Make Azeroth breathtaking

Cenarius's answer made Malfurion nod knowingly.

"Teacher, give me the horn."

Have you made a decision?

A smile appeared on Cenarius's face. Before him, a strangely shaped horn slowly rose. Malfurion reached out and caught the horn.

"If the Allied Forces cannot stop the Legion's advance even with all their might, then the power summoned by this horn will be our last resort to protect Azeroth."

——————————————Frontline Battlefield————————————————————

"Dude! Fire! Fire!! Don't let these sons of bitches...sorry, these guys have no parents! Anyone too close to us!!"

A dwarf sat at the control panel of a cannon, slashing wildly and cursing as he operated the sights. His language was so crude and offensive that it was almost on par with the most uncouth orcs.

"Of course, of course! Can't you see I'm practically convulsing with excitement, you little dwarf?"

Beside him, a goblin with trembling hands frantically shoved shells into the cannon barrel, then fired them with exaggerated movements. This caused deathly flowers to bloom among the undead army—so what if the cannon barrel was red-hot? Goblin engineering was all about risking one's life!

"Warriors! Hold on! Hold on! We can't let them threaten the spellcasters behind us! We can't retreat a single step until they've evacuated all our wounded brothers!!"

Broxigarst brandished his battle axe at the front line, inspiring the warriors' morale in his broken Common tongue. Under the leadership of this valiant orc, the allied forces, who had initially been somewhat flustered by the collapse of the barrier, had once again regained their composure.

"Archers, fire! Don't let those little greens look down on our Sentinel Force!"

The Night Elf sentinels had replaced their bows with blunt-tipped weapons, hurling these highly effective targets of skeletons and zombies into the air with powerful, stiff bows. The blunt arrows, propelled by gravity, crashed down, smashing the fragile zombie skeletons to pieces.

Meanwhile, battles were also breaking out in the sky. Tannis's drones were fiercely fighting against the Scourge's gargoyles. Drones would explode and turn into flames every now and then, or gargoyles would have their wings damaged and fall into the chaos, only to be trampled into a bloody pulp.

"Mortals! Why are you still resisting?"

In the center of the battlefield, the evil and ominous book floated in front of the lich Rekidon. One evil spell after another was released from the book under Rekidon's spellcasting, but most of the spells were countered or neutralized by Jaina, who was watching it. The few spells that took effect were also minimized by Thrall in the first instance.

"Because you'll die if you don't resist, are you satisfied with that answer, you brainless lich?"

Tanis continued her taunts, bombarding Lekidon with laser cannons slung over her shoulder, forcing the lich to focus some of her attention on defense.

"Your resistance will only bring you endless torment after death, mortals! No one who opposes the Legion will have a good end!"

Although it had lost all sense of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, Tannis's words still displeased Leki Winterfrost. It turned around and hurled an ice arrow at Tannis.

"Yes, yes, I'd like to ask you a question: what happens to those who outwardly comply with the Legion but inwardly defy it?"

A missile was launched from the Hive Launcher on Tannis's left shoulder, colliding with the Frost Arrow in mid-air and canceling each other out.

"What do you want to say, mortal?"

Accompanied by another sinister voice, the dreadlord Anotheron descended onto the battlefield, gazing at Tannis with amusement.

"I really want to know, where are Arthas and Kel'Thuzad, these two guys who are supposed to be the Scourge's right and left hands? Why would you put forward such a useless lich as the Scourge's...representative?"

Tannis pushed with both hands, and a group of G3 Predators flew towards Anatheon.

"I am glad that there are mortals who share our views on certain matters... but I think it is time to say goodbye."

Anotheron casually unleashed a swarm of putrid bees that destroyed the G3 Predator, and the fel flames on his hands began to surge, causing dark green clouds to billow across the night sky.

"Hellfire!!!"

"Yes...it's time to say goodbye."

Tannis snapped her fingers, and the air began to ripple slightly, revealing the barrel of a peculiar cannon beside her.

"X-0! Prototype Compression Cannon!!"

65. The Battle of Hyjal - The Power of the Void

Amidst a mechanical hum, a massive sphere silently appeared before the X-0 prototype compressed quantum cannon's firing port, which resembled a giant searchlight more than a cannon muzzle. It was swirling wildly toward a single point inward, with reddish-brown, lightning-like energy coursing through it, firmly binding its unstable form.

