It must be said that Darius hesitated for a long time on the matter of whether to bypass King Genn and directly represent Gilneas in sending troops. His daughter's repeated persuasion played a significant role. Darius kept recalling King Genn's shortsightedness and superficiality, and thinking about the devastation caused by the Scourge mentioned in the information provided by the envoy, he became even more inclined towards his daughter Lorna's suggestion—go it alone!
Ultimately, as the date of the Alliance Conference approached, he, under Lorna's encouragement, led the "Gilneas Brigade" of over eight thousand soldiers out of the nation isolated by the Greymane Wall, embarking on a journey to Lordaeron for the conference.
When Genn Greymane learned that Darius had used his authority to mobilize all the troops within his territory, plus a portion of other Gilnean soldiers willing to fight for the Alliance, and had opened the gates and left without permission, he flew into a rage, shouting, "Darius is a traitor! A mongrel! I will have his entire family sent to the guillotine!" But everything had already become a fait accompli. Even if King Genn wanted to confiscate the Crowley family's territory, this decision was opposed by most of the noble lords and could not be passed. This shortsighted king could only vent his anger on his personal guards.
Prince Liam said a few good words for Darius, wanting to persuade his father to calm down, but unexpectedly, this added fuel to the fire. Seeing his own son opposing him, Genn couldn't contain his anger and roared with red eyes, "You are not the king yet!"
Liam was almost stunned. He had never seen his father so furious. Nor had he ever seen his father speak to him with such a rude attitude.
But after all, this was his father. Liam had to comply with him.
Then Genn ordered the highest commander of the Greymane Wall: "Darius has left his defense zone without authorization, and has also taken away a large number of our troops. This matter must be punished! Since he wants to lick Terenas's boots, then he shouldn't come back! After the war is over, if you dare to let them in, I will personally send you to the guillotine!"
The commander nodded obsequiously, hurriedly agreeing.
After dismissing everyone, Genn was still unable to calm his anger, gnashing his teeth and saying, "Darius, you want to be a hero? Very well, if you don't kneel down and lick every speck of dust off my boots, then don't even think about returning to my country!"
Until this moment, Genn still did not believe that the Scourge could pose much of a threat. Although he refused to rejoin the Alliance, he would not deny that the Alliance did possess great power. It was more than enough to resist a plague!
However, disasters always happen outside of people's plans. Just when he thought that hiding behind the Greymane Wall would ensure the safety of his country, disaster struck unexpectedly.
Since Kel'Thuzad's death, Dar'Khan naturally took over the command of the Scourge. The dreadlord Tichondrius, along with all the Nathrezim demons under his command, were fully cooperating with his work to welcome the arrival of the Burning Legion.
Dar'Khan raised the Scourge's flying fortress, Naxxramas, from the depths of Dragonblight and flew it to the continent of Lordaeron. His goal was clear: the closed-off Gilneas was the best source of the Scourge army.
Look, the Greymane royal family had built a wall that isolated them from the outside world, and Darius's betrayal had severed all ties with the Alliance nations. Nothing that happened here would be leaked out.
What a perfect breeding ground for the Scourge army!
Naxxramas floated into this closed kingdom in the night. The magnificent Great Wall, built with Gilneas's national strength, was useless in the face of the flying fortress!
Dar'Khan's gaze focused on Gilneas in the night, the dense lights flickering like the soul fires in the eyes of tens of thousands of undead troops.
The necromancer changed into his disguise, stood on a magic carpet, and flew into this unsuspecting city.
---
Krasus turning into a red dragon indeed shocked everyone. He resumed his identity as Korialstrasz, carrying High Overlord Saurfang and Archmage Rhonin away from Northrend, preparing to fly across the Great Sea to report to the Alliance. Such a long distance was not an easy task for a dragon. Vereesa was filled with worry and could only pray silently for their safety.
The remaining Alliance and Horde members had no choice but to merge together. The destruction of Valgarde made them fully aware of their current situation: they were now an isolated force, without any support or supplies. Even if they had deep-seated hatred in the past, they now had to help each other.
"What to do?"
This became the most and biggest question at the moment.
Horde Captain Nazgrim said, "We should establish a stronghold nearby and repair the docks of Valgarde so that future fleets will not face the problem of being unable to dock."
Vereesa didn't like orcs, but she had to admit that this orc's suggestion was correct.
She added, "We have no allies now, so we should seek out some races that are also enemies of the Scourge. Now we have a common enemy with them, and we will be stronger if we unite!"
Nazgrim said in a muffled voice, "Diplomacy is your Alliance's specialty. We orcs will be responsible for establishing strongholds and repairing docks!"
