"Ugh"

When Shore woke up again, he felt pain all over his body, but out of the instinct of an assassin, the moment he opened his eyes, he jumped to his feet and tried to protect himself, but the pain of the wounds all over his body exploded at the same time, causing him to groan and fall to the ground.

Only then did he look at his surroundings, this was not Stormwind, it was a hidden place in the forest, he also smelled the herbs, he looked down, he could see that those serious injuries had been treated with herbs and bandages.

Shore's memory is a bit confusing, the last scene in his memory is when he was chased by the strange ghost trying to escape the alley, he was not its opponent, the guy seemed to know his thoughts better than he did, and the movement of every attack would be perceived by the ghost, and even some personal habits, such as the small bag containing smoke grenades, were blown up by the ghost during the battle.

It's like... It's like fighting another self.

Coupled with the fact that the ghost had the same face as him, and the crazy words he said, all of this connection had to make Shore feel creepy.

"Yo, you're awake?"

A hoarse voice rang out in the darkness of the near-dawn on the outskirts of the hideout, causing Shore to immediately look up and see a familiar figure.

Pale green skin, petite body, a face that bears a slight resemblance to a Draenei, the same as an orc, but much smaller fangs, black hair tied into a double ponytail, and two twisted steel daggers behind their backs.

Shore knew her, and they still had a deep hatred for each other, and it was the orc in front of him who assassinated Ryan. King Ureon, who directly led to the crushing defeat of the Stormwind Kingdom in the First Orc War, is in first place on MI7's bounty list.

Master Half-Orc Assassin, Garona. Haval Olsen...

"You!"

Shore gritted his teeth and tried to stand up, but was kicked back to the ground by Garona, and the orc unceremoniously threw a bunch of bandages beside Shore, then picked up a few pieces of warm bread and sat it cross-legged, eating.

The bandages were also stamped by the doctors of Shining Gold, and there was no doubt that these things had a somewhat dishonorable origin, just like the bread in her hand.

"I saved you from the hands of the undead, Matthias, if you don't thank me, forget it, do you still have to dwell on those old accounts of the past?"

Garona looked at Shore with a mocking gaze, and she said in a deep voice:

"But I'm more curious, who the hell beat you like this? You messed with that "duke"? Or did some other genius Assassin appear? Want to use you as a stepping stone? ”

Shore was silent bandaged over his wounds, he and Garona were not friends and would never be, their occasional interactions were in some missions of the Assassin League, although MI7 was an independent organization, but compared to the Assassin Alliance, which held the secrets of the entire Azeroth underground, it was a small person, and even Shore had to find a way to get the information he needed from the Assassin Alliance many times.

He knew that in recent years, especially after the end of the Orc Wars, Garona had joined the Assassin League and had been operating in the northern part of the continent and on another continent.

"Hey!"

Seeing that Shore did not speak, Garona walked up to the Master Assassin, looked at Shore, and held out her hand:

"Swap, you have the information I need, and I can tell you something about what happened after you fell unconscious, and frankly, it's funny, and I think you're interested, right?"

Shore frowned, looked at Garona in front of him, and after a moment, he nodded:

"Tell me, what do you see?"

"Hahaha, I've seen a lot."

Ignoring Shore's silence, Garona leaned against a tree on the side and said playfully:

"I saw you get knocked to the ground by that weird guy and he skinned you like a bare pig, I thought that bastard was going to do something to you... Ahem, well, I think too much, he seems to have his own mission there, anyway, it was some necromantic service who got you out of the sewers, and I heard them say they were going to send you to the Twilight Forest. ”

"There's a big guy out there who is interested in you."

The orc assassin pulled out a throwing knife and tossed a badge to Shore while picking at his nails: "Then I took you down, besides, the group of humans should belong to the same organization, they carry this emblem, they serve the undead." ”

"The Brotherhood of Defia..."

Shore pronounced the name, and he threw aside the emblem in disgust, then looked at Garona:

"What do you want to know?"

"It's simple."

Garona seemed a little nervous, and she stared at Shore with her own eyes:

"The undead, I've heard from some of them, some of them have turned themselves into lichs, and you're at war with them, do you have any news about Khadgar?"

"Khadgar?"

Shore looked at Garona, the sparkle in the eyes of the female master assassin could not hide Shore, there may have been some intimate relationship between her and Khadgar, Shore sighed and nodded:

"Not only have MI7 agents seen Khadgar, but unfortunately he is also one of the leaders of the undead, known as the Great Lich... Whatever your relationship with him has and what has happened, for the sake of you saving me, I advise you to forget about him, he is no longer the person you remember, and we have enough reason to be sure that it was Khadgar who led the massacre of Watchberg. ”

"Where is he?"

Garona took a deep breath and asked:

"Tell me, Shore, where is he?"

"The last time he was seen was on the Windward Trail, on the night the town of Night was destroyed, and we suspect he may have gone to Karazhan, but..."

As Shore spoke, he looked up, his eyes were empty, it was clear that Garona had got the information she needed, and that the orc assassin had clearly come for Khadgar this time.

Emotions can get carried away, and the same is true for Master Assassins, who need to think calmly at all times.

