Thule's order was to fight to the death, so none of the rearguard Undead retreated. Even though they knew they were about to perish, they continued to advance wave after wave, which held off the allied forces for quite some time.
But they were eventually annihilated. Unas left and right, hacking and slashing until his hands were sore, killing three or four hundred enemy soldiers by himself. His current experience was almost maxed out again.
The two Dalaran mages had already flown away. They were on a mission in Silverpine Forest when they suddenly received a magical order to rush to the Poison Spider Forest to rescue Archmage Merlin.
They arrived just in time to witness the battle at Balnir Farmstead. Seeing the Blue Dragons on the human side in trouble, they immediately offered their assistance, but that was all. The mission was urgent, so after exchanging a few pleasantries with the Blue Dragon came forward to thank them, they continued on their way.
Mati'gosa was unaware of the intricacies of the situation; she only knew that Unas had killed a powerful and evil mage, so she did not stop the two.
After listening to the Blue Dragon's description and considering the direction the two mages flew, they must have gone to the Mage Tower in the Forest. That would likely lead to a conflict with Rosebayne and the others who were guarding the tower. With that in mind, Unas immediately lost interest in chasing Thule.
Miss Mati, are you alright?
"It's just a minor injury, nothing serious." The wounds on the Blue Dragon's shoulder and side had indeed scabbed over.
"Great! Let's head back to the Mage Tower right away, and hopefully catch up with those two mages."
"They were going to the Mage Tower? Are you going to thank them?"
Unas shook his head, intending to tell the Blue Dragon the whole story on the way, "Let's say that's how it is."
The escaped Gnolls cannot be ignored, especially Thule Ravenclaw; this time, this scourge must be eliminated once and for all.
He ordered all his troops to continue the pursuit, while he himself mounted the Blue Dragon and sped towards the Poison Spider Forest.
Dragons are generally much faster than Gryphon, but the mages of Dalaran seem to have used wind magic to travel.
So when Unas and the Blue Dragon arrived at the Mage Tower, two golden Gryphon had been circling at the top of the tower for nearly half an hour. The two mages had already entered the tower, and outside there was only a group of Mutant Spiders and Little Red Dragon sleeping soundly with its dragon egg in its arms.
Mati'gosa landed in her Elf form, realizing the gravity of the situation, and decided to side with the human Paladins.
Alexstrasza was immediately awakened by the scent of her own kind. She opened her eyes in surprise, "Sister Mati, how come you're back so soon? How many Gnolls did you kill?"
"We'll talk about those questions later. What's the situation inside? Did two mages go in?"
"I think so..." The Little Red Dragon knew nothing about it, and didn't care that it didn't concern her. The dragon egg had been found, and the egg thief seemed to be dead. She couldn't be bothered with human affairs and just wanted to sleep and go home.
Knowing they wouldn't get any information, Unas and the Blue Dragon went straight into the tower and found the group examining Merlin's body in the freezer on the lower level. Seeing no signs of conflict, he breathed a sigh of relief.
It turned out that when the two mages first arrived half an hour earlier, they were hesitant to act rashly when they saw the Red Dragon and the Mutant Spider swarm outside the tower.
Only Rosebayne and a few surrendered mage assistants remained in the tower. Due to a slight blood relation and the guidance of the Trolls, the Beautiful Spider was able to communicate with Shadra with some difficulty.
To avoid unnecessary conflict, she instructed Shadra to disperse the spider swarm and invited the two Dalaran mages into the tower for a detailed discussion.
At first, the two mages thought that the half- Elf, half-spider monster was the enemy that had caused Merlin to issue the warning, but after a brief contact, they could sense that the other party was not powerful, so they lowered their guard and entered the tower.
Rosebayne recounted her ordeal and the heinous experiments Gunsel and Merlin had conducted to the two mages, and then led them to examine Merlin's body.
The two mages simply couldn't believe that the legendary mage hero would commit such a demonic act, but the Beautiful Spider herself was evidence, and the Spider Research Institute under the tower couldn't have been a makeshift forgery. The low-level mages had also spilled everything, leaving the two mages no choice but to believe them. The only slight consolation was that there was no direct evidence pointing to Merlin himself; all the evil deeds seemed to have been done by a lich Gunsel Lich.
When they saw Merlin's body, they were more shocked than angry, because Merlin's appearance was indeed beyond their imagination. He looked like a young man who had just died, which was not what a Zombie mage who had lived for thousands of years should look like.
The two were still wondering, not even sure if this was Merlin's corpse, when Unas and the Blue Dragon arrived.
The two immediately stepped forward to bow to the Blue Dragon. This was a special courtesy that mages showed to the Blue Dragonflight, who guarded magic. Their previous help to Mati'gosa was largely out of this respect.
"Respected Blue Dragon Lady, I am Forde Hanas, a member of the Kirin Tor Enforcement Team," the middle-aged mage introduced himself, gesturing to the young man beside him, "This is my apprentice, Arnold."
"I am Malygos, as I mentioned before. This is Unas, a paladin of the Argent Dawn."
Unas hurriedly expressed his gratitude. "Thank you both for your help; otherwise, the Rot Hide Gnolls wouldn't have retreated so quickly."
Although he expressed his gratitude, he implied that he was also capable of defeating the Gnolls, not wanting to appear weak to them.
The middle-aged monk, Fode, said, "According to this... Elf lady, you killed Archmage Merlin?"
"Yes, it was me," Unas said, neither intending to hide it nor able to. "Didn't Merlin send out my image along with a warning message before he died? Didn't you receive it?"
"We're not the ones receiving the alert; we just happen to be out on a mission and are the closest people to here."
Judging from their appearance, they were not of high rank and had no connection with Merlin. Unas thought he could gain their trust, so he told them everything in detail, without a single lie.
The two asked a series of questions, and Unas answered them one by one, describing in detail the Giant Fir of the Evil Woodland, the Mutant Spiders here, and the mutated monsters of Fairy Lake.
The two mages were understandably shocked; they insisted on going to the Anti-Magic Room on the second basement level to investigate, the place where Merlin had perished.
The group descended to the second basement level, where the two mages investigated and experienced the Anti-Magic Room. Both agreed that the Paladin was telling the truth.
Fode asked doubtfully, "Why do you insist on killing Merlin so quickly? The magic restriction in this Anti-Magic Room is very high. I can't use a single spell inside. Archmage Merlin must also be greatly restricted. You just need to lock him up inside. You probably can't bear the consequences of killing him."
"Merlin is a terrifyingly powerful mage, and he is the master of this tower. He may have unknown methods to deal with us, posing too great a threat. I have no choice but to kill him quickly."