CRASH! BOOM! WHOOSH!
Endless waves continuously slammed the coastline of Broken Shore, punctuated by the deafening symphony of battle. The entire island was engulfed in flames, a fiery, unholy beacon visible from space.
In addition to the eastern coast where Stormwind Kingdom and Kul Tiras made their spectacularly chaotic landing, fierce, desperate beach landing battles also erupted on the southern beaches. Here, a truly colossal direhorn, its back burdened with heavy, custom-made armor, crashed into the demons' fortifications like a living, horned battering ram under the relentless bombardment of fel energy. Behind the Direhorn was a magnificent, golden Devil Tyrannosaurus Rex, which led a massive group of dinosaur war beasts in a thunderous charge right through the sea. The fel energy artillery on the coast and the starships in the sky kept sniping at their landing, but frankly, it mostly just made the dinosaurs angrier.
In the churning skies, the Pandaren (who apparently arrived with a very loud bang), rode on emerald-green, azure-blue, and fiery-red dragons. With the assistance of their pterosaur allies, whose huge wings spread like leathery sails, they engaged in a dizzying aerial ballet against the countless demon bats that literally covered the sky. It was a chaotic, beautiful, and utterly deadly aerial brawl.
Compared to the brutal, explosion-filled battles in the east and south, the attacks by the night elves and the Crusaders in the west were, surprisingly, much smoother. Almost elegant.
"Barrage shooting! Don't let them breathe!" "Hurry up! Don't dawdle, bring the shells up! My fingers are getting cold!" "Since they are here, let's make sure they stay here forever! Preferably as very small, scattered pieces!"
The naval fleet dispatched by the Crusaders this time was truly enormous, boasting two hundred warships alone. The sailors on each warship were a whirlwind of activity under the frenetic command of the first mate: loading shells, firing, loading again, and firing again. It was a perfectly choreographed dance of destruction.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Thousands of cannons roared, their thunderous voices shaking the very air. Countless brilliant flames flashed from the sea, and shells whizzed out from the muzzles, screaming through the air, and then fell with devastating precision onto the shore. A few breaths later, before the demons could even finish screaming, the second round of artillery fire arrived! The flimsy crystal towers and fel artillery set up by the demons on the west coast were completely torn apart at this moment, reduced to glittering dust and smoking craters. The demons defending this line of defense were not just torn into pieces; they were vaporized, leaving nothing but faint, green stains.
The sea between the fleet and the coast was now covered with a thick, acrid fog due to the sheer volume of smoke from the artillery fire.
"The shallow target has been cleared! Proceed to the next bombing target! Don't let up!" "Concentrated Firepower! Or as I like to call it, 'Express Demonic Delivery!'" "FIRE!"
Along with the new, enthusiastic orders, the artillery fire that had briefly paused roared again, igniting a fresh round of fire frenzy on the rocky hills on the west coast.
On the flagship at the center of the battleship formation, the commanders of the coalition forces were observing the battle situation. Aegwynn used her magic to peer through the smoke and fire, confirming that the beach extending several kilometers from the west coast had been thoroughly washed by artillery fire. It looked less like a beach and more like a fresh, very hot, very demon-flavored crater.
In her heart, she admired Galen's infuriating foresight in vigorously developing engineering (who knew cannons could be so fun?), and then, with a wry smile, said to the night elves behind her: "The Crusader fleet has unrivaled firepower on Azeroth. The coastal blockade will be cleared quickly, mostly because there won't be anything left to block."
"The starship is on its way. After the fleet finishes its… redecoration… it will join the sky battlefield. I hope you are ready to land. And try not to get stepped on."
Among the night elves, one of the new generation of leading figures, Valstann, responded to Aegwynn with solemn pride. "Guardian, please rest assured. The trolls have sent out their guardian loa. We night elves are certainly not weaker than them, especially when it comes to punching demons in the face." The night elves didn't say much afterwards. As the old, dominant race in Azeroth, they had their own immense pride. For them, it all depended on action, not words.
Half an hour later, the relentless artillery fire finally stopped, leaving an eerie silence. Valstann gathered the raw power of nature in his hands, and a brilliant green ball of light quickly rose into the sky!
WHOOSH!
A gigantic green turtle, easily as big as a hill, suddenly jumped out from the bottom of the sea, creating a colossal tidal wave, and landed with a truly earth-shattering thud on the tattered beach. After landing, Tortolla simply adjusted his direction with a groan, retracted his massive head and limbs, and then, inexplicably, turned forward! Then his huge, ancient body began to roll like a massive, prehistoric wheel!
RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
The demons howled in pure, unadulterated fear as they watched Tutuola, a rolling mountain of angry scales, rushing directly towards them. The Dread Guards fled in all directions, scrambling like frightened insects, and the Eredar demon warlocks tried desperately to stop the rolling turtle demigod with futile fel spells like Curse of Weakness and Corruption! However, the strength and tonnage gap between the two sides was too utterly massive. Those pathetic spells barely registered on Tutuola. They just bounced off his shell, probably tickling him.
Instead, Tutuola simply kept rolling, using the formidable spikes on its back to effortlessly crush the demons blocking its way into bloody dregs. It was a true, living, flesh-and-blood chariot, a one-turtle demolition crew! It seemed that Galen's casual kick on Mount Hyjal had truly opened the door to a new, surprisingly violent world for the turtle demigod.
With Tutuola, the ultimate "tank" who effortlessly attracted all the demonic fire, leading the way on the battlefield, the wolf god Goldrinn and the cheetah Ashamane attacked from the left and right wings respectively. A huge number of demons were torn to pieces by their wild, feral attacks of fangs and claws. It was a glorious, bloody ballet.
Afterwards, a large number of night elf troops landed on the west coast. The transformed claw druids and shield-wielding night elf warriors advanced rapidly, a green tide of fury, while the sentinel troops in the rear provided precise, remote support with arrows that glowed with moonfire.
In the sky, the Mother of Flying Spirits, Evelynna, loomed ominously in the black clouds. Huge crows and majestic hippogryphs circled around her, cooperating with the nimble raptor druids to expertly strangle the approaching terror bats.
Looking at this scene, Aegwynn sighed inwardly, a rare moment of admiration. "As expected of an ancient overlord. Even though most of his strength has been divided by the great lord (Galen, naturally), his foundation is still profound. And very, very violent." That's right, this specific part of the night elf army was fiercely loyal to Tyrande and Malfurion. Even Galen, with all his Galen'thremar shenanigans, could hardly peel them away from their beloved leaders.
However, the reason why this particular group of night elves came here was not because Galen wanted to eliminate dissidents (though he occasionally had those thoughts). It was entirely due to Malfurion's intention. The disciple of the forest demigod hoped to contribute to Azeroth and, perhaps, make up for their rather prolonged inaction over the past ten thousand years.
"We Tauren cannot be underestimated by our allies! Follow me and attack! Let's show these demons what 'hoof-to-face combat' truly means!" Baine Bloodhoof bellowed, carrying a huge totem pole on his back and holding a rune spear high, as he charged his people forward. Soon, the charging tauren forces thundered past the night elf sentinels.
"String the bow! Draw the bow! Release!" Shandris Feathermoon was directing the night elves' female archers, their arrows raining down like deadly starlight. Seeing the Tauren join her, she felt a familiar, comforting atmosphere. "It feels so good to be able to fight side by side with the Tauren again, Baine!"
"I feel the same way, ma'am!" Baine roared back, swinging his rune spear with all his might, stabbing a hapless demon guard straight through the heart. The conversation on the battlefield was just a moment, a brief exchange in a sea of chaos. Most of the time, it was just fighting. Lots and lots of fighting.
An hour later, the landing troops had advanced a glorious ten kilometers inland.
"Damn, there are endless numbers of them!" a weary warrior groaned. Although there had been sufficient preparations for the landing, with logistics and medical stations set up at regular intervals to minimize the coalition's troop losses, the sheer number of demons was so great it was genuinely despairing. It was like fighting an endless, green-skinned, screaming tide.
"It's those fel crystals! They can locate and tear apart space rifts, allowing more demons to enter Azeroth through the rifts!" Aegwynn, looking surprisingly unruffled, had also entered the Broken Shore from the ship, bringing new forces with her. "As long as we get close to those crystals and destroy them, we can relieve the pressure! And stop the flow of these annoying invaders!"
"Do you hear me, warriors of Sun God? Let us carve through these demons! To the crystals!"
"Hey! Don't steal our night elves' jobs! We were about to do that!" Both Shandris and Baine, despite their weariness, still wanted to continue fighting, fueled by pride and a desire to smash more demons.
"No, you guys take a break. I'll let the Centaurs attack! They've been itching for a good run!"
"Now it's the Crusaders' turn to perform! They've got some very large, very heavy implements they'd like to introduce to those crystals!"