Disclaimer - I do not own Warcraft
Kor'vas was slashed across her torso by the anarasi when she tried to get up. She thought about entering her demon form again but with such close proximity to her enemies, it was not impossible for them to be able to severely injure or worse, kill her. Before she could even make another move, a doom guard slammed his sword at her but she rolled out of the way. Not wanting her to escape, the aranasi quicly sealed the entire room while the other demons tried to kill her. Kor'vas eventually had enough of dodging and decided for something else. 'Illidan, if you're in one of the gunships, have them destroy all the other ones.' she said telepathically
'Aren't you in one of them?' Illidan asked curiously while he himself was in another gunship
'Just do it.' Kor'vas replied
Illidan took notice of her tone which was urgent. While he had plans to use the gunship to bombard the ground forces, he decided to agree to his subordinate. Once the weapons were retargetted, he open fired
All the other gunships took the attack and were slowly being damaged. They were aware that at least one of them were infiltrated by the enemy but none of them dared to do anything and just relied on its crew to deal with the infiltrators. As such, it was only a matter of time before they would crash into the ground
"What's going on?" the anarasi who ambushed Kor'vas asked as her ship was being rocked
"The sound of the tables turning." Kor'vas replied with a smirk. Taking advantage of the distraction, she threw her last dagger at the aranasi, hitter the demon right in the eye. She then quickly jumped up and stepped on a fel guard's face as she rolled to the other side of the room, careful to maintain her balance. This finally forced the demon's to snap out of the distraction from the rocking ship but it was a second too late. Kor'vas had already entered her demon form and used her powers to bind some of the demons while unleashing an eye beam. This did end up destroying one of the sealed doors but it caused the ship to rock even more, slightly knocking her off balance and it caused some debris to fall down. This allowed the barely alive aranasi to pull out the dagger and throw it at her, injuring Kor'vas as it was right in the chest. Before the fight could progress, the ship was broken in half due to the damage from Illidan's gunship
Seizing the opportunity, Kor'vas took out the dagger and jumped out as the gunship finally crashed down. However, this ended up attracting more fel bats when they saw her and she was further injured. Before the fel bats could kill her or even be joined by nether dragons, a lightning storm struck and killed a whole lot of them. As Kor'vas was falling to the ground due to her injuries, Illidan caught her
'Are the rest of you close to the demon gate?' Illidan asked his demon hunters, all of which minus Kayn, who was still trying to sneak his way to it, gave an affirmative response. 'Good. Kayn, meet me and take care of Kor'vas. The rest of you, attack the guards at the demon gate.'
Allari and Altruis quickly did as told and threw around fireballs at the demons. The time for sneaking around has passed and pointless as the demon gate was littered with spectres. The duo was attacked from behind by demon warlocks but Illysanna had their back and blocked most of the spells. The three of them continued to push forward until they were at the demon gate
In the meantime, Illidan killed the demons on top of a small hill and set down Kor'vas so she could rest. As expected, Kayn arrived shortly after and provided cover as Illidan immediately began channeling his magics on the demon gate. Immediately, the demons focused on the lich king and due to their sheer numbers, a lot of them were able to get through Illysanna, Allari and Altruis. Kayn grew worried as he knew that even he would not be able to hold off that many demons on his own. His worries were alleviated when Sevis and Candrael arrived. Combining their powers, Kayn, Sevis and Candrael combined their powers to create a shield of fel energy around Illidan. It would not last that long against many repeated attacks but at least it would protect their master
"Uh oh, trouble." Allari said as she was the first one to see two pit lords step out of the demon gate. Altruis and Illysanna quickly killed the demon they were fighting in order to look at what Allari was talking about
"Damn it, it seems like this would not be easy to close." Illysanna said before being forced to dodge an incoming attack
While none of the three were even slightly intimidated by this, they knew it would not be easy to kill the pit lords even if they targetted its worst blind spot, its back
"We don't have to kill these demons, at least not now." Altruis said while he was running around dodging incoming attacks. "All we have to do is buy Illidan enough time to close the demon gate. We can kill them later." he pointed out
"He's right. Just keep the demons busy but if you can kill them, go for it." Illysanna ordered. The other two nodded in understanding and focusd on killing the lesser demons, knowing full well that pit lords don't have that much speed
At that same time, Sevis, Kayn and Candrael were having their own problems with the incoming fel bats and nether dragons. The dragons in particular proved to be a problem because they were capable of crushing the three demon hunters underfoot. In response, Kayn flew up and landed on the back of one of the dragons, which is also its blindspot. Taking advantage of a dragon's inability to effectively fight an enemy on their backs, Kayn jumped from the back of one dragon to another while slashing their necks. It did not instantly kill them but at the very least it would keep them from becoming a problem for a few minutes
