The battle on Hellfire Peninsula erupted while Archimonde was still in Blade's Edge Mountains. Although he was powerful enough, he couldn't summon hellfire to rain down from thousands of miles away in the real world.
After receiving Vargas's message, Archimonde was furious. He didn't want the trap he and Kil'jaeden had meticulously designed to be ruined by this suddenly opened Dark Portal. So he immediately summoned a magic circle, contacting Kil'jaeden in the Twisting Nether from Outland.
Upon learning of the situation, Kil'jaeden immediately reacted.
He knew he had to do something to salvage the situation, so he began summoning hellfire to descend.
Xerath, the "Ancient Ascendant," who had been secretly monitoring Kil'jaeden, also noticed the situation. He believed this was a good opportunity—although he couldn't defeat Kil'jaeden, his power was enough to destroy the demon portal Kil'jaeden had created to connect the Twisting Nether and Outland.
He and several other heroes who had been in the Burning Legion knew how vast the most terrifying legion of destruction in the universe was—it was absolutely in the billions!
Over countless years, the Burning Legion had destroyed countless worlds and corrupted countless species with fel energy, and had also gained an immeasurable number of demon legions. Even if the skies and lands of Outland were filled with demons, it would not be even one percent of the total number of the Burning Legion.
As Kil'jaeden cast his spell, green magic circle lights lit up under the feet of the hellfire demons behind him, and they disappeared one by one.
They would fall like meteorites in the skies above Hellfire Peninsula.
They would smash into the native alliance and the demon legions.
This was an indiscriminate attack, but Kil'jaeden would never feel sorry for the demons that were accidentally injured. Anyway, there were plenty of such characters in the legion. As long as Aiden could be prevented from returning to Azeroth, any price was worth it!
Seeing Kil'jaeden continuously summoning hellfire, Xerath knew that the opportunity he had been waiting for had arrived—he transformed into his original Ascended form, and the energy emanating from his limbs fixed him in the void.
He began to extract the omnipresent raw arcane energy from the void with all his might, drawing and gathering it into his body. His size became even larger as a result, and the chains that were originally bound to his body clanged, each stretched very tightly, and emitted an almost breaking metallic groan under the constantly expanding arcane energy.
The colorful light bands in the area where Xerath was located all surged wildly. Kog'Maw, who had been guarding him, immediately stepped away. The Void Mouth could feel the extremely dangerous energy within. Once it erupted, he felt that he would most likely be blown to pieces.
The energy anomaly also attracted the attention of the evil warlocks in the Burning Legion's main camp.
They shouted at the surrounding demons, "Quick, go see what's happening over there!"
Kha'Zix, the Voidreaver, had recently eaten many demons, and his stealth ability had greatly improved. At this time, he was hiding on the path that these demon squads, who were preparing to scout the energy anomaly, were sure to take. When the other party approached, he immediately jumped out of hiding, his wings vibrating, his claws waving, and he killed all these demons in almost a few breaths, and then retreated completely.
Kha'Zix deliberately revealed his figure in front of the subsequent pursuers, and then flew in another direction, leading them away.
"It's up to you now, Xerath."
After brewing for a long enough time, Xerath felt as if his body was about to explode. He knew that he had reached his limit—arcane energy burst out from his body, and he guided this raw and violent energy into clusters of arcane barrages, firing them towards the portal not far from Kil'jaeden, where demons were constantly entering.
"Whoosh!"
"Whoosh!"
"Whoosh!"
Not like in the game where it ends after three shots, a series of arcane barrages almost formed a shining arc, continuously bombarding the portal. The demons near the portal were all disintegrated into fragments by the violent arcane energy, and the original shining light of the portal became dimmer and dimmer.
Kil'jaeden watched this scene angrily. Although he wanted to stop it, summoning hellfire was more important, and he couldn't afford to be distracted. He could only watch as the portal he had painstakingly created reached its limit under the continuous bombardment of arcane barrages, and then exploded with a bang. The escaping energy swept the nearby demons into the chaotic currents of time and space, and even interrupted his process of continuing to summon hellfire.
"Done, let's go!" Kog'Maw shouted, and Xerath also put away his Ascended form and fled in another direction. Kha'Zix, who had lured away the pursuers, had long since disappeared.
Kil'jaeden threw a tantrum, but he could only accept the result. However, he believed that the hellfire he had just summoned was enough to bring enough trouble to those guys on Hellfire Peninsula, and he still had means to remedy the situation.
—
Indeed, as Kil'jaeden expected.
Hellfire Peninsula—as the name suggests, countless hellfire demons turned into meteorites, falling from the sky with long green flames. This barren red land was now full of hellfire demons.
Aiden's expression changed, and he knew what this meant.
"Quick! Stop chasing! Gather together!" Aiden roared, his voice transmitted to the ears of everyone on the battlefield through the blessing of natural magic. The warriors also gave up encircling the demons after hearing the order and chose to gather together.
