Make Azeroth breathtaking

"After all, they are of the same origin. It's normal for Naralex to have some of its power absorbed when it can't resist. After all, the power in this cave is clearly against you druids... Ah, the drones I sent out as soon as I entered the cave have gathered some valuable intelligence in those directions."

Tennys' fingers gently glided across the mechanical assistant, and several images were projected onto the mottled cave wall.

"teacher!!"

Upon seeing a picture of Naralex lying motionless on a smooth stone bed, the two druid apprentices immediately lost their temper.

"Don't worry, he's still alive, and all his physiological responses are perfectly normal."

Tennys rotated the screen to confirm that Nararex appeared to be in good condition.

"No, from a druid's perspective, the teacher's condition is not normal at all. Miss Tanis, you may not know this, but high-ranking druids like the teacher don't need normal rest. Their sleep is entering the Emerald Dream. However, I don't see the slightest sign that the teacher has entered the Emerald Dream in these pictures."

Arien quickly dismissed Tannis's point of view.

"Then, should we go and confirm it? According to the data we've received, the place where Naralex is sleeping isn't too far from here."

———————————————The dividing line before the next section——————————————————

Beside a misty underground lake, amidst exotic flowers and plants, the druid mentor Naralex lay quietly on a large stone slab with his hands clasped to his chest. The stones placed around the slab according to a specific pattern, or the ashes of a burning fire, suggested that the druid was not simply sleeping in a random place, but was performing some kind of ritual.

"No! I can't contact my mentor at all. It's as if his mind and body have been severed."

Despite her efforts, Fei Ye was unable to wake Nararex from his slumber.

“Perhaps this has something to do with the gem on Corbray, Scarlet Leaf. Try putting it on the teacher.”

Feiye took the gem and nodded, placing it on Naralex. In the blink of an eye, the mist within the gem quickly dissipated, and a faint halo appeared on Naralex's body. This sight made Arien breathe a sigh of relief, feeling slightly at ease.

"It seems that Corbrain and Serendis have indeed taken something crucial from the teacher, preventing his soul from returning to his body. If we can get it all back, then there is a way to awaken the teacher."

As he spoke, he looked at Tannis, who was scanning Naralex's body with some strange object, and made a request.

"Miss Tanis, can your drone locate that bastard Serfendis?"

7. Remote detonation!

In the ancient legends of the boar-men and centaurs, atop the highest cliff in the deepest part of Wailing Caverns lives an ancient forest spirit with unfathomable power—Voldan. Born at the dawn of Wailing Caverns, he witnessed the ever-changing landscape of the Barrens. The lifespan of a mortal, less than a hundred years, is but a fleeting moment in Voldan's eyes. Therefore, he is revered as—the Immortal.

However, in Serfendis's opinion, this forest spirit, known as the Immortal, was not worthy of the title except for its enormous size. First, he had already determined using druidic methods that the forest spirit was only about a thousand years old. Second, he knew that the forest spirit's size was inseparable from the special environment of the Wailing Caverns. Third... this forest spirit was just too stupid, so stupid that it couldn't even control its subordinates.

Of course, these three questions were not problems for Serfendis at all. In fact, after learning that there was such an ancient guardian in the Wailing Caverns, he was worried that his plans would be thwarted. However, after communicating with the immortal, he was relieved—this huge wild creature had become his ally and was fighting for the future that the fragmented voice had told him.

'Disorder, distortion, fragmentation...this is the true face of nature. The natural way we've been pursuing has gone astray from the very beginning...'

Just as Serfendis was engrossed in writing his 'Fang Codex', a slight buzzing sound reached his ears. He looked up and saw that several small flying vehicles, about the size of sparrows and shimmering faintly in the light of the fluorescent plants in the Howling Cave, had flown to his vicinity and were circling around him and Voldan.

These are...

Because his mind was already being corrupted by the power radiating from the Howling Caverns, Serfendis didn't immediately think of these drones that had dominated the Battle of Hyjal not long ago. By the time he remembered when these things were, two specially made drones had already drawn back a curtain of light.

"Voldan!!"

The moment the light screen unfolded, Serfendis's intelligence suddenly kicked in. Images of the Burning Legion's demons, shattered by the Ratchet Tinkers' Legion, flashed through his mind, and he realized that a certain troublemaking girl was about to use this trick against him!

"I am here......."

Upon hearing the voice of its ally, the immortal Voldan slowly approached the drone with heavy steps, and then, seemingly slowly but actually quickly, stretched out its vine-bound hand and pinched the drone as if it were a mosquito.

