"Your Royal Highness, we've been waiting for hours, will your friend really come?"

"Hey, take it easy, Farek, my buddy, Gianna always arrives a little late. ”

As the young, handsome, tall, and strong Prince of Arthas chatted with his lieutenant in the camp about the friends his father had sent to assist him in investigating the spread of the plague from the northern continent of Northrend, he seemed confident because of his relationship with Gianna...... It's the kind of intimacy that can't be described in words.

"Hey, Edlan, what's wrong with you? It's just like that, and you're thinking about the greenskin bastard we captured that killed all the inhabitants of Steinbrand?"

Becoming a little taciturn, Edlan looked up at his brother, friend, and future king for five years, if the country called Lordaeron had a future. He cleared his throat, "No, even their best chieftain has been captured by young people like us, and haven't you noticed, except for the mentor who has enough experience in leading troops for you and me, the other troops of the Silver Hand have not been dispatched, and more are just ordinary soldiers of the kingdom fighting, which shows that the orcs are no longer as brave as they used to be, and now their riot is not the top priority of the kingdom." Times have changed in Alsace. ”

The young prince was clearly pleased with his recent success in leading his team to exterminate the rebellious orcs and capture their chieftains, but now was the time to be complacent, but he was embarrassed to be "poured cold water" on his closest brother and best friend.

Adelan hadn't been like that before, Arthas had said to himself more than once, at least when they fought side by side to kill the orcs who dared to slaughter his people, he was still like the same as before, steady, brave, and strong, he was like the strongest shield of the most soldiers, blocking the crazy attack of the orcs called what hell roar, which laid the foundation for our victory, and his very skillful use of holy light saved the lives of many soldiers.

Arthas knew that he had the same heart to attack as he was, but he gave himself the opportunity to be a good man, and he gave himself up to the soldiers, just like his lieutenant Faric.

"Well, I admit you, what do you think is Lordaeron's top priority?" Arthas tried to change the subject in a lighter tone.

"It's the plague, my brother, and the power of the Light makes me feel it...... It's not normal. "I've been with these "characters" for years, and Edlan, the time-traveler, doesn't have to make drafts at all when he lies.

"Oh my God!" Arthas smacked Edlan in the shoulder, smiling, "Why do you speak in the same tone as Mentor Uther? ”

Adelan was infected by Arthas's affectionate gesture, and he could be considered to relax a little, and some smiles could be seen on the corners of his mouth, he knew exactly what would happen to this good friend in the near future, and there was nothing he could do to get him out of the tragic fate of becoming the Lich King...... So he was very depressed.

Outside the camp, a fluctuation of spells and the cacophony of battle caught everyone's attention - it was a beautiful human female mage who froze two three-meter-tall ogres who were chasing her in place after sending out a frost nova, and then she calmly ran away.

"Boom, boom!!" the sound of the sword unsheathed was endless.

The captain of the Farrick guard raised his sword and shouted at the female mage who was being pursued by the two ogres in front of him, "We need to help her!"

"Take it easy, gentlemen, Gianna will take care of it. Alsace said that, but he also stood up and put himself in a position where he could sprint at all times.

The battle outside the camp was boring, because after Gianna summoned a water elemental as big as an ogre, the two ogres who were not very good at their brains only stared at the water elemental and hammered after breaking free from the ice.

The elemental creature of the water elemental does not feel pain, and as soon as it is summoned, it raises its large fist of flowing water at an ogre, which is a good check for Miss Mage.

Allowing a spell caster to cast calmly at any time is a taboo in battle, and Gianna was seen holding the flint staff, and the rich magic power condensed on her left hand, and in an instant, it appeared as an entity, which was a tumbling fireball of intense flames, which drew a beautiful and deadly line in the air with the mage's command.

"Boom-" and the fireball blasted the head of an ogre to pieces very wildly!

At this moment, the other ogre found that the opponent was so powerful, and under the control of the instinct of fear, it quickly turned around and ran......

"Long time no see, Gianna. ”

"It's been a long time since a prince has escorted me somewhere. ”

Edlan packed his bags, waited for the joy of Arthas's reunion with Gianna and the scattering of dog food, mounted his horse, and followed the ranks of the soldiers.

"So, Gianna, where are we going?"

