Nightmare

Before going to Moonglade to rescue Malfurion, there was another, more important matter.

Before coming to Mount Hyjal, Aiden and Anna, based on their respective understandings, unanimously believed that the Nightmare Lord had become so powerful by absorbing the energy of the World Tree.

To prevent more people from falling into slumber, they had to stop the Nightmare Lord's actions.

After inspecting the World Tree, Nocturne confirmed this fact.

"The interior of this World Tree has already been contaminated by Nightmare Essence."

After regaining consciousness, Broll truly felt Nordrassil's painful wails, which resonated deeply with him.

The druids who had broken free from control were all filled with guilt.

Not long ago, under the leadership of Fandral Staghelm, they had completely stimulated the power of the Nightmare Essence, and they had personally pushed the night elves' fate to the brink of destruction.

"Then what can be done to save Nordrassil?" Tyrande asked the question that all night elves wanted to know.

Nocturne said, "Destroy this tree."

Tyrande's first reaction was to refuse.

The night elves could not live without the World Tree; their fates were already connected to Nordrassil.

If this tree, blessed by the three Aspect Dragons, were to be destroyed, it would mean that the night elves would lose their millennia of glory and eternal health and lifespan.

No one could bear such a loss.

Tyrande asked unwillingly, "Besides that, is there any other way to save Nordrassil?"

Nocturne's cold voice came, "This is currently the only feasible way.

If you don't do this, then after three days, this tree will also wither, and by then, the Nightmare Lord, having absorbed all its power, will be twice as strong."

Tyrande looked at Broll, the great druid: "Do you have any other way?"

Broll shook his head painfully.

"Perhaps the teacher will have a way."

The teacher he was referring to was, of course, the most powerful druid, Malfurion Stormrage.

But now he was still asleep in Moonglade.

After Tyrande withdrew from there, the mad Remulos might have already torn him to pieces.

More importantly, Malfurion might not even know how to remove the Nightmare Essence without destroying Nordrassil.

Everyone was waiting for Tyrande's decision.

She was in a dilemma for a moment.

Finally, Tyrande gritted her teeth and said, "We will first go to Moonglade and try to rescue Malfurion.

If we don't succeed within a day, then we will destroy Nordrassil!"

At this time, Maiev Shadowsong said coldly, "Tyrande, do you know what you are saying?

If you make such a decision, then you will be a sinner of the night elves!"

"Then do you have a better way?" Tyrande questioned, "If you do, suggest it now; if not, please execute my orders!"

Her question left Maiev speechless.

She had already paid a huge price to make the decision just now.

In the next day, she would likely face a series of fatal blows.

It was possible that she would only see Malfurion's shattered corpse when she went to Moonglade; it was possible that even if she woke her husband, he would not have a way to heal the World Tree; it was possible that after she ordered the destruction of the World Tree, she would immediately be deserted by everyone…

No one was under greater pressure than her.

But would the night elves, so favored by fate, really come to that point?

Maiev strongly rejected this outcome, but she really couldn't think of a solution.

Before her eyes, exhausted members of her race were successively falling asleep, never to wake up again.

The Nightmare Lord seemed to sense the crisis as well, and it was accelerating its pace of extracting energy from the World Tree.

—

Moonglade, as the name suggests, is a forest that is forever illuminated by moonlight.

This is the home of the Forest Lord Cenarius, and it has been blessed by Cenarius's mother, the moon goddess Elune.

Peaceful moonlight eternally shines here.

But when the Nightmare invaded, this land, blessed by a true god, also fell into madness.

Remulos, the "Keeper of the Grove" who was completely controlled by the nightmare, frantically killed his own sister, Avrilla, and attacked the druids and sentinels stationed here.

Before returning here, Tyrande had been worried that the mad Remulos would kill Malfurion, who was still sleeping.

Her worries were justified—in the dream, Malfurion had created a lot of trouble for the Nightmare Lord, Xavius.

Although killing Malfurion's body would not affect his continued struggle in the Emerald Dream, it would at least allow Xavius to vent his anger.

After eliminating the resisters in Moonglade, Remulos followed orders and led his equally mad subordinates to Stormrage Barrow Den, preparing to enter and kill Malfurion.

The resistance inside was very weak, and his power could easily tear apart the druids and priestesses of Elune who remained there.

But a barrier composed of moonlight blocked his path.

Just as he was about to charge this moonlight barrier, the pale moonlight vaguely formed a blurred figure.

Her form was indistinct, but it could still be judged from her pointed ears and glowing eyes that this was a night elf.

"Wake up, Remulos," the figure said softly.

Remulos stood in place in shock, still maintaining his attacking posture.

This voice… he found it very familiar.

Who was it?

"Awaken, Remulos," the figure continued, the gentle voice carrying a magic that calmed the mind.

"Moon God… Elune…" Remulos uttered a few words indistinctly.

