Burning Steppes. Dream Novel.
Centuries ago, Thaurissan, the King of Dark Iron, joined forces with the last two masters of the Dark Iron Clan to summon Ragnaros the Firelord.
A spell beyond Legendary rank opened a portal between Azeroth and the Fire Elemental Plane. A portion of Ragnaros the Firelord, came to this world from the Fire Elemental Plane. The surging energy of the Fire Elemental Plane raised the original Redridge Mountains by hundreds of meters, forming the Blackrock Mountain as we know them today.
Blocked by Azeroth's firewall, the passage was quickly shut down, but Ragnaros soon used his own power to break through the underground magma layer.
For hundreds of years, flowing lava and flames have surged from deep underground to the surface, flowing out from more than a dozen places in Blackrock Mountain and onto the ground.
The gushing volcanic ash dyed the earth crimson and dark brown. The intense flames and lava raised the temperature of the Searing Gorge and Burning Steppes on both sides of Blackrock Mountain by more than twenty degrees Celsius. Even now, the temperature is still more than ten degrees Celsius higher than other places.
Winter is alright.
In the summer, ordinary people simply cannot survive here, and even Dwarves find it unbearable.
Only Dark Iron Dwarves controlled by Ragnaros's curse, possessing greater fire resistance than other Dwarves, can remain unharmed.
It's March now, and the earth is starting to warm up. Stormwind City and Lordaeron are still quite chilly, with temperatures sometimes dropping to around 0 degrees Celsius in the early morning, but the Burning Steppes are different.
Even at night, the lowest temperature here exceeds 20 degrees Celsius.
At noon, with the sun high in the sky, the temperature here even exceeded 30 degrees Celsius.
This is still a remote area.
The closer you get to Blackrock Mountain, the higher the temperature.
By the time we reached the foot of Blackrock Mountain, the midday temperature had already reached over 40 degrees Celsius.
In this deadly heat, the warriors from Stormwind City, led by King Varian and Marshal Reginald, managed to defeat the Ogres, the Smolderthorn Trolls, the Blackrock Orcs, and the Black Dragonflight's patrol forces before reaching the Blackrock Mountain.
And a camp was built here:
Stormwind Camp.
Three days ago, they joined forces with the Blue Dragonflight forces that arrived here and defeated a large-scale night raid from Blackrock Spire, thus establishing a foothold here.
Three days have passed, and all the soldiers are anxiously waiting in the sweltering heat, wondering why His Majesty the King has been so slow to issue the order to attack.
Are we just going to waste our time here?
Clearly, the Blackrock Orcs can withstand temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius, but the warriors of Stormwind City cannot.
Perhaps in just a few days, without the Black Dragonflight even needing to attack, the soldiers will lose 30% of their strength due to heatstroke.
Many junior and mid-ranking officers volunteered for the mission several times, but their requests were rejected by Marshal Reginald.
This was a death order issued by King Varian:
No attack!
Blackrock Spire is easy to defend and difficult to attack. It's a mountain city built by hollowing out Blackrock Mountain, and in terms of height and size, it even surpasses Karazhan by several times...
Scouts report that at least seven adult black dragons are entrenched there, along with at least three Legendary dragon-man generals, more than one hundred young dragons of various colors, countless fledglings, and more than three thousand dragon-men.
In addition, there are over ten thousand Blackrock Orcs entrenched in Blackrock Spire, over twenty thousand Blackrock Orcs scattered throughout the Burning Steppes and Searing Gorge, as well as thousands of Smolderthorn Trolls, thousands of Firetree Troll, and thousands of Ogres.
If ten times their strength, surround them; if five times, attack them; if twice, fight them.
The Storm Warriors' forces and combat strength are no match for Blackrock Spire.
The warriors of Stormwind City alone could not possibly breach Blackrock Spire, and even with the addition of the elite troops of Ironforge, it would still be impossible.
King Varian and King Magni had another reason for insisting on starting this war, besides their hatred for the Black Dragonflight and the Dark Iron Dwarves.
That's the real reason.
"Grand Duke, when will you finally arrive?"
In the camp's council hall, King Varian wore a suit of armor as cold as iron.
His cloak bore the blue lion emblem of Stormwind City. He looked down at the map on the table, his gaze fixed on Blackrock Spire at its center. He slammed his fist on the table. "If he doesn't come soon, we'll have to launch a full-scale attack! This damned weather! The Bronzebeard Dwarves can hold out, but the warriors of Stormwind City can't!"
