Archimonde's arrival came sooner than anyone had imagined.
Kargoth, stationed in Hellfire Citadel, learned of this news from other demons and immediately passed it on to Evelyn.
Subsequently, the people of Honor Hold all knew that the great demon had arrived.
"Retreat, old friend," Kurdran said, looking at Danath Trollbane, the highest commander of Honor Hold.
"If we don't leave now, it'll be too late.
I've heard that this Archimonde is even more terrifying than Deathwing.
Besides, he's brought so many demons with him.
We can't possibly win."
This Wildhammer dwarf hero had arrived on the Hellfire Peninsula almost on the heels of the abyss lord Magtheridon's army.
His Wildhammer Stronghold was stationed in Shadowmoon Valley, at the forefront of the battle against the Burning Legion demons, and he was among the first to receive the news.
Danath looked very worried.
The Hellfire Citadel was now crowded with over a hundred thousand demons, far exceeding the expeditionary force's ability to resist.
"Retreat!"
Even though Danath was unwilling, he could only issue the retreat order.
The expeditionary force began to withdraw in an orderly manner.
Half a day later, the fortress that had stood against Hellfire Citadel for more than a decade was empty.
Currently, no one can compete with Archimonde.
He is almost invincible.
After arriving in Outland, he pointed to the Dark Portal and said to Doom Lord Kazzak, "Alright, now close the portal!"
Although Archimonde was very confident in eliminating his nemesis during his trip to Outland, he decided to follow Kil'jaeden's plan to avoid further trouble.
"Yes, my master!"
Kazzak grasped the Dragon King's Blade and stepped forward.
The demons near the Dark Portal began to evacuate.
There would be a slight fluctuation during the process of closing the portal.
Kazzak plunged the huge sword into the swirling green portal and activated its energy.
The originally stable portal suddenly became violent.
The original arcane energy inside was wantonly destroyed by the Dragon King's Blade, and a powerful energy was forming.
A huge vortex of energy formed near the Dragon King's Blade.
Even the demons in the distance could feel the extremely unstable energy that could explode at any moment.
They retreated a little further to feel safe.
When everything reached its peak, in a deafening roar, violent energy erupted from the connection point between the two worlds.
Violent explosions occurred in both the Blasted Lands and the Hellfire Peninsula.
The raging arcane energy swept nearby objects into the endless void.
When everything subsided, the Dark Portal became a gateway to the Twisting Nether.
—
Aiden, who was in Nagrand, also learned the news of Archimonde's entry into Outland as soon as possible.
He learned from A'dal that to restore the spaceship's space-time jump capability, they had to fly outside Kil'jaeden's confinement range.
And this meant they had to enter the void—not the Twisting Nether, but in Earth terms, outer space.
And the best place to enter the void in Outland was the Netherstorm area.
In other words, as long as they could enter the void before Archimonde arrived, they could win.
How to delay enough time was the most important issue at the moment.
"We can transmit power to you."
"Just like Xirel and them did."
"And the angel Kayle."
"And the prophet Velen."
The naaru sent mental communications one after another.
Aiden asked, "After receiving your power, can we fight Archimonde?"
"Perhaps."
"This is the only way we can help."
A'dal and the others were not sure either.
After all, this was not the Twisting Nether.
The power of the naaru was also limited to a certain extent.
What's more, Aiden was able to fight Archimonde and Kil'jaeden simultaneously in the Twisting Nether, and there were other factors.
But in the real world, the method of burning his own blood before did not have obvious effects.
He still retained the Eye of Sargeras, but Archimonde also had the Scepter of Sargeras to restrain its power.
In the end, it was still just a pure power contest.
"We need some helpers."
Aiden thought about which existences in Outland were relatively powerful—he quickly thought of one—"Dragonslayer" Gruul!
He immediately summoned Khadgar, who was familiar with Gruul, and told him his thoughts.
"Gruul is not an easy guy to deal with."
Khadgar hesitated and said, "Are you sure you want to find him?"
This was not a joke.
Gruul was a demigod of the ogres, the most powerful gronn in Outland.
Legend has it that orcs evolved from ogres, and ogres evolved from gronn.
However, this evolution was not reflected in strength and size, but in reproductive ability.
Gronn were few in number, but their size was often more than ten meters, and their strength was extremely terrifying.
No opponent in Draenor could compete with these guys.
And in terms of strength alone, orcs could not reach the level of ogres.
Therefore, several adult orcs might not be able to defeat an ogre, and a group of ogres might not be able to defeat a gronn.
When the Alliance Expeditionary Force entered Draenor, Khadgar and several other heroes had fought side by side with Gruul against Deathwing.
It was precisely because the strong Gruul could barely confront Deathwing head-on that Khadgar had the opportunity to startle this incomparably powerful opponent.
Deathwing's power was beyond doubt.
Whether in Azeroth or Draenor, this black dragon was an absolutely top-notch powerful existence.
The power possessed by Gruul, who could barely contend with him, was naturally not to be ignored.
