Shadow Trails in Azeroth

At the foot of the hill of Dangarok Castle, more than thirty tall and slender elf rangers with a height of two meters, wearing green chain armor, carrying gorgeous bows and phoenix halberds, were resting in front of the hill.

There are still traces of the fierce battle four days ago. There are many new tombstones on the cliff not far from the castle. They are the cemeteries of the soldiers who died in the battle to attack and defend the castle.

The dwarves cut off the heads of the orcs and piled them in front of the graves of their comrades to show the glory of that victory and to express their thoughts and condolences to their comrades.

And to commemorate the difficulty of the entire battle.

The rangers pointed at the slightly barbaric pile of skulls and discussed in a low voice in the elves' Salas language. Some elves weaved garlands of randomly picked flowers.

They placed white wreaths on the tombstones of those who died in war.

Express commemoration and condolences to the warriors in an elven way.

On the green cloaks of these elf rangers with sharp ears and white skin, there is the phoenix emblem of the high elves of Quel'Thalas, as well as a small symbol of a war bow and a war halberd intertwined.

That's the sign of the far traveler.

Representing these more than thirty rangers, the elite hunter force from the High Elf Kingdom of Quel'Thalas, the elite Ranger Farstrider Legion commanded by the famous Windrunner family for generations.

The high elves have strong magical talents but insufficient strength. Therefore, during the 6,800 years since their founding, they had almost no real warrior legions.

In addition to the powerful mage legion, melee assault missions are generally undertaken by the rangers of the Far Traveler.

However, for a group of guys with insanely strong magical talents, they generally don't encounter battles that require the rangers to fight hard in their own territory.

Most of the forces that provoked the high elves had been annihilated by the magic of a large number of elven mages before they began to charge.

Darren, don't you dwarves always dislike elves? I heard you call them a bunch of sissies yesterday. Why are you so welcoming to these rangers today?

Black lowered his voice and asked the dwarf captain who was smoking a pipe next to him.

The latter curled his lips and said realistically:

I really don't like these artificial long ears. Look at their waists! Not to mention women, the waists of those male elves are not as thick as my arms!

But then again.

The war on the human side is tight and we can't send reinforcements. Ironforge is too far away from here, so it would be nice to have support. Since everyone is fighting against the orcs, I won't complain.

As long as the sissy elves join us in killing orcs, I will consider them my friends.

The dwarf captain blew out a smoke ring.

Although he spoke of contempt, dwarves are very straightforward, and in the end they couldn't help but praise:

These Farstrider rangers are all good. They killed many greenskins in the Arathi Highlands, and they were ruthless, but their king was far from good.

Do you know that your human Lothar has the blood of Thoradin the Great? Two thousand eight hundred years ago, your Emperor Thoradin and the high elves formed an alliance to fight the forest trolls.

After their victory, the long-eared king declared an eternal alliance with Emperor Thoradin.

As long as his bloodline requested it, Quel'Thalas would do its best to help humans. The long-eared king who was an ally with Emperor Thoradin at that time is now the Elf Sun King!

But Marshal Lothar is still there.

He is the last blood descendant of Emperor Thoradin. Unfortunately, he asked the long-eared Sun King for help, but the long-eared Sun King Anastarian gave up. Fortunately, the noble Windrunner family remembered the covenant.

I heard that a Windrunner girl brought a group of elves to help. The number was quite small, only a few hundred, but they were all heroes.

Hum.

A woman has more courage than their king.

Regarding the dwarf captain's words, Blake nodded with deep understanding and agreed.

Mr. Dwarf's words are basically correct, but the Sun King actually has his own difficulties.

The dwarf had just finished speaking.

A gentle voice intervened in the conversation between the two, causing the dwarf and Black to turn around at the same time, and saw a strange human being walking towards them.

The reason why he is weird.

It's because he is a human but wears the same elven chain armor as those rangers.

It means that he is also a companion of these elves.

But the problem is that the kingdom of high elves has inherited the narcissism of the legendary ancient elves and is quite closed in diplomacy.

Few humans are allowed into Silvermoon City.

Not to mention using a human body to join Quel'Thalas' elite ranger force. You know, there is still such a stupid argument as bloodline theory in Quel'Thalas's Council of Mages.

The human being in front of him was very young, with blond hair, handsome face, but with a slightly older beard.

He carries a war bow and quiver on his back, but instead of a phoenix halberd, he wears two graceful and deadly one-handed axes on his waist. This kind of weapon is not likely to be used by elves.

Blake narrowed his eyes when he saw this special weapon.

He guessed the identity of the visitor.

It's really strange.

A few days ago, I was talking about this legendary character to the chatty dwarf Greif Kuangxin, but I didn't expect to see him in person now.

The blond, bearded, and muscular human strode forward, looked at Blake up and down, stretched out his hand towards him, and said in a friendly tone:

You should be the 'orc killer' that the dwarves praise highly. I heard that you assassinated the chief of the Bonechewer clan and saved Dangarok Castle?

There is also a very powerful ranger hunter who told me that you have hunted dozens of orcs alone in the past few days?

Blake shrugged.

He stretched out his black-gloved hand and held the hand in front of him.

