Chapter 608: Movement and Truth

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

While Roy led Julia and the others to search for the corpses of the blue dragonflight, preparing to mass-produce dragon liches, on another side, Archimonde was marching toward the continent of Kalimdor.

After destroying Dalaran and plundering a large number of treasures in this mage city, Archimonde had led the Burning Legion and the Scourge to wreak havoc in the Eastern Kingdoms for a few days. But he quickly lost interest because the resistance they encountered was too weak.

Thanks to Medivh’s warning, when the Scourge began to wreak havoc, a portion of the kingdoms had moved toward Kalimdor. And then the huge commotion when Archimonde descended accelerated their movement. By the time Archimonde came to find them, the main military forces and aristocrats of these kingdoms had already crossed the sea, leaving only some civilians who couldn’t escape and were hiding in panic all day long. Various major cities were already empty, which was why Archimonde didn’t encounter much resistance.

After losing interest in the Eastern Kingdoms, Archimonde naturally set his sights on Kalimdor. Moreover, according to the intelligence reported by the dreadlords, there was the World Tree Nordrassil in Kalimdor. This World Tree had been absorbing the energy of the second Well of Eternity and possessed powerful strength. And Nordrassil was healing the wounds of Azeroth.

Thus, Archimonde led the Burning Legion and the Scourge to march toward Kalimdor, and his target was the World Tree Nordrassil.

There were a large number of demons in the Burning Legion that couldn’t fly, and it was the same for the undead of the Scourge. Therefore, they naturally needed to build ships to go to Kalimdor. With the tireless undead as craftsmen, Archimonde’s army quickly formed a fleet that could carry all the troops. But Archimonde was already impatient from waiting. He made Tichondrius the commander and got him to command the troops to sail to Kalimdor while he first entered the Great Sea alone.

Just as the Burning Legion and the Scourge finished building their ships and set sail imposingly from the port, they didn’t know that on a high mountain ridge in the distance, Medivh sighed in relief when he saw this scene.

Everything was as he had expected. With only the strength of humans and orcs, it was impossible to resist the Burning Legion and Archimonde. This was why Medivh had encouraged Jaina, Thrall, and the others to go to Kalimdor. He believed that after they reached the territory of the night elves, under the pressure of the Burning Legion, all the races would definitely be able to put aside their conflicts and unite to resist the Burning Legion.

Moreover, when crossing the sea and chasing to Kalimdor, the Burning Legion and the Scourge would suffer immense losses. The violent and unpredictable weather of the Great Sea was the nightmare of all voyagers. The Burning Legion and the Scourge might be unstoppable on land, but it was different at sea. It would already be pretty good for them if they could reach Kalimdor safely and retain about half of their troops.

In addition, Medivh expected that when Archimonde crossed the Great Sea, he would alarm the nagas living in the Maelstrom. These former Highborne had already turned into ugly monsters out of hatred and anger. He believed that Queen Azshara would give Archimonde a surprise when she saw this ‘old acquaintance’…

I’ve done everything I can. The rest is up to you… Medivh sighed. He raised his hood with his staff and looked into the distance worriedly. It was toward the north, to the continent of Northrend.

Medivh’s ability allowed him to see many scenes of the future, but the only thing he hadn’t seen was the scene of the King of Despair, Osiris, descending. When he sensed the powerful fluctuations of power erupting from the Sunwell of Quel’Thalas, it was already too late.

Fortunately, after Osiris arrived, he didn’t choose to meet up with Archimonde and act together. Otherwise, Medivh couldn’t imagine how the humans, elves, dwarfs, orcs, and other races of Kalimdor would deal with two commanders of the Burning Legion…

Medivh didn’t know why Osiris didn’t meet Archimonde, but according to historical records, he speculated that this might involve a power struggle between the leaders of the Burning Legion. After all, it was said that Archimonde and Kil’jaeden were of the same race, but Osiris was not. Just like how the various races in the Alliance would conspire against each other, Medivh assumed that it would certainly be the same among demons.

But even so, Medivh didn’t dare to let his guard down. He had been thinking of ways to investigate Osiris’s movements, wanting to understand what Osiris wanted to do…

In Quel’Thalas, the prince of the high elves, Kael’thas, was worried about the wreckage of the Sunwell.

Yes, the high elves had returned to Silvermoon City and the Isle of Quel’Danas. After all, this was their homeland. Although they had to abandon their homes and escape twice because of powerful enemies, they still found a way to return after the enemies left.

After returning, Kael’thas immediately checked the situation of the Sunwell. After being used to receive Roy’s descent, the contamination of the Sunwell became more and more severe. The Chaos power and Void power emanating from Roy at the time had caused the water in the Sunwell to be in a constant state of rioting. After the high elven mages studied the state of the Sunwell, they reported to Kael’thas while trembling in fear that the Sunwell might explode at any time!

