Chapter 10 chapter Ten

The next morning they continued their journey through a patch of scattered farmsteads. "The village is not too far from here." Alsace checked the map, "These farms are not marked." "Of course." Fariq said decisively.Since he and the prince met, the tone of speaking to him has become more intimate and casual with time.Arthas trusted Falric's straightforwardness, and always thought of him first when he needed company.At this moment, Falik shook his graying head, "Your Highness, I grew up here. Most of these farms belong to homesteaders, and they bring their produce and animals to the town to sell and then go home."

"Untouchable?" "No, it's just a way of life." "If that's the case," Gianna said, "if someone is sick, they don't have to go outside for help. These people may have been infected." "Good point Jaina. Let's see what these peasants know," Arthas ordered, before snapping at his mount.They move slowly, giving farmers time to notice them and get ready.If the plague did hit these solitary peasants, they might fear that it was an army coming to wipe them out. As they approached the farmhouse, Arthas looked around. "Look!" he pointed, "the door is broken and the animals are gone."

"That's not a good sign," Jaina murmured. "Nobody came to meet us," Falric said. "Nobody even challenged us." Arthas and Jaina exchanged glances, then motioned for the procession to stop. "Hi everyone!" He said loudly, "I am Arthas, Prince of Lordaeron. My men will not harm you. Please come out and talk to us. We have some things and questions about your safety that we would like to ask you." There was a dead silence save for the sigh of the rolling grass as the breeze rolled over the acres of pasture where the cattle and sheep were grazing.

And the clank of armor as people shift positions restlessly. "There's no one here," said Arthas. "Maybe they're too sick," Jaina replied. "Arthas, we should at least go in and see. They might need help." Arthas looked around at his men.They didn't seem willing to risk being infected by plague victims by entering the house.He didn't want to, actually, but Jaina was right, these were his people, and he'd sworn to help them.No matter what the result is, what the price is, he will keep his promise. "Come on." He rolled over and jumped off his horse, and Jaina followed. "No, you stay."

Her blond eyebrows twitched. "I told you, I'm not made of porcelain, Arthas. I was sent to investigate the plague, and if there are real victims here, I have to observe them myself." He sighed, then nodded. "okay then." Alsace strode towards the farmhouse, and just as they entered the garden the wind changed suddenly. A horrible stench.Jaina covered her mouth, and even Arthas couldn't help a little gagging.It was like the smell of a slaughterhouse—no, worse than that, it was the stench of carrion.One of his men turned around and spat it out, and Arthas fought back not to follow him.The unpleasant smell emanates from the house, clearly showing what has happened to the occupants.

Jaina turned to him, determination written all over her pale face, "I've got to check—" Terrible screams came from the farmhouse along with the stench of death, and something came at them with incredible speed.Alsace's warhammer suddenly shone with eye-catching light. Alsace squinted his eyes, quickly raised the warhammer, and looked into the eye socket of a nightmarish monster that was oncoming. It wears a rough shirt and work pants, and its weapon is a pitchfork.It used to be farmers, but that's time to be alive.It was clearly dead now, gray-green muscle ripped off the skeleton, rotting fingers leaving filthy marks on the pitchfork handle.Thick black sap oozes from the pustules on its body, and it spits pus into Arthas' face with a gurgle from its throat.He was so taken aback by this appearance that he almost forgot to swing his warhammer.Arthas had just had time to raise his blessed weapon and knock the implement out of the walking corpse's grasp when the thing thrust forward.Next, the glowing hammer struck the thing's torso hard, causing it to fall to the ground and remain motionless.

But other walking corpses filled its place.Arthas heard a pop as Jaina fired a fireball.Next, there was an added smell of barbecued meat in the stench.The clash of weapons, the shrill battle cries of people, and the bursting of flames echoed around Arthas.In the chaos, a body fell back into the room, its body and clothes on fire.After a while, smoke began to billow from the open door. That's it! "Everyone back up, quick!" Alsace shouted. "Jianna! Burn this farmhouse! Burn it all!" Soldiers are well trained but never trained for this kind of situation, they are scared and nervous.Still, following Arthas' order, the people turned and ran away from the house.Arthas looked carefully at Jaina, her mouth tightly shut, her eyes fixed on the house, the flames crackling in her little hands, seemingly as harmless as flowers.

