Antonidas and Mograine arrived at the battlefield one after the other. But apart from some scattered Scourge soldiers, there were no more threatening enemies here. The battlefield was a mess, and as far as the eye could see, there were wounded warriors everywhere.
Aiden's right arm was fractured, and Taric, the Gem Knight, used his unique gem magic to create a cast wrapped around the arm, secured with bandages and hung in front of his chest.
After Taric's treatment, Quinn was no longer in critical condition, but she was still unconscious. Kayle was also in a deep sleep. The angels told Aiden that they could recover their lost mental strength and injuries in this way.
Andorhal's garrison officer, the general there, was also seriously injured, with several broken ribs and a fractured ankle, and was now lying on a stretcher. Of the more than a thousand people he brought, apart from the dwarves in the mortar squad who did not suffer much damage, only more than four hundred survivors remained. Casualties exceeded 60%.
The hillside of this great battle was almost covered with blood and severed limbs.
The Gem Knight was shuttling among the wounded, soothing their pain and healing them one by one.
Antonidas walked up to Aiden and asked with concern, "How is your injury?"
"I'm fine, I'll be fine in two days." Aiden waved his hand, then worriedly said, "But Brox was rescued. He must still have a lot of plague venom on him."
"It was a mysterious mage who did it, right? He was the one who hindered us during the day." Antonidas immediately guessed the reason.
Aiden nodded: "That's right, but it's not some mysterious mage. It's probably Dar'Khan!"
"Dar'Khan?" Antonidas was not familiar with this name. He had never been to Silvermoon City, so he naturally didn't know this mage hero who was deeply respected by the high elves of Silvermoon City.
"Dar'Khan Drathir, the Speaker of the Silvermoon City Council of High Elves. Like Kel'Thuzad, he has been corrupted by the Lich King's temptation. The last time I went to Dalaran, I warned Kael'thas, but he doesn't seem to have come back?" Aiden frowned. The mage just now was basically confirmed to be Dar'Khan.
No matter how this world changes, the general trend is still the same. At this point in time, the only elven mage who has turned to the Lich King and is powerful is him!
"He hasn't returned, and hasn't communicated with us." Antonidas shook his head, he didn't know the whereabouts of Kael'thas, this member of the Kirin Tor Council either. Kael'thas has been away from Dalaran for some time and has not replied.
Since Dar'Khan has been transformed into a necromancer, then it means that he should have been exposed in Silvermoon City. But why hasn't Kael'thas returned to the Alliance?
Aiden thought that something might have happened in the middle.
Mograine kicked Anub'arak's body and asked, "Is this the body of that beetle leader?"
"It is him, named Anub'arak, the former king of the Nerubian kingdom in Northrend. After his kingdom was captured by the Lich King, he became the Lich King's subordinate." Aiden nodded and briefly introduced the simple information of this Scourge hero who died here.
"By the way," Aiden patted his head, remembering that there were still two buckets of plague venom that had not been dealt with, "Brox threw two buckets of plague venom here before. One bucket was caught by me with the wind and buried in the tunnel below, and the other was taken away by Valor - that falcon. Please deal with it!"
After hearing Aiden's call, Valor reluctantly rubbed his head against Quinn's face in a coma, and then flew up to lead the Archmage.
When everything was done, the army began to prepare for camping. Aiden hurriedly ate something and went to visit Quinn and Kayle, and found that their breathing was stable and they were out of danger, and then he was slightly relieved. After that, he crawled into the tent and fell asleep.
This day was too long, consuming all his energy. But as soon as he closed his eyes, the scene of Quinn rushing towards Anub'arak selflessly, and the scene of Kayle turning around and blocking the Pyroblast with her body, and the sacrifices of those ordinary soldiers who rushed up to delay time, all kept appearing in Aiden's mind.
He subconsciously grabbed the Heart of Valoran on his chest, immersed himself in it again, and summoned the Time Guardian, Zilean. Every time he had doubts, this white-bearded old man would solve his doubts for him. Over time, Zilean has become his spiritual pillar.
"You look a little embarrassed." Zilean's image appeared and looked at him.
Aiden frowned and told Zilean what happened today, and finally asked: "Am I a clumsy commander?"
Zilean disregarded his bad mood and joked: "Are you here to seek comfort from me?"
Aiden opened his mouth, speechless.