Shore was struggling to deal with his wounds, he didn't care about Garona's future, he was sure of one thing now, there was a force of the undead in the Old Town, and it was clear from the ghost that they were powerful there.

"What a dereliction of duty."

Shore looked at the dagger in his hand guiltily, he took a deep breath, picked up the cloak that Garona stole from Shining Gold Town, shrouded it over the body of **, and then identified the direction, in the light of the arrival of dawn, little by little in the direction of Beijun.

He had to tell the king the news... Stormwind is no longer safe, but before that, he needs to meet his grandmother... He had too many questions about that ghost.

——————————————————

On the other side, thousands of miles away in the northern frontier, in the territory of Alterac where order has been restored to normal, in the original royal city of Alterac, the imperial emperor Anduin in a bear's skin is dressed in a bear's coat. Lothar rode on his horse, and behind him were the 1,800 cavalry and 400 paladins recruited by the Alterac Lord, an aid operation, but also the first military operation in name for the Empire, so Lothar would personally command these armies.

Word of what happened in Stormwind had spread to the upper echelons of the Empire, and while the kings still had their own ideas, they were not stingy with their armies out of the Empire's nominal call-up.

What's more, Lothar's request this time is not excessive, and each country in the northern frontier dispatched 2,000 people, plus the mages of Dalaran, to take Kurtiras's fleet to the Stormwind Kingdom... It was an advance operation, and Lothar was well aware that, just like in the early days of the Orc War, it was unrealistic to force troops from various nations without really realizing the threat.

Although the human empire is nominally unified, the current situation is still a separation, and there must be a war of sufficient weight to bring them back together for the spirit of the empire to truly return, but in all fairness, Lothar doesn't really want war to break out, because that means the people will suffer.

"The mages have opened the portal in South Sea Town, Your Majesty the Emperor."

The clerk behind Lothar reported to the emperor:

"You and your personal guards can go directly to Stormwind City from the portal, and at the speed of the Kurtiras fleet, it will only take 2-3 days for your army to appear on the territory of the Stormwind Kingdom."

Lothar, on his horse, nodded, and he reached out and waved at the people who were bidding farewell to the Emperor in the cold wind, an action that caused a burst of cheers.

Regardless of the attitude of other countries towards Lothar, the chaotic Alterac people were truly grateful to Emperor Lothar, and after he accepted Alterac's rule, in just a few months, the people felt the beauty of order again, the bandits were captured, the commercial roads with other kingdoms were opened, and most importantly, the entire kingdom was restored to its former peace without the threat of orc prisoner of war camps.

The people always like peace, and the emperor who brings peace to them will naturally be supported by the people, not to mention, in order to restore order in the royal domain, Lothar has already issued an order, and on the first day of his reign, all the people of the royal domain were exempted from half of the taxes, and this alone won the hearts of the people for Lothar.

Although the people have complained about the recruitment of soldiers this time, on the whole, the move of signing up to join the army is still very enthusiastic.

"Look, Your Majesty the Emperor, they like you."

The former royal clerk of the Alterac royal court said behind Lothar:

"The people like the new emperor, and that's a good sign."

"But the emperor also has to like his own people."

Lothar smiled and shook his head: "I hope that the next emperor will also be supported by the people, you and I both know that I am just a temporary symbol of the new empire, in other words, I am just a mascot." ”

"Please don't say that, Your Majesty."

The stubborn clerk pushed his glasses and said solemnly:

"You are the symbol of the Holy Arathor Empire, and no one, no gossip, can change that, and the disaster that occurred in the Kingdom of Stormwind is a reminder to other kingdoms that in this new era, we must unite in order to truly overcome all difficulties."

"The undead."

Lothar was a little worried, he looked at the road leading to Nanhai Town in front of him, and he whispered:

"No one knows how powerful their power is, but just judging from the letter of help sent back by the Stormwind Kingdom, this time, it must be another bitter battle, this is a challenge, for the challenge of the new empire, we can only really re-establish the empire if we take this step, if we fail, the Araso Empire, it will be just a joke."

Maybe fate really loves Anduin. Lothar, just as he arrived at the town of Nanhai with the royal army, a good news came.

"The Knights of the Silver Hand, led by the Grand Knight of Ferdin, are coming, His Majesty the Emperor, the rebellion of Archbishop Benedictas has made His Majesty Fao extremely angry, and the paladins are also in urgent need of restoring the purity of the Holy Light faith in the hearts of the nobles... So, they sent more troops than planned! ”

The clerk reported the news to the emperor, and a glimmer of joy flashed in the worried Lothar's eyes:

"How many are there?"

He asked, and the clerk looked at the letter in his hand:

"There are a total of 4,500 priests and paladins, and this time, the Knights of the Silver Hand are out of the nest."

"Good!"

The emperor couldn't help but pound the table next to him, and he let out a sigh:

"With the help of the Silver Hand, the hope of victory against the undead is even greater."

But the joyful emperor didn't know that this time, he would not face tens of thousands of undead, but the dead from an entire world, and that number had already exceeded the limit of what his expeditionary team could bear.

As Tyrion said, the doomed destruction of the Stormwind Kingdom... Just the beginning, far from the end, of turbulent times.