Seeing a ball of hellfire falling towards the position of Sejuani's Winter's Claw cavalry, he immediately activated the Wings of Holy Light, infusing the tyrannical holy power into the Silver Judgment, intercepting the hellfire demon from the air one step ahead.
He cleaved the burning meteor in half with a single sword in the slowed time flow. He could feel that the demon inside had already died—before, in the Battle of the Shattered Ridge, when he first faced hellfire, he had struggled quite a bit, but now he could easily kill it instantly.
He suddenly realized that he was also growing rapidly in constant battles.
On the other side, Grom and Kargath's duel had reached its most intense moment.
Kargath, risking another injury, tried to block Gorehowl that was slashing towards his shoulder with his serrated blade, but Grom's strength was too great, and the previous few collisions had already secretly damaged Kargath's weapon. Kargath failed to block this blow, and his serrated blade was cut in half by Blood Howl, and the remaining force of the axe embedded itself in his shoulder, almost severing his shoulder blade.
The enormous pain overwhelmed Kargath's nerves, and he roared, punching Grom's severely injured left arm, while simultaneously slamming his knee into the opponent's abdominal wound.
Grom couldn't withstand it, and Gorehowl in his hand also fell to the ground.
Now they were almost barehanded, and the competition of martial arts turned into a gladiatorial contest of strength.
Kargath saw hellfire falling from the sky, and he opened his mouth, his gums permeated with blood, and laughed wildly: "The winner is me, Grom Hellscream!"
Grom roared: "You won't win! You will only die, Kargath!"
He saw a hellfire falling from the sky in front of him, and suddenly headbutted Kargath, making him dizzy, then let go and kicked the opponent away.
Kargath fell to the ground, and when he opened his eyes, he saw a burning meteorite falling towards him.
"Boom!"
The position where the chieftain of the fel orcs fell became a meteorite crater. Grom was knocked away by the shock wave and fell to the ground. His whole body ached, especially the knee that Kargath had just slammed into his abdominal wound, which made him feel as if his internal organs were shattered.
He grinned, revealing an ugly smile, and then the reverse blood in his throat surged up, choking him with a mouthful of bloody taste.
But he had won.
Before his consciousness fell into darkness, he heard a familiar voice shouting: "Father, Father!"
—
Gruul, carrying a mechanical leg torn from a mana mech, smashed a falling hellfire meteorite into pieces, as easily as hitting a baseball.
Just now, he and his gronn offspring had almost destroyed all of the mana mechs. But these meteorites falling from the sky were very troublesome, not everyone had the ability to casually ravage hellfire demons like him. He noticed that several gronn had been smashed to death by such meteorites.
This made him very angry!
Hearing Aiden's order to concentrate, Gruul roared and threw the thick mechanical leg at another Hellfire that had just crawled out of a pit, then strode towards the assembly point.
Only by concentrating could the strong, who were capable of dealing with Hellfire, protect the safety of ordinary soldiers.
But only a small portion could ever be protected. The army that crossed the Dark Portal stretched for hundreds of miles, and the Road of Glory from the Dark Portal to the battlefield was filled with troops heading there. The vast majority of them had to rely on themselves to resist these burning meteor demons.
However, the area near the battlefield was not the most densely populated area for the arrival of Hellfire. To prevent the Alliance from returning from the Dark Portal, nearly half of the Hellfire landed on the land near the Dark Portal.
At this moment, the night elf army led by Illidan had just passed through the Dark Portal when they encountered the indiscriminate attack of falling Hellfire, suffering heavy losses in an instant.
A group of human soldiers were running back in panic. The scene in front of them frightened these soldiers who had just arrived in Outland—they had expected fierce battles and had mentally prepared themselves to fight the demons with real guns and swords, but they never thought that as soon as they crossed the Dark Portal, the sky would rain fire continuously, and the road ahead would be filled with countless burning demons crawling out of meteor craters.
Their general had just rushed forward a dozen steps when he was smashed into pieces by a Hellfire. These mentally collapsed soldiers could not break through the obstacles in front of them and could only retreat in panic!
This world is too dangerous, Azeroth is better!
Illidan was also dumbfounded. Even during the War of the Ancients, Hellfire did not fall with such density. The crazy scene in front of him made him completely unsure of what to do.
The elven sentinel captain couldn't help but ask, "Lord Illidan, we have suffered heavy losses! It's too dangerous here, let's retreat!"
This group from Mount Hyjal was scattered by the retreating human soldiers and was struggling to resist the oncoming Hellfire, and they were immediately unable to hold on.
Should they retreat?
Illidan really wanted to do so, but he immediately thought that there was still a crazy woman in Azeroth leading a group of crazy women chasing him. Wouldn't going back be the same as walking into a trap?
After being imprisoned for ten thousand years, he never wanted to experience prison life again after regaining his freedom.
"Allen Shadowseeker, I order you to immediately lead the night elf warriors back!" Illidan Stormrage shouted loudly to the sentinel captain beside him.
