(Thanks to Duan Nian for the 100-coin reward! And to Xu Yu for the 100-coin reward!)
The whole group assembled early the next morning.
Gavinrad stood before everyone, held a rallying ceremony, and then began issuing orders.
Grand Knight Sage, the Messenger of Truth, was responsible for guarding the Andorhal Bridge. High Priest Meldor and a High-Ranking Paladin were responsible for leading a small group of Paladin and soldiers to guard the outposts. Meanwhile, Gavinrad personally led 50 Paladin and 500 elite soldiers to purify the Undead of Sorrow Hill and capture the Andorhal East Bridge.
Jiang Jie was among them.
Sorrow Hill is located east of Chillwind Camp and is very large, roughly the size of the entire Andorhal.
There are no towns or townships in this area, only a few small villages and farms. There weren't many wandering Undead to begin with, and after such a long period of cleansing, there are hardly any left now, so purification won't be difficult.
Gavinrad ordered everyone to split into several small teams, ensuring each team had Paladin, Priest, rogue, mage, and Warrior, and carried sufficient holy water, spreading out to thoroughly clear the Undead. This kind of battle was not challenging; with Jiang Jie's strength, unless he encountered a large number of elite Ghoul, Abomination, or necromancer-level Undead, numbers were meaningless to him.
Therefore, Jiang Jie did not participate in the team's cleanup work, but instead went directly to the Andorhal East Bridge with Gavinrad.
This was a fierce battle, as more than one necromancer had appeared in Andorhal, gathering a large number of Undead in the Andorhal, including at least two Undead near the East Bridge.
However, the Order of the Silver Hand deployed a larger force, and also Gavinrad Doom, a powerful Grand Knight.
It was here that Jiang Jie first witnessed the true strength of a veteran Grand Knight.
That's really strong!
He swung his warhammer, Holy Light gathering on the purple epic-grade warhammer and then pouring into his entire body, granting him immense power. With a single blow, he smashed the head of Abomination to pieces!
There is no information indicating that this Grand Knight favors Holy, Retribution, or Defense; it is more likely that he is a combination of all three.
In the original history, Gavinrad built the first line of defense in Andorhal to resist Arthas, who had become Death Knight, before being easily defeated and killed by Arthas.
However, this is not because Gavinrad is weak, but because Arthas is too strong, Frostmourne is too strong!
Even Uther the Lightbringer, who had already reached the Legendary level, died by Arthas's sword; he was certainly no match for Arthas.
Now, he wasn't facing the Legendary Death Knight Arthas, but ordinary Undead. So what if they outnumbered him?
Like Paladin and Monk, Druid are the most versatile of all classes, capable of attacking, tanking, and healing. A Grand Knight, when giving it their all, is not only incredibly powerful in combat, but also possesses terrifying stamina, enough to make any woman blush and every man envious.
In fact, Highlord Mograine, wielding Ashbringer, could easily slaughter thousands of Undead single-handedly. While Gavinrad at this time was not as powerful as the later Highlord Mograine, his demonstrated strength would likely have been sufficient to handle hundreds or even thousands of Undead simultaneously.
After all, the Undead now are not the Undead of a few years from now; they haven't been strengthened by a large number of necromancers, Death Knight, or Lich, and are very fragile.
According to the scanning analysis from the game pod, Gavinrad's direct combat strength should already be equivalent to a martial artist at the Xiantian Realm. Jiang Jie is still far inferior to him.
Taking Dongdae Bridge is not difficult; the difficulty lies in how to defend it.
Andorhal is now teeming with tens of thousands of Undead. The Cult of the Damned seems intent on summoning all the Undead from the Western Plaguelands to Andorhal, awakening the corpses buried in various cemeteries. Therefore, every day, thousands, even tens of thousands, of Undead there.
They gathered in Andorhal from all directions. If so many Undead, under the control of necromancers, were to storm the bridge, it would indeed be difficult to resist; Grand Knight would be necessary to guard it.
The original plan was for Gavinrad to be in charge of the garrison.
But after witnessing Jiang Jie's demonstrated strength, Gavinrad decided to send Jiang Jie and a High-Ranking Paladin to lead 300 soldiers in defense. This would free him up to return and guard Chillwind Camp, as well as the narrow, winding mountain road between the Western Plaguelands and the Alterac Mountains.
Alterac and Hillsbrad Foothills must not be allowed to be infiltrated by the Scourge Plague. They are the only safe haven in Lordaeron right now, and the lifeline for the future of hundreds of thousands of refugees!
With a heavy responsibility on his shoulders, Jiang Jie felt immense pressure.
It was easy to build simple defenses on a bridge: a few horse-drawn carriages and a pile of felled trees, and one man could hold off ten thousand. Although the Andorhal River wasn't very swift, it was wide, at least fifty meters wide, making it unrealistic for the Undead to wade across. From that moment on, the area south of the Andorhal River was safe.
The only place to be wary of is Scholomance, located on the Caer Darrow Island in the center of Lake Darrowmere to the east.
That place is the training base of the Cult of the Damned and the birthplace of the Undead on the Lordaeron. There are at least several thousand, or even tens of thousands, of Undead on the island. Moreover, Scholomance contains a large number of elite Undead, as well as several master-level experts such as the Undead Archmage Darkmaster Gandling, the Lich Ras Frostwhisper, and the illusion master Jandice Barov.
One Caer Darrow Island is more difficult to deal with than the entire Andorhal!
The reason why Grand Knight Gavinrad personally oversees Chillwind Camp is to monitor and be vigilant on Caer Darrow Island, and to keep an eye on the evil entities hidden within Scholomance!
For Jiang Jie, guarding the East Bridge was an extremely tiring task.
Because there are necromancers hidden deep in Andorhal who manipulate the Undead to attack the East Bridge every day, Jiang Jie has to participate in several battles every day, sometimes even more than ten!
The benefit is that Jiang Jie's Taijiquan experience points are increasing rapidly, and he is now very proficient. According to Xiao Feng's assessment, he is about to reach the "slightly proficient" level, perhaps within the next two days.
It's not impossible to infiltrate Andorhal and kill those psychics; Jiang Jie has tried several times, but with little success, and it's very difficult.
Andorhal is not Felstone Field. The density of the Undead here is terrifying. There is an Undead every two steps, and the quality of the Undead is also very high. Many of them are resurrected soldiers or even professionals. There are also a large number of Ghoul and Abomination, as well as enslaved ghosts and spirits. You can be discovered if you are not careful.
It took Jiang Jie three days to kill five spirit mediums!
However, Jiang Jie discovered a discrepancy with historical records:
Araj the Summoner has appeared!