Chapter 345 |
When Josh contacted Abbendis, he was in the Barrens of Kalimdor, leading his army to eliminate the remaining centaurs and wild boars in the area.
Among his troops, the vanguard consisted mainly of numerous Tauren and Yaungol warriors.
It can be said that through years of effort, aside from the Highmountain Tauren of the Broken Isles—who feared the existence of the Tomb of Sargeras and were still searching in vain for the Herdhoof Yaungol tribe on Pandaria—almost all Tauren tribes found in Azeroth had been brought under Abbendis’ control.
By granting them sufficient respect, substantial food supplies, and assistance in resisting external threats, these essentially docile strongmen were soon captivated by Abbendis’ “personal charisma.”
Riding on towering Kodo beasts and watching the fully armored Tauren heavy cavalry easily scatter an army of tens of thousands of centaurs, Abbendis’ face displayed a very satisfied smile.
Though Tauren were outnumbered by centaurs and wild boars in Kalimdor, anyone with some understanding of these races knew which allies to choose: dependable Tauren versus barbaric centaurs and filthy wild boars.
And though Tauren were fewer in number, their quality was high!
The reason they had long been suppressed by centaurs and wild boars wasn’t just those races’ greater numbers but also cultural ruptures during the Mogu Empire’s rule over Tauren—especially their extremely poor metallurgy, making it hard for many Tauren warriors to even obtain decent metal weapons.
Under such conditions, no matter how strong their physical power, their advantages were naturally limited.
As Josh’s trading partner, Abbendis could easily obtain from Josh large amounts of modern alloy armor and weapons that were lighter than Azeroth’s conventional metal equipment.
Thus, each Tauren warrior and their Kodo mounts were now clad in heavy armor, wielding spears, maces, and other heavy weapons.
Once such cavalry charged, tens of thousands of centaurs—or even ten times that number—could not hold them.
As for the claim that centaurs are naturally skilled mounted archers, it was even less worth considering.
The centaurs’ metallurgy was so backward that their arrows could not even penetrate the defenses of Tauren heavy cavalry.
Regarding speed…yes, centaurs were faster than Tauren heavy cavalry, but could they outrun dragon riders in the sky?
Even Josh had plenty of ancient dragons to trade with Quaritch; how could Abbendis, the local ruler, not have them?
His Drakkari tribe’s Vrykul ancient dragon riders had long numbered over ten thousand, easily making them Azeroth’s premier air force aside from the chromatic dragons.
In the original timeline, the Drakkari tribe never had such strength.
It wasn’t that they couldn’t train so many; the Vrykul’s productivity simply couldn’t support so many ancient dragons.
After all, an adult ancient dragon’s appetite was terrifying—it needed at least one cow per day.
But Abbendis could fully afford them and didn’t even need to buy them. With Josh’s support, Abbendis had established numerous modern farms and ranches throughout Kalimdor, obtaining the finest meat and grain breeds from multiple dimensions via Josh.
Not only was there more than enough to feed his soldiers every day, but there was also surplus to export to the Seven Kingdoms, earning massive wealth.
These ancient dragon riders, like the Tauren cavalry, wore full heavy armor.
This armor did not significantly reduce the dragons’ flight speed, as their physical strength was too great.
Besides the Vrykul’s heavy ancient dragon air cavalry, numerous lightweight air cavalry composed of humans riding wyverns were dispersed around them.
With combined land and air forces, not only were the centaurs utterly overwhelmed, but even various beasts across the Barrens fled wildly.
“Josh, why contact me now?” Sensing Josh’s communication request, Abbendis signaled his deputy to set up camp and answered the call.
“Something has happened, so I want to accelerate our progress!” Facing the child he had watched grow up, Josh disclosed everything without reservation.
“...No way? Suddenly going all out like this?” After hearing Josh’s description and understanding his intention to strike at Azeroth’s star soul and even the Titans, Abbendis swallowed hard.
Abbendis was not particularly concerned about Azeroth’s star soul essence being drained, potentially causing some decline.
From a ruler’s perspective, the star soul’s existence in Azeroth was not necessarily good.
Compared with Pandora Josh had seen, Azeroth was simply too powerful.
So powerful that even the blood from a single wound could create a flourishing magical civilization—undoubtedly referring to the Well of Eternity and the magnificent High Elf Empire.
Moreover, many in the Warcraft universe were unaware that the Titans’ maturation—like the manifestation of the gods—could bring cataclysmic disaster to the planet’s life.
Knowing this, Abbendis felt no strong attachment to Azeroth’s so-called star soul and did not want it to mature and become a Titan pressing down on him.
Unlike Josh, favored by Tiamat, Abbendis had received no greater grace from Azeroth besides being born there; humans were not the planet’s favored race.
Azeroth did not show the self-sacrificing spirit for its life forms that Tiamat displayed.
“Times have changed...Don’t you want to become a true god and establish your own divine court?” Josh smiled slightly and said, “If we succeed, even devouring all the essence of Sargeras is possible. Then, the power of this fallen Titan will be yours!”
If they could absorb Azeroth’s mighty star soul and other Titan essences, then giving one or two Titan seeds to Abbendis wouldn’t be an issue, and Arishem wouldn’t object.
“The power of Sargeras...Can I really have it?” Hearing Josh’s words, Abbendis found it hard to believe.
Josh had long filled him with tales of the fallen Titan’s great achievements as the Pantheon’s strongest Titan, creating an impression that this fallen Titan was unbeatable by mortal means.
But now Josh said he could have Sargeras’ power too—it was almost unbelievable.
Yet, while incredulous, deep inside, Abbendis began to feel excitement.
Yes, as Josh said, if he could become a true god and establish his own divine court...then what were the Seven Kingdoms to him!
