"Ah… damn it! Dath'Remar certainly has a good descendant."
Illidan touched the burn wound on his chest, where fel energy continuously surged, attempting to heal it. But the wound was stubborn, and for a while, Illidan couldn't restore it.
Vashj was also helping Illidan heal with tidal power, but the effect was similar to the fel, unable to remove the scorching flames from the wound.
"As expected of a desperate strike imbued with the power of the Sunwell. I admit, that Anastarian fellow still has some tricks up his sleeve."
Illidan gave up on the futile effort. Although the scar made his movements somewhat inconvenient, the Sun King's power would eventually dissipate. Once this stubborn magic vanished, healing the burn would be as easy as turning his hand for Illidan.
"Lord Illidan, besides eliminating a few old mages, our operation against the Sunwell doesn't seem to have achieved much."
Vashj was very puzzled by this anticlimactic Sunwell offensive and defensive battle. She didn't understand the purpose of this fight, and it seemed Illidan had only captured the souls of those few elven mages.
"Hmph… I originally wanted to drag that Anastarian fellow into this, but by occupying the Sunwell, he no longer has a reason to walk the same path as us. However, this hasn't exceeded my expectations; it just means the path ahead will be more difficult for us."
Illidan found a comfortable position to lean against the giant sea turtle's shell. "Vashj, we're turning the ship around and heading directly south to the Blasted Lands. We don't have much time left in this world."
"Go directly to the Blasted Lands? But, Lord Illidan, didn't you say we were going to Northrend?"
"Northrend… what for? With our current strength, are we going to find the Lich King and seek death? Even with the power of the Eye of Sargeras, we don't have a suitable location to unleash its might. Is that Lich King, who even the Burning Legion finds troublesome, truly someone we can deal with right now?"
Illidan snorted. It was true that after absorbing the power of gul'dan's skull, he had indeed attracted the attention of Kil'jaeden the Deceiver, but he didn't want to die in vain just because of a command from Kil'jaeden.
When under another's roof, one must bow one's head, but Illidan wasn't foolish enough to truly seek death.
"Our goal has been achieved. Now, as long as Kil'jaeden's gaze isn't focused on us, we can proceed with the next step of the plan." Illidan's hand conjured several faint golden souls. "These elven souls, tainted with the power of the Sunwell, are enough to attract Kil'jaeden's attention."
Illidan's original plan was to take the Sunwell, obtain some of its water to strengthen his forces, and then sacrifice it to Kil'jaeden, making him interested in this well water which possessed power similar to the Well of Eternity.
Once Kil'jaeden learned of the Sunwell's existence, Illidan would become meaningless to him, because with the Sunwell, he could personally descend upon Azeroth, and the Lich King, who had betrayed the Burning Legion, would naturally not escape his grasp.
Illidan could then seize this opportunity to go to that shattered world, Draenor. There were astral portals leading to countless worlds, and although most were abandoned, as long as he could repair some of them, Illidan was confident he could obtain the key item for the Burning Legion's inter-astral travel.
At that time, the spy Illidan had planted in Quel'Thalas to communicate with the Legion could play his role. That fellow was alone and certainly wouldn't dare to make a big fuss, so Kil'jaeden's progress would definitely be greatly slowed.
This would give Illidan enough time to expand his power, which was exactly what Illidan needed.
Once that spy began to act, the northern part of the Lordaeron continent was very likely to fall into chaos, but it didn't matter. As long as Kil'jaeden didn't personally descend, Azeroth wouldn't have a big problem.
And even if Kil'jaeden did descend, as long as the Sunwell exploded, everything would return to its original state.
Illidan felt that the Sun King must have realized something before his death, which was why he was so eager to force him off Quel'Danas Isle. The combination of the Sunwell's power and life-burning magic caused Illidan no minor injuries.
At that time, if Illidan had insisted on staying, the subsequent elven forces that arrived could very well have threatened his life, so Illidan directly retreated.
