Chapter 425: The Siege of Lordaeron City

The Kingdom of Alterac was destroyed.

Orgrim smartly limited the number of orcs that invaded.

Three thousand soldiers, half elite and half common, over two thousand were orcs, with a good number of trolls and several dozen ogres.

This was a number designed to test Duke's psychological limits.

Duke had been effectively implementing a high-exchange-ratio damage strategy, and Orgrim had noticed this. Therefore, at Broken Ridge, Orgrim attacked with a force that almost seemed to be mocking Duke.

The high mountain terrain of Alterac was a natural barrier for humans, but not for the Horde. Duke only sent the Knights of the Silver Hand and the Windrunner sisters to cover the retreat, he did not choose to hold the line.

Reality proved that Duke's decision was correct.

General Hass, who was not far from Duke, watched with a grim face as many trolls with skin colors between white and blue climbed up the cliffs around Broken Ridge, which Hass had always considered to be insurmountable. They threw spears down at the paladins below.

"They are Frostmane trolls, a branch of the Frost Trolls, who have been active on Dun Morogh, the land of the Bronzebeard dwarves. It seems they have also been recruited by the Horde," Duke said indifferently.

Hass could almost imagine that if they had chosen to hold the line, the paladins might have been able to hold on, but the ordinary human soldiers would have quickly collapsed under this kind of three-dimensional attack.

The summer Alterac, without the protection of snowfall, quickly caught fire after the Knights of the Silver Hand withdrew.

The Horde warriors roared loudly, celebrating their destruction and conquest.

"Hmph!" Duke snorted coldly, his face twitching a bit, because he saw the orcs pulling out large quantities of frozen meat and other food from the cellar.

In the cold Alterac, digging two meters underground would reach the permafrost, making it the perfect place for an ice cellar.

The Horde mostly consisted of carnivorous creatures, and this batch of meat would undoubtedly become a strong support for the Horde's attack on Lordaeron.

Duke couldn't help but sigh, Orgrim had succeeded after all.

Although the situation was not as bad as in the original history, it wasn't much better.

In the original timeline, the Second Dark Portal War completely changed the Kingdom of Alterac and the fate of the Barov family. The treacherous King Aiden surrendered to the orc army and launched a counterattack against the Alliance's army. They constantly incited peasant uprisings in the Alliance-controlled areas. The rebels repeatedly harassed the Dalaran royal forces in the Hillsbrad area, preventing them from supporting the Alliance forces fighting on other fronts.

Soon, the actions of the Kingdom of Alterac aroused the anger of the mages of Dalaran. Dalaran quickly and decisively sent troops to completely destroy the Kingdom of Alterac and leveled the entire kingdom. This is the Alterac Ruins of later generations.

Ten minutes later, Duke saw the Knights of the Silver Hand, who were not too badly injured, and the Windrunner sisters, who were sweating profusely.

Uther seemed a bit dissatisfied: "Deputy Commander, why did you signal a retreat so early? We could have killed more of the Horde."

In Duke's view, Uther was not a qualified commander. His command was limited, and his overall view was insufficient. He was like a perfect saint, driving everyone forward with almost harsh faith. Uther was indeed the perfect banner, but not everyone was willing to live a life that was even more puritanical than the Puritans. More often, Duke only used Uther as a fierce general.

Duke smiled faintly: "This is not a good place for a decisive battle. Suppose in another place, you can kill 100 Horde warriors in an hour, here you can only kill 40. Save your strength, there are still battles to fight. Pack up, we are leaving for Lordaeron City immediately. If we don't leave now, the Horde might get to your hometown before us."

Not only Uther, but the eyebrows of the paladins like Saidan and Tirion, who were from Lordaeron, twitched at the same time.

Ignoring the paladins, Duke turned to General Hass and said, "Take the Mountain Hawk Knights and all the infantry you can muster with me."

Hass was taken aback, he turned his head to look at the distant Alterac refugees winding their way along the long and winding mountain road: "What about the people of Alterac?"

"Leave them to the local garrison."

"What if the Horde attacks them?" Hass and several other Alterac generals were anxious.

Duke's eyes sharpened, his piercing gaze reminded Hass of a mountain hawk soaring in the snow-capped mountains, about to pounce on a rabbit on the ground: "I've been fighting Orgrim for so long, don't I know what he's going to do? Trust me, Orgrim has already led the main force straight to Lordaeron before he split his forces to attack Broken Ridge. Perhaps they will arrive faster than any of us can imagine."

Alleria, with red-rimmed eyes, silently joined the ranks behind Duke. She understood Duke's meaning the best. Her two damned brothers were leading the way for the Horde. With their guidance, the Horde's main force would pass through the Alterac Mountains at a terrifying speed.

Duke guessed right.

Apart from the five thousand rear troops, all of Orgrim's main forces had already started their forced march in the afternoon.

Just as the Barov brothers had said, these roads had been abandoned by the Alterac army.

Even if there were occasionally some forts blocking the way, once the Barov brothers shouted a few words with the contract they got from King Aiden, the soldiers inside the fort quickly retreated.

This was an era of information blockade. Except for the commanders, kings, and generals of the Alliance, no one else would have the privilege of magical communication. Most of the news was still delivered by courier horses.

Those minor nobles didn't even know that their lord was dead, but after seeing the lord's signature and seal, they quickly evacuated the fort.

Orgrim was able to lead his warriors quickly through these narrow checkpoints.

He thought the Barov brothers would be useful, and now he was pleased to find that he was right.

The road ahead was still very dangerous.

Orcs and trolls didn't mind climbing mountains, but ogres were a lot more troublesome. Without Gul'dan, they became much slower. On such a rocky path, as long as a few soldiers blocked the road, once the bodies piled up, the ogres would not be able to pass in any way.

Orgrim was not willing to give up the ogres, especially the two-headed ogre warriors. So, he urged his army to move forward quickly. He knew that once his army crossed the mountains, no one would be able to stop the Horde's giant axe from cutting into the heart of the Alliance.

Once he succeeded, Grom Hellscream's trapped force in Silverpine Forest would also be relieved. From his understanding of humans, most of them would rather give up a large area of land in order to gather all their forces to protect their capital.