Light's Dawn of Azeroth

Chapter 311. Fellow citizens of Azeroth, the Draenor army has arrived! - [35]

(Bonus chapter for "Huo Zheng Ting Hao" [3/5])
"Are you sure this door is okay? What if we step into lava instead? I've heard about the stupid things you did when you tested this door before."

Durotan, the Mag'har orc "Honorary Warchief," asked for the seventh time, much to the annoyance of Mar'gok, the high command beside him who was striking a pose with a serious expression.

The ogre wizard's right head was solemn, but his left head gritted its teeth and said:

"If you ask one more time, I guarantee everyone else will arrive safely, but you'll be experiencing Azeroth's famous dish, 'Lava Roasted Meat'! You can doubt my character, but you can't doubt my arcane skills."

Even the image-conscious King Goria was so angry that he cursed, showing that Durotan's questioning came at a very inopportune time. But it wasn't just the orc warchief who was questioning him; the first group of K'ure's Alliance warriors who were about to cross the Dark Portal to Azeroth were all having their own doubts.

The orcs were quite superstitious and were simply worried that something might go wrong, but the draenei, who were more spiritually inclined, had more specific concerns.

They understood how the Dark Portal worked, so they worried that the portal spanning the galaxy would explode as soon as it was activated; such a massive explosion could tear Draenor to shreds.

However, worrying about these things now that we're so close to victory would only cause unnecessary trouble. So everyone stood in neat rows in the large square in front of the Dark Gate, listening to old Velen deliver his impassioned but also soporific pre-battle speech.

This process is the same in every world.
I don't know who wrote the manuscript for the Great Prophet, but it was made to sound very cultured, full of allusions and references, including not only Draenei stories but also traditional orc and ogre anecdotes. The commanders listened very attentively, but the soldiers were already doing the prophet a favor by not falling asleep.

Lin Jing's expeditionary force did not participate in the foolish and time-wasting ritualistic activities of the "flesh people".

Led by their father, Yongmao, they are making their final pilgrimage to the World Tree. Considering this is the first time the forest spirits have traveled such a long distance since their birth, it's understandable that they want to pray for good fortune.

However, unlike the experimental Dark Portal, the real Dark Portal was not located in Tanaan Jungle, but on Ashran Island, which is separated from the Dark Portal by a strait.

From here, you can clearly see the World Tree Tayara and the Karabor Temple in Shadowmoon Valley. Moreover, the terrain here is barely flat, enough to garrison troops and build a permanent fortress to guard the Dark Portal.

This subtle choice of location reveals that it wasn't just Stormwind who were worried about "security issues" after the Dark Portal opened; Draenor was also concerned that one day "invaders" from Azeroth might rush out of the Dark Portal and wipe out their "poor" little world.

The isolated islands are enough to ensure that the worst-case scenario will not affect the mainland, and at least give all races some time to react.

"So, Draenor Expeditionary Force! Let us march triumphantly to support our allies in the other world!"

Finally, the prophet finished reading the text, and spread his hands to let the golden triangular emblem shine behind him, as a final blessing to this mixed force of nearly 10,000 men.

The Draenei reacted the fastest, and with Nellie and Archbishop Akama leading the applause, enthusiastic applause quickly swept across the entire marching square.

The impatient ogre wizards and Ravenclaw priests immediately cast spells, causing vortexes of arcane energy to flow within the towering pillars of the Dark Portal. The energy spread rapidly like a dark blue mirror, converging on the main body of the portal and even shimmering with starlight, creating a beautiful sight.

This fully proves the judgment made by Lord Marcok earlier: the Dark Portal is the most authentic and orthodox arcane magic.

However, the ogre wizard king was reluctantly removing his "All-Seeing" ring from his thick fingers, carefully breathing on it and wiping away non-existent stains with luxurious magical silk. His lingering reluctance made Terok, the Claw King, who was holding the box beside him, look utterly exasperated.

The Arakkoa king whispered:
“If it really doesn’t work out, just take him with you. No one will say anything to you. It’s really asking too much of you to put on this kind of ‘noble’ performance in this situation.”

"That won't work."

Margok's two heads said with righteous indignation:
"This is the Guardian Ring of Draenor. Not only is the power of such a world artifact greatly reduced when it enters other worlds, but it is also easy to attract covetousness!"

I did my research, and the environment in Azeroth is far from peaceful. I'm not a top-tier powerhouse there, so bringing this thing there would be like carrying gold through a busy city – just asking for trouble.

