Light's Dawn of Azeroth

Chapter 40: Guarding the Holy Blessing of Naaru [Update Countdown 40/2]

"click"

The jewel hatch of the Naaru starship, the Genedar, slid open, and under the gaze of a group of fully armed garrison officers and priests, the five young warriors rushed out quickly carrying a stretcher.

"and many more!"

The high-ranking priestess Isana at the front shouted while holding the holy staff.

She released a ball of holy light that swept across the people in front of her to confirm that there were no hidden Nathrezim among them. Then she stepped forward to check the injured on the stretcher. As a result, the strange injuries made Ms. Isana gasp.

"Who is this?"

She looked at Captain Nari beside her in confusion, who sighed and said:

"It's Brigadier General Diakum. We're a little late."

"You said this is Diakham?"

Ishana gets frightened again.

As a nearly two thousand year old legendary priest, she had also seen and tasted it all.

When she was young, she followed her parents, who were priests, to participate in various dangerous first aid operations in the Argus world. She had seen many strange patients, but this was the first time she had encountered such a situation.

It’s no wonder that Priest Isana used the word “a lump” to describe the patient lying on the stretcher. The main reason was that Dick’s condition was a bit strange at the moment.

"Get him to the medical room!"

The priest examined the pile of irregular crystals that seemed to have been melted together by high temperature and the flesh and blood torsos mixed in it.

After confirming that Brigadier General Diakum was still breathing weakly, the determination to save the patient immediately prevailed. After the five strong men carried the stretcher and walked away quickly, Isana looked around and grabbed the hand of Nari, who looked worried.

She whispered:
"Where's Brigadier General Malderin? Didn't he go down with you? Why hasn't he come back?"

"he"

Nari clenched her fists, a trace of sadness on her face, which was still covered with smoke. She said:

"Commodore, he sacrificed himself, using a holy light secret technique that none of us had ever seen before, to save Commodore Dick from a desperate situation. However, the price he paid was that he himself was melted in the storm of fel energy.

I felt like he foresaw all of this and chose to go his own way.”

"Ugh."

Priest Isana drew a triangular holy symbol on her chest and sighed:

"The Eredar have lost another protector. May the Holy Light bless his holy soul. His wife and children are still waiting for his return. Holy Light, how should I tell them this sad news?"

"Save people first."

Nellie whispered:
"I'll go talk to Brigadier-General Malderin's widow."

"Ah."

Isana nodded, and after taking a few steps, she turned around and looked at Naili with a nervous look. She looked around and asked in a low voice:

"Did you see Commander Kil'jaeden and those warriors on the battlefield? They..."

"They've fallen."

Nellie closed her eyes and said in a hoarse voice:
"I saw with my own eyes that they embraced the fel energy, transformed into Man'ari and merged with the demons, but our escape pod did not suffer any demon fire when it left, and was not even harassed by the mephits and doomguards.

This is not normal!

The demons certainly wouldn't be so kind as to watch us leave, so I suspect that perhaps Commander Kil'jaeden made some kind of deal with the demon master.

They sacrificed themselves so that we and the other eredar could escape safely today."

"This news must be kept secret!"

Isana's expression changed several times, and she warned:

"Arch Archon Velen is currently receiving treatment. This news must not be disseminated until he is fully recovered and able to serve. The people are filled with grief, and we cannot allow such bad news to infect their hearts any further.

Captain Nellie, go and report to Governor Hatton.

In this current situation, this ship urgently needs an excellent commander like you to assist the Governor in restoring order."

"Well, I will."

Nellie nodded and said:
"Although I know that a Naaru priest like you will do your utmost to rescue Brigadier General Dick, I still hope that you will try harder. The people need good news. If Dick can survive, it will undoubtedly be considered a good omen."

"You can speak your mind now, Nellie."

Isana sighed and said:

"It's difficult to completely conceal your feelings for someone. Perhaps some subtle feelings have already sprouted between you and him. Keep your faith. I believe that the Holy Light will not abandon its devout apostles, and I hope your feelings will eventually find a home, child."