A giant fireball the size of a man suddenly flew towards the farmhouse.The flames rose, and Arthas raised his hand to block the oncoming heat wave.Several zombies are trapped in the fire.Arthas stared at the fire, unable to move his eyes for a moment.Then, forcing himself to divert his attention, he began slaughtering the zombies that weren't engulfed in flames.After a while, these things are all dead.This time it was really dead. There was a long silence, only the crackling of the flames engulfing the farmhouse.After a long sigh, the burning building collapsed, and Arthas was pleased to see that the bodies had been burned to ashes.

He held his breath and turned to Jaina, "That's…" Jaina swallowed hard, her face covered in soot, streaked with sweat. "They...they are called undead." "Bless the Light," Falric murmured softly, his face pale with staring eyes. "I thought it was just a ghost story to scare children." "No, they're real. I'm... I've never seen, never thought of seeing... uh..." She took a deep breath to calm her voice. "If there is a grudge against death, the dead sometimes cannot rest. This is where ghost stories come from." Her attitude reassured the frightened.Arthas noticed that his men were listening intently, wanting to learn more about the hellish scene they had just faced.And he himself was the same, it was the first time that he was so grateful for her profound knowledge.

"These... corpses manipulated by powerful necromancers are not unheard of. Orcs manipulating skeletons in the First War, and death knights in the Second War, are all things we've seen past instances," Jaina continued, looking as if she were reciting a text rather than explaining some inexplicable fear. "But like I said—I've never seen anything like this before." "Well, they're pretty dead now," said a soldier.Arthas gave him an encouraging smile. "Thanks to your swords, your light, and Miss Jaina's fire," he said to them. "Arthas," Jaina said, "shall we talk?"