He said very modestly:

My dwarf friends like to brag. In fact, I am not as powerful as they brag. At least one-third of those orcs were injured by my dwarf friends first.

I just.

Got a bargain.

Haha, you are really good at talking.

The human smiled and said humorously:

If every human warrior could get such a bargain, the orcs would have been driven back to the Dark Portal long ago. You are a rare warrior.

I'm honored to speak with you.

Well, I forgot to introduce myself, how rude.

He straightened up.

With a confident temperament very similar to that of a high elf, he said softly:

My name is Nathanos, Nathanos Marris, from the Stratholme region of the Kingdom of Lordaeron, and I am also a non-staff member of this Farstrider team.

My companions followed the ancient thousand-year oath and came to support the war between humans and orcs. They needed a guide who was familiar with the terrain of northern Xinjiang.

So they found me, currently a ranger apprentice.

As a human being, I am honored to join this war to protect our country, and I am even more honored to meet another brave and fearless compatriot of mine here.

You're a good talker, but you have a girly elf vibe to you.

After hearing what Nathanos said, Darren Tieshan, who was sitting on a wine barrel and enjoying tobacco, immediately shook his head and commented in a rude way unique to dwarves.

The result made Black laugh and Nathanos also looked embarrassed.

This human ranger, who would do many great things in the future and whose fate was very bumpy, was now just a young man who was just starting out and was not quite used to the straightforwardness of dwarves.

But he has a great personality.

He didn't feel angry because of the dwarf's blunt words. Instead, he sighed and looked back at his unsociable companions.

Dangarok Castle is the territory of the dwarves. Here are a group of dwarf melons less than 1.3 meters tall. Blake, who is about 1.8 meters tall, stands out from the crowd when he moves here.

Not to mention these taller high elves.

More than thirty elf rangers were mixed among the dwarves, just like more than thirty flagpoles. As long as you are not blind, you can see clearly.

Indeed, I have been training with my mentor in Quel'Thalas for the past few years. I have adapted to the customs there, and I have also learned the way the elves speak like poems.

Nathanos turned back, shrugged, and the young man of similar age to Blake smiled. He explained to Blake and the dwarf in a low voice:

The rangers near the Tower of Windrunner are actually much better than the elven nobles of Silvermoon City. They won't look at you with contempt and ridicule just because they see that you are a human.

Nor will I alienate you just because you maintain the living habits of a human being.

But even so, in that place, if you can't learn to talk in a slightly exaggerated and emotional language like them, they won't treat you as a real one of their own.

My mentor told me not to pay attention to the gossip of her compatriots, but I learned that the best way to integrate into a new place is to learn their way of life.

I have to become like them.

At this point, Nathanos lowered his voice as if he was complaining, and winked at the two people in front of him.

explain:

And although humans always say that elves are arrogant and exaggerated, in fact, believe me, you two, far away from Quel'Thalas, my elven companions have tried to keep a low profile.

The problem is, even their ‘low profile’ is too high profile.

These words were probably from the bottom of his heart, making the dwarf burst into laughter. The laughter was as loud as a pile driver, but Black restrained his laughter.

The relationship between the three seemed to have become closer because of this little complaint.

Black looked at the Farstrider symbol on Nathanos' cloak and asked:

Maris, you just said that your companions came to aid the human kingdom in response to the ancient covenant, so your leader is Ms. Alleria Windrunner?

Um!

Upon hearing this name, Nathanos, who took a glass of beer from the dwarf's hand, immediately showed respect. He took a sip of beer, moistened his throat, brushed his somewhat dusty hair, and said:

“Ms. Alleria is a true hero, and her family also participated in the battle between the high elves and the human empire against the forest trolls 2,800 years ago.

She felt that the covenant was not only a covenant between the Sunstrider royal family and the bloodline of Emperor Thoradin, but also a covenant between Quel'Thalas and human civilization.

She ignored the obstruction of General Lilesa, her mother, and would rather be expelled from the army to fulfill the obligations of her ancestors. Many travelers have answered the Lady's call.

They left Quel'Thalas and joined the battlefield in Northern Xinjiang.

It's a pity that although they are all elites, their number is too small.

Nathanos sighed.

He glanced at Thoradin's Wall in the distance and said:

Last month, we have been under the leadership of the lady, supporting Stromgard in the battle against the Bloodring Orcs in the Arathi Highlands. The lady was still on the battlefield, personally shooting and wounding the chief of the Bloodring Orcs.

Now that the situation there is a little more stable, the Farstriders and rangers have been transferred to the Tirisfal area to help guard the Royal City of Lordaeron.

Our team was ordered to go to Andorhal, a border city in the East Wilder region, to assist Colonel Garithos' army there. As for coming here, apart from resting and recuperating, it was also an accident.

The human ranger sighed and said:

While passing Thoradin's Wall, my captain Halduron Brightwing accidentally tracked the traces of a dragon, and heard that Dangarok Castle had just experienced a war with the orcs.

So I changed my route and came here first to check.

A dragon?

Blake's heart suddenly moved.

He and the dwarf looked at each other and asked:

How come dragons appear in hilly areas? Maris, tell us in detail.