Darius, Galen, and the reinforcements led by Malrad had just entered Theramore when the Enzos Legion launched an attack. Without rest, they joined the defense. To avoid unnecessary trouble, the Theramore commanders did not immediately arrange for the reinforcements to come into contact with Archmage Arugal and his werewolf pets. More importantly, Uther and Daelin had always considered the reliability of werewolves questionable. Now that the pressure of defense was off, they had the opportunity to properly examine and evaluate the werewolves' performance.
Undoubtedly, the addition of a large number of reinforcements immediately made Theramore as solid as a rock. After the High Faceless One Overseer launched two tentative attacks, both of which were easily repelled, it received orders from its master, Enzos.
In just under an hour, the aggressive Enzos Legion quickly retreated from the land and sea.
Everyone was stunned by this change. They speculated whether these sea monsters knew that their reinforcements had arrived and that they had no hope of breaking through the city?
In any case, Theramore, after enduring a seven-day crisis, welcomed a rare respite.
Confirming that the enemy had retreated, the warriors orderly returned to the barracks.
It was at this moment that the reinforcements from the Land of Justice unexpectedly encountered the werewolves.
In Dustwallow Marsh, the werewolf raid had only happened a dozen hours ago. The werewolves' brutality and horror were still fresh in their minds. The warriors from the Land of Justice regarded them as the claws of the Nightmare King, but they never expected that these ferocious beasts were actually marching alongside the army of the Lordaeron Alliance!
The conflict erupted so suddenly. By the time Arthas, Uther, and Admiral Daelin arrived at the scene, the two sides were still fiercely confronting each other.
The Alliance soldiers struggled to separate the werewolves and the reinforcements. Both sides had bloodshot eyes, especially the werewolves, whose eyes revealed a coldness and ferocity that was daunting. It was the gaze of a werewolf staring at its prey. In the past three days, the powerful hunting skills displayed by these werewolves had shocked everyone who witnessed them.
The warriors on the reinforcement side were equally indignant, especially the Gilneas Legion soldiers. They had suffered the heaviest losses in the two raids last night and early this morning. Everyone wanted to kill these monsters who attacked them for no reason and spread the werewolf curse!
Seeing the three leaders of the Lordaeron Alliance approaching, Darius immediately strode forward, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Arthas, who was hurrying over, and shouted, "Prince Arthas, you must give us an explanation! Why are the monsters that attacked us last night in your army ranks!"
Arthas and the others were still completely confused. He had only received a message from the guards saying that the reinforcements had attacked the werewolves for no reason. He had assumed that these fellows from the Land of Justice had mistaken the werewolves for monsters and launched an attack on their own. He was even a little angry, these reinforcements were simply overstepping their bounds!
However, Darius's tone sounded like something else entirely.
Uther stepped past the astonished Prince and stared at Darius, saying in a deep voice, "Please don't be agitated, Lord Crowley. We need to understand what happened?"
Darius's gaze turned to the mage surrounded by werewolves, taking in the other party's slightly flustered expression. He turned back to face the Lightbringer and asked, word by word, "Lord Uther, did you summon these werewolves, these monsters?"
Uther was silent for a moment, but still replied, "We agreed to Archmage Arugal summoning a small number of werewolves to help us defend the city. And they are all under our control, except for the casualties, they are all here." He did not hide anything. As a paladin, his honor did not allow him to lie.
Hearing his admission, everyone around became vigilant. The weapons they had just lowered were picked up again, and this time they were not only aimed at the werewolves on the other side, but also at the other Alliance warriors.
Seeing these people's vigilance and hostility, Daelin immediately explained, "Lord Crowley, you said that you were attacked by werewolves last night, I think there must be some misunderstanding. I can guarantee that we would never have such an idea, let alone issue such an absurd order!"
He emphasized the word "absolutely", emphasizing his tone.
As the King of Kul Tiras, his guarantee was very credible.
"That's right, there must be some misunderstanding. Everyone is here, let's clarify it here immediately."
Darius was a little indignant, and he turned his head away. Galen had no choice but to step forward and negotiate with him.
He recounted the two incidents that happened last night and this morning one by one.
"I swear in the name of the Valoran Federation and the Demacia Crown Guard family that everything I have said is true." After saying this in a deep voice, Galen looked at them, waiting for their reply.
And as he spoke, everyone realized that they had encountered a werewolf attack in the wilds of Dustwallow Marsh - a full three thousand werewolves!
Among the crowd, the young Jaina felt a chill all over her body. It was she who suggested that Arthas use that method because he was so anxious about the safety of the city. If what Galen said was true, she would be to blame.
All the evidence pointed to Archmage Arugal, and he was becoming extremely flustered.
He had previously thought that the werewolves were ambushed by the reinforcements led by Darius when they were hunting, and he was still grieved about it. But what Galen said was that they were inexplicably attacked by werewolves in the camp, and even more terrifying, people who were bitten by werewolves would also be infected with the "werewolf curse" and turn into werewolves in a few hours!
Arugal himself did not know that such a thing existed.
He was unwilling to believe that the werewolves who were so docile in front of him would actively attack humans and spread the werewolf curse.
