Shadow Trails in Azeroth

Chapter 951 47. There is always something more important than victory (Part 2) - Spring Festival update, Happy New Year [1015]

In the middle of the Kalimdor continent, south of the Stonetalon Mountains and north of the Feralas Forest, there is a barren and mysterious land.

This place is called Desolation.

Just by hearing the name, you know it is not a good place. It was once a lush forest like Ashenvale and Feralas, but something mysterious happened on this land, which caused the power of the earth to shift in nature.

The former forests were leveled and the desolate Gobi replaced the fertile land.

It became barren, making it impossible for the elves to survive here. The Kaldorei Sentinels could only establish an outpost in the remaining woodland valley to monitor this wild area.

The druids also wanted to heal this place, but some special reasons prevented them from setting foot in the Desolate Land. Before the elves left, this wilderness had a new owner.

In the past thousands of years, the barbaric centaurs mysteriously emerged from the Gobi wilderness and occupied most of the territory of Desolace. Living next to these barbarians were the tauren.

The war between these two clans has been going on for many years.

The reason is that the terrible fecundity of centaurs and uncontrolled hunting have led to fewer and fewer creatures on this land.

These barbarians, who had nothing to do with civilization, killed almost everything they could hunt. After being attacked by the night elves' Silver Winged Sentinels when they ran to plunder the Stonetalon Mountains, they turned back to bully themselves. "old neighbor".

Although the local tauren are also very good at fighting, they are small in number and have difficulty in reproducing. Therefore, the bloodhoof tauren have always been at a disadvantage in the battle.

A few years ago, the Bloodhoof clan had sent all the old and weak, women and children of their clan to a mountainous grassland called Mogolei, and the remaining strong warriors stayed in the desolate place to fight the centaurs.

The tauren are unwilling to give up their ancestral land.

But the advantage of the centaurs coming and going like the wind was too great. They could only defend passively, and their vitality was consumed bit by bit by the barbarians.

If this continues, within a few years, the Bloodhoof clan will be completely defeated.

Cairn Bloodhoof, who is now the chief of the Bloodhoof Tauren, completed today's inspection of the tribal territory. He and several guards returned to their camp on huge kodo beasts.

Although not long ago, with the assistance of an outsider, they launched an extremely successful night attack on the nearby Centaur clan, killing all the Centaur commanders and almost killing the war, but Khan, forced the centaurs to completely withdraw from the territory of the Bloodhoof clan.

But it had only been less than half a month, and those centaurs were showing signs of coming back again.

This discovery troubled the brave and wise chieftain Kane.

He knew that every warrior of the Bloodhoof Tribe was a valuable asset, but he could not relax at all when faced with centaurs who never understood the truth.

Years of war have exhausted Kane himself, not to mention the tribesmen who have endured all this silently.

Some people have even incited the warriors in the clan to abandon the ancestral land of the Bloodhoof clan and leave this long-depleted land to the centaurs.

Withdrawal is not impossible.

The ecological balance of Desolate Land has long been destroyed by the relentless hunting of centaurs, and there is not much point in staying here.

But there are rules to retreat.

Withdrawing like this can only guarantee temporary peace. Once the centaurs cannot find food supplies in the Desolate Land, they will follow them.

Once the centaur rushes into the Mogore grassland that the tauren finally found, will the Bloodhoof clan retreat and then retreat to other places?

Centaurs are insatiable wolves!

The soldiers of Bloodhoof must stick to the desolate place in order to protect the peaceful life of the tribesmen behind.

Cairn Bloodhoof, who returned to the tent, placed the rune war spear he made by himself by the campfire, and sat down cross-legged, slapping his waist. Although the tauren chief is still in his prime, he is no longer young.

Although he is still strong, he occasionally feels low on energy.

Even his vision became a little blurry.

But he knew that he had to persevere, for the sake of his clan, for his son living in Mogore, and for the inheritance of the Bloodhoof clan.

Kane made himself a pot of herbal soup and added a few bones to it.

The tauren are masters at gathering herbs. Blessed by Mother Earth, they can always find good and nourishing things on the roadside or in the jungle.

Just as the herbal broth was almost ready, he was visited by another tauren.

"Hamuir, come on, the soup is ready."

Kane boldly called out to his friend who was as close as a brother.

The old tauren named Hamuul Runetotem also sat over with a smile, and took out a few freshly picked Ningshen flowers from his herbal bag and threw them into the soup.

