A New Squad

(Thanks to Yaowei for the 588 Qidian coins the day before yesterday!! Well, he's in the group, so I know him. He's definitely a lolicon... which makes me want to complain: the number one fan of this book I'm writing about mature beauties is actually a lolicon who spends all day lurking outside kindergartens taking sneaky photos!!!)

(Thanks to FateNight and Kulian Chaya Ji for their tips of 200 Qidian coins each yesterday!!)

Solarian brought surprising news.

It turned out that the higher-ups had assigned Kael'thas to a newly formed squad, and he was actually its captain!

A word about the organization: since Quel'Thalas was founded, the high elves' regular army had basically used a three-tier structure of squads, units, and legions. Squads usually had thirty to forty members. A unit consisted of several squads and generally had no more than two hundred people. The number of people in a legion was not fixed.

Kael'thas had thought he would be leading a squad of thirty, but unfortunately, after Alleria left and the members arrived one by one, he learned that his squad had only fifteen people in total. It couldn't even be considered a full squad!

Including their group, there was only one Warrior, Audilon; three mages, Kael'thas, Solarian, and a newly arrived male elf; five rangers; and six Priests!!

Just look at that makeup. It was practically a team of healers!!

What was more, only two people in the squad were intermediate professionals. One was Audilon, and the other was Solarian. The rest were all in the middle or late stages of the beginner level. One look at the team was enough for Kael'thas to conclude that they had definitely been assigned to play a minor role!

What else could it be? Why would the higher-ups send a team made up entirely of newcomers to the front lines to fight the Trolls head-on? Wouldn't that be using them as cannon fodder? Clearly, someone wanted to give Kael'thas a chance to develop his leadership skills, not send him into battle.

The other squad members seemed to understand this too. Kael'thas looked around and saw that, apart from the two who had pledged their loyalty, everyone's expressions had relaxed. They no longer seemed afraid.

"Hmph, why do I see a bunch of cowards?"

Solarian suddenly spoke in a cold voice. The girl seemed not to care in the least about earning others' dislike as she said hurtfully:

"Don't forget that no matter how protected we are, we're still going somewhere close to the front lines. It isn't a completely safe area, and it would be perfectly normal to run into Trolls."

"And you're already relaxing like this? Are you so eager to die!?"

"If you want to get yourselves killed, fine!"

She stepped forward. For some reason, she seemed to grow angrier as she spoke, and when her icy gaze swept over her teammates, they shuddered.

"Please don't drag His Highness and the teammates beside you down with you..."

Everyone froze at once. The astromancer's words were unpleasant to hear, but she was absolutely right. They looked at one another, their faces reddening as they suddenly felt ashamed.

"Solarian is right..."

For a moment, no one spoke. Seeing how gloomy things had become, Kael'thas smiled and quickly stepped in to smooth things over:

"But we haven't set out yet, so it's fine for you to relax a little now."

He glanced at Solarian, who tactfully nodded and said no more.

Only Audilon secretly gave Solarian a thumbs-up. Ever since Solarian acknowledged that he was more loyal-or so he believed-Audilon had thought very highly of the astromancer.

Of course, she sounded arrogant and unpleasant, but every high elf was proud by nature. Arrogance was an inborn failing they all shared, and their attitude toward other races might not be much better than hers. Audilon thought Solarian simply placed greater importance on her true nature.

An hour later, once everyone in the square had formed other teams and slowly begun heading toward the front lines, Kael'thas finally received orders from his superiors as well.

"Ding..."

"You have received the quest Forest Defense Line!"

He belonged to an ordinary unit, unlike those units in games that had names. His assignment had also been issued: the unit commander had ordered him to go into the mountains and forests below the Sunwell and scan for Trolls that had slipped past the front lines.

To the west of the Ghostlands lay an endless ocean, with Eversong Woods to the north. Its southern and eastern sides were surrounded by countless mountains, making it a fairly enclosed territory.