After saying this, the high priest walked quickly towards the treatment room, leaning on his holy staff.

Nari stayed where she was, feeling a little helpless. Perhaps it was because of Priest Ishana's frank advice, or perhaps it was because she was about to take on the responsibility of conveying the bad news. In short, at this moment, the capable commander of the Assassin's Court was a little afraid of what she was going to do next.

She suddenly felt very tired.

I even wanted to take a nap right here to help my numb mind recover a little.

But soon, she felt someone approaching. When she opened her eyes, she saw the twins supporting each other standing not far from her. They whispered:
"Captain, what are we going to do next?"

"You should go get some rest."

Nari said in a hoarse voice:
"Report to the Governor once you've recovered your strength. Outstanding arcanists like you will surely be of great use on the journey ahead. Go and rest."

"But we thought it would be best if we could accompany you to complete the rest of the work."

Sarolas whispered:
"You look horrible, like you're going to collapse and die at any moment. Forgive me for being blunt, but the truth is, you look like you need rest more than we do."

"We are your subordinates, Captain."

Orestes whispered:
"You don't need to hide your feelings from us. After all, we've been through life and death together."

"Little girl, do you know what pain is?"

Nari curled her lips and said:

"come over!"

The twins stepped forward, and were surprised when the usually strict Nellie took their arms around their shoulders. The three girls leaned together, and Nellie whispered in a voice only they could hear:

"We've lost our home. We've become homeless, kids. I'm afraid. I'm so tired. Am I useless?"

“Now that you mention it, I think I have some…”

"I was fighting all the time and had no time to think about this. Now that I'm suddenly free, it's normal to have these emotions. Wait, whose tears are falling on my hands?"

"It's blood! Sister, hurry! Send the captain to the treatment room! No wonder she looks so bad, she's injured."

At the same time, in the treatment room of the Naaru spacecraft, Priest Ishana changed into a doctor's robe and was giving Dick first aid with other priests from the Lula Temple.

Because of facing the fel energy storm that erupted before Sachir's death, part of Dick's torso was burned, but this was not the most serious injury. His body was now covered with various mysterious crystal fragments.

After being melted by the high temperature, the broken fragments were almost completely integrated with his body. At first glance, it looked like a semi-closed "amber".

The irregular melted crystal just wrapped around Dick's broken torso, leaving only his head and most of his neck outside.

The priests tried to remove the melted crystals first, otherwise they would not be able to cast any healing spells on Brigadier General Diakum, nor could they clean and suture his severe wounds. But when they cast their magic, they were surprised to find that all the healing spells and detection spells cast on Dick were ineffective.

"These crystals are absorbing magic!"

A priest exclaimed:

"I've never seen anything like this before. Is this some kind of demonic sorcery? Are they torturing Brigadier General Diakum this way?"

"How about using a knife to cut it open?"

Another priest said:

"I'm not sure what these crystals are made of or how rigid they are. Furthermore, the two are so tightly bound together that if I lose control, Brigadier General Diakum might suffer secondary damage. The only good news is that he's free of any fel energy contamination; it seems some kind of power has purified him."

Priest Isana? Why are you not speaking?

Did you find anything?

The other priests looked at their leader, and Isana was indeed in a strange silence at this moment.

Faced with the question, she remained silent for a long time. After more than ten seconds, she reached out and stroked the irregular melted crystals around Dick, saying with a hint of sadness:
"What on earth are these crystals?"

"Perhaps some kind of protective magical effect?"

"But it's clearly made of many fragments of crystal fused together under high-temperature baking. Look, there are obvious cracks on the crystal, the result of the fusion of the fragments. I was a jeweler before becoming a priest, and I can guarantee with over a thousand years of craftsmanship that this is definitely not the deformation of a single piece of crystal!
Perhaps it was because there were similar crystal fragments next to Brigadier General Diakum when he was injured that he eventually turned into this strange form.

