Azeroth: Starting with Eagle Eye in the Necropolis

Page 9

"Thank goodness, Your Highness, you've finally arrived."

"Soldier, report to me what's going on here?" Arthas asked, frowning.

"Your Highness, last night a group of undead suddenly attacked this place, and nearby villages were also attacked."

Left with no other choice, we had to relocate some of the villagers to Hearthglen for refuge.

Then, a few young and strong men were selected and trained into a militia to prepare for the impending arrival of the undead army. The sergeant reported the situation to Arthas.

Upon hearing this, Arthas's face darkened. It seemed the Cult of the Damned had more to do, and that Kel'Thuzad was just a pawn; the dreadlord Mal'Ganis, whom he mentioned, was the real culprit.

"Jaina, the defenders of Hearthglen won't hold out much longer. I need reinforcements! I need the strength of the Knights of the Silver Hand!"

"Go and fetch Uther immediately! Tell him Hearthglen is in grave danger," Arthas said, turning to the mage.

Only Jaina can use teleportation magic to quickly reach Uther and bring him to his aid.

Jaina immediately realized the gravity of the situation: "I understand! Hold on, Arthas! Lord Rhodes, the prince is in your hands!"

Rhodes nodded to Jaina.

With a wave of her staff, the female mage enveloped Jaina in arcane light, and then she vanished. Her teleportation magic was truly masterful.

Seeing the female mage's teleportation spell, Rhode was extremely envious. The effect of this spell was comparable to the fourth-level magic, the Time-Space Gate, allowing one to go wherever they wanted.

In the game during the level 60 era, there were two formidable female characters. One was Sylvanas of Undercity. At that time, Sylvanas did not yet have her own Blood Elf skin and was using a modified Night Elf skin.

Another formidable female character is Jaina. When Horde players go to raid Theramore, Jaina can sometimes teleport the tank away to who-knows-where with a random teleport.

And what happens when you don't have a tank? Well, the whole team gets wiped out, of course!

After the female mage left, Arthas immediately led his army into Hearthglen.

“I need you to immediately set up defensive fortifications around the area, Lord Rhodes. I need your assistance in the defense,” Arthas said, turning to Rhodes.

In the previous battle, Rhodes demonstrated extremely high magical prowess. With Mr. Rhodes' help in defense, they were able to inflict significant damage on the undead army.

“No problem, Your Highness! However, you’d better have Biru Valley prepare a large quantity of magic potions for me,” Rhodes said.

The battle had only ended a day ago, and Rhodes' mana had only recovered a little. Jaina had given him only 3 mana recovery potions left, just enough to fully restore his 30 mana points once.

“I understand. I will immediately send someone to Hearthglen to deliver all the spell-restoring potions,” Arthas nodded and said.

To be honest, this was the first time he had ever seen a mage so lacking in magic power. However, it was understandable, as every spell Rhode used was incredibly powerful.

Arthas gave the order, and soon the guards brought Rhodes all the mana restoration potions in Hearthglen, good and bad.

Arthas inspected the military camp and, when he reached a warehouse, suddenly stopped and frowned.

The rice in front of him looked very familiar; it was the contaminated rice he had seen in Andohar.

"Damn it! Guards! Tell me what these things are!" Arthas roared.

"Your Highness, this is grain transported from Andorhal. You don't need to worry, we have already distributed it all to the townspeople," the officer in charge of guarding the supplies said immediately.

To everyone's surprise, Arthas's expression changed drastically upon hearing this.

"No!" He suddenly realized it was too late; there was no cure after eating the contaminated rice.

At this moment, the citizens, whose faces were sallow and who were in extremely poor condition, suddenly mutated, like zombies in a Resident Evil movie, and suddenly went berserk and charged at the surrounding soldiers.

Countless residents who came to the fireplace for refuge were instantly mutated into terrifying undead creatures, which then launched indiscriminate attacks on the living people around them.

"Ugh... Ahhh—!" A shrill scream rang out, and many ordinary villagers who didn't have time to dodge were also attacked and then infected with the undead plague.

Rhodes raised his hand and fired an ice arrow, instantly annihilating an undead.

