The soldiers on the outer perimeter watched as the plague rats surged toward them. Some braced themselves, raising their swords and shields, while others panicked and tried to run. Ordinary blades were almost useless against these small creatures. The plague rats easily overwhelmed the outermost soldiers, swarming over them, covering them with their filthy, bloodthirsty bodies. They tore and gnawed at the weak points in the armor, devouring the fresh flesh beneath. The horrific screams of the attacked soldiers shattered the remaining resistance. Only the paladins, bathed in holy light, could withstand the onslaught for a little longer, but not for long.
These brave soldiers had mostly faced far more powerful enemies, but their training had not prepared them for hordes of small, crazed rats. Even the commanders lacked the experience to deal with such an attack.
The vast majority of the plague rats easily breached the human defense line, which they had believed to be impenetrable, and continued their headlong rush forward. Their sharp fangs and claws were ready to tear into any living thing they encountered—such as the dense crowd of humans in the square waiting to be blessed.
Just then, Archbishop Alonsus Faol stepped forward. For the first time, the old man showed a hint of anger. He raised his staff high, slammed it into the ground with all his might, and shouted, "Evil, begone!"
Rings of pale golden ripples expanded outward from him. The humans they passed through felt as if they were soaking in a hot spring, but to the plague rats, it was more terrifying than strong acid. From afar, Aiden saw the plague rats and the various beetles mixed among them melt away in the holy light, completely purified, leaving not even dust behind.
After Archbishop Faol acted, Archmage Antonidas unleashed his prepared spell. In the areas where the outermost plague rats had appeared, the powerful mage summoned several constantly exploding ice blossoms. It was as if countless mages were continuously casting Frost Nova, the exploding ice blossoms completely freezing the subsequent plague rats into lethal ice shards.
Aiden was not idle either. He used the power granted to him by the Mark of Cenarius to summon a whirlwind. He sacrificed the spell's destructive power to greatly increase its range. Normally, the storm contained within such a spell wouldn't even be able to blow away a newborn infant, but when facing small creatures like plague rats and beetles, it was powerful enough. The hurricane roared around the survivors, forming an insurmountable barrier, even if some of the plague rats escaped the archbishop's holy light, they would be swept into the sky by the strong winds.
The crowd, which had been terrified by the appearance of the plague rats, realized that these terrifying little things had been stopped outside the crowd and that they were still safe. The panic finally ceased to spread. The syllables of the divine words chanted by the three angels on the central platform remained steady, which also greatly calmed the survivors' emotions.
After more mages and paladins joined the battle, the sudden chaos was finally brought to an end. The outermost soldiers had suffered severe bites, and some were left with almost nothing but bones inside their tattered armor. The number of casualties made the anger in Uther's blue eyes almost burst forth: more than a hundred soldiers had died directly, and more than twice that number were injured. And every injured person could potentially turn into a ghoul, because these plague rats carried such a visible cloud of pestilence.
Such casualties tarnished the sacred ritual of blessing.
Dathrohan almost crushed his teeth and roared, "That traitor, it must be that traitor who leaked the information again!"
Uther frowned. "We need to speed up the investigation, otherwise all our actions will be exposed to the Cult of the Damned. This is too disadvantageous for us."
"Once I catch this person, I will definitely let him taste the fire of justice!"
"Be rational, Dathrohan, or anger will cloud your judgment." Archbishop Faol gently tapped the raging Dathrohan with his staff. If he hadn't stepped forward in the critical moment, the number of casualties might have doubled. This respected spokesman of the Holy Light demonstrated his awe-inspiring strength in front of the people.
Dathrohan said shamefully, "I understand, teacher!"
Uther saw that the archbishop seemed even weaker and said with concern, "Your body…"
"It's nothing, don't worry about me. Go do what you need to do!"
The archbishop was clearly very weak, but he seemed unusually excited. Uther didn't dare to guess what this meant. He forced himself not to think the worst. Then he personally took charge, arranging for the army to escort this group of blessed people to the main gate. The long-closed gate reopened. Most of the people leaving the city would have to start their lives anew, but nothing was more precious than being alive. After so many days of fear and worry, they could finally rest.
