Chapter 492: The Assault Team

Without a navigation system, without an anemometer, everything depended on visual estimates. Then those two damned goblins had the audacity to steer the airship into the clouds without any hesitation. Several times, Duke saw cliffs suddenly appearing beside the airship, and it was only his frantic steering that averted a catastrophic crash.

And during that time, those two stupid goblins were busy patching holes in the balloon.

Duke, who was utterly fed up, had already prepared for the worst. He had delegated control of activating the Ice Barrier to the system sprite, as he couldn't guarantee his concentration and reaction time to save himself with the spell in the nick of time.

If Deathwing discovered the secret of his resurrection, then all would be lost.

The situation that followed was as expected: the two goblins were constantly busy repairing and patching. Those heartless creatures sometimes even dozed off, completely ignoring the imminent dangers like sudden loss of air at high altitude or potential mountain crashes.

And so, Duke endured an entire day and a sleepless night.

Throughout the day, Duke ate and drank almost nothing, for fear of throwing up.

Duke almost suspected that Deathwing was intentionally making him suffer to weaken his will and hasten his hypnosis.

However, the next morning, Duke changed his mind. With the dawn breaking, the clouds around them gradually dispersed, and Duke felt as though the airship had finally sailed from the sea into the sky.

Not a single cloud in sight, and everything within ten kilometers was clearly visible. The terrain below changed from dense forest to rugged, uninhabited wilderness, and the land began to gradually rise, leading up to the cliffs of Grim Batol.

The way there was marked by a few small groves, but overall, the coverage was quite sparse.

Anyone moving through this wilderness would stand out starkly, and the Orc Dragon Riders could easily spot them from kilometers away.

No Orc Dragon Rider showed interest in the airship Duke was on. Once, a red dragon even flew past at a distance of less than five hundred meters, its Orc rider not even glancing at the airship, even when the airship's steam engine exploded loudly.

It seemed that the Orcs were used to these goblins who served the Horde for money, or perhaps they looked down on these green dwarfs who "loyally" served the Horde for some inexplicable yellow metal.

Yes, Orgrim's use of gold plundered from the human capital to buy the goblins was indeed a smart move.

The Orcs didn't want it; the goblins eagerly took it. It was a perfect match.

Duke's eyes narrowed, pondering how his four-person team could pass through here.

After a day and night of flying, they were already very close to Grim Batol.

Vereesa and the others, carefully following on gryphons, were also close.

Just then, something of great importance, not part of the original 'history,' occurred.

In Dalaran, six human kings, along with the Wildhammer Dwarf Kurdran and Prince Kael'thas, a total of eight leaders, gathered.

Such a gathering signified a great event:

The future leader of Kul Tiras, Derek Proudmoore, had fallen in battle.

Dalaran's Kirin Tor Councilor Gastala Maro had fallen.

Silvermoon Councilor Balamond Kaz had fallen.

Former Bloodsail Buccaneer leader, now Deputy Commander of the Stormwind fleet, Duke Fairweather, had fallen.

Along with the deaths of these four national figures, there were shocking losses. The culprits were the ancient red dragons led by Talanixstrasz.

Everywhere that had three or more kings could be called the Hall of Kings. Now, the hall resounded with the roar of King Daelin Proudmoore.

"Calm? Lothar, you tell me to be calm!? The one who's lost a son now is not you, but me! You tell me to trust Duke! Well, I've waited for him for two weeks, every day, every night, risking those damned dragons to patrol the sea. Now look! This is the result of waiting!"

Daelin violently threw a chunk of gold-colored, fire-twisted metal. The object clanged on the hall's floor, echoing in every heart.

Almost no one could recognize that it had once been a scimitar.

Daelin wept openly, "The future Lord Admiral of Kul Tiras has been sacrificed — right before my eyes, burned to ashes by a ball of flame! All that's left of Derek is this!"

Lothar had no response.

Had Stormwind not also lost a Duke, who knows to what extent King Daelin would have raged. Now, this hero of the seas, who had fought tirelessly for the Alliance since the war began, sat on the floor before the throne, sobbing.

No, at this moment, there was no king, no Admiral of the open seas, only a father who had lost his son.

With the red dragons' attacks growing more fierce, those in the Alliance who wanted to defend the Red Dragon flight no longer dared to speak. The alliance with the Red Dragon flight was a thing of the past, while the threat of the ancient red dragons was a present reality.

Every king's face was grim.

King Terenas asked solemnly, "Has there been any news of our Vice Commander?"

The answer was silence.

Krasus, standing beside Antonidas, wanted to say something but ultimately remained silent. The message Ronin sent to him had already been received. He had tossed and turned all night. His most admired Queen was still imprisoned.

And Deathwing had intervened.

That was Deathwing, the one who had brought the entire dragon race to the brink of chaos and collapse! Perhaps gathering humanity's strongest mages could oppose him, but only to a point. Krasus didn't believe humans had the ability to kill Neltharion.

What no dragon had achieved in the past ten thousand years, Krasus didn't believe the humans and elves of the mortal world could accomplish. It was no longer within the realm of mortals.

So Krasus chose silence, his mind filled with recent events. The message Duke sent to Ronin made him understand that Duke had reached the pinnacle of mortal capability. Now it depended on whether he could find help to confront Deathwing.

But these days, he had hit a wall for the second time.

When Krasus came to his senses, it seemed the kings in the hall had reached a decision.

"Then let it be settled. We will assemble a large assault team to rescue the Red Dragon Queen or, perhaps, to kill her!" Terenas announced.