"We'll move at dawn, when the camp is changing patrols and there are the fewest guards."
Sassarian leaned by the window, staring at the moon, estimating the time. Myatt watched over his daughter, filled with anxiety and unease.
Seemingly noticing Myatt's tension, Sassarian said, "You don't need to worry so much. As long as we can sneak out of the camp and into the woods, it will be very difficult for them to catch us."
"I know, but I just…" Myatt hesitated.
"It seems you don't have much confidence in me." Sassarian didn't mind this. Although he was strong, he was a new recruit who had only been in the Legion for a few days. If Myatt had any other choice, he definitely wouldn't have come to him.
"Actually, it's more about my lack of confidence in myself." Myatt sighed. He had followed the Alliance and participated in the Orcish Wars, personally experiencing many major battles, but none were as dangerous as this one.
When the Alliance fought the orcs, at least the numbers weren't too disparate, and the strategy was back and forth. But now, with just him and Sassarian, and his daughter, Myatt truly didn't know where to find confidence.
He didn't doubt Sassarian's character; the fact that he came back for him after realizing something was wrong with the camp already showed that he was indeed true to his word, a kind and brave Lordaeron soldier.
Myatt didn't say anything more. He and Sassarian took turns on watch, and the room remained silent until the sky began to lighten. Sassarian rechecked their gear and nodded to Myatt.
The two climbed out the window. Myatt carried his soundly sleeping daughter, following closely behind Sassarian.
"Wait."
Before leaving the cover of the house, Sassarian gestured for Myatt to stop, and he cautiously peeked out to observe the situation.
To Sassarian's surprise, there wasn't a single person in the camp. The patrolling and standing guards were nowhere to be seen, and the entire camp had an eerie, deathly silence.
Seeing such a scene, Sassarian didn't relax in the slightest. Instead, his warrior's intuition made him feel that the camp had become even more dangerous.
However, they had no time or opportunity to check on others. Sassarian quickly said to Myatt, "Hurry!"
Myatt and Sassarian quickly traversed the most dangerous part of the journey. But just as they were about to reach the camp's side gate and step out, Myatt's expression suddenly turned to horror.
"This…"
Sassarian was also stunned, his mind suffering an indescribable shock: his comrades stood outside the camp in their armor, but their no-longer-upright postures and skin covered in lividity indicated they were no longer living.
Upon seeing Sassarian and Myatt, these undead let out terrifying roars, raising their weapons and surrounding the entrance—there was no exit left; all openings of the camp were gates to hell!
"This is necromancy!" The experienced Myatt immediately reacted. This was almost identical to the animated knight corpses he had seen during the Orcish Wars.
Although long dead, the undead soldiers' speed was no slower than that of normal warriors. In the brief moment the two were stunned, a sharp blade had already slashed towards Sassarian.
The young warrior reacted swiftly, raising his greatsword to block the attack, and at the same time shouted to Myatt, "Run! I'll hold them off!"
Myatt, however, didn't move: Run? Where to run? The undead outnumbered them by a hundredfold, and the path out of the camp was completely blocked by the undead!
"Hahahahaha!"
A piercing laugh echoed behind Myatt. He felt as if he was standing under a huge shadow. The physician stubbornly protected his daughter, turning his head to look behind him.
"Do you really think you can leave here? The game has only just begun. Hurry and bring this lovely little girl into the game…"
In Myatt's last conscious moments, he saw a tall monster fully armored in runic plate. His tone was flippant, as if he had done something immensely pleasurable.
Watching Myatt, who was carrying Sally, collapse to the ground, unconscious and his fate unknown, the father still fiercely protected his daughter, not letting her suffer any harm, and Sally seemed to hear nothing, lying quietly in her father's arms.
"Damn monster! What did you do to them!"
In a surge of rage, Sassarian swung his sword with quick and deadly flashes, repelling several undead soldiers. As Sassarian pulled away and took a step to retreat to Myatt's side, his balance faltered, and he stumbled to the ground.
He looked back and saw that the undead he had just cut in half, now only a torso, had its cold right hand clamped tightly around his ankle.