But what if all of this was true?
Arugal felt a chill all over his body. He realized that he did not understand his pets at all. How were these werewolves from the Emerald Dream born, what characteristics did they have, what was their true face, he was completely ignorant.
Now everyone was looking at him with suspicion.
Prince Arthas felt a sense of shame at being deceived. It was he who advocated introducing werewolves to help defend the city. In the past three days, the werewolves had performed very well, but if Arugal had secretly released three thousand werewolves into the wilderness and ordered them to attack the reinforcements from the Land of Justice, he himself would also bear the responsibility.
Daelin and Uther had originally been very reluctant to use werewolves, and now that this huge hidden danger was exposed, they were completely caught off guard.
If it was not handled properly, the relationship between the old and new alliances would probably drop to freezing point.
"Archmage Arugal, we hope you can give a reasonable explanation." Daelin stared at Arugal.
Arugal saw the suspicion and hatred in people's eyes. He opened his mouth, wanting to defend himself, but he immediately remembered Captain Marvin's attitude before the start of the battle today, which was a microcosm of everyone's view of him.
Even if he had achieved such great achievements today, relying on the werewolves to save Theramore, ordinary people only respected him on the surface, but actually still despised him;
In Dalaran, the members of the Kirin Tor distanced themselves from him, and ordinary mages mocked him;
Everyone in the world seemed to express all their views on him with indifference and ridicule.
But - why!
"Werewolf curse", he heard Galen describe this virus that spreads through wounds, and his originally panicked heart calmed down.
"No explanation." Arugal replied indifferently, "I did not order the werewolves to attack them."
He was telling the truth, the werewolves in the wilderness launched the attack under the control of instinct.
"Then, the three thousand werewolves who attacked the reinforcements were summoned by you, right?" Daelin stared at the wizard with a stern gaze.
Arugal was silent. He did not want to lie, but he disdained to explain.
Arthas was indignant and shouted loudly, "Arugal, you concealed your summoning ability and summoned more werewolves, secretly banishing them to Dustwallow Marsh! Is that right!"
The people around looked at Arugal with hostile eyes, even the Alliance warriors who had just tried to mediate.
"You want to judge me, don't you?" Arugal said with a sneer, "But I don't accept judgment!"
His figure disappeared instantly, but the voice continued to come: "You deny my achievements, deny my greatness."
"I will prove to you that when I appear again, the whole world will tremble under the claws of the werewolves!"
The voice became farther and farther away, indicating that the owner of the voice was no longer in place.
Arthas's face was ugly, and so were the others.
And losing Arugal's restraint, the werewolves returned to their instincts. They let out terrifying howls and pounced on the surrounding warriors.
—
The Nightmare Lord's claws are all over the Emerald Dream, and he knows everything that happens in this blueprint world. Aiden's intrusion was discovered by him immediately. Harvis sent most of his minions to target these intruders, ambushing and intercepting them on their way forward.
Harvis believed that these twenty-odd people would be completely overwhelmed by the endless siege of Nightmare minions, but the result was not as good as he had expected: although these minions caused some trouble for the intruders, they were not enough to stop them. At most, it could only delay them for a while.
As the overlord of the Dream right now, Harvis believed that if he personally descended, he would surely be able to defeat these people in one fell swoop. Even Ysera, the guardian of the Dream, is no match for him now, so it is not without reason that he has such confidence.
However, when he thought of his master N'Zoth's instructions, he had to force himself to give up this plan. After discovering that Aiden and the others had all flown up, Harvis sent his flying corps to intercept them.
"These guys still don't know that everything is within the master's calculations, right?" Harvis thought.
At this moment, N'Zoth's will was transmitted, inquiring about the situation in the Dream.
Harvis respectfully explained the situation of Aiden and the others clearly.
N'Zoth instructed: "Very good, proceed to the next step of the plan."
"Yes, great master!"
N'Zoth's will receded.
"The all-knowing Old God is much more powerful than the Burning Legion and the Titans," Harvis exclaimed.
The Guardian of Time thought he could see through the changes of the future, but he didn't know that it was the future that the Old God wanted him to see.
N'Zoth doesn't have Nozdormu's ability to travel through timelines, but that's not necessary.
The Nozdormus on countless timelines are all independent individuals, but no matter which timeline N'Zoth is on, they all belong to the same will.
It was because of this characteristic that when Yogg-Saron controlled the Lich King Arthas, he uttered those arrogant words:
"We are bound to a power beyond time, a power beyond destiny. No one can stand against it, not even the Titans or the Burning Legion!"
When Eranikus led the flying Nightmare minions to appear, all the heroes looked at each other in dismay.
With such a large number, they simply had no ability to fight against them.
"We are much faster than them, go around them!" Aiden immediately decided.
Based on the authority of the Blueprint System, he increased the speed of all of them to the limit, and these flying Nightmare minions and green dragons could not exceed them in absolute speed!
Eranikus's order was to intercept these intruders at all costs, but he felt that the Fallen Green Dragon Legion alone was enough to complete the task. Thousands of green dragons are a force to be reckoned with anywhere. This is most of the power of the complete Green Dragon Legion, enough to be worth an army of hundreds of thousands!
