Chapter 349 |
“Are the Night Elves involved too?” Josh, who contacted Abbendis again, frowned upon hearing the explanation that Tyrande personally came to Dalaran and that she would “participate” in Abbendis’ trip to the Broken Isles.
“Yes. According to Tyrande, they have always maintained outposts in the Broken Isles to monitor the unusual activities in this special region. They also have some understanding of the Highmountain area and can help us find the Highmountain tribe!” Abbendis nodded in response but wore a slight sneer on his face.
What Tyrande called help was ultimately just surveillance.
Clearly, the Night Elves did not want the forces led by Abbendis to overly influence this isolated region of the Broken Isles.
Of course, this doesn’t mean the Night Elves have any territorial ambitions over this region, but the situation there is already complicated enough. Even in the heyday of the Night Elf Empire, they could not completely eliminate the instability on this land.
So what they feared was that once Abbendis, the powerful human lord, officially moved into the area, it could very well ignite the powder keg.
Naga, Highborne (Nightborne), dragons, demons, nightmares, and all kinds of miscellaneous forces crowding a single island—more chaotic than the Balkans on Earth!
“What useless meddling!” Josh sneered after hearing Abbendis’ explanation.
He naturally knew that over the past ten thousand years, the Night Elves, especially the Cenarion Council, had always kept an eye on the Broken Isles.
So the Night Elves never abandoned this land.
Thus, Josh had predicted that Abbendis’ landing on the Broken Isles might provoke some reaction from the Night Elves.
But he did not expect the reaction to be bigger than he imagined—just leaking a bit of information drew them straight to their doorstep, even sending someone of Tyrande’s level.
“However, it’s not a big problem. The main targets for this expedition to the Broken Isles are the four other Pillars of Creation aside from the Tears of Elune, the husk of Sargeras’ avatar, and the Nightborne of Suramar. These things cannot be obtained by sheer military force. When the time comes, you just lead the Bloodhoof tribe to the Highmountain tribe normally to draw the Night Elves’ attention. The rest can be left to Master Ancient One!” Josh said thoughtfully.
The reason for excluding the Tears of Elune was naturally to avoid detection by the true god Elune.
In comparison, the other Pillars of Creation were less problematic since the Titans had long been slaughtered by Sargeras. Except for the soul of the Life Binder Aegwynn hidden in Azeroth, the souls of the other Titans should all be imprisoned in Argus and have no control over Azeroth.
“Master Ancient One?” Hearing Josh, usually proud, use such a respectful title made Abbendis very curious.
“Yes, Master Ancient One! She is one of the top-tier strongest beings in my world, once the greatest protector of us humans, with power equal to or stronger than Aegwynn and Medivh whom I mentioned before. So you must not treat her lightly!” Josh said seriously.
“I understand. I will definitely not neglect her!” Seeing Josh’s rare seriousness and knowing the person sent was stronger than the legendary Aegwynn and Medivh, Abbendis also became solemn.
“In addition, there are a few others, all strong figures from our world, including my youngest son Ben. But there is one exception—a very troublesome kid named Loki. If you don’t like him, it’s fine to beat him up a few times, just don’t kill him!” Josh added once he saw Abbendis paying attention.
Yes, besides Master Ancient One, Josh planned to send Loki as well.
This was both an opportunity and a test for him.
There were many good things in Azeroth, plus Ancient One was present. If it weren’t for some constraints, Josh would have gone himself.
The intelligence had been given, and how much benefit they could get back depended on Loki.
If he couldn’t seize such a good opportunity, hmph…
“I understand. I will take good care of him!” Abbendis really knew Loki well because Josh had complained about him before, even saying that if it weren’t for belonging to two different worlds, Josh would rather have Abbendis as his son-in-law.
After all, Abbendis grew up under Josh’s watch. Although sometimes he was troublesome, emotionally he was nothing like the outsider Loki.
And although Abbendis had never met Josh’s three children, they were essentially his younger brothers and sisters.
As their older brother, it was naturally his “duty” to test Loki’s qualities as a future brother-in-law.
So the two exchanged a glance and wickedly decided Loki’s fate.
…………………………
Time quickly passed to the day before Abbendis’ fleet was to set out. Several small Night Elf warships arrived at Dalaran.
These Night Elves would act as “guides,” leading Abbendis’ fleet to the Broken Isles.
They would also guide Abbendis’ fleet to land at the border area between Val’sharah and Highmountain.
It must be said that the Night Elves’ initial intention was to monitor the movements of Abbendis’ fleet, but having them guide the fleet indeed saved a lot of trouble.
Since the Broken Isles had been a perilous place since the ancient war.
Even though Abbendis had established relatively good relations with some Naga tribes, landing safely was still not easy.
After all, the Naga’s territories were not on the surface, and their control was mainly over the most dangerous Shattered Beaches region.
Josh and Abbendis were indeed interested in the husk of Sargeras’ avatar, but that didn’t mean they wanted to recklessly charge in.
Otherwise, they’d end up like Gul’dan, and that wouldn’t be fun.
But before the official departure, Abbendis received some very special guests at his residence.
“Greetings, Master Ancient One and everyone!” Abbendis respectfully saluted the leader of the group.
There were nine people in total, the visitors from the Marvel universe sent by Josh through the dimensional transporter, led by Ancient One.
Besides Ancient One, the other seven were Josh’s youngest son Ben Kane, the Four God Power warrior Bursta, the Ten Rings Master Xu Wenwu, the Dark Sorceress Lady Shadow whom Josh had subdued in the Etheria star system after defeating the He-Man siblings and the Horde Empire, Talonicus the High Elf technician who now returned home, Narassus the Naga witch who was the current Sea King of Earth, and the Troll priest Malakas, also considered returned home.
And also Josh’s future son-in-law, Loki.
It could be said that, except for Josh himself, and Margot who had not made contact yet, and the weaker Loki, Josh had basically sent all the most loyal top fighters under his command and among allies.
The only real exception was the few High Elves that Abbendis had sold in the past. Except for Talonicus, who had completely regarded Josh as his faith and no longer cared about his own race, the others led by Vereesa still deeply missed their homeland and so far did not know they could return to Azeroth.
The rest, though from the Marvel universe, especially Ben, Xu Wenwu, and Ancient One, should carry the aura of Tiamut.
But in this respect, Ancient One was very experienced—the agreement among Supreme Sorcerers forbids arbitrary invasions but does not prohibit all communication with other universes.
She knew very well how to conceal the otherworldly aura, so before coming, she cast a spell to mask their aura.
So generally there was no worry they would be detected by Azeroth.
“My lord, you are too polite. We will be a burden for some time!” Ancient One returned the salute slightly.
The others followed suit and saluted Abbendis.
After all, Josh had emphasized the importance of this landlord before their arrival!