Although the ultimate goal was not achieved, it was close enough. Even the traitor himself was not important, because the most crucial factor was already in Illidan's own hands.
"I hope that traitor can live a little longer in Quel'Thalas." Illidan had completely figured out that fellow's personality: cowardly, eager for great power yet lacking the corresponding ability.
Such a person was the best choice for stirring up the situation.
However, Illidan always felt a sense of unease, which did not come from Kil'jaeden, but from that continent to the north.
Illidan had actually noticed it long ago: in the far north of Northrend, a vast power, incongruous with the current world, was gathering. The speed at which that power gathered, and the breadth of its coverage, even startled Illidan.
That should be where the Undead Scourge, which had betrayed the Burning Legion, was located. It was hard to imagine that in the far north, distant from the mortal world, there existed a power that could potentially overturn all of Azeroth.
And almost no one knew of its existence now; even Illidan only became aware of such a Legion lurking there under Kil'jaeden's instruction.
As for the master of that mysterious Legion, the Lich King, Illidan had even less desire to provoke him. His ultimate goal was not to be a lackey of the Burning Legion; there was no need to fight the Lich King to the death just because of a single word from Kil'jaeden.
Of course, to break free from Kil'jaeden's control, he also needed matching leverage, and the Sunwell was the leverage Illidan intended to use for exchange.
Recalling the oppressive force that could almost suffocate the living, Illidan suddenly remembered the mysterious entity who had released him from the dungeon. He was holding a weapon Illidan had never seen before.
"Never seen before" referred to the power entwined around the blade of that sword. It was not a power belonging to any system on Azeroth that Illidan knew of.
That power, similar to necromancy yet revealing a different source, was absolutely unheard of by the living beings of Azeroth.
"Frostmourne…"
Illidan murmured the sword's name. The information Kil'jaeden had transmitted to him also included knowledge of this sword, but compared to the detailed description of the Lich King Ner'zhul, even Kil'jaeden himself only knew a little about Frostmourne.
Nathrezim? Were they the forgers of this sword? Illidan was somewhat suspicious. The Nathrezim might have the ability to forge such a runeblade, but Frostmourne, compared to the style of the Burning Legion, seemed very out of place.
Something's wrong… very wrong…
All in all, the strangeness revealed by various signs made Illidan even more inclined to abandon the idea of confronting the Lich King. He at least had some understanding of the Burning Legion, but about this Scourge, Illidan knew nothing beyond the information provided by Kil'jaeden.
the Deceiver's title was not for show; even a message that was nine parts true and one part false could cost Illidan his life. Kil'jaeden would certainly be very happy to see the Scourge and Illidan destroy each other.
Thinking of this, Illidan couldn't sit still. He even forgot the burning pain of his wound and turned to Vashj, saying, "Depart as quickly as possible. Reach the Blasted Lands at maximum speed. We don't have much time to waste on the road."
"Yes, Lord Illidan."
The Naga immediately accelerated their pace in the ocean, and at this moment, Illidan also sent messages to some Night Elves who had once followed or were willing to follow him.
To deal with demons, relying solely on Vashj and her Naga was not enough. Illidan had long planned to forge a sharp blade that used fel energy to fight the Burning Legion. He had already planted this seed among the Night Elves; most of them had lost loved ones to demons and deeply detested them.
These unattached warriors would spare no effort to make the Burning Legion pay the price, and they were Illidan's most ideal subordinates.
Unfortunately, he couldn't find like-minded people within the Alliance, nor easily exploitable targets. He hadn't expected these young civilizations of the Eastern Kingdoms to have united so early, leaving Illidan no opportunity to act.
The sea was now surging with storms, and dark clouds covered the sky. Raindrops as big as beans were already falling on Illidan, and the long-lost coolness somewhat alleviated the burning pain in his chest, making his thoughts calmer.
Azeroth was not a place to linger. There was nothing left here worth cherishing. He had to quickly establish a foothold in a new area—the shattered Draenor, the former homeland of the orcs.
