The original group healing that restored 2% health per second was neither too much nor too little; it was better than nothing for weak creatures, but for powerful beings with high health pools, it was quite substantial, enough to allow them to fight for much longer.
Now that it was targeting only Ysera, the 2% recovery amount had tripled, becoming 6% per second. This kind of recovery was already exaggerated. Combined with Ysera's innate recovery abilities, it was enough for her to disregard her defense entirely and concentrate all her power on the offensive.
For a time, Freya was indeed beaten so hard she couldn't strike back, yet she didn't fall into a disadvantage; it was just a back-and-forth where she remained suppressed.
"How about a few more curses?"
Arthas casually cast several more curses that reduced resistance and slowed speed. These curses didn't cause damage and were purely supportive. One could see Freya's movements visibly slow down significantly, her once agile fists becoming sluggish, though none of this was fatal.
What was truly fatal was that the curses suppressed her life recovery; she had become a training dummy whose health bar would only decrease and never increase!
Furthermore, the attacks Ysera landed on her were clearly more painful. At first, her health bar had been fluctuating up and down, but now it was slowly declining. The speed wasn't fast, yet it was very reassuring to watch.
Vereesa looked at her man with a face full of admiration. After that night, she was considered one of his own, taking over Sylvanas's role as a wife. Whatever a wife should do, she would do for him.
"Hubby, you're so amazing, you don't even need to take action personally now. Heehee, when did you practice these spells? Teach me when you have time."
This originally wasn't much; in the past, he didn't use them because he hadn't learned them. Applying buffs before a team fight and debuffing the enemy made it so that one plus one didn't just equal two; it could multiply the effects several times over.
This was evident from how Ysera originally couldn't budge Freya's health bar—it hadn't moved before, but now it was slowly dropping. Meanwhile, Ysera's own health bar was extremely stable; basically, any damage she took was promptly replenished.
After fighting for a long time, Freya's health bar had reached halfway. Seemingly sensing danger, out of self-preservation instinct, she suddenly pushed Ysera away and slammed both hands onto the floor. A surge of life energy was injected into the ground; the once withered plants began to revive, and the waterfalls that had stopped flowing on the mountains gushed with spring water again.
Countless vines uprooted themselves, bursting through the parched, cracked earth to wrap Ysera directly inside. The more she struggled, the tighter the vines bound her. At first, she could still move a little, but soon she was bound so tightly she couldn't move at all.
This kind of spell couldn't even be dispelled; it seemed like a spell yet didn't seem like one.
"Arthas!"
Ysera couldn't break free and could only shout for reinforcements. Calling for help when you can't win was perfectly normal. To her, there was no sense of shame; she truly couldn't beat it.
Arthas shook his head, somewhat helplessly lifting frostmourne as he prepared to go in and save the day.
Tyrande, standing nearby, stopped him and took out an exquisite bow carved with moon patterns and surrounded by vines.
"Let me do it."
Drawing the bow and nocking an arrow, the muscles in her back displayed a fluid, graceful beauty that made Arthas's eyes widen. How had he never noticed that this High Priestess was also a fit, athletic woman? But thinking about it, it made sense; it would be impossible to pull the Bow of Elune without sufficient strength. Every Night Elf was a lithe warrior, and worshipping nature meant needing to traverse mountains and rivers.
A flaming arrow appeared out of thin air, and she released it immediately after aiming. The bowstring returned to its original position, propelling the arrow forward as it streaked through the air like a beam of light. Countless vines tried to intercept it in mid-air, yet they always seemed to be half a beat too slow for some reason. Every time the arrow flew past, the vines only followed behind, as if they could never hit it, never catch it.
The arrow thudded into the vines, and the arrow blessed by the Moon Goddess Elune completely transformed into fire. The flames, tinged with a faint purple, had a cold, dark feel to them, yet as they burned, they caused the incredibly resilient vines to twist and contort continuously.
Even without a soul or consciousness, the vines still felt pain and fear when their main bodies were scorched, causing them to let go.
During this time, the fire spread to Freya, its unique lunar coolness gradually suppressing the Old God's power within her. It couldn't be purged, but suppression was enough; it allowed her original consciousness to regain control of her body, enabling her to successfully take the initiative and slowly push out the Old God's power bit by bit later on.