"Sometimes, even the right decisions can lead to the wrong results. You can recognize your mistakes and correct them." Although Zilean teased him, he still said comforting words, "The future is always changing. It is impossible for everything to go as you planned. If something happens beyond your expectations, you should not consider whether you are prepared enough, but think about how to deal with it correctly. Do you understand?"
"Correct response..." Aiden pondered, indeed, it seems that most of the troubles that happened today were because he didn't respond correctly? He wasted several opportunities to recover these mistakes.
Aiden's spirit was lifted, and he stared at Zilean and said, "I understand!"
"It's good that you understand." Zilean nodded, he felt that his responsibility had been completed and he could disappear almost.
Who knew that Aiden immediately stopped him and asked another question: "I found that my own strength is too low today. Is there any way to improve myself?"
Zilean replied affirmatively: "Yes."
"What is it?"
"That lies in yourself." Zilean said something that Aiden couldn't figure out, "When we used the Heart of Valoran to summon you, we defaulted that you were a hero. You have now pieced together a basic hero-level strength by relying on some abilities from me, Kayle, and Cenarius, but that is not the path you should take. Every hero should have their own unique hero path! Find it, and you will become stronger!"
After answering, Zilean took the initiative to disappear again without waiting for him to continue asking questions.
Aiden originally planned to call him, but he thought that Zilean must be unwilling to give more hints, so he had to give up.
"My hero's path?" Aiden murmured. "What should that be?"
...
Antonidas was counting the gains and losses of this battle from the battle report.
The purpose of this battle was to eliminate Kel'Thuzad and destroy the plague venom. Although the former has been achieved, the more important plague venom was taken away by Brox. In terms of purpose, this operation can be called a failure.
The originally considered stable northern defense line was completely defeated in the daytime battle. Nearly half of the 10,000-strong regular army was damaged. If the southern line had not supported in advance, the consequences would have been worse.
The Dalaran mage troops who also participated in the northern line battle also suffered heavy casualties. In the burrowing raid of the crypt fiends, many mage elites were killed without resistance. This was still thanks to Lux's timely response in opening a stealth barrier, otherwise the losses would have been incalculable.
Not to mention the Andorhal garrison. Of Andorhal's 1,000-strong troops, only a little more than one-third remained, and they were almost crippled. Two nearby human villages were also massacred by the undead and orcs.
Even Aiden's Valoran heroes almost capsized in the gutter.
Antonidas looked at this shocking statistic. He knew that this was just the tip of the iceberg of the Lich King's strength.
It seems that this battle report should make the other kings truly pay attention to the threat of the Scourge at the next Alliance meeting!
Speaking of which, not all of Aiden's heroes suffered heavy losses. One person actually gained a lot of benefits.
The Deathsinger, Karthus, locked himself in his tent and forbade outsiders from disturbing him. He took out the Mejai Soulstealer, which has now collected three powerful souls. They came from the Lich Kel'Thuzad, the Death Knight Rivendare, and the Crypt Lord Anub'arak.
Among them, Rivendare's strength was slightly weaker, just enough to reach the threshold for being absorbed by the Soulstealer. The other two were considered relatively powerful existences.
As long as Karthus absorbs the power within, his strength will be greatly improved.
Before joining the League of Legends, he was a demigod-level lich, and few were his opponents in Runeterra. But because the League of Legends suppressed his strength, he now only has hero-level strength when he comes to this world. Although he is stronger than ordinary heroes due to his own characteristics, he is still far from his peak.
"More powerful souls are needed." Karthus muttered silently. He remembered the memory absorbed from the Skull of Gul'dan, which mentioned that the Tomb of Sargeras contained the secret to obtaining godhood. A look of longing appeared in his eyes, "If the power of divinity is absorbed by me, I can return to my peak - it seems I have to persuade the summoner."
The next day, the camp left some people to clean up the aftermath, and the main force began to retreat.
The people who cleaned up the aftermath mainly dealt with those corpses: those belonging to the undead would be burned uniformly, and those belonging to the fallen humans would be burned separately after identification and made into urns to be sent back to their families.
Aiden sat in the carriage and saw a team of sad-faced villagers also rushing there, and there was also a familiar figure among them: it was little Timmy, whom they had rescued from the gnolls.
Little Timmy held the hand of the middle-aged uncle and asked innocently: "Uncle John, why don't mom and dad come to pick us up?"
The middle-aged uncle said in a deep voice: "They are asleep, we will take them back to sleep."