Perhaps some fragment of a shattered Arkonite crystal tower from the Seat of the Triumvirate battlefield?"

"No! It's not!"

The priests were discussing at once, but were then interrupted by Isana.

The high priest seemed to confirm some "horrible" speculation.

With some trembling, she pulled out a peculiar pendant from her clothes. It was a traditional handmade ornament of the Eredar people. At the end of the pendant was a golden crystal that was carefully carved into a sun pattern.

She placed it close to her body, which showed that the pendant was a favorite of the high priestess.

Isana took a deep breath, and under the gaze of the other priests, she took off the crystal pendant with the sun pattern, and then placed it on the melted crystal around Diakum.

A moment later, as everyone watched in astonishment, the pendant seemed to "melt" and merged into the crystal around the brigadier general.

The fusion of the two is so natural, as if they were one and the same.

"The material of that pendant is the reward His Majesty Lula bestowed upon me hundreds of years ago for my contribution to the spread of the Holy Light doctrine. It is part of its holy body."

Isana sighed, and with a tone of pity, she reached out and touched the melted crystals around Brigadier General Diakum's body. She whispered:

"Don't guess, brothers and sisters. It was His Majesty Lula's remains that protected the Brigadier General in that dangerous moment. These crystals are the molten form of the Naaru's body. They are mythical creatures born from the Holy Light, and even after death, they possess various magical effects.

Absorbing magic is just one of them. The fact that our naaru protect our heroes is a miracle in itself."

The death of Guardian Narulula had been confirmed before, a fact confirmed by the three Naaru on the starship.

They could no longer hear Lula's singing.

This means that their compatriots have died in the final battle of Argus. This is a kind of honor of protection for the Naaru, but the Naaru also have their own feelings, so the three Naaru are very sad at this time.

"This is a condition we can no longer cure."

Priest Isana withdrew her hand, wiped her tears, and said:
"Send Brigadier General Diakum to His Majesty the K'ure. Perhaps he can heal our hero."

The priests were all very sad.

They are members of the Naaru Temple and can all be regarded as apprentices of Lura, studying the teachings of the Holy Light together with the guardian Naaru.

After thousands of years of companionship, they have come to regard His Majesty Lura as their friend and relative. Now, seeing that His Majesty Lura used his last strength to protect the hero of the Eredar after he suffered misfortune, this story itself is enough to be written into the history of the Eredar.

They quickly found some materials and made a temporary "coffin". Although it was a bit unlucky to put Dick in a coffin before he died, it would be difficult to transport him in his current state without such a sealing tool, and the current situation was not the time to be particular about it.

There are still many injured people waiting for treatment outside the treatment room. They have no time to rest, and even the time to express their grief is so tight.

More than ten minutes later, Dick's coffin, escorted by Priest Ishana himself and carried by several garrison officers, arrived in front of the navigation station where Naruk Ulei was guarding.

Upon seeing Dick's condition, the naaru let out a mournful whistle. The emotion contained in that ethereal sound needed no interpretation. It felt sadness for its companion Lula's fate, but also joy that Dick had survived.

However, when K'ure used his holy light to illuminate Dick in an attempt to heal him, another ray of light burst out from Dick's body.

Compared to K'ure's gentle holy light, the burst of light was extremely aggressive, even instantly igniting the coffin containing him. The milky white holy flame was so hot that even Isana couldn't get close.

She had almost never seen such an aggressive sacred flame, which seemed to strip away all the healing and protection of the Holy Light and use all its power to punish evil.

The holy flame was scorching and magnificent, and the light and heat it emitted when burning was like facing the scorching afternoon sun.

This sudden situation caught K'ure off guard. The Naaru let out a puzzled ethereal sound and swept its holy light over Dick's body in a more gentle manner. Soon it found the cause of the explosion of the holy flame.

While rotating its body in a very rhythmic manner, it told Ishana the news.

