The scorching hellfire continuously impacted the magic barrier created by the Alliance mages, and the soldiers, shield in hand, stood ready behind the magic barrier.
Mages and rangers constantly attacked Baron Geddon, but most of their efforts were futile, as they were either directly incinerated by the flames or unable to affect Baron Geddon's body.
In other words, these attacks were not strong enough to harm Baron Geddon.
Therefore, this powerful Fire Element became increasingly rampant, and his flames gradually began to erode the mages' barrier. If not stopped, once the barrier was destroyed, Elemental Creatures and Dark Iron Dwarves would swarm in, and combined with Baron Geddon's flames, they could inflict immense damage on the Alliance forces in an instant.
Salfuron Harbinger and his troops were already eyeing them from outside, ready to launch a bloody assault with his minions as soon as the Alliance's defenses were breached.
Just at this critical moment, a beam of blue light shot out from the side of the Alliance's position, striking Baron Geddon's head with pinpoint accuracy.
Although Elemental Creatures, apart from their core, do not have a strictly defined vital point, when this light struck Baron Geddon, a crystalline blue Frost Nova instantly exploded around his head.
The elemental impact triggered a violent explosion, making Baron Geddon feel a sense of danger.
Baron Geddon's body tilted slightly backward, showing signs of imbalance, and the hellfire instantly extinguished.
The Alliance forces finally had a chance to breathe, and the cannons, which had gone silent, began to roar once more.
"Damn it, what happened?!" Salfuron Harbinger, seeing Baron Geddon seemingly injured, waved his trident, looking for the source of the attack.
Soon, he saw a slender figure standing atop the former Dark Iron Dwarves' fortress. She wore a hood and held a longbow in her hand, still imbued with a trace of magical energy.
She was not standing inside the magic shield!
"Kill that mortal!"
Salfuron Harbinger, facing the Alliance's cannon fire and magic, swung his long halberd, pointing at the figure atop the Black Iron fortress. The figure also realized that her actions had attracted the attention of the Elementals and Dark Iron Dwarves. She swiftly vanished from her original position, and only after she left did the flames and projectiles arrive belatedly.
The Dark Iron Dwarves and Elementals found nothing; they began searching for the figure but came up empty-handed.
Salfuron Harbinger's face was contorted with rage. He understood that the ranger with the bow was no ordinary person; such a ranger was highly skilled at concealing her movements.
As expected, not long after, magical arrows flew towards Baron Geddon one after another from various parts of the front line. She had only one target in her eyes: Baron Geddon.
Baron Geddon's body was enormous, but this also made him the most conspicuous target in the Elemental Legion. Unable to pinpoint the attacker's exact location, he could only continuously endure the relentless barrage of arrows.
The power of these magical arrows was not great, but he could not endure them indefinitely; otherwise, once a weakness was exposed, such a powerful ranger would immediately seize the opportunity.
Salfuron Harbinger looked at Baron Geddon, "I'll deal with that mortal; you immediately destroy that annoying magic barrier!"
Baron Geddon swatted away an arrow with his claw, and another massive claw formed of flames spewed forth crimson fire. This attack was more intense than any before.
In just a moment, the magic shield showed signs of damage.
Baron Geddon, after all, stood directly above this ley line, where abundant elemental energy could power him, but the mages had to consider their own stamina and magical energy. Now, they were showing signs of exhaustion.
Salfuron Harbinger, accompanied by two Molten Hounds, twisted his serpent-like lower body, swiftly searching for the ranger's tracks.
With the help of the two hounds, he quickly located the ranger, who was moving rapidly within the Dark Iron Dwarves' structures.
Salfuron Harbinger ordered the two hounds to block one side of the building's exit, while he plunged his trident violently into the window.
Accompanied by flames and explosions, Sylvanas leaped out of the building amidst the firelight, a cold smile on her face. Twisting her body in mid-air, she drew two arrows from her quiver.