The Trolls' territory was tucked away beyond the mountains to the southeast, with their ancient capital, Zul'Aman, among the mountains. There was only one road out of it in the true sense, and the main battlefield between the high elves and the Trolls was the road leading to Zul'Aman.

For thousands of years, the high elves had kept the Trolls suppressed on that road, ensuring that they remained at a disadvantage.

But the cunning Trolls did not simply fight the high elves on the road. They also tended to send secret parties through the dense, difficult mountain forests on either side, circling around to attack the high elves' heartland.

The high elves' heartland was far more vulnerable than the front lines.

More than two hundred years ago, the Trolls had used this same tactic, secretly sending many rogue soldiers into the interior. They had inflicted tremendous damage on the high elves and nearly wiped out their forces at the front. That was why the high elves now also needed to send more people to scan the mountains and forests, determined to prevent enemy infiltration.

With Xiao Ao, the golden phoenix, leading the way in the sky, Kael'thas took the squad away from the Sanctum of the Sun and headed south.

His exact destination was a stretch of mountain forest slightly west of An'owyn, directly to the south. This area was quite far from the front lines. With countless high elf units also patrolling the forests farther ahead, it ought to be a very safe place.

Two hours later, the elves nimbly climbed the mountain. Thanks to the Hawkstriders' speed, Kael'thas successfully led the squad to the area they were assigned to defend.

Countless golden trees stood there, their dense foliage blocking most of the sunlight. Looking up, they could see that the mountain peaks here marked the boundary of Quel'Thalas. Magical light flowed through the blue barrier that seemed to enclose heaven and earth, making for a spectacular sight.

"Let's find somewhere with a water source and pitch our tents first!"

Kael'thas took a deep breath of the damp mountain air to clear his head, then gave the order to his squad.

They had come here on a mission and had no idea how many days it would be before they received orders to return. So the first thing they needed to do was find a suitable place to stay. It was almost noon, and if they didn't hurry, they would have nothing but bread for lunch. When circumstances allowed, high elves preferred an elegant way of life, and many did not want to make do with a simple meal of bread.

The squad members began searching the surrounding area, but unexpectedly, Xiao Ao was the first to find a place.

Kael'thas led the squad in Xiao Ao's footsteps to the shore of a lake ten meters across.

The lake was small, but although its water was clear, they couldn't see the bottom. They could only make out a great deal of slender aquatic grass in the water near the shore.

It looked very deep.

"It's small, but this place will do."

He surveyed the surrounding terrain. On one side, a patch of ground beneath the shade of the trees was very flat. The trees there were large, so the gaps between them were wide enough to pitch a few tents.

Kael'thas nodded to himself, very satisfied with the spot.

The other squad members naturally had no objection to his decision, so they immediately began making preparations.

Besides some combat supplies and rations, the command post at the Sanctum of the Sun had provided them with very convenient tents. They only had to place a special, inexpensive crystal on each one, and it would automatically unfold and take shape. Then the elves only needed to find a way to secure it to the ground.

It was already late, and they had to prepare the camp, lunch, and defenses.

So Kael'thas divided up the work.

He, Audilon, and two rangers would hunt for food. Liadrin would lead the five Priests in setting up the tents, while the male mage watched over the Priests just in case. The remaining three rangers would set traps nearby to defend against enemies, with Solarian directing where to place them.

This was only a temporary arrangement, not one they would keep from then on.

No one objected, so they split up and got to work.

Of course, a larger reason Kael'thas had made these arrangements was that he had just received a new quest: [Hunting].

Hunting: Kill five animals to use as ingredients for lunch.

One glance was enough to tell that this was a super-simple quest, meant entirely to provide experience points.

Kael'thas had therefore intended to go alone, but Audilon insisted on accompanying him, solemnly swearing to protect him.

It wouldn't affect the quest anyway, so Kael'thas had no choice but to take him along. The other two rangers went hunting separately.