The insect hive crystals that were not intercepted during the air raid hatched nearly one hundred thousand insects upon landing. The garrison in Cenarion Hold defended using the favorable terrain, but still suffered nearly a thousand casualties.
If those insect hives were allowed to continue developing, it was estimated that the Cenarion Hold base would be razed to the ground like Southwind Village.
After all, these insectoids are not picky eaters; anything that can be considered a living thing can be their food. If they were allowed to replenish their nutrients unscrupulously, not only would Silithus truly become lifeless, but they would also lay a large number of insect eggs every day.
Therefore, these insect hives were Galen's hidden danger in attacking Ahn'Qiraj, and clearing the insect hives was imperative.
Soon, Maiev and her elite Watchers completed their reconnaissance mission and returned to Cenarion Hold.
Subsequently, a huge topographical sand table of the Silithus desert appeared in front of Galen.
Galen summoned several commanders and high-end combatants of this war to discuss matters.
As mentioned before, the Silithus Desert is surrounded by mountains on all sides, forming a square shape. The only flat passage is the path connecting to Un'Goro Crater in the northeast corner.
Cenarion Hold is located in the northern part, close to the center, while most of the insect hive crystal landing points marked by Maiev are concentrated in the eleven o'clock direction from the fortress.
In just one night, they had already connected together, forming a huge insect hive!
"In addition to the insect hive closest to us, my subordinates have discovered two large insect hives on the left and right sides outside the gates of Ahn'Qiraj in the south!"
"Hiss!"
Galen looked at the directions marked by Maiev and felt that even if he triggered the War of the Shifting Sands in advance, history still had an amazing similarity!
Aren't these three insect hives the three major insect hives of Azj'Aqir, Zoram'gar Outpost in later generations!
Fortunately, the landing points of these insect hive crystals were only in the Silithus Desert. If they were indiscriminately dropped on the continent of Kalimdor, I don't know how many places would suffer.
"We must destroy these insect hives, starting with the one closest to us. As for the remaining two that are close to the Scarab Wall, our army will push from north to south and destroy them along the way!"
Galen pointed to the location of the Azj'Aqir insect hive and continued, "I have already issued the order for the army to advance last night. My plan is very simple: after the two armies enter Silithus, they will advance quickly, then open the Scarab Wall and rush into Ahn'Qiraj, striking directly at the heart of the enemy!"
C'Thun had already vaguely sensed the target of the Allied Forces, and last night's insect hive attack was a test.
Even if the Night Elves' target was not tested in the end, it didn't matter. After all, this old cunning Old God had been letting the Qiraji insects explode for a thousand years, and it didn't matter if it was a few more years.
"The number of insectoids is huge, but their magic resistance is very weak. They have no autonomy and mainly rely on the command of advanced worker insects and brain bugs."
"This is the brain bug, the most important grassroots commander of the Qiraji insects. Their mental power is very strong, and they can also lay eggs. One brain bug can command nearly ten thousand worker insects."
Galen condensed a huge, fat, strange thing on the sand table, covered with purple carapace, four legs, and two slender chitinous tentacles, like an enlarged version of a morning glory.
"Maiev, after the war begins, you will lead the Watchers and the Hidden Blades and Worgen scouts in the Crusader army, responsible for finding the brain bugs and carrying out decapitation operations."
"No problem!"
Maiev's voice came from under the owl helmet.
"Next, let's first understand the enemies we may encounter. First of all, besides the insects, there are also a group of special existences in Ahn'Qiraj that need attention!"
"Is the mentor referring to the Obsidian Destroyers?"
Fandral seemed to have thought of something, and Maiev also knew what Galen was talking about, only Aegwynn was unclear.
"Obsidian Destroyers? What is that?"
Faced with Aegwynn's question, Staghelm answered, "Obsidian Destroyers are a group of stone giants that are more than ten meters tall. They have humanoid bodies and jackal heads. If it were only the insectoid army back then, the army I led could still deal with it, but it was because of these Obsidian Destroyers that led to my defeat!"
Fandral released a spell, and a black humanoid wolf-headed creature model appeared above the sand table.
Half of the elite troops of the army back then participated in the War of the Ancients, but they were defeated in the end. Besides the large number of ordinary insectoid troops, it was also because of these tough Obsidian Destroyers.
