Although Executus had surrendered, Ragnaros's subordinates still showed no intention of giving up.
Or rather, surrender was an inconceivable notion for Elemental Creatures.
Executus's personality was truly one in a million among Elementals, befitting his position as the current manager, second only to Ragnaros and above all others among the Fire Elements.
However, now, in front of Arthas and the others, he appeared so humble and fawning.
"I… I will tell you everything I know, as long as you don't kill me!"
Arthas frowned, looking at Executus. He had considered that this guy might surrender, but he expected it to be after Ragnaros had completely lost power and retreated back to the elemental plane.
At that time, if Executus "luckily" didn't die, with his personality, he would certainly surrender immediately to gain a chance to survive.
It was just that Elemental Creatures would return to the elemental plane after death, making it impossible to truly kill them in the real world. Yet, Executus seemed to cherish his life greatly, unwilling to experience even a non-permanent death.
Moreover, if this guy surrendered and then died back to the Firelands, Ragnaros would probably personally finish him off. It was unclear why he was so eager to surrender.
"Take him to Duke Hydraxis. Do not harm his life for now. After we deal with Ragnaros, I still have some questions to ask him."
Hearing Arthas's "sentence," Executus breathed a sigh of relief. He felt no guilt for betraying his master; instead, he was escorted away from the battlefield by the Water Elementals with a clear conscience.
Seeing his relieved expression, it was as if this was his ultimate goal all along.
Jaina watched Executus disappear into the distance, poked Arthas with her finger, and whispered, "I think there's something off about this Fire Elemental. Could he be plotting something?"
"He might indeed be plotting something, but I don't think it's against us. Besides, we don't have time to deal with him right now."
Ragnaros was currently gathering strength, preparing to resolve all the troubles before him once and for all. No matter what Executus was planning by surrendering at this moment, it wasn't as urgent as defeating Ragnaros.
"Arthas is right," Magni said. "Just have the Water Elementals strictly imprison that Fire Elemental. Our true opponent is Ragnaros himself. Once Ragnaros is eliminated, the other Fire Elements are completely insignificant and can be quickly dealt with."
In fact, after completely dealing with Executus and the Fire Element leaders he brought, the powerful Elementals that Ragnaros could dispatch were basically all dead or wounded. The last and greatest threat, Ragnaros himself, was now before them.
Ragnaros seemed to have noticed the dwindling number of his subordinates. His body swayed in anger. The scorching flames illuminated the mountain walls, turning them fiery red. Many rocks at the top of the cavern even melted from the heat, dripping down as high-temperature liquid onto the ground and into the water.
Ragnaros gripped his Hammer, and his soul-piercing roar echoed through every corner of Molten Core.
"Enough, you damned mortals!"
Ragnaros's cry was like a signal. All the still-boiling lava pools within Molten Core simultaneously erupted with pillars of fire of varying heights, responding to Ragnaros's rage.
Saffron flames instantly burst forth from Ragnaros's body. The Water Elementals fighting on the front lines were incinerated in an instant, leaving behind only two charred Elemental shackles.
Arthas saw the orange-yellow scorching flames rushing towards him and immediately threw light of dawn forward. The Hammer transformed into a shield in mid-air, forming a hemispherical barrier under the blessing of Holy Light, protecting the five of them.
Jaina, a step slower, also reacted. She immediately raised an Ice Shield within the Holy Light barrier, further reducing the immense heat.
The other three, covered by the shield, also simultaneously ducked. Arthas supported the shield, clearly seeing that the outside of the Holy Light shield was almost completely burned red, even the golden color of the Holy Light was obscured.
light of dawn emitted a series of hums. Although this did not reach the artifact's limit, it still put some pressure on Arthas.
He was indeed the Fire Lord, indeed the most powerful Fire Element. If he hadn't been weakened once by the tide, and spent so much effort preventing the influx of seawater, this wave of heat would probably have caused Blackrock Mountain to erupt again.
Ragnaros looked at the reddish-gold shield, mercilessly raising his Hammer. The heavy hammerhead descended from the sky with terrifying speed.
Arthas's eyelids twitched, and he shouted to Jaina, "Evasive action!"
Jaina didn't hesitate for a moment. Almost the instant Arthas finished speaking, she used a teleportation spell, retreating towards a safe zone within her spell vision.
The tip of the saffron hammer, laden with high temperature and immense power, paused on the golden light shield for half a second. Then, the light shield shattered like a mirror, followed by Jaina's Ice Shield, which offered almost no resistance and was melted into water droplets by the high temperature, evaporating into steam.
The Hammer smashed a huge crater into the ground, filled with rolling lava and gravel, but there was no sign of Arthas and the others.
Jaina had taken everyone out of Ragnaros's attack range at the critical moment. They looked at the ground almost completely destroyed by Ragnaros, their expressions complex.
This was clearly just a casual strike from Ragnaros, but it very directly demonstrated the power gap between mortals and Elemental Lords.
Ragnaros also discovered that "a few bugs" had escaped his attack. He lifted his Hammer, still flowing with lava, and swept it horizontally across the ground towards where Arthas and the others were.
The ground was plowed into scorching trenches by Ragnaros's Hammer. Jaina saw Ragnaros's Hammer approaching and channeled her magic. To the side of the group, where Ragnaros's attack was coming, a wall of ice instantly formed.
Intense tremors and roars struck. After the lava and ice collided, steam and ice shards exploded. Ragnaros stared at the chaotic scene below. Suddenly, from within the mist, two arrows flew out rapidly.
Caught off guard, the two arrows accurately struck Ragnaros's face. After a brief contact, they immediately triggered a powerful explosion.
The skull-like mask of cooled lava on Ragnaros's face was damaged at one corner by the explosion, and flames surged out from the gap, making him appear particularly ferocious.
More than the damage sustained, Ragnaros clearly felt his dignity had been challenged. He roared, driving the lava towards the direction filled with mist.