His eyes instantly regained clarity—the figure in front of him was his grandmother, the great Moon Goddess Elune!

Then he became confused: "What am I doing here… What was I just about to do?"

A voice entered his ears: "You are preparing to kill the evil demon!"

Remulos looked up and saw that the shadow of Elune was no longer there; it was clearly Mannoroth, the "Destroyer" who had almost killed him in Felwood!

His eyes instantly turned blood red, and he glared at the other party in hatred: "Damn it! Evil demon!"

Remulos rushed towards Mannoroth, summoning a thorn spear and stabbing it fiercely at the other party.

Just opposite him, the image of Elune lowered her eyes, her expression becoming infinitely sad: "Remulos… my poor child…"

But in Remulos's ears, he heard: "Remulos, you are as weak and powerless as your father!"

The frantic Remulos desperately attacked the moonlight barrier, and the angry power of nature poured onto the barrier, creating bursts of ripples.

In Remulos's fantasy, he was fighting Mannoroth, attacking with all his might, while the other party easily dodged and kept looking at him with a mocking expression.

This made him even more angry, and his attacks became even more violent.

But how could the barrier set up by the true god Elune be easily broken?

All of Remulos's attacks were destined to be in vain.

When Aiden and Tyrande arrived here, what they saw was Remulos frantically attacking a moonlight barrier, shouting foolish mad words such as "Fight back, coward!", "You dare to despise me, I will make you pay the price!", "Feel the wrath of nature", "Die, Mannoroth".

However, a whole night of frantic attacks had already made him very tired.

The reason he hadn't fallen was because the hatred in his heart and the control of the Nightmare allowed him to persevere.

Aiden looked at the moonlight barrier, and a figure walked out of it, her eyes glowing with a faint light, gazing at him and saying softly, "Save Cenarius."

Then the light curtain and the figure disappeared together.

In Remulos's fantasy, Mannoroth was running away into the depths of the cave.

He was extremely tired, but also extremely excited, wanting to chase in and completely kill the great demon.

However, Broll Bearmantle transformed into a giant bear and pounced on him, easily knocking down the exhausted Keeper of the Grove who was only supported by his will.

Seeing this group of people break in, Remulos's subordinates immediately launched an attack, but the warriors who kept appearing from the airship easily stopped these lackeys.

Nocturne rushed up and dissolved the Nightmare that was entangling Remulos.

However, this Keeper of the Grove was really too tired, and this time he truly fell into a deep sleep.

His sisters, Mylune and Thaelin, came forward to take care of him.

But both sisters were very conflicted—Mylune had personally seen their brother kill their sister Avrilla.

Although he was controlled by the Nightmare, they could hardly forgive him easily.

The two sisters silently shed tears, and when they saw Remulos, they were even more saddened by the death of their sister, and they cried bitterly.

"Let's go, lead the way." Aiden sighed, then said to Tyrande.

Tyrande agreed, but the look she gave Aiden became very strange.

"What's wrong?" Aiden asked.

"Just now…" Tyrande hesitated, but still asked, "Just now, did Elune the Moon Goddess say anything to you?"

"Elune? Are you talking about the person who just came out of the Moonlight Barrier?" Aiden immediately remembered, "She is Elune?"

"Yes, she is the great Moon Goddess." Tyrande nodded affirmatively.

"She said 'Save Cenarius'." Aiden replied, but he immediately asked strangely, "But Elune is the most powerful being in Azeroth. If she took action, she could easily destroy the Nightmare Lord, or rescue Cenarius, right? Why doesn't she do it herself?"

Aiden really couldn't understand this point. If Elune cared about her children, and she had the ability to save them, why would she ask him to do it? If she didn't care, then why bother showing herself?

He could only think of one reasonable guess—was there some rule restricting her, preventing her from taking action personally?

Not only Aiden couldn't understand, but Tyrande couldn't understand even more. She was Elune's favored one, one of the few who had seen Elune reveal divine miracles and received her guidance and protection.

But just now, Elune's phantom told Tyrande: Provide assistance to Aiden.

This could definitely be considered a "divine decree." Tyrande didn't dare to question Elune, but she still didn't understand why the Moon Goddess would issue such an instruction.

Fortunately, because of the Moonlight Barrier's obstruction, Remulos was unable to complete the Nightmare Lord's mission. The Rageclaw Den wasn't empty—there were still a group of elite druids and Elune's priests inside. They were responsible for guarding the safety of the druids entering the dream, and because they didn't enter the dream, they weren't contaminated or controlled.

However, their numbers were still far from enough to contend with Remulos's crazed claws. If it weren't for Elune's help, Malfurion would probably have already been torn to pieces.

When Tyrande saw that Malfurion was still safe, her greatest worry finally disappeared. She couldn't help but cry with joy, and then said to Aiden: "Do it!"

Aiden nodded, then signaled to Nocturne.

