Shadow Trails in Azeroth

Twilight forest, quiet garden cemetery.

Before darkness invaded this land, this was where the townspeople buried their dead. It was in a mountain col, surrounded by woods, and was very peaceful.

But after dark magic invades from Deadwind Pass, it becomes a dangerous place. Among the refugees in the forest, there are terrible rumors of "resurrected corpses" here.

But tonight, the legendary walking skeletons and corpses did not crawl out of the graves to scare people, because this place has been occupied by another kind of deep darkness.

Across a damaged chapel, the Templar Assassins were confronting the author of the Light and Shadow Doctrine.

A black magic curtain blocked the area between the two parties, like a wall that was not thick.

The color of the magic power is not right, it is purple-black.

It was like a floating dark veil, and in the shadows, one could vaguely see the figure in the abandoned church, with his back to the two of them, half-kneeling in front of the collapsed icon.

The verification conditions proposed by Black are idealistic.

He wants Natalie Serling, the former Archbishop of the Kingdom of Storm, who is hiding here, to release a Holy Light spell on him to determine whether she has fallen into darkness.

At first glance, this sounds like an unreliable game.

But just now, when the crazy priests who had gone too far in the dark were executed in the ruins of Night Town, this method had proven to be very effective.

"You profess a dangerous and fascinating doctrine, claiming to walk in light and shadow, not to be blinded by the holy light, nor to refuse the blessing of the shadow.

I think this is a cool thing.

The premise is that what you do must be consistent with what you claim. "

In the cold and ominous cemetery, the pirate held the hand of death and said to Natalie on the other side of the dark magic in front of him:

"Old man Fa'ao once said to me that darkness is a temptation, and I agree with this very much.

Madam Archbishop, if you, like your followers who have been seduced into madness, have completely embraced the morbid void, then what we are here to ‘save’ today is not just your soul. "

His words triggered laughter from Bishop Natalie who seemed to be praying in the chapel.

It seemed like he heard some funny joke.

“In the past two years”

She responded in that hoarse voice, like a thirsty person speaking:

“I roamed the familiar land, fighting against the orcs in every ruin I had blessed with the holy light, and I drove those alien invaders out of this land.

Westfall, Elwynn Forest, Redridge Mountains, and this land shrouded in darkness.

I am like a ghost crawling out of hell, holding the fire of vengeance. Wherever I go, no matter how violent the enemy is, they can only drown helplessly in their own fear.

There wasn't a day that went by when those heretics didn't want to kill me, but so many orcs swore an oath and none of them could do it.

young people.

You are simply claiming a trial that you cannot do.

Let's go back.

Convey my last words to Fao and tell my kind mentor that I have gone too far in the darkness and no one can save my soul. "

This blunt answer made Nathanos raise his eyebrows. He glanced at Blake and drew back the bow in his hand, obviously ready to attack.

A keen ranger like him could still clearly feel Natalie's weakness despite her efforts to cover it up, despite being separated by a magic curtain.

But the pain in her voice suggested she was probably bluffing.

According to Ghani Sr., her followers did not rebel just tonight.

In the past few days, those crazy people have been trying to kill Natalie Serling and take the Shadow Relic from her hands. The Archbishop must have been injured.

She is not hiding in this place.

She escaped.

The pirate raised his finger and waved it to the ranger beside him, signaling him not to start a fight first.

Blake looked around at the abandoned and weird cemetery.

The soil of many tombs in this cemetery has traces of renovation. With his senses, he can also feel the "restless" dead in the rotting coffins under the soil.

Those decayed bodies whose souls have been taken away by death are infused with something more evil by the power of darkness. They should be roaming around in the night and attacking life.

But now, they are very "fearful" and hide in their tombs and dare not come out.

The dead are not afraid.

There is only another, more dangerous force suppressing them

"It's about to get out of control, isn't it? Natalie Serling."

Blake squatted down, grabbed a handful of soil from the tomb, put it in his hand to examine, then let go of his hand, letting the soil fall to the ground. He leaned on his scythe and took a look at the abandoned chapel.

explain:

"Stop pretending to be mysterious, Archbishop, you don't know in front of whom you are performing a poor drama.

It no longer responds to your call.

You can no longer hear the blurry sounds that sound both when you are awake and when you are asleep. Xal'atath, the old monster, is tired of you.

It's tired of playing.

Just like what it has been doing for countless millennia. Your body and soul can no longer arouse its interest, and it will abandon you.

No, judging from the situation where the followers of the Forgotten Shadow Church you created are out of control, it has abandoned you.

This time, it did not choose to leave without saying goodbye.

It only uses a few words to easily start an internal fight, and it wants to complete another curtain call with the weapons of the rebels piercing your body with their own hands and the flow of blood filled with regret.

In the blood left by the arrogant life that calls itself the 'master', he once again returns to the darkness of history. "

The pirate chuckled.

He walked towards the ruined church in front of him without any fear, but something looked wrong.

"do not come!"

Natalie's voice became sharper and she threatened:

"Since you know Xal'atath's name, you should know how dangerous it can be when it's angry. You are doing something that will hurt you. Go back, young man!

This is the final warning! "

"If you can still use it to release a shadow spell, then I would rather die generously."