Besides, even if I wanted to bring her along, Lin Jing wouldn't allow it.

It sighed, placed its divine ring in the box before it, and instructed:
"You better watch out, or I'll make you pay!"

"Rest assured, the Ring of All-Seeing Will be placed before His Majesty Khala."

Archbishop Isana solemnly assured him:
"Unless the demons kill us all, your ring will be safe and sound."

"Sigh, you Draenei, don't you know how to say something auspicious?"

The wizard chieftain curled his lip, took his "new treasure," the Book of Medivh, from the ogre servant beside him, draped it under his arm, and leaned on his ogre chieftain's staff. Under the protection of a group of one-eyed ghouls, he strode toward the Dark Portal.

For this expedition, the Covenant of K'uree will send two leaders as generals. The Draenei have important matters to attend to and the Vigilantes are in Azeroth, so they do not need to send anyone. The Arakkoa have little interest in Azeroth and their demigods and princesses are there. Therefore, the leaders of the Orcs and Ogres will become the commanders.

Margok is a must-visit.

It now longs to go to the Astral Mage's Tower to dog-paddle in the ocean of knowledge, while Durotan was unlucky enough to be chosen by several orc chieftains during a lottery, so he was assigned to go on a long journey.

The ogre chieftain really wanted to go, but the Frostwolf chieftain really didn't want to go.

The main reason was that Durotan's wife, Lady Draka, had just given birth to a big, healthy baby boy. Durotan was a family man, but unfortunately, his duty as a member of the Kourle Alliance forced him to pull himself together and follow Golmud into the portal that resembled flowing water.

Soldiers from various ethnic groups then passed through in an orderly manner.

However, behind this large army, there is a special "blind" special forces team.

That's right, it's the demon hunters of the Illidari. They learned that Lord Illidan had returned to Azeroth ahead of schedule, so they arrived in Draenor one after another as planned, and now there are more than a thousand of them.

With so many evil-powered blind people gathered together, the scene was truly magnificent. Even a kind-hearted man like Old Velen couldn't resist taking out his wallet and tossing a few coins as he passed by this army of blind men.

"According to our information, Lord Illidan has returned to the Kaldorei Kingdom. You can teleport there after you arrive in Stormwind Kingdom, or you can take a ship."

Archbishop Yura whispered to Ottoman, the leader of the blind men, in the style of a "secret operation":

“We will leave the door open for you. The Dark Portal will remain open in the event that, in case Azeroth cannot withstand the invasion of demons, you will have a place to escape to.”

"Uh"

Autocrist certainly didn't believe Azeroth would crumble under the demonic attack, but the Draenei meant well, so he could only nod calmly and say in a polite tone:

"Thanks to your care during this time, we will leave the new recruits here to assist you in continuing to clean up the demons of Draenor. As you said, since this world exists as a 'sanctuary,' we must ensure its absolute safety."

We must be notified immediately of any news of demon reinforcements.

"Okay, I've written it down."

Yura nodded, watching the blind men embark on their journey home.

In fact, the talkative Archbishop was a bit absent-minded today, staring at the sky the whole time. The reason was simple: the "Arcanist" clan led by Lady Narumida was about to arrive in Draenor, and her boyfriend, Maras, was on the clan's ship. The two hadn't seen each other for hundreds of years.

Yura's biggest worry right now is that when the spaceship arrives, that idiot Maras will suddenly say he'll give her a job, and then an Eredar woman holding a child, looking blissfully happy, will walk out beside her.
If that situation really happened, Yura feared she would absolutely go berserk on the spot and "kill her husband to prove her path."

Ah, Holy Light, please have pity on this "century-old bitter woman." Look, even Archbishop Nelly, who has been an old woman for over 20,000 years, has found her own happiness.

There are so many happy people in this world, one more of me won't make a difference.

With these anxieties and uncertainties, Yura quickly returned to the Temple of Karabor after completing the farewell ceremony. She was busy with her work every day; the situation in Draenor was not good, with new demon-forging camps popping up in strange, remote corners every day. She had to lead the Assassin's Court rangers around to slay demons and monsters. Just as Yura took a sip of water, she saw a panicked Draenei ranger running over and handing her a letter.

Yura raised an eyebrow, opened the package, and was then horrified.

"Holy crap! That little brat ditched the servants and ran back on his own? There's going to be a war over there, isn't he just making things worse! Quick, send a message over there!"

------

Stormwind Kingdom, Northshire Abbey.

