In Stratholme's zoo, Uther and Hermione, whose expressions were gradually becoming a little irritated, and nearly a thousand of the most elite paladins of the Silver Hand were waiting patiently by the fountain here.

Because ah, they have now lost the traces of Arthas and the others......

After all, the city of Stratholme is very big, otherwise it wouldn't be called the northern pearl of the continent of Lordaeron! Therefore, in order not to go around and take the wrong road, and to sympathize with the physical strength of the war horses, they had to wait in this large zoo in the middle of Stratholme, and wait for the hordes of paladins who had scattered out to search to come back and report before making plans.

Only after the location of Arthas and the others has been determined can they set out purposefully to rescue them, or wait for an opportunity to strike and capture the Dreadlord named Marganis against the culprit who is suspected of spreading the plague and causing untold suffering to the people of Lordaeron?

Of course, it depends on the situation in the end, after all, sometimes the plan is definitely far from changing, and all they can do now is wait patiently here.

‘……’

Call!

I don't know how they are doing in Arthas......

"Miss Granger, do you need some water? To give! This is the holy water that has been blessed by our paladins with holy light, and drinking it will not only quench your thirst, but also have some benefits against the poisonous gas of the plague of the undead. ”

Standing beside the fountain, looking at the house not far away, and listening to some kind of 'woo' wail coming from it, Uther sighed, took out the kettle by his saddle, sat down on the chair next to the fountain, and was twisting the lid of it to take a big sip, and after thinking about it, he handed it to the little Granger witch who was standing aside and didn't know what he was thinking.

"Huh?"

"No, no, I have my own, thank you!"

Hermione, who came to her senses, didn't reach out to take it, but shook her head and declined as she looked towards the house where there was movement.

Because her embroidered deep-sea bag did still have a lot of holy water in it, if she wanted to drink it, she could take it out at any time, and she didn't need to share that pot with the paladin Uther, which was not very hygienic......

Moreover, what she was more concerned about now was obviously the house not far away and the bad movement coming from the house.

"Okay......"

"Remember to tell me when you want, although I know that you mages yourself usually have that kind of magical water-making technique? But I have to advise you, old fellow, that you must drink holy water to move in Stratholme! ”

Seeing that the other party rejected his good intentions, Uther was not annoyed, and directly raised his head after making a small joke about the other party, and drank it in a big gulp.

Now that the chaos in Stratholm City has begun to appear, some of the depths of infection have begun to transform, and along the way, their elite group of paladins with silver hands have killed at least more than a thousand undead zombies! However, they didn't go to any of the houses they passed during the search, and they hurried all the way here.

however

Even so, they still lost Alsace and them in the streets and alleys of the huge city of Stratholme......

Uther and the others only know that Arthas may be in the docks in the northwest, or in the northeast city, and as for where they are, it may take a while for the search team to come back, so now he must maintain his strength and replenish his water, because he feels that a big battle may come soon.

"Huh?"

"Please don't look, Miss Granger, I can see that there are a few undead zombies out there, but they don't seem to open the door, so we can leave them alone."

After taking several gulps of holy water, Uther turned to the little witch who was still staring warily at the house where some kind of low roar came from time to time.

And that's why he ordered the citizens to stay at home and strictly prohibit going out!

Looking at it now, sure enough, the poor fellows who had been transformed into undead by the outbreak of the plague were really trapped in the house, and although it was temporary, it would take a little time for them to get out of the sturdy house if no one helped...... Perhaps, it may take until they transform into those more terrifying ghouls before they can easily break down doors or climb out of windows?

However, that was at least many days later, so he was not in a hurry now, but he had a lot of regret and regret in his heart.

"That's really cruel!"

"Lord Uther, how many people have become like that now? Are we really doing nothing and just watching? ”

Watching hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people sink in the plague, watching them turn from living people to evil undead, watching the huge city gradually fall to death, Hermione's heart was filled with anger, sadness, hesitation and sighing, and at the same time, she wanted to do something for those people, but at the same time, she knew that she couldn't do anything at the moment......

For example, along the way, the howls and screams she heard from time to time, those things that turned into undead first, and then culled their relatives in the house, to some extent, were really too cruel!

"Granger Witch!"

