The Alliance Expeditionary Force

Moonmark?Shadow Chaser (Watchers), Level 60, Intermediate Hero Template, 23750 Health. It's an old acquaintance, actually. Through the Magic Mirror of True Knowledge, Xiao Yu clearly saw the Lordaeron and its passengers.

Azathoth (Water Elemental Lord): "Spare the life of that elf, but leave the rest alive."

Sgelari (Hydra demigod): "Yes, my master."

The Moonmark?Shadow Chaser glanced around warily, feeling a strange sense of being watched. But she quickly dismissed the thought, because not far ahead, a gigantic monster, resembling a small island, had surfaced.

Almost instantly, Moonmark?Shadow Chaser realized he was outmatched. Good heavens, his opponent was a four-skull-level boss, while he was merely a mid-level hero—there was no comparison. Moreover, the adventurers on the ship were all old, weak, and disabled. So, upon seeing the enormous figure of Sgelari, Moonmark?Shadow Chaser immediately chose to flee. He Stealth to enter invisibility, then blinked away, disappearing into the distant sea, where he swam frantically.

As Moonmark?Shadow Chaser swam, he felt a surge of relief. Luckily, the hero skill he had upgraded was Shadowstep, which, after being upgraded, became a skill called [Blink]. Not only was the cooldown shorter and the teleportation distance longer, but it also didn't require a target to teleport to, becoming a skill similar to a mage's Blink. Otherwise, he really would have been dead this time.

Swimming over a thousand meters in one breath, Moonmark?Shadow Chaser turned around and glanced in the direction he had come from. The Alliance ship had been completely sunk, and the enormous hydra was rampaging among the adventurers, a one-sided massacre.

Looking at the vast ocean, Moonmark?Shadow Chaser did not despair. She had deeply learned a lesson from her past adventures: as long as you're alive, nothing else matters. So she collected all sorts of escape items and strange little gadgets. While she might not be the strongest in combat, when it came to survival and escape, few even star-level heroes could match her. She took out a magic scroll from her pack, used her Druid's Nature Shapeshifting to transform into a seal, and then swam towards the Lost Island.

Thank goodness they finally arrived. After struggling to climb onto the beach of the Lost Island, Moonmark?Shadow Chaser felt more exhausted than ever before. Her seal transformation could only last for half an hour, and she had to swim for more than ten minutes to get ashore. If it weren't for the fact that the hero template had stronger stamina, she might have actually drowned in the sea.

After cautiously observing her surroundings, Moonmark?Shadow Chaser immediately entered Stealth mode and crept towards the island. She soon spotted some patrolling Water Elemental. Since she hadn't yet gained enough the Immortals reputation, these Water Elemental were still dangerously red in her eyes, so Moonmark?Shadow Chaser didn't reveal herself until she arrived at a Water Elemental camp and saw a group of adventurers.

A Warrior exclaimed, "It's over! This is terrible! Our guild's hero is dead! We've suffered a huge loss!"

A mage said, "Our guild is in even worse shape. We lost two heroes and a star-level hero all at once. It's all over now."

A knight said, "Our guild also lost a hero, all because of that Angmar. He didn't even tell us he was attacked. I think he's definitely involved."

A Warlock said, "It's no use telling them. Even if we knew beforehand, we'd still die. That monster is so strong, we can't beat it at all."

A Priest, "Everyone, stop arguing. It's obvious. Angmar and the monsters must have conspired to trick us."

A Warrior said, "No way, I heard their hero died too."

Looking at the noisy, huddled group of adventurers, Moonmark?Shadow Chaser couldn't help but feel relieved. Luckily, he'd run fast. It seemed quite a few heroes had died this time, and these people wouldn't let it go easily. However, without any heroes present, even if they managed to defeat Azathoth, they wouldn't get the plot kill, unless—

A daring idea suddenly popped into Moonmark?Shadow Chaser's head: why not hide and wait until these people are besieging Azathoth, then suddenly appear and steal a kill? That way, both the reputation points and the artifact would be his. The more he thought about it, the more excited he became, Moonmark?Shadow Chaser secretly made up his mind.

Sure enough, after discussing for a while, the adventurers decided to continue with their original plan and besiege Azathoth. If they could get the artifact, their losses this time would be made up.

To the players' disappointment, after searching the entire island, they couldn't find the Water Elemental Lord, but they did encounter some adventurers from the Horde and even fought a few battles with them.

Already harboring resentment, the adventurers were further enraged by the fight. They immediately forgot about killing the Water Elemental Lord and stealing the artifact, and engaged in a fierce battle with the island's Horde players. With the addition of the original Alliance players, they gradually gained the upper hand.

In the end, the entire Lost Island became a battlefield, especially the Lost City, which, being the highest point and a landmark, became the main battleground between the Alliance and the Horde. Only the neutral cities of Yarvis City and Yartera City, controlled by Water Elemental and mermaids respectively, had not yet become battlefields.

The Moonmark?Shadow Chaser, having nothing better to do, secretly slaughtered several Horde. Amidst this frenzied atmosphere of battle, three days passed in the blink of an eye.

That morning, as usual, Alliance and Horde players logged in and prepared to start the battle, but an unexpected message prevented the fight from continuing.

On that very morning, the sails of warships suddenly appeared on the sea, and more than a dozen of them appeared at the same time. The two fleets, one from the Alliance and one from the Horde, arrived at the Lost Island and landed on the east and west sides of the island, respectively. Each fleet was led by a hero, who led the Alliance and Horde armies into the cities of Yarvis City and Yartera City.

The name of this Alliance army was none other than the Alliance Expedition.

Seeing the Alliance's battle flag and the army's name, the adventurers on the island cheered excitedly. Although there weren't many Alliance troops on the ship, adventurers were always the main force in fighting. The Alliance soldiers and heroes only needed to provide support from the sidelines. Their main role was to trigger plot events, and it was an unspoken rule that almost everyone knew: whenever a force bearing the words "Expeditionary Force" appeared, it meant that a major event was about to occur.