King Llane and his commanders and military nobles stood on the high platform, admiring the magnificent sight of the Draenor expeditionary force crossing the Dark Portal. The locals had originally planned to bring over some young girls and sprinkle some flowers to liven up the atmosphere, but the Vigilant firmly refused.

The main reason was that it was unlucky, and he was afraid that Nellie would come over and cut his head off.

But the morale of the humans was indeed boosted by the arrival of reinforcements.

In particular, the sight of the forest elves riding war beasts and the several well-trained Gronn brought by the tiger men was an eye-opener for the human king, causing him and Lothar beside him to maintain the same kind of barely suppressed smile.

It's no wonder the two leaders were overjoyed; the arrival of this well-trained army couldn't have been more timely. Lothar had been leading his warriors in a fierce battle against the greenskins in the western wilderness for the past few days, and Llane was also planning to launch a war to reclaim Elwynn Forest while morale was high. The battlefield was short of manpower everywhere, and then Draenor's elite troops were delivered right to their doorstep.

The most interesting thing is that every single one of these people is a mortal enemy of the green-skinned orcs!

They came to Azeroth just to beat up the greenskins, isn't that a coincidence?
It was like a pillow being delivered just when you were about to fall asleep.

After the last Demon Hunter emerged from the Dark Portal amidst the cheers of the Northshire people, the King and Marshal briefly went up to the stage to say a few words before heading off to discuss the war with Lord Margok and Chieftain Durotan.

Their intention was simply to be polite and suggest that the guests, who had come from afar, rest for at least two days. But before they could finish speaking, Durotan said in an awkward human language:

"No rest, let's fight! The welcoming ceremony is over, and we're on the battlefield. The faster we take out the greens, the better!"

"Ok?"

This direct request for battle has left Llane and Lothar somewhat bewildered, hasn't it? Are all the Draenor people "war maniacs"? So belligerent?
"Durotan's wife just gave birth to a son for him. According to orc tradition, he must accompany his son to complete the Blessing of the Elements, which is usually a full-month celebration about a month after birth."

Diakum whispered an explanation to Lothar and Ryan, and the two immediately understood.

Oh, so you're in a hurry to go home and take care of your child. That makes sense.

"Huh? Your little brother was born? Why didn't you tell me before!"

Gaiara, who was standing nearby, overheard this.

The Frostwolf Daughter immediately became anxious. She glared at her father, then grabbed her axe, summoned her dire wolf, and charged toward the Dark Portal. Some young orcs who missed their families also followed the Great Prophet back.

The others didn't criticize him too harshly.

The orcs of Gaiara have been fighting ever since they landed in Azeroth, and it's been almost two months now. Letting them go back and rest wouldn't hurt.

"Let's assign combat missions."

At this moment, Lord Margok wasn't really in the mood to cause trouble for the Greenskins. He held the key to study in Karazhan and couldn't wait to run to the Astral Mage's library and study for a month to break through his current demigod status. So, he anxiously said to the human king and marshal:
"Durotan and I will each be responsible for a battlefield, and you will send guides to us."

"Let me do this."

Diakum could tell what the ogre was thinking just by looking at his two heads and his anxious expression. He picked up a map and said to the two of them:

"Durotan led his troops to the Western Fertiles, the granary of the continent, which has been occupied by orcs for nearly three months. The terrain there is flat and most suitable for orcs and draenei to fight each other. Margok led the ogres and forest elves to Sunlight Forest, where the followers of the Black Wolf God are carrying out indiscriminate attacks throughout the forest."

Karazhan isn't far from there; you could even set up your command post there.

"Good! The vigilant ones are indeed very thoughtful!"

The ogre was immediately delighted, both heads laughing simultaneously. The ferocious sight sent chills down the spines of Lothar's guards, but the Vigilantes' arrangement meant that the humans of Elwynn Forest would have to deal with it themselves.

Ryan had no objection to this arrangement. Considering that his own death knight father was currently leading the orcs in Elwynn Forest, he didn't intend to delegate this task to anyone else.

Both sides quickly and happily agreed on a plan, and everyone drank a toast to see them off before setting off on their respective journeys.

Diakum and Lothar followed Margok, but when they entered the forest, Margok's expression changed.

The ogre leader remained vigilant, releasing his Arcane Eye to patrol the area. He soon spotted several treants and a group of undead engaged in a fierce battle. The treants were clearly summoned by the forest spirits, while the undead on the other side included humans, orcs, and even gnolls and murlocs, who staggered forward on the land that had once been a farm, like zombies. The forest spirits were constantly summoning vines to pull the treants forward and trample them.

