Water and Fire Are Incompatible

System Announcement: In October of the Sky Age 1375, the Alliance and the Horde launched a new war for control of the Burning Path. With the help of the Water Elemental Prince Azathoth and the persuasion of the fire elemental leader Baron Geddon, the Alliance soldiers, led by the Dalaran mage Esmehalda and the Stormwind City noble Count Salvich, ultimately defeated the Horde's vanguard and gained control of the region.

The system announcement announced the end of the battle. Esmehalda was quite excited. She and Xiao Yu had split the reputation and experience points equally, and she had initially felt she had lost out a bit. However, after what had just happened, she suddenly realized that, strictly speaking, she was the one who had actually benefited.

Not only that, but because she killed a Horde hero through a plot device, she also obtained a plot weapon.

The Tauren Chieftain's Battle Axe: This is the battle axe used by the Tauren Chieftain Mosak during his lifetime. It is inscribed with the words "Earth Mother protects you."

Because it's an original weapon, it's an epic item. This kind of story-driven equipment can be sold to adventurers, and players with the hero template can also equip it. So, it's worth at least a few hundred points on the auction house, and if someone is willing to spend money, it could even be worth several thousand points.

However, she immediately remembered what Azathoth had said before: Azathoth had done what he was supposed to do, so now it was her turn to do what she was supposed to do.

Azathoth (Water Elemental Prince): "Well done. I suggest you participate in more battles like this in the future. You can summon me anytime if necessary. Now, it's time for me to leave."

"Wait a moment," Esmehalda said, "There's something else I need to do. Perhaps you should stay and take a look."

After she finished speaking, she walked directly onto a high platform of a camp, an action that immediately attracted the attention of the surrounding adventurers.

Esmehalda (Mystic of Dalaran): "Warriors of the Alliance, you have once again proven your courage and strength. However, never let your guard down, for countless formidable enemies lurk in the shadows, ready to challenge us at any moment. To prepare for future crises, I will establish an army, an organization dedicated to protecting the Alliance. This organization will be called the Storm Guard Army. As its founder, I warmly welcome any member to join us and fight alongside me for the Alliance's future."

So it turns out they're trying to start a faction. But this is indeed a good opportunity. These Alliance players have just won against the Horde, gained merit points, and tasted the sweetness of victory. Moreover, Esmehalda can summon such a powerful elemental creature, so her strength is undeniable.

Most importantly, she's a girl, beautiful, and capable, which makes things much easier for her.

Sure enough, her call to action had an extraordinary effect. Adventurers who had just finished fighting and whose blood was still boiling all eagerly signed up. She had even set up a guild, which was obviously premeditated. In the blink of an eye, Esmehalda had recruited more than a hundred people.

Although these adventurers were only around level 20 or 30 on average, with only a dozen or so above level 40, they were still a formidable army.

Xiao Yu thought to himself, "Heh, this little girl knows how to leverage her connections. She probably left me here to keep things under control."

In the past, in those old-school games, the strength of an individual player often served as a benchmark for the strength of a guild. It was very common to use the personal charisma of a powerful player to attract new members. However, in this game, even the most powerful adventurer player obviously cannot compare to a hero player. And as the number of hero players increases, the phenomenon of a single call to arms attracting a large following actually occurs more frequently.

This is probably why so many people spend money to become heroes. Compared to the BOSS template, although it doesn't have the thrill of taking on a hundred enemies, it has a different kind of fun.

Esmehalda's speech was not yet over. After recruiting enough guild members, she suddenly pointed to the fire elementals.

Esmehalda (Dalaran Mystic): "Now, let's complete our first challenge since the founding of our guild. See those fire elementals? They are evil beings from the Fire Elemental Plane, invaders intending to destroy the world. For various reasons, we have had to temporarily side with them, but now, it's time to settle accounts with their past sins. In my capacity as the commander of the Alliance vanguard and the guild master of the Storm Guardians, I have decided that all participants can keep their loot, and the number of enemies killed will be counted towards the merit points for this campaign."

