The second half of the 5th year and the first half of the 6th year of the Dark Gate passed in chaos.

In this year, the plague of the orcs from the south of the continent not only did not weaken as people imagined, but intensified, after the capture of the Stormwind Kingdom, the orcs who had received a great supply of materials were not satisfied, and continued to advance all the way north, these invaders from another world had no intention of living in peace with humans at all, and everywhere they went, all civilizations disappeared.

At present, the army of orcs has appeared in the wetlands, and began to attack the only way to the north by land, the Saldo Bridge built by humans and dwarves, and when the new year comes, the human soldiers guarding the Saldo Bridge can be called living in hell, and there are crazy attacks by orcs every day, almost never stopped.

But the tragic situation at the front gave some comfort to the panicked nobles in the rear, because as long as the Saldo Bridge did not fall, it meant that the orcs could not enter the northern frontier, and it meant that their current life could continue.

However, the nobles did not know that it was only the Blood Ring Clan of the Orc tribe that attacked the Saldo Bridge, and when the Great Chief Orgrim led the real orc army to set foot in the northern frontier, all peace and all hope would be completely crushed.

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Hillsbrad Hills, Dunhold Castle.

This is the closest garrison of the Kingdom of Alterac to the frontline battlefield of Arathi, and the current King of Alterac is Aiden. His Majesty Pirenod is a well-known coward, who does not dare to go to the battlefield in person, but dares to hide in the castle on the peak of Alterac and look around, such a king must be fearful of the enemy in war.

Even the soldiers of the entire kingdom of Alterac are required to focus on defense in any battlefield, which is laughed at by other countries.

In the vicinity of Dunhold Castle, a real battle broke out half a year ago, where more than 120 orcs were killed, which was the biggest victory in the interior, and this battle increased the number of soldiers in the castle, and by now, there were 1,200 people, and the castle had tripled in size.

And the Ederas stationed here. Captain Blackmore, who also prospered because of his participation in King Daline's war against the orcs, has been a major general in the praise of the Alterac Kingdom's military until now.

Unfortunately, even though Major General Blackmore had the heart to prove himself on the battlefield, his king did not give orders, and he could not go to the front line to support, so he could only be trapped in the hinterland of the kingdom.

"Restored"

The neighing of war horses sounded on the site of the former elven prisoner of war camp, and Lieutenant Draco, who led the patrol, rode on a majestic war horse, looking at this completely abandoned camp with some nostalgia, and he could still remember how many orcs he had slashed and killed along the way with His Majesty Dai Lin on that night half a year ago.

That night changed the fate of many people.

Behind him, more than 40 soldiers were paying tribute to their comrades who died that night, and to be honest, these soldiers recruited from the local area would not have wanted to pass through this ruin, because according to the country legend, all the more than 100 elves in the entire camp died here that night, and the ghosts of those elves continued their war after the war was over.

This is, of course, nonsense, and Lieutenant Drake is a good soldier, and he doesn't believe that.

"That's it! Brothers, keep going, in another 20 minutes and we'll be able to rest! ”

The lieutenant waved his whip and scolded the lazy soldiers to move on, while he looked warily at the forest in the distance, and there had been a lot of news about the recent signs of orc scouting in this area.

"First team, go to the river to get water!"

After walking for another ten minutes, the lieutenant looked at the sky and finally gave the order to rest, pointed his horsewhip to the river in the distance, and shouted: "Don't go into that forest!" There are beasts there, others rest on the spot! ”

While the others sat down and began to nibble on dry food, the six assigned soldiers carried a large pile of water bladders and walked reluctantly towards the distant river.

These soldiers of Alterac inherited the traditions of the country, they did not want to go to war, and they had little to do with the glory or the defense of their country, they chatted with each other, washed their faces with the cold river water, and cursed their superiors.

"It's so hot, it must be cool in the forest."

A man looked at the forest across the river, a little nervous: "Let's go and rest for even 5 minutes, they won't notice." ”

The others hesitated, but seeing that the first man had already rolled up his trouser legs, crossed the creek, and beckoned to them on the other side, the others hesitated, leaving one of the most honest guys to watch the water bladder in place, and the others rushed into the forest.

It's a young man in his 20s, and he is at a restless age, and everyone says that orcs are terrible, but in the eyes of these middle two teenagers, orcs are nothing.

"If you want me to say, Lieutenant Drake can kill 10 orcs alone!"

A young man, wielding a rusty sword in his hand, frantically chopping the grass beside him, he exclaimed, "Last time I saw the lieutenant exercising, the muscles of that arm are thicker than my thighs!" ”

"Nonsense! Lieutenant Drake is the best fighter in the castle! ”

Another said, "I also saw him teach that green-skinned kid Thrall to fight!" ”

"Sal? It's the orc kid who can speak human, and I've fed him, he's very polite! ”

"yes, that orc kid will say thank you!"

"Maybe Sal was picked up by the general on the battlefield, and the veterans all said that Sal brought good luck to the general, and in less than half a year, he was promoted from captain to major general! It's like having wings... Hey, what are you running? Who's chasing you? Beasts? ”

"Run! Behind! There are monsters in the back! ”

A terrible shout sounded in the forest, and the others subconsciously turned their heads, then screamed in unison, turned their heads and ran.