The other undead, taking advantage of his fall, swarmed him, pinning Sassarian to the ground. Although the young man struggled fiercely, he couldn't resist the suppression of dozens of undead. He could only watch helplessly as the tall monster picked up Myatt and Sally.
"Ahhh!"
Sassarian let out an angry roar, but his vision was finally consumed by darkness.
...
In a daze, Sassarian heard someone speaking nearby.
"Prince Arthas, he's unconscious and seriously injured!"
"Soldier! Wake up, soldier!"
"Damn it, his body temperature is dropping—Jaina, use magic to build a fire!"
Prince Arthas…? Before losing consciousness again, Sassarian felt warmth, as comfortable as the warm sun of a clear Tirisfal day shining on him.
After an unknown period of sinking into darkness, Sassarian finally opened his eyes. He saw a knight in black armor attending to him.
When this royal knight discovered Sassarian had regained consciousness, he quickly reported the situation to Arthas.
"I… I'm saved?" Sassarian leaned against the makeshift stone backrest, somewhat disbelieving that he was still alive.
Arthas came to Sassarian's side, confirmed his physical condition, and asked, "I am Prince Arthas. Soldier, what happened? Why were you unconscious by the roadside?"
"Prince Arthas… I am Sassarian, a new recruit from the First Legion's Southern Camp. Our camp… was attacked by strange magic, and everyone… everyone turned into undead." Sassarian endured the pain, explaining the situation with difficulty.
Sassarian? He hadn't expected to meet this fellow here.
(Who?)
Arthas looked at the very young man, perhaps in his early twenties, with some surprise. When he was found by the Legion, he was lying by the roadside, covered in wounds and heavily corrupted by necromantic energy, as if he had crawled out of a pile of corpses.
The truth wasn't far from what Arthas imagined; Sassarian truly had crawled out of a pile of "dead men."
However, Sassarian didn't crawl out by himself; he was thrown out of the camp by that "monster." He had fainted after being struck down by the undead, but for some reason, the undead didn't kill him. Instead, they threw him several kilometers away from the Southern Camp.
Just then, Arthas's Legion arrived and found the unconscious Sassarian by the roadside. They discovered the First Legion's insignia on him, which allowed Sassarian to narrowly survive. Otherwise, even if the undead hadn't killed him, his injuries alone would have been enough to claim his life.
"The Southern Camp has completely fallen… The three hundred soldiers inside and their commander, Wesley, have all become puppets of necromancy…" Sassarian's voice was low. He regretted not believing Myatt sooner. If he had, perhaps, perhaps Myatt and Sally would have survived.
Why did that monster and those undead spare him alone?
"I'm sorry, Doctor Myatt and little Sally…"
"Doctor Myatt? Little Sally?" Jaina noticed the two names Sassarian specifically mentioned, "Are they companions who escaped with you?"
Sassarian nodded, "Doctor Myatt was the first to discover the abnormality in the camp, and he was the one who warned me… But… he and his daughter Sally didn't escape. I don't know why they spared me alone."
Captain Falric thought this was very unusual. "Prince Arthas, this sounds very strange. The situation at the Southern Camp might be much more complex than we imagined."
Jaina also agreed with Falric's view. "Combining this brave warrior's account, he was likely deliberately released by that demon named Mal'Ganis, with the purpose of luring us…"
Mid-sentence, Jaina suddenly felt something was wrong. If the Southern Camp was a trap to lure Arthas and his Legion, why would Sassarian be released?
"It is a trap, yes, but the purpose isn't to annihilate us." Arthas had already guessed Mal'Ganis's intention. "He is forcing me to go—Doctor Myatt and little Sally are likely not dead. Sassarian was just sent to deliver this message to me."
Arthas easily figured this out because he knew Mal'Ganis's ultimate goal. By working backward from that, he could explain why Sassarian survived and why Myatt and his daughter were not manipulated from the beginning.
Mal'Ganis couldn't possibly fail to hypnotize or convert a physician who only knew basic spellcasting techniques. This could only mean that Mal'Ganis was deliberate, forcing him to go to the Southern Camp, to step into his trap.
It seemed this great demon had already devised a plan, intending to use the blood of two innocent father and daughter and an entire camp of soldiers to lure him onto the path he and the Lich King had envisioned.