"The Holy Light can testify that our people in this neighborhood have actually been carefully investigated, there are more than 20,000 people in total, but there are less than 300 uninfected people, those who have been escorted out of the city for re-screening in the morning, and the ...... who remain at home"

At this point, David Croford, who had just interjected, sighed and shook his head regretfully, obviously, he was a little reluctant to continue, and he believed that both Uther and the witch would know the fate of those people, and even he himself was already a little numb.

However, his heart was still hot, and he was still full of boundless anger against the demons who had caused all this, and the Cult of the Cursed God had already been behind some possible existence! He believed that the sacred fire of his boundless wrath, whether it was himself or the other paladins, would one day burn out the evil people who had poisoned Lordaeron and purify them completely!

“……”

'Illusion Slate! ’

After staring at the house that was attacked from the inside by the undead zombies, and then the thick door panel kept shaking for a while, thinking that the door of that house might be a little unsafe, or he couldn't bear to see the poor guys rushing out of it being slashed in front of his eyes by the paladins, Hermione thought about it, and then waved the wand in his hand, so that a solid spell directly hit the wooden gate in the distance that kept shaking, making it instantly as hard as a stone slab.

“？？”

"Okay, that's fine, I originally wanted to send someone to 'quiet' them......"

Paladin Davi Croford shook his head with a little cry and laughter, and then he didn't make any comments on the witch's behavior, and walked directly to his companions, who were looking curiously towards him, and asked the fellows for the kind of Shiabi tobacco found in Stratholme and swallowed the smoke.

After taking control of Stratholme, they found a lot of 'ownerless' belongings and goods, such as the crates of tobacco goods found in a warehouse with the insignia of Fras Hiabi? And those things are now being requisitioned directly by them for free!

After all, the owner of the warehouse, the merchant named Fras Siabhi, was probably already an undead, and even if they wanted to buy it or 'requisition it for a fee', it would be impossible.

In fact, the city of Stratholme now has a huge amount of wealth 'hidden', and they have only collected a few supplies and the original treasury and the coffers of the major banks, and as for more, they are temporarily powerless.

"Huh!"

"Croford is right, Miss Granger, you better come and sit for a while, don't waste your magic, there are at least tens of thousands of independent houses in this city, you can't manage that many."

Seeing that the banging on the door of the house continued, but the wooden door had suddenly become so strong that it was no longer even shaking, Uther smiled at the little witch who had put away her wand and patted the empty seat beside her again.

You know, what awaits them is going to be a big war, and he doesn't want some witch to waste her precious magic on locking the doors of one house after another, because that kind of thing doesn't make much sense at all, and it's doomed to be in vain.

"I know!"

"But Lord Uther, I feel like I have to do something, or I'll go mad!!"

With that, Hermione sat down directly next to the Uther Paladin, sat down on the same chair as the other party, and sat across the huge war hammer from the other party, and then looked angrily at the huge cages around the fountain.

And then soon, she was finally caught up in that excessive attention by something else......

“！！”

"Excuse me, Lord Uther, those two over there...... Animal? What the hell are they?! ”

Hermione rubbed her eyes and pointed to the monster trapped in the huge, rockery pools on Earth.

Because she found that they had huge eagle heads, and their bodies were all those flat hairs, but they had bodies larger than giant bears and sharp claws, and they still walked on their lower limbs?

"That's? Oh! That's two eagle bears......"

Uther glanced at it, and then quickly gave a straight answer. As a high-ranking nobleman of the Kingdom of Lordaeron and leader of the Knights of the Silver Hand, he was no stranger to that kind of animal, as it was also found in the zoo in Lordaeron's Royal City, and it was even bigger and bigger!

"Bears and eagles?!"

"So, what about the big guy over there? Is that a walking dragon?! ”

Hermione didn't quite understand the strange spelling of the so-called 'hawk bear' that the other party was talking about, but she also had a rough idea of what it was, so she pointed directly to the mountain-like monster in the big mountain on the other side.

"Giant, dragon?"

"Nope! It's not a dragon, it's a 'lightning lizard' or a 'thunder lizard'! They are not dragons, they are large, docile herbivores and cannot be classified as dragons! ”

If it were the Dragons, they Lordaeron wouldn't dare to put them in the zoo in Stratholme unless they were crazy!