The latter was startled.

"What do you mean by 'foreign' in Brigadier General Diakum's heart? Besides the protection of His Majesty Rula's remains, is there another sacred object within his shattered torso?
this.
Incredible!

What kind of complicated situation was this brigadier general in when he was in danger? So, there's nothing we can do about it now, right?

In response to Ishana's question, Keure gave a concise response.

They couldn't have any outside interference with Dick.

The sacred object hidden in Dick's body was obviously in a "stress state". Even the holy light of the Naaru would trigger its holy flame to counterattack, and other treatment methods would definitely cause the same bad situation.

However, Keure also gave Ishana a reassuring conclusion.

Although Brigadier General Diakum was seriously injured, he was in a wonderful state at the moment. The holy light protected him so that he would not fall into the embarrassment of death, and the fragments of Naaru formed the strongest external defense, so that he would not fall into a worse situation due to unexpected circumstances.

It cannot tell how long this situation will last.

But until Diakme's condition changes, he will remain in this "between life and death" state for a long time without further danger to his life.

This conclusion made Priest Ishana feel a little relieved.

She glanced at Brigadier General Diakam, who was protected by the milky white holy flame. After sighing a few times, she requested that Diakam be temporarily placed in the area where Kulei was. After all, the Brigadier General's current state was not suitable for being touched by others to avoid any dangerous accidents.

Naru agreed to the request.

Isana was very busy. She had to rush back to the treatment room to treat the injured. The condition of Grand Archon Viren was also not optimistic.

In this starship that has left the Argus star field, most people have not yet recovered from the sadness of fleeing their hometown, but no matter what, they must learn to accept the current situation as soon as possible.

A few hours later, Captain Naili, supported by the twins, found the area where Brigadier General Malderan's wife and children were.

They were temporarily assigned to a cabin on the third deck of the starship. Because Brigadier General Malderan's wife had worked as a long-term volunteer at the orphanage in the city of Oronar, Governor Hatton entrusted her to take care of the children who had lost their families in the war.

When Nellie found her, Madeleine's wife was holding a toddler and feeding her water.

She rocked the child very gently and hummed an ancient Eredar tune. Her children were very sensible and would help the aunts take care of the crying little ones.

Not only Nellie, but even the twins felt guilty and painful at this scene. They couldn't imagine how desperate Brigadier General Malderan's wife would be after learning the news of her husband's death.

Holy Light, why would you allow such a good person to suffer such a terrible fate? Is this some kind of damned test of faith?
But to the three's surprise, this noble lady did not faint in despair after hearing the news of her husband's sacrifice. She wiped her tears, trying to maintain her dignity, and asked with a choked voice:
"So, my beloved sacrificed his life to save Brigadier General Diakum's, correct?"

"Yes! Without Commodore Malderan's sacrifice, we would not have been able to bring our hero back to this ship."

Nari, who had just been able to walk after emergency treatment, said in a hoarse voice:

"It was so chaotic at the time that I didn't hear Brigadier General Malderan's last words clearly, but I seemed to hear him reciting the Holy Light. He fulfilled his moral duty and is a well-deserved hero for us Eredar!"

"He's embracing his destiny, kids."

The lady smiled and said in a sad tone:

"On the day I parted from my beloved, he told me that he had a recurring dream in which he saw our little Maraad and little Rylan meeting a terrible fate in the other world.

He told me that fate had been reversed.

He saw Diakam appear in his dream with his own eyes, and he saw his son and daughter grow up healthily and finally return to their homeland with glory and countless compatriots.

He thought it was a revelation from the Holy Light!

Brigadier General Diakum is the messenger of destiny sent by the Holy Light to save the Eredar, and his mission is to ensure that this messenger of destiny can embark on this Trial of the Holy Light with us. I was actually mentally prepared for this, and I'm proud of my husband.
I."