At this moment, many soldiers were at a loss, because many of the mutated people among them were their relatives, fathers, mothers, wives, lovers, friends, and even daughters and sons.

"Champions of Lordaeron, show no mercy! They are no longer the family we once knew. Destroy them! They are now evil undead!" Arthas painfully issued the order to wipe them out.

Forgive me! My people, I should have protected you!

Damn the Scourge, damn the Cult of the Damned, I will annihilate you! I will wipe you out completely.

"Attack! Warriors, destroy these undead!"

The more than 100 elite Lordaeron soldiers who accompanied them became the main force in this extermination of the undead. It took them several hours to completely wipe out all the mutated undead from the thousands of villagers.

During this time, Rhodes did not use hero magic, but instead released ice arrows to destroy the undead creatures.

The destruction of thousands of undead gave Rhodes experience.

A glorious victory! You have gained 732 experience points and your level has increased.

Chapter 17 The Defense of Hearthglen, Tyrande, Son of Tirion

Rhodes successfully leveled up to level 3 and gained one more random attribute point. He added this random attribute point to his knowledge, increasing his mana to 40.

In addition, the special skills have been upgraded. This time, the basic Eagle Eye technique has been upgraded to the intermediate Eagle Eye technique.

And a basic first aid skill, which allows you to control the medical tent at will, and medical certificates can be purchased from the Oni blacksmith shop, but this skill is utter garbage to Rhodes.

Without any hesitation, Rhodes abandoned the first aid skill and chose to upgrade the intermediate Eagle Eye skill instead.

The intermediate level of Eagle Eye has a 50% chance of stealing level 1-3 spells cast by the enemy, plus the bonus from your own Eagle Eye skill.

Furthermore, with the treasure Fire-Eyed Man, Rhodes now has a 65% or higher chance of successfully stealing spells.

After eliminating over a thousand undead, and having 150 skeletons transformed by the necromancy, plus the skeletons Rhodes had previously accumulated, the number of skeletons has now exceeded 320.

This wave was incredibly lucrative, but a major battle awaits Rhodes next. Surrounded by a large number of undead creatures, what follows will be a tough defensive battle.

After clearing out the undead army, the soldiers of Hearthglen were plunged into grief, for they had killed their former relatives and friends.

But there was no time for them to grieve, to mourn, or even to bury the bodies.

"Your Highness! Watchtower report! The undead army! They're here!" A scout covered in blood stumbled over, his voice hoarse as he shouted, breaking the heavy silence.

Arthas jerked his head up, the pain in his eyes instantly replaced by a resolute killing intent. "Everyone! Prepare for battle! Climb the walls! For Lordaeron!"

The Little Prince raised his warhammer high, and holy light suddenly burst forth, dispelling some of the gloom and igniting the fighting spirit of the remaining soldiers.

Rhodes followed closely behind and rushed up the walls of Hearthglen. Looking out, even after experiencing the "grand scenes" in the game, the sight before him still made him shudder.

Under the somber twilight, a desolate wave surged in from all directions; it was not an organized army, but a death torrent composed of rotting bodies, twisted skeletons, and grotesque monsters.

Gargoyles flew through the sky, skeletons ran on the ground, along with zombies and ghouls, followed by large abominations and meat wagons. This undead army was a dark, endless mass.

They advanced silently, the only sounds being the nauseating screeching of bones and the dragging of rotting flesh, which blended into a depressing whisper of death, far outnumbering the remaining defenders in Hearthglen.

"Archers! Fire freely! Focus your fire on the flying monsters in the sky, and don't waste your arrows on other monsters." Arthas's voice was calm and powerful, his command decisive.

Of all the undead monsters, there are two that are the most difficult to deal with. One is the giant abomination, which is like a land tank and stands 3.5 meters tall.

The second is the gargoyles that fly in the sky. Units that fly in the sky can effectively break through enemy defenses.

These are monsters that ordinary militiamen cannot harm with their arrows, so we need Rhodes' magic.

The main objective of these militia members was to attack the gargoyles that flew in the sky.

Some hastily recruited militiamen, along with the garrison of Hearthglen, climbed the arrow towers under Arthas's command and drew their bows and arrows from inside.

