American comics: Starting with Luke the Maker

“So, this is your elves' reply?” A young shaman from the Frostwolf clan opened his somewhat狰狞 mouth, filled with fangs, and spoke in a deep voice to the elf before him.

“The elves of Quel'Thalas will not yield to anyone, any power. Until you explain what despicable means you used to influence the Sunwell, there will be no peace between us.” Speaking was a high elf who had fully participated in the previous meeting regarding the orcs, and he had vehemently criticized and disdained their demands.

His words were echoed by many of the high elves.

“Then, prepare for war.” The young shaman didn't care about the hostile elves who were glaring at him with weapons in hand. When he accepted this task, he knew its dangers.

Perhaps he would die on this mission.

But what was so scary about that?

Death was just the beginning of another journey. Or a new life baptized by the Holy Light. But no matter what, he believed that the High Priest and his people would make all of Quel'Thalas weep for him. This was an honor!

“What exactly did you do to the Sunwell?” The leading elf noble obviously didn't want to let the young orc shaman go so easily. He pressed him aggressively.

“What did we do to the Sunwell?” The young shaman grinned狰狞ly. “So you still don't know what we did? But soon, very soon, you will know.”

“Acting mysterious!” The elf noble was a little impatient. He really wanted to grab this orc and interrogate him, if he hadn't been forbidden to do so. Anasterian Sunstrider had issued an expulsion order for the orc shaman who delivered the message. Unless the other party attacked first, he still didn't dare to disobey Anasterian's wishes.

“The next time we meet, perhaps you will be sending people to find us.” The young shaman said meaningfully, then turned and left the Silvermoon Forest.

Watching his broad back, like that of a warrior, the elf noble hesitated, but still didn't order an attack.

……

Orc camp.

“So, the elves rejected our proposal?” Ner'zhul looked at the young shaman who had returned to report the news, and a cruel smile appeared on his lips.

The young shaman nodded.

“Arrogance is the greatest original sin of living beings! The High Priest has given them a chance, and since they can't grasp it, then abandon them.” Ner'zhul shook his head.

He knew better than anyone what kind of terror was brewing under the waters of the Sunwell at this time. Even though his power had been elevated to a level that shocked even himself under the High Priest's teachings, he was still apprehensive about that heart.

That was not the heart of an ordinary creature at all. In Ner'zhul's opinion, that heart was perhaps even more terrifying than an evil dragon, more like a part of a god.

Even if that heart had no hostility towards him, just being near it, he could feel the energy and vitality in his body faintly draining away. And what was devouring it was that strange heart.

That was what the High Priest called an apostle, possessing some kind of powerful, almost rule-like power. With the feeling of hunger that heart gave him, once it was stimulated and awakened in a place full of energy, it would probably turn that area into a barren, even dead, land.

It was a pity that the last chance was also given up by those elves.

……

Stratholme.

The plague that was breeding was forcibly delayed from erupting by Uther with the Holy Light. Although the danger had not passed and was still stubbornly spreading and multiplying, it had at least bought the residents of the city of Stratholme some time.

The court mages of Lordaeron, the elven Archmage Lobivia, and some healers had all devoted themselves to researching how to solve the plague.

What was certain now was that this was not a naturally occurring plague, but one that had been artificially created with some kind of dangerous power at its core. And it was ineffective against elves and orcs. Or rather, it didn't affect their health.

This energy, after confirmation by the court mages, was somewhat similar to the power wielded by the Burning Legion's lackeys.

Alonsus submitted a suggestion to King Terenas of Lordaeron, suggesting that the king seek help from Dalaran. As the main force against the Burning Legion's lackeys, those mages might understand this power and be familiar with ways to solve it.

The messenger griffon traveled back and forth, bringing Alonsus King Terenas's reply in a short time. In the letter, Terenas told Alonsus that he had previously requested assistance from Dalaran, but a major change had occurred in Dalaran, and they were unable to send anyone to help for the time being.

However, in the letter, Terenas stated that he would soon send Archmage Kel'Thuzad of Lordaeron over. He was also from the Dalaran school of mages and had a way to curb the spread of the plague.

After reading the letter, Alonsus was not excited by Kel'Thuzad's arrival and the so-called "good news" on the letter; instead, he sensed that even greater trouble was coming.

Stratholme was besieged, Lordaeron was threatened by a large army of orcs, a change had occurred to the elven Sunwell, and a change had also occurred in Dalaran. Connecting all of this together, it seemed that there was a mastermind behind the scenes, controlling and manipulating everything.

After all, it was difficult for Alonsus to believe that the forces around Lordaeron would almost simultaneously undergo major changes, making it difficult to provide Lordaeron with aid and assistance.

The other party had painstakingly created this isolated situation, and naturally there would be corresponding follow-up moves.

In Alonsus's view, Lordaeron was like a fly that had entered a spider's web. If it couldn't find a way to break the situation, it would be firmly stuck by the web and eventually become food.

The strength of the orcs had been vividly demonstrated in the battles and wars during this period. An ordinary orc required at least two or three well-trained soldiers to resist and have a chance to kill. At least, elite orc warriors such as Durotan, who had received the totem blessing, could single-handedly destroy a human squad of dozens of people.

Alonsus even thought at times that even with the strong city of Stratholme, those orcs could break through its gates at any time. But why there had not been a decent siege so far was also something Alonsus couldn't understand.

“At night, someone saw a phantom of a beast in the city? And more than one person saw it?” Uther, who was in charge of handling the plague incident, had just woken up when he received a shocking message.

