Disclaimer - I do not own Warcraft
A few hours later, the ritual ended up in a success. Illidan used all the souls from the recent battle as a source of power. Since the Legion didn't bring that many gunships, it was barely enough. The gunship's engines were the main targets so that they would crash and remove them for the coming battles, at least for the next few days. Illidan specifically chose the engines because he was well aware that all of a gunship's systems relied on the engines
"That should have removed the gunships from the sky." Kel'thuzad said after the ritual finished and all the magical runes slowly disappeared
"Why didn't we just infiltrate the gunships?" Altruis asked
"Because the Legion would be careful this time. They would probably put some kind of ambush on the gunships that would be made specifically for Illidan as he is the only one who is able to sneak on board." Kor'vas answered which satisfied her comrade
"Still, how devastating are these gunships that we want them out of the battle?" Drak'thul asked
"Very devastating. In fact, all of the eastern kingdoms were left in ruins because of the gunships." Kel'thuzad answered and surprised the warlock as not even the orcs were capable of something like that
"All kingdoms? Weren't there like seven of them?" Illysanna asked in pure disbelief
"Yes, all of them. In the early days, the plan to acquire a champion for the Scourge ended in failure and instead of destroying Lordaeron, Dalaran and Quel'thalas by us, the Dreadlords instead decided to simply hide in the populace and get the objectives. During this time, the humans and elves have begun evacuating to Stormwind and Kul'tiras while others went to Kalimdor. When the Legion finally returned to this world, instead of chasing after them to Kalimdor, Archimonde sent Mannoroth and Tichondrius to find a way to get rid of the demigod, Cenarius, while he took control of this entire continent. The humans, gnomes and dwarves have set up defenses to hold off any assault but the Legion completely bypassed them all using the gunships. In addition to its own guns, it possessed the ability to rain down Infernals and Fel Reavers from the sky, which would throw any defensive plans into disarray. I am not certain if there are survivors or not but if there are, the Legion didn't bother putting that much effort into finding them." Kel'thuzad explained, emphasizing the impact of the gunships
"That makes sense. The humans didn't have anything to take control of the skies except for riders on Gryphons or Dragonhawks while we had the enslaved Red Dragons but those weren't enough to decide victory. If the gunships had this much capability then it makes perfect sense that we destroy them now." Drak'thul commented
"Agreed. When Archimonde finally launched the invasion of Kalimdor, he took about two thirds of our forces along with half of his demons with him while the rest were ordered to stay in Lordaeron, ready to travel to Kalimdor if they needed reinforcements. Balnazzar was then ordered to keep an eye on us as the Legion didn't seem to trust us." a death knight said and approached the group. "Name's Baron Rivendare."
"After that, the Legion made their main stronghold in Silvermoon, the capital of the High Elves and they were guarding the corrupted Sunwell in the hopes of turning it into a gateway if they needed it." Kel'thuzad continued
"If the Sunwell is now a gateway, why aren't there that much more demons?" Kor'vas pointed out and from the looks of things, even Kel'thuzad had no idea
"Lich, is the breach you opened for the Legion in Dalaran still active?" Illidan asked
"Yes, it is. Why?" Kel'thuzad asked curiously
"That is why the Legion didn't turn the Sunwell. Opening a gateway that bridges two worlds would risk one, if not, both world's destruction if too many are opened all at once." Illidan explained and looked at Illysanna. "Think about the sundering but this time, only much worse. It would turn one or both of the worlds involved into nothing but a desolate wasteland at best and at worst, it would be nothing more than floating rocks." he finished
"How do you know that?" Rivendare asked
"Let's just say my mentor was one that knew a lot of secrets about this world and about magic." Illidan responded vaguely but it wasn't a complete lie. The only thing Illidan was curious is how Azshara knew a lot of Azeroth's secrets
"If that is the case then does that mean that the Burning Legion wants this world intact?" Drak'thul stated
"It is logical to conclude that." Kel'thuzad agreed and they all fell into a contemplative silence
"What happened after the other kingdoms were destroyed?" Altruis asked eventually
"Aside from Quel'thalas, Kul'tiras and Dalaran were also made into their strongholds but not as defended as Quel'thalas while the other kingdoms were left only with a small force to keep an eye on things. From the Legion's point of view, the other kingdoms had no strategic value in their attempt to invade Kalimdor." Rivendare answered
"Then that means there are more demons to pick off." Kor'vas said, thinking that they would have to hunt them all down
"No." Illidan said and confused everyone before looking at the lich. "If it's alright with you, we launch a full scale assault on Quel'thalas."