In order to have a powerful tank when fighting Archimonde, Aiden felt it was worth a try.
However, what they did not expect was that when they arrived at Blade's Edge Mountains, the Burning Legion demons that had descended on Netherstorm had already begun to attack this area and were fighting with the ogre legion.
After the ethereals of Stormspire retreated in their flying vehicles, the demon army began to advance towards Blade's Edge Mountains.
For these demons who dared to invade the ogre territory, Gruul would of course not be polite.
He led his descendants to resolutely fight back.
Gruul immediately reversed the situation as soon as he joined the battlefield.
No demon in the Burning Legion could compete with him.
Even their most powerful war weapon—the manaforge colossus—would not work!
Gruul's height was no less than that of the manaforge colossus, his strength was even stronger than this demonic construct, and his figure was far more agile than these clumsy mechs.
He roared and pounced up, and with a shoulder bump, he overturned a manaforge colossus.
Then he grabbed the opponent's iron arm and twisted it, tearing it from the shoulder, and then smashed the steel mech into scrap metal with a few punches!
Gruul's invincible posture completely shocked the demons.
The Legion commander sent a large number of doomguards, preparing to attack Gruul from the sky.
Several balls of shadow energy hit Gruul, leaving several wounds on his body, but this only angered him even more.
He grabbed a millstone-sized boulder from the ground and threw it out, smashing two doomguards who had no time to dodge, and then pounced up, pinching the doomguard's wings with both hands and tearing them off the demon's back.
The doomguard let out a painful cry before dying, and the other doomguards were even more frightened.
This powerful gronn demigod ravaged the doomguard as if a child were cruelly tearing off a butterfly's wings.
This act made the doomguards tremble with fear and dare not approach again.
Gruul was indeed invincible, and his ogre army was also very powerful, but there were simply too many demons.
After fighting for a long time, there were more and more demons, and fewer and fewer of Gruul's descendants.
They had gradually fallen into a disadvantage.
When Aiden and others arrived here in a small flying ship, although the battlefield was full of demon corpses and wreckage of manaforge colossus, the ogre legion had clearly fallen into a disadvantage.
"Help Gruul!"
Aiden immediately decided to do so.
The ogre legion was indeed extremely powerful.
Regardless of whether the other party would become his helper, Gruul was worth helping at the moment.
It was also worthwhile to consume more of the Burning Legion's power.
Aiden summoned the Wings of Holy Light, left the flying ship, and pounced towards a group of eredar warlocks from the air, with Kayle following behind him.
Kassadin picked a group of fel imps.
Although these guys were fragile, they had strong firepower, and his ability could easily slaughter these small demons.
Then Onyxia jumped out of the cabin, transformed into a black dragon in the air, took a deep breath, and then spewed out scorching dragon breath towards the most densely packed place of the demons.
The demons in the flames were all roasted into coke.
Khadgar also summoned a large area of lightning, which fell into the enemy group, electrocuting a large number of flying demons from the air.
Although they were few in number, their unexpected attack immediately disrupted the Burning Legion's formation. Supported by the ogre army, led by Gruul, they launched a fierce counterattack, forcing the demons to retreat.
They could only wait until they had accumulated enough power before launching another attack.
The Burning Legion began to retreat towards the Netherstorm base. Gruul's ogre army, having suffered heavy losses, did not pursue.
Gruul the Dragonkiller immediately fixed his gaze on Onyxia, the largest of those who came to support him, displaying great interest.
"A black dragon?"
Onyxia felt uneasy under Gruul's gaze. She involuntarily took two steps back and growled, "Don't stare at me!"
"Is it a black dragon?" Gruul repeated. He suddenly felt an itch in his hands, a strong urge to tear off the black dragon's wings and hear her death throes.
"Gruul, you should mind your manners!" Khadgar shouted.
He knew very well why Gruul would be interested in the black dragon lady. His title of "Dragonkiller" came from slaughtering many black dragons.
"Manners? Can you eat them?" Only then did Gruul notice the small figure at his feet. He lowered his head, his single eye on his forehead staring at the person, and then he remembered who it was. "I've seen you before, little thing. What's your name again? Tu something? Or Ka something?"
"Khadgar, my name is Khadgar." Khadgar was not angered by the other party's rudeness. He knew that for this demigod, leaving an impression on him was already a difficult feat.
"Khadgar," Gruul repeated the name. "What do you want from me? Help me fight these demons?"
"That's right, Gruul. You see, these demons are very numerous. You should know that they are only temporarily retreating. Soon, more demons will come back. How many more of these attacks can your army withstand?"
Gruul immediately became murderous and roared, "However many come, I will kill them all!"
Khadgar said, "But I don't think you alone can stand against the entire Burning Legion. Don't rush to refute me, Gruul, listen to me. I believe you still remember Deathwing—the leader of these demons is a great demon no less powerful than Deathwing. He may even be more powerful!"