Seeing the opportunity had ripened, Freya's avatar nodded to Arthas and turned into a streak of light to enter her main body.
"I'll leave it to you, Your Majesty."
The reason she could trust him was also the Wild God power within him. This was a natural ally, and one that could be trusted.
Arthas held frostmourne level, releasing a unique void power to absorb the residual Old God power on Freya. He extracted it bit by bit, erasing Yogg-Saron's influence piece by piece.
At that moment, Yogg-Saron in the underground prison felt confused. It sensed that a part of its perception had failed—the direction of the Garden of Life. Although it could remotely control its subordinates, it could not leave this cage itself, and the power it could exert was very limited.
Boom!
Freya's massive body fell backward, smashing a deep crater into the ground. Just a moment ago she had been struggling hard, but now she lay there with her eyes closed, looking extremely peaceful.
Uh, isn't 'peaceful' usually used to describe dead people?
After a short while, Freya opened her eyes again, which had returned to their usual pale green, no longer the crimson seen before, and without that irrational frenzy.
"Ysera, thank you."
"Don't thank me. If you want to thank someone, thank Arthas. His purpose was to find you; saving you was just incidental."
Ysera reverted to her Night Elf form, her expression looking somewhat haggard. Her strength had dropped significantly after losing her Guardian power. In the past, she wouldn't say she could beat a Guardian, but fighting for several days and nights would have been no problem, as both sides shared the same source and couldn't easily break each other's moves.
Now that her strength had declined, she wouldn't have even dreamed of breaking through Freya's defense if not for Arthas's various buffs. This gap in strength made her feel hesitant and lost; no wonder her sister Alexstrasza would occasionally have a dazed expression—this was the reaction brought about by a decline in power.
It was hard to imagine what this feeling was like—a sense of gain and loss. Accustomed to standing on high as a Queen, now reduced to the working class, it was naturally very difficult to adapt to.
"Yogg-Saron has controlled Loken; you know this. Outside, Odyn and Loken are in a fierce battle, and below, Yogg-Saron is stirring. Let's go wake Mimiron first. His condition is even worse than yours; hopefully, a good beating will help restore his sanity."
Arthas didn't tell the whole truth. The world soul had only asked him to rescue Freya. He didn't know if the two sides had reached any secret deal, but what was certain was that if the world soul wanted to regain its freedom, it would definitely need the help of a Guardian like Freya.
Otherwise, even finding the place of imprisonment would be difficult. Having an insider lead the way versus exploring alone were two completely different situations. If one could take a shortcut, there was no need to think about taking the long way around; it simply wasn't necessary.
Just as he was about to speak, a reassuring pressure descended. That power made Ysera's weary expression turn to excitement—this seemed to be the Guardian power!
"We'll go to the workshop below first, find Mimiron, and give him a beating. The world soul will talk to Freya, and when they're done talking, they'll naturally come find us."
Arthas had already received a message from the world soul. This time, without the system mission panel, he felt a bit lost and didn't know what to do. This was the downside of relying on the system; without the system, one became unable to walk or think.
Fortunately, having experienced many things, after a brief moment of confusion, Arthas thought of what to do next.
Rescue the Guardians first; those Guardians were at least not as unreasonable as Odyn. Moreover, dealing with Yogg-Saron required their help. These Old Gods loved to hide in dark corners and use shameful little tricks to trip people up. They were exactly like Kiljaeden of the Burning Legion—despicable, shameless, and low-class.
Arriving at the hall, the sounds of fighting could still be heard from time to time, and even the hall vibrated slightly.
At this moment, Vereesa suddenly thought of something, a spark of inspiration flashing in her blue eyes.
"Arthas, will Loken continue to manufacture iron soldiers for the war? Do we need to cut off his power source to prevent him from suppressing Odyn?"
"Is Odyn unable to hold on?"
Arthas felt puzzled and focused his mental strength on the perimeter. He could see a large amount of broken soldier wreckage, as well as flying sailboats and ballistae in a unique medieval European style. These were unique to the Hall of Valor; the army of souls could be resurrected but also required energy, much like the undead, or rather, much like the Burning Legion.
