Chapter 260: The Great Magical Battle

Antonidas agreed to join the battle, and Duke sighed with relief.

Gul'dan's appearance truly gave Duke a feeling of being outmatched.

Duke knew full well that the cunning Gul'dan wouldn't sincerely fight for Orgrim Doomhammer. However, there are some enemies in the world that, even if you know they won't go all out, you still have to face them with everything you have.

That is the nature of a boss, that is the nature of power!

Looking at the arrogant figure of Gul'dan, Duke couldn't help but clench his teeth. Once this was over, he would truly have to focus on improving his own strength.

One's personal strength must match the overall situation.

Duke was well aware that even as a Mage of the Dawning Sun, he wouldn't be able to withstand the siege of hundreds of thousands of orcs. And right now, he wasn't even that.

Without the support of the Alliance, even with god-like strength, one could still be overwhelmed by sheer numbers when facing a vastly superior enemy.

In the 'future', Antonidas dies here, and the Sun King Anasterian Sunstrider dies here as well.

But today, fortunately, Duke wasn't the one to directly face Gul'dan.

With a light swipe of his staff in the air, Antonidas didn't even seem to chant a spell, and mysterious runes formed a long line in the void in front of everyone. Three seconds later, the line was expanded by some mysterious force, turning it into an elliptical portal large enough for a person to pass through.

On the other side of the portal was the empty entrance to Southshore. That was the entrance to both the harbor and the town.

The orcs were not fools. They knew that if they didn't kill the humans on both sides of the hills and recklessly rushed into the town, they would be inviting disaster. Under the orders of the Horde commanders, the orcs were all heading towards the hills to fight.

As a result, there was now an empty, uninhabited space amidst the fierce battlefield.

The next moment, Antonidas appeared alone at the entrance to the small town.

"Oh? I didn't expect there to be a human mage brave enough to face me in battle," Gul'dan said in Common, as if talking to himself. But he knew Antonidas would hear him.

"Heh, I'm curious too, about the strength of a former demigod like yourself," Antonidas replied. Though seemingly a compliment, it was a thinly veiled insult.

Gul'dan leaned on his staff, and ripples of dark power spread across the sea, reaching the depths below. Countless naga hundreds of meters away underwater were caught in the effect.

In an instant, the entire sea surface churned, boiling with blood and fragments of corpses, roaring furiously.

With a dark expression, Gul'dan coldly replied, "I could defeat you with only half my strength!"

"Come on!" Antonidas beckoned with his hand.

Without any more words, the magic of the two collided in midair.

At that moment, the entire Southshore, divided by the harbor entrance, shimmered with different colors of elemental radiance:

On the side closest to the town, a dense pattern of fire, frost, and arcane elemental flames appeared in the air. ...

On one side of the docks, layers of crimson flames and black shadowy runes flickered near the sea, carrying an abundance of sinister and malevolent energy.

Two entirely different scenes occupied the center of the battlefield, completely enveloping Southshore and spreading in all directions.

In the next moment, the magic pouring out from the runes around the two individuals clashed.

Destructive flames and bone-chilling ice collided fiercely in mid-air, raising ice shards and residual fire, forming terrifying steam that cooked any creatures daring to approach.

Evil shadow bolts were shattered by fireballs, turning the nearby grassland black and instantly draining the vitality of any plants and animals they touched. The scattered remnants of the flames were no less formidable, easily incinerating anything flammable.

The azure arcane radiance struck the mysterious, drifting curse energies, rendering the warlock's most enigmatic affliction curses ineffective.

The clash between these two was more fearsome than a confrontation between ten mage squads, with the shockwaves of their intense battle easily sweeping across the entire town.

Having designated Southshore as the primary battleground early on, Duke had evacuated the residents well beforehand. However, witnessing the duel between these two formidable individuals, Duke remained astonished beyond measure.

Keep in mind, this wasn't Gul'dan at his peak! Even now, Gul'dan still had to devote more than half his power to maintain the Dark Portal's operation. In other words, with less than a quarter of his full power, Gul'dan fought evenly against Antonidas, one of the only two Sunreaver Mages in Azeroth.

At this moment, the entire Southshore, and even the areas between the two hills, seemed to have experienced a terrifying catastrophe - a combination of tornadoes and earthquakes.

Brick and wood houses on both sides of the town's main street collapsed like dominoes. Massive trees were lifted into the air by powerful shockwaves, only to be bombarded by two or three types of magic before they could land.

Duke witnessed the top half of a tree being burned by fire, the bottom half encased in ice, and finally reduced to powder by the splash of shadow bolts.

With a raise of his staff, Antonidas conjured an array of blue magical radiance around Gul'dan, who was surrounded by the sea. In less than half a second, nearly a hundred huge water elementals with inverted triangular torsos and two sturdy arms emerged from the water. Without hesitation, they simultaneously fired hundreds of ice arrows at Gul'dan.

Gul'dan raised his hand in response, summoning dozens of similarly large, deep blue inverted-triangle-shaped 'blue fatties' - strange demons from the Twisting Nether that used their enormous bodies as the perfect magical shield.

Simultaneously, near the town's entrance, a portal to the Twisting Nether opened, releasing hordes of fel hounds specialized in countering spellcasters that charged straight toward Antonidas.

"Hmph!" With a cold snort from the Archmage of Dalaran.

Countless ice spikes emerged from the ground, shooting skyward. The fel hounds, which were supposed to be effective against mages, had no resistance against this physical damage caused by elemental transformation. They were easily impaled from below, with some even having their heads sheared off by the ice, becoming corpses before they could ascend.

The magical energy erupting from their bodies created a terrifying pressure, forming an invisible boundary on the battlefield. Even without being directly affected by the magic, those without sufficient strength dared not cross this line.

Seeing Duke's arrangement once again counter the Horde's offensive, Lothar approached and asked, "Duke, what are you waiting for?"

"I'm waiting to cash in my chips. Once the Horde's cards are all cashed in, that will be the end for the hundred thousand Horde landing troops!" Duke coldly replied.