For example, Quel’Thalas was now accompanying an activated Big Ivan. If they were not careful, the Sunwell would blast all of Quel’Danas, all of Silvermoon, and even all of Quel’Thalas into the sky like a nuclear explosion! No living being within a thousand kilometers would remain…

No one dared to guarantee that they could repair the Sunwell, so in the end, after discussing with the high-level mages, Kael’thas decided to detonate the Sunwell in advance and let the violent energy brewing inside the well vent first. This way, the Sunwell would be gone, but Quel’Thalas could be saved.

The plan was carried out smoothly. Under the concerted efforts of the high elven mages, they skillfully controlled the energy erupting from the Sunwell and led it into the sky without harming Quel’Thalas.

After detonating the Sunwell, the high elves were safe. Kael’thas also used the fact that the Sunwell was detonated to successfully arouse the hatred of the remaining high elves toward the undead and demons. He announced that he would change the name of the high elves to blood elves, hoping that his people would remember the humiliation of the Sunwell’s destruction and follow him to take vengeance on the Scourge and the Burning Legion and restore the glory of the high elves.

When Kael’thas gave his speech, the scene was impassioned… But unfortunately, just as he was ambitiously leading the blood elves to rebuild their homeland, a new problem appeared.

The blood elves had developed magic addiction… To be precise, it was magic power withdrawal!

For a long time, the high elves had been absorbing the magic power of the Sunwell to train themselves and cast spells. They had long been accustomed to the carefree feeling of incomparably pure magic power entering their bodies. The joy of controlling the energy of heaven and earth would make their brains secrete dopamine crazily, bringing them unparalleled enjoyment. But now that the Sunwell had been detonated, they could no longer do this. It was fine at first, but as time passed, more and more blood elves began to show withdrawal symptoms, and the symptoms were very serious.

Kael’thas also had these symptoms, but he relied on his willpower to endure. But just as he thought that his magic addiction would gradually lessen over time, the results of the mages’ research told him that this was impossible!

Magic addiction was like a curse, and its source was actually the Well of Eternity. As long as any elf had approached the Well of Eternity, they would more or less suffer from this symptom. After the Well of Eternity exploded, the night elves relied on learning the doctrines of druids and becoming close to natural energy to get rid of this magic addiction. But the high elves could not avoid it because they had been staying beside the Sunwell. In other words, only if the blood elves enshrined the druid doctrines like the night elves would they possibly gradually change their magic addiction.

But was this possible? Of course not! The high elves had been expelled by the night elves. How could they put down their pride and learn from the night elves?

This was what Kael’thas was worried about now. He had to find a way to cure the magic addiction or… find a magic power source to replace the Sunwell?

It may be difficult just relying on the blood elves alone. We need help! Kael’thas finally made up his mind and said to his people, “Perhaps we have to reconsider the ancient alliance!”

The blood elves looked at each other. Of course, they knew what Kael’thas was talking about. It was the alliance between the high elves and humans. At the time, the high elves had helped the humans train mages while the humans had helped them clean up the trolls. Both sides had a happy cooperation, but in the end, the high elves withdrew from the alliance.

Now, Prince Kael’thas actually wanted to bring them to form an alliance with the humans again. Many blood elves felt very strange and embarrassed.

But Kael’thas knew that they had to do this. They needed the help of the Alliance.

Although the neighboring country of Lordaeron had perished, there were still remnant resistance forces. It was an army led by a commander named Othmar Garithos. He was now the grand marshal of the Alliance’s remaining troops in the Eastern Kingdoms. To a certain extent, Garithos was the representative of the Alliance. During the period when the Burning Legion and the Scourge began to march toward Kalimdor, the Alliance saw the possibility of recovering lost ground. Garithos made up his mind and led his troops to march toward the ruins of Dalaran.

If I bring the blood elves to join the Alliance at this time, I can only find Marshal Garithos… Kael’thas thought.

But what Kael’thas didn’t know was that his decision would be another tremendous tragedy for the blood elves…

After Roy left them, the death knight Arthas and the lich Kel’Thuzad finally boarded a ship to Kalimdor.

But this decision was not an order from Archimonde but from the Lich King Ner’zhul.

It seemed that after knowing the attitude of the King of Despair from Arthas, Ner’zhul became much bolder. Of course, he knew that Osiris could tell that he wanted to rebel, but Osiris didn’t appear to stop and obstruct him. On the contrary, Osiris even undid Frostmourne’s restrictions and allowed Arthas to obtain greater power. What did this mean?

This meant that the King of Despair was indulging and supporting them!

Ner’zhul was someone who knew about the Burning Legion well. Almost as soon as he received the news, he imagined many plots. Like Medivh, he actually thought that this was the result of a power struggle between Osiris and Archimonde.

In other words, Osiris was using the Scourge to trip up Archimonde!

