Liam had no intention of fighting; he only wanted to follow his inner guidance westward until he found Frostmourne. When that time came, these so-called multi-racial allied forces would crumble before him.
Westward was the way back. The mysterious cave where Frostmourne was buried should have been further east, but the current situation didn't allow him to think too much. He could only turn back.
Seeing this group of traitors fleeing, Vereesa immediately ordered, "Chase them!" She took the lead, drawing her bow and arrows. With three soft hisses, "shoo, shoo, shoo," the three arrows she held were all fired, and three of Liam's guards fell to the ground, struck in the back. Her archery was swift and accurate, leaving people in awe.
The warriors of the Silver Covenant shouted and charged forward together. If Vereesa hadn't appeared before them today and told them the truth, they would surely have been betrayed by Liam, the traitor.
Now they would make these deceivers pay the price!
Seeing this, Lord Hervel hurriedly shouted, "Your Highness, you go first! I'll hold them back!" Without waiting for Liam's reply, he immediately selected more than three hundred soldiers and loudly ordered them to form a defense to cover Liam's retreat.
Liam looked at his departing back, appearing very silent. Both he and Hervel knew what covering the retreat meant.
"Keep moving forward!" he shouted, spurring his warhorse onward. Liam only had about a dozen knights with him; the rest were infantry.
As they advanced at full speed, the infantry couldn't keep up at all. After following for a while, one of his personal guard captains stopped, resolutely saying, "Warriors of Gilneas, we cannot run away like this! Turn back and intercept the enemy to buy time for His Highness!"
"For Gilneas!"
Hundreds of infantrymen all stopped and formed a second line of defense on the spot.
Liam heard their shouts, and his heart was filled with ice. He wanted to stay and fight alongside these most loyal soldiers of Gilneas, but he couldn't do that.
'This is a necessary sacrifice,' a voice echoed in his heart.
'For a greater victory.'
'For revenge.'
The Gilnean soldiers on the first line of defense couldn't stop the onslaught of the thousands-strong Silver Covenant Allied Forces. Three hundred soldiers simply couldn't defend such a wide area. Vereesa didn't want to waste time with these people. She fired three arrows in quick succession at Hervel, the leader of these soldiers. One was blocked, but the other two hit their mark, shooting him down to the ground. The Gilnean soldiers, without their commander, immediately suffered a great loss in morale.
Vereesa ignored them and left some people to clean up the mess, while she led the main force to continue the pursuit.
Then she encountered the second line of defense not far away. There were more people here than at the first line, but still no sign of her target. Liam and his knights were gone!
"Captain Brad, I'll leave this to you!" She left most of the people to the human captain who had been following her, while she led the twenty or so most elite soldiers around this line of defense and directly pursued Liam.
In the frigid lands of Northrend, horses don't have lasting stamina. He can't run far!
Vereesa was a ranger, and tracking enemies was one of the things that elven rangers did best. Moreover, Liam and his guards had no time to cover their tracks. Even the most ordinary scout could find them by following their footprints.
Four hours later, she could already see Liam and his knights with her own eyes.
"We're about to catch up with them!"
"General," at this moment, a spider person stepped forward and stopped her, "We can't continue chasing!"
"Hmm?" Vereesa glared at him unhappily. She knew that this spider person was named Bukaan Nerub and had defected to the Silver Covenant with his leader.
"Ahead is the holy city of Ahn'Qiraj." The spider person's hideous face showed a human-like fear, "That used to be our spider people's city, but it has been completely occupied by the Scourge."
Vereesa asked, "How many enemies are inside?"
"Thousands upon thousands."
Vereesa was somewhat unwilling. After chasing for so long, and seeing that she could catch up in just over ten minutes, she had to give up like this. She said, "Let's get a little closer, and if it really doesn't work, we'll return!"
— —
Seeing Vereesa's people getting closer and closer, Liam was anxious. What exactly was to the west? Why hadn't he found it yet?
But then he saw it. There was a black fortress directly in front of him. Its gates slowly opened, and groups of Scourge walked out with heavy steps.
Ghouls, abominations, crypt fiends, and some things he had never seen before in Gilneas.
The earth was trembling slightly, like the hearts of Liam and the knights beside him.
They were completely desperate. They couldn't resist such a number of Scourge at all. Want to escape? Vereesa and her men were waiting for him to walk right into their trap.
"What should we do, Your Highness?" Liam's personal guard captain forced himself to calm down, but his voice still trembled, as did the hand that held his sword.
Liam didn't answer; he only questioned angrily in his heart:
'Why, why did you deceive me?'