Nocturne floated up, carefully observing Malfurion's condition.

"He hasn't been controlled."

This was good news.

"But he's trapped."

Tyrande quickly asked: "Then can you wake him up?"

"I can try, but I don't guarantee success." Nocturne replied.

He stretched out his arms, emitting his original power, trying to pull Malfurion's soul back from the dream.

But in distant Azshara, Xavius's main body immediately sensed that someone was trying to Release his restraint on a key target.

"In the dream, no one can challenge me!" He issued a crazy thought, and the tentacles hanging from the terrifying treant began to twist frantically, as if wanting to eat people.

In the dream, Malfurion also sensed that a force was trying to let him escape.

"Is it Tyrande's spell again?" Malfurion thought. The spell he told Tyrande was certainly useful, but this kind of spell only used to wake him up under normal circumstances was still a bit weak in the face of the Nightmare Lord's full entanglement. Even with Cenarius and Ysera's help, he couldn't escape from the dream.

Especially recently, the Nightmare Lord's power had become even more terrifying, and they had completely lost their ability to resist. Even many green dragons in the Green Dragonflight who guarded the dream had been corrupted by nightmares and turned into Nightmare Claws.

Malfurion believed that this was just a useless attempt, but soon, he found that the attraction from the outside world was getting stronger and stronger, greatly exceeding the power of the awakening spell Tyrande had used before.

"Someone is helping me!" Malfurion immediately realized that this was an opportunity.

His soul was like a rubber band, stretching and contracting. Cenarius immediately noticed this abnormality, and he immediately rushed over and shouted: "I'll help you escape!"

Green Dragon Queen Ysera also perked up. The serious damage to the Green Dragonflight recently had made her very depressed. Seeing that Malfurion was expected to get out, she immediately rushed over.

"I'll help you too!"

Another strong green dragon also rushed over. This was Ysera's mate, Green Dragon Warrior Eranikus, the mainstay against the nightmare.

"Hehehe…" A low, cold, strange laughter entered their consciousness. Cenarius's face immediately changed.

The pain during this period had made them never forget this voice, this was the voice of the Nightmare Lord Xavius!

"Quick, put in more effort!" Cenarius shouted. His divine power was poured into Malfurion's body, and so were the other green dragons. The power of the dream made Malfurion become illusory, as if he would disappear at any time.

They were close to success!

"After so many failures, do you still think you can contend with me?" Xavius's crazy voice went straight to the bottom of their hearts. Even though Malfurion was about to escape, he wasn't worried at all.

Because when he exerted his power, these people would be defeated in an instant!

Just as Ysera and the others were about to succeed, Xavius began to exert his strength, but as soon as he made a move, he unleashed terrifying power. Suddenly, black mist began to fill the Emerald Dream, and these black mists shielded the perception of the souls within, making them like the blind and the blind. A large number of terrifying screams and wails came from the black mist, as if countless wronged souls were roaring.

Cenarius only felt that his head was like being pricked by needles, extremely painful. The others were the same, Eranikus trembled, almost unable to hold on.

Originally, under the call of external force and the internal thrust, Malfurion felt that most of his soul had come into contact with the real world, but after Xavius showed his power, he felt as if his neck was being strangled, unable to escape at all.

The real world began to violently reject his return, and the huge suction that suddenly arose in the dream easily "dragged" him back.

This attempt failed.

"Since you dare to provoke me," Xavius let out a cold laugh, "then I must punish you!"

Countless black vines condensed in the black mist and spread towards the fallen Eranikus.

"No!" Ysera shouted in fear.

But the black vines still entangled Eranikus, and the Green Dragon Warrior wailed loudly, but was still dragged into the darkness by the domineering force.

Hearing her mate's terrifying and desperate roar in the depths of the darkness, Ysera only felt her heart break.

"I'll collect a little interest first, so you can understand who is the true master of the dream!" Xavius's voice gradually faded away, and everyone present was silent. Everyone only felt extremely bitter and confused in their hearts. How could they contend with Xavius?

—

"Failed."

Nocturne retracted his hand and said to Tyrande's expectant eyes words that disappointed her.

Aiden couldn't help but ask: "What's the specific situation?"

"I felt that it was almost successful. Someone in the dream is helping him. But in the end, a powerful nightmare cut off all contact, in a very short time." Nocturne's voice was indifferent, "This nightmare's power is too much stronger than mine. As long as he doesn't want to let go, I can't wake this person up."

But how could Xavius "bear" to let go? Tyrande was very clear about Xavius's hatred for Malfurion.

Back then, Malfurion destroyed Xavius's plan to summon Sargeras, and later turned him into a tree. This was an eternally unforgettable hatred. Xavius would never let go of Malfurion, no matter who else he let go of.

"In that case, we can only consider the second plan." Aiden said in a deep voice.

Tyrande knew what the second plan he was talking about was—the World Tree. Was it really going to be destroyed?