"Holy crap!" Xiao Yu was stunned. He hadn't expected this little girl to learn so quickly, applying what she learned on the spot. She turned on him in an instant, and even used a "using one tiger to devour another" tactic. The so-called spoils of war were just a reminder to the players that killing this guy would yield equipment. Coupled with the lure of merit points, these players had no choice but to fight desperately.

Discovering that his contractor was so cooperative, Xiao Yu was quite pleased. It seemed that he had successfully guided an Alliance hero one step further down the path of darkness.

Sure enough, upon hearing Esmehalda's order, the adventurers, who hadn't had their fill of killing, were instantly energized, quickly regrouped, and swarmed towards the fire elementals.

There were only a few dozen fire elementals in total, and some of them had already died in the previous battle with the Horde. Now they were being completely surrounded and killed one by one.

Only Baron Geddon, relying on his high HP, managed to hold on.

Baron Geddon (High-ranking Fire Elemental): "Damn you, despicable human, you have broken your promise!"

Baron Geddon roared, unleashing rings of flames from his body, each wave dealing hundreds of points of area damage. However, this was no problem for the endless stream of adventurers.

Esmehalda (Dalaran Mystic): "Don't tarnish my honor. I did promise not to attack you and your fire elemental minions, but I never said others wouldn't attack you. I'm only responsible for my own actions. And right now, I haven't attacked you at all. Look—not a single spell has been cast."

(What she said makes so much sense, I'm speechless!)

Baron Geddon's intelligence was indeed limited; after struggling for a long time, he still couldn't find any grammatical errors in Esmehalda's writing.

Baron Geddon (High-ranking Fire Elemental): "Damn it! Die, human!" With that, he charged towards Esmehalda, his body wreathed in flames, like a demon god.

However, only minor villains can deliver such lines successfully, and sure enough, a huge figure suddenly blocked its way.

Baron Geddon (High-Ranking Fire Elemental): "Let the flames devour everything!" Super Fire Nova!

Azathoth (Water Elemental Prince): "Witness the Power of Pure Water! Super Frost Nova!"

The two forces, hot and cold, spread out towards each other simultaneously, then collided and canceled each other out.

Baron Geddon (High-ranking Fire Elemental): "Water Elemental, you will pay the price for your actions."

Azathoth (Water Elemental Prince): "Hmph, go say such things to Ragnaros, Frostfire Bolt!"

Strictly speaking, Baron Geddon's strength is far superior to Xiao Yu's. Both are mid-level BOSS templates. The problem is that Baron Geddon is level 45, while Xiao Yu is only level 15. That attribute difference is not ordinary.

However, Xiao Yu has two major advantages. The first advantage is that he can deal 200% damage to Baron Geddon, while he only receives normal fire damage, which is equivalent to having twice the damage bonus compared to his opponent.

But that's not the most important thing. The most important thing is that he's on the side of the adventurers.

If there is any creature in this world that is the most terrifying, it is not the Old Gods, not the ancient dragons, and certainly not the fire demon lords, but the adventurers.

As long as equipment drops and rewards are given, even a god would be killed in front of you. Xiao Yu only needs to hold Baron Geddon's aggro and let the adventurers deal as much damage as they can.

Under the onslaught of hundreds of adventurers, Baron Geddon barely held out for five minutes before finally exploding with a deafening roar.

System notification: You have completed the story event "Water and Fire Are Incompatible" and killed the high-ranking fire elemental, Baron Geddon. Based on your performance in this event, you have gained 179 reputation points.

System notification: You have started the story quest "The Road of Vengeance". Kill Ragnaros and his minions to avenge your father. The quest is currently 5% complete.

Faction Announcement: In the year 1374 of the Azure Age, the Water Elemental Prince Azathoth killed Baron Geddon on the Burning Path, marking the first step in his revenge against Ragnaros.