He saw Aiden leading the others rushing to the flank, and thought that the other party wanted to find an opportunity to break through the interception, so he immediately led the legion with Tyrannus and Ysondre to surround them, wanting to annihilate the other party.
Ysondre on the left wing was the first to encounter them. She was a female dragon, and before her fall, she was Ysera's most loyal guardian and one of the most powerful green dragons.
"Submit or die!" Ysondre shouted, and as she was about to spew dragon breath to stop everyone, the sky suddenly turned dark and she lost her sight.
"Darkness, coming..." She heard such a gloomy and terrifying voice.
Ysondre couldn't feel any other of her kind around her, she only heard bursts of whistling in her ears. Until a dark creature, somewhat similar to the crawling Nightmare minions on the ground, suddenly appeared in front of her, and the other party emitted two black rays, hitting her head.
The scene in front of Ysondre changed. It turned out that the dark creature that suddenly appeared in front of her was not a Nightmare minion, but her current master, the Nightmare Lord—Lord Harvis!
"Lord, lord, master?" Ysondre saw Harvis staring at her with cold and merciless eyes, as if he was ready to let the Nightmare devour her at any time.
"Hey, stupid dragon, eat my old Sun's staff!"
A slightly high-pitched voice came. Ysondre woke up instantly. What Harvis was in front of her was clearly the dark creature just now!
What she had just seen was just the nightmare of fear that the other party had implanted in her heart, so she would see the object she feared the most!
Realizing this, Ysondre became angry from embarrassment. Just as she was about to use a mouthful of dragon breath to corrode all these guys, the hero who had just called her a "stupid dragon" had already slammed her head with a stick.
"Such a thin stick, are you tickling me?" This was Ysondre's last thought before she maintained her conscious awareness, seeing Sun Wukong's impending attack.
Then, a powerful attack far exceeding the green dragon's expectations knocked Ysondre dizzy and directly knocked her down from the sky.
"Hmph, stupid dragon!" The Great Sage Equaling Heaven's disdain was undisguised. He stomped his feet and lunged at another target, and a somersault cloud was slowly dissipating from where he borrowed strength.
Maiev Shadowsong cut off her connection with the Nightmare Lord with a short blade before the green dragon fell to the ground, and then rushed to other targets.
Although the flying corps had a large number and many individuals were not weak, under the heroes' rapid assault, the left wing of the Green Dragon Legion was quickly torn open. They easily rushed to the back. Those ordinary flying Nightmare creatures could not stop everyone's progress even more. Wherever they went, countless Nightmare creatures were purified.
Failure came so quickly and suddenly. Eranikus led the green dragons to chase for a while, and after discovering that the heroes were getting farther and farther away, he stopped this meaningless behavior.
"Master... we failed..." The terrified Eranikus reported the news to the Nightmare Lord.
"It's a quarter of an hour earlier than I expected, I'm very disappointed," the Nightmare Lord's indifferent voice came.
Punishment followed immediately. Eranikus only felt like countless needles were piercing his head, and he even had the illusion that his soul and brain were already riddled with holes.
He let out a terrifying roar, and the roar made all the Nightmare minions tremble with fear.
— —
After Throw away the Green Dragon Legion, no more Nightmare minions could stop the heroes from advancing.
After flying over the towering Mount Hyjal, a giant tree appeared in Aiden's field of vision.
"G'Hanir, it's G'Hanir!" Broll Bearmantle shouted excitedly.
The G'Hanir in the real world withered ten thousand years ago, and Broll encountered this tree again in the Dream ten thousand years later.
Seeing that the destination was right in front of them, everyone was greatly encouraged. However, as they got closer and closer, Aiden saw the situation near G'Hanir:
Countless Nightmare minions had already surrounded this place, the sky and the ground were full of Nightmare minions. As the last refuge of the green dragons, the remaining green dragons spewed dragon breath and acid in the gaps of the branches, relying on the lush G'Hanir to defend and launch counterattacks.
Only in this way could they barely gain a foothold.
Aiden carefully sensed that he could not find any particularly powerful existence nearby. Neither the Nightmare Lord Harvis, nor Ysera, Malfurion, or Cenarius. They were all not near G'Hanir.
"Where did they go?" Aiden pondered carefully. The hint given to him by the moon goddess Elune indicated that he could find Ysera near G'Hanir. Elune should not be wrong.
He turned his gaze to the green dragons who were fighting against the Nightmare minions. They must know where the queen is!
"We break through!"
Aiden took the lead in rushing towards the Mother Tree in the Dream. Just like before when they broke through Eranikus's blockade, they easily found a breakthrough.
This time, the "Dark Sovereign" Syndra showed her great power. Her vast telekinetic power pushed away all the creatures nearby, creating an empty path in front of everyone.
Aiden entered the inside of the tree trunk, found a green dragon to explain his intentions, and asked: "Where is Queen Ysera?"
"Are you the heroes who entered the Dream?" This green dragon showed a relieved expression.
"That's right."
"At the Eye of Ysera! The Queen, Cenarius, and Malfurion are all there!"