CHAPTER 740: HELPLESS RESPONSE

The final blow to Antonidas’s Mage Tower was, of course, delivered by Duke. If Duke could control the Mage Tower once, he could do so again. What’s more, Antonidas was no longer present.

As if Duke were so timid... Oh, no! A commander like Duke, who considers the overall situation, is cautious, and meticulously verifies the reliability of historical accounts with a wise and heroic demeanor, is truly unique in the world.

Adjectives like these all describe the same situation—overestimating one’s own capabilities! Duke never imagined such a dire predicament would befall him and the Alliance.

Immune to magic!

Invulnerable to swords and guns!

This was simply the legendary invincible body!

The true version of Azeroth had been steadily diverging from the world Duke knew, a divergence partly due to Duke himself. However, at a time when the system couldn’t ascertain the precise correlation between the worlds, Duke, who had already taken deep root in this reality, still had to make ends meet. If they didn’t kill Archimonde and allowed him to destroy the World Tree, once the Burning Legion succeeded, they would have no hope of survival!

How to accomplish this? This was an incredibly challenging... and utterly dreadful task!

The original Archimonde had ascended the World Tree on his own accord, only to be slain by the collective self-explosion of thousands of wisps—known as the Night Elf version of ’Pokémon’! Wisps were ancient souls dwelling in the forests of Kalimdor. Legend had it that they were, in fact, the souls of deceased Night Elves. Wisps lived in harmony with the Night Elves and served the ancient trees, capable of transforming into various arboreal forms and growing into living structures.

For Duke, the most bewildering and impressive aspect of the wisp was its Self-Destruct ability! Miraculously, ordinary people were immune to the wisps’ self-explosion. Only professionals who had mastered magic and summoned creatures would be harmed by the self-explosion. Self-destruction would consume the mage’s mana, commonly known as mana burn. It would cause immense damage to summoned creatures. According to history, Archimonde was clearly defined as a summoned creature! To call him a summoned creature was perhaps a bit inaccurate; more precisely, he was a soul or entity that did not originate from this world.

But the damage caused by a wisp’s self-destruction was also limited. Before Archimonde was gravely injured, a wisp, possessing no attack power and slow movement speed, would be killed if it simply rushed forward. Only when Archimonde was on the verge of death could a wisp use self-destruction to deliver the finishing blow.

Alright! The problem was back to square one! How could they beat a super demon like Archimonde—colossal in size, invulnerable to all manner of attacks, and possessing sky-high physical defense capabilities—half to death?

Duke had more than just a toothache? His eyes hurt! His ears hurt! His heart hurt! His everything hurt!

Despite the headache, as a qualified commander, Duke still announced Archimonde’s arrival as swiftly as possible. During the subsequent military meeting, the senior generals fell into a deathly silence!

The last time, Duke had cast the demon lord Sargeras into the Abyss. The most crucial reason was that Sargeras had arrived only as a soul, bypassing Azeroth’s protective magic circle. This time, it was Archimonde himself who had descended. Although no one knew his full power, everyone’s faces were grim after seeing the images of Dalaran’s ruins that were sent to them afterwards.

Turalyon stroked his increasingly shaggy beard and asked, "Do we have a chance of winning against a monster like this?"

Mograine slammed the table. "This is our world! Our country! Our homeland! Even if the chances of winning are zero, we must stand up in the face of evil!"

Saidan interjected, "Alexandros! Don’t get excited! Without a heart willing to sacrifice itself for justice, no one can become a paladin! Our hearts are united! Turalyon is merely wondering if there’s a better way to eliminate this terrifying demon commander at the lowest possible cost!"

Abendis, who had just arrived yesterday, murmured, "If we can get it done by paying a price, then it’s fine... The worst thing is that there’s no price at all!"

No price, no price! It’s just impossible to fix it!

Duke pondered for a long time and finally made his decision: "Rhonin! I’ll give you an important mission. I’ll send you to Kalimdor. I want you to lead an elite team and find a way to get in touch with the Night Elves as soon as possible. At the very least, you have to warn them of the danger!"

"Understood!" Rhonin nodded vigorously. There was undisguised excitement and enthusiasm in his eyes! Duke had given him such an important task, which was undoubtedly a recognition of him! He had been following Duke for over a decade! He had been growing up, chasing his figure... the affirmation from Sir Duke! Rhonin felt the blood surging in his veins!

"I’ll let Lirath accompany you. You’d better pick a more reliable paladin in the Alliance."

Abendis was startled, then raised his hand. "My daughter Bridget can go. Her team has just been badly damaged and needs to be reorganized."

"Sure!" Duke had no objection. That was settled.

"What about us?" Mograine demanded.

"A demon commander... this is at least a demigod-level existence. This is far beyond the scope of what the Alliance can handle. I will find a way to contact the Wyrmrest Temple. But before that, I hope everyone can disperse the troops relatively to avoid being wiped out all at once..."

When Duke said this, every general had a bitter taste in his mouth. The best way to resist the Scourge was to stick together. Only the most solid lineup and the tightest defense could withstand the endless stream of undead from the Scourge. The safest way to avoid Archimonde was to disperse, which was the only way to avoid being wiped out. This sounded like a self-contradictory paradox.

The alliance of all the kingdoms on the Eastern Kingdoms continent was, in essence, begging Archimonde to go to the more important Well of Eternity and not to the territories of the various countries... How sad! Every general’s heart was filled with frustration.

Duke waved his hand: "Okay, that’s it for now. I need to go find Lothar. Ashbringer is indeed good, but I still need to buy an extra insurance!"

Mograine was stunned for a moment, then nodded, his right hand unconsciously touching the huge hilt of Ashbringer. There was no first in literature, and no second in martial arts. As both were strong men of the Alliance, both were powerful warriors who wielded artifacts. Although Mograine was embarrassed to challenge the poorly-healthy Lothar to a duel due to faction relations, Mograine still wanted to know in his heart and had imagined it countless times: which artifact was more powerful, his Ashbringer or Quel’Zaram?

It seemed that there was a chance now?