The human militia guarding the farm rode on the branches of the treants. Once the treants had bound the undead, they jumped down, chopped the zombies down with long weapons, poured dwarven oil on them, and then set them on fire.

Judging from their skillful offense and defense, they were already used to this kind of "Plants vs. Zombies" battle.

"Why is there such a strong aura of the dead in this forest?"

The ogre leader couldn't help but ask:

"Such a large-scale undead conscription is definitely not right."

"This is just the beginning."

Lothar sighed:
"It gets really lively at night; if you're lucky, you might even see a skeletal dragon flying through the forest."

We appear to be fighting the Greenskins, Margok, but in reality, we also have to contend with gnoll packs, kobold bandits, and wandering undead. Fortunately, the forests brought to life by the forest elves will help us, otherwise all fronts would have collapsed long ago. And this is only with the Lightforged Chapter helping us fend off the demons.

All I can say is that the situation in Stormwind Kingdom is extremely complex.

"Humans, greenskins, werewolves, gnolls, undead, demons, Lightforged, and reinforcements from Draenor."

The ogre leader nodded repeatedly and said:
"It is indeed quite complicated. I just saw a giant dragon dwelling in your valley. Tsk tsk, I thought the Storm Kingdom was weak, but now that I see it, I realize that you are not having an easy time either. You really need the support of some powerful forces."

"Well then, I'll be frank, Marshal Lothar."

Margok looked at the human marshal and volunteered:
“I heard from my friend Khadgar that the Kingdom of Stormwind is planning to choose a new master for the Staff of Atiesh, and I’m not being modest, but do you think I, a foreign friend who is so enthusiastic and eager to do something for the Arathor Empire, am qualified to participate in the selection of the staff’s wielder?”

"This"

Lothar was shocked by the ogre wizard's shamelessness and greed.

But Diakum, standing nearby, wore an expression that showed no surprise. He had noticed earlier that Margok wasn't wearing his Omniscient Ring, and he knew what Margok was up to.

It is the World Guardian of Draenor, but that doesn't prevent it from being the Guardian of Tirisfal in Azeroth. Switching between different identities for different situations is the wisdom of a mature spellcaster.

Lothar was undecided, so he looked to his "strategist," Diakum, who nodded to him and reminded him in telepathic terms:
"Margok is not just a spellcaster, he is also a king. If things go well, the powerful ogre warriors of the Goria Empire can also be of assistance to you. Among mortal races, few warriors can match the fighting power of ogres. You have seen firsthand the ferocious way those guys hunt dragons."

"That's true."

After a moment's thought, the Marshal solemnly addressed the expectant Führer Margok:
"There is no precedent for this, and I need to discuss it with others, but in principle, we welcome any warrior who is willing to contribute to the peace of the Eastern Continent to participate in the struggle for the Holy Staff."

“But I must remind you, my friend Margok.”

Diakum said:
“You are also an arcane practitioner, so you should know that such a holy staff will not have a permanent master.”

"I understand. How can one expect to possess such a divine object for long?"

The ogre king let out a hearty laugh and said:

"I would be content if I could glean some profound insights from the secret teachings of Tirisfal."

Of course, I am not bribing you, Marshal, but if I become the esteemed Guardian of Tirisfal, the Goria Empire will have the obligation to protect the entire eastern continent. At that time, my mighty warriors will naturally have to submit to the sole ruler of this continent.

Speaking of which…

Margok paused, and it said eagerly to Losa:

"Does your great cause of restoring your kingdom still require investment? Are you willing to win a brother empire in another world as an 'eternal ally' for the Second Arathor Empire? If you doubt my sincerity, then under the witness of Saint Diakum, the two of us can become 'sworn brothers' to protect the imperial succession of each other's empires."

"hiss"

Losa was truly at a loss.

The goblin trade prince who came to invest in his "restoration of the kingdom" was one thing, goblins are known throughout Azeroth for their business acumen and their intelligence is second to none. But what are you, an ogre, doing here?

Does having two heads really mean having double the intelligence?

He suddenly realized that he had really underestimated this two-headed fat man. This guy looked simple-minded, but he was really capable. However, if he could get the full support of the Goria Empire, the two empires in different worlds could form a "brotherly alliance" or something. It sounded like a very feasible plan!
(End of this chapter)