The long and brutal war had begun, and the Kalimdor Continent was ablaze.
Feudal lords from every region answered Lord Ravencrest's call, forming an immensely vast elven Rebel Alliance. It carried something of the air of eighteen warlords joining forces to punish Dong Zhuo, except Ravencrest was no Yuan Shao, nor was he anywhere near as incompetent.
In response to the lords' open rebellion, the great Queen Azshara, the Light of Lights, flew into a furious rage. She immediately sent court envoys to denounce every lord, declaring them traitors to the elves. If they persisted in resisting, they would face the harshest judgment and punishment.
But by this point, the leaders of the Rebel Alliance no longer had much respect or loyalty left for Queen Azshara.
The demon army from the Capital Eldorei was slaughtering every living creature it encountered. The territories of every lord had also suffered attacks to varying degrees, and countless elven civilians had died beneath the demons' Fel Flame blades. The lords ground their teeth in hatred.
The Queen had gone mad. She had thrown in her lot with the demons of the Burning Legion. For what? For that so-called eternal rule? For the supposed position of a god's wife?
If the Queen no longer cherished her people, then she no longer deserved their loyalty.
The Val'sharah region, where Black Rook Hold stood, had always been the fiercest front line. The demonic assaults here far exceeded those in other regions.
And the commander in charge of this war zone was the Burning Legion's foremost commander in the World of Azeroth: Haka the Canine God.
This Demon Lord had mastered the essence of human-wave tactics. Every assault brought countless Felhounds and massive numbers of Demon Guards, sweeping over the enemy ahead like a dark green tsunami.
In response, Krasus and Rhonin, who had rushed back to Black Rook Hold, launched a special raid.
The main force of the elven Rebel Army drew enemy fire from the front, fighting the demon army in a bloody clash, while the strike team launched a decapitation operation from the air.
The reason Lord Ravencrest commanded everyone's trust was not merely because his forces were the strongest overall. More importantly, he always led from the front in every battle, with his mobile command platform forever positioned on the front line.
This elven general, clad in enchanted heavy armor, swung his longsword and hacked down small groups of demon soldiers that broke through the defenses. He had none of the manner of a pampered noble.
His captain of the guard, Jarod Shadowsong, found this deeply troubling and led the personal guards in anxiously protecting the lord at all times.
Jarod was an outstanding warrior, but only that, because his sister Maiev Shadowsong was the pride of the Shadowsong family.
At a young age, she had been specially selected by the Temple of the Moon and was being groomed into a new generation of elite Priestesses of the Moon.
Maiev and her sisters were trained toward becoming combat-oriented Moon Sentinels. Strictly speaking, they did not follow the same path as Tyrande's Priestesses of the Moon.
However, Jarod's excellent ability to adapt in battle and his decent command skills had earned Lord Ravencrest's high regard. Ravencrest kept him at his side, intending to train him into a commander capable of standing on his own.
The battle on the front lines raged fiercely. After stabilizing their formation, the elven army began a slow counterattack.
If the demons of the Burning Legion were only this capable, then they were not so formidable after all.
Watching the Demon Guards and Felhound army shift from offense to defense, the elves began to think this way.
"Attack! Fight our way to Eldorei! Send these damned demons back to their hellish home!"
As the main army surged forward triumphantly, the strike team's progress was also fairly smooth.
A huge red Dragon exhaled scorching dragonfire, clearing every demon from the landing site. It then crashed down and transformed into human form.
"Haka, you will die today!"
The moment Krasus finished speaking, an instant Pyroblast hurtled past him. It had been cast by Rhonin.
Rhonin's career in Dalaran had never gone smoothly. This Archmage, whose temper and personality were somewhat impatient, had caused multiple spells and experiments to spiral out of control. Several had even resulted in casualties. Thus, when Krasus took him away, the entire city of Dalaran practically celebrated with drums and firecrackers.
Having received Titan's blessing, Rhonin was utterly exhilarated. He wished he could turn himself into a rapid-fire Pyroblast machine gun and burn every one of these damned Burning Legion demons to ash.
Haka roared and swung the flaming whip in his hand, shattering Rhonin's Pyroblast head-on before letting out a low, sinister laugh.
"Foolish insects, the Legion will surely burn this wor... Awooo!"
Before he could finish, Haka's enormous body was sent flying backward, carving a long trail across the ground behind him.
"Demon, feel the power of the Horde! Lok tar!"
The orc warrior Brox was even more hot-tempered. He had no intention of tarnishing the Saurfang name.
In the future, his brother Varok Saurfang would earn supreme glory in the Warchief's army, attaining the rank of High Warlord and being affectionately called King Saurfang by the soldiers.
The orc warrior brandished the two unusual battle axes in his hands and charged forward, then began savagely hacking at Haka's Fel rune armor over his chest.
"Rhonin, clear out the Felhound pack coming to reinforce him. I'll help the Orc!"
With that, Krasus blinked forward and joined the close-quarters battle between the Orc and the Demon Lord.
Rhonin curled his lip, raised his staff, and began channeling a thick stream of blazing fire. Like a flamethrower, it swept over the Felhounds rushing over to aid their master.
Krasus had already begun unleashing a continuous barrage of Arcane Barrage at Haka the Canine God. Under his precise control, the attacks came from viciously tricky angles, striking only the unarmored parts of the Demon Lord's body.
The battle ultimately ended in victory. Under the combined assault of the three, Haka the Canine God became the first high-ranking lord of the Burning Legion to fall in battle.
His grotesque head was cut off and brought back to the elven Rebel Army, greatly boosting their morale.
Lord Ravencrest was extremely pleased. He immediately decided to press the advantage and advance swiftly toward Eldorei, ending this damned war.
And that was exactly what they did. The allied army advanced in triumph until they entered the directly governed territory of Eldorei.
Then they encountered an even more terrifying enemy: Mannoroth the Destructor.
This gigantic Pit Lord had only just crossed through the portal when he led his terrifying army into the war.
The Pit Lords under his command were like high-speed charging steamrollers. Every assault could wipe out all enemies in an entire straight line.
These enormous demons moved on four legs, with bodies resembling centaurs. They wielded double-headed spears, or severed their own hands and replaced them with two incomparably sharp Fel Glaives.
Fel Flame burned across their backs, stretching all the way to their barbed tails.
The sky was burning. Vast numbers of dark green flaming meteors fell from above, smashing circular craters into the elven formations. Then constructs made of boulders and engulfed in Fel Flame crawled out. They were Infernals.
There were also the vast numbers of Wrathguards. These elite Legion soldiers had four arms and swung four longswords in rapid succession, sending waves of wide-ranging Fel strikes sweeping out.
In the air, Doom Guards slaughtered the elves' Hippogryph riders while covering the Felbats as they dove into the elven formations and dropped the Fel explosive barrels they carried, bombarding the elven soldiers below.
The elven Resistance Army collapsed. They suffered devastating casualties and retreated once more to Black Rook Hold, the point from which they had begun their offensive.
Only now did they understand what kind of terrifying enemy they faced. The first demon vanguard they had defeated had merely been a casual move by the Legion. The Legion had not been serious at all.
The battle fell into a stalemate once again, and a stalemate meant defeat.
At the Capital Eldorei, the enormous demon army continued pouring into the World of Azeroth without end.
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