'Is this your purpose, to lure me to this frozen land and then kill me?'
The voice in his heart replied: 'Wait patiently.'
Liam's knights were flustered and desperate. They didn't bother to soothe their restless warhorses, nor did they care about their inner fears. The guards surrounded Liam in the very center, drawing their swords and shields and gathering their courage. This was their last battle. Even if they sacrificed themselves, they would fulfill their oath to guard Greymane. Until they fell!
But these Scourge seemed to regard them as if they were invisible, silently passing them by, without the slightest interest in killing them, not even giving them a second glance.
The Scourge's target was not them, but Vereesa behind them—when she first saw the Scourge appear, she thought that these evil undead would help them get rid of Liam, the traitor, but the scene before her told her that these two were obviously in cahoots.
"Retreat!" she ordered, covering the warriors in the rear.
The Scourge Legion chased for a while before retreating back. The gates of Ahn'Qiraj closed again, and several frost dragons appeared in front of Liam.
Vereesa gathered her troops along the way. Most of the Gilnean guards had already died in battle, and the remaining people chose to surrender.
She saw Lord Hervel's figure among the surrendered. This guy had taken two of her arrows, but he was wearing fine armor, and the arrowheads didn't penetrate deeply, only causing some superficial wounds that didn't damage his vitals.
Vereesa walked up to him, staring at him with her eyes, and said coldly, "Do you know that your master has already pleased the Lich King."
"Don't insult His Highness Liam!" Hervel angrily rebuked, "You defeated us, but I cannot tolerate you insulting our character!"
"Character? I'm afraid that in a few days, he won't even be a 'person' anymore."
After Vereesa finished speaking, she ignored this foolishly loyal Greymane servant. She said to Captain Brad, "Keep a close watch on them."
Vereesa returned to her tent, and the clean-loving she took off her outer leather armor and cleaned the filth from her body.
The day's fighting and chasing made her feel a little tired. A cold wind blew in, and the thinly clad she shivered.
"If only someone could give me a warm embrace." As she thought this, the image of Rhonin smiling involuntarily appeared in her mind. She knew that Rhonin had come here, but he had already gone with Aiden to attack Icecrown Glacier.
They hadn't seen each other for months, and she missed this guy very much.
"Rhonin..." she whispered the name.
"Do you want to see him?" A strange voice sounded outside Vereesa's tent.
"Who is it?" She immediately became alert.
"Voidwalker, Kassadin."
— —
Aiden and his party, led by Kiriix, approached Icecrown Glacier stealthily.
Along the way, he was impressed by the former glory of the ancient Spider-Kingdom. As the origin of ancient civilizations, the land of Northrend has all kinds of ancient ruins. Titans, Guardian Dragons, ancient races... But beneath the ground is the world belonging to the Spider-Kingdom of Azjol-Nerub. During its heyday, the empire established a complex and complete tunnel system throughout the underground of Northrend. They could reach almost anywhere through the tunnels. Both hidden and safe.
Rek'Sai, the Void Burrower, was at the forefront. She was the best scout in the underground, even more outstanding than Vayne and Quinn. Because the Rek'Sai clan is born with a special sensory ability to sense distant enemies in the dark.
She found the safest path for Aiden and the others, without letting any of the underground crypt demons notice.
They succeeded. No one knew their plan. The Lich King Ner'zhul also had no idea that a group of people were risking their lives to cross the tunnel and were attacking Icecrown Citadel from underground, preparing to solve the threat of the Scourge from the root.
After the future became a chaotic mess, no one could foresee the future.
When the Aspect of Time Nozdormu recovered from the pain, he woke up.
"I must find this destroyer!"
He returned to the Caverns of Time, activated his divine power, and searched for traces of the intruder in the river of time.
He was the Time Guardian personally appointed by the Titans. In Azeroth, no destroyer could escape his gaze.
He found that person.
"It's you! Intruder!" He looked at this person angrily, "Your death is at hand!"
"Is that so?" The Time Guardian Zilean was still as kind and gentle as ever, not taking this threat to heart at all.
Nozdormu was full of murderous intent: "Outsider, you have violated the sacred rules and must pay the price for it."
Zilean said: "No, Nozdormu, I have not violated the rules. The person who truly violated the rules is yourself."
"Ridiculous! I don't know or care which space-time you come from. But I know you are the intruder. You are changing the timeline of Azeroth, and I will never allow such behavior!"
"The future you wouldn't say such a thing," Zilean replied.
"You admit it, you invaded the future? But so what, my Bronze Dragonflight will correct this mistake. You can only fail, there is only one way to fail!"