In fact, Uther could now have said responsibly: if the people of Stratholme had really gone crazy and kidnapped a 'dragon' and put it in the zoo for people to see, I am afraid that it would not be the turn of the undead plague to destroy this place, and the dragon army would have razed this city to the ground with dragon breath.

Although, there are often people in this world who sneak into dragon hunting, otherwise there wouldn't be so many dragon weapons and dragon skin armor on the market, such as the legendary 'dragon stalker' or something? However, no one dares to do that kind of thing in the open, whether it is a dragon eating a man or a man hunting a dragon, there are some tacit rules, otherwise, the five-colored dragon will definitely give the kind of guy who openly dies a good look!

"Thunder lizard, it's the first time I've seen a lizard that big......"

How dare such a big guy be 'docile'?

Anyway, Hermione said she wouldn't go near that scary-looking big guy easily! Moreover, the other party's name with 'lightning' and 'thunder' on it is definitely not untargeted, and it is better for her to stay away from similar guys in the future?

“！？”

"And! So, what about those over there?! ”

Suddenly, Hermione pointed to a place where there was a little sinking lava and fire, and inside, there were fuchsia, twisted monsters?

She didn't understand, what was wrong with the people here in Stratholme, how could they be interested in that kind of tentacle monster that looked like it gave people goosebumps? Just looking at such things made people feel a chill in their hearts, and she couldn't imagine how they had managed to catch them and bring them to the zoo for people to see.

"That's the Ooze Tentacle ......"

"It should be considered an undead creature, but it is different from the undead plague we are facing now, it is said that they are a conglomerate of twisted evil spirits formed by the bones of some animals or humanoids after death under certain circumstances, the rancid ooze and the chaotic elemental power that has been polluted under natural conditions?"

"Luckily, they're not too difficult to deal with, and they're not contagious."

If the zombies, skeletons, ghouls, and mending monsters are man-made monsters of the undead plague, then those ooze monsters are naturally formed undead creatures, although they are all evil beings, but the nature of the two is not the same.

"Where did they get them from, are they native animals here in Lordaeron?"

Hermione said that in addition to the strange birds and critters she and Harry had seen in the wild, they had only seen the terrifying elemental stone men, the hordes of gnolls, a handful of forest trolls, and all sorts of fish-people that could be found almost anywhere there was a river.

"I guess I got it from Kalimdor on the other side of the continent or Northrend in the north, right?"

"Actually, I don't know very well, Stratholme has always been the northern pearl of the Lordaeron continent, and the trade here used to be very prosperous, and it was not uncommon for those merchants to get such strange things from other continents."

"Alas......"

Thinking of the pomp and circumstance of Stratholme in the past, and then looking at everything in front of him, thinking that this huge city would soon be completely decayed, the bag of holy water in Uther's hand seemed to become less sweet all of a sudden, and the hand that had been raised unconsciously drooped down.

“！！”

"Is there really a continent called Kalimdor on the other side of the ocean?!"

Hermione was obviously a little surprised to hear Uther talk about such things, because she suddenly remembered someone because of it.

"Absolutely! What's wrong!?"

Uther was a little strange and wondered what was the matter with this startled little witch.

"That's right, when I went to the Kaorin junction, I heard the prophet say it......"

“？？”

However, Hermione was unable to continue with Uther, because she saw a group of paladins galloping towards this direction on horseback, and they were the same paladins who had been sent out by Lord Uther and others to search for Arthas and the others.

'Report! ’

'Lord Uther! ’

'In the northern dock area, the army of the Prince of Arthas has won a great victory after defeating the Dreadlord and his undead, and now they have left the harbor by boat to continue their pursuit of the enemy!!' ’

When the paladin rode forward and narrowly grabbed the reins, the paladin at the head reported loudly before he could even get off his horse.

"What?"

"You said Alsace they won, is this—Is that true?!"

Uther subconsciously exclaimed, because he was just thinking about how to raid after knowing the whereabouts of Arthas and the others, and knowing the location of the Dreaddemon King, but now, this paladin actually came to tell him that the enemy had been defeated by the prince of Arthas and others?!