"Your Majesty, the Grand Duke is a trustworthy man. He must have a reason for asking us to wait. Two months ago, he told us to wait before sending troops, and we received Lady Halreen and General Kobatann, along with the Blue Dragon Force. Without them, we would have lost at least a thousand of our best soldiers in these past two months!"
Reginald, the most steadfast pillar of the Kingdom of Azeroth and the commander-in-chief of the Burning Steppes campaign, shook his head and said, "Wait a little longer, Your Majesty. Even if more reinforcements don't arrive, the arrival of the Grand Duke is enough! The Grand Duke alone is worth ten thousand elite troops!"
"The Grand Duke's value is far greater than ten thousand elite Legion! Without him, Lordaeron could not have survived the Scourge's attack, and I would not have returned alive. Without him, Stormwind City might already be under Onyxia's control, and the entire Kingdom of Azeroth might have become a plaything of the Black Dragonflight."
Varian's face was sharply defined, and his gaze was resolute.
This king, who has returned after slaying the dragon, is now the most powerful Warrior in the entire human world. Even if you were to search the entire planet Azeroth, he would still rank among the top five mortal Warrior.
He awakened his wolf spirit and initially merged with it. He and the divine sword Shalamayne were perfectly compatible. He alone was comparable to, or even stronger than, the Night Elf Legendary brothers from the Battle of Mount Hyjal.
His rich experiences and multiple near-death experiences have made him fearless of life and death, and have given him unprecedented courage from the depths of his heart.
The wolf spirit gave him a wildness and ferocity beyond what he had ever possessed before.
The two King Varian merged into one, with the benevolent and kind aspect completely suppressed by the fierce and wild aspect.
The Varian of today is an ambitious, courageous, and decisive Varian.
He is already a true king; he has the potential to become the supreme king of mankind.
Such a king cannot be influenced by anyone, not even Jiang Jie, whose prestige is much higher than his.
The only person in this world who could touch the softest part of his heart was his son, Anduin, not Jiang Jie.
So, upon hearing Marshal Reginald's words, Varian, though not displeased, still coldly replied, "I must be responsible for my soldiers! I cannot allow them to endure this scorching heat here! We are here to attack Blackrock Spire, not to waste our time here!"
"But we must wait, Your Majesty."
The king was furious, and even Mathias Shaw Shaw, the head of SI:7 and one of Varian's most trusted men, who was standing next to him, dared not say anything, but Reginald was different.
He was always someone who dared to say anything. In his eyes, Varian was the king he had to protect and obey, as well as the junior he had watched grow up.
He dared to speak, and had to speak, as long as he believed it was in the best interest of the king and the kingdom.
"The heat makes us irritable and gradually erodes our fighting spirit, but we must hold on, my king."
Reginald said, "News from Lordaeron: The Grand Duke has helped the Wildhammer Dwarves purify Grim Batol. I think he should arrive in a day at most! As long as he comes, even if half our soldiers fall, it will be worth it! The Court Mage Corps will open a portal to send the soldiers suffering from heatstroke back to Stormwind City, but the rest must wait here! It wasn't easy for us to get here!"
Varian took a deep breath, resigned.
Who can blame Stormwind City for not having someone of the Grand Duke's caliber?
Why is it that the vast Kingdom of Azeroth lacks someone capable of standing against the Black Dragon Prince Nefarian?
They could only wait.
Time passed second by second, the sun climbed higher and higher, and the temperature rose higher and higher.
The heat makes people irritable, restless, and confused.
Just then, a burst of magical light Blink, and a group of mages arrived.
" Jaina!"
Upon seeing the leading female mage, King Varian finally showed a look of joy.
He strode over, his gaze sweeping across the crowd. Seeing that Jaina had brought over a hundred mages, a look of delight spread across his face. "You brought the Theramore Mage Corps? Excellent! We waited for Nicholas, but you've arrived! Now that you're here, we don't need to wait any longer! Let's launch the all-out attack immediately!"
"No, we must wait! Varian, Nicholas went to Theramore and sent me to help you. We'll work together to create a large frost barrier, lowering the temperature of this camp by ten degrees and saving Stormwind City's warriors from heatstroke."
Jaina looked up at Blackrock Spire, her gaze seemingly piercing through the thick walls to see the man's image. "Give Nicholas some time! I think, in a week at most, we'll have a powerful ally!"
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