Fandral glanced at the Bronze Dragon Prince and continued, "Even dragons may be damaged in their hands if they are not careful!"
Those Obsidian Destroyers corrupted by C'Thun were too powerful. Although Night Elves are immortal, they are still mortal bodies and it is difficult to cause them too much damage.
Even the dragons suffered a lot of losses when facing these giants. Most of the dragons killed were attacked by insects after being knocked down from the sky by the Obsidian Destroyers.
"Obsidian Destroyers, stone giants, seem to have heard of them somewhere. Could it be that these Obsidian Destroyers are Titan creations?"
Aegwynn was a heroine who had killed Sargeras. When she sealed Sargeras' avatar in the Temple of the Moon in Suramar, she once placed a batch of stone men found in ancient ruins, also known as Rune Guardians, Courageous Guardians, in them as guards.
Aegwynn's doubts happened to test Galen's knowledge points.
"Obsidian Destroyers, also known as Anubisath, to be precise, they should be called Titan creations."
Anubisath, Rock Vrykul, and Earthen are all born in the Consciousness Furnace cast by the gods, but these Titan creations have different divisions of labor.
The Rock Vrykul are warriors responsible for attacking, the Earthen are responsible for logistics, and these jackal-like Obsidian Destroyers are jailers, responsible for guarding the Old Gods imprisoned by the Titans.
Their manager is the great guardian Ra-den. After the guardians cleared the ancient gods of the Dark Empire, in addition to some Obsidian Destroyers remaining in Ulduar in the north, the other giants accompanied Ra-den all the way south from the Titan base Ulduar to Uldum, participating in the construction plan of the Origin Re-Creator.
Uldum is located at the southern end of the ancient continent of Kalimdor, only a mountain range away from Silithus, the sealing place of the ancient god C'Thun.
To be on the safe side, the great guardian Ra-den built a solid fortress on the sealing ground of C'Thun: the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, and let the Obsidian Destroyers who followed him be the initial guards.
Later, as time passed, the guardian Ra-den disappeared, and the Obsidian Destroyers also suffered the erosion of the Curse of Flesh like the Rock Vrykul and Earthen.
They soon discovered that their indestructible obsidian bodies became as soft as mud, and their spiritual will gradually relaxed in C'Thun's whispers.
However, relying on their innate magic immunity, the Anubisath managed to overcome some of the curses, evolving into a unique race of half-flesh and half-obsidian, also known as the Tol'vir.
The Tol'vir of Uldum established their own unique civilization and continued to guard the Forge of Origination until a Mogu rebellion led to Uldum being magically sealed off from the world.
Compared to their brethren in Uldum, the Anubisath guarding the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj were not so lucky. They were defeated by the southward-marching Qiraji and then the Qiraji occupied the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, establishing a new insectoid empire.
The captured Anubisath were granted false wills by the Old Gods, making them more intelligent, and some were even modified by the Old Gods, eventually becoming the winged Obsidian Destroyers.
Everyone listened to these ancient secrets with great interest. These stories took place even earlier than the time of the Night Elves and were not recorded anywhere.
Sitting in the corner, Vereesa felt that this Galen was very similar to her brother-in-law, both possessing formidable strength and being incredibly knowledgeable!
If the Windrunner little sister didn't know that her brother-in-law was in Stromgarde taking care of her two sisters and their children, she would have almost thought they were the same person.
As Galen finished, Prince Anachronos of the Bronze Dragonflight spoke in a low voice: "These Obsidian Destroyers are very skilled at throwing weapons. Back then, when our dragon army was using its aerial advantage to rout the Anubisath army, an Obsidian Destroyer threw an obsidian sword and severed the wings of the dragon army's leader, Grakalon. Poor Grakalon fell to his death!"
This was probably the greatest achievement of these Obsidian Destroyers. The wreckage of that powerful dragon still stands in the great desert to this day.
Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit gloomy, Galen cursed Anachronos in his heart for being such a lousy teammate!
Raising the enemy's morale and diminishing our own!
"Everyone, don't worry, I'll deal with these Obsidian Destroyers when the time comes."
Galen glared at the Bronze Dragon Prince. Anachronos also knew he had said the wrong thing and took the initiative to take over the task of introducing the Qiraji.