On the ground, Sevis and Candrael fought back to back against the demons, making coordinated attacks and working very well together in keeping each other alive
"This is just great." Candrael commented after a while of fighting and looked towards the others
Curious, Sevis followed her line of sight and saw their other three comrades trying to dodge attacks from two pit lords. What he found intruiging was the fact that the three weren't even trying to kill them. "They've got the right idea. We don't have to kill them. We just need to buy the master enough time." he said as he caught on to what the other three were doing
"I wonder how long it would take for the demons to figure out that we're just delaying them." Kayn pondered as he jumped back down to the ground
"Hardly matters. Just focus on killing the demons for now before the shield around Lord Illidan is broken." Candrael ordered
"Agreed. Just leave the pit lords to them." Sevis agreed and the trio fought on more demons
Much to all the demon hunter's surprise, it took twenty minutes of trying to kill them before the pit lords realized that they were being led on a fruitless chase. None of the demons were even able to inflict that significant damage on the hunters because they were focused on delaying instead of engaging. One of the pit lords finally realized this and looked around to why this was. The lizard demon eventually saw the reason and found more demon hunters on a nearby hill. He then spoke in demonic language to make sure that none of their enemes understood. The pit lord then left the chase of the demon hunters to his minions and made a b line for the hill
"Trouble." Sevis said as he saw what happened down below
"Leave him to me." Kayn said as he sheathed his swords. He then grabbed the weapon of a nearby fallen fel guard before flying up, catching a ride on a fel bat. He quickly forced the fel bat to fly in the pit lord's direction. When he was above his target, he cleaved the fel bat in two before jumping straight down. As he was nearing the ground, Kayn extended his wings to slow down his fall and landed on the pit lord's back. He intentionally landed hard just to attract the pit lord's attention
Grunting in annoyance, the pit lord tried to turn around but couldn't due to how his body was shaped. Instead, he tried to shake off whatever was on his back but stopped when he suddenly felt his head pierced by an axe. The pit lord yelled in fury just as Kayn flew off his back right before the demon exploded
Kayn then quickly landed on the other pit lord as he went to rendezvous with Illysanna. However, he was quickly thrown off when an eredar warlock fired a powerful lightning bolt at him. Before the pit lord could finish him off, Allari saw what he was doing and threw her sword right at the pit lord's belly, causing him to bleed. Altruis then finished it off with a doom guard's sword right through the head, creating another explosion while Illysanna created a shield around Kayn to give him time to recover
"Look." Allari said while the smoke from the explosion still smothered the battlefield. Using the smoke as cover, the four of them observed the demon gate and saw it was finally closing
"Anyone else still have their explosives?" Illysanna asked and in response, Altruis and Allari pulled out theirs. "Good. Blow up the demon gate." she ordered and made the smoke thicker with her magic, giving her fellow hunters enough time to sneak right towards the demon gate. When it finally closed, the explosives detonated and destroyed it
"Let's go back and meet up with Illidan." Kayn suggested and no one complained about that, still using the smoke to avoid detection
"What now? There's still a large army between us and the rest of our forces." Sevis asked when they all regrouped
"I guess we'll have to fight our way through." Kayn muttered. Surprisingly, he was not excited about this as even he realized that he needed some rest and that the odds were stacked against them
Suddenly, a raven landed near them and shapeshifted into a human. The other demon hunters quickly got into a battle stance and considered the human a hostile but Illidan had them stand down
"Khadgar, what are you doing here?" Illidan asked suspiciously
"Just hold still. I'll get you back to the borders between Nagrand and Zangarmarsh." Khadgar said and began casting a teleportation spell. When the demons came close to attack them, Illidan unleashed another blizzard to freeze or slow them down with just enough for the archmage to get them out of there
Khadgar teleported the demon hunters right towards where the undead were creating more defenses. Drak'thul was personally overseeing the defenses when arcane light suddenly appeared and when it vanished, there stood the demon hunters and a human mage. The undead quickly moved to attack the human but the orc warlock had them stand down. "Who are you and what are you doing here, human?" Drak'thul asked in a neutral tone. If Illidan had allowed him to teleport them here, then that simply means that this human was not a threat
"I am Khadgar, an archmage of the Alliance." the archmage answered and the orc's eyes widened in surprise as he has heard about this human in particular. "We have a common enemy although now is probably not the time to discuss this."
