The Sage

The unknown poison continued to spread, and Cordana grew weaker and weaker. Her vision was already blurred, and the buzzing in her ears made it impossible for her to catch the subtle sounds around her. Just when she thought she was about to die, the main force finally arrived at this place.

"There's a Warden over there, looks badly injured."

Shen stepped forward to check. He glanced over the bodies of the other two Wardens and said, "She killed the other two Wardens."

"It's Commander!" Daria Moonwhisper then saw that the one leaning weakly against the wall, emitting heavy breaths, was their commander, Cordana Felsong.

Broll saw the other two corpses and couldn't help but frown. He looked at Ekko and asked, "How is it?"

Ekko exclaimed, "Bearskin Uncle, the battle here happened at least five minutes ago, how am I supposed to know who the real traitor is!"

He could only see the scene within a few seconds. Obviously, Cordana had already been leaning here before they arrived, and the other two Wardens were clearly not newly dead.

Seeing that Cordana had already fainted, Daria hurriedly shouted, "Archdruid, please save the Commander! I guarantee with my life that she is definitely not a traitor!"

"This—" Broll hesitated.

"She is trustworthy." At this moment, Archmage Khadgar in the crowd suddenly said.

His words attracted the attention of the others.

Khadgar stood at the place where the initial sneak attack occurred, gesturing as he spoke, "A few minutes ago, one of the two dead men first used a flying knife to sneak attack her, the flying knife pierced her abdomen. After she reacted, she pulled out the flying knife, turned against him, and inserted it into this person's throat, then teleported to…"

He stood behind the other attacker whose neck had been cut in half: "Here, simultaneously wielding the weapon in his hand to kill this Warden."

Based on the distribution of the corpses here and other clues, he almost completely reconstructed the scene at that time.

Khadgar's words were of course trustworthy. Broll nodded and stepped forward to heal Cordana's wounds with the power of nature, and dispel the toxins from her body.

"Thank you, Mage!" Daria said excitedly to Khadgar.

The old-looking Archmage shrugged.

At this moment, Shen suddenly said, "There's fighting inside, I'll go ahead!"

Then, this ninja grandmaster made a peculiar gesture, chanted a strange incantation, and disappeared in a burst of purple light.

"This, what kind of ability is this?" The heroes of Azeroth were dumbfounded.

Wasn't Shen a warrior? How did he seem to cast a teleportation-like spell and leave?

You should know that teleportation spells are forbidden inside the Howling Vale, only short-range blink and flash can be used, so how did Shen disappear?

Nidalee chuckled, "This is a special ability of the Eye of Twilight, it's ninjutsu, not magic. The name seems to be 'Secret Technique! Twilight Shroud'—is that what it's called, Ekko?"

"Should be. The name is so long, how am I supposed to remember it." The boy from Zaun complained.

—

The three ninjas of the Kinkou Order have a special way of contacting each other. After Shen received the distress message from his junior sister Akali, he immediately flew over. The moment he landed, he secretly cried out that things were bad—Fandral had successfully escaped, and he watched helplessly as his granddaughter Istaria was assassinated, and the murderer was a Warden. The furious Fandral couldn't wait to kill everyone—so he did.

He summoned angry flames, turning this place into a sea of fire, then transformed into a burning cheetah, pouncing towards Akali and Kennen.

Originally, Akali and Kennen cooperated seamlessly, already suppressing Garona to the point of misery, especially when Kennen's lightning shuriken paralyzed Garona earlier, Akali, who had pounced over, seized the opportunity, wielded the kama in her hand, and while parrying the opponent's short knife, the other kama hook pulled out a deep, bone-deep wound on Garona's left shoulder.

If Garona hadn't tried her best to dodge, I'm afraid that kama would have hooked and broken her neck!

Garona had never been so embarrassed in a fight with a colleague. This simply struck at her dignity as a top assassin, making her wonder if she hadn't fought for a long time, so that she couldn't keep up with the pace of the young people.

The injury seriously affected her combat effectiveness, and she was subsequently suppressed and beaten by Akali and Kennen.

On the other side of the battlefield, the druid who transformed into a cheetah pounced towards Leyara, hoping to interrupt her spellcasting, but she underestimated Leyara's strength.

After becoming a Flame Druid, this female elf, who was already very strong, now has a strength almost close to the level of a Grand Druid, not to mention that Flame Druids were originally known for their destructive power?

There are not many people in the entire Cenarion Circle who can stop her, this female druid, although an elite, is still not enough.

Leyara used only one hand to knock the pouncing cheetah back. The Flame Orb bloomed with terrifying high temperatures in her hand, and the prison door's restrictions gradually twisted and melted. In just a few breaths, the defensive magic set up by Malfurion himself was completely broken.