Onyxia felt a little worried when she heard them discussing her father. She felt as if she was already stuck in a quagmire, making it difficult to escape unscathed. Archimonde, she had heard of this name. During the War of the Ancients, this "Defiler" was one of the most terrifying members of the Burning Legion, and countless strong individuals died at his hands. Now that Archimonde had come to Outland, how could she survive the attacks of this powerful demon?
"Are you not lying to me?" Gruul asked suspiciously. Of course, he would not forget Deathwing. The Black Dragon Father had left him with an unforgettable impression.
Before encountering Deathwing, Gruul had never encountered any opponents in Draenor who could match him, but such a powerful demigod was almost powerless in front of Deathwing. He knew that even five of himself would not necessarily be able to defeat Deathwing. This was the greatest setback he had encountered in his life.
"Of course not! It's easy to verify because this great demon has already come to Outland," Khadgar replied.
Gruul stared at Khadgar. "Although you are a little stronger than before, you are still too weak. Do you want to cooperate with me? I know you have many thoughts and want to use me. If you have any way to defeat this demon, I will consider it. If not, then leave!"
Khadgar looked at Aiden, it was obvious that this Father of the Gronn was not as reckless and simple as he looked.
"Of course, there is a way," Aiden said. "If we cooperate, plus some other allies, I think we will be enough to fight Archimonde!"
He saw Khadgar cautiously giving him a questioning look. The mage didn't know if what he said was true or false.
In fact, Aiden had not yet found a way to defeat Archimonde—if the most powerful demon in the Burning Legion could be so easily defeated, the Burning Legion would probably have been destroyed long ago.
But Gruul didn't need to know the truth.
Gruul turned to Aiden and said, "Speak, what is your plan?"
Aiden took out the Eye of Sargeras and waved it in front of the other party: "This is an artifact that can restrain Archimonde's power, called the Eye of Sargeras. I will use it to deliver a fatal blow to Archimonde. There are many powerful naaru in our team who can provide help. The lineup is much stronger than when you fought Deathwing back then. So, I believe that as long as we have more powerful allies, we can defeat him!"
Gruul stared at the gem. He could feel the terrifying power contained within. Although he didn't know how to use it, he believed that the gem should be effective.
"Don't try to deceive me, or I will make you die very ugly!" Gruul threatened.
"Of course not," Aiden smiled.
—
In order to fight Archimonde, Aiden even used deception, but he still felt that the power was insufficient. For the people of Azeroth and Draenor, Archimonde was too powerful. Fighting him was really like an ant trying to shake a tree.
No one knew how many demons Kil'jaeden was preparing to teleport to Outland. Now, the Allied forces were facing a severe shortage of troops. Aiden believed that Archimonde's movements must have attracted Azeroth's attention. He didn't know about other things, but at least the Valoran Federation would definitely send troops to support them. At the moment, he had almost contacted most of the races and forces that could be united. Now, only these reinforcements from Azeroth could alleviate their predicament.
But before he could be happy for long about getting a strong tank, he received the news that the Dark Portal had been destroyed by Kazzak.
"The Dark Portal has been destroyed?" Aiden almost lost his voice.
Krasus nodded heavily. He was the one who brought the news.
Aiden only felt a darkness in front of him. Most of the Burning Legion that had entered Azeroth had already come to Outland. Obviously, the demons no longer needed the portal for the time being. After closing the Dark Portal, the Burning Legion would be free from worries.
But for Aiden and others, the portal was almost like the gate of hope. Once it was closed, they would never be able to get reinforcements from Azeroth.
This was simply the worst news possible. Everyone else had solemn expressions. They all knew what this meant.
He forced himself to calm down and said, "Never mind so much. Let's go back to Tempest Keep, take everyone we can, and retreat to the Netherstorm area!"
"Now we can only pray that we can break through the blockade and warp into outer space," he said in a deep voice.
At the same time that Aiden received this news, Azeroth also received it. The meeting in Los Angeles had already decided on the details of the support, and each force had agreed to send troops. Currently, the army of Kalimdor could directly reach Dalaran through the teleportation array of Los Angeles, and Dalaran was now hovering over the Cursed Lands.
After confirming that Archimonde had entered the Dark Portal, the Alliance army began to gather towards Los Angeles.
The Dalaran Air Force had been monitoring the movements of the Dark Portal. They discovered that the demon army originally guarding here had followed Archimonde into the Dark Portal. Obviously, the time for support had come!
But just as the vanguard arrived near the Dark Portal, a violent explosion suddenly erupted here. After the wild arcane energy raged, the Dark Portal returned to the way it looked before Kazzak opened it—anyone entering it would be transported into the turbulent flow of the Twisting Nether.
Archmage Anna and Antonidas rushed to the scene. They both saw shock in each other's eyes.
Prince Turalyon and many people in the Alliance forces hoped that the Dark Portal could be destroyed. Now, it had indeed been destroyed. But the person who carried out the destruction came from the Burning Legion—this meant that as long as they needed it, they could activate it at any time and return from Outland.
Anna's eyes became very dangerous. She gritted her teeth and said, "It seems we have to find someone to open this door!"
"Who can?" Antonidas frowned.
"The person who created it in the first place."