Due to Gianna's poor riding skills, or for other reasons, she rode the same horse as Arthas.

"Based on my intelligence, the plague should have erupted from the north, and I think we should follow the Kingdom Road all the way north to inspect every village. ”

"Oh, that's a great idea. Arthas felt the force of being hugged around his waist a little heavier, and after a long absence, Gianna still had the same feelings for himself as before, which made him very happy, and if there was no damn investigative mission, what a happy life it would be to take the people he likes to roam here on horseback in this wonderful sunny forest.

It has to be said that Arthas's reputation in the kingdom of Lordaeron is still very high, and even the farmers who are working in the fields in the villages they pass by along the way spontaneously stop their work and salute Arthas. Thanks to the royal family's momentum, they have been constantly publicizing to the people since birth how good their prince is, and getting the best educational resources, which has made the reputation of Arthas, the pride of the sky, soar in the land, and now what he lacks is a merit that can silence the mouths of all nobles.

And this time, with Uther's expedition and the investigation of the plague, King Terenas carefully arranged for his son to be gilded, although the battles were all real swords and blood, but under the protection of the powerful Uther, it was basically possible for Arthas to lie down and win.

However, the young prince is indeed very motivated, he has been training hard for many years, in order to one day be able to personally obtain honor and recognition of all the people, so he cherishes this opportunity, fighting orcs, he almost always rushes to the front, after a few battles, the prince, who was still a little childish, has become very reliable.

This was one of the reasons why Uther agreed to let Arthas leave the army to investigate the plague, first, because the king's order, and secondly, the gilding was enough, and the prince was not a soldier, so Arthas took his friends and his guards to his next gilded location......

......

Obviously, Arthas enjoyed the heartfelt respect of the citizens along the way, which made Arthas very useful, although he had also taken on some tax collector and other duties under his father's arrangement before, and the citizens also saluted him like this, but this time was different, this was the first time that Arthas personally brought the orcs in the south of the cholera kingdom to justice!

It was as if he had been greeted by the people on his victorious return with his army in victory, and Arthas had even imagined in his mind that the ceremony must be much larger than the inhabitants of such a small scattered village.

Soon, the scout at the front of the line reported bad news.

"Your Highness, there are many refugees in front, and they are injured!"

"Lead the way! Scout. ”

With Arthas's unhesitating order, the procession picked up, but soon they slowed down again, as more and more refugees marched south along the Kingdom Road, some in horse-drawn carriages and some on foot, almost filling the wide, paved road, which forced Arthas and his party to slow down and try to figure out what was really going on from these people.

If there is one thing that the refugees have in common, it is the panic on their faces and the large blood stains on the bodies of the fleeing people from time to time.

The fleeing crowd was not as polite as the villagers who had been safe before, and they saw a dozen tall and mighty soldiers led by the prince, dressed neatly dressed and brightly armoured, and even the Lordaeron insignia displayed on the banner held high was so bright and moving.

As a result, many people immediately took the initiative to surround them, gossiping about the hardships they had encountered not long ago. This made Arthas, who wanted to show his kind and reliable side in front of these people, a little overwhelmed, and there were so many people talking that he couldn't even tell what these people were talking about.

But he was sure that something must have happened to them, something big, dangerous.

Balls of soft pale golden light fluttered down on the heads of those who were emotional, "Calm down, say one by one." Edlan finished a wide range of psychic appeasement with the help of a book of covenants written by His Majesty Alonthos Fao himself, called "The Healing of the Light", and after making sure that the men were feeling better, he put the covenant away and hung it back on his waist.

The content of the Covenant was a bit like a treatise to Edlan, but it was infused with Holy Light energy and made into an amplified item like a mage's magic trinket, so he needed a certain amplification effect to be able to do it when using such a healing area spell that he was not familiar with.

Although it was a priest's spell, none of the people in the group except Gianna had any surprise about the paladin's hand, Edlan Lu, because they had all fully understood how unreasonable the paladin's use of the light was during the battle with the orcs the other day, but he was a very good companion.

"Praise the Light!"

After settling down for a while, a slightly older man stepped forward and said in a very sad voice, "Your Highness, my village ...... It's all crazy, everybody has become skeletons! And there's a kind of living dead, they're ...... They've all turned into monsters!"

"Yes, yes!"