“Tell me, what do you want me to do?” Abbendis forcibly suppressed his inner turmoil and asked Josh seriously.
“…Send troops to the Broken Isles!” Josh’s expression turned solemn.
“The Broken Isles?” Hearing Josh’s answer, Abbendis’ face grew even grimmer. Like Sargeras, Josh had often warned him about the dangers of the Broken Isles.
Although his forces had expanded greatly and he knew the location of the Broken Isles, he had never set foot there.
Especially since rashly entering the Isles might attract the gaze of Azshara in the Great Whirlpool and Medivh, the Guardian who was actually controlled by the dark Titan Sargeras’ soul.
But now, considering Abbendis’ greatly strengthened forces, perhaps he was already on Medivh’s radar.
“Sending troops to the Broken Isles is no problem, but you should understand that my magical power may still be far inferior to those strong opponents you mentioned...Even if I use the mechanical army…” Abbendis hesitated.
If Abbendis’ forces had any shortcomings now, it was in advanced combat power, especially magical combat power.
Though he had attracted many mages with money and resources, most were ordinary; none were legendary-level.
In this regard, Abbendis was even weaker than Josh.
“I will arrange for several top-tier warriors to assist you...If things go wrong, they will help you escape immediately!” Josh knew Abbendis’ concerns well, and after briefly closing his eyes to think, he opened them and said.
“If that’s the case, that’s best!” Abbendis relaxed slightly at Josh’s promise and nodded. “Should I start preparations now?”
“Hmm, you start preparing first, I’ll arrange some people to help you!” Josh nodded.
Then the two ended their communication, and Abbendis immediately led the army that had wiped out the centaur remnants back to the northern fortress, while beginning extensive preparations for war.
His actions immediately attracted the attention of some vigilant individuals, especially the night elves in the northern Ashenvale.
For a human lord to suddenly arrive in Kalimdor and incorporate the natives led by tauren, recklessly expanding his territory—if the nearby night elves were completely unaware, then they deserved to be wiped out.
However, at this time, Tyrande was still the relatively gentle and conservative Moon Priestess. Since humans had only established a few outposts and trading markets at the borders of Ashenvale and the Barrens, with no sign of fortifications or offensives, she naturally could not take any action against Abbendis.
But not taking action did not mean ignoring it.
In recent years, the night elves closely watched every campaign Abbendis’ legion launched across the Barrens and the Kor’kron, with druids observing from afar, fearful Abbendis might launch a surprise attack on Ashenvale.
Kor’kron was the later Durotar in the original timeline.
Durotar was the name given to this land by Thrall and the orcs after landing in Kalimdor.
But before the orcs even appeared, this place had always been home to the furbolgs and centaurs.
The name Kor’kron came from the Kor’kron centaur clan originally inhabiting this land.
Earlier, Abbendis had led troops to wipe out the last remnants of the Kor’kron centaurs lingering on the Kor’kron border.
Now, after clearing the last resistance on these two lands, Abbendis was furiously preparing for war again, which naturally made the night elves watching in secret immediately nervous—because the Barrens, Kor’kron, and the southeastern Echo Isles were already all occupied by Abbendis, and all resistance forces had been wiped out.
The relatively fertile west, Mulgore, had been granted by Abbendis to the tauren as a permanent reservation—this was one of the reasons why the tauren fiercely pledged loyalty to Abbendis.
To the south lay the utterly desolate Thousand Needles, where Abbendis was unlikely to expand.
Further south was Tanaris, occupied by trolls, but it was just a desert with little value.
Analyzing this way, around Abbendis’ territory, the only place worth serious conflict seemed to be the night elves’ lands.
Therefore, the great druid Fandral Staghelm, who received the news at the rear, immediately disregarded Tyrande’s warnings and objections and mobilized a large army to stand by in Ashenvale.
But before the night elves’ main forces arrived in Ashenvale, news came from the front again.
Abbendis’ army was not heading north to Ashenvale but had gone out to sea...
Gone out to sea...
Receiving the news, Fandral Staghelm was instantly embarrassed but could not admit his decision was wrong. He ordered the army to continue forward, and upon reaching the Silverwing Outpost, began building fortifications to strengthen defenses in the border area—although those humans apparently had no intention to invade Ashenvale now, what about the future?
Being prepared in advance was not a bad thing.
Even Tyrande could not strongly oppose this.
However, after an unpleasant discussion with Fandral Staghelm, Tyrande, who had just returned to her Moon Temple, unexpectedly saw an unexpected visitor at her residence.
The leader of the third largest night elf faction, the Watchers, Maiev Shadowsong.
As for the other two major factions, naturally, one was the Moon Temple faction led by Tyrande herself, with its main armed force being the sentinel troops.
The other was the druidic Cenarion Circle faction originally led by Tyrande’s husband, Malfurion Stormrage, but since Malfurion was in a long-term slumber in the Emerald Dream, the actual helm was held by Malfurion’s close disciple, Fandral Staghelm.
Compared to the Cenarion Circle and the Moon Temple factions, the Watchers led by Maiev Shadowsong generally did not involve themselves in the day-to-day management of the night elves.
They mostly existed as an intelligence agency.
“Maiev? What a rare guest, what brings you to me?” Tyrande was very surprised to see Maiev.
Due to certain reasons during the ancient war, Tyrande and Maiev did not have a harmonious relationship. Under normal circumstances, Maiev almost never came to see Tyrande alone.
Now that Maiev had appeared here, it was obviously about something important.
“I have investigated thoroughly; that human lord’s target is the Broken Isles!” Maiev, cloaked in the Watchers’ armor, said in a low voice.
“What? The Broken Isles!” Upon hearing the name, Tyrande’s expression darkened drastically!