“！！”

"It shouldn't be, right?"

"In the name of the Light, I had fought the Dreadlord for several rounds, and if it weren't for Miss Granger, I would have died! Prince Arthas doesn't seem to be as good as me, and the Potter wizard is not as strong as Miss Granger, so how did they defeat the Dreadlord so quickly? ”

However, unlike Uther's surprise, Davi Paladin subconsciously sensed that something was wrong and incredulous, and politely commented on the Prince of Arthas's skills in front of everyone.

Anyway, in his opinion, unless the Dreadlord had lost his mind and went crazy and ran single-handedly to fight the forces of Arthas, it was absolutely impossible for him to be defeated so quickly.

Or maybe the paladin would have been more willing to believe if he had just reported that Arthas had been beaten badly?

“……”

Hermione didn't say anything, she didn't think much about it, she just wondered why Prince Arthas wanted to chase the demon that would only turn into a bat and escape, and she was also very worried about Harry's safety, after all, she was now the only companion left.

"Not good!"

"That must be a trap, quick, send someone to stop the Prince of Arthas and them back immediately!"

Are they crazy in Alsace, and they dare to pursue them rashly with more than 2,000 of them? In a hurry, Uther, who subconsciously felt that things might be going bad, ordered loudly.

However, he soon withdrew his order.

"No!"

"Or I'll go myself!!"

Knowing that others might not be able to stop the prince, Uther planned to go on his own trip and chase back the crown prince of Lordaeron.

'But Lord Uther! ’

'When the Prince of Alsace led his army out to sea in a boat to hunt down that Marganis, he took all the ships and sailors with him, and we now have no ships and sailors to go to sea!' ’

"What?!"

It's over, it's over......

After listening to the paladin's addition, Uther knew that something really bad was going on now!

'Report! ’

'I found that there are a large number of undead wizards of the Cult of the Cursed God in the city, and they are leading the undead to attack and destroy houses and convert citizens in batches, and now there are at least tens of thousands of undead zombie armies in the northwest city, and they are attacking this way! ’

'Report~! ’

'Lord Uther! Outside the city, General Alfred Abydis reported that the Death Knight Marshek, who had attacked the junction of Daron County and Cowling, led more than 20,000 undead to attack Stratholm from the southeast! ’

'The general told you to go back right away!!' ’

'Report! ’

'Lord Uther! There is also a riot in the northeastern city, there are too many undead there, and our patrol has been defeated!! ’

Almost at the same time, paladins or heralds in disarrayed bodies galloped in from a distance, bringing worse news from the other.

“！！”

"This is really a trap, quick, order all of us to retreat and leave Stratholme immediately!!"

Uther, who had judged how bad the situation had become, finally had to cry out in pain, and threw away the holy water bag in his hand, hurriedly picked up his hammer, and prepared to step onto his horse.

"Lord Uther, do you want to carry out that plan and burn Stratholme?"

Davi Croford, who had followed the other party on his horse and ordered the other paladins of the Knights of the Silver Hand to quickly prepare for a breakthrough, hurriedly asked Uther.

“……”

"It's useless, it's too late now...... Fast! Let's all retreat at once, get out of here first!! ”

Now, whether it is the undead here, the townspeople, or Arthas who goes out to sea by boat without asking, he can't care anymore, because if they go slowly, then I'm afraid all of them will die!

"Paladins!"

"Attack south! The Light is with us!! ”

Uther was not afraid of death, but he was afraid of being worthless......

Because, like the undead of Stratholme, who are growing rapidly like a snowball, under the cooperation of the inside and outside, I am afraid that the remaining thousands of troops in the hands of Uther, including the elite paladins of the Knights of the Silver Hand, will not be enough for the enemy to fight anyway, and if they don't withdraw now, they are likely to all die here!

It's just that he doesn't understand, why in a short period of time, the situation is so bad? Perhaps, Alsace's plan yesterday was the most correct, right?

Uther, who had hastily led the paladins to begin their evacuation to the south, could not help but have a trace of remorse in his mind, but soon, he did not have time to think about it, because a large group of black and oppressed undead, the terrible 'citizens' who had just been transformed into zombies, appeared on their way to retreat south......

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