Death Knights, Knights Who Died

The first-generation Death Knights Gul'dan had created currently had no particularly powerful abilities.

Though their bodies were incredibly tough, they lacked any decent melee skills.

They were much like the super tanks in a game that stood at the front taking hits while having almost no offensive power themselves.

Yet these super tanks achieved astonishing results in their very first battle!

The Dark Iron Dwarves rushed out of the gates as usual, ready to give the invading enemies a good fight.

But what greeted them was a dozen or so peculiar humans.

These strange-looking humans radiated a cold, sinister energy.

It could be felt clearly even from a considerable distance.

Unable to figure out what was going on, the Dark Iron Dwarves decided to teach these humans a lesson.

When they approached the humans, however, they discovered that they were not alive at all!

Their bloodless faces, slightly stiff movements, scarlet eyes, and the strong smell of preservatives all proved that they were a bunch of dead people.

The dead were walking!

Having never witnessed anything like this before, the Dark Iron Dwarves felt a chill seep into them from head to toe.

Huh? Where was this cold coming from in a place this hot?

Could it just be their imagination?

By the time they realized something was wrong, their bodies had already been frozen numb.

The special chill of death froze the Dark Iron Dwarves to the bone despite the scorching surroundings.

They could only watch helplessly as the dead approached, then swung clubs down onto their foreheads.

The dead could exert tremendous strength.

A single blow smashed open the Dark Iron Dwarves' tough skulls.

Watching the battle from afar, Gul'dan shook his head helplessly when he saw the Death Knights using the Magic Wands he had prepared for them as clubs.

According to his professional understanding, these Death Knights should have been able to cast a Warlock's dark magic through those special Magic Wands.

Even if they could not cast every dark spell, a few commonly used ones should have been no problem.

Instead, they used the Magic Wands as clubs to smash their enemies' heads.

While Gul'dan complained about his creations, the Death Knights were complaining about their stingy boss.

If you're sending us into battle, at least give us an axe!

Give us a stick we don't know how to use, and all we can do is bash enemies with it.

After killing the first wave of enemies, they picked up the weapons on the ground and continued their assault.

The axes and warhammers dropped by the Dark Iron Dwarves felt much more natural in their hands.

Relying on their tough bodies, their Death Frost Aura, and the living's fear of the dead, these Death Knights drove the Dark Iron Dwarves back steadily.

With only a dozen or so Death Knights committed to the battle, this tough nut had been cracked.

The Blackrock Orcs followed far behind the Death Knights, occupying the territory these monsters captured.

Though the undead monsters were allies, the Blackrock Orcs had nothing but contempt for them.

In Orc tradition, even speaking with the dead required great care and adherence to many rules.

Using necromancy to control corpses was an utterly unforgivable act!

Who would feel grateful toward a bunch of lunatics who desecrated corpses?

If these dead things had not still been useful, they would have been torn to pieces and thrown into the lava pools long ago.

The Dark Iron Dwarves were terrified by the appearance of the dead, but the Orcs had plenty of ways to deal with them.

Intimidated by the dead, the Dark Iron Dwarves eventually lost control of the Blackrock Spire Surface.

They were sealed off in the Lower Area.

All they could do was watch helplessly as the Orcs passed overhead.

Having cleared a path through Blackrock Spire, the Death Knights did not linger.

They left Blackrock Spire without delay and headed for the next area.

The dead never tired. They could work twenty-four hours a day, every day of the year.

Orgrim, however, did not have them attack again.

If these secret weapons were used too often, they would lose their decisive strategic value.

Far away at the other end of the continent, Herad thought nothing of the secret weapons Orgrim prized so highly.

They were merely a bunch of crudely cobbled-together constructs.

Gul'dan was a complete hack with no proper training.

At best, they were Warlocks with powerful melee capabilities.

Only the Death Knights later developed by the Lich King were war machines that excelled at both offense and defense.

Against first-generation Paladins, first-generation Death Knights stood no chance whatsoever.

A first-generation Paladin could casually cast a dispelling divine spell and knock a first-generation Death Knight's soul right out of its body.

A fierce clash between the Holy Light and the power of death would have to wait another dozen years or so.

Even against conventional weapons, first-generation Death Knights were not invincible.

One example was the Enhanced Arcane War Machine Herad had prepared for the expeditionary force.

To achieve greater armor-piercing power, Herad had mounted a 120mm Smoothbore Cannon on it.

Such a large weapon was usually carried on a tank or truck chassis.

But the Arcane War Machine could also fire shells normally while stationary.

With the tips of its six Mechanical Legs driven into the ground, it remained rock-steady as it fired.

Alleria patted the new Arcane War Machine's cannon barrel, as thick as the mouth of a bowl, somewhat puzzled by Herad's development of this new weapon.

"Isn't this cannon a little too powerful? Will there be any suitable targets for it on the battlefield?"

In her view, a rapid-firing autocannon was enough to handle any threat.

With the advantage of foreknowledge, however, Herad knew what kinds of enemies would appear on the battlefield.

"Don't worry about that. There'll definitely be a chance to use it. When the time comes, just hit them hard and blow them to pieces."

"Them?"

In the High Elf Language, the word for "them" had two pronunciations, one for inanimate things and one for living beings.

Herad had used the one for living beings.

That only deepened Alleria's confusion.

"That's right, them. Only they are worth shooting with this cannon."

Herad's explanation was hardly an explanation at all.

But he could not be too explicit about this.

He could hardly tell Alleria not to hold back when she saw red lizards flying overhead, and to blast them to pieces.

Listening to Herad's cryptic explanation, Alleria gave him a speechless glare.

"Big sister, there's no need to worry about what the enemy is right now. You'll know once the fighting starts."

Alleria knew perfectly well that Herad was right.

But his mysterious refusal to explain himself was infuriating!

Still, she had no way to counter his habit of telling her only half the story and leaving the rest a riddle.

Alleria's beautiful eyes swept over the surroundings, and she suddenly spotted an Arcane Scavenger, its purple so dark it was nearly black, striding brazenly past outside the harbor.

The Arcane Scavenger's entire body was cast from mithril, making it extraordinarily expensive.

Its raw materials cost more than fifty thousand gold coins.

Once the manufacturing costs and the vast amount of magical energy collected over the years were included, the Arcane Scavenger was certainly worth more than a hundred thousand gold coins.

Precisely because she knew how valuable the Arcane Scavenger was, Alleria deliberately made an unreasonable request.

"Little brother, let me take one of these with me."

Looking at the Arcane Scavenger she had singled out, Herad wrestled with himself before finally gritting his teeth and agreeing to Alleria's request.

"Then take it! Be sparing with it, though. You won't be able to replenish its magical energy out there."

Herad's agreement to lend her the Arcane Scavenger left Alleria a little bewildered.

She had assumed that, since replenishing an Arcane Scavenger's magical energy was difficult, Herad would surely keep it tucked away and refuse to use it.

But if he kept it tucked away instead of taking it onto the battlefield, how was that any different from not having such equipment at all?

Testing the weapon's effectiveness on the battlefield was absolutely necessary.