Saber Leopard

Night Elves are friends of nature and its guardians, sharing the closest bond with the natural world. Under normal circumstances, creatures of the wild will not attack them; they may even offer assistance when Night Elves encounter danger.

Now that the surrounding animals are attacking Night Elves, it can only mean that someone is targeting them, or that someone's actions have incited the hatred of these local creatures toward the Night Elves.

After receiving this mission, Kalei had assumed the so-called beast riot was merely an ecological imbalance, but it now appears far more complicated.

"Troubled times indeed!" Kalei sighed.

With the Dark Portal on the verge of opening and the entire Azeroth Continent about to enter a period of turmoil, there has been no news regarding the Emerald Nightmare, and now he has stumbled upon another bizarre occurrence.

Kalei sighed by the seaside for a while, then stopped overthinking it; after all, mere thought was useless. For now, he must focus on his own growth and gain more influence among his kin to gradually change the current plight of the Night Elves.

He rode Big Black back to the small town, only to find it much quieter than yesterday. It was clear that recent events had left the townspeople feeling panicked.

He visited several victims in town, hoping to glean some clues from them, but he came away with nothing.

The next day, he changed his strategy. He felt that as a Druid, rather than seeking out victims, it would be better to communicate directly with the other party involved—the beasts in the forest—perhaps to obtain a more direct answer.

With his current abilities, he could not communicate with ordinary beasts; he had to find more spiritual ones, such as wild Sabers or Moonnight Tigers.

Unlike in the game, these two types of beasts are relatively rare in the real world and move almost exclusively in the depths of the forest, making them difficult to track down.

However, this clearly did not stump Big Black, who was of the same kind. Hearing that Kalei wanted to find a Saber in the forest to inquire about the situation, the fellow volunteered to act as a guide.

Under Big Black's lead, Kalei ventured deep into the dense forest. Less than half an hour later, he discovered a mother Saber and her cub inside the hollow of a massive ancient oak tree.

The two leopards were mother and son. The mother was somewhat wary of Kalei and Big Black, her amber eyes fixed intently on Kalei.

The cub, however, was much more relaxed. Perhaps drawn by the natural aura Kalei exuded, it was not afraid at all and even seemed eager to walk over and play with Big Black.

Kalei ignored the cub to avoid agitating the mother, attempting instead to soothe her and establish communication.

Just then, a roar erupted from behind the great tree. A dark shadow lunged out from the woods, landing heavily on the ground and blocking Kalei's path.

Startled, Kalei retreated two steps. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was a Saber even more robust than Big Black.

However, this Saber appeared to have been injured recently; a jagged, gruesome wound marred its cheek.

The beast glared with murderous intent, sizing up Kalei and then Big Black, before letting out two short, sharp roars.

Kalei could tell it wanted to speak to him, but even as he opened his mind to sense its intent, he could not understand what the Saber was saying.

Kalei had no choice but to seek help from Big Black. This Saber, which he had raised since it was a cub, had been able to communicate with him through mental resonance for a long time.

Big Black growled back at him in a low voice.

"Leave. It wants us to leave."

"Wants us to leave?" Kalei blinked and said, "Big Black, tell it that we can leave, but please ask it to answer a question. It concerns the safety of this forest."

Big Black pricked up its ears to listen to Kalei, then lowered its head and raised its voice, roaring several times at the Saber opposite them.

The opposing Saber grew angry. It bared its sharp fangs, let out a piercing growl, and scraped its front claws against the ground, preparing to attack.

However, the sight of the staff in Big Black and Kalei's hands ultimately made it abandon the thought.

It glanced at its mate and cub behind it, then turned and let out a few roars.

Big Black listened carefully and roared twice more at Kalei.

"Ask what you want, quickly."

Kalei was overjoyed. "Excellent. Ask it what has happened recently and why the animals in the forest are attacking the Night Elves."

Big Black relayed Kalei's question.

The Saber opposite gave a quick reply.

