Los Angeles began its journey across the Endless Sea, but Dalaran remained in the Eastern Kingdoms, suspended above the sea at the southern end of what is now the Kingdom of Gilneas.
There was a large portal between Los Angeles and Dalaran, and the New Alliance felt it necessary to leave a base in Lordaeron from which to launch a counterattack at any time. In comparison, the smaller and more flexible Dalaran was better suited to stay behind.
To facilitate monitoring the movements of the Burning Legion, even Aiden remained in Dalaran. Anyway, as long as he was willing, he could teleport to Los Angeles at any time.
Although Los Angeles had already left, the mission to destroy the Burning Legion's forge camps continued. Considering that this was an operation deep into the Burning Legion's base camp, Aiden sent several flexible, easy-to-infiltrate and disengage assassin-type heroes: Kassadin the Void Walker, and Rek'Sai the Void Burrower.
There were also several assassin heroes specially summoned for this operation: "Shaco the Demon Jester", "Akali the Fist of Shadow", "Zed the Master of Shadows", and "Talon the Blade's Shadow."
In addition, several top assassins formerly belonging to Ravenholdt Manor also joined the operation. They now worked for the Valoran Federation's secret intelligence department, and such assassinations were their old business. The black dragon assassin Farad also participated in the operation.
After the great retreat from Lordaeron, the sky and the earth were covered with the eyes and ears of the demons. In order to infiltrate safely, these assassins chose to approach from underground.
Rek'Sai led a group of her people in digging hard underground. Just like the way the crypt fiends infiltrated during the Battle of the Broken Ridge, they dug tunnels from Stratholme to Silvermoon City.
The Ek'sai tribe was even better at digging tunnels than the crypt fiends. Therefore, the speed of this team was not much slower than traveling on the ground. Eight days later, they successfully met with Evelynn and the others in a secret underground chamber.
Kassadin asked, "How are things going?"
"It's not too late, we're still in time." Evelynn combined the intelligence she and her team had gathered over the past few days with the information Kog'Maw had sent, "The Burning Legion demons remaining in Silvermoon City are helping those Mo'arg engineers collect metals and other materials for manufacturing mana-powered armor. They have already established foundries and have begun to produce some simple components."
"Then we have to get rid of them quickly."
"That's exactly what we plan to do—Valeera, it's your turn to speak." Evelynn looked at the elven assassin.
Valeera took out a map of Silvermoon City and spread it out on the stone table. She pointed to an area marked with a red line in the Wayfarer's Square and said, "This is the location of the forge camp. There are about two hundred Mo'arg engineers and five times that number of laborers. They are the core of the mana-powered armor production, especially the engineers, who are mainly responsible for design, maintenance, testing, and other tasks requiring brainpower, while the remaining rough and tiring work is done by the strong and sturdy laborers."
She pointed to several other places near the camp, "These places are guarded by demons who protect the forge camp. The total number is about two thousand, with all kinds of demons, led by a doom guard named Jester. The biggest threat is the four mana-powered armor suits around the camp, which guard the camp day and night, with no other tasks."
Kassadin asked, "What about Kog'Maw, is he in this camp?"
"He's on the front lines of the Burning Legion. He left Silvermoon City in the third batch. He should be in Stratholme or Andorhal now."
"That way we don't have to worry about accidentally hurting our comrades." The Jester said with a strange, sarcastic laugh.
"So what's the plan?"
"Blow it to kingdom come!" Kassadin took out a bomb/explosive pack. This was a new type of Hextech bomb/explosive developed by Ziggs, with even more power than the original Hextech Demolitions. This time they had taken all the improved demolition bombs/explosives that Los Angeles had produced in a month, as well as six mana bombs. The combined power of these things was enough to blow up the entire Wayfarer's Square. It was more than enough to deal with the forge camp.
After finalizing the plan, Kassadin said, "Rek'Sai and I are responsible for planting the bombs/explosives. The rest of you try to create chaos. Don't get too close to the blast area. That's it, let's split up!"
This was what the assassins wanted to hear most.
Evelynn, who had been patient for half a month, disappeared instantly, with only her unique, charming, and seductive voice echoing in the air: "Let the killing begin!"
Talon followed closely behind, flicking his cloak and leaving a cold silhouette.
The top assassins walked out of the secret door of the tunnel one by one and disappeared into every corner of Silvermoon City. In the end, only Kassadin, Rek'Sai, and her Voidspawn remained here.
"Let's begin!"
That night, the assassins turned Silvermoon City upside down. A large number of demons guarding Silvermoon City were assassinated. The pit lord guarding here roared angrily, wanting to catch a living person and torture them for their purpose. The demons in the city ran around aimlessly, but in the end, they didn't catch a single one, and even more important demons were assassinated. In particular, the demon warlocks guarding the city suffered heavy losses.
Several demon corpses could be found in every gutter.
