In the first three months of the 16th year of the Dark Portal, all the major forces were busy with their own affairs. Except for the distant Northrend, which was brewing a war, the demons in Ashenvale were gathering more and more, causing the night elves a huge headache.
Outside, the whole world strangely embodies an atmosphere of peace.
The Federation is busy with new immigrants and pioneering areas, while the Empire is busy building cities and absorbing the ancient knowledge in the city of Elrethalas. The two different civilization systems are operating normally according to each other's rhythm.
Even the arms dealers who are stirring up trouble all over the world have their own affairs. It is said that not long ago in the Desolate Land, the venture capital company made another big business.
Facing the oppression of the Dark Blade Legion, the centaurs who were beaten badly accepted the "goodwill" of the goblins and purchased many arms. This move directly caused dissatisfaction with the Dark Blade Consortium in Booty Bay.
Under the planning of Di Moore, three bases of venture capital companies on the South China Sea Islands were blown up overnight.
In short, the world continues to move forward between disputes and peace.
But at the edge of every civilization, there are always some guys who are dissatisfied with reality, peeking at the loopholes in the order, ready to do something big at any time.
For example, the cultists of the Cult of the Damned who are active in the dark areas of Stratholme, and the Twilight's Hammer cultists who live a miserable life in the Wildhammer Highlands.
After the Battle of Northern Xinjiang, the Dark Blade Legion targeted the scum hidden under the federal civilization. For a time, the dark world of the entire federation was turbulent, and those active cultists were arrested in batches.
, thrown into the mines in the Black Iron Zone, or simply killed. In short, during the transition period between Dark Portal in 2015 and 2016, the life of the cultists in Azeroth was really very difficult.
The Wildhammer Highlands are the base camp of these cultists.
This is an area of mountains and plains between the wetlands of the eastern continent and the Arathi Highlands. A few years ago, this was one of the gathering places for the Wildhammer dwarves, and in the mountains to the northwest of the Wildhammer Highlands, there were
There is a ruby holy land for red dragons, which is a breeding ground for red dragons to hatch dragon eggs. In the southern part of the highlands, there is also a strange obsidian forest. It is said that there are still some remaining black dragons wandering there.
In the southeast of the highlands is the residence of some of the Dragonmaw orcs who escaped from the massacre of Grim Batol.
In short, this land is not stable, especially in the early stages of the Northern Border War, after the Dark Blade used it as a troop transport route to the Arathi Highlands, the local Wildhammer dwarves and Dragonmaw Orcs were attacked by the Dark Blade.
In a nearly devastating blow, even those powerful red dragons were forced to block the passage between the Ruby Holy Land and the outside world under the unrelenting offensive of the undead, and established barriers in the mountains to prevent them from being attacked by the undead.
Being disturbed.
It is said, just said... that the red dragons are secretly transferring a large number of dragon eggs here. These powerful creatures seem to be ready to abandon this holy land after the power of the Dark Blade Undead swept across the entire eastern continent.
But after the Battle of Northern Xinjiang, the Dark Blade abandoned this highland. There were not many resources that the Dark Blade needed. Therefore, this unclaimed land was quickly favored by other forces. It was just less than
Within a year, new settlements appeared in this barbaric land outside of civilization, and many of their members were unable to survive in the existing civilization... They were all a group of
Rats that can't live in the sun.
Under the influence of the dark and strange power, a huge stone tower rises from the ground in the southwest of the Wildhammer Highlands, like a dark peak reaching the sky, and at the top of that peak is a path leading to a special place
A flame-shaped portal dotted with shadow wings, this is the residence of the notorious cult organization Twilight's Hammer. Only those who have accepted their chaotic and crazy thinking are allowed to approach here.
And only those bastards who have expressed their loyalty to the Twilight Hammer will be allowed to climb the tower and enter the flame portal... Enter the holy place of these madmen, which they call the "Twilight Fortress"
", which means the world's judgment, the "twilight hour" that will bring great destruction to the world, will start from here...
