Make Azeroth breathtaking

——————————————Outside the tent————————————————————

"Tannis, what do you think?"

Compared to Thrall's unconditional trust in Grom, Jaina clearly had more concerns. Although she was confident in her own magic, it was only natural that demonic magic might be stronger than her, a half-baked archmage.

“I don’t know if Grom is being controlled, but he can definitely lead us to Mannoroth.”

Tennyson idly answered, fiddling with the machine in her hands.

"Manolos is very likely to have prepared a trap for us to fall into."

"Whether there are traps or not, our battle with Mannoroth is now necessary. As we can see from Grom's experience, one of its goals is to enslave the orcs again. To achieve this, it will try every means to kill or corrupt Thrall."

Tannis put away the gun she had slightly modified, stretched, and at that moment, Thrall and Grom walked out of the tent together.

"Just the two of you? No troops?"

Jaina, who saw through Thrall's plan at a glance, looked slightly taken aback.

"Facing a being like Mannoroth, those who are not strong enough will only sacrifice themselves in vain, and I'm not sure if it has any secret methods to directly activate the demonic curse in our orc bloodline..."

Thrall explained as he sat on the dire wolf.

"Wait, I'll go with you."

After hesitating for a few seconds, Jaina said something that surprised Thrall.

“Miss Jaina, we may very well never return. There’s no need for you to risk your life for us orcs.”

"If anything happens to you, the orcish horde will most likely fall back into the hands of the Burning Legion. Given the astonishing performance of the demonized orcs, let alone Jaina's few human followers, Ratchet could be completely wiped out..."

By putting on goggles, Tennys made her stance clear through her actions.

"Then, let's set off!"

With a flick of the reins, Sal sent Snow Song galloping toward the battlefield.

————————————————Half an hour later————————————————————

"Manolos... he's hiding here? Aren't all abyss lords warlike creatures?"

Looking at the canyon far from the battlefield, Tanis gently touched her chin. The extremely high fel energy reaction on her goggles told her that Grom was not lying; a powerful demon was indeed hiding here.

"I don't know why, but after it separated from Tichondrius, it left the camp and entered this canyon."

Now that Grom had regained his senses, he realized that something was wrong.

"But no matter what, we must... be careful!!"

Jaina let out a fierce shout and activated a barrier. The next second, a massive wave of sulfurous fire descended from the sky, engulfing the entire land.

"Manolos!!!"

As the enormous and malevolent body slowly emerged from the canyon, Grom gripped his battle axe and roared with fury.

"Just as Tichondrius said... Indeed, I have guests here... Grom, my servant, won't you introduce these mortals who are about to kneel before me?"

The Abyss Lord laughed loudly, and terrifying waves of sound spread outwards.

"Tichondrius...the First Lord of the Dreadlords?"

The fragments of memory in Tannis's mind rippled slightly, revealing some information to her.

"That's right... that annoying guy... a mortal... you actually know about him?"

Tanis's gaze toward Manolos instantly turned to pity.

“Manolos... if I’m not mistaken, you’ve been betrayed by Tichondrius, and it’s ridiculous that you think it’s his scheme.”

"Ok?"

Manolos's laughter stopped abruptly.

“Tychdios used you as bait to lure in some prominent mortals of the Rebellion Legion, so that you and the mortals you caught would both be injured, and he would reap the benefits.”

Tanis spread her hands, as if to say, "Believe it or not."

"Your attempts to sow discord are of no use to the Legion, mortal."

As Mannoroth spoke, he secretly activated a teleportation spell, preparing to summon a demon army to defeat the mortals in front of him. However, something alarming happened: his call went unanswered, like a stone thrown into the sea.

At this moment, even the simple-minded Mannoroth knew something was wrong; what this mortal was saying was actually true! Tichondrius had really taken it as bait!

"Manolos!!!! Give me your life!!!"

The moment Mannoroth's summoning failed, Grom, unable to contain his rage any longer, charged at it with Bloodhowl, his mournful shriek echoing through the air like an ancient orc song.

“My blood flows in your veins, Grom...you and I are essentially the same kind of people...."

Faced with Grom's charge, Mannoroth temporarily set aside his pursuit of Tichondrius and focused all his efforts on fighting the mortals before him. With a swing of his spear, Grom was pulled aside and crashed into the rocks.

"Earth, grant me strength!!!"

Seeing Grom being knocked away, Thrall immediately raised Doomhammer, filling it with elemental power. As the earth, wind, water, and fire trembled, Doomhammer surprisingly took on a strange bluish-white hue.

"Take this, Manolos!!!"

With a roar, Thrall swung his right hand forcefully, hurling the fully charged Doomhammer at Mannoroth's head. Mannoroth flapped his wings, shielding it from the hammer like a breastplate.

"Crackling and popping!!!"

Faced with the vast power of the elements, Mannoroth's defenses were not perfect; a hole was burned through its wings, which it used as a shield. But that was all.

"A decent strike, but! It's meaningless!!!"