This kind of herbal medicine can help the medicinal soup to soothe the mind and have a good sleep. He knew that Kane has been haunted by a "strange dream" during this period of time.

Of course, Hamuul, who is the chief advisor of the Bloodhoof clan, did not come here just to drink soup.

"Kane, Magatha has connected with the clan again, and the unwilling old war woman is still trying to find ways to force you to agree to their idea of ​​a full retreat.

She murmured that her communication with Mother Earth last night had terrible results, and she also announced to the tribe that a horrific revenge from the centaurs was coming.

You must take action! "

Hamuul sat on the ground, wagging his tail, and said in the unique tauren voice:

“Many tribesmen can no longer hold on, and our requests for night elves’ help have never been responded to, which makes the tribesmen lose the courage to persevere.

This land is becoming more and more overwhelmed. Every day I can hear the moans of Mother Earth, which is being tortured by the savage centaurs.

And although there is no evidence, I still suspect that there must be a deeper reason why the ecology of Desolace has deteriorated so drastically. "

"It's no use talking about it now, Hamuul."

Kane opened the lid of the soup pot and used a wooden bowl to serve Hamuul a bowl of soup, and then another bowl for himself. The chief with the broken top of the horn on the left took a sip of the aroma of the medicinal soup and whispered. explain:

"We must first curb the centaurs' misbehavior before we can buy time to heal the earth. But our numbers are too small, and it is difficult to launch a decisive battle to defeat the centaurs.

Those bastards are so raw.

Alas, it would be great if our friend Lao Chen, who is as agile as the wind, is still here. With him scouting for us, we can win a victory while waiting for work like last time. "

"Chen Stormstout is a wanderer, Kane. It's good that he can break his taboos and help us win a victory."

Hamuul shook his head and said:

"After all, we still have to rely on ourselves. That's why I came here today. Have you still had that strange dream in the past few days?"

"Um."

Kane didn't really want to discuss it.

But now that Hamuul spoke, he put down the bowl, rubbed his big head, and sprayed out a column of probability air from his nostrils, causing the gold ring inlaid on the nose bone to collide and sway.

He said with some annoyance:

"It's hard for me to sleep well, Hamuul.

At night, as soon as I close my eyes, I can see the golden fortress suspended in the sky. The flying Valkyries surrounded the golden giant.

He was inviting me to a battle, on another continent thousands of miles away.

He told me that he noticed that I had spent my entire life at war with centaurs. He described me as 'the tireless defender of the great iron' and promised me that I could win the highest honor of a warrior. "

Having said this, Kane shook his head and picked up his bowl again.

Tauren Chieftain said:

“But what do I want glory for?

My people obviously need me more than an inexplicable invitation to fight.

I can't even imagine what terrible things the crazy Magatha would do to the clan if I left here for a while. The Bloodhoof clan is no longer as powerful as it once was, and we can no longer afford defeat. "

"I think you should go and answer that invitation, Kane."

Hamuul finally gave his advice.

He drank the medicinal soup in the bowl in one gulp and said seriously:

"Don't refute me yet, listen to my reasons."

"Well, go ahead, Hamuul, I have always been convinced of your wisdom."

Kane also finished the medicinal soup in his hand and let out a sigh of relief. He put down the bowl in his hand, picked up the tauren pipe next to him, put in his homemade tobacco, and leaned against the pillar of the tent.

The shaman Hamuir in front of him coughed a few times and said:

"You remember that when Lao Chen was drinking with us, he described the outside world to us. Outside of Kalimdor, there are two other continents.

There are other civilizations besides us, night elves and centaurs living there, including seven human kingdoms, three dwarf tribes, large and small troll tribes, warlike green-skinned orcs, and some white-skinned elves who are good at magic. .

Old Chen also said that he had met our distant relatives, the yak people, in the cold continent in the north. We were very fascinated when we heard it. You also said that if there was no war between the Bloodhoof clan and the centaurs, if you were twenty years younger, At this age, you will also travel around the outside world.

Now is a good opportunity.

That Odin calls himself the Lord of War.

He set up a trial for all the best warriors in the world, and he chose you. You should go there to see and talk with warriors of other races.

The friendship between warriors is always very pure. Perhaps in this exchange and discussion, you can find new friends for the Bloodhoof clan just like we did when we met Lao Chen. "

Hamuul said with emphasis:

"It is impossible to seek answers from within for our current situation. It is impossible to win this war relying on the Bloodhoof clan. We can only seek allies from the outside.

