The reason why Neptulon's raid was able to hold off Ragnaros for such a long time was largely due to the "cooperation" of the manager Exottus.
What if Exetus had told Ragnaros the news immediately after the Molten Core was attacked, and with the configuration of the coalition forces at that time, he would have fought the Fire Lord's clone with 80% of his own strength?
Unfortunately, Sarlayan learned of Exottus' true nature from the barrage in advance, and had already guessed that in order to shirk responsibility, he would not immediately pass on the information to Ragnaros, but would first try to solve the problem himself.
This is mainly because Exotus did not realize the seriousness of the problem and did not expect that the invaders could obtain the Essence of Water, a special prop specifically designed for fire runes.
As long as the runes don't burn out, it doesn't matter if a few Fire Lords die, as they can just take this opportunity to eliminate dissidents.
When the situation got out of hand, Exotus, who was worried that the situation would take a turn for the worse, had no choice but to ask his master for help.
By this time, six of the nine flame runes in the Molten Core had been extinguished by the water essence.
As the realm of fire weakens, the connection between the Molten Core and the Land of Fire gradually weakens, and the power of Ragnaros's clone is less than half of his original body.
But even so, in Exotus' view, half the power of the Fire Demon King is enough to sweep away those mortals who don't overestimate their abilities.
However, Exotus, who thought he was smart, missed one person... or one force.
"Boom!"
When Ragnaros, who had fallen into the trap of luring the tiger away from the mountain, turned his attention back to the material world in shock and anger, continuous thunderous sounds rang out in the Molten Core that should have been filled with fire elements.
"Ragnaros! Come out to me!"
Under the horrified gazes of Moira, Liadrin, Sylvanas and others, Windseeker Sunderland, who had just been teleported back to the Molten Core with Sharlayan, had already waved the Thunder Sword in his hand and started to Slash the swarming fire elements.
Domain spells are not unique to the fire element. With prior preparation, Sunderland also used himself as a medium to construct a small domain with the help of the power of water essence.
The function of this small field is very simple. It uses the power of water essence to suppress the overly strong fire element within a certain range and keep the four major elemental forces in the field in a relatively balanced state.
Once the fire elemental creatures enter the field supported by Sunderland, they will lose the home field advantage of Molten Core and their combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced.
In this small area, Sunderland can call on the help of wind elements as much as he wants, and the violent thunder will make the fire element soldiers blocking the road miserable.
After getting rid of Gall, Shathraal and Baron Geddon, who are the backbone of the Molten Core, the only remaining fire elemental lords are Gragman the Incinerator and Exotus the Administrator.
What? Old 7 Saffron Herald?
The group of high-level fire demons were connected by chain lightning by the angry Sunderland, and they were immediately restrained when they met.
As the seventh flame rune was extinguished, the power of the Molten Core's domain weakened again.
After taking care of several Saffron Heralds, Sunderland, whose anger had not subsided, picked up the giant sword surrounded by thunder and continued to advance towards the defense area guarded by Gulegman.
The wind element is extremely mobile, and the coalition soldiers led by Sarlayan were completely unable to keep up with Sunderland's advance speed. They could only watch as he turned into a breeze and rushed into the molten cave ahead.
After a burst of crackling thunder, when Sarlayan led the army to catch up, the poor Gulegman had been torn into a pile of rubble.
"Ah this..."
Saryan scratched his head in confusion: "With Sunderland's extremely high enthusiasm... I feel that we can just lie down and let the boss fly away."
After being sealed for thousands of years, Sunderland's strength, which had just escaped, was far from returning to its peak.
But after all, he is also a genuine semi-god-level elemental creature, while Gulegman is only a "mortal-level" with relatively high combat power among the Fire Lords. There is a huge gap between the two.
Coupled with the fact that Sunderland's field offset Gulegman's home advantage, there was no suspense in this battle.
Sarlayan felt like he had become an errand boy, just following Sunderland and responsible for extinguishing the runes.
Once Gulegman died, the entire high-end combat power of the Molten Core was completely consumed.
What? Exotus?
That coward's talents are all focused on internal affairs, and his combat ability is not even as good as Lucifron and Kyhenas from the same race.