"Why Quel'thalas? What about the other strongholds?" another lich, Araj the Summoner, asked
"Because if Quel'thalas falls, then the Legion forces here will be cut off from the Twisting Nether, which is something they cannot afford or they would be left vulnerable. Attacking Quel'thalas would force them to recall their forces from the other kingdoms, saving us the trouble of hunting them all down." Illidan explained
"But if we do that then our flanks would be exposed." Araj pointed out
"That is true but the plan kind of makes sense. If we go after the other kingdoms, then Quel'thalas might risk it and will simply bring in more demons which would make it more difficult, maybe even impossible, to take over. Even if we manage to drive out the demons from the other kingdoms, it would mean nothing if we get wiped out trying to attack Quel'thalas afterwards. It's basically us picking our poison." Rivendare said, surprising the night elves and other undead with his statement. The death knight then looked at Kel'thuzad and awaiting the Lich King's orders
"The Lich King agrees to your plan, demon hunter, however, he does ask something in return." Kel'thuzad said, the demon hunter's group got suspcious while Illidan merely motioned for him to continue. "If we succeed, then he wants to meet you in person."
"What assurance do we have that you won't turn him into one of your undead?" Kor'vas asked almost immediately
"You don't. Even I do not know what the Lich King wants. That is just a chance you'll have to take." Kel'thuzad said with an honesty that surprised the demon hunter's allies
Illidan thought about this for a few minutes. He could come up with something to save himself if the undead try something but he doesn't have the time. On the other hand, if the Legion stays in Quel'thalas, then Kil'jaeden might enter this world, which would be more devastating. It would seem that the Lich King really wants to ensure that he can talk with him. "And if I refuse?" he asked eventually
"Then you will be free to do what you want. You will not be the enemies of the Scourge unless you provoke us but you will not have our aid in driving out the Legion. We will still continue fighting them but only on our own terms." Kel'thuzad answered
"Fine then." Illidan said but his allies were not so pleased
"But Illidan..." Illysanna objected
"Enough. If Kil'jaeden steps into this world then it would be a lot worse, for all of us, including for those who are in Kalimdor. We have to cut the Legion off from this world before they are ready to launch another invasion or we will not survive the next one." Illidan said, shutting any further objections up
"While I personally don't think it is a good idea, I agree with your decision." Drak'thul said and the demon hunter crossed his arms, indicating he wanted the warlock to expand. "Kil'jaeden is the one responsible for how we orcs became the Legion's slave and he did it with almost no magic involved. All he did was take advantage of Ner'zhul's grief and it set off a chain of events that led to our corruption. Even if we somehow managed to survive, it wouldn't matter. Kil'jaeden would have gotten what he wanted by then." he explained
"Very well then." Kel'thuzad said before looking at all the other liches and necromancers. "Raise all those that have fallen. I will repurpose the demon gate so we can bring in Frost Wyrms from Northrend."
"You have forces in Northrend?" Kor'vas asked curiously
"Our main stronghold is actually located in Northrend. The forces that were here are the ones that we raised from the ruined kingdoms. We didn't bring any of our forces stationed in Northrend for the invasion and the Lich King has been using them to protect himself from the Dreadlords." Kel'thuzad explained before moving to the demon gate and channeling his powers
As the other liches and death knights began raising the corpses into undeath, Illysanna motioned that she wanted to speak with Illidan in private so they headed up a destroyed tower. "Illidan, what the hell are you thinking? Why are you trusting the undead that easily?" she demanded to know, completely unafraid of the demon hunter despite the fact thet he could kill her with barely any effort
"What makes you think I trust them?" Illidan asked curiously
"Nearly killing everyone here is one thing but you do realize that this 'Lich King' is asking to meet you in his territory. That does not even consider the fact that any undead that dies won't matter since they can simply bring them back. What the hell are you thinking?" Illysanna argued
"This isn't any different when I absorbed Gul'dan's power, Illysanna." Illidan said calmly before looking down and noticing frost wyrms moving through the demon gate. "I made that choice because I needed that power to fight the Legion. While I was still hungry for power, this is mostly the same. When I took the skull, I had no idea what would happen to me. All I know is that I risk that or the Legion would continue corrupting Ashenvale and I wouldn't have gotten the power I needed to infiltrate the gunships. Besides, do you really want the Legion to remain here?"
