After the agreement between the Alliance and Gilneas was reached, Admiral Daelin immediately ordered the army to follow the Gilnean naval guides and sail into the Gilnean Inner Sea on medium and small ships. They successfully avoided the reefs. The first batch of two thousand people landed with hundreds of small boats carrying a large amount of supplies. Their reinforcement greatly reduced the pressure on the Gilnean defensive line. The first batch of refugees was then transferred to the sea by boat, gaining safety.
Currently, the number of survivors within Prince Liam's controlled area is approximately two hundred thousand, while maritime transport can only transfer a maximum of ten thousand people at a time. It is expected that this will be a protracted project, taking at least one to two months to complete.
It seemed that the Scourge had also noticed this news, and their offensive had weakened a lot, seemingly unwilling to confront the Alliance head-on. This was naturally good news for Gilneas, as the pressure on their defense would be greatly reduced.
However, when these situations were summarized and presented to Aiden, he frowned slightly. There was something strange about this:
The total population of the Kingdom of Gilneas exceeded five hundred thousand, second only to the Kingdom of Lordaeron. Excluding the two hundred thousand survivors, the remaining three hundred thousand had either been turned into undead Scourge or enslaved by the Scourge—that is to say, in Gilneas alone, the Scourge had obtained three hundred thousand available troops.
And what was the total number of troops in Gilneas plus the Alliance support? As far as Aiden knew, the remnants of Gilneas added up to no more than fifteen thousand people, and the reinforcements that could land from the sea added up to only ten thousand, and most of them were still at sea.
Even if the Scourge allocated half of its forces to the Greymane Wall defense line, the number of available combat troops on the southern Gilneas line would still not be less than one hundred thousand—this number could definitely crush the southern defensive forces.
But why did they slow down their offensive?
His military advisor Swain guessed: "The Scourge must be plotting some conspiracy we don't know about!"
Aiden also had the same thought in his heart. And in the few days since the war began, the aerial forces still had not found any trace of Naxxramas.
"Is there a possibility that Dar'Khan loaded a large number of Scourge into Naxxramas and then sailed it to another place, preparing to replicate the Gilneas raid tactic?" Aiden speculated. Even if it only carried half of the undead, when it suddenly descended on a large city, it would definitely bring terrible destruction.
"Probably so." Swain nodded.
Aiden stared at the map he had looked at countless times again. If this was true, which route would Dar'Khan, or rather, the Lich King behind him, choose? He scanned through Dalaran, Lordaeron, Los Angeles, Stromgarde, and Stratholme one by one, and finally stopped at Silvermoon City.
He still felt that the high elf kingdom had always been the Lich King's target. There was the Sunwell there, and the high elves were located at the northernmost end of the Lordaeron continent, far from the main Alliance forces and had withdrawn from the Alliance.
He wanted to warn Quel'Thalas, but Anastarian's bad attitude last time explained everything. Was the high elf kingdom destined to face this calamity?
He had not yet received the news that Ranger-General Sylvanas was about to lead a large number of high elves to support the Alliance. Naturally, he did not know that because he had defeated Anastarian, it had stimulated the king to ignore state affairs and focus solely on repairing the elven divine sword, and now the person in charge had become Prince Kael'thas, who was friendly to the Alliance and had a good personal relationship with him.
Aiden was pondering the Scourge's plan when an intruder suddenly brought him shocking news—King Genn Greymane of Gilneas had died in an assassination two days ago!
This… how was that possible? Aiden looked at the small yordle pilot who brought the news.
"Explain clearly, what exactly is going on?"
"I am Second Lieutenant Wallie of the Air Force, Commander. Before, when I was bombing Gilneas, my plane crashed. After parachuting, I was rescued by the Gilnean resistance army. I was able to return on a rescue plane today. I only heard this news from a newly acquainted friend this morning before leaving. King Genn was assassinated by Scourge assassins on his way to negotiate with the Alliance envoy!"
Aiden thought of the large amount of energy suddenly obtained by the Valorheart the day before yesterday, which was used to summon the Machine Herald Viktor. At that time, he guessed that something major might have happened in Gilneas.
So that was the major event!
King Genn did not die in the original history. Instead, his son Prince Liam died for him. Later, Genn regretted his past mistakes and led the survivors back to the Alliance, wholeheartedly fighting for the Alliance. The night elves took him in and left a place for the survivors in Darnassus.
But now, he was dead!
Then Aiden immediately realized a problem: "The body? King Genn's body?"
"It is said that it was taken away by the Scourge." Second Lieutenant Wallie replied according to the information Miss Gwen revealed to him.
"…As expected." Aiden's heart sank.
After Ashbury assassinated Genn, he threw the body into the sea below the cliff, falsely claiming that it was taken away by the Scourge. This was also the content Miss Gwen knew. But it just so happened that Genn's body was indeed taken away and used by the Dread Lord.
When Aiden learned of this news, he instantly realized that the Scourge would definitely make a big deal out of King Genn's death. Then their weakening attack might also be to cooperate with this conspiracy. All the questions seemed to be reasonably explained after learning that Genn was killed.
"I'll leave this to you, Swain. I need to leave for a while." Aiden hurriedly instructed and left the camp. He called Kayle and immediately ran to his room.
"Kayle, I'm going to astral project to investigate the situation." Aiden briefly explained his intention and lay on the bed to enter a state of meditation.
"I hope everything is still in time!" This thought flashed through his mind, and then he once again felt his soul leave his body, leaving the shackles of his flesh.
Kayle silently closed the door, walked to the bed to watch over his body. After a while, she took off her helmet, put it aside, pulled a chair over, sat down, and continued to stare at her commander with her chin propped up.
She couldn't help but recall when Aiden asked her if she would leave after her contract with the League of Legends expired.
She still remembered Aiden's eyes at that time, both hopeful and uneasy, fearing that she would say something that would disappoint him.
"We'll talk about it then." She remembered that she had answered this way. And Aiden felt that this answer was neither good nor bad and could only accept it dejectedly.
"I will leave when you no longer need my help." She whispered her answer. Unfortunately, Aiden, whose spirit was already several kilometers away, was destined not to hear the answer he most wanted to hear.
—
The changes in the situation always exceeded people's expectations.
After Liam discovered that the Scourge's offensive had weakened, he risked leading a team of cavalry to charge towards the Scourge forces that were suffering setbacks. The hatred for the Scourge in his heart made him ruthlessly slaughter these twisted monsters that had been resurrected from the dead.
Most of them were still citizens of Gilneas a few days ago, but now they had become deformed and ugly, dominated by their evil masters, to attack the survivors who were free from the plague.
Liam hated these guys so much. He strongly called for the help of the Holy Light, charged back and forth on his warhorse, and kept shouting slogans such as "Die!", "Twisted monsters!", "Purify your evil!", "Avenge Gilneas!". Soon, the angered Scourge regrouped a large number of troops to extinguish this group of cavalry who dared to chase them out. Fortunately, Lord Godfrey saw the opportunity quickly and pulled Liam back, thus avoiding greater losses.