Roaring, Mannoroth swung his double-headed halberd with unstoppable force as he charged toward Thrall. Before Thrall could even make a defensive move, he was blasted away by a shockwave and crashed heavily into the cliff, causing a large pile of rocks to collapse with a crash.

“*&……%&…………￥%……!”

The instant Thrall was knocked away, Jaina's spell was completed. The archmage's apprentice clenched her fists tightly, and snowflakes began to fall from the air, quickly piling up around Mannoroth.

"Useless struggle, mortals."

Having somewhat grasped Jaina's intentions, Mannoroth raised his halberd high into the sky. Once again, the burning clouds, summoned by the great demon, slanted down, and a torrential downpour of flames began to brew.

"boom!!!!"

A large swarm of drones that appeared silently in the air suddenly exploded near Mannoroth's head. The powerful shockwave caused Mannoroth's head to tilt slightly, forcing him to interrupt his summoning of fire rain. At this moment, Thrall had already struggled out of the pile of rubble and was attacking again with Doomhammer in hand.

"Rip!!!"

With the sound of lightning flashing, Thrall unleashed a bolt of lightning from Doomhammer, striking Mannoroth's chest armor. Silver lightning crackled across the surface, causing a slight pained expression on Mannoroth's face.

"So, you feel pain too! You devil!!"

Grom roared once more as he rose from the rocks, dragging Bloodhowl as he charged toward Mannoroth.

Seeing Grom's actions, Jaina flipped her hands, and one after another, ice orbs formed in the air, distracting Mannoroth's attention, while Tannis continuously released drones, using various means to interfere with the great demon.

"You should continue to fight for me, Grom!!"

Faced with Grom's second charge, Mannoroth swung his halberd once more. The halberd's blade collided with Gorehowl, scattering sparks everywhere. Then, Mannoroth pressed down with his power, forcing Grom to become immobilized.

"I...I'm not your slave!!!"

Grom held Bloodhowl aloft with both hands, gritting his teeth and persevering. He could feel his bones cracking incessantly, and he could feel the demonic blood deep within his heart boiling once more.

"Submit to your fate, Grom..."

Mannoroth pressed his halberd down a little further, and Grom's calf was driven into the mud by Mannoroth's force.

"Crack!!"

"boom!!"

"Waaah—"

Just as Grom was being suppressed and unable to retaliate, Thrall, Jaina, and Tanys's attacks arrived at the last minute. The violent explosion, the uncontrolled low temperature, and the power of lightning caused Mannoroth to roar in pain, and the force of his weapon went astray.

"Bang!!"

Grom once again had a close encounter with the stone. As he groggily got up, he found that Mannoroth had already swung his halberd and sent Thrall flying, and had once again turned his attention to him.

“You should admit…you’re a bloodthirsty bastard…Grom…we’re the same kind of people…you can barely suppress the blood of mine flowing through your veins…right…accept it…embrace it…stand by my side once more….”

Manolos retrieved his battle axe, casually destroyed several drones, and shattered an ice orb, grinning sinisterly.

"I—and—you—are—not—the same kind of person!!"

Grom, dragging Bloodhowl backwards, charged for the third time, feeling the demonic blood within him begin to boil once more. He felt something whispering in his mind again, and he knew his time might be running out. Before he went mad again, he had to...

"Aaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"

Grom stomped the ground and leaped up, his battle axe slashing downwards at Mannoroth. Mannoroth, unconcerned, raised his halberd to intercept.

"Click-clack!!!"

To Mannoroth's disbelief, Grom's Bloodhowl severed its weapon, destroyed the magic surrounding it, and embedded itself deeply into the wound on its chest—a wound left on its body by the Wild God during the War of the Ancients, a wound that has yet to heal!

"This...how is this possible...."

Mannoroth's hands trembled as he tried to pull out Bloodhowl, but a feeling of powerlessness began to spread throughout his body—Grom's axe strike was too accurate, delivering a fatal blow!

The next second, the shockwave of the explosion swept across the entire canyon. Grom, who had no time to dodge, stood on the ground with his arms outstretched to the sides, facing the demonic flames generated by the explosion when the Abyss Lord died!

"No! Grom!!"

Thrall tried to pounce on Grom and pull him out of the demonic flames, but he was held down by Jaina and Tanias—Thall was so weak that Tanias could hold him down without using her inner energy.

When the storm of flames subsided, Mannoroth was nowhere to be found, and Grom lay quietly on the ground, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

"I... I succeeded... Great Chieftain... I... I can't feel... it anymore... I've saved... I..."

Grom's hand fell limply, and he breathed his last.

"No... my brother... you saved us... all of us..."

Thrall knelt before Grom, looked up at the sky where a light rain had begun to fall, and let out a howl characteristic of orcs.

Listening to the battle cries of the Sarnar, filled with anger, sorrow, and a hint of relief, Tanis closed her eyes.

"Jaina, leave this place to Thrall, let's go back."

55. The Calm Before the Storm