Drak'thul looked at Illidan for confirmation and the lich king merely nodded his head. "You have my thanks, Khadgar." Illidan said before opening a telepathic link. 'Varian, Fordring, Mograine, Maiev, the demon gate and gunships are all down. Press the attack.' he ordered
"If i'm not mistaken, you would be the Alliance that travelled through the Dark Portal." Drak'thul mused
"How do you know about it?" Khadgar asked curiously
"I assumed the Alliance would do just that seeing it was the only logical way to end the Horde during the second war." Drak'thul answered
"Chat later." Illysanna reprimanded the two. "Drak'thul, what has been going on while we were at the demon gate?" she asked
Illidan then looked at Khadgar and the human understood what the lich king wanted. The archmage transformed back into a raven and flew away
"For now, we have only brought the male Draenei here with us as a guide. The battle for Zangarmarsh is brutal as you no doubt have witnessed yourselves. While we have cut off the immediate reinforcements, the Legion still have more demon gates open which means we will have to fight our way to each demon gate if we are to have any chance to turn this into an even fight." Drak'thul answered, knowing full well that despite their ability to raise the dead, the Legion still have more resources than them
"I guess we'll be here for a while." Kor'vas mused as she heard that part of the conversation
"Well, since when was fighting the Legion easy." Allari said
"For now, get some rest. I'll go join in on the front." Illidan said and flew away
Black Temple
A fel orc was running around the hall's temple heading right towards the throne room. "Lord Magtheridon!" the fel orc said when he was granted entrance. "The demon gate in Zangarmarsh has been closed. The undead are slowly gaining control over the swamp." he reported
In response, Magtheridon slammed the ground with his spear, frightening all of his minions in the room. "Incompetent fool!" he yelled and fired a blast of energy at the fel orc who barely managed to dodge it. "These are just some blasted undead! How in the hell are you losing to them?!" he raged out
"My lord, the undead are aided by a demons." the fel orc nervously stammered
"How many are they?" Matheridon asked
"From observations, there were eight of them. However, there might be more of them." the fel orc answered
"Leave, unless you want me to cleave you in two." Magtheridon ordered menacingly
"But what about your orders?" the fel orc asked
"Continue your assault and put pressure on both these undead and the Draenei." Magtheridon answered. "These upstarts are tiresome gnats, nothing more. The might of Magtheridon cannot be denied! I am the Lord of Outland! Those who dispute my rule will soon regret their folly." he declared and immediately, his minions all left the room. Much to his surprise, things were going all according to plan, for now at least. The only question is would Illidan figure it out while he is here in which case the Legion would have to rely on their more shaky backup plan
Terokkar Forest
In the borders between the forest and Zangarmarsh, the pressure the Legion exerted there was slowly dwindling thanks to Kayn's assault on the artillery positions and the undead's assault on the other side of Zangarmarsh
This allowed the draenei to slowly push the demons back. Alleria herself was fighting in this battlefield
"Lady Alleria!" a high elf warrior called out to the ranger while she was firing her arrows
"What?" Alleria asked before she forced her fellow high elf out of the way, as the warrior was distracted while pointing to the sky, when the demon's siege weapons opened fire their way. "Take out those contraptions before they slaughter us!" she yelled and the other draenei and Alliance troops quickly dispersed to avoid getting killed in only a few shots. The ranger then moved out as she did not want to stay in one location in one location for too long. Her attention was taken when an arcane blast suddenly came across a nearby group of demons which gave the draenei more room to move around and target the siege weapons
"Alleria." Khadgar called out
"Khadgar? Where have you been?" Alleria asked
"Zangarmarsh. The undead's leader have already closed the demon gate there." Khadgar answered
"What? It hasn't been a day since they arrived." Alleria said in shock
"Tell me about it. They have some elves that wield the same kind of powers the demons do and they were the ones that were able to close the gate." Khadgar answered
"I see. In that case, we need to push the demons back as soon as we can." Alleria pondered and received a curious look from the archmage. "You have spoken with their leader, have you not?" she asked since that's what she figured he was doing
"I have. Why? And how did you know?" Khadgar asked in surprise
"It's the only place you could have been if you flew around otherwise you would still be held up in the fighting." Alleria answered. "You need to go back towards Shattrath and bring in our own ships. We need to attack Zangarmarsh from both sides. The demon gate may be closed but the Legion still has other demon gates open."