No matter how you look at it, this doesn't look like a place that normal people would approach.
Again, no matter how civilization develops, no matter what height it reaches, in any social system, there will always be people who are extreme about reality, and these people are the foundation for cults to take root and sprout. Twilight
The leaders of the Hammer are masters of evil who are very familiar with people's hearts, and they have their own very useful methods for attracting new converts.
Even under the double stranglehold of the Dark Blade and the Federation, the Twilight Hammer still maintains a huge number of believers. From an organizational point of view, this is undoubtedly a successful organization, and the only problem is...
As cultists, they seem to be a bit too high-profile...and this has caused them big trouble.
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"Is the target confirmed?"
In the middle of the Wildhammer Highlands, in the stone castle left by the Wildhammer dwarves, a huge team has occupied this place and used it as their stronghold. In the central stone castle, several death knights are standing
Beside a stone table with a tactical map laid out, they were wearing armor very similar to the Dark Blade Knights, but there was no Dark Blade logo. Instead, there was a warhammer logo dotted with stars on the chest.
They are the Order...
An organization that breaks away from the concept of Dark Blade but still follows "circulation and balance". An organization whose purpose is to maintain world order and combat the shadows under the world. An organization full of idealists and everyone is a doer.
, a...well, an organization without borders.
This last point can be seen from the races of several death knights.
There are humans, elves, dwarves, and even rare dwarf death knights. Among the teams patrolling outside the stone castle, there are not only death knights, but also some living people who are attracted by great goals, and some wither warriors.
Rui, some thumping dwarf engineers, some werewolf assassins wearing leather armor, a few orc shamans who were exiled by the Dragonmaw clan, and even a few good tauren pirates.
This component... is definitely the most complex among all the organizations, large and small, in Azeroth.
At this time, in the stone castle, facing the inquiry of the elf death knight, the orc assassin Garona, wearing black leather armor, a white mask, and a silver ring on her finger, nodded silently. This powerful master assassin was in the undead.
After transforming, she became darker and more dangerous. She is currently the assassin leader of the Order organization.
Garona took out a hand-drawn map and placed it in front of several high-level knights. The map accurately marked the terrain of the target location, as well as several red x numbers.
"I just came back from the Twilight Fortress..."
Garona's voice was very hoarse and slight, like a dagger hidden in the darkness. Her skinny fingers passed over several red x's one by one:
"That place is located in a demi-plane that was opened up. It is divided into three levels, which are the residences of cultists, twisted elements and flesh and blood monsters. Cho'gall, Benedictus and Dagga Shadowburner, these
Several of the Twilight's Hammer's main bosses, as well as the abyss monsters summoned by them, are among them."
"They must have spotted us."
A gray-haired human death knight stared at the map and said in a deep voice:
"Why don't they run away?"
"Quite simply, my brother Thassarian."
Another high elf death knight brushed his long white hair and said with a hint of ridicule:
"Those arrogant cultists think they can defeat us, and they may be preparing a counterattack now. But you and I both know that they can't... After tonight, there will be no place for the Twilight Hammer on this land.
Land!"
"Are you so sure? Koldira, you are always so "confident" for no reason."
The human death knight Thassarian sneered at his companion's confident speech. He looked down at the map, turned to the dwarf death knight who was sitting directly above the stone table, closing his eyes and concentrating, and said:
"Lord Kurtaz, before entering the Twilight Fortress, I would like to take a team out. There are several cultist camps in other parts of this mountainous area. We'd better get rid of them to prevent those evil cultists from destroying them.
The believers were informed of our actions in advance."
"No need to worry, Thassarian, Lord Dathrohan has already done it..."
The dwarf, who closed his eyes and meditated, snorted:
"Cultists...hehe, they are like scum, they all deserve to die!"
The dwarf death lord Kurtaz, this paladin lord who was killed by Magni in the Battle of Northern Territory, would rather die than join the Dark Blade after being resurrected. He chose self-exile, but was recruited by the Order
After that, he decided to join this more "pleasing" organization. Now after the souls of El Knight and Black Knight Aznab were captured by Lord Darkblade, this powerful dwarf has become a de facto member of the Order.
