Chapter 462: A Covert Infiltration?

There was a time when Duke had forgotten the fear of death, forgotten the unease brought on by the corruption of the soul.

Now, as he looked at the warning on his retinal display, Duke was somewhat bewildered.

"Serious Warning: the [Sargeras Resentment Curse] on the host body is in an active state. Your life force is being drained at a rate of one year per day. This effect has an unknown irreversible state. If you cannot remove the curse, you will die in 31 days and 22 hours, unable to resurrect."

"Your soul power is also being lost at a rate of 10 points per day, and it is estimated that it will be completely depleted in 38.5 days."

He had inherited a soul power of 385 from Medivh before, with a human nature of 230%, which was quite sufficient. But what use is leftover soul power if you're dead and can't resurrect?

The bottom line is, he must save the Red Dragon Queen as soon as possible.

Facing this situation, Duke was as flustered as a dog. 'Historically', the Red Dragon Queen was indeed saved, but that happened after the Alliance's main front had taken care of the Horde's main forces, and the clean-up period had begun.

At that point, most of the Alliance's fallen regions had been liberated. Especially Grim Batol, where Alexstrasza was imprisoned, although the fortress was still under control of the Dragonmaw clan, most of the Wetlands had been liberated.

On that poor swampy land, not only were there orcs, but also a variety of human liberators. For instance, the Silver Hand from Lordaeron, or the dwarven troops from Ironforge. Of course, the majority were the Wildhammer dwarf gryphon riders from Aerie Peak.

Now what?

That place isn't even the front line, it's clearly behind enemy lines!

What does being behind enemy lines mean?

It means that there's a whole Arathi Highlands between there and us, where over two hundred thousand orcs are stationed. Trying to get in and save the Red Dragon Queen will be more than ten times harder!

Duke had just bamboozled their entire dragon rider legion in the skies above Alterac Palace. He didn't see Zuluhed, the chieftain of the Dragonmaw clan, in the battle. Needless to say, he must have run back to Grim Batol, urging Alexstrasza to bear him a child quickly.

Saying "bear him a child" is not quite accurate.

To meet the needs of the war, the Horde needed a large number of wyverns as mounts to drive.

Unfortunately, while the Titans endowed dragons with unparalleled powerful bodies, they also weakened the dragons' reproductive ability. The true offspring of dragons are actually few and far between.

In history, during the later stages of the war, those red dragons taken by the Horde as mounts were actually the unfertilized eggs forcefully expelled by other female dragons, similar to a woman's monthly ovulation. Only that, Alexstrasza was forced to use magic to catalyze these unfertilized eggs into fight-ready wyverns.

Due to congenital defects, these red dragons would never grow into young dragons of over a thousand years old.

For the Horde, this isn't important. Whether it's a genetic defect or a magical creature, as long as it can be ridden, can counter gryphons in air combat, and use dragon breath to bombard the ground in ground attacks, that's enough.

If Duke now asks Kurdran to lead the gryphon rider squadron to go there, with Kurdran's character, he would definitely agree.

But Duke can't pit them like that!

Dwarves are good brothers of humans, and Duke would really feel bad letting them go extinct.

After Duke and Vereesa briefly analyzed, not only Vereesa, but even King Llane and others had dimmed eyes.

To be honest, Duke also felt a bit helpless. This feeling is like the more he changes the course of the world, the more he is destined to confront the will of this world, or the astonishing corrective ability of the River of Fate.

There's a sense of doom.

But, when Duke looked around, saw the lively Llane, saw Vereesa, the third Windrunner sister wearing the badge of Stormwind, saw the clearly should-be-tragic Gavinrad and Jandice present, Duke could feel a faint warmth.

They seemed to be reminding Duke at all times that everything he did was worth it.

Duke sighed, "Tomorrow, if there's no news from Alleria and the others by tomorrow, I'll set off directly. And I need you guys, even if you have to imprison Alleria, don't let her catch up. I'm afraid she'll do something stupid."

"No, Duke, you don't know my big sister, she'll definitely catch up."

"Then tell her, I have a 60% chance of coming back alive." Duke was decisive.

"60%? That high?" Not only Vereesa, but almost everyone present was stunned.

In their view, no matter who Duke took with him this time, it would be a nine-deaths-one-life situation to go deep into enemy territory. Who would have thought that Duke said he had a sixty percent chance?

"I know, for me, for the Alliance, it's quite a crisis right now. But I can still use my magic. Through a history book I read in Karazhan, I know what's imprisoning Alexstrasza. The key is that I know where the opportunity to resolve this incident lies. This is something none of you have. The only problem is, I need to be away from the Alliance command for quite some time."

Anduin patted his chest and guaranteed, "That's simple, leave the military stuff to me. I'll do my best to put pressure on the Horde from the front and attract their attention."

Llane also followed up, "I'll give you all the manpower that can be deployed by the SI:7."

Duke shook his head, "I don't need rogues."

Almost the moment his words fell, the light in Vanessa's eyes dimmed. Duke smiled, "I promised your father to take good care of you. If your father returns successfully and finds that his daughter died because of a more risky operation, I won't be at peace even if I die."

Vanessa didn't say anything.

Duke continued, "This time, I think, just a few people going with me will do."

Anduin nervously pulled out a notebook ready to record.

"The ones going with me are Gavinrad and Vereesa."

Upon hearing this, Gavinrad's eyes lit up immediately, his face showing a determined expression.

Vereesa... the Vereesa who was given a major task for the first time showed more of an eager expression. She's not new to fighting. But like this, separated from her two sisters, carrying out such an important mission, this was the first time.

The third name Duke said left everyone a bit stunned, "I also want to find a young earth mage named Rhonin in Dalaran. I think he will bring me luck."

If Duke hadn't lost his ability to cast spells, Duke himself would have been strong enough. Why would he name an earth mage as an accompanying person?

Okay! Mysterious Duke, as always, is hard to understand.