Because the coordinates of the teleportation portal were altered, a spectacle of demons descending from the sky occurred in every part of the world of Azeroth. A hellfire demon directly struck the Royal Palace of Lordaeron, and the demons that crawled out of the crater caused great trouble for the palace guards. It wasn't until the paladins and court mages arrived that they managed to kill it and the accompanying demons.
"Father, are you alright?" Arthas, who had personally killed a Doomguard, found King Terenas under the tight protection of the palace guards.
"I'm fine." The old king had calmed down from his initial shock. The point where the hellfire landed was only a hundred meters away from him in a straight line. The deafening roar had truly shaken Terenas' nerves.
This was the first time the old king had personally observed the Burning Legion's demons up close. Before the Burning Legion's arrival, he had only learned about these demons from other people's descriptions, and he had even thought that Aiden and others were exaggerating.
But when he personally witnessed the burning hellfire raising its flaming stone fist and easily smashing his elite palace guards into piles of mangled flesh, he began to tremble with unease.
He heard that these guys were just ordinary characters in the Burning Legion, yet they had caused hundreds of casualties among the palace guards.
Terenas was somewhat frightened. He now realized that his original thoughts were too presumptuous.
"It seems we need to speed up our evacuation." Terenas' face was full of worry. Although the Burning Legion's main force in Silvermoon City had not yet reached here, Lordaeron was no longer safe.
If that hellfire had fallen directly on his head... Terenas didn't dare to imagine it.
Terenas wasn't the only one who was frightened that day. Many demons also fell from the sky in Kalimdor. Mount Hyjal, the base of the night elves, was also attacked by demons.
"Priestess of the Moon" Tyrande commanded the elven warriors to eliminate the demons that had descended on Mount Hyjal. She found it strange that many demons who couldn't fly had died upon impact - she remembered that during the War of the Ancients, the Burning Legion had entered Kalimdor through teleportation portals.
Could it be that they had changed their method?
Tyrande shook her head, dismissing this absurd idea. Demons weren't fools. There must be something wrong with their teleportation portal.
The second war against the Burning Legion was about to begin, but her lover, the Archdruid Malfurion Stormrage, was still slumbering in the Emerald Dream. Tyrande began to consider whether to awaken him and the other druids in advance.
"Have Ornumnu and the others returned?" Tyrande asked the sentinel captain beside her.
"Not yet, High Priestess."
"According to the time, they should have returned. Could something have happened?" Tyrande was somewhat worried.
The raptor druid Ornumnu had led a team of night elves to find the humans and tauren from before to discuss the Burning Legion. It had been almost a month since they had set off. They should have returned by now.
Tyrande was right; something had indeed happened to them.
After receiving the order from Mount Hyjal, Ornumnu set off from Ashenvale and traveled through the Barrens to Thunder Bluff. He met with the tauren chieftain Cairne and expressed his intentions, and Cairne told him that the Valorant Expeditionary Force was now stationed on the red earth on the eastern side of the Barrens, which they had named "Land of Justice."
So Ornumnu led his people to the newly built city without stopping.
Plank didn't stand on ceremony either, and readily told the druid, who had previously ambushed them with elven sentinels, the information he knew.
The commander had already instructed him that night elves were arrogant and conceited, so he shouldn't provoke them too much. So he conveyed Aiden's intention to form an alliance to Ornumnu, and Ornumnu was satisfied with the reply.
The new city was located east of Ashenvale, south of Azshara, and downstream of the Wrathwater River. The distance was very close. If the night elves didn't go to Thunder Bluff, it would only take four or five days to reach the new city from Ashenvale.
However, disaster struck just as this team of night elf messengers was preparing to return to Mount Hyjal from Felwood.
"The Destroyer" Mannoroth descended in this polluted forest. During the War of the Ancients, this place was corrupted by the Burning Legion's fel energy, and even now, some fallen satyrs and demons still roamed the forest. They called themselves the Burning Blade Clan and controlled a large area of Felwood.
And Mannoroth had gathered them together to form a powerful legion. He still remembered this place; he had been here before.