The bowstring vibrated, and two arrows plunged into the heads of the two hounds. Their massive bodies crashed to the ground, and Sylvanas landed lightly, performing a backflip to dodge Salfuron Harbinger's trident.
The flames on the trident scorched a corner of Sylvanas's cloak. Salfuron Harbinger let out a strange roar, summoning countless Elemental Creatures to block all possible escape routes for Sylvanas.
But just as he was about to raise his trident again to deal with the mortal ranger, who was like a fly, a sharp whooshing sound directly dispersed the scorching air of Darkforge City.
Years of accumulated combat instinct made Salfuron Harbinger quickly raise his trident.
He thought he had narrowly blocked this sudden attack, but then, something that filled him with dread occurred.
A strike with seemingly immense force instantly sent his body flying. The several-meter-tall fire elemental was flung backward, crashing heavily into the buildings and mountain wall.
The violent tremor even caused many loose rocks to fall from the ceiling of the underground cavern. Salfuron Harbinger's trident was directly flung away, then deeply embedded itself into the mountain wall.
As his body slammed against the wall, before the immense recoil had even subsided, he felt a chill in his chest.
Looking down, an arrow had already pierced his chest, and then, Salfuron Harbinger's pupils constricted sharply as countless ice crystals burst from his chest.
The violent elemental impact made his body extremely unstable, and his "heart" was also destroyed by Sylvanas's precise shot.
Soon, this fire elemental lost all signs of life, but this could not stop the furious onslaught of other Elemental Creatures.
Arthas raised light of dawn, sweeping it horizontally, directly smashing the obsidian elemental in front of him to pieces—physical attacks were ineffective because they weren't heavy enough.
At the same time, he gripped the pendant in his hand, and a blue light emanated from both him and Sylvanas. In the blink of an eye, their figures were no longer in their original positions.
The charging Elementals found nothing, standing stunned for several seconds, completely failing to comprehend what had happened.
After Jaina's teleportation magic transported Arthas and Sylvanas from the enemy's heartland, Jaina also picked up her staff and walked out of the camp, directly confronting Baron Geddon's imposing figure.
The young Archmage's eyes suddenly flickered with blue Arcane light. She plunged her staff into the ground, connecting her hands with the Arcane energy surrounding her.
Under Jaina's control, magical energy began to gather at the muzzles of the Alliance's cannons. All the artillery calibrators and loaders paused for a moment, watching the cannons automatically adjust their muzzles to aim at Baron Geddon.
"Remove the barrier, and focus only on defending against the Fire Element's attacks!"
At her command, the mages decisively folded the magic barrier, forming a bowl-shaped magical shield that contained the flames released by Baron Geddon.
The moment the magic barrier vanished, all the cannon muzzles connected by Jaina erupted with magnificent magical light. A volley from dozens of Arcane cannons struck Baron Geddon with pinpoint accuracy.
If the arrows Sylvanas had just fired were like pinpricks, then Jaina's magic was undoubtedly dozens of heavy blows, most of which landed on Geddon in just a few short seconds.
The magical cannonballs that landed among the enemy forces caused spectacular explosions, each impacting enemies within a ten-meter radius. It was clear how much damage Baron Geddon had sustained in that single attack.
The magical heavy strike inflicted truly significant damage on Baron Geddon for the first time. However, the active elemental power of Molten Core was rapidly repairing his body's injuries. After his body dimmed and flickered several times, it began to solidify again.
Jaina's expression was grim. She could still endure a few more such cannon volleys, but the effect of the next one would certainly not be as good as this sudden attack, and it might even be blocked by Geddon.
She had already teleported Arthas and Sylvanas to their designated positions and attracted Baron Geddon's attention.
"Hopefully, it's not too late."
Jaina's gaze quickly swept over Baron Geddon. She had already noticed that the previous attack had put a considerable strain on the Fire Element's core. The core's location within his body could now be precisely sensed by Jaina.
And now, the clarity of this perception was rapidly decreasing. Jaina immediately cast a protective Frost Shield on herself—when she could no longer sense Geddon's core, it would mean he was about to recover!