"Alright."
After the agreement, both sides began to act. Vereesa sent out small scouting units to search the area, and soon reports came back: a small team found a group of ice dwarves. Their appearance was similar to the dwarves of Ironforge, and they did not seem hostile to humans.
They called themselves Frostborn dwarves, and their leader was called Thrommel Thunderfist. These dwarves had ice-blue skin, but other than that, they were no different from the dwarves of Ironforge, and even more fond of alcohol—that should be because they lived in the snowy Northrend. The Frostborn dwarves fought very bravely, but their biggest enemies were not the Scourge, but another kind of iron dwarves, as well as ice giants.
Upon hearing the news, Vereesa rushed to the Frostborn dwarves' stronghold as soon as possible. At the same time, she also sent messengers to the iron dwarves, but obviously, this tribe did not appreciate it at all. They killed two of her scouts. This completely dispelled her plan to form an alliance with the iron dwarves.
And the Frostborn dwarves told her a shocking news: some time ago, he saw a mage with the same long ears as her, plus a green-skinned humanoid riding a bone dragon, hunting an adult blue dragon. He also slaughtered some of his people and resurrected them with evil witchcraft.
Vereesa immediately thought of the death knight Broxigar and the archmage Dar'Khan, who was rumored to have betrayed the high elves. Then she thought of Rhonin, who was on his way back, and her heart skipped a beat.
"I hope they don't encounter these monsters."
--- But everything is always bad news.
Almost at this moment, Rhonin and Saurfang encountered the enemies who were intercepting them.
Saurfang looked at the death knight riding a frost bone dragon in front of him, and grief appeared in his eyes: "Broxigar, it really is you!"
"Isn't this my brother?" Broxigar extended a sincere invitation, "Join me, Varok, let us serve the Scourge together."
Saurfang shook his head sadly: "No, you are not my brother. My brother is a noble orc warrior. He died gloriously. You are just a parasite desecrating his corpse. I must bring back his body and hold an orc funeral for him!"
Death Knight Broxigar roared, "Stubborn fellow, do you think you have the slightest chance? When you were alive, you were not as good as me. Now I am stronger and more powerful than before."
Saurfang glared back at him angrily: "Then let's try!"
The battle was about to break out.
Rhonin shouted loudly to the red dragon Korialstrasz: "I need to prepare spells, protect me!"
"Don't worry." The red dragon's voice was heavy and hoarse. His eyes were fixed on the two undead dragons, and his narrow pupils almost spewed flames. "I am stronger now than ever!"
Saurfang clenched his double-handed axe, and said without turning his head: "Cast your spell with peace of mind, human! Before I die, no enemy can harm you!"
"Thank you!" Rhonin replied, and began to prepare the spell.
Broxigar drove the frost dragon to rush over. The other dragon had no knight on its back. The eyes could still tell that this was a blue dragon that had been resurrected after death. There were several fatal wounds on its body, especially a cut on the neck, which severed the entire trachea and esophagus. There were also dried blood stains near the wound.
"Sapphiron!" Korialstrasz could still recognize it by its appearance.
"That's right, it's me!" The undead blue dragon opened its mouth to answer. Before his death, he was a capable subordinate of the Blue Dragonflight's leader Malygos, with considerable strength, but just a few days ago, Broxigar drove the frost dragon Sindragosa, plus the necromancer Dar'Khan, to kill him and resurrect him into a new frost dragon.
However, because the death time was still relatively short, the flesh and blood on his body had not yet begun to rot and fall off, and he still retained most of the characteristics of his lifetime.
Sapphiron opened his mouth and sprayed an ice breath.
Korialstrasz roared, "Hold on tight!", and directly did a somersault. Rhonin almost couldn't help but interrupt the spell to grab his dragon scales to stabilize his body, but fortunately, Saurfang reacted quickly and reached out to grab his belt.
Korialstrasz refused to show weakness and also spewed a mouthful of flame dragon breath. Some of the high-temperature flames of life stained Sapphiron's belly, and it immediately made a "crackling" sound, like a piece of meat in a frying pan, and then the charred flesh exuded a rotten smell.
Sapphiron flapped his wings and rose higher. He made a mocking voice: "Korialstrasz, now my body is not afraid of your dragon breath at all!"
At this moment, Broxigar also drove the frost dragon Sindragosa to swoop down. He wielded the rune giant axe and hack Saurfang, while making a cruel laugh: "Come on, my brother, let me personally transform you into my appearance!"
"Don't even think about it!" Saurfang roared, and chopped Broxigar's weapon with an axe.