Druid

Kordana Felsong is the commander of the Watchers stationed at the Howling Vale. When Lyana and her daughter came to visit Fandral just now, she felt a fleeting sense of a third presence. Although it disappeared quickly, even making her wonder if it was her imagination, Kordana would not forget her duty. She was stationed here to prevent Fandral from escaping or being murdered.

With such important matters at stake, she would rather trust her instincts than ignore them.

She quickly followed after them and soon spotted Lyana and Ysiel Regalia at a fork in the path. She carefully sensed for any other presence, but found nothing.

"Could it really have been my imagination?" she wondered doubtfully.

She didn't give up immediately. Since they were almost at Staghelm's prison, she might as well follow them a little further.

Just as the mother and daughter disappeared around the bend, a strangely shaped curved blade suddenly and silently stabbed out from behind.

"An assassin!"

Alarm bells went off in Kordana's mind. She was both shocked and furious. Kordana had been through the War of the Ancients, and in the last two years, she had participated in many battles due to various disasters. Assassinations were nothing new to her, and she was used to them. However, no assassin had ever managed to launch a sneak attack within such close range.

She hadn't noticed anything at all before the attacker swung the blade!

This was a top-tier assassin!

—Of course, this was the famous legendary assassin, Garona!

The orcish assassin's curved blade was her signature weapon, "Mercy".

Most assassins prefer to use daggers, which are quieter and faster, making them more suitable for assassinations. However, Garona was different. She preferred this short sword called "Mercy," while her left hand held a dagger.

Although the short sword was not as concealed as a dagger, Garona's own strength made up for this. Even with such a relatively cumbersome weapon, she could still perform at the level of a top assassin—a successful strike, and a clean escape!

Mercy had already pierced the Watcher's dark green cloak, and the tip of the blade was quickly penetrating her leather armor, reaching the soft and vulnerable flesh beneath.

With just one more inch, the blade would taste the Watcher's heart's blood.

Almost no one could escape death in such a situation, but just as that fatal inch was only halfway there, Garona's short sword lost its target.

A flash of white light appeared before her eyes, and the commander of the Watchers had already appeared twenty yards away.

Garona had missed.

Her opponent was no ordinary person, but one of the strongest elites among the Watchers, with countless brutal wars under her belt, and having lived for tens of thousands of years, her combat experience was unparalleled.

But Kordana was not feeling well. She knew that luck played a big part in her successful escape from that strike. If she had been just a fraction of a second slower, she would already be a corpse on the ground.

The eerie green light emanating from her eyes beneath her mask made her look so dangerous. She wanted to see who her enemy was, but all that remained was a dissipating cloud of smoke. The assassin had disappeared again.

The second round had begun.

Kordana took a deep breath, gripped the glaive in her hand, and forced herself to calm down, not allowing her chaotic breathing to affect her perception of the top assassin.

She didn't dare to call out to her Watcher sisters. She knew that if she lost focus, the assassin would definitely seize the opportunity; she also didn't dare to move rashly, as that could expose her vulnerable areas to the assassin.

The atmosphere in the air was very tense, and everything seemed to quiet down, with only the faint "drip, drip" of blood echoing in the cave.

That was the sound of blood dripping onto the ground from the wound in Kordana's back. She had tried her best to tighten her muscles to close the wound and prevent it from bleeding profusely.

The only thing to be thankful for was that the assassin's short sword was not poisoned. Otherwise, whether it was a paralyzing poison or a deadly poison, she would already be at her mercy.

In such a silent atmosphere, Kordana slowly calmed down. She remained standing still, not daring to move.

Whether the assassin had left or not, she didn't know.

Perhaps she had left, perhaps she hadn't. If it was the former, that would be good, but if it was the latter, Kordana's slightest movement could lead to her death in the next precise assassination.

She had to compete with the assassin in patience.

Kordana entered a state of extreme focus, even forgetting the passage of time around her. Until two different voices came from the air:

"Is this her?"

"Doesn't seem like it—what's she doing posing like that?"

"Idiot, she's injured! She must be guarding against the assassin."

"I see it, a short sword wound. Must be a pro."

The two voices asked and answered, echoing in the tunnel, but Kordana couldn't determine their exact location at all.

There was clearly only one person who assassinated her just now. Are these the other one's companions?

Moreover, she didn't understand what these two people were saying at all.

Kordana suddenly became nervous.

In front of and behind her, respectively, lurked a ninja. The former was a masked girl wielding a kama, her big eyes staring at Kordana, while the latter was a small yordle holding a shuriken in his hand, also poised to strike.