"boom!!!"

With a loud bang as it crashed into the cave wall, the drone that Voldan had crushed turned into a fireball in his hand. The shockwave tore Voldan's hand apart, scattering the plant fragments that made it up everywhere.

"pain----"

Looking at his hand, which had been blasted open, Voldan stared at it in confusion, seemingly wondering why such a small thing could hurt him. He didn't see that at his feet, a bunch of goblin mines had enthusiastically surrounded him, while his ally Serfendis was taking big strides and desperately trying to escape.

"boom!!!"

Another deafening roar, a surge of air, flying debris, and a powerful shockwave destroyed Voldan's two legs, causing the massive forest spirit pillar to collapse to the ground. Serfendis was also thrown by the remaining shockwave, slamming violently against the cave wall, rolling over, and tumbling down the cliff from a well-like opening.

A split second before he hit the water and lost consciousness, he saw a small drone follow him down, its overhead camera flashing faintly.

————————————Strange dividing line————————————————————

Although he hadn't directly participated in the Battle of Hyjal, Arien, as a candidate for the Cenarion Circle and concurrently the captain of a logistics squad, had heard frontline warriors describe the power of Ratchet's engineering creations. Of course, at the time, he was somewhat skeptical; as a night elf, he naturally looked down on the civilizations of other races. But now, he felt his perceptions had been completely changed.

"All done. You can go over there and pick up Serfendis. I took a look, and there's nothing strange about the place where he was squatting. If he had any gems, he would have carried them with him."

Tannis tapped a few times to turn off the mechanical assistant's screen, then calmly looked at Arian. Arian, whose mind was a little numb from Tannis's long-range combat, led several goblins from Ratchet to retrieve Serfendis, who was soaking in the water, leaving Tannis and Scarlet Leaf behind.

"...That giant forest spirit was...destroyed by you?"

Fei Ye's tone was slightly conflicted. As a member of the Druids, the Forest Spirit was, in a sense, their ally. Therefore, seeing such a large Forest Spirit return to nature, even knowing that it had been corrupted, she still felt a little sorry.

"We only blew up its leg, didn't finish it off. It might still be alive, or it might be dead. After all, your requirement is to get Serfendis out. If we didn't have that thing, I would have just used the capture ray to forcibly drag it to the vicinity of the well..."

Just as the two were talking, Serfendis, who was half dead and whose once handsome face was now crooked and swollen, was dragged ashore and thrown on the ground like trash, with his belongings scattered all over the place.

"As expected, he also plundered a portion of his teacher's power..."

Arien searched Serfendis's body for a while and found the gem easily. The moment the gem was removed, Serfendis twitched as if she had been electrocuted.

"I...I am the King of Fangs! I...I am stronger than Naralex! I...I am the only one qualified to be a mentor...I am the King of Scales! You all must obey my commands!!!"

Incoherent and nonsensical words tumbled from the semi-conscious Serendis. Arian, knowing that his former friend had gone mad like Corbrain, sighed and skillfully bound him up, placing him next to Corbrain, who was fast asleep after being injected with a sedative by Tannis.

“Miss Tanis, please give him a hand too, and then we’ll try to awaken Mentor Nararex.”

VIII. Awakening

Wailing Caverns, the place where Naralex sleeps.

Fei Ye stood beside her teacher, carefully placing the gem she had taken from Serfendis on Naralex's chest. The green glow surrounding the druid mentor rippled, gradually absorbing the power within the gem.

"That way the teacher will be able to wake up."

As they watched the power within the gem slowly return to Naralex himself, both Fei Ye and Arian breathed a sigh of relief. To be honest, the events of this period had almost driven these two druid apprentices mad.

"I don't think so. Didn't you notice that the lights on the jamming transmitters on your wrists are all bright red?"

Tannis stretched out her wrist and shook it. On her wrist, the indicator light of the jamming transmitter flashed a red light, signifying danger. At the same time, Nararex let out a painful groan.

"What...what should we do?"

Fei Ye was completely at a loss; she had no idea what to do next!

“I have extra jammers here! Take them and put them on Mr. Nararex! Then you two try to stabilize his power! You are both druids and master and apprentice, I reckon you can do something!”

Tanis casually tossed a jammer to the flustered Scarlet Leaf, then turned and pulled out two Viper Cannons, aiming them at the shimmering lake. Behind her, several goblins from Ratchet followed suit, setting up various light weapons.