"He's fallen into a bit of a disadvantage, but continuing to hold on for a short time shouldn't be a problem."
Vereesa kept a constant eye on the battle outside. Only when it was noisy and chaotic out there would their group's actions inside Ulduar be smoother and faster.
After thinking for a moment, Arthas declined the request. He didn't have the heart to reject his sister-in-law's first suggestion outright, as it might dampen her enthusiastic spirit in the future.
"No need. Instead of cutting off Ulduar's energy source, it's better to find some allies for Odyn outside. Remember there are two Titan Keepers outside, right? Go wake them up using the void bombs I gave you before."
"Give the place where they are a blast. Once startled awake, they'll definitely discover the great battle at Ulduar and will naturally join the fight. Regardless of which side they help, it's a good thing for us. Hmm, I'll have Helya do this; she's monitoring Odyn on the perimeter, so it's better for her to do it."
Arthas wasn't worried about Helya not following orders. After her flesh-and-blood transformation, she was quite obedient—if told to kneel, she knelt; if told to lie on the table, she would do so submissively, which was very satisfying.
As for finding reinforcements for Odyn?
His command to Helya was that in the chaos, she must ensure both Odyn and Loken died. The task of stabbing them in the back naturally fell to Helya. For her, such an act of revenge couldn't be more appropriate!
"Alright, I'll listen to you then."
Vereesa shrugged. She felt it was normal for her suggestion to be rejected; it wasn't as if she was upset, at least she had provided a new line of thought.
"In a bit, you go deal with Mimiron. I'll back you up, so fight with confidence."
Arthas patted her backside and gave her an ambiguous look—the kind that promised a reward afterward.
The workshop was located below. If the Garden of Life was on the main hall level, then entering the Mechanical Workshop required going down the stairs. The size of the workshop was even larger than the Garden of Life.
There were massive gears, drive bearings, and steam engines in a very steampunk style, giving one the feeling of having traveled back to the so-called Industrial Revolution era. As for whether this was a bit off, that was another matter.
Everywhere one looked, there were giant iron robots and some uniquely shaped tanks. They were like giant tin cans with cannon barrels on top, having the basic prototype of a modern tank, though of course, they lacked rearview mirrors.
"Heh heh, intruders, welcome to my workshop. If you leave now, I can still spare your lives. If you keep advancing, you'll have to taste my shells."
A synthesized mechanical voice came from all directions, making it impossible to tell where the speaker was.
There were speakers everywhere; it was normal not to be able to tell the direction. If one could hear it, that would be truly ghostly!
Just as this thought flashed by, Vereesa pointed toward the southwest, where there was only a giant pillar.
"There! That pillar is where the sound is coming from."
Drawing her bow and nocking an arrow, the arrow flew like a shooting star, instantly hitting a red button.
Beep beep beep!
"Intruder attack, security mode activated!"
Immediately, the entire workshop began to operate violently. Those robots that had been dormant also began to power up. The lights on their heads changed from the yellow of low charge to the green of full power.
"Did I cause trouble?"
Vereesa felt a bit unsure of herself. She had clearly heard a sound just now—a faint sound in the air, a ridiculous sneer that she had accurately captured.
Arthas pinched her cheek, his expression relaxed and at ease. He had also just woken up from his confusion; could he not carry out a mission without panel prompts? Were his skills just for show?
"No, you did well. Fight according to your sixth sense; I'm always by your side!"
frostmourne swept out a wave of sword energy. The invisible attack arrived first, directly splitting the distant steel pillar in half.
A giant steel head fell off. A headless body nearby walked over, picked up the head, and placed it back on the neck. A slight crackle of electricity was heard, indicating a successful connection.
When the head turned around, it was revealed to be a comical mechanical head with a mustache—it was indeed Mimiron.
"You're too mean, intruding into my workshop and even attacking me first. Considering you have no malice, get out of my workshop immediately!"
Hearing this exasperated voice, it was hard to imagine this was a Guardian.
If he really had the strength of a Guardian, he should have counterattacked without a word at this time; why so much nonsense?
And there was another strange point: Mimiron was speaking the human Common tongue. Every race had different languages, and the gap between them was quite large. While a mage could easily learn another language with a Brilliance spell, why Mimiron knew it was very strange.