Sparse arrows shot from the city walls, landing in the tide of undead, splashing up a few insignificant flowers of rotting flesh, which were instantly overwhelmed by the surging undead.

Although Arthas had ordered an attack on the gargoyles flying in the sky, apart from some regular garrison troops, the attack was thwarted.

Ordinary farmers don't have that kind of discernment; they can't even clearly see the monsters flying in the sky.

The militiamen were pale-faced, their hands trembling as they gripped their crude weapons. Seeing this, Arthas quickly raised his warhammer and led his elite soldiers to the front, then joined them in striking their shields to boost morale.

“Lord Rhodes!” Arthas turned to Rhodes. “I need your power to suppress their onslaught! Eliminate as many of them as possible!” He pointed to the direction from which the undead were surging in the densest concentration.

"Understood!" Rhodes took a deep breath and opened two bottles of purification potion, which would allow him to slowly recover his magic power.

Rhodes' main target was the Abominations. These huge monsters would be fine for the elite Lordaeron soldiers if they charged in, but the militia would definitely collapse in morale and flee.

40 mana points are enough for me to squander, because I upgraded the basic earth magic, so the cost of Magic Arrow has been reduced a bit, and it only requires 4 mana points to cast.

A blue lightning-shaped energy condensed in Rhodes' hand and then struck the abomination dozens of meters away. With a loud bang, the abomination was blasted to pieces.

Along with some low-level undead creatures in the vicinity, they were also caught in the crossfire and blasted into pieces. Then Rhode released a second, third, and fourth magic arrow.

Each magical arrow can kill a giant abomination in the horde of undead, while also blasting away some low-level undead creatures in the vicinity.

Rhodes' powerful magic greatly boosted the morale of the surrounding militiamen; having a powerful mage around always gave them peace of mind.

With a full 10 magical arrows, Rhodes killed 10 Abominations, plus several hundred low-level undead creatures, and once again ran out of mana.

Meanwhile, the undead army had already reached the gates of Hearthglen. Arthas and his elite Lordaeron soldiers charged forward, engaging in fierce hand-to-hand combat with these low-level undead creatures.

“Prince Arthas, let me lend you a hand.” A boy who looked only fourteen or fifteen years old rushed out, carrying a sword taller than himself, followed by several servants.

He is Tyrandeid, son of Tirion Fordring, the former Highlord of Hearthglen, since his father Tirion Fordring was stripped of his paladin status.

He had been staying in Hearthglen as the heir, but now all the power was in Barthilas's hands. Seeing the fierce battle outside, he also wanted to take up arms and fight.

Arthas glanced back at the boy in front of him, then shook his head.

“Go back, young man. It’s not time for you to take up arms and fight yet. You haven’t joined the Knights of the Silver Hand, you’re not a proper paladin,” Arthas said.

Perhaps in a few years this kid will become a qualified paladin, but for now, let's forget about it!

Tyranfdin, who charged out wielding his weapon, was dragged back by his servant.

Rhodes, standing atop the city wall, glanced at the boy. He was Old Rhodes, the first generation paladin, the infamous Black Invincible leader of the Gold Order, and the son of Fordring.

Chapter 18 Bloodbath Against the Undead Army

Rhodes truly hated this invincible old man, because he hadn't managed to get the invincible warhorse until before he transmigrated.

That's right! What impressed Rhodes most about Tirion Fordring was that the latter hacked his Invincible Warhorse!

Instead of uttering that classic quote, "I have seen the noblest of orcs and the most despicable of humans."

His son, Tyranfoldin, was a typical tragic figure. He faced much criticism from a young age because of his father, even though he inherited his father's territory when he grew up.

However, he directly sacrificed his father's great legacy to the Scarlet Crusade, and in the end, he was killed by his own nominal mentor.

It's as if his very existence was solely to bring Tirion Fordring out of retirement, and to put it bluntly, there are even some inconsistencies in the chronicles' accounts of his age.

The Tyrandeen that players encounter in the classic World of Warcraft questline "Love and Family" appears to be a bearded man in his 30s or even close to 40.

Even though Westerners tend to look older than they are, and a beard can certainly make someone look older, one shouldn't look like that in their early twenties.