“There was also a patrolling soldier among them. I brought him here, sir.” The person responsible for processing and reporting information to Uther said.

“Bring him in.” Originally, Uther didn't plan to pay attention to this kind of groundless speculation. If only one or two people saw it, it might have been a misperception due to fear and the darkness of night. At most, he would send some soldiers to investigate and appease the uneasy people. But if multiple people saw it, including a soldier, then he couldn't help but ask more about it.

A patrolling soldier was summoned. Under Uther's questioning, he repeated everything he had seen in detail.

“A beast tall enough to reach an adult, with a body length of more than five meters?” Uther's expression also became solemn. This size was almost indistinguishable from the livestock raised by residents. But now Uther still couldn't be sure if there really was such a dangerous beast in the city.

After all, under the cover of darkness, even a cat could have a shadow like a behemoth under the coverage of light and shadow. Whether it was those residents or the soldier in front of him, what they saw was just a phantom. Either they were too afraid to step forward, or they had investigated and found nothing.

Uther believed that before the message reached him, soldiers had already inspected that area. If there really was a problem, his scribe would definitely attach corresponding information after the message.

In this situation, I'm afraid people are still panicking, and if left unchecked, there may be rumors coming out.

After Uther figured this out, he personally took the soldiers to investigate the scene of the incident. What made his face solemn was that there seemed to be some energy residue in this area that was opposed to the Holy Light. Although it was very weak, it could easily be ignored if not carefully investigated.

Next, Uther went to other places where the phantom was seen, and in these places, he also vaguely detected the same energy residue. Of the five locations, only one was clean, with nothing left behind and nothing found.

This situation was enough for Uther to take it seriously and no longer treat it as some kind of rumor.

Marking the places where phantoms appeared with red circles on the city map, Uther discovered a common pattern, that these areas were near the isolation rooms for severely infected plague victims.

These places housed many severely infected people who had already developed limb deformities, and Holy Light priests from the church would come every day to perform Holy Light baptisms on them to suppress the plague on their bodies.

Outside the isolation area, there were soldiers and at least one Holy Light priest guarding. With the help of the court mages, small magical barriers were built.

After discovering the abnormality, Uther had no choice but to return to the Holy Light Cathedral to handle affairs without being able to obtain more information, but he had decided to guard these areas these days, he really wanted to know what kind of monster that phantom was.

……

Quel'Thalas.

Three days after the orc messenger left.

The energy concentration around the Sunwell obviously began to decrease, and there were even signs that it was becoming unsustainable. This made the anger in the hearts of Anasterian Sunstrider and other high nobles even greater.

Lobivia, who was assigned to investigate the intelligence, was even criticized by the Quel'Thalas Council of Nobles.

But as the Sunwell's energy 【dried up】, an unbelievable behemoth finally revealed its traces. It was a huge creature like a turtle that occupied the entire Sunwell. The other party seemed to be sleeping at this time, but between breaths, the surrounding majestic energy would be swallowed and absorbed into its huge body.

The Sunwell was still producing arcane energy, but all the energy produced was being devoured by this unknown creature. With each energy devouring, the other party's size would increase slightly, and as the other party's size increased, its devouring of energy, or rather its appetite, became even greater.

At this point, Anasterian and the other elves understood where the root of the Sunwell's energy decline came from.

Before, this monster was still in its growth stage and could not devour too much energy, so the Sunwell would still provide arcane energy to Quel'Thalas, but as the other party devoured more and more energy, the Sunwell's energy became increasingly unsustainable. Eventually, the energy overflowing from the Sunwell became less and less, almost non-existent.

Now that the root of the problem has been discovered, the next step is naturally to solve it.

What made Anasterian and many high elves feel relieved was that there was no problem with the Sunwell. As long as they killed this turtle-like monster that occupied the Sunwell's energy, or drove it away, the Sunwell's energy would still cover the entire Quel'Thalas again. Everything will return to normal.

“We can use magic to banish it to another plane.” A high elf suggested.

“This is a good method, but the problem is, don't you think its size is too big? Like a small island. And it's still getting bigger!” Another high elf mage nodded in agreement, but pointed to the monster that occupied the Sunwell, like an island, indicating how to open a giant space gate large enough.

You must know that the space in this world is covered by a thick barrier, and the space is very stable. Although the disaster ten thousand years ago shook the stability of the space, if you want to open a space door that can accommodate the Sunwell, you still need a lot of processes and casting materials. As for relying solely on the mages of Quel'Thalas, even if they drained the magic in their bodies, they would not be able to successfully summon such a large space door.

The Sunwell is a huge energy source that can supply them with casting consumption, but isn't the Sunwell's energy not leaking out at all, being squeezed dry by this monster? So, like in the past, using the Sunwell's energy to recklessly use magic and not stingy with the expenditure of magic is no longer possible.

“What's more, opening a giant portal on the Sunwell is not a good sign. What if something goes wrong and it explodes like the Well of Eternity did back then?” Some high elves also expressed their concerns. After all, according to elven history, opening a space door on an arcane energy source, one lesson is enough. Although that time it was an accident, who can guarantee that there won't be an accident this time?

“Then first find a way to expel or kill it, at least don't let it stay on the Sunwell anymore.” Anasterian ordered decisively. It's okay for now in the short term, but over time, the state of their group of magic addicts will inevitably decline.

“It's a pity, we might still be able to seek help from the humans. But it seems that they can't spare any manpower.” Looking at the monster that was not easy to provoke just by looking at its size, a high elf sighed.

“Damn orcs!”

“Damn orcs!”

A resentful curse was greeted with many agreements.