"Boom"

Scorching cannonballs flew out of the stubby mortar muzzles, strewn through the air in a near-perfect trajectory of brilliance as the dwarven gunners skilfully positioned, and finally smashed into the crowd of stone palatins charging towards the steam elevator.

The moment the shells hit the ground, the flames and fragments fired in all directions tore the ugly screaming guys around them to shreds, while the two heavy steam tanks that had been sent off the city stopped in front of the gnomes' escape path with a whining sound, and the dwarves climbed into the tanks and operated the terrible burst of muskets, tilting the bullet storm like a tidal wave on the battlefield in front of them.

The dwarves came late, but they were definitely what the gnomes needed most, and at the front of the steam hall, the Lord of Kurtaz and the dwarven paladins formed the strongest line of defense, almost facing the seemingly endless stone palatins head-on, to buy the remaining gnomes time to escape.

And above the underground city, surrounded by the snow-capped mountains of Kazmodan, the gnomes who escaped from the dungeons huddled in the snowy town, crying silently, and today, they have lost everything.

Brian. Copperbeard led the dwarven priests to help the poor people who were tired and seriously injured, and looking at the miserable situation in Artisan Town, the old copperbeard was filled with guilt in his heart.

If it weren't for his insistence on going to Uldaman to find some hellish ruins, the sealed stone palatins would not have breached their cages, and the dwarves and gnomes would not have had to endure this terrible ordeal.

But at this point, the old dwarf can only cheer up and help these allies in urgent need of help.

"Send the seriously injured to Ironforge first, and where's the great craftsman Mekatok?"

Brian shouted, "We need him to come out and back the picture!" ”

"The Great Artisan is trapped in the city, he doesn't know if he lives or dies, and almost the entire Council of Gnome Artisans."

The only remaining gnome councillor was carried aside on a stretcher by the priests, and while he was on the run, he was smashed by the stone palatin monster to protect a child, and he grabbed Brian's hand with a pale face, and pleaded in a deep voice:

"Please, Copperbeard, my friend, help us out of the Master Craftsman and Major Ella, please."

"Ella?"

Brian asked suspiciously, "Who is that?" ”

"It's a hero!"

The gnome councillor said with difficulty: "It was she who saved tens of thousands of people in the steam hall, without her command, we would not have been able to support you to come to the rescue, when the defense line was broken, she asked us to blow up the passage of the hall, and she herself led those monsters away with the corpses." ”

"Well, that sounds like a real hero."

Brian nodded, but soon, grabbing his hair, asked:

"Wait, corpses? You say she's in command of corpses? She's a Death Knight? ”

"Nope! No, Ella is a dwarf, the living kind. ”

The dwarf councillor gestured to explain, but he was so badly wounded, perhaps he had pulled the wound, and after a scream, his mind tilted, and he fainted, while the old brass beard clung to his hair, and he sensed that something was wrong.

"Oops! Kurtaz..."

From the gnome councilor's grateful tone, he could feel that the mysterious Ella had a high reputation in the eyes of the rescued gnomes, and that the Lord of Kurtaz he had asked for help was a sincere and fanatical paladin... Thinking of the feud between the paladins and the necromancers, Brian suddenly felt a little numb.

He hurried on his short legs and rushed towards Nomorigan's steam elevator.

"Kurtaz, don't do anything stupid!"

—————————————————————

On the other side, the Kultaz Lord's hands shone with the light of the Holy Light, and he half-knelt on the dimly lit ground, helping a wounded gnome stabilize his injuries, and then, with the other party's thanks, watched the last of the escaped gnomes leave the city.

The Dwarven Lord had experienced the Second Orc War in its entirety, he had also participated in the final battle of the Burning Plains, and he had seen the battlefield where the Orcs had ravaged with his own eyes.

Although those battlefields were full of iron and fire, killing and madness, they were dangers that could be seen with the naked eye, and the Nomorigen in front of him, the city that had completely died, rose dark green radiation dust from time to time in the dim tunnel, shining with the strange aura of extinction, like a monster in the abyss with its mouth open, mercilessly devouring any life caught in it.

This sneakiness and the ominousness that emanates from the city make the battle-hardened old dwarf shake his head.

"Even if I go to fight those damn dead spirits, I don't want to go into this damn hell... Alas, the poor gnomes are in trouble, and they may never be able to take it back. ”

"Let's go, let's get the team!"

With a wave of his hand, the two steam tanks slowly started, escorting the tired paladins back towards the steam elevator, and just as they were about to step onto the elevator, a roar came from far and near from the dark tunnel ahead.

"Someone!"

Kurtaz shouted, grabbed his hammer and gestured to the two tanks: "Alert! ”

"Boom"

The heavy steam burst rifle sharply shifted direction and aimed at the dark tunnel behind it, and the next moment, a bright light burst out in front of everyone's eyes, and there was a thunderous roar close to it, mixed with the screams of the stone palatinous monsters, as if something had exploded in those monsters.

"Bang Bang Bang"

The metal claws of the mechanical bird smashed into the tunnel with a crisp sound, and Kurtaz squinted his eyes to see two gnomes sitting behind a strange giant mechanical bird painted in white and red, followed by a dozen fugitives, who were frantically galloping in the direction of the defensive line.

"It's Mecatok!"

The driver of the steam tank put down his telescope and shouted: "I recognize him, he is the master craftsman of the dwarf, he escaped!" And with a dwarf girl. ”

"Then what are you doing in a daze?"

The Paladin Lord stepped forward quickly, jumped into the steam tank in two steps, and shouted, "Support them, drive those chasing monsters back!" ”

"Bang, bang"

Two mortar shells quickly landed behind the Desperate Craftsman, and the blast sent the chasing Stone Palatins flying, but also sent the overwhelmed mechanical birds forward.