When Exottus saw the angry Sunderland charging towards him with the Thunder Sword, he was so frightened that he almost knelt down on the spot.
It happened that at this time, Ragnaros, who knew that he had been plotted, no longer paid attention to Neptulon's sheep attack, and returned his focus to the Molten Core where the situation had changed drastically.
Looking at the deserted Molten Core in front of him, Ragnaros' inner anger could not be suppressed and quickly rose.
"Exotus! What have you done!"
After rushing out of the spiral magma pool in the center of the Molten Core, the angry Ragnaros rushed as quickly as possible to the administrator's hall where Exottus was sitting.
When he heard the Fire Lord's roar that resounded through the Molten Core, Sunderland also laughed ferociously.
"Well done! I want to see how much strength your clone has left!"
"Boom!"
The Wind Chaser ignored the battle between the coalition forces and Exotus' escorts, and his huge body turned into lightning and quickly advanced in the direction of Ragnaros's roar.
Sarlayan turned to look at a high-level wind elemental who was left by Sunderland to clean up the mess.
"Mandis, don't you need to lead the army to follow?"
The die-hard Sunderland loyalist named Mandis shook his head firmly: "No, my lord is certainly not in the best condition, and Ragnaros's strength is also greatly reduced. The two of them are exactly the same, let him vent. Just take a moment."
Sarlayan shrugged noncommittally: "Okay, let's let them fight. Let's do our job first."
Turning to look at Exotus, who clearly recognized Sunderland's identity and had been shivering since they first met, Sarlayan smiled with interest.
"Mr. Manager over there, I think you have seen the current situation clearly, right? Have you ever considered changing camps?"
"……Eh?"
Faced with Sarlayan's persuasion to surrender, Exotus was obviously stunned for a moment.
There is one thing to say, Exotus has some abilities, otherwise he would not be able to be the manager of the Molten Core with his weak fighting ability.
Exotus is a timid coward who has a very flexible moral bottom line when facing powerful external threats.
Such a partial science talent should not be thrown to the front line where he may be attacked at any time. It is the best choice to let him shine in the safe rear area.
Sunderland, who have just emerged from trouble, are starting from scratch and need talents from all walks of life to assist them.
After being tricked by his own father and his enemies, Sunderland resolutely stated his position. He wanted to completely draw a clear line with the stubborn wind rider Al'Akir, and let the freedom-advocating wind element get rid of him. The ancient god's behind-the-scenes manipulation.
Since they have the same position, Sarlayan is willing to provide Sunderland with all the support he can, so that he can gather enough forces to counterattack the Sky Wall and overthrow Al'Akir as soon as possible.
As Sunderland said, most of his former confidants can no longer be contacted, and it is most likely due to some accident.
This leaves Sunderland with no one available for the time being.
Garr and Gulegman could both abandon Deep Rock Continent and join the Firelord due to their differences in ideas. As a fire elemental creature, Exottus could of course abandon his original position and turn to Windseeker Sander. orchid.
"this……"
Exotus seemed a little hesitant, his eyes kept rolling, carefully weighing the pros and cons of betraying the Fire Demon King.
Sarlayan smiled meaningfully: "Think about it for yourself. You have created such a big trap. With Ragnaros's temper, even if he is lucky enough to win in a death duel with Sunderland... …Do you think he’s going to let you go?”
"On the other hand, if Sunderland defeats the greatly weakened Ragnaros clone, it would be more honorable to recognize the situation in advance and change its stance than to be forced to surrender at the end, right?"
Sarlayan's persuasion hit exactly what Exottus was worried about.
As the king of the fire element, Ragnaros is undoubtedly a bad-tempered person. If his subordinates are slightly negligent, they will be severely punished and even lose their lives.
Because of this, Exotus did not dare to tell the news to the Fire Demon King who was busy with other things when the foreign enemies first invaded. To put it bluntly, he was afraid of his casual punishment with no clear sentencing.
Judging from Exottus's troubled expression, Sarlayan knew that he was already tempted.
Sarlayan did not intend to continue to force him. Some things were too much, as long as he could think clearly before the battle between the two semi-god-level elemental creatures ended.
If you can't think clearly... then let him die. Anyway, this is just a flash of inspiration for Sarlayan.