Mannoroth decided to take revenge on the night elves!
Of course, he was currently waiting to assist his master Archimonde's actions. Their existence must be strictly kept secret so that they could give the night elves a fatal blow.
And just at this time, Ornumnu's team passed through here. They were ambushed by Mannoroth, and no one was able to escape.
Tyrande was destined to wait in vain, and the Valorant Expeditionary Force couldn't possibly urge them either. Not only was there a lot to deal with in building a new city, but also, since the Burning Legion had fallen from the sky, some changes had occurred in the Endless Sea—the naga, who had originally been attacking the coastal areas, were now attacking more and more frantically.
The Land of Justice was close to the sea, and it had suffered many attacks during this period.
The naga, these sea monsters who had originally served the Burning Legion as masters, now seemed to be preparing to make a comeback. Because their masters had once again descended into this world!
This "rain of demons" lasted for a full half month. However, most of them had descended in the first three days, and it became less and less frequent as time went on.
The surviving demons began to automatically gather together and attack nearby humans everywhere. The fear spread by the demons completely dispelled the humans' original thoughts of staying in their homeland.
Every day, a large number of refugees left their homes and went to various towns for shelter, and were escorted by the army to the major ports to board ships and leave.
However, due to limited transportation capacity, the entire Lordaeron, excluding those races and populations that had joined the New Alliance led by the Valorant Federation, still had nearly two million people under the rule of the old Alliance. And all the sea ships combined could only transport 40% of them. There were still about 1.2 million people who would be forced to migrate south to Stormwind and Ironforge to take refuge.
"Let's go, Prince Arthas! It's time for us to leave," Lordaeron North Sea Fleet Commander Theodore urged.
Arthas stood on the pier, silent.
They were the last fleet to leave. Prince Arthas would lead Lordaeron's elite forces to cross the sea on warships.
And King Terenas would lead the remaining majority of the people from the Arathi Highlands to the southern continent.
Arthas tried to get his father to board the ship with him. Even if the ship's space was tight, there couldn't possibly be no place for the king. But Terenas refused. There had to be someone with enough prestige to lead the remaining refugees south. And most of those more than one million people were from the Kingdom of Lordaeron. As king, Terenas believed it was his duty.
Arthas hoped to take responsibility in place of his father, but the old king stubbornly refused his good intentions.
Besides the last batch of elite troops boarding the ships, the harbor was also crowded with a large number of refugees trying to squeeze onto the ships.
Seeing the eager and fearful eyes of these refugees, as well as their unwilling shouts and curses, Arthas felt as if his heart was being twisted.
"The king has abandoned us!"
"Damn it, let me on board! Please, I have two children!"
"Holy Light above, please, let me through!"
However, the defense line formed by fully armed soldiers firmly blocked the impact of these people.
Seeing that boarding was hopeless, the desperate refugees couldn't help but turn from pleading to cursing. Arthas's ears were filled with all kinds of foul language. Some even cursed him and his father.
His lips trembled, wanting to explain, but the experienced and prudent Duke Orlande dissuaded him.
"Let's go, Your Highness. These ignorant people have lost their minds. Your explanation will only make them angrier."
Arthas swept across the eyes of countless refugees, which contained many emotions he had never seen before. Every excited and distorted face seemed to be questioning him why he abandoned them, abandoned the people he claimed to protect.
"...Let's go!" Arthas suddenly turned around and strode onto the warship.
When the last batch of ships left the harbor, the refugees on the dock let out desperate cries. Some unwillingly jumped into the sea and struggled to swim towards the ships, trying to climb on.
They paddled and shouted:
"Take me! Take me!"
"Please, let me on board! One more person won't make the ship sink!"
But the soldiers on the ship's side, following orders, used bamboo poles and oars to push them back into the sea.
"Lordaeron has abandoned us! The ships only take the rich and nobles!"
"What should we do?"
"Let's follow the refugee Team of the old king!"
"Bah, I'm not going to find that old thing!"