She could no longer speak. Even the strongest person could not resist the tears. Nari's emotions also burst out at this moment. She rushed forward and hugged the lady. The two Eredar burst into tears.

Maraad and his sister Lelan didn't know what was happening.

They ran over hand in hand, but were blocked by the twins.

Sarolas squatted down, recalling the tone of Brigadier General Diakum's words when he comforted the little girl at the Arcane Academy that day. She placed her hands on Maraad and Lelan's foreheads and whispered:
"Your father chose to remain on Argus, fulfilling his oath like a hero to defend our homeland. He will fight there until we find a way to save our world and return."
The eredar live a long time, children.

You will see your father again."

"You're lying!"

Little Leyland screamed:

"Father will never abandon me, my brother, and my mother! Get out of the way, I want to go find my father."

"Commander Malderan has entrusted you to the care of Commander Diakham."

Oreses' tone became softer, and she whispered:

"You know Brigadier General Dick, right? He and your father are true battle brothers. The bond between them even surpasses the bond of blood. Don't you still trust him?"

"Oh, if it's Uncle Diakum..."

Maraad touched the shining dagger that was given to him at his waist. He took his sister's hand and said:

"Then we believe it, but why are Mom and that sister crying?"

"Ah, maybe they are preparing for the various setbacks they will encounter in the long and arduous journey ahead, just like someone told me that the tears at the wedding are to prepare for the various difficulties in the future marriage.
Ah, tears.

If tears could stop swords, how gentle this galaxy would be."

"Sister! How can you say such things in front of the children?"

"It's okay, they won't always be children, they will grow up too. After all, we're just adults among the Eredar. Look at how we've been over the past period of time.
That's so awful!"

------

That night, Governor Hatton, who had barely set up the internal management system of the starship after a day of handling government affairs, dragged his exhausted body to the navigation station.

He looked at the remade jeweled sarcophagus in front of him, and walked forward to look at Diakum lying inside.

The child's terrible injuries filled the old shaman with grief.

His left arm was gone, part of his leg was missing, half of his kidney was blown off, and one could even see the bones on his arm. Just by looking at the injuries through the layer of crystal, one could guess what a terrible battle this child had experienced before.

He grew up under my watch!
Although his relationship is not as close as that between him and his adopted son Jaid, he is Krokuun's child after all, and the pride of Krokuun.

"It's us old guys who are useless."

Governor Hatton reached out his hand and stroked Dick's face. The old governor burst into tears at this moment. He sighed and said:
"I'm sorry for putting you through this, kid."

"Father? What are you doing here?"

The voice of Jaid, commander of the Krokuun Hunters, came from behind. Hatton turned around and saw Jaid walking towards him on crutches.

His injuries were not as severe as Dick's.

But after all, he has been through hell several times, so it is not easy to recover quickly.

"Come here, boy, and see your brother."

Hatton called him and asked Jaid to come forward. When he saw Dick's miserable condition, the tough prairie cavalryman almost shed tears.

He clenched his fists and said self-reproachfully:

"If I had been with him at that time, he would have been like a chopped-up Talbuk sheep. Why did the Holy Light let him suffer like this?"

"Don't cry! It's unlucky."

Hatton said in a strong tone:

"We must forever honor Dick for his deeds and sacrifices and consider him a model of ideals and principles that will inspire us to bravely face whatever troubles lie ahead. He is the pride of Krokuun, and so are you!

Now that Dick needs to rest, you will have to take up the responsibility he left behind! Do your utmost to protect our people, just like he did!"

"I won't let Dick laugh at me when he wakes up. Don't worry, father, I won't let my brother down!
Krokuun has become a thing of the past in our memories, but the Krokuun Hunters will always stand before the people. Anyone who wants to harm us must first endure this round of sword destruction.

We have already lost Argus, and I will not allow us to lose more!
I swear!
In the name of Krokuun and Dik, we will return one day! We will reclaim our sacred heritage! Krokuun awaits our homeworld, and we will not let it down!

(End of this chapter)