Fandral Staghelm transformed into a giant bear covered in flames. He let out a deafening roar, took two steps back, and then, like a rampaging behemoth, smashed the last prison door into a sky full of rubble.

After a year, he finally regained his freedom!

"Not good!"

"Quickly request reinforcements!"

Akali and Kennen could no longer remain calm.

As soon as Shen landed, he saw Garona, Leyara, and a burning giant bear rushing over aggressively.

"3VS3," the small yordle ninja Kennen swallowed, "We seem to be... not at much of a disadvantage?"

"I'll deal with the giant bear!" Shen said in a deep voice.

"Leave the half-orc to me." Akali tightened her grip on the kama.

"Alright, looks like I have no choice." Kennen said helplessly.

It's just that they still underestimated the strength and determination of their opponents. In just two rounds, the three ninjas were repelled.

"Can't beat them, can't beat them, Grandmaster! That woman is setting fires everywhere!" Kennen was about to say that the other party was cheating.

"…" Akali didn't speak, but there was a bloody wound on her left arm, which was Garona's retaliation—because when Kennen sneak attacked earlier, she had also left a wound on the other party's shoulder.

"Cough cough… retreat!" Shen faced the strongest opponent, Archdruid Fandral Staghelm, and the situation was certainly no better than his two junior brothers and sisters. Although he had tried his best to avoid fighting the other party head-on, he was still slightly bumped—that was really fatal, Shen felt like his bones were broken.

As the order to retreat was issued, the three ninjas immediately used their ninjutsu, and their figures disappeared into the air.

How could Staghelm be willing to let the enemy run away like this? He roared angrily, "Chase after them!"

At this time, Garona snorted coldly, "This is not within the scope of my mission."

Staghelm's huge bear head turned to Garona, not concealing his threat and anger: "They killed Istaria!"

Garona sneered, "Just a reminder, don't forget who rescued you, and don't forget how you swore to it. If you are prepared to use your precious time for revenge, then it seems we have to part ways."

Staghelm's bear paw clasped tightly on the ground, and the paved stone slabs were scratched with deep marks in his anger, and the claws rubbing against the stone slabs made a sharp, ear-piercing noise.

He snorted through his nostrils in this string of noises: "Should I say 'thank you'?"

"You're welcome." Garona responded coldly.

—

Broll's main force had been advancing inward along the path the three ninjas had taken. Although the pace of advancement was slower, they had at least saved many guards who were being attacked by the betrayers. This team was becoming larger and larger.

"Almost there." Broll shouted as he walked past an intersection, "Not far ahead is Staghelm's prison cell!"

The others were immediately invigorated. With so many of them here, even if Staghelm really had heaven-defying abilities, he couldn't escape!

However, at this time, another voice poured cold water on them: "Don't go over there, there's no one ahead."

The one who could make such a prediction was of course Ekko.

Everyone was stunned for a moment.

Although countless of Ekko's predictions had been verified along the way, Broll was still unwilling to give up and asked, "You didn't see wrong?"

"Don't believe me? Go up and see for yourself!" Ekko spread his hands.

Broll transformed into a cheetah and sprinted wildly into the twisting tunnel. After a few seconds, he smelled the scent of sulfur and also felt the heat in the air that had not completely cooled down.

That was the trace left by the Flame Druid casting a spell, but the caster had disappeared.

The interior of the Howling Vale is crisscrossed with passages. Although there is only one entrance and exit, if Fandral escaped into other forks in the road, no one can guarantee that he has any way to escape the pursuit of the crowd. Even worse, he doesn't know if the other party has any way to break through the teleportation imprisonment spell and leave without being noticed.

Could it be that they have to split up and search every fork in the road?

He was a little unwilling.

Moreover, after they split up, a single hero or two would not be able to stop Fandral at all.

Just as he was in a dilemma, Ekko shouted loudly: "Miss Nidalee, look here—" He pointed to a not-so-obvious mark on the wall, "The mark of the Kinkou Order, you know, quickly lead us!"

"You saw it again?" Nidalee glanced at the mark and immediately confirmed it.

"Haha, you saw it." Ekko replied with a hippie smile.

He didn't have such good insight. Even if he didn't remind her, Nidalee would have found the mark in a few seconds.

The crowd was not surprised. Nidalee knew that they should seize the time now. Shen and the three ninjas were quietly following behind the fugitives, so they didn't have to worry about splitting up to track them down.

Nidalee took the lead, and through the instructions of that mark, drilled into a fork in the road: "Follow me!"

Broll also quickly followed. Now he was simply grateful that he had the support of these Valoran heroes, otherwise Fandral would definitely have escaped.