In that case, Ner’zhul no longer hesitated. He told Arthas to go to the continent of Kalimdor and think of a way to make the Burning Legion’s invasion fail. As long as the Burning Legion failed this time, even if they came to the world of Azeroth again, it would take a long time. Taking advantage of this time, he might be able to find an opportunity to escape from Kil’jaeden’s control.

Ner’zhul had even thought of a final escape route. If he really had no hope of escaping, he would turn to the King of Despair. Ner’zhul knew about Osiris’s power to control liches. He was a lich now, so it was logical for him to submit to Osiris. Perhaps he could induce internal strife among the three commanders of the Burning Legion…

Ner’zhul was used to using tricks, so it was reasonable for him to think about these things. Of course, unless absolutely necessary, he still hoped to obtain freedom.

Over at Wyrmrest Temple, the Dragonqueen Alexstrasza entered the Emerald Dream and told Ysera about Osiris’s descent and Malygos’s fall. After getting Ysera to inform the night elves to be vigilant, it wasn’t long before she finally managed to contact the Nozdormu through the bronze dragon Chromie.

On a night with a dazzling starry sky, Alexstrasza saw Nozdormu quietly appear on the terrace at the top of the temple.

Both of them were in human form. Alexstrasza’s fiery red armor covered her impressive figure tightly, and there were beautiful decorations tied to the dragon horns on her head. Nozdormu had the appearance of a middle-aged elf. His hair was tied back, and he had a beard on his chin. There was also a strange bronze shoulder guard on his right shoulder.

“Old friend!” Alexstrasza’s expression relaxed considerably as soon as she saw Nozdormu, but then she complained, “Why didn’t you warn us about the King of Despair, Osiris? What have you been doing since you disappeared?”

What Alexstrasza didn’t expect was that Nozdormu revealed a bitter smile. “Sorry, it’s because I can’t even protect myself!”

“Huh? What happened?” Alexstrasza asked in surprise.

“The infinite dragons have appeared!” Nozdormu said. “The worries I mentioned to you are becoming reality…”

“In other words, Murozond will really appear?” Alexstrasza asked in surprise. “In the future, will you really fall?!”

“Yes…” Nozdormu nodded. “He’s appeared…”

When the titans Aman’Thul bestowed his power on Nozdormu, through the power of time, Nozdormu had already seen the scene of his own death. It was the scene of him killing himself!

From this moment on, Nozdormu knew that in a certain timeline in the future, he would become a time disruptor because he had fallen from being the Guardian of Time. He would become Murozond, and the bronze dragonflight would become the infinite dragonflight.

This was the end of time that Nozdormu could see, so he had always been worried. He told Alexstrasza and Ysera about this and did his best to avoid this future from happening.

“I have always known that this is the curse of time, the backlash of time. When the great Aman’Thul empowered me, he once warned me that the more I interfered with time, the greater the backlash…” Nozdormu sighed. “But I had no choice. In order to protect Azeroth and keep it moving toward the right and bright future, I had to use the power bestowed to me by the titan again and again, causing me to fall deeper and deeper…”

Alexstrasza placed her hand on Nozdormu’s shoulder and said worriedly, “I see. Old friend, I was wrong about you. It seems that you didn’t warn us because of the interference of the infinite dragons, right?”

But to Alexstrasza’s surprise, Nozdormu shook his head. “On the contrary, Alexstrasza, I have been interfering with the infinite dragons!”

“What do you mean?” Alexstrasza was stunned. She didn’t understand.

“Regarding the timeline of Osiris appearing, it’s the infinite dragons who have always wanted to correct it!” Nozdormu smiled mysteriously. “And I’m stopping them!”

Alexstrasza’s mouth fell open, and she didn’t recover from her surprise for a long time. Finally, she returned to her senses and exclaimed, “You… you’re saying that the appearance of Osiris is the correct timeline?! How is that possible?”

“No!” Nozdormu said. “The appearance of Osiris isn’t the true correct timeline. Or rather, there has never been a timeline that can be called correct. As the Guardian of Time, I only lead the world of Azeroth toward a brighter future. As long as the future can bloom with light, it’s the correct timeline!”

Alexstrasza held Nozdormu’s shoulder excitedly and said loudly, “So, you saw a certain future scene, and you saw that because of the appearance of Osiris, Azeroth was heading for a better future, right?!”

“No!” Nozdormu denied again. “I can’t see any future scenes of him. The observer effect failed on him. I don’t know why. Just like how I didn’t see the scene of Neltharion’s fall, the timelines related to him seem to have been artificially covered!”

“Then, why do you think… the appearance of Osiris is a better timeline?” Alexstrasza couldn’t hold it in anymore after her successive conjectures were denied.

“Because…” Nozdormu raised his head and looked at the stars in the night sky. “Because I saw my death. I didn’t die in my own hands but in Osiris’s hands… The moment I die, Murozond will disappear totally! This is the real reason why Murozond wants to do his best to change the timeline where Osiris appears, and I’m stopping him!”