"Our village too, poor old Delen, no one in their family will escape. ”

Speaking of sadness, these people are starting to feel a little emotionally unstable again.

"Don't worry, I'm here to solve this problem. Arthas ascertained the situation, and after calming the poor men a little, he glanced up at the black smoke that had just risen not far away, which made the young prince feel that something was wrong, and he immediately ordered to the soldiers who were on standby and hurrying to give the horses some rations, "We are ready to fight!"

After Adelan and Arthas nodded, he removed his winged helmet, iron gauntlet, silver hand sword, and tower shield with the silver hand insignia from the belt hanging from the pack horse's waist, and after a quick fitting, he patted the horse's neck lightly, and after handing the reins to a few of the auxiliaries who had stayed here, he walked to the front of the group, followed by Arthas, and the two soldiers carrying the banners of Lordaeron and the Silver Hand.

The battle formation was quickly formed, and the soldiers, including Captain Faric, did not need much command, and they formed a small triangular formation to protect the sole caster, Gianna.

The elite soldiers moved quickly in silence, moving in a dangerous direction, in stark contrast to the noisily evacuees who were shouting for safety, and the people consciously moved out of the middle of the road so that the silent men could pass quickly.

"Mother, is that His Highness Arthas?"

"Yes, baby. ”

"Will His Royal Highness help us get rid of the bad guys?"

"Definitely. ”

Although the mother said this, after staring for a moment at the group of dozen or so people who had been overwhelmed by the fleeing crowd, she still picked up her daughter and kept up with the steps of the residents who had fled south......

......

"W-pong!"

An arrow that had just finished its parabolic motion was knocked off by a hard shield.

It was a stone bridge, and at the other end of the bridge was a small town, and many places were already burning, except for a few soldiers who were almost "bloody", panting as if they were about to burst their lungs, and relying on a makeshift line of wagons and all other obstacles to keep the monsters from passing.

It was already visible to the naked eye, and Arthas could even see the disgusting skeletons and living dead roaming around the town, clutching the Covenant in one hand and holding the warhammer aloft in the other, giving his entire team the protection of a pious aura, "Just ahead! Soldiers, attack!"

Compared to Arthas, who doesn't learn a lot about Holy Light auxiliary spells and doesn't pay much attention to them, Adlan seems to be "cheating" There are a lot, he didn't pull out his weapon in a hurry, but took out a king mark from the glove bag on his waist and crushed it, and the powerful holy light energy instantly gushed out from his fingertips, and the pale golden holy light energy spread to everyone in the team like silk threads, which was the powerful king's blessing of the paladin, making everyone feel that they had been favored by the holy light both mentally and physically, and then triggered part of the potential of the body within a certain period of time.

This is quite a powerful and practical spell, but with Edlan's current ability, he can only cast one of the blessing spells, but as far as he knows, Uther, the most powerful in the Silver Hand Knights, is said to be able to cast three blessings of strength, wisdom, and king's blessing on an entire army at the same time, and he can also perform salvation, sacrifice, and It is no wonder that Uther was given the name of the Messenger of Light, in the eyes of everyone, he is the most powerful paladin, and this all-round understanding and mastery of the holy light is simply an encyclopedia of paladins.

But now, Edlan's stunned inter-class performance was not over, he took out two more sacred candles from his back pocket, and after infusing them with holy light energy in turn, the candles dissolved into the air, and everyone received the bonus of True Word Tenacity and Spiritual Fire.

This Shingon Tenacity increases the mental tenacity of the subject in order to better resist adverse mental blows, such as the paralyzing nerves and senses of alcohol, while the Psychic Fire acts on armor and weapons to increase their strength.

That is, after completing these routine operations, Adlan drew his long sword, and under the concentrated fire of several skeleton archers, he used the tower shield to completely envelop most of his body and push forward.

"It's 40 yards. Edlan reminded.

"Feel the wrath of the Holy Light!" Arthas received the exact number prompt, and raised the power of Minethil War Hammer, blasting out the holy energy that had been brewing to the extreme! After the spell was condensed, several dazzling holy flames fell from the sky, and the holy flames scorched the skeleton archers on the ground, and the holy light energy quickly purified the fire of his soul, invalidating the filthy and evil spells acting on his body, and finally turned into a piece of broken bones.