"Yes, Lord Illidan!" Allen couldn't wait to leave this dangerous place immediately.
"Retreat! Retreat!" Allen shouted to the elven sentinels.
Illidan covered the night elf warriors as they passed through the Dark Portal to return.
Seeing that all the warriors had retreated, Allen Shadowseeker said to Illidan, "Lord, let's retreat too!"
Illidan was about to say, "Tell Tyrande, I will return after the war here is over!" He pushed the astonished Allen into the Dark Portal, then turned around, used magic to become invisible, and quietly passed through the demons' heavy blockade, heading towards the battlefield along the Road of Glory.
—
The indiscriminate arrival of Hellfire made it meaningless to continue the battle. No army would be willing to persist in fighting in such a harsh environment.
Aiden immediately contacted Tempest Keep. The most important thing they should do now was to leave here immediately and return from the Dark Portal.
But without him deliberately contacting them, the Naaru had already steered the ship here. They opened a huge defensive light curtain, bouncing away the Hellfire falling from the sky. The ship headed east towards the Dark Portal, constantly gathering the scattered warriors nearby and clearing obstacles along the way.
Aiden guarded the ship from the side. They were on the way back, but he always had a bad feeling in his heart, as if things would not go so smoothly.
"You look like you're not very happy, my friend!" Kurdran, riding a gryphon, could see that his expression was wrong. "Now we're on our way home, how about I treat you to a drink when we get back?"
"I'd love to!" Aiden smiled at the cheerful dwarven hero, "I just have a bad feeling—I hope it's just a delusion!"
"Haha, you're overthinking it. Isn't Archimonde still playing around on Blade's Edge Mountain? Who else besides him can stop us from going back? See, there's no more Hellfire falling from the sky!"
Indeed, Xerath detonated the portal in the Twisting Nether, and the shockwave interrupted Kil'jaeden's summoning. Now the sky over Hellfire Peninsula had calmed down.
Kil'jaeden could still organize a second wave of summons, but the Twisting Nether and the real world were very far apart. By the time Hellfire fell from the sky again, Aiden and the others would have already returned through the Dark Portal.
"You're right, I must be overthinking it!" Aiden said with a smile.
Tempest Keep was flying very fast. Several Naaru operated several sub-ships to clear the way in front and gather reinforcements from Azeroth, then transferred them to Tempest Keep. For the next hour, the operation went smoothly. They had already flown over half the distance of Hellfire Peninsula and would reach the Dark Portal in at most an hour.
At this point, Aiden felt that he must be overthinking things, to the point of developing persecution paranoia—if they returned to Azeroth so smoothly, from the perspective of the battle's outcome, they had gained the support of the Naaru, the draenei and their allies, the Mag'har orcs, and even the Gronn and ogre legions. This was undoubtedly a great victory!
Although there had been twists and turns such as Archimonde's appearance in the middle, overall, Aiden's original goals had even been exceeded.
He knew that he should appear more relaxed and happy, but soon, his mood became unnaturally heavy. He felt a faint pain in his brow, as if something was about to jump out.
"I have a bad feeling," A'dal's telepathic message suddenly came to his mind.
Aiden's heart sank. He knew that the intuition of these Naaru never went wrong—
"I also have a bad feeling…"
Just then, the colorful sky above their heads suddenly became strange—all the other colors disappeared, and the light bands of arcane torrents all turned a ghostly green. They slowly rotated, and the entire sky became a huge vortex.
That was the color of fel!
Almost everyone could feel the terrifying energy contained in the surging torrent of fel energy.
"The ship is about to be attacked by energy!"
"Don't panic, stay safe!"
The Naaru's telepathic message was received by everyone. People began to panic, and those on the ship did not even know what was happening.
Aiden's face became extremely ugly. He never knew that Kil'jaeden or Archimonde had such powerful spells—Archimonde's spell of creating a virtual model and then destroying the physical object was already beyond imagination, and the scene in front of him once again refreshed his understanding of these two great demons.
This was an unavoidable attack.
The vast fel energy quickly gathered, and an incredibly thick beam of light suddenly erupted from the vortex, the ghostly green energy directly projecting towards Tempest Keep.
This spell was obviously prepared to wipe them all out!
"Activate the defense system!"
"Holy Light Defense Shield: Maximum strength!"
"Charging!"
"Charging complete!"
"Prepare for strong impact!"
"Prepare for collision!"
The Naaru transmitted information to each other.
Tempest Keep was shrouded in a golden light curtain, forming a spherical shield.
Aiden had seen this scene in the Twisting Nether. Whether it was Kil'jaeden or Archimonde, they had to expend great effort to tear open the defense.
"Boom!"
The beam of light violently impacted the Holy Light Defense Shield, and the entire Tempest Keep began to tremble violently. Under the continuous impact of the fel energy beam, the light of the defense shield gradually dimmed. Aiden on the distant Exodar sub-ship saw this scene, and his heart was so tense that he almost dared not breathe.
Could the ship's defense system withstand the full blow from a great demon in the void?