"I heard that Los Angeles can float in the air, and there's also Dalaran! Let's go to Los Angeles!"
"To Los Angeles!"
Soon, the news spread throughout the dock. Los Angeles became the last hope for these refugees.
---
At this time, Dalaran had not yet returned to Hillsbrad Foothills. There was no discussion or communication between the New Alliance and the Old Alliance. It seemed that the relationship between the two had dropped to freezing point due to the last meeting, so much so that the great retreat of the Old Alliance was not specifically notified to the allied forces fighting in Silvermoon City.
When Dalaran flew over Stratholme, it found that it was already a ghost town. The once prosperous and fertile land no longer had the common people who had lived there for generations.
"Terenas arranged the retreat very quickly." Anasterian's tone was obviously not praise.
Antonidas was silent for a moment, then said indifferently: "This is a good thing. Ordinary people have no resistance in the face of the Burning Legion."
"Yes, we should also retreat." Aiden nodded.
Sal said: "The vanguard of the Burning Legion should have reached Ghostlands by now. We have to hurry."
Aiden said: "It doesn't matter, I just received a report that the experiment in Los Angeles has been successful."
This news was very encouraging. It meant that a super floating city capable of carrying more than one million people had been born—all the races of the New Alliance combined could not fill even half of it. Moreover, Dalaran itself had remaining space to carry many people.
After rushing back to Los Angeles, Aiden discovered that a large group of people had gathered outside the city. They all looked fearful and were trying to break through the city gates. And these people obviously did not belong to Los Angeles and Tarren Mill under the rule of the Valoran Federation before.
"What's going on?" Aiden quickly asked Rebecca, the magistrate who stayed here.
Rebecca explained: "Chancellor, I was just about to report this matter to you—since the demons descended from the sky a week ago, refugees from other countries and forces have been coming to Los Angeles. They heard that the Alliance ships can transport more than 800,000 people, and the remaining people have to follow King Terenas to Stormwind Kingdom for refuge. Many people are worried that the demons will follow and attack the south, and our city still has some vacant positions, so..."
"Well, I understand." Aiden said he understood, "Let them line up and then let them in! Designate a special area in the outer city for them. Tell them that we will provide the minimum living guarantee and humanitarian aid. Also, ensure that there are no problems."
"Yes, Chancellor!" Rebecca took the order and left.
Soon after, Aiden, who was far away in the Chancellor's residence in the city center, could also hear the deafening cheers outside.
"Should I summon some more supplies from Valoran?" Aiden looked at the angel Kayle.
"Maybe." Kayle's answer was light and airy, much better than her usual indifferent appearance.
After statistics, there were more than 200,000 refugees gathered outside the city. Most of them were from the Kingdom of Lordaeron, especially from Hillsbrad Foothills and Andorhal.
Because the Valoran Federation had a very high reputation in these two places, Aiden's previous actions of taking in refugees also prompted these refugees who wanted to leave the Eastern Kingdoms but failed to board the ships to abandon the transfer to the south with Terenas and instead gather in Los Angeles as a last resort.
Before he came back, these refugees, who had been impatient for a long time, almost started a riot.
These refugees were almost all civilians. In fact, the refugees were right. Only those with relatively wealthy family property could easily obtain the precious tickets to leave by ship. And these "Untouchables" were obviously the abandoned.
Their sense of belonging to their original country vanished, and joining the Valoran Federation became a new way out, a better way out.
Four days later, Aiden received accurate information. The vanguard of the Burning Legion had reached Darrowmere Lake and would soon enter Hillsbrad Foothills. And now all the people of the New Alliance had entered Los Angeles. Orcs, high elves, Gilneans, and the refugees who had recently joined them all found a place to live in this most powerful floating city in history.
"Let's go!" Aiden gave the order.
The mages of the floating magic circle began to work. Anveena, the high elf girl who was the incarnation of the Sunwell, injected huge energy into the rune stones placed in the newly built magic circle.
After a slight tremor, the city rose from the ground. It rose higher and higher and flew towards the Endless Sea.