Holy Shock, originally one of the few single long-range attack spells of the paladin, was stimulated by the young prince under the stimulation of Edlan, and developed an attack spell that can attack multiple targets at the same time! This makes a certain traverser find that the "game knowledge" that he has standing on the shoulders of giants is not so unique, as long as these "plot characters" are willing to study and study hard, they can also develop such sharp spells.

Immediately after that, Gianna also made a move, she found that the enemies in the distance were not too dense, so she did not use a wide range of magic, but chose the most basic elemental magic of the mage, ice arrows and fireballs, her precise and powerful spell power, quickly reducing the number of monsters in the distance.

And at the same time as this round of long-range attacks, as if stepping on the tail of a cat, those wandering skeletons and zombies in the distance began to swarm towards the direction of the stone bridge. This made the few loyal guards who had been guarding the place scarred and miserable.

"You guys stand down!" Edlan shouted to the guards who were still working hard in front of him, he shouted "Pocket Array!" and took the lead in holding the heavy tower shield to the ground, and the soldiers behind him spread out their arrays, standing tightly on both sides with Edlan as the center, one thick shield standing in front of him, and a bright blade ready to end the lives of those poor monsters.

A thin pocket array with a slight depression against the stone bridge had already been arranged, but due to the limitation of the number of people, it was already the limit to form such a temporary and strong shield array.

The guards who had retreated in front of them consciously bypassed their own array, which had almost sealed off the wide stone bridge, and as soon as they passed, the two soldiers blocked the passable opening, completely sealing the hundreds of living dead and skeletal soldiers armed with sharp blades surging behind them.

"Thorn-" Captain Farick yelled, he was in charge of directing the attack in the first line, and the team was small, so everyone could hear such roars.

The sound of "bang bang......" and a hiss of unknown meaning were endless, and every soldier on the front line felt that his shield was being hit by a blow comparable to the strength of those green-skinned mongrels, even if their long sword pierced from the gap in the shield array every time it could have a very obvious hit feel, but it was clear that this ordinary soldier was okay with flesh and blood enemies in this way, but in the face of this undead skeleton, the soul fire in his body must be destroyed to completely lose control.

This is the paladin's specialty, every blow, there is a strong holy energy burst out with the swing of the blade, stabbing and stabbing, and the energy that is born with restraint is very easy to purify those bones into a pile of broken bones. This also leads to the fact that the original pocket formation should be most vulnerable to the impact on both sides, not on the bottom formation of Edlan's pocket.

It was precisely because of the efficiency of the skeletons and zombies that Edlan had destroyed with the Holy Light that the monsters that crowded the bridge kept coming in his direction.

Of course, he wasn't fighting alone, and behind him, Arthas had almost completely turned into a ranged professional, and he blasted the healing spells of the Holy Light directly on those undead monsters, which halved in power, but it was also very suitable to make up for the regret that he didn't have a shield and couldn't form a battle with the soldiers.

And Gianna, after discovering that there was still a big lack of reflection on the judgment of spell selection in actual combat, she decisively began to chant a directional large-scale magic, Blizzard.

Wrapped in the warm holy light, some soldiers clearly felt that the temperature around them was decreasing, and in the air not far in front of them, a thick black cloud was rapidly forming, and after a while, fist-sized hailstones and ice picks fell like raindrops in the dense rear formation of monsters!

The unknown wails of the zombies came, and the power of the blizzard, which lasted for more than ten seconds, directly caused more than fifty monsters to be completely killed or beaten to the point of ineffectiveness, which greatly boosted the morale of the soldiers!

The battle lasted for more than ten minutes, and under the double long-range attacks of Arthas and Gianna, and under the hard work of the shield array soldiers, the hundreds of monsters that had no intelligence and could only make a mess to impact the shield array were finally wiped out......

After the battle, Captain Farrick and his soldiers cleaned up the battlefield, while Arthas, Gianna, and Edlan vigilantly entered the heart of the town, which looked very strange as a lonely barn.

Gianna frowned as she looked at the mutated, black, disgusting, rotten and death-filled land that was evident beneath her feet, "The land here seems to be ...... Dying?" Then, out of mage's curiosity, she knelt down and picked up a handful of dry earth and withered grass, examined them carefully, and looked at a small insect curled up on six legs and dead......

