the warhorse, Arthas advanced toward Stratholme. But when he passed by a forest, a figure wearing a gray cloak and holding a staff blocked his path, forcing him to stop.
“Hello, young prince. We must talk..” The cloaked man had his head lowered, covering most of his face in shadows, so Arthas couldn’t see his face clearly.
“Who are you?” Arthas asked vigilantly.
“Me? Perhaps I’m a prophet… But in fact, I don’t know either,” the cloaked man replied self-deprecatingly.
“I don’t have the time. Get out of the way!” Arthas felt that this man was a little strange, and he didn’t want to listen to him anymore. He was annoyed and wanted to chase him away.
“Listen, child! This continent has already fallen, and nothing you do will change this,” the cloaked man said in a deep voice. “If you want to save your people, bring them across the ocean… Go to the great land in the west!”
But these words undoubtedly stimulated Arthas’s pride. He growled, “You mean I should escape?! This is my land, my country! My only goal is to help my people resist external enemies! I don’t want to run away with them like stray dogs!”
Hearing this, the cloaked man sighed and made way. “Since you have made your choice, alright… But you have to remember that continuously killing your enemies will only speed up the delivery of people to the demons!”
After saying this, the cloaked man slammed his staff on the ground, turned into a crow, and flew away.
Looking at the departing figure of the crow, Arthas was puzzled. Who is this?
Just as he was wondering, a figure suddenly turned from dark to light and gradually appeared. It was Jaina, who had cast an Invisibility spell on herself.
Arriving in front of Arthas, Jaina said, “That mysterious person… I feel immense power from him. Arthas, maybe he’s right. Maybe he knows what will happen.”
“Stop talking, Jaina. I thought you caught up to me to fight alongside me, not to dissuade me!” Arthas turned his horse around. “No matter what that guy who claims to be a prophet says, no matter whether he sees the future or not, I won’t give up my home. Jaina, let’s go. The people of Stratholme are still waiting for our help.”
“Okay!” Seeing that things had come to this, Jaina didn’t say anything else. She got on Arthas’s horse and sat behind him. “Let’s go. We’ll set off first. Uther will rush over with the paladins later.”
After Arthas and Jaina left, the crow flew back and transformed into the cloaked man again. He stood on a tall mountain ridge and watched them leave.
Sigh, I’ve already done what I can… The cloaked man looked up at the sky helplessly. A darkness has enveloped Azeroth. How many can I save alone? After all, I am no longer the Guardian Medivh…
Yes, the person who appeared in front of Arthas and attempted to dissuade him was Medivh, the Guardian of Tirisfal, or rather, the former Guardian.
If not for the fact that Medivh had been under Sargeras’s control and opened the Dark Portal, attracting the invasion of the orcs of Draenor, perhaps he could have used his reputation to attract Arthas’s attention and dissuade this young man from walking into the abyss of fate. Unfortunately, he didn’t even dare to reveal his identity now.
Medivh, the former Guardian, was now despised in Azeroth…