Blake's words were full of sarcasm.

He stood in front of the purple-black magic curtain that was endlessly flowing, extremely ominous, and seemed to be full of poison. Under Nathanos's stunned gaze, the pirate raised his finger and poked it lightly.

"puff"

Amidst the sound that sounded like a deflating balloon, the magical barrier in front of him, which looked unclear and scary, was easily cut open by Blake with his fingers.

Much like black mud smeared on the walls.

As long as you can overcome your mysophobia, it won't threaten you at all.

Seeing that his trick was exposed, Archbishop Natalie Serling, who was wearing black robes, stood up suddenly in this abandoned and ugly chapel.

She turned around, covering the horrific wound that almost penetrated her waist and abdomen with her left hand, and holding a weird weapon with her right hand.

Let’s not talk about the evil aura of the weapon.

As for the archbishop herself, she is a bit younger than the pirates imagined.

The hood of the hood was cut open by a sharp blade, revealing the slender archbishop's black hair and his young face, which was not beautiful, but not ugly either.

Her cheeks were very pale and her lips were ashen.

It was a sign of excessive blood loss, and there was also a sense of confusion in the black eyes, and the panic when the secret of weakness was discovered.

Probably due to long-term exposure to shadows and listening to the void, this woman has a gloomy temperament wrapped around her body.

At first glance, it makes people feel uncomfortable, like the evil witch in fairy tales.

The pirate looked past Natalie Serling's body to the collapsed icon behind her. In front of the Holy Light Church logo, there was a pool of solidified blood.

Apparently, before their arrival, the archbishop was engaged in some harm to himself.

"It seems that this is the cemetery you chose for yourself. The taste is really not very good. If I were to choose a cemetery for myself, I would choose a beautiful ship."

The pirate pointed at his feet, and in a voice that could see through people's thoughts, he said to the trembling archbishop in front of him:

"Did you predict that you would not be able to escape disaster today, so you wanted to send your soul into the void to avoid eternal death after the body was damaged?

Do you know the risks of doing this?

Xal'atath taught you this magic, right? Don’t you doubt that it has an ulterior motive for letting you send your soul into the void?

Now that it has completely abandoned you and is inciting rebellion to bury you completely, do you think it is appropriate to do things the way it teaches you?

Use your little brain to think about it. "

Natalie didn't answer.

She looked at the pirate in front of her who was carrying an ominous scythe, as well as Nathanos who was aiming arrows at her from outside, as well as the ferocious beasts looming in the surrounding shadows.

She tried hard to maintain her posture, not wanting the people in front of her to see her wavering and weakness.

"give it to me!"

The pirate shook his head, stretched out his hand towards Natalie, and said:

"Give me that dangerous dagger. Don't listen to what weird words it says to you. Look at what you look like now. You're not human, you're not a ghost.

Hasn't it hurt you badly enough?

Give it to me and don't ask for trouble.

Although my companions and I are as handsome as angels, believe me, we are not as kind as those legendary creatures. "

This bad guy is still in the mood to joke.

Natalie would be hesitant.

Her plan was shattered by Blake, and the suspicion that existed in her heart surged again. She glanced at the solidified blood behind her and the dark shadow beating under the blood.

He took another look at the Shadow Sacred Artifact in his hand, which no longer responded to him.

She held the thing in her hand and took a step back.

She pursed her lips and said in a voice mixed with regret and pain:

"I have gone too far. When Xal'atath no longer whispered to me, I woke up from that dark dream. When I looked back, I could no longer see the light that guided my soul.

Me, I did something terrible.

Not that it tempted me to do it.

It just showed me what was possible and that I made the choice.

I told myself countless times that those were the enemies.

But what I did still exceeded the taboos of morality and etiquette. It was an evil act that cannot be described as crazy. I had turned myself into a monster. "

As Natalie spoke, Blake quietly wiggled his fingers behind him.

"Whoosh"

The string of the battle bow in Nathanos' hand buzzed, and the flying arrows pierced into the church, causing Natalie to raise her head suddenly and try to hold up a shield.

The arrow was just a distracting bait. At the same moment, the pirate's figure disappeared from the spot, appeared behind Natalie with a shadow step, clasped her right wrist, and twisted it hard.

In severe pain, the evil object in the archbishop's hand was knocked out, jumped on the ground a few times, and fell into the shadow of the corner.

As for Natalie, who was spinning around, Blake threw her over her shoulder and hit her hard on the dusty ground of the damaged church.

She is too weak.

She was stabbed viciously in the back by one of her own people, almost costing her most of her life, and now she was treated so roughly by the pirates that the remaining half of her life was almost thrown out of her body.

In pain, she raised her head and saw the pirate pressing on top of her, with a snake-shaped black dagger in his hand, and the entwining shadow between her eyes.

"You don't have to confess to me. I'm not a priest who saves souls, and I'm not in the mood to listen to you talk about your twisted mental journey, Archbishop."

The pirate stared at her with his right eye and said word by word:

"It's the Holy Light's job to forgive you. My only duty when I was invited here is to send you to see the Holy Light, or to take you back to see Fao."

"Now, ma'am. Cast a Holy Light spell and heal yourself."

"Be serious, this is your last chance to defend yourself."