"It says it doesn't know what happened. It only knows that recently, a group of 'Night Elves' has been capturing animals in the forest on a massive scale, sparing neither adult beasts nor newborn cubs."

"Many animal dens have been destroyed. Everyone is attacking the Night Elves out of fear and rage."

Night Elves capturing animals on a massive scale, including cubs? How could that be?

"Ask it again: is it certain they are Night Elves? Could it be a mistake?"

Big Black relayed the question once more.

"It says it cannot be certain if those captors are true Night Elves."

"Three days ago, it came into contact with some of the captors. They wanted to take its cub. It fought them and severely wounded one, and it smelled the scent of demons on that captor."

Night Elves with the scent of demons? Could it be a Demon Hunter?

Kalei thought for a moment, then dismissed the idea. The only current Demon Hunter is Malfurion's brother, Illidan, and that unfortunate fellow should still be locked in the Warden's prison, unable to come out and cause trouble.

With Demon Hunters ruled out, there was only one possibility—those captors were Satyrs in disguise!

But where did these Satyrs come from? Could they have run over from the Fel Fire Valley or the Fel Fire Path?

He pondered this, then rejected the speculation.

He knew that these lackeys of the demons had lost unified leadership after being defeated by the Night Elves in the War of the Satyrs following the War of the Ancients. The remaining Satyrs had gradually formed their own tribes while hiding in various places. The ones causing trouble here in Zoram were likely Satyrs from another tribe.

But why would these Satyrs come into the forest to capture beasts? Where were they taking them, or rather, to whom were they delivering them?

Kalei's brow furrowed deeper. He mentally scanned the map of the area near Zoram, trying to find a logical explanation.

Suddenly, a place came to mind—a place known in the game as the Blackfathom Deeps.

Before the War of the Ancients, the Night Elf built an underwater temple near Zoram called Lashalazar, dedicated to the worship of the moon goddess Elune.

After the War of the Ancients, the Night Elf populace believed that this temple had sunk into the sea along with the fragmentation of the ancient continent of Kalimdor.

However, what they did not expect was that the temple had merely been buried within an underground water cavern rather than sinking to the ocean floor.

If the timeline of the real world remained unchanged, then as time passed following the opening of the Dark Portal, the cultists of the Twilight's Hammer serving the Old Gods and the Naga would occupy the temple, transforming it into an evil abyss.

These dark forces would worship a servant of an Old God within this evil abyss, attempting to summon the dark power of the Old God from this servant.

However, the information regarding Blackfathom Deeps in the game was primarily available only after the opening of the Dark Portal. So, what was the situation before the Dark Portal opened? Could it be that the Naga and Satyr were already active in this underground temple before it opened?

Kalei felt it was not impossible; perhaps the Naga and Satyr had already made this place their lair and summoned the servant of the Old God. Perhaps the animals and fish they were capturing in the forest and even the sea were intended as sacrifices to this servant of the Old God.

The more Kalei thought about it, the more he felt his speculation was likely true.

This also reminded him that the information in the game could only serve as a reference; to obtain the true information of this world, he had to conduct field investigations to make a judgment.

Having obtained what he wanted, Kalei did not disturb the family of three in the forest and returned to the small town with Big Black.

Kalei first went to the council residence to ask Shalan Windrunner about the Lashalazar temple. As he expected, the council only possessed information about this temple from before the War of the Ancients and knew nothing of its status after the war.

Kalei did not tell her his speculations about the Lashalazar temple for the time being; he needed to conduct a preliminary investigation of the underwater temple to see the general situation inside before making further plans.

He rested well in his dormitory during the day to recharge his energy. The next night, he rose from bed, ate breakfast, donned his equipment, mounted Big Black, and arrived at the Zoram coast alone.

The wind by the coast was colder than during the day, and the waves crashed against the reefs, making a "swishing" sound.

Kalei searched back and forth along the coastline for half an hour until he found a set of elven ruins not far from the shore.

Most of the structures in these ruins had collapsed, leaving only a few broken marble pillars standing in the water, appearing somewhat weathered under the moonlight.