Fortunately, Silvermoon City's most important forge camp was not damaged.
The pit lord thought so thankfully. If the forge camp was also destroyed, Archimonde's anger would surely burn him to ashes!
Archimonde placed great hopes on the mana mechs. If the Burning Legion had one or two thousand mana mechs, they could sweep across the entire world without him even lifting a finger. Moreover, Azeroth had the materials to manufacture mana mechs. As long as Archimonde was patient, this goal could certainly be achieved.
As dawn approached, the native assassins finally began to quiet down. The pit lord breathed a sigh of relief. But just then, the ground suddenly shook, and with a deafening roar, dazzling fire illuminated the darkest pre-dawn sky.
It's from Farstrider Square!
The pit lord was scared out of its wits.
"Quick, go there! Go to the Demon Forging Camp!" The pit lord roared, rushing off first.
But by the time it arrived, there was no Demon Forging Camp left. What entered the pit lord's eyes was a new ruin, no less devastated than the Ruins of Sunstrider Isle.
A huge mana mech lay on the ground, half of its steel body blasted open, revealing the mana circuits inside and the shattered engine that had ceased to function. As for the Mo'arg engineers that Lord Archimonde valued most, perhaps if the pit lord tried hard enough, it could find a few relatively intact limbs?
"I'm finished!"
The pit lord stood there dumbfounded, lost in fear of Archimonde's impending punishment.
Meanwhile, Doom Lord Jestin, the garrison commander of the Demon Forging Camp, leaned against a collapsed wall in the camp ruins. Half of its wings had been broken by the exploding shrapnel, and blood was streaming from its chest and abdomen. But the physical pain was nothing. At this moment, the doom lord shared the same thought as the pit lord:
"I'm finished!"
The two demons began to consider whether suicide would be a quicker end.
Although the engineers at the Demon Forging Camp were all wiped out, not all Mo'arg engineers were concentrated there. A small number of engineers followed the main force of the Burning Legion to the front lines. Only they could maintain the mana mechs. When these big guys malfunctioned, they naturally couldn't be sent all the way back to Silvermoon City for repairs.
But the remaining engineers were only enough to maintain the daily consumption of the mana mechs. Lacking researchers, they were no longer a threat.
—
The Burning Legion's front-line troops departed from Silvermoon City, encountering no large-scale resistance along the way. As for the kobolds, gnolls, ogres, and other sub-sapient races, they were crushed along the way, which could not be considered resistance at all. And these ignorant creatures quickly succumbed to the Burning Legion's might and began to serve their new masters.
The entire continent of Lordaeron had no organized troops left, and the civilians who had not left for various reasons were even fewer than the demons of the Burning Legion. These natives had left in advance, and the demons of the Burning Legion could only destroy the land along the way and the already vacant houses to satisfy their desire for destruction.
King Terenas led nearly a million refugees south. Besides him, King Thoras of Stromgarde was also present, as well as King Falstad of Aerie Peak.
Varian and the Stormwind elites escorted these people all the way to the Kingdom of Stormwind.
Muradin warmly invited the Wildhammer dwarves of Aerie Peak to take refuge in Loch Modan. More than two hundred years ago, a fierce civil war broke out between the three dwarf clans: the Bronzebeard dwarves, the Wildhammer dwarves, and the Dark Iron dwarves. The Bronzebeard dwarves became the final victors, occupying Ironforge. Since then, the Wildhammer dwarves had left their homeland.
Later, when the Dark Iron dwarves made a comeback, the Wildhammer and Bronzebeard clans reunited once again, and the relationship between the two was eased. So, in the face of Ironforge's invitation, Falstad finally agreed.
After the migration team crossed the Thandol Span, which connected the continent of Lordaeron with the southern continent of Azeroth, Grand Marshal Garithos was ordered to stay behind. If the Burning Legion continued south, he would blow up the bridge.
This was Terenas's biggest worry. If the Burning Legion really wanted to go south, simply blowing up the bridge would not be enough. The enemy had a large number of flying demons, and the strait between the two continents was not too wide. The demons had plenty of ways to cross the sea.
If that were the case, the fate of these people would be very tragic.
Garithos's guard was stationed in Dun Modr at the southern end of the bridge, and a squad of Wildhammer gryphon riders was also under his command. However, the thing they feared most still happened.
The gryphon rider brought news: "Marshal Garithos, the Burning Legion—the main force of the Burning Legion has passed through Hillsbrad and is heading here!"
Garithos's face completely darkened. He waved his hand and said, "Do it, blow up the Thandol Span!"
"Yes, Marshal!"
After the guards left, Garithos sat back in his chair weakly, a deep worry in his eyes.
Where was the way out for these people?
While Garithos received the news, Aiden also received the news.
Antonidas looked at him, his eyes filled with inquiry. He knew what that meant:
Should we rescue the people of the Alliance?