Chapter 734: Players Who Might Never Log On Again

Upon the desolate city, save for a blanket of ruins, it seemed that other signs of life could rarely be seen anymore.

"Wah... Waaah—! Daddy, Mommy!" A clumsy little orc with the head of a bull stood in the center of the debris, weeping bitterly, looking just like a solitary little flower growing amidst the wreckage, making observers worry that its tender stalk would snap with the slightest breath of wind.

In the sky above, a sudden hurricane whipped up, knocking him flat onto the ground, and his crying grew even more frantic.

A colossal shadow in the sky descended slowly.

It was a great dragon, over ten meters long, its head adorned with a pair of horns, resembling a demon.

Crack!

The sound of metal stepping upon the earth rang out.

From the dragon’s back, a tall figure, massive as an iron tower, dropped down.

"Jie-jie-jie-jie..." A dark, cold sneer accompanied the lifting of a raised greatsword.

Then, it hacked down with immense force!

Rumble!

The earth instantly split apart, opening a massive fissure.

Yet no blood dripped down.

"Hmm...?" Looking up, one could see a tall leonine orc who had carried the child out of harm's way.

"Is anyone else alive?" Rheinst spoke.

Scattered and few, only a small number of soldiers gathered toward him.

A few orcs who had been with him previously also crawled out from the ruins.

The Legion of Shadow before them stretched out in an army of a hundred thousand, connected together like a vast ocean.

Staring at the knight riding the shadow dragon before him, Rheinst perhaps knew exactly what he was facing; he was facing legendary beings that had originally existed only in ancient prophecies and poems.

A look of terror and awe appeared in everyone's eyes, but no matter how unbelievable it was, they had to force themselves to believe the reality before them.

They had returned from the legends!

"A shadow dragon? Death Lord... Dras?"

From within the decaying armor, that gaze, deep as an abyss, seemed to pierce through the void, looking back into those long-passed ages, a cold stare devoid of any human warmth.

...

"What is going on today?" In the Jiuhua City Shop, the Casual Inn Guild, and many other guilds, it seemed that people were missing from every group.

Ye Xiaoye clutched a communication jade in her hand, sending messages continuously.

"Is anyone starting a raid for Team Two today?"

"The main tank isn't here! And several DPS haven't come online either, what is going on today?!" Ye Xiaoye glanced at the time, "Didn't we agree to start the raid at noon?"

Just then, Ye Xiaoye suddenly caught sight of a message sent by an ID named Professional Holy Knight Evan.

"...I don't seem to know this person very well, what is he looking for me for?"

She remembered adding him as a friend in passing when she was playing alongside the Royal Guild, and they had almost never communicated since.

She hurriedly opened it to take a look.

Inside the new shop, Evan, the commander of the Golden Gryphon Knights, had a face full of anxiety: "I heard your main tank didn't come online either?"

"Could it be that you guys are experiencing the same thing?" Ye Xiaoye frowned.

"All three of our raid teams are missing people," Commander Evan replied, his face drenched in sweat. "Everyone is just waiting here now."

"What on earth is happening? How did every single one of them fail to show up, when the time was clearly set..."

...

"Take whoever can move and leave!" Rheinst roared.

The gaze before them remained only icy, as if telling these foolish orcs that none of them could leave!

"Mr. Rheinst, are you afraid of death?" asked an orc beside him.

"I am, but my daughter is also about this age. She is not in this city, but if she were to encounter such danger, I hope... there would also be a warrior who could bravely stand before her." Perhaps no one could stop such an army, and they would soon sweep through the entire world, but if someone really could... even if they only blocked them for a brief moment, it would be enough.

"Me too, I have a son," the orc beside him said in a muffled, resonant voice.

Staring at the army that resembled a roaring flood, several orcs actually charged toward them.

"Shield Wall!" Accompanied by an earth-shattering roar, the shields in their hands seemed to truly transform into a solid barrier, abruptly locking themselves in front of that black torrent.

They actually saw a large section of the black torrent blasted backward into the air!

Someone had once asked, do you want to be a coward for a lifetime, or a hero? Even if it is only for a few seconds.

Perhaps now, they had given the best answer.

They still remembered when they first took up the profession, before their mentor, raising their arms, making their pledge ignorantly yet solemnly:

"The shield wall has not fallen, the will has not perished. Forever remember the fallen, drink deeply from the fountain of victory.

Heaven is to the left, warriors to the right."

For a brief moment, that black torrent was actually intercepted by them!

A terrifying roar resounded from their shields.

That colossal force felt as though it could flip even a giant dragon.

"Roar—! Roar—!" Accompanied by roar after roar, in the end, only a splash of fresh blood could be seen flying through the air.

At this time in the shop, a few elves and assassins were watching the new animation, "I Am MT."

Amidst that stirring melody, a rough and wild singing voice echoed: "I am MT, a body of iron and bronze walls, I challenge, I evade, I use my body to protect you!"

"Do not fear anymore, I have not fallen down yet..."

"Everyone says the tank is powerful, it is the guild's highest honor..."

...

"I'm sorry, my friends... I might never be able to be your main tank again, roar—!"

"For the Orc Kingdom... for the people we need to protect... for... the Horde..."

He leaned against his shield, his voice growing fainter and fainter, as if falling asleep.

Blood trickled along the surface of the shield, slowly flowing toward the ground.

Perhaps they were truly just... tired, and wanted to rest for a while.

That tsunami-like army then truly resembled a tidal wave, swallowing one orc city after another.

A great catastrophe that no one had ever anticipated swept across the entire Orc Kingdom, and then headed toward the human kingdoms on its periphery.

Wherever that black torrent passed, no living creature could resist even a fraction of it.

"These humans... and orcs, always think they can become heroes," a tall, thin figure beside the demon dragon said. "Yet they do not know that they are completely fragile, their actions are utterly unworthy of mention, and after they die, no one will remember them."

It was precisely one of the two figures that had initially appeared in the Orc Kingdom; within its body, a tiny hint of its aura subtly revealed itself, already reaching the terrifying Saint Realm!

"Simply foolish!"

"Only by faith in my God can one achieve eternity."

"As for these people, they are nothing more than chess pieces on a chessboard, heh... truly a pathetic bunch of ants."

...

From this day forward, a portion of the World of Warcraft players never logged online again.

...

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