Hearthglen Tragedy, the Undead Plague

After an entire day of travel, the outline of Hearthglen emerged beneath the gloomy twilight.

Arthas, Rod, Jaina, and the others finally arrived at Hearthglen with an elite force of a hundred men.

"Wonderful, we've finally reached Hearthglen. We can get some proper rest now." Jaina wore a relaxed expression.

This mission had kept her tense the entire time. Battle after battle, camping in the wilderness, and she had not even had a single bath. She wanted nothing more than to enter Hearthglen and rest properly.

A mysterious smile appeared at the corner of Rod's mouth. You won't be getting any rest, female mage.

Sharp-eyed Arthas immediately noticed that something was wrong. A sergeant was drilling the militia, while some of the nearby residents looked terrified, their faces sallow and sickly.

"They seem to be training. Did something happen here?" Arthas asked with a frown as he approached the entrance.

When the guard officer in the distance saw Arthas, he immediately ran over as though he had seen a savior and gave the prince a military salute.

"Thank the Light, Your Highness. You've finally arrived."

"Soldier, report to me. What happened here?" Arthas asked with a frown.

"Your Highness, a group of undead suddenly attacked here last night, and the nearby villages were also assaulted.

"With no other choice, we could only move some of the villagers into Hearthglen for refuge.

"Then we selected some young, able-bodied men and trained them as militia, preparing to resist the undead army that will soon arrive," the sergeant reported on the situation.

Arthas's expression darkened at those words. It seemed the Cult of the Damned had bigger plans. That Kel'Thuzad was merely a pawn; the Dreadlord Mal'Ganis he had mentioned was the true culprit.

"Jaina, Hearthglen's defenders won't last long. I need reinforcements! I need the strength of the Knights of the Silver Hand!

"Go and bring Uther here at once! Tell him Hearthglen is in grave danger," Arthas said, turning to the female mage.

Only Jaina could use teleportation magic to quickly reach Uther and bring him here for support.

Jaina immediately realized the severity of the situation. "I understand! Hold on, Arthas! Lord Rod, I'm leaving the prince to you!"

Rod nodded at Jaina.

With a wave of her staff, arcane radiance enveloped the female mage. Then Jaina vanished. Her teleportation magic had reached a masterful level.

Seeing the female mage's teleportation spell, Rod felt deeply envious. Its effect was comparable to the fourth-tier spell Space-Time Gate—she could go wherever she wanted.

In the level sixty era of the game, there were two female characters not to be trifled with. One was the Lady of Undercity. Back then, she did not yet have her Blood Elf appearance and still used a modified Night Elf model.

The other troublesome female character was Jaina. When Horde players went to raid Theramore, one of Jaina's random teleports could sometimes send the tank straight to who knew where.

And what happened when there was no tank left? Naturally, it was a full party wipe!

After the female mage left, Arthas immediately led his troops into Hearthglen.

"I need you to immediately establish defensive works around the area. Lord Rod, I need your help defending this place," Arthas said as he turned to Rod.

In the previous battles, Rod had displayed extremely high magical attainments. With Mr. Rod helping defend, they could inflict great damage upon the undead army.

"No problem, Your Highness. However, you'd best have Bilugu prepare a large quantity of mana potions for me," Rod said.

Only one day had passed since the battle ended, and Rod had recovered only a little mana. Of the mana recovery potions Jaina had given him, only three remained—just enough to refill his thirty mana points once.

"I understand. I'll immediately send people into Hearthglen to bring over every mana recovery potion they can find," Arthas said with a nod.

To be honest, it was the first time he had seen a mage so lacking in mana. Still, it was understandable. Every spell Rod used possessed astonishing power.

Arthas gave the order, and before long, the guards gathered every mana recovery potion in Hearthglen for Rod, regardless of quality.

Arthas inspected the barracks. When he reached a section of warehouses, he suddenly stopped, his brows knitting together.

The grain stored before him looked extremely familiar. It was the contaminated grain he had seen in Andorhal.

"Damn it! Guards! Tell me, what is this?" Arthas roared.

"Your Highness, this is grain transported from Andorhal. There's no need to worry; we've already distributed all of it to the townspeople," the officer in charge of supplies immediately said.

The moment those words left his mouth, Arthas's expression changed drastically.

"No!" He suddenly realized it was already too late. Once they had eaten this contaminated grain, there was no cure.

At that moment, the citizens with sallow faces and terrible conditions suddenly mutated. Like zombies from Resident Evil, they abruptly went berserk and charged at the nearby soldiers.

Countless residents who had come to Hearthglen seeking refuge mutated in an instant, transforming into terrifying undead creatures before launching indiscriminate attacks against the living around them.

"Ugh... Aaaah—!" Miserable screams rang out. Many ordinary villagers who had failed to dodge in time were attacked and infected with the undead plague.

Rod raised his hand and fired a Frostbolt, instantly destroying an undead creature.

Many soldiers stood frozen in confusion. Quite a few of those who had mutated were their relatives—their fathers, mothers, wives, lovers, friends, even their daughters and sons.

"Warriors of Lordaeron, show no mercy! They are no longer the family we knew. Destroy them! They are now evil undead!" Arthas gave the order to purge them in anguish.

Forgive me! My people, I should have protected you!

Damn Scourge, damn Cult of the Damned! I will wipe you out completely! I will eradicate every last one of you!

"Attack! Warriors, destroy these undead!"

The more than one hundred elite Lordaeron soldiers who had accompanied them became the main force in this undead purge. It took everyone several hours to completely eliminate the more than one thousand villagers who had mutated into undead.

Throughout this, Rod did not use Hero Magic. Instead, he cast Frostbolt after Frostbolt to destroy the undead creatures.

The destruction of more than a thousand undead granted Rod experience.

A glorious victory! You have gained 732 experience points. Your level has increased.