Nothing came of such observations, and all signs point to a lack of life here. The dry soil slipped from Gianna's fingertips, suddenly powdery and turned into a gray mist in the breeze.

Hearing this, Arthas looked around at the devastated fields in the distance and the burning houses nearby, only the barn was intact, and he realized that something seemed to be wrong, but when his gaze followed Gianna's hand to the ground, he realized that there was indeed something wrong with the land here.

A few steps away, it was still ordinary, and you could still see the land with weeds and flowers growing on it, and the farmland in the distance was dilapidated, but there were still plants growing on it, but here, under his feet...... The land around the barn was as dead as it was winter.

No, the metaphor is not appropriate, winter is the season of recuperation of the soil, and everything is dormant, ready to wake up and rejuvenate for the arrival of spring. And here...... There is no trace of life at all.

Although Arthas and Gianna were discussing the cause of this with solemn expressions, to Edlan the Traveler, it was like a "memory replay...... This very unreal image was "repeated" in front of his eyes, and at this moment he could empathize with the repetition of the scenes that the bronze dragon saw in countless timelines, but he was powerless, and he had to maintain the mood that it had to let it run according to the established route.

The difference is that the Bronze Dragon can't be changed, while Edlan can't. This mood is really terrible!

Perhaps the Bronze Dragons, as dragons, have a long lifespan, and their worldview is very different from that of humans who usually live less than a hundred years, but Edlan is deeply frustrated by his powerlessness, even if he travels to this world years before this catastrophe, he can't change anything.

After watching Arthas, it was like performing according to the script, and Gianna, who had just come into close contact with the plague-infected land and was almost infected herself, was saved by the Holy Light Technique.

Edlan pointed to the boxes scattered outside the barn with the seal of Andorhar, and said with some urgency: "Lady Gianna is right, these grains should have been transported to Andorhar, which is the grain distribution center of the entire northern region, so if the food with the plague is transported to other places through Andorhar, I'm afraid we will face more than just these hundreds of monsters......

I think this matter is beyond what we can handle!Arthas, my friend, I suggest that in your capacity as prince, immediately gather all the members of the Knights of the Silver Hand to Andorhar, and inform His Majesty that all the priests in the country should rise up and conduct a thorough inspection of the grain that may spread the plague! If necessary, immediately ask for the help of the mages from Dalaran, and even let the Kingdom of Stormwind do the same! It is time for them to repay the favor they owe when they helped them to restore their country. ”

Faced with this "sensational" suggestion made by Adlan, Arthas only thought for a moment before completely forgetting about it, he patted his good friend on the shoulder, who seemed to be already a little nervous, and said with relief: "Maybe it's not so bad, do you see the deep wheel prints on the road? ”

"No!Arthas, at least you have to gather the Knights of the Silver Hand......" Edlan didn't want to give up, if he could mobilize so many forces to deal with the cursed sect and the undead according to his ideas, at least it wouldn't be like the original history, the plague broke out so violently, and instantly plunged the entire Lordaeron into a crisis of annihilation, turning the entire Northland into a country of death.

Alsace, who didn't care what he wanted to argue about, shouted: "Faric, get ready at once, bring our horses, we must go at once!"

Arthas's performance is not just stubborn now, just a little reckless and does not shed tears when he sees the coffin, I am afraid he himself can't believe that this new type of plague will have such a great destructive power, after all, no one wants to see that happen, so he has a heavy sense of responsibility and resolutely after a fierce battle, and immediately let the already tired guards continue to hurry.

And Gianna was repeatedly recalling what Edran said, she had personally participated in this battle just now, it was obvious that almost all the residents of this town and the surrounding area had turned into those monsters, and there were some traces of spells that she was not sure about inside, maybe she should go back and ask Mentor Antonidas?

And the Andoral region, which is the distribution center for all the regions north of Lordaeron, where at least 500,000 people live, if the plague breaks out there and infects all the inhabitants into monsters......

Gianna was taken aback by her rich imagination, and a lot of cold sweat broke out on her forehead. She looked at Arthas, who was commanding the soldiers and cheering them on, still with that sunny and confident face, which was undoubtedly a good temperament for a leader, but why did she always feel uneasy?

Could it be that the words of Alsace's friend, who had become depressed, would really come true?