"You…where did you get this?"
The Sentinel Captain's voice trembled slightly. She had experienced far more than her subordinates, as she herself was a survivor of the War of the Ancients.
At that time, she was just a little girl, but she had witnessed her own kin, friends, and loved ones being slaughtered by demons.
To this day, she could not forget the terrifying, sneering figure standing in the middle of the burning city, and its bat-like wings that seemed to blot out all light.
She no longer remembered how she escaped from the burning city, but her memory of that demon remained as vivid as ever, even becoming her nightmare.
Yet, the head of the once-invincible demon was thrown before her like a wild dog's head, its face contorted with the same fear and pain her people had suffered during the massacre.
"I personally cut off his head, because he wanted to harm my subjects." Arthas grabbed one of Mal'Ganis's horns, lifted his head, and held it before the Sentinel Captain.
"This…how is this possible…how could a mortal defeat…"
"But the fact is right here, he is dead, dead by my sword," Arthas's voice was cold, as if he were speaking of a trivial matter, "However, I only killed one of them. Others have escaped here, attempting to summon their army of destruction."
After hearing Arthas's statement, the Sentinel Captain's surprise vanished, replaced by a contemplative expression.
Indeed, even from the biased perspective of the Night Elves, the strength of the orcs was highly suspicious, because a while ago, the orcs were no match for the Elves, let alone challenging Cenarius.
When the two sides first clashed, under Cenarius's assault, their chieftain was no match at all, completely different from the berserk orcs who later appeared like demon gods.
And the Night Elves paid a bloody price for it; a large number of Sentinels and Arch Druids died in battle, many villages were affected, and even Cenarius was killed by the enemy.
Losing the protection and power of the Forest God caused the Night Elves' mastery and affinity for the forest to decrease, which is why Tichondrius was able to corrupt the entire forest without being discovered.
"The return of the Burning Legion is no small matter… I cannot trust your one-sided account, even if… there is a Dreadlords' head as proof. This cannot prove the truth of the matter, after all, the possibility of a single demon entering our world is much higher than the Burning Legion's widespread arrival."
The Sentinel Captain deliberated repeatedly, and could only explain, "But I swear by the name of the Morning Rain family, I will definitely tell our Priestess about this matter."
"Morning Rain?"
Arthas was also stunned for a moment after hearing this surname. He looked at the Sentinel Captain's blood-stained and dirty face, and indeed saw a slight resemblance.
"What is your relationship with Liyana Morning Rain?"
"Liyana?! You know Liyana? Is she still alive?!" The Sentinel Captain cried out in surprise. She took a few seconds to calm herself. "Liyana is my brother's daughter… After her parents passed away, I took on the responsibility of caring for her."
"Because she had good druid talent, I asked an Arch Druid to be her teacher, but that day when we arrived at the village, the scene was already in ruins… the Orc army had left long ago…"
Captain Morning Rain's tone was low. "I found her teacher's remains, but I couldn't find hers. But because there were so many dead and missing people, I thought she had been killed at the time."
"She had a good teacher who used magic to make her feign death and escape the orcs' slaughter. Our scouts found her and other injured people, and they are now being sent to our city for recovery." Arthas's answer completely put Captain Morning Rain at ease.
"That… that's wonderful. Personally, I really have to thank you for what you did…" Captain Morning Rain began to trust Arthas's words slightly. "Perhaps you really weren't trying to rescue the orcs… but to help them break free from the demons' control."
"You finally figured it out? We also suffered invasions from orcs controlled by demons. I just don't want the demons to have a large group of troublesome opponents—at least for now, they are on our side."
Captain Morning Rain blinked, seemingly not quite understanding Arthas's meaning.
…
Just as Arthas was explaining to the Sentinels, Archdruid Malfurion, who had just awakened from the Orc den, met a strange person in the woods of Mount Hyjal.
This stranger wore strange clothing Malfurion had never seen, and leaned on an exquisite raven-headed staff. Although no energy emanated from him, he gave off an indescribable sense of void.
The appearance of the cloaked man made Malfurion feel very strange; he seemed to have appeared out of thin air, with no signs whatsoever.
The mysterious cloaked man spoke, "Lord Stormrage, may I ask you to listen to me first? Your forest is in danger!"
"Of course I know. We are about to eliminate the enemies of the forest." Malfurion couldn't help but frown; he felt this person was simply trying to be mysterious.
The cloaked man chuckled, and slowly said, "The enemies of the forest are not those orcs, but the demons behind them."
Malfurion's expression remained unchanged, his voice calm and firm, "Those orcs are the demons' pawns. Now please move aside, you are delaying our time to drive out the demons."
The cloaked man seemed to sigh, and yet not; even the keen-eared Malfurion only faintly heard a sigh that seemed to exist and yet not.
"If you insist on leaving, I have no need to stop you. Perhaps when you get there, you will…"
As the cloaked man spoke, he turned his back and shook his head, transforming into a pitch-black raven that flapped its wings and flew away. Malfurion looked at the raven with its jet-black feathers that seemed to absorb light, lost in thought, until Tyrande roused him from his daze.
"Malfurion? What's wrong with you?"
The Priestess Tyrande's voice reached the Arch Druid's ears. It seemed this Priestess had just been on her way to meet Malfurion.
The Arch Druid came back to his senses and smiled apologetically at Tyrande, "Sorry… perhaps it's because I just woke up from a dream, I haven't fully adjusted to the real world."
Tyrande also sighed, "If not for this happening, no one would want to wake you—I'm sorry, we're really in trouble. A group of races, seemingly under the demons, have invaded our forest."
"Are you sure, Tyrande? If it's really them, we would probably be struggling to defend Mount Hyjal right now." Malfurion was silent for a moment, then asked, "I suspect there might be something fishy going on."
"That's why I woke you up. We need to go to Ashenvale to see what's really happening."