The instant Tannis completed this series of actions with practiced ease, the lake water churned, and dozens of slime monsters wriggled their sticky bodies and slowly climbed onto the rocks.

"There's clearly nothing in this lake..."

Arien was interrupted by Tannis as soon as he opened his mouth.

"Maintain your strength and don't get distracted. This should be the last struggle of that unknown force in the Wailing Cavern—it's quite something that it can materialize creatures."

While Tennys was happily evaluating the power that had tormented Naralex, she cheerfully issued the firing command to the Viper Cannon. One after another, bursts of energy bullets radiating cold air were blasted out, freezing the slime monsters, who had just climbed ashore and were still covered in water, into strange blocks of ice.

"Spells like that are impossible! Even a mage's arcane magic only summons creatures from other planes!"

While maintaining the power of nature, Scarlet Leaf immediately rejected Tennys's guess.

"That was dragged from another dimension. Anyway, I don't think it can pose a threat... What is that?"

A massive black vortex silently appeared on the lake's surface, its deep black shadows conveying an ominous aura. A finned hand emerged from the cave, hinting at the imminent emergence of a humanoid aquatic creature.

"Fishman?"

A goblin from Ratchet exclaimed in surprise. Emerging from the imposing vortex was a murloc, more than twice the size of a normal murloc and surrounded by strange energy, but undoubtedly just a murloc.

"Be careful, this merman might be more than he seems!"

As soon as Tannis finished speaking, the murloc raised its hand, and without any indication of what it did, the jamming transmitter on the goblin's hand emitted a piercing scream.

"Damn it! My jamming transmitter is overloaded!"

"That bastard must definitely have some kind of mental magic! Concentrate! Suppress the fire! I don't believe its hide is thicker than other murlocs!"

Under Tannis's command, all the goblins focused their attention and pulled the triggers with all their might. The storm of metal, combined with the electrocution shells that had been replaced in Tannis's Viper Cannon, enveloped the charging murloc. In the blink of an eye, the once invincible murloc shrank to a third of its size and fell into a pool of its own blood.

"...I seem to have overreacted...You guys, go see if there's anything that can be recycled..."

Seeing the merman instantly killed, Tanis's face twitched. Undoubtedly, her actions just now were a complete waste of ammunition...

As the murloc died, Naralex's eyelids twitched slightly, and a few seconds later, the druid mentor, clutching his head, sat up from the stone slab.

"Thank you for your help, Miss Tanyas."

————————————————Restored Divider——————————————————

“Alright, now you can tell us what happened to you, Mr. Nararex.”

In the druids' makeshift camp, Tannis sat on the ground, looking at Naralex, who had just eaten a little food and had basically recovered his energy.

"I found the source of that evil power you spoke of and sealed it using druidic techniques. Then I entered the Emerald Dream, attempting to guide the natural forces within the Wailing Caverns using the power of dreams. But the moment I entered the Emerald Dream, that evil power abruptly appeared before me..."

"Mentor, do you mean that power has a corresponding point in dreams? But that's impossible... The Emerald Dream is clearly..."

Nararex's words greatly shocked Fei Ye, so much so that she involuntarily interrupted her mentor.

“That’s right, the source of that power…is in the Emerald Dream. After confirming this, I immediately tried to stop the spell, but that power…that power that I think might be of the same origin as the power of the Emerald Dream, brutally severed the passage for my soul to return to my body, trapping me in the gap between dream and reality. If you hadn’t arrived in time, I might have lost myself like Serendis and Corbrain.”

"How could this be! Mentor, you are one of the best druids, how could you lose yourself?"

“Arian, you must remember that great strength does not mean a strong soul. Everyone has weaknesses in their heart, and undoubtedly, that kind of power is best at seizing the weaknesses in people’s hearts.”

As he spoke, he looked at his two disciples who were still bound.

“Corbrain, he always wanted my approval in Transfiguration, to be the first among you to master it, so he was transformed into his current form by that power. Serendis, I knew his ambition, and I encouraged it, but after his ambition was exploited by others, you all saw the result….”

Nararex's words sent a chill down Fei Ye and Arian's spine. They suddenly wondered if they would have become twisted monsters if they hadn't listened to their mentor's words and had entered rashly.

"Ahem... I think I understand. So, Mr. Naralex, will you continue with your plan to transform the Barrens?"

Tennys coughed twice, bringing the atmosphere back on track.

"Of course I need it. That thing showed me my inner demons, which was the barren lands returning to their state ten thousand years ago. In some ways, I have to thank it."