Soldiers began to rally and recover from the horrific encounter. "I know what you're going to say." Arthas said, "You came to investigate whether this plague was caused by magic. And now it seems to be so. Necromancy." Jaina nodded wordlessly, and Arthas glanced at his men. "I haven't reached the main village yet. I feel that we will encounter more of these... undead." Jaina's expression twitched. "I feel like you're right." As they left the farm, Jaina pulled the reins and stopped. "What are you looking at?" Alsace came to her side.Jaina pointed her finger, and he looked in the direction, and saw a lonely cylindrical warehouse on the hill. "The barn?" She shook her head. "No...it's the surrounding land." She jumped off the horse, knelt down and picked up a handful of dry soil and withered grass.She examined it carefully, looking at a small dead insect curled up on six legs.Then Jaina let the dry soil slide from between her fingers, the powdery soil turning to a gray mist in the breeze. "The land around this barn seems to be ... dying." Arthas looked from her hand to the ground, realizing she was right.A few yards away, the grass was green and fresh, and the soil was still rich and fertile.Yet beneath his feet, the whole land around the barn was as dead as winter.No, this metaphor is not appropriate.Winter is the season for the soil to recuperate.Vitality is dormant, preparing for the awakening of spring. And there is no life here at all. He squinted his lake-green eyes and stared at the barn. "What could cause this?" "I'm not sure yet. It's very similar to what happened with the Dark Portal and Blasted Lands. When the Dark Portal opened, the demonic energy that devastated Draenor's ecology spilled into Azeroth, making the land around the Dark Portal ..." "Death." Alsace finished her words, and a thought suddenly popped up in his heart. "Gianna... Could it be that the food itself is contaminated by the plague? With this... this demonic energy?" Her eyes widened. "Hopefully not." She pointed to the crates that had been unloaded from the barn. "These boxes are stamped with the seal of Andorhal, which is the distribution center of the northern region. If these grains can spread the plague, countless villages will be infected." She was pale and weak, and said almost in a whisper.Arthas looked at her hands, which were covered with the dust of the barren land.Fear seized Arthas immediately, and he grabbed Jaina's hand, closing his eyes and muttering a prayer.Warm holy light filled Arthas's body and passed to her through his gloved hands.Jaina looked at him in confusion for a moment, then glanced at the hand he was holding.Her eyes widened suddenly in horror, realizing that she had just narrowly escaped death. "Thank you," she said softly. Arthas gave her a forced smile, and then called out to his men: "Gloves! Gloves must be worn by all in this area! Make no mistake!" His captain nodded and repeated the order.Most soldiers wear full body armor and thus already wear gauntlets.Arthas shook his head, trying to drive away the anxiety in his heart.He felt the disease had been completely removed from Jaina's body. Thank you Holy Light. He put Jaina's hand to his lips.And she blushed with emotion and smiled. "I'm so stupid that I didn't think of that." "Luckily I figured it out." "We've reversed roles here," she jokes, before making up for the jeer by giving him a smile and blowing a kiss. Now their mission is clear - search for and destroy any infected barns they can.Next, Arthas' party was aided when they encountered two Quel'dorei priests.These priests also sensed that the disaster was spreading and came to provide healing.Not only that, they also pointed out the way to Alsace, telling him that there was a large warehouse at the end of the village ahead. "Your Highness, there are a few houses ahead," Falik said. "Well," said Arthas, "we—" A sudden loud noise startled him, and the war horse reared up in fright. "This is..." He looked in the direction of the voice.The diminutive stature makes it hard to see, but the voice is unmistakable. "That's a mortar. Come on." He reined in his horse, pulled the rein and rushed towards the sound. Several dwarves looked up in front of them, looking at Arthas in surprise.And he was just as surprised, a roundabout stopped the horse. "What are you talking about?" "We're blasting those damn skeletons. The village is on fire, and they're everywhere!" A chill ran up Arthas' spine.He could see clearly now that the typical gait of the undead shuffling was all too familiar to him. "Fire!" The dwarf captain shouted loudly, and several skeletons were blown into broken bones. "Well, you can help," said Alsace. "There is a warehouse at the end of the town, and we have to destroy it." The dwarf stared at him with wide brown eyes. "A warehouse?" There was suspicion in his voice. "We're in the midst of a heavy firefight with a bunch of walking dead, and you're worried about a warehouse?" Arthas had no time to explain. "The stuff in the warehouse killed the villagers," he snapped, pointing to the remaining skeletons, "and when they died..." The dwarf's eyes widened, "Oh, I'm stunned. Boys, get moving, we're going to help this handsome guy." He looked at Alsace again, "Just ask, handsome guy, who are you? what?" Even in the midst of his fear, the suddenness of the question made Arthas laugh, "Prince Arthas Menethil. So you are?" The dwarf was stunned for a moment, then recovered quickly. "Dagor is at your service, Your Highness." Arthas wasted no more time, but reassured his mount and went after the troop of running dwarves.The warhorse was bred for war, and had never caused a moment's trouble when battling orcs, but now he clearly didn't like the smell of the undead.He didn't blame it, but the horse's frivolity reminded him of invincible fortitude.He forced himself to forget about this distracting thought.Instead of mourning a dead animal, he needs to focus on the lumbering zombie being bombarded to the brim right now. Jaina and his soldiers followed, tending to those who hadn't been fully killed by the mortar fire, covering the prince's flanks and back.Alsace's body was full of energy flow, he waved the hammer tirelessly, secretly grateful to Dagor for his timely arrival.There were too many of these undead, and he wasn't sure his men