Early the next morning, after a barely filling breakfast, Diego set out again with his guards. The cooks at Fort Overwatch had done their best to make the food delicious, but in such a hellish place where supplies were scarce, there was no need to expect too much for taste or anything.

Each soldier of the Storm Whip was a little drowsy, rocking in the saddle, as if he could fall off his horse at any moment. Three or four hours of sleep had not been enough to completely dispel the fatigue of the long journey and the aftermath of the great battle, but they had followed their lord on the journey without complaint. Honestly, with such an alternative lord who likes to stay on horseback, what else can you do but try to make your saddle as comfortable as possible?

They were accompanied by a company of cavalry from the Watch Fort, each with a thick cloth scarf tied around their necks for unknown purposes, led by a knightly lieutenant named Gremio, a company full of experienced veterans who were no strangers to this kind of patrol duty.

The arid and barren fields stretched forward from under their feet to the end of the horizon. As far as the eye can see, whether it is plains, hills, or ravines, everything is covered with a blinding layer of ochre. As if it had been cursed, there was no sign of life here, not even the most durable desert creatures like cacti and scorpions, even the desolate terrain of the Burning Plains and the Tanaris Desert was alive and well compared to this dead land.

Masrae jumped off Kodomon's back, grabbed a handful of dry gravel and twisted it, and let the ochre-red scrap slowly slide between his fingers.

"This land ......" Masrae found himself unable to say any more, his other hand pressed against his chest as if it had been pierced by a blade. For a druid who breathes with nature, he is experiencing first-hand the damage that the land has suffered.

“…… It's dead! He choked up, two tears pouring out of his golden eyes and dripping onto the parched ground.

"Not only the druids, but also the mages feel the same way, in fact, from the time the Dark Gate was built, the life force of this land began to be extracted by it, like a bloodsucking worm parasitic on normal body." Big. Law. Shi Mahalba sighed on the side, "Until this land is drained and completely dead." ”

At this moment, a wind blew from nowhere, and this strange whirlwind swept through the dry ground, blowing up countless dust. The dust swirled like the ashes of a dead earth, wafting around the people with hatred and resentment.

The Watchfort cavalry unhurriedly pulled up the scarf around their necks and covered half of their faces—Diego finally knew what it was for, and the outsiders began to cough, trying to bring something, anything, to cover their mouths, noses, and eyes.

Diego covered his face with his gloved hands, trying to block the dust, but to no avail, he coughed violently, choking on tears and snot on his face. Not only him, but he could hear everyone around him coughing violently, as if trying to pull his entire lungs out of his throat.

After a while, the whirlwind finally reluctantly left. Diego looked around, only to see a group of terracotta warriors standing around him, even the Watchman cavalry.

"Welcome to Hell!" In the crowd, Lieutenant Gremio shouted loudly under his face towel. As he spoke, he untied his masked scarf and smiled smugly.

"Guys, don't blame me for not telling you beforehand, it's a tradition at the Watchgate, a shocking education for newbies! Now, we're going to have to stay in this place for a long time! "Not far from Diego, big. Law. Shi also shook his face towel and patted the dust on his body. Although as a mage, he had a way to keep the dust from falling on him, in such a dangerous place, every bit of magic had a more important use than that, and there was no room for waste.

"Well, I'll admit it, this place has given me a dismount." Diego opened his mouth as a cloud of dust erupted from his mouth and slammed into the ground.

He glanced back at his old buddy, after this gust of wind, the Night Elf didn't look as sad as before, but his mood was still a little low.

"Alright, let's move on!" Diego shouted, and the team marched again. He turned his head and looked at Mahalpa, "What was the result of the MI7 interrogators yesterday?" ”

"Nothing, and while we have recruited the warlocks who are most familiar with demons, the demon captives have different opinions, some say that the place where they passed through the rift in time and space is a valley, some say it is a cave, and some even say that it is in a large pit that Lathlek the Polluter found and gathered together. But the only thing they have in common is that they all say they haven't seen the Dark Portal at all! ”

"Is there no anomaly at all in the Dark Gate?" Masrae, who was on the sidelines, couldn't help but join the discussion.

"Hmph, if you want to cover it up, it's more likely that the demons who saw the dark door were gathered near that gate." Diego speculated, "I don't believe these demons are going to attack the Overwatch when they have enough to eat, they must be hiding something." ”

"Hide what?"

"What could be more important in this hellish place than the Dark Gate?" Diego said coldly, looking up at the far south. The sky there was full of dark clouds, and from time to time purple lightning flashed in between, which was not a normal rain cloud, but a weather anomaly caused by violent energy oscillation fluctuations.

They walked along the road to the south for about a week, and along the way, they saw no trace of man, except for the remnants of the battlefield left over from the two orc wars, until on the tenth day, they began to find some scattered traces of demons on the side of the road.

"They've got to know we're coming!" Before dawn that day, Lieutenant Gremio led five soldiers and dragged a Cerberus with a broken spine to Diego's tent. Mixed. Planted outside the camp sneaky, probe brains. ”

For the experienced Keeper Legion, capturing a Cerberus with half a squad of men is simply handy.

"It's normal, we were supposed to be a combat reconnaissance this time." Diego said disapprerovingly, so many people drove over, unless the demons were blind, they would not notice them.

Combat reconnaissance, as the name suggests, is reconnaissance carried out in offensive or feint operations. To be precise, Waynes and Diego originally planned to use these two companies to attack the demonic army that might exist in the Dark Gate, in order to determine whether the Dark Gate had been opened.

In fact, once their speculation is true, the dark door has been opened, and the two companies will certainly not end well in the face of the swarming Burning Legion. In addition to the large. Law. Mahalba may teleport away, and most of the others will die here.

"So, we're on a death mission?" Gremio asked, not surprised. For each member of the Watch Castle, they have long been prepared to sacrifice at any time, as long as it is not worthless to die. This is also their tradition, which has been preserved from the moment the entire company died to cover Danas Tolbain's warning to Fort Watch.

"Not necessarily, maybe I have an idea that can keep us all alive!" Diego smiled, looked at the half-dead Cerberus in front of him, and said.