Mecatok was thrown to the ground, and the escape from the central control room had exhausted the master craftsman, and after the robot he was controlling just now blew itself up, the master craftsman was still injured, and he looked up in a daze, and saw the stone palatinous monsters fiercely pounce on the gnomes in front of him.

"No!"

The master craftsman grabbed the wrench beside him and smashed it towards the stone palatin, while Ella, who was also exhausted, gritted her teeth and used her last magic power to awaken the surrounding corpses, driving them to block the eyes of the stone palatinous monsters brutally, winning the last time for these fleeing gnomes.

"Bang Bang Bang"

The furious gunfire of the steam burst rifles rang out in the darkness, finally pushing off the radiant stone palatins who had fought back, and the dozen or so dwarf survivors who had escaped from hell with the master craftsman collapsed on the ground, while Ella strolled behind the line of the steam tank with the master craftsman in her arms.

"Thank you for your help."

Mecatok thanked Lord Kurtaz, and the dwarf smiled and took the master craftsman from Ella's hand, and the next moment, the cold hammer was in front of Ella's eyes.

"Witch! What do you have to do with those necromancy? ”

Lord Kurtaz waited coldly for the female gnome in front of him, and he sensed a familiarity in Ella's manipulation of corpses, much like the Death Knights who had sprung up at the end of the war.

Normally, in Kazmodan, far away from the Cursed Lands, there could be no dwarf warlocks, and warlock magic was considered taboo in the entire alliance with the exception of Dalaran.

In the Orc Wars, many of Lord Kurtaz's brothers died under the magic of orc warlocks, and the paladins suffered heavy casualties due to the appearance of necromancy, and he had enough reason to be suspicious and hostile to Ella, both in public and private.

"Kurtaz, Ella is not a bad person!"

The weakened Mekatok reached out and grabbed the arm of Lord Kurtaz, and he whispered:

"You saw with your own eyes that she was protecting her compatriots in her own way... She's not a bad person! ”

"Mr. Mekatok, you're tired, go get some rest."

The stubborn dwarven paladin glanced at the dwarven soldiers beside him, and the two soldiers stepped forward and helped Mekatok to the elevator, and behind the nervous master craftsman, the Kurtaz lord whispered:

"I'll take care of it all."

"And what are you going to do with me?"

Ella was not afraid of the paladin in front of her, and a contemptuous smile flashed across her pale face:

"Calling all forces that disagree with your beliefs heretical? Fanatical burning of all casters who wield the power of darkness? I know you've done it, paladins are a bunch of brainless idiots! Does your Light tell you that it is not the power that is evil, but the users of it? Or is it just that you don't want to believe this? ”

"Shut up! Witch! ”

The dwarf said indifferently, "I saw you desecrate the corpse with my own eyes!" ”

"I'm here to help!"

Ella became agitated:

"Are you going to let me watch those gnomes die at the hands of the Stone Palate? Have you been burned out of your mind by your faith? ”

"Sophistry!"

Kurtaz lost his patience, he stepped forward with his weapon, and the paladins around him also surrounded him, Ella gritted his teeth, and two clouds of dark energy converged in the palm of his hand, and at this moment, Brian, who was hurrying over, saw this scene, and he shouted loudly:

"Kurtaz! Stop it! Don't be impulsive! ”

"Huh?"

The dwarven paladin turned around, and saw Brian running quickly, grabbing his wrist and whispering in his ear:

"This dwarf saved tens of thousands of people... You can't kill her, or hurt her, or the gnomes will riot, we are here to help them, don't let good things turn bad! If that makes you feel better, she's a former Alliance Scout Major who fought orcs with you in the Burning Plains, and she's a hero! Same with you. ”

"Huh?"

Lord Kurtaz's expression became a little more subtle, he looked back at Ella with a scrutinizing gaze, and after a moment, he waved his hand, and the dwarven paladins stepped aside, he looked at Ella, and asked in a low voice:

"You fought in the Battle of the Burning Plains? So where did you learn your warlock magic? ”

"No comment."

Ella whispered:

"Kill me or let me go!"

This stubborn attitude made Kurtaz grit his teeth, but in the end, the dwarven paladin still put down the weapon in his hand, he looked at the dwarf with an expressionless face, and said in a deep voice:

"I hate everything that has to do with necromancy, and it stands to reason that I should purify you... But you've contributed to the Alliance, and you've saved people in this disaster! ”

"Offset by merit and demerit?"

Ella smiled mockingly, reached out to push the paladin away, and strode towards the steam elevator behind her:

"Who are you? You are not qualified to judge me! Paladin, your light is not the truth of everything, and I, I, I have seen more terrible powers... You can't scare me, so be it, goodbye, elm heads. ”

Lord Kurtaz looked at Ella's back, and he shouted:

"The flame of the Holy Light has been lit in Dan Moro, Kazmodan does not allow any dark forces to exist, get out of here! Warlock, you're banished! The next time I see you, it won't be so peaceful between us! And once your people come back from their panic, manipulating corpses will also be considered a sin, Ella, get out of here, for your own good! ”

"Seriously, it doesn't matter what they think!"

"There is a person I respect who once told me that after the change, everything that is familiar will no longer accept you, they will be afraid of you, they will reject you, and this is normal, because the change... Change itself is scary, I've made a decision, and I'm going to take the cost. ”

The steam elevator slowly went up, and Ai stretched his hand and pulled her broken hood down, and from the direction of Kurtaz, her eyes could not be seen, only the sneer on the corner of her mouth.

"Keep praying to the Light, Paladin, I'm actually looking forward to it... The next time you and I meet, I hope that by that time, you will still be able to rebuke me for such hopeless evil... Bye! You disgusting hypocrites! ”