could kill them. Slowly but inexorably, the mixed force of humans and dwarves continued to advance towards the warehouse.There were more and more undead along the way, but when they vaguely saw the warehouse in the distance, there were even more undead there.He dismounted from his restless steed and dashed into the midst of the foe, his hammer gleaming with the power of the Light.After the initial shock and horror, Arthas found it easier to slay the monsters than the orcs.Perhaps, as Jaina said, orcs are people... and individuals. And these things are just rigged corpses, marionettes in the hands of some evil necromancer puppeteer.Even when they fell, they looked like puppets with their strings cut.Arthas waved the powerful weapon in his hand, knocked down the two undead with a sweep, and then laughed viciously. It seems that these bodies died earlier.Their smell is not as strong, and their bodies are more shriveled than rotting.Some of them were just skeletons like the first batch, with some clothes or temporary armor wrapped around the skeletons, and they rushed towards Alsace and his party. Arthas caught the acrid smell of burning flesh and grinned, glad Jaina was here.He continued to fight, panting and looking around. He hadn't lost any of his men so far, and Jaina, though pale with weariness, was fortunately unscathed. "Arthas!" Jaina's clear and loud voice penetrated the surrounding noise.Alsace quickly cleaned up the zombies who were slashing at him with a scythe, and looked at her in a short pause. She pointed forward, and there was already a flame shining between her palm and bent fingers. "Look!" Alsace looked in the direction she was pointing at, his eyes tightened suddenly.In front of them was a group of men in black, all of whom were obviously alive from their actions.They were gesturing, either casting spells or pointing.In any case, it was obvious that they were directing the movements of the hordes of undead that were rushing towards them. "There! Target them!" Arthas yelled. The artillery turned around, and his men rushed forward, cutting blood among the undead.They stared at the living people in black robes.You've been caught now, Arthas thought with cruel glee. But at this moment, those people stopped manipulating the undead.The zombies stopped suddenly. Although they were still moving, they were aimless.Now they were easy targets for the dwarf artillery and Arthas' men, knocking them down with ease and rushing forward.The wizards gathered together, and several of them began to wave and cast spells. Arthas recognized the familiar sight of the spinning space and realized they were about to create a portal. "No! Don't let them get away!" he yelled, slamming the hammer into the chest of a skeleton, sending it arcing into the head of a zombie.By the light of God, God knows where these wizards summoned more zombies--skeletons, rotting zombies, and a huge pale monster with multiple limbs. Its maggot-white, greasy body, clad in seams as wide as Alsace's hand, looked like a rag doll made on the whim of some mischievous child.This thing stood out among the undead, holding a terrible weapon in three hands, and staring at Arthas with one eye. Jaina appeared next to him out of nowhere, and cried out: "Holy light, this creation seems to be sewn with different corpses!" "Let's kill it first and then study it, shall we?" Alsace shouted at her, before rushing forward.The dreaded experiment came forward, roaring piercingly, and brandishing an ax as tall as Alsace.He leaped away, rolled to his feet, and charged at the monster from behind.Three of his men followed suit, two of them armed with spears.This terrible monster was quickly killed.Even in the midst of the battle, Arthas watched out of the corner of his eye the wizards rush into the portal and disappear.All the undead they left behind suddenly stopped, and people quickly destroyed these uncontrolled zombies. "Damn it!" Arthas yelled.A hand landed on his arm, and he pushed it away.Then, when he saw it was Jaina, the prince's expression softened a little.He didn't want comfort or explanation, he had to do something.Anything that can get revenge on those black-robed men who fled. "Destroy that warehouse immediately!" "Yes, lay! Boys, do it!" The dwarves shared his hunger for some real victory, and they rushed forward, the cannon rolling over dead men and land until they came within range. "Fire!" Dagor yelled.The mortars roared in unison, and Arthas felt a surge of joy in his heart as the barn fell apart under the bombardment. "Jianna, burn the rest!" Before he could speak, Jaina raised her hand.They are on the same page, he thought.A huge crackling ball of fire flew out of her hand, and the barn and its contents burst into flames.They waited, watching the fire before it spread.In such dry land, a fire can quickly get out of control. Arthas ran a hand through his sweaty blond hair.The heat of the burning barn was unbearable, and he longed for a cool breeze.He took a few steps back, stomping on the fallen gray-and-white troll with his plate boots.The boot sank into the soft flesh, and Arthas wrinkled his nose. Jaina followed him.After careful observation, it seemed that she was right—this thing was indeed made of different corpse parts. Arthas tried his best to suppress the urge to shudder. "Those black-robed wizards..." "I... I'm afraid they are necromancers," Jaina said, "as we discussed earlier." "Dead?" Dagor came to them, looking at the fallen abomination with disgust. "Necromancers. They are wizards who practice dark arts, capable of raising the dead and manipulating the dead. Clearly they and their masters are behind this plague." She raised her blue eyes to Arthas gravely. "Maybe it has something to do with demonic energy. But I think it's clear we were wrong in the first place." "The necromancers...created a plague to get the ingredients to build their evil army," Arthas murmured, turning to glance at the smoking remains of the barn. "I'm going to find them... no, no, I'm going to find their leader," he clenched his gauntleted fists. "Find that bastard who deliberately killed my people!" He remembered the wooden box and the seal on it he had seen earlier, and looked up at the road. "At that time, we have to settle accounts with him. And the answer we are looking for lies in Andorhal."