"That is true. The undead's leader, Illidan, also seems to focus on closing the demon gate before even thinking about engaging in a full front war. He wants to trap the Legion's forces here and kill them." Khadgar said as he thought about what his friend said. "Alright, I'll go." he said and flew back
Alleria then quickly went to the main battle nearby and fired her arrows at the demons, providing cover for her subordinates. She tried to take another arrow from her quiver only to notice something. "Damn it." she muttered she realized she was out of arrows. Instead, Alleria grabbed her swords and charged into the melee. She used the chaos from the battlefield to kill a few demon spellcasters before she herself was hit by a lightning bolt which brutally stung her
The demons then quicky tried to swarm the fallen ranger but she still had barely enough strength to run away and the other draenei were able to fend off the demons, preventing them from killing her. Two of them escorted her to safety while the others bought them time as the demons still outnumbered them. All of a sudden, a volley of holy energy soon came their way and killed a lot of the demons, forcing them to disengage or get slaughtered. Two of the Legion's gunships returned fire but the draenei were eventually able to take them out of the sky
Alleria was then teleported onto one of the draenei ships. To her surprise, Velen was on board and quickly healed her wounds. "Velen, you're joining the battle?" she asked in surprise
"I am. I actually want a word with the undead's leader." Velen said honestly. Everyone wondered what he wanted but none of them bothered to voice their question
Two Days Later
After two whole days of near endless fighting, the Legion's forces were finally driven out of Zangarmarsh
Illidan's undead forces quickly took control over the Legion's main outpost. Many liches and val'kyrs began raising all of the demons into undeath while the others began setting up the defenses. The Legion would no doubt retaliate and they needed to be ready before the counter attack began
Aedon and Yrel were then escorted by the undead towards the outpost by Anya. "Lord Illidan, I have brought them as you ordered." the dark ranger said when they found her master
"Good. You may leave." Illidan replied and the dark ranger left. "So, it would seem that you two did not lie." he commented and the two noticeably tensed. "Go back to Shattrath and inform your leaders of what we have discussed."
Before either draenei could respond, an arcane glow suddenly appeared near them. The undead tensed but their master ordered them to relax as he knew who this belonged two. Just a few seconds later, he was proven right as Khadgar appeared but this time, he was with two other individuals. The lich king figured this would be the draenei's leader, Velen and the other was not one he recognized but she had the spitting image of Sylvanas
"Archmage." Illidan greeted
"Prophet." Yrel said as she and Aedon walked over to their leader
"Are you two the only ones that survived in Nagrand?" Alleria asked
"No. The Legion took more of us as prisoners however, we managed to escape and go through the demon gate in Nagrand. The others were killed in our escape." Aedon answered sadly
"We ended up on Azeroth and we were found by the undead." Yrel added
"You have our gratitude for your help..." Velen said as he waited for the demon hunter's name
"Illidan Stormrage." he introduced himself, which Velen and Alleria did the same
"Wait, Illidan. What happened, to the Alliance and Quel'thalas?" Alleria asked and hoped that her worst fears were not a reality
"The Legion destroyed all of the Eastern Kingdoms. The only ones that survived was an expedition that left for Kalimdor before the demons arrived." Illidan answered and as expected, Alleria grimaced. "The territory you once had are now mine." this reponse surprised the high elf and before she could speak, Illidan cut her off. "You have been fighting the Legion for years now. Did you honestly not consider the possibility that you would no longer see the place you once called home again?" he asked sharply. He was about to mention about Theramore Isle but in doing so it would reveal that they have been spying on the Alliance so he decided against it
"Regardless of that, I do not think this is the time for us to talk about that." Velen said before the two elves could argue. "Illidan, what is it you want here?" he asked
"Let's just say I have business and I don't want the Legion to interfere." Illidan said vaguely
"What do you mean?" Khadgar asked but Illidan merely kept his silence and the archmage got the message
"Does this mean we are allies in this war?" Velen asked, wanting to make sure about this
"There is something that I want for this." Illidan replied which did not come as a surprise. "I want any gateway that links Outland to Azeroth permanently sealed." he finished
"Can you also do that to worlds that isn't Azeroth?" Velen asked
"As long as there is a gateway or portal to close, yes." Illidan replied
"I think we should make the negotiations later and focus on our common enemy." Khadgar said before Velen could propose something
"The archmage is right. We need to deal with the Legion before they launch a counter attack." Illidan asked. "Their gunships make it difficult to gain ground and they're beginning to ambush us should we try to sneak our way in." he explained
"If that is the case, we draenei have crafted siege weapons made specifically to take out the gunships however, they are not airborne. We need to get them close enough or the gunships would be out of range." Velen answered
"Then that settles it." Maiev said as she overheard the last part of the conversation and got their attention. "If the Draenei are fighting the Legion then I see no reason to turn this into a three way war. However, we need to choose which area of this world we need to attack first, the mountains to the north or the peninsula to the east." she said
Again, nothing special. I wanted this chapter and the previous one to focus more on the demon hunters. The demons are their main targets anyway so I wanted to give this one to them. I did skip the regular battles because those are usually tedious and sometimes boring. I want to get this to the important parts while still telling the story
That's it for now