These two were Akali and Kennen. As ninjas, they naturally didn't act with those fighting in the caves, because they were worried about Staghelm, they had sneaked in first.

Akali saw a small pool of blood at Kordana's feet and said, "Forget it, let's leave her to Ekko and the others, let's keep going in!"

"Then let's go!"

"Is this the right way?"

"Bearskin said so. He wouldn't trick us, would he?"

The two voices completely disappeared.

They were speaking in the secret language of the Kinkou Order, and even few people in Valoran could understand it, let alone the night elves.

For a moment, Kordana almost thought she was doomed, but after a while, she found that the other party hadn't attacked. She didn't even know if it was the previous assassin's accomplice.

So, had the previous assassin left?

Was this a trap?

Kordana couldn't tell.

—Had Garona left after all?

Kordana didn't know, but Lyana did.

In fact, after the orcish legendary assassin's first assassination of Kordana failed, she strictly followed the assassin's principle, "One strike fails, retreat immediately." Under the cover of the smoke bomb, she quietly bypassed Kordana and lurked deeper into the cave.

She hadn't forgotten that she still had more important things to do. This Watcher commander could no longer hinder her actions, and of course, she didn't want to entangle with such a difficult opponent any longer.

Business was important!

She quickly followed Lyana and her daughter to the deepest part of the cave, Staghelm's place of imprisonment.

Outside the door, a female druid and a Watcher were guarding the place. They were the final guards. They were here to monitor the conversations between visitors and prisoners to ensure there were no hidden agendas. As for security, there was no need to worry, because the restrictions on this prison cell were personally set by the Archdruid Malfurion. Generally speaking, if someone wanted to "break the prison," they would at least need to have the ability to surpass the caster to break it.

"Ysiel, is that you?" Fandral in the prison cell seemed to sense something, and ran to the prison door in surprise before the mother and daughter even appeared within sight.

At this time, Lyana and her daughter turned the last corner and appeared in his sight.

"Grandpa!" Ysiel called out sweetly.

Staghelm immediately responded with a smile on his face. He watched his granddaughter run over quickly, and it was as if his heart was about to melt.

Lyana also followed, calling out, "Father."

"Good," Staghelm nodded.

He noticed a flame-shaped mark revealed on Lyana's wrist, and his expression immediately darkened.

Staghelm looked at his granddaughter: "My Ysiel, tell me, do you miss your father?"

"Father?" Ysiel was a little surprised.

In fact, she had almost no specific memories of her father, because he died not long after she was born. Her understanding of Vaestan was all from her family and clansmen. They had shaped the image of a hero who sacrificed himself in the War of the Shifting Sands to save the world. That was her father, Vaestan Staghelm.

In fact, based solely on imagination and stories, it was difficult for Ysiel to place her love on someone she had never met. Father was just "a person in a story" to her.

Ysiel was already over a thousand years old, and even among the long-lived night elves, she was already an adult. She knew that it was not appropriate to confess her inner thoughts, because her mother and grandfather missed her father so much, so she knew how to give them a satisfactory answer.

She raised her head and looked at her grandfather, smiling very seriously: "Of course I miss him, very, very much!"

"Good child, good child," Fandral Staghelm praised with relief, he suddenly lowered his voice and said, "Then, I'll take you to see your father, alright?"

"Huh?" Ysiel was stunned on the spot.

She knew that her father was already dead. Although she wasn't very clear why her grandfather was locked up here, she knew that he must have made a mistake. He was a prisoner, and he couldn't leave the Howling Vale until he was pardoned.

"I'll take you to see your father, we'll have a family reunion, alright?" Staghelm's eyes seemed to be burning with flames, shining terribly. Ysiel couldn't help but step back in fear.

His words had obviously "crossed the line." The druid who had been monitoring this side frowned and scolded: "Fandral, please watch your words! If you reveal… uh?"

Before she could finish speaking, a terrifying scream suddenly came from the other end of the cave, constantly echoing in the deep cave:

"Jailbreak! Someone's breaking the jail!"

"Jailbreak!" The druid vigilantly stared at Fandral, she gripped the staff in her hand.

At this time, the Watcher next to her suddenly rushed towards Lyana like a whirlwind, shouting, "Don't let this traitor leave the prison!"

Lyana stood in front of her daughter, her lips moved slightly, and no one could hear what spell or prayer she was chanting, only to see a large patch of burning thorns suddenly appear on the path of the Watcher's charge.

"A Flame Druid!" The druid guard called out with wide eyes.