"Ok?"

Sensing the immense energy swirling from the muzzle of the X-0 prototype compressed quantum cannon, Anotheron unhesitatingly abandoned guiding the Hellfire and instead merged into the shadows under the moonlight. Seeing Anotheron's actions, Regidon immediately teleported away from the trajectory of the energy sphere it had predicted.

However....

"Ugh——"

With a sound like something being torn apart, the energy ball fired by the X-0 prototype compressed quantum cannon, trailing a string of red lightning, landed nearly a hundred meters behind Anaceron's previous position. Then, the energy net that had been binding it collapsed in a fraction of a second, causing the core to completely lose control!

A black dot, seemingly inescapable even by light, formed at the core of the energy sphere. It then suddenly expanded, greedily devouring everything within a radius of several hundred meters with a chillingly eerie aura—grass, soil, broken weapons, corpses, undead, and even some lingering magic became its prey. Even Leiji Donghan, who hadn't teleported far enough, was dragged along by this terrifying power, howling as he was slowly pulled toward the Abyss of Annihilation.

However, the sphere came and went quickly. In less than ten seconds, it vanished into the air with a soft 'pop,' leaving nothing to prove its existence except for the giant crater dug into the ground and the fact that Leiji Donghan had lost most of its body.

"This...is also a weapon you developed?"

Jaina asked with lingering fear. She thought it would be difficult for her to cause such destruction without any ritual preparation. Moreover, the core power felt incredibly uncomfortable, as if it didn't exist, yet it seemed to be everywhere.

"Hmm, but this power is completely wrong. Both the range and the destructive range far exceed expectations..."

A bewildered Tennys patted the X-0, whose red light had already illuminated, and sent it back to the warehouse, while looking into the darkness.

"Anathelon, did you think I didn't see you?"

"Mortal...do you know you're toying with power you can't control?"

Anotheron's figure materialized again from the darkness, but this time it no longer possessed the brutal elegance it had before; instead, it resembled a stray dog.

One of its demon horns was broken off, most of its wings were torn off, its chest armor was missing, and its hands were dripping with demonic blood. Clearly, Anaseron had not been able to completely dodge the cannonball.

"Oh?"

"Your weapon has torn apart the fragile barrier between the material world and the void! Lord Archimonde was right after all! Mortals always try to control what they don't know, only to destroy themselves in flames!"

Anotheron screamed desperately to cover up his inner panic. As a dreadlord, he rarely felt fear, but this time he was truly terrified. A demon that died from pure void energy, even if it was lucky enough to have the energy to return to the Twisted Nether and reconstruct its form, would most likely become useless due to the void's erosion of its soul!

"Could you explain to me in detail what the effects of this energy are? For example, could you explain it using your own life?"

"You'll regret toying with power sooner or later, you mortal!!"

Under the watchful eyes of Jaina and Tannis, the initially arrogant and domineering Anotherron retreated from the battlefield at a speed that put everyone to shame, leaving the nearly defeated Ragnaros lying on the ground groaning in despair.

With one leader crippled and the other fleeing, the Scourge army lost its previous order and gradually turned into a disorganized mob. It was clear to anyone with eyes that the Allied forces' victory was only a matter of time.

"...So, what exactly did my cannon do to scare away a high-level dreadlord?"

Tanis felt as if she could recall something, but there was a wall blocking her consciousness from the fragments of memory about the explanation of the 'Void'. She looked at Jaina, hoping to get some clues from the Dalaran student.

"I don't know. Although there is an otherworldly creature called a Voidwalker, it shouldn't have anything to do with the Void that the Dreadlord mentioned..."

Jaina shook her head in confusion. During her studies in Dalaran, she had never encountered the strange energy generated by Tannis's blast.

"Have you sorcerers never studied the various effects that occur when matter or energy is compressed into a single point?"

"How do you even research that kind of thing? Putting aside the cost, the risks alone are incalculable... I'm quite curious, why do you dare to undertake this kind of research where failure means you're basically doomed?"

"Scientific progress is achieved step by step through reckless actions, and the same applies to arcane arts. Once researchers stop being reckless, development will stagnate."

"This is the first time I've heard of such fallacies... but it seems to make a lot of sense..."