Anachronos also cast a spell to conjure an image of an upright insectoid on the sand table. This insectoid had a strong upper body and two pincers like giant claws.
"General Rajaxx is the main military commander of the Qiraji. He is cruel and cunning and good at exploiting the weaknesses of his opponents to make targeted deployments, making him very difficult to deal with."
Fandral clenched his fist tightly, his eyes seemingly spitting fire.
Years ago, this guy set a trap to capture his son, Valstann. If Valstann hadn't had the life-saving family heirloom given to him by his mentor, he would have been left with Valstann's fragments!
With the Bronze Dragon Prince's explanation, the generals gained some understanding of the Qiraji.
However, the information from Fandral and Anachronos was incomplete, only involving these insectoid leaders from the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj. They knew nothing about the deeper core of the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj.
However, Galen envisioned the main battlefield being above the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj. The army would hold the insectoid army there, and then he would lead an elite team to use the sewer infiltration method that the million highlords were best at to infiltrate the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj for a decapitation strike.
After the meeting, everyone prepared separately.
The next morning, the Night Elves' 100,000-strong army and the Centaurs' 50,000-strong army had crossed over from the northern mountains and entered Silithus.
As the overall commander of this 150,000-strong army, Fandral's strategic goal was to push the battle line to the gates of Ahn'Qiraj and, incidentally, eliminate the Zoram'gar Outpost in the west.
The commander of the Crusade was not Aegwynn. This former Guardian said she was not good at marching and fighting, so it would be better to leave her on the battlefield to face the enemy's high-level combatants.
Therefore, Galen entrusted this important task to Khadgar, who had just returned to Azeroth from Draenor.
In the spring of the twenty-first year after the opening of the Dark Portal, the allied forces of the Night Elves and the Crusade entered Silithus!
On the western side of the Great Desert was the Night Elves' marching area, led by two advancing legions.
On the left was the Glaivewielder Legion led by Valstann. This legion had experienced the Battle of Mount Hyjal and the Emerald Nightmare crisis, and now the War of the Shifting Sands would become their third legendary achievement.
On the right was a strange legion. They didn't look like Night Elves, but they looked unusually tall and strong.
They wore black hoods and blood-red cloaks.
From the swaying hoods and cloaks, one could vaguely see their scarlet eyes and sharp claws. After they marched, a long string of paw-shaped footprints was left in the desert!
These were Galen's newly acquired little brothers, the War Wolf Legion from the Emerald Dream!
Following the two legions were the War Druids and archers of Eldre'Thalas. At the rear of the Team were hundreds of Night Elf-specific glaive throwers and hundreds of granite-bodied Mountain Giants.
The giants were not holding tree stumps that they had casually uprooted, but giant maces specially made for them by Eldre'Thalas.
On the left flank were the Huntresses, riding agile panthers, holding moon glaives shining with cold light, with stern faces.
The right flank was equally large, consisting of warriors from the five largest centaur clans in Desolace, each tribe led by a centaur khan, divided into five colors: black, brown, green, red, and yellow.
This was the result of Valstann spending two and a half years in Desolace.
This rising star of the Staghelm family used a variety of strategies, including military conquest, coercion, inducement, and distant alliances, to quell the centaur rebellion and recover Desolace.
Maraudon was now unable to enter or leave due to the blockade by Eldre'Thalas, waiting for Galen to free up his hand to clean up the Earth Princess inside and liberate the soul of Cenarius's son.
In the eastern part of the Silithus desert, the Crusader army was also marching.
In front were Galen's elite five army legions, led by the five legion commanders who had followed Galen the earliest. These five legions consisted of elite infantry, trackers, heavy knights, accompanying wizards, and battlefield priests.
Behind a phalanx was eight huge phalanxes made up of 80,000 quilboar warriors.
Their tall bodies were wearing Crusader standard armor and wielding sharp steel weapons.
Six of these eight phalanxes were heavy infantry phalanxes, and the other two phalanxes belonged to the quilboar chieftain's elite guards, Tusk's Swift Raptor Riders and Screech's Heavy Armored Boar Riders.
Behind the quilboar were tauren heavy kodo riders and Sunwalker units.
When these phalanxes entered the great desert, a group of troops that looked like locusts poured into the mountain pass!