"Wait… why does it seem like there's…"
Suddenly, in her perception of that pulsating flame, Jaina detected another object that was very similar, yet not entirely identical. She was instantly puzzled: Was it a trick of the eye, or did Geddon have two cores?
During her brief moment of doubt, Geddon's injuries were almost fully healed, and Jaina, having snapped back to attention, also prepared a spell to counter his attack.
Flames of anger flickered in Baron Geddon's eyes. He had clearly seen Jaina, and next, he was going to burn this damned mortal to ashes—
"Whoosh—*CRACK!*"
Before the thought was even complete, Baron Geddon suddenly felt as if his body had been pierced by something. He looked down and found a region in his chest "polluted" by a golden light.
Those lights were constantly suppressing his flames, and Arthas's figure stood before him, seemingly holding some pulsating essence in his hand.
What was it again?
Baron Geddon couldn't help but wonder, but soon, the question was answered.
An unassuming black arrow streaked across the smoke-filled heights of Darkforge City, striking precisely the spot on Baron Geddon's chest that was occupied by Arthas's Holy Light.
A Cursed Arrow forged from "Shadowflame," and made from saronite sourced from Northrend.
What happens when Shadow and Holy Light converge?
Arthas could tell you: when in the right proportions, these two utterly opposing forces would undergo complete annihilation.
This annihilation was not a stable mutual cancellation; it would affect the surroundings!
Before Baron Geddon could even comprehend the situation, he felt his core completely engulfed by the void of annihilation within his body.
Losing his core meant losing the ability to gather elemental power in the real world, ultimately resulting in being banished back to the elemental plane.
The Elemental Lord's elemental shackles crashed heavily to the ground, and into the hearts of the Dark Iron Dwarves.
Baron Geddon, defeated.
Arthas still held a faintly glowing elemental essence in his hand, though this essence was not Baron Geddon's core. Confined within an outer layer of flames, what shimmered within it was the nimble breeze.
—The Bindings of the Windseeker!
The Windseeker, a powerful Wind Elemental Lord, the essence of Thunderaan. After this formidable Elemental Lord was ambushed by Ragnaros and his lieutenants, most of his power was consumed by Ragnaros, but some essence remained in the world.
To prevent this powerful Wind Element from resurrecting, Ragnaros split this essence into two, commanding his two lieutenants to imprison it, forever denying Thunderaan any chance of resurrection.
This clearly demonstrated how powerful Thunderaan was, enough to make Ragnaros wary and fearful of him seeking revenge after his resurrection.
"Champions of the Alliance, advance! Annihilate the enemy!"
Putting away The Bindings of the Windseeker, Arthas raised his warhammer and cheered, and the greatly encouraged Alliance soldiers directly charged the Dark Iron Dwarves' lines.
—
"So, this is the most important thing you mentioned? Did the Water Elementals ask you to find it?"
Jaina looked at the "cage" formed by flames, asking curiously.
"No, the Water Elementals probably don't know about this, because Thunderaan the Windseeker's disappearance was meticulously planned by Ragnaros. He didn't want anyone who could potentially become his enemy to know about it," Arthas said. "But this thing will bring us many benefits."
"An Elemental Lord who makes Ragnaros the Firelord wary? Are we going to release him to fight Ragnaros the Firelord to the death?"
Sylvanas leaned against the conference room door, speaking nonchalantly.
"No, that's very unrealistic. We don't even know how much of Thunderaan's power remains after such a long imprisonment, and I don't believe a newly freed Thunderaan could directly confront Ragnaros, who absorbed his power.
The value of this lies in Thunderaan himself. Think about it: a weakened Elemental Lord, putting aside everything else, just the ancient secrets he possesses are worth us finding a way to get him out of this cage."
Arthas smiled slightly. Thunderaan the Windseeker was very likely a powerful elemental no less than Al'Akir. Such a creature was truly very intriguing.