Uther had already notified the Chapel of Holy Light and the nearby watchtowers that they would send people to escort these refugees to Tyr's Hand, where the defenses were tight and the walls were strong, and the refugees would be well protected.
Clearly, the blessing ceremony could not continue today, because there were still defensive loopholes around the square. Today's plague rat attack was a point that had not been considered. If it hadn't been for the timely rescue of the archbishop, the archmage, and Aiden, I am afraid that most of the refugees gathered in the square would have become infected—that would have been truly terrible.
After Uther left, Prince Arthas and the Night Hunter Vayne actually returned together. Aiden was a little confused: How did they run into each other?
Arthas came up, looking radiant. He said to Aiden, "Lord Aiden, your subordinate, Ms. Vayne, is really amazing—thanks to her help, we obtained some good results from underground."
Then, in the prince's explanation, Aiden learned that Arthas had once again participated in the operation to encircle and suppress the Cult of the Damned. At first, he and his guards seemed to be led by the nose, and there were almost no decent gains. As he chased a few people who looked like members of the Cult of the Damned, an unexpected figure appeared and blocked the fleeing evil cultists from the other side. After Arthas led people to surround them, this group of evil beings, composed of two Cult of the Damned warlocks and a team of ghouls, had been killed or wounded by nearly half by a woman holding a crossbow.
Then the prince joined forces with her to solve the remaining part.
Arthas naturally knew about this new female hero under Aiden, so he proposed cooperation. Then Vayne let the prince truly see what a Night Hunter was: in just two short hours, they had strangled hundreds of Scourge members, including more than a dozen Cult of the Damned cultists. This was more than his total record in the past few days, which made him have to admire Vayne's strength.
Because Vayne could always accurately capture the gathering of the heretics, the prince willingly became a thug, and then, at the same time as the plague rat riot, they gained the biggest harvest of the day: Vayne found a group of gathered heretics. They prepared a large amount of plague venom and summoned almost all the dirty creatures in the sewers, using spells to make them work for them, carrying terrible plagues to attack the survivors gathered on the ground waiting to be blessed.
Fortunately, most of the rats had been sent out at that time, otherwise the prince's guards and Vayne would not have been able to deal with the tidal wave of rats. After a burst of fighting, they captured two prisoners and obtained the plague venom that the laboratory desperately needed, a full barrel!
Aiden did not hesitate to praise this. He knew that the prince was a person who was very eager for others to agree with him: "Your Highness, you have really solved the urgent need!"
Arthas tried his best to maintain his composure, but such a harvest was indeed a great achievement. Although his identity had already destined him not to need to make contributions, he still longed for the recognition and praise of others, which would make him fully feel that he was fully capable of being a good prince and would also be able to become a good king who was no less than his father in the future.
After some polite remarks, Prince Arthas seemed a little reluctant to leave before Aiden left with Vayne: "Lady Vayne, I look forward to our next cooperation!"
Vayne nodded to Arthas without saying anything. She was originally a woman who was not good at dealing with people, and such a reaction was within Aiden's expectations. But Aiden felt that Arthas was showing some different emotions?
"This must be an illusion!" Aiden tried to put Vayne's image together with Arthas, "They have no chemistry!" Then he felt that he was simply worrying too much.
"Vayne, I have something I want you to do." Aiden turned to the main topic and told her his suspicions about Gavinrad in a safe place, "Go and investigate whether he has any problems. If not, then look for it according to the list I gave you." He handed the list of thirty suspects to Vayne.
The plague venom and prisoners that Arthas brought back this time were indeed a great good news. Dathrohan had prepared all kinds of cruel punishments for the captured heretics. These culprits who caused the entire Stratholme disaster would obviously not have a good time.
On the other hand, the alchemy laboratory and the church were no longer facing the threat of the depletion of experimental subjects. Now they can fully crack the secrets of the plague.
Singed had only joined the alchemy laboratory for two days, but now no one dared to look at this "Bandage Man," who was covered in bandages and had an ugly face, with discrimination and disgust. Bandage Man was the nickname Singed had just received, but now the people working with him no longer dared to use this mocking name, even in secret.
The first sentence of this crazy alchemist's arrival in the laboratory shocked everyone:
"Where is the plague venom? Give me a taste, ah, it must be incredibly delicious…"