One of the two leaders.
The other leader is Saidan Dathrohan, the great human knight who was killed by Death Lord Yrel on the battlefield of Khaz Modan... They are several paladins who were resurrected by the great lich Sunstrider.
One of the Lords, like Kurtaz, he would rather join the weak Order than serve Tyrion.
In fact, several death knights in this house gathered here for the same reason. Although the Order is small in size, even if you include the living who later joined because of the same philosophy, their number does not exceed 2,000, but
The fighting power of this organization is very powerful!
Their souls are armed with great faith, and their bodies are armed with advanced weapons sold by the arms dealers in the Black Iron Zone. Together with the main body of the Order, they are all high-level and low-level death knights of the Dark Blade Legion, all on the battlefield.
After being polished, these factors combined have allowed their work of "eradicating" cultists in the Wildhammer Highlands to go very smoothly in recent months.
It was precisely because of the Order's ruthless suppression that local cultists gathered in the Twilight Fortress, which would also be the Order's final battlefield.
"Also, I have some news to share with you."
The dwarf lord Kurtaz opened his blue eyes, and in the dim light emanating from his eyes, he whispered in a low and hollow voice:
"This time for the operation against Twilight Fortress... we have a "reinforcement", a reinforcement from the Federation. The congressmen hate the cultists deeply, and they hope that we can solve this big trouble quickly."
"federal?"
Thassarian frowned and said doubtfully:
"I admit that the Federation's civilization is very unique, and their engineering technology is also shocking, but the Federation's warriors? With all due respect, I don't know of any powerful warriors in the Federation... They won't hold us back, right?
?”
"I have seen their emissary."
Kurtaz shook his head and explained:
"This is a team of very powerful... "warriors". It is said to be from a civilization that has recently joined the Federation. In short, you will see them in tonight's battle. Also, this time against the Twilight Hammer
The war will not end with the capture of the Twilight Fortress. According to our Lich's analysis of the energy used by the cultists, the Twilight Hammer poses a much greater threat to the world order than we imagined! There must be a secret behind this
Horrible conspiracy!"
"We cannot let them continue to cause trouble to the world. After the war in the Wildhammer Highlands is over, we will go to Kalimdor...in the remote Silithus Desert, there are still a huge number of Twilight Hammer cults there.
Activities... that will be our next target!”
Kurtaz's words silenced everyone in the stone castle. After a few seconds, Thassarian raised his head, looked at his superior, and asked softly:
"It's not just because of the Twilight Hammer, right? Dark Blade, right? The "merciful" great lord will not allow us to continue our activities in the Eastern Continent. He has been dissatisfied with us for a long time, and he wants to drive us out.
Rush to the empire...let us fend for ourselves, bam, I know, that bastard."
"Don't say that, Thassarian."
The high elf death knight Koltira shrugged indifferently. This guy, one of the original 800 death knights of the Order, who once followed the El Knight to judge the Dark Blade, said softly:
"No matter how great our beliefs are, no matter how just our actions, we are always traitors... As far as I know, the war maniacs of the Death Lord Council have been trying to include us in the category of enemies.
The Knights of the Order openly call us "rebellious". They hate us, and the entire Dark Blade hates us... In fact, the fact that we can still exist here and fight for our ideals is an extra favor from the great lord."
"So, you still respect him? You respect a war maniac and a conspirator?"
Thassarian squinted his eyes and looked at his companion, Koltira. Deathweaver looked calmly into Thassarian's eyes, and he nodded:
"Yes, I still respect Tyrion. Blade of Dawn, even if the paths we walk are not consistent, but admit it, Thassarian..."
"He is a great man, and the sacrifices he has made for this world will never be matched by us. We can be hostile to him, but we cannot belittle him, let alone humiliate him..."
"Because we traitors...are not yet qualified before we actually do great things."