Those goblins are coveting our kodo cemetery. They say they can provide us with powerful weapons and even find mercenaries for us.

Were it not for Magatha's strong opposition, you and I would have accepted the goblins' greedy demands.

Indeed, that is our ancestral land and our holy land, but if the Bloodhoof Tauren clan no longer exists, what is the use of having a holy land?

Same thing, Kane.

Although the goblins who can provide us with some food are not good allies, they represent a possibility. If we could have a way to connect with the outside world, if we could have more allies

Maybe our disadvantage can be reversed.

This warrior's trial is your opportunity, Kane.

You are the warchief, and you have the right to choose who we will ally with. We didn't have the opportunity to expand our influence before, but now your right comes in handy. "

"Um"

Cairne Bloodhoof smoked his pipe and waggled his tail.

He thought about it for several minutes, but he had to admit that Hamuul's suggestion made him very excited.

If the mysterious Odin chooses warriors based on their own strength, then Kane can be sure that the warriors who can go to Odin's Temple are definitely the most powerful group of people in the world.

Kane is very confident in terms of strength and combat skills.

He is the chief of the tauren, and other powerful warriors must have positions commensurate with their power in their respective civilizations. As long as they can make a friend, the Bloodhoof clan's predicament can be greatly improved.

After seeing Kane's heartbeat, Hamuul said:

"The second reason is more utilitarian, my brother.

Old Chen also said that you are the strongest warrior he has ever seen in his travels around the world. He said that there are not more than ten warriors like you in the world.

If Odin can quietly implant a spiritual illusion into a powerful warrior like you, it means that it is not an exaggeration for him to call himself a god.

That's a god, Kane.

Maybe an alien god.

But he is God after all.

Since it is a god, it has a power that is proud of the mortal world.

Even if you can't make friends, if you can rely on your own strength, you can win the favor of the warlike god and bring back the blessing of the King of War to our warriors.

That.

What are a bunch of savage centaurs? "

"Well, actually, Odin showed me the final prize of this trial in my dream."

Kane blew out a smoke ring and whispered:

"That is a holy shield derived from the power of the stars. It is said that it has the power to resist the 'Twilight of the Gods'.

If I can get it back and place it on Thunder Bluff in Mulgore, then the safety of our people will be guaranteed, and the soldiers on the frontline will no longer have to worry about anything. "

"Then go! Kane! You already have three reasons to join that warrior battle."

Hamuul said in a deep voice:

"You don't have to worry about the clan for the time being. During your absence, I will try my best to suppress the restlessness of Magatha and her followers.

When you return with victory, our clan and even this land will be reborn.

You are not fighting for yourself, Kane. I know you are not a person who pursues personal fame, but you can use your own power to win a future for your people.

This is what a chief should really do. "

Kane glanced at the back of his hand. On the back of his hand, which only had three fingers, there was a rune that only he could see shining.

That emerged after I had my first dream about Sky Fortress.

"But how do I get there?"

Cairne Bloodhoof made up his mind and said to Hamuul:

"The continent Odin showed me is far away in the center of the world's oceans. We tauren have never been good at navigation, and those goblins are desperate for money. All our belongings must be exchanged for food."

"I can take you there."

Hamuul stretched out his hand and put it behind Kane's hand. He said:

"The shaman can open a portal to where those elements gather. We call it astral teleportation. But this is a one-way trip. After you go through, you have to find a way to come back."

"I'll be back as soon as possible."

Kane stood up, grabbed his rune war spear, and didn't wear any armor.

The Bloodhoof tribe was very poor, and his chieftain's armor had long been sold to the goblins in exchange for more supplies.

"Bring your totem!"

Hamuir reminded:

“You are, after all, the chief of the Bloodhoof Tauren.

Kane, prove your bravery to them!

Let the whole world see the power of the tauren!

We may not care who we ally with or who we work for, but the premise is that we must preserve the faith of Mother Earth and preserve our ancient heritage. "

"Um."

Kane picked up a totem pole as tall and heavy as himself from the tent, carried it behind his back, and held the rune halberd in his hand. In the elemental light transmitted from the star realm, he said to his best friend:

"Wait for me here, Hamuir, stabilize the clan and wait for my return!"

"I'll come back with hope, I swear!"

PS:

The remaining five chapters will be released tomorrow, because the recommended space is only two days, I will try my best to fill them in better. I hope everyone can understand and wish everyone a happy new year.