On the hillside of the forest behind them, a black shadow on a war horse appeared silently, the guy was wearing a long dark hood, and his hand in black armor held the reins of the horse, and the war horse did not make a sound, standing in place, two scarlet eyes like a monster in a nightmare.

"Hehe... Run! Run! ”

The black shadow on the war horse clearly saw the six fleeing figures, but he did not pursue, but backhanded out a huge black iron war bow from his back, and slowly took out two pale bone arrows from the quiver carried by the death war horse and put them on the bowstring.

"Whoosh, whoosh"

The two soldiers who were fleeing frantically were pierced through their chests from behind by whistling bone arrows, and between the flesh and blood, the tremendous force flew up with their bodies and nailed to the trees in front of them.

This scene made the other people's scalps tingle, and they rushed to the outskirts of the forest screaming and shouting, but the next moment, two more arrows flew out and nailed the two unlucky ones to the trees.

Only the luckiest one rushed out of the forest, and at the moment when he felt the sun again, he stopped even cursing at the scorching heat of the sun, he dragged his wet crotch into the water, and ran frantically across the river, not forgetting to shout to his companions who were guarding the river:

"Run! George, run! The monster is coming! ”

George, an honest man on the other side of the river, had not yet understood the meaning of his companion's shout, and the next moment he saw a black shadow as swift as the wind rushing out of the forest, it was a knight in a tattered black long hood, and even in the scorching sun, it was wrapped in an icy breath.

Under the shivering gaze of the honest man George, the dark war horse rushed into the river, and the moment the horse's hooves touched the river, the flowing river water was frozen, and the war horse seemed to gallop on the water, George only saw the cold sword in the black knight's hand waved, and the next moment, his companion's head rushed into the sky in a blood spill.

The splattered blood was pulled by an invisible force in the air, and finally gathered into a blood ball in front of the Black Knight's eyes, which he held in his hand and threw it into the pocket of the saddle of the war horse.

"Ah, human blood... So... Delicious..."

"Wow"

The Black Knight's sword slashed a cold glow in the scorching sunlight, and it fell from top to bottom in front of the eyes of George, a frightened and paralyzed honest man, who shrank on the ground, praying frantically, already a little delirious with fright.

"Lift your head..."

The hoarse devilish voice rang in George's ears, and he swallowed his saliva and looked up with difficulty, only to see a pair of ice-blue eyes, and the pale, somewhat familiar face under the hood.

"Ahh You... I know you! ”

George raised his finger and pointed at Tyrion on his horse, and he shouted sharply:

"You're the elven leader of this camp! I've seen you, you've exchanged fruit on our family's farm several times! Your name is... Your name is Tyrion! Right! Don't kill me... Don't kill me, I didn't mean to disturb your peace, the lieutenant had to pass through this road! It has nothing to do with me! Leave me alone! Please, let me go! ”

"Oh?"

Tyrion tilted his head, there was no trace of emotion in his ice-blue eyes that exuded coldness, he looked at the young human in front of him, feeling no different from other humans, he hesitated for a second, as if he was thinking, and just when the honest George thought he could escape, the sharp, also cold long sword slashed down.

Blood... It splashed in all directions, until the moment the human head hit the ground, there was still an illusory hope in his eyes.

Behind him, the silent necromantic steed turned and carried Tyrion back across the frozen river into the forest.

"I'm sorry... But I don't remember anymore..."

Ten minutes later, a grim-faced Lieutenant Drake looked at the six corpses neatly laid out by the river, and his gaze swept over the annihilated squad, finally resting on the last headless corpse, which had been drained of blood and looked like a terrifying dried corpse.

Behind him, the timid and superstitious soldiers had shrunk into a ball, huddled together and whispering, even the scorching sun of the cage could not bring them a trace of warmth, as if in this ominous land, those ghosts who had died were really going to come back for revenge.

"Shut up! Shut up! Don't say anything! ”

The lieutenant yelled at the soldiers to stop the annoying whispers, and his gaze turned to the forest by the river, from which all four bodies had been found, meaning that the murderer was most likely hiding there.

"You! Go to the castle and report to Captain Scarlock! ”

Lieutenant Draco took off his helmet, revealing his bare scalp, and he pointed to the soldiers beside him and shouted:

"I now suspect that there are orc scouts in this forest, this corpse is very similar to the handiwork of those orc warlocks, go and ask the captain to send some more people, before the sun goes down, let's go hunt for it!"

The soldier took the order, and the other captains boldly asked:

"Lieutenant, are we really going?"

"Gotta go! You're all locals! ”

Lieutenant Drake snorted, "If you don't go, once you are washed into the hills by the orcs, think about what your family will do..."

This sentence made the soldiers stop arguing meaninglessly, and the lieutenant crouched down again, his fingers running over the severed neck of the honest George, the wound could still feel a trace of cold in the scorching sun, and the blood was frozen.

This strange situation gave the lieutenant a hint of a bad premonition in his heart, and he looked up at the forest again, and the darkness wafting through the forest had an ominous aura.

This time, maybe it's not just orc scouts to face... There may be, something even more terrifying.