"So, you're willing to take the chance that you will become the Lich King's slave?" Illysanna retorted and crossed her harms
"As willing as I am to actually attack the Legion's main stronghold." Illidan answered before summoning four magical stones. "Take this with you and give one to Altruis, Kor'vas and Drak'thul."
"What is this?" Illysanna asked as she examined the object
"It's a piece of a magical rock I found near the Tomb of Sargeras. I used the Shadow Orb to allow one to instantly teleport to the rock but this will break after it is used." Illidan answered
"You never expected to make it out of this, did you?" Illysanna asked as she understood what the demon hunter was saying
"Considering we are outnumbered and our allies aren't one that we have worked with before, is that really surprising?" Illidan quickly retorted
"My father always said you were trouble. I guess he was right." Illysanna said with a smile
"What can I say? My life now isn't as simple as what I had before." Illidan said with his own smile. Their attention was soon taken when a massive surge of energy was released in a wide, open courtyard. The duo looked at the source and found multiple liches channeling their energies. "They're trying to summon something."
"What?" Illysanna asked
"I do not know. I guess we'll just have to wait and see." Illidan said and continued to observe
It took a few minutes before something began to appear and it looked at like some sort of floating structure
"What is that?" Illysanna asked as the structure was slowly materializing
Illidan didn't give a response and merely continued to observe. Eventually, it was finished and it was massive. Illysanna jumped down the side of the building, landing on some broken edges so she does not fall to her death, so she could ask what that was. Illidan did the same thing even though he could have simply flown and the two of them approached the gathered liches
"What is that thing?" Illysanna asked curiously
Instead of a lich answering, it was a creature that stepped out of an entrance to the structure. "This is our Necropolis, Naxxramas. The Scourge's main mobile fortress." an insect like creature said. "I am Anub'arak, ancient king of the spider kingdom, Azjol'nerub." he introduced himself
"Illysanna Ravencrest."
"Illidan Stormrage."
"Yes, I have heard about you, demon hunter. Our King has mentioned that you were the one who helped us sabotage the Legion's invasion." Anub'arak said, looking at said person. "It is also nice to see a night elf in the flesh." looking at Illysanna
"This Necropolis will allow us to have an advantage similar to what the Legion had with their gunships. Since this is made from an ancient ziggurat, it will be much sturdier than a gunship." Anub'arak commented as a lot of undead warriors were inside the necropolis
"But it doesn't possess the same kind of firepower as the gunships, do they?" Drak'thul asked as he walked to them
"No, it does not but it does have enough to at least attack from the skies." Anub'arak answered before walking back inside and giving orders
"We better get some rest otherwise we'll be too tired for the coming battle." Illysanna said and walked to find some place where she could rest
Illidan looked as she left but didn't go anywhere. Being part demon, he didn't need rest as much as the rest of his group did and instead decided to have a look inside the necropolis. He was quite surprised that part of it seemed to be an experiment lab. The demon hunter figured that the undead really took from the Legion in terms of experimenting on their own troops. He didn't really complain since he did become a demon. "So, how long before we can move out?" he aked when he felt Kel'thuzad approach
"Around four hours. It should give your allies the time they need to rest." Kel'thuzad replied
"You undead seem to be rather cooperative." Illidan commented with a hint of suspicion
"Well, we do not want the Legion to take this world so it shouldn't come as a surprise. You need our help because you are outnumbered against them and we need yours because of your knowledge of them. It is as simple as that." Kel'thuzad responded
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Illidan said with a slight smirk that was barely noticeable. At this point, he had some suspicions on what Ner'zhul wanted from him. If what he was thinking is true, then the bigger question is what would happen after
"Demon hunter, listen. We will be able to move out in four hours, as I mentioned earlier however, from Gul'dan's memories, you would know that travelling from here to Quel'thalas takes a few days." Kel'thuzad spoke
"What about it? Let me guess, the Necropolis will allow us to reach our destination in less than an hour." Illidan said
"Yes, we will dispatch a force to attack directly from the front however, I, along with the Nerubians, will burrow our way underground and eliminate the generator that powers the defensive towers that the Legion have set up." Anub'arak said as he walked up to the duo and got their attention
Illidan wasn't a bit surprised at the suggestion. He was well aware of the towers the Legion are using thanks to the crystal Kel'thuzad gave him and he knew that the commander of the Legion forces is Mephistroth. He wasn't that familiar with this particular dreadlord but he figured that Mephistroth must be among the more powerful dreadlords. "I understand. You are aware that you risk getting killed?"