…
"Crack!"
A clap of thunder interrupted Arthas's thoughts. He looked at the pile of documents, mostly processed, signed the one in his hand, stamped it with his special seal, and then placed his quill back into the inkwell.
As days passed, the Alliance was once again ready to launch a grand offensive. With almost all Alliance members in the Eastern Kingdoms participating in the operation against Blackrock Mountain, the Alliance had shown astonishing vitality and resilience.
The main participants in this operation were mostly veterans of the Second War and the Third War. They were originally the elites of various nations, and having been tempered by two wars, they had become the sharp edge of the Alliance.
However, now the allied forces still needed a commander. Arthas himself was not suitable, because he would inevitably have to deal with Nefarian then and couldn't simultaneously command the allied forces. And the first generation Paladins of the Silver Hand were completing an ancient ritual to activate and extend the blessing of the Light.
Varian also couldn't go to the Searing Gorge battlefield, because Stormwind's army needed to attract the attention of the Blackrock Orcs and the Black Dragonflight in the Redridge Mountains and the Burning Steppes.
"The current Alliance still lacks a commander with sufficient ability…" Arthas rubbed his brow. To be honest, he even somewhat wanted to bring Anduin Lothar back.
Only the last royal bloodline of the Arathor Empire could truly unite the entire Alliance. Arthas had to admit that this was something he himself couldn't yet achieve.
However, it was clearly not the best time for Lothar to appear before the public, and this Grand Marshal was currently on a very important mission, unable to appear on the Searing Gorge battlefield.
After much thought, Arthas finally decided to entrust the command to Thoras. Thoras, after all, was the king of Stromgarde, which inherited the last spiritual city-state of the Arathor Empire, and his great achievements in the Second War would make everyone obey his commands.
The most important factor in the entire war was to quickly and decisively cut into the territory of the Dark Iron Dwarves, creating space for the battle against the Black Dragonflight. Otherwise, once Nefarian realized the allied forces' intentions, relying on Stormwind to hold back the Blackrock Orcs would become unreliable.
The starting point of the battle was not in the Searing Gorge, but in the Badlands. The dwarven army entering the Badlands from Loch Modan would openly attract the attention of the Dark Iron Dwarves, forcing them to focus on the eastern canyon.
Once the Dark Iron Dwarves shifted their battle line's focus to the Badlands, the Alliance's main forces would quickly pour into the canyon, flanking the Dark Iron Dwarves and cutting off their supply lines and reinforcements.
But what was to be done next was not to directly encircle the sandwiched Dark Iron Dwarves, but to push them directly back into Blackrock Mountain in one fell swoop. The best way was to directly charge into Blackrock Mountain and capture some of its fortresses.
The goal of the plan was to catch the opponent off guard as quickly as possible, for which some stability of the plan had to be sacrificed in pursuit of suppressing any signs of the Dark Iron Dwarves' counterattack as much as possible.
Actually, this wasn't completely unstable, because the dwarven army would choose to fight and retreat with the Dark Iron Dwarves, eventually stabilizing the battlefield near the Dark Iron Dwarves' fortress in the Badlands. After cutting off logistics and reinforcements, there was a very high probability that the Dark Iron Dwarves' commander would not choose to rush back to the Searing Gorge under unknown circumstances.
If the Dark Iron Dwarves gambled everything on breaking through the Ironforge Dwarves' front lines, then Dalaran would dispatch mage units to quickly destroy the canyon passage between the Searing Gorge and the Badlands, delaying as much as possible the time for the Dark Iron Dwarves' vanguard and their subsequent forces to converge.
Moreover, who said there were only Dark Iron Dwarves' fortresses in the Badlands? Archaedas had already stated that if needed, he could activate Uldaman's defenses at any time and directly blast away the Dark Iron Dwarves who had built their fortresses on Uldaman Mountain.
However, the Guardian was a big gift reserved for Nefarian and the Black Dragonflight. If their appearance could be delayed, that would be the better option.