Alterac Zoo

While Liam was distracted for a moment, the two men's conversation shifted to something else.

"Of all those women, the boss's mistress is still the tastiest. That little waist, that ass... I nearly lost my mind watching her walk into the castle just now."

"Forget it. Women like that are only for looking at. You think you could make a move? The boss would have you killed in no time..."

Hearing their conversation, Liam's eyes lit up.

This time, he planned to use the "chicken feather" in his hand as a "commander's token" and make sure he hit them hard enough that they wouldn't recover for years.

He had made the decision on a whim, because the conversation between the two men inside had given him some very important information!

"This chance is too good to pass up. If I miss it, the heavens will strike me down!" A smile appeared at the corner of Liam's mouth—the one he always wore before "doing something bad."

With a flick of his hand, a card appeared. Liam casually tossed it beside the wall, then turned and slipped into the shadows, speeding off into the distance.

As he vanished, a murloc dressed in a strange jungle outfit suddenly appeared beside the cottage. Waving a long knife, it shouted and charged inside.

The two men in the cottage were startled by the clothed murloc. Before they could react, it cut them both down.

In Liam's mind, Sir Finley Mrrgglton might not have been much of a fighter, but he made up for it with his agility. Those two would need plenty of time to deal with the strange murloc. He hadn't expected them to be so "green"—a murloc in clothes was enough to scare them stiff.

Staying in Stealth, Liam headed straight for the castle at the center of the ruins. As he went, he casually pulled out cards and tossed them aside without even checking what they were, then left the scene of each crime without looking back.

Over the past few years, as his power had grown, Liam's card abilities had improved each time he gained a new title. His summoned creatures, which had originally lasted only a minute and a half, could now last six minutes. Their stat ceiling had risen again and again, reaching "4 Attack, 4 Health."

A dozen or so cards Liam considered worthless, and six minutes—that was enough for these "monsters" to turn the whole Alterac Ruins upside down.

Besides, Liam still had an ace up his sleeve: Coral, his partner in murder and arson!

Over the past three years, the Phoenix Force had nourished Coral, greatly increasing both his strength and intelligence. He could now communicate with Liam fluently, and had become an old hand at doing bad things.

Thinking of Coral, Liam took a whistle from his pocket. He had made it especially for Coral; only Jeweled Macaws could hear its sound, and it was meant for secret communication during covert operations.

He blew hard, and Coral, who had been hiding in the shadows at the very top of the castle, spread his wings and swooped down toward Liam.

"Lia, Lia, are we doing it?" Coral was thrilled.

"Shut up, idiot!"

"Idiot! Idiot!"

"I'll stew you if you keep that up!"

"..."

Aiden Perenolde was in high spirits that day. He had recently recruited another batch of desperate men who had fled from the north, bolstering the Syndicate's power by a third. And those thieves who had appeared from nowhere had stopped showing up lately, so he no longer had to keep hiding. Life was good.

Things were also going smoothly with that old bastard Blackmoore. Thanks to the successful implementation of the Gladiator Project, the Orcs under his command had become increasingly formidable fighters, and the hatred they felt for the Kingdom of Lordaeron had grown ever more intense under their covert instigation.

That was why he had made a point of returning that day from the small farmstead where he had been hiding for so long. He had also summoned his mistress, whom he hadn't seen in ages, hoping to spend a romantic evening together.

Thinking that his dream of restoring the kingdom was within reach, Aiden was so excited that he could barely contain himself. "You old fool, what you lost, I'll take back one day! And those green-skinned monsters—you have no right to live in this world either. Once I've dealt with Lordaeron, you're next."

He imagined the Kingdom of Alterac appearing as a human savior when the Orcs once again ran rampant, rescuing humanity from danger and becoming its champion. Under his leadership, the kingdom would grow stronger and stronger, eventually becoming the leader of the Alliance, uniting the two continents, and finally becoming the Alterac Empire. The thought set Aiden's heart ablaze. He could no longer hold back, and his flushed gaze fell upon his mistress.

She had long, straight black hair draped softly over her shoulders and wore nothing but a light, bright-red evening dress. Lace adorned its wide hem; her waist was slender, her hips full, and her skin as white as jade. She looked sensual, yet dignified. But the moment her pair of rippling, dark eyes came into view, everything about her transformed into a surging wave of bewitchment, drawing anyone who looked into them in until they could no longer escape.

His men had abducted the woman from outside. They said she had once belonged to a minor noble.

As the heir to a kingdom, Aiden Perenolde had seen plenty of the world. Yet he had never seen a woman as enchantingly beautiful as her. Not one.

For a fleeting moment, Aiden Perenolde even thought that perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to live with her in that little lakeside farmstead, and forget all about restoring the kingdom and building an empire.

But a man's "impulses" usually lasted only a short while. Once the moment passed, he always cast such thoughts far from his mind.

Today, though, he felt no such impulse. A woman was an adornment to a man's great ambitions, and Aiden believed he was the king of this land. The woman before him was about to become his queen.

But even in that tense moment, something had to spoil the mood. Just as Aiden's mind was about to be flooded by a certain liquid, blazing light poured in through the window. The fire that lit up the sky reminded him of the night the royal city had fallen, several years before.

He hurried to the window and pushed it open. The royal city, already in ruins, was once again engulfed in flames. The Syndicate thieves were fleeing in all directions, half-dressed. Only a few were trying to put out the fires while fighting off a number of monsters.

"Where did these damned things come from?" Aiden stared at the chaos in the Alterac royal city, thinking he must be seeing things.

The scene before him was so chaotic it looked like a wild-animal zoo. He couldn't connect it at all to his desolate domain.