"We are the servants of the Lich King. We will live forever." Anub'arak declared with pride
'Zealots.' Illidan thought to himself. "Fine. Inform me when we are ready." he said and went outside. It didn't take him long to find where the others were and they were resting so he decided to head to the floor above in the destroyed building they were in and just waited there
Five hours later
The Scourge were already in the outskirts of Quel'thalas, right beyond the range of any defenses the Legion had set up. Illidan's group were in a separate sky barge, a flying ship that the Scourge uses based on the Goblin Zeppelins, which Drak'thul had made invisible. Naxxramas flew down to the ground and dropped off an army. Almost immediately, demons charged out recklessly which Naxxramas just killed off. Illidan and Drak'thul also dropped off from the sky barge. Along with the undead warriors and the necropolis, the demon hunter killed off any demons and spectres in the immediate area. Illidan fired off weaker eye beam after eye beams, which set the nearby places on fire
"We're all clear." Illidan said as he used his spectral sight to check the immediate area and found nothing
Anub'arak then came out of the necropolis along with a large number of undead nerubians. Necromancers, liches and death knights also came out of the necropolis in order to attack through the front gates. Kel'thuzad decided to take control of Naxxramas himself and provide cover from above
"We will head underground and tunnel our way. Meet you on the inside of their stronghold." Anub'arak said and he, along with the other nerubians, headed underground
"Then I guess we'll have to distract them as much as we can so they direct more troops here." Drak'thul commented
"Indeed. Illysanna, Altruis, Kor'vas, the three of you hide and kill anyone trying to flank us. Take some of the undead with you." Illidan ordered and the three nodded in understanding. They got off the sky barge and went into the dead forests to their south with Illysanna ordering the air transport to be hidden. "Let's move." the demon hunter said and as if on cue, the death knights quickly charged. They soon arrived on a small ridge that overlooked the first line of defense on the way to Silvermoon. Almost immediately, the came under attack from the Legion's siege weapons, which rained down fireballs on them. Many of the undead warriors were killed in this barrage as it seemed never to end
"Damn this. Bring up the meat wagons. We'll fire our own siege weapons." a death knight ordered and the undead followed through. Meat wagons lined up and flinged corpses back. The demons were rather wise not to recklessly attack and instead remained behind the towers
After a few minutes, a small group of nerubians came out of the ground very close to the nearest generator. It ended up in a bloody battle with one of the nerubians dismantling the generator while the others held off any defending demons. Since this was only a small group, it wasn't too surprising but it did its job. The towers were weakened because of the attacks which allowed the catapults to eventually break them. The moment they fell down, the death knights gave the order to attack and the raced down the ridge, joining the battle which ended up in a brutal battle. Illidan and Drak'thul hanged behind and used their powers to provide cover for the undead
The warlock summoned a monsoon which rained down lightning bolts on the battlefield, hitting demons and undead alike. As long as the necromancers and liches are kept alive, they will be fine. Any battle the undead wins would end up a victory as their numbers grow regardless of their losses because they would simply raise all those who have fallen. In the meantime, Illidan made the ground erupt with fel fire, scorching anyone nearby. There were also two ruins of crashed gunships, which Illidan and Drak'thul took advantage of by firing explosive spells, making it explode and a huge part of the battlefield on fel fire
The demons weren't slacking off. The warlocks casted fel shields to help their brute warriors while instantly killing any lesser undead who let their guard down. Liches also used their own icy spells which ended up in a stalemate, most of the time. Soon, fel bats and nether dragons came flying that at first, turned the tide of the battle in the demon's favor until Naxxramas deployed gargoyles and frost wyrms. It was this point that Illidan joined in the melee while skeleton warriors defended Drak'thul so he can continue casting. The demon hunter sliced demon after demon with his twin blades. He decided to ignore the demon's melee warriors and flew into the sky, flinging a few lightning bolts and fireballs in the aerial battle before heading straight into the eredar warlocks, slicing them up with easy along with anyone that tried to protect them