Recalling the countless spellcasters throughout human history who sacrificed their lives or even the lives of entire mage towers in their pursuit of magic after learning it, Jaina rubbed her temples in exasperation and looked at the motionless remains of the creature named Reki Winterfrost.

"Do we... need to take this back?"

————————————————Second Line of Defense——————————————————

"This guy's soul has been torn apart; you could say he's not much different from that pile of broken bones outside."

After examining Ragnarok Winterfrost's condition, Vol'jin shook his head helplessly. As a successor of voodoo magic, examining souls was second nature to him.

"It seems we won't be able to obtain any valuable intelligence... Now, let's discuss the most pressing problem we face."

Thrall raised Doomhammer, casually extinguishing Rekywinter's last hope, and turned to look at the others.

"The Night Elf Druids have sent a messenger. They have observed that the main force of the Burning Legion is heading in our direction. We estimate that we will make official contact with them in three days at most."

How many?

A bitter smile appeared on Sal's face.

"Boundless".

66. The Battle of Hyjal - The Curtain Falls on the Final Battle

Moonglade, Cenarion Circle.

Archdruid Malfurion stood at the head of an oak table, looking down at the archdruids below with a weathered and dignified gaze—these second-generation archdruids were all his disciples, absolutely reliable.

"Gentlemen, I believe you all understand our current predicament. The Burning Legion has once again set foot on our land, ten thousand years after its invasion, heading towards the new Well of Eternity. Although the Sentinel Force and our allies have made great sacrifices to slow down the Legion's invasion, without the help of the Wilderness Demigods and Dragons, the fall of Mount Hyjal is only a matter of time."

The druids below listened attentively to their mentor's speech with serious expressions.

"During the War of the Ancients, the Well of Eternity almost fell into the hands of the Burning Legion, and their leader Sargeras was just a hair's breadth away from entering our world. If Mount Hyjal falls again, Sargeras will once again have the opportunity to enter our world—therefore, we must prepare for the worst."

"Mentor, do you mean we must destroy Nordrassil if necessary?"

Archdruid Fandral Staghelm understood his teacher's meaning.

“That’s right, Fandral. In the worst-case scenario, this is the only thing we can do. If Nordrassil and the Well of Eternity fall into Archimonde’s hands, the consequences will be unimaginable.”

Malfurion's words caused the expressions of the archdruids below to vary. A few seconds later, Fandral spoke angrily.

"I disagree! I've heard that before coming here, our mortal allies, the humans, not only learned and abused arcane magic from our exiled people, but one of their most powerful mages even willingly fell, using sorcery to summon Archimonde from the Twisting Nether. And those green-skinned barbarians were the vanguard of the Legion's previous invasions; they bear undeniable responsibility for the Legion's renewed invasions—why should we sacrifice our immortality to clean up the mess those mortals made of?"

“We have been immortal for ten thousand years, Fandral. In these ten thousand years, we have done very few things of value for the world. We have been intoxicated by immortality for too long, so long that we have forgotten that we were originally mortals. The world has protected us for ten thousand years. Now, it is time for us to do something to give back to the world.”

After saying that, Malfurion looked around.

"I have obtained the key tools for carrying out this plan from the teacher. Your task is to find a way to contact the spirits of nature in Ashenvale, Felwood, and Mount Hyjal, and ask them to join our plan."

The other archdruids nodded, transformed into storm ravens, and flew out of the conference room, while Fandral stood still, looking at Malfurion with anger and incomprehension.

“Fandar, my disciple, I know you have many questions, but every minute and every second is precious now. Go and find the spirits of nature. The faster you go, the fewer of our allies will have to sacrifice.”

After saying that, the Archdruid transformed into a Storm Raven and disappeared from the room, leaving Fandral Staghelm with his fists clenched tightly.

"...Haven't we done anything for the world? Haven't we done enough for the world, teacher???"

————————————Mountain Road——————————————————

Thrall sat on the roof of a steam-powered off-road van, leisurely chewing his food. His Frostwolf companion, Snowsong, lay asleep in the cargo bed behind the van, bobbing with the swaying of the truck. Tanis sat in the driver's seat, focused on driving, while a sorrowful Jaina sat beside her, gazing at the rolling mountains outside.