Illidan was attacked by a nether dragon which threw him around the battle field and slashed him across his torso before he managed to regain his footing. A doom guard tried to flank him but he saw right through it and jumped behind the doom guard, letting it take the nether dragon's claw and killed instantly while he flew above and landed on the back of the dragon's neck. From above, he fired down eye beams on the battle field and on many gather air forces which took them out while the nether dragon he was on tried to get him off but failed. When he had done enough damage, Illidan summoned back one of the twin blades before cleaving its neck, sending it crashing to the ground, killing more demons and undead
The battle soon ended after that with only a few handful of undead remaining. Some liches and death knights fell in battle but this was a victory. Naxxramas soon dropped off a few more liches and necromancers who then began raising the fallen warriors
"This was a victory but the next one will be more difficult. There are only a few outposts that lie between here and Silvermoon before we reach their main stronghold." Araj said as he casted a spell similar to a death knight's aura, which began slowly healing the survivors
"Anub'arak had better succeeded in taking down the generators or we won't even be able to get that far in the stronghold." Rivendare mumbled
"Lich, have the demons made any major changes to their stronghold from what Kel'thuzad gave me?" Illidan asked
"No. They haven't erected more defensive towers but more patrols were sent out. Their stronghold still remained only reacher a bit further beyond the borders of Silvermoon." Araj replied to which Illidan then began walking away
"I'll go out and try to find any alternate points of entry while you raise the corpses here." Illidan said before flying away
During the whole battle, the night elves lied waiting in a different area in the borders of the former lands of the high elves. As Naxxramas headed deeper into Legion territory and when the battle has been joined, a demon patrol was on the way back, intending to attack the undead forces from behind. Instead, they were the ones ambushed when Illysanna had skeleton archers attack them from the treeis. Caught off guard, the demons were killed and were barely able to fight back when the lich with them casted a frost nova, which threw them into disarray. They only suffered a few ghoul casualties but it didn't matter as the lich began raising the fallen warriors
"This was only one patrol. There might be more." a necromancer said
"What do we do now? Illidan and the others should be deeper in Quel'thalas right now." Kor'vas asked curiously
Illysanna thought about this for a few minutes. "Do we have some shades?" she asked the lich, who responded by summong a few shades. "Alright, you head out on all the roads that would lead to Quel'thalas. The rest of us will stay on the main road and hold position there. One of you go check on the army." she ordered
"As you wish, night elf." one of the shades replied before they all left
Illysanna was somewhat surprised that the undead took orders from her. She could understand them taking orders from Illidan given his moniker as the 'demon hunter' but this was different. She wasn't even on the same level as Illidan even in a commander situation and her experience in command was only from the few times during the War of the Ancients and it wasn't even in the army. It was only of a small group of soldiers who got lost or had no orders from Jarod. Illysanna concluded that the Scourge and the Lich King are serious about having a conversation with Illidan as they aren't even disrespecting anyone in his group but she still remained somewhat suspicious
Here it is. The first major battle of the story. Now, I didn't forget about the forces in the other kingdoms such as the Blackrock Orcs. I have something planned for a major twist later in the story much later. What happened to them or why they were absent for the rest of this battle, well, those will be in the next few chapters.
About the Nerubians, I'm not exactly sure if they're able to tunnel their way thru the ground and if they are, what the full extent of that is but here, I'm gonna make it that they can tunnel their way underground. On where I got this idea it was in the mission in TFT where Arthas returned to Northrend and was ambushed by the Blood Elves but Anub'arak saved him. I doubt Anub'arak was just waiting in that certain spot so I'm guessing they tunneled their way thru
That's about it for now