Chapter 325: Persuasion to Retreat

After realizing that crossing the sea was not a good choice, the orcs, who learned they could fill the strait to cross, took this task as their highest directive.

Along the strait that separates the northern and southern continents, now more commonly known as the Sardor Strait, orcs laborers were pushing huge rocks to fill the sea along a 200-kilometer front line.

"..." When Lirath Windrunner was shooting orcs across the shore, counting up to 110, she frowned.

The Dragonmaw clan was coming again.

More red dragons, more Dragonmaw orcs.

The Alliance had no way to deal with them.

After all, the Alliance lacked a powerful air force capable of confronting the red dragon riders. The number of human griffins was already scarce, and they were absolutely inferior in quality. To confront them recklessly would be suicide.

In Duke's impression, the only ones who could deal with those orc riders without hurting the red dragons were the night elf hippogryph riders, who were far away on another continent.

"What a pity..."

The night elves' attitude of staying aloof from the world meant they would not participate in this war.

Duke had to let Alleria, Sylvanas, and Lirath each lead three hundred rangers, running around the entire front line to deal with the flexible attacks of the Dragonmaw clan.

However, the entire bay was visibly being filled at a rapid pace.

Duke felt like he was shooting himself in the foot.

If he had known earlier to let the Horde's transport ships cross the strait, there wouldn't be so much trouble now. Maybe the Horde would still be foolishly collecting ships to continue crossing the sea.

Duke's flamethrower couldn't work here. Because there was a genuine dragon's breath.

How passive a war without air supremacy is, whether it's Duke, Alleria, or the Alliance leaders in Stromgarde, they all deeply felt it.

"Duke, my intuition tells me that you've anticipated some things. What are you waiting for?" Alleria, the great demon, caught Duke when no one was around.

Duke had already very flexibly dodged the first strike with a blink, and then broke the demon's trap, but he was still eventually caught by another demon.

Sylvanas, taking advantage of the moment when Duke's ice barrier's absolute defense ended, mysteriously descended from a tree and reached out to grab Duke's ear.

"No, no! I surrender!"

Outside the small woods, Gavinrad, who was theoretically a bodyguard, was whistling, indicating that he saw and heard nothing.

In the woods.

"Resisting will only make it worse!"

"Confess and you'll be treated leniently!"

The Windrunner sisters used the sentences they learned from Duke and turned them back on him.

Duke was in a difficult situation.

Duke was unyielding: "Hmph! Someone still owes me a lot of 'good brother', if you don't pay your debts first, there's no deal."

But the cheap man was only sentimental for a while. After all, this was a matter involving the Windrunner family, and Duke didn't keep them in suspense for too long.

"Eight days after the start of the Second Sea Crossing War, we haven't seen Orgrim's banner. This is not in line with Orgrim's character. I'm 70% sure that Orgrim has also personally led the army across the sea."

"Then... where is he?"

"If I'm not mistaken, he should be leading no more than 50,000 Horde elites here..." Duke opened the map he carried with him and pointed at Hinterlands.

The expressions of the Windrunner sisters were a bit grim.

"This is good news, but also bad news," Duke paused, "The good news is that the Horde will definitely provoke the Wildhammer dwarves living in the Aerie Peaks - another branch of the dwarves. The Wildhammer dwarves are good friends with the griffins that breed in the Aerie Peaks. Their griffin riders are also quite famous. Now we don't have to worry about not having an air force."

Alleria's face darkened even more, "The bad news is that the Horde has circled behind the Alliance's main force."

To the west is Silverpine Forest, to the east is Hinterlands, to the south is Arathi Highlands, the Alliance is almost surrounded on three sides.

"No, I'm not worried about this. The Wildhammer dwarves are strong, as long as we send enough reinforcements. The Wildhammer dwarves will definitely be able to withstand the Horde's attack. The problem is after this, if this Horde elite cannot go west..."

The sisters' gaze followed Duke's finger moving north, where it was the heartland of the Kingdom of Lordaeron. If they crossed Seradane in Hinterlands, they would reach the holy city of Stratholme by crossing the mountains to the north.

"Is the Horde going to attack Stratholme?" Sylvanas tentatively asked.

"No. They can't take Stratholme. Now the Alliance's Archbishop Faol is mass-producing paladins in Stratholme, uh, I mean, Enlightened Paladins. Half of the Silver Hand Knights are stationed there, and Stratholme's defenses can absolutely rival Lordaeron. As long as the Horde can't take it for a while, they will be besieged to death by the endless humans coming to defend the holy city."

"Then..."

"What I'm worried about is your old home, Quel'Thalas."

At this point, the sisters looked at Duke as if he was an idiot.

Alleria crossed her arms, looking like a proud rooster, "The entire forest of Quel'Thalas has a magical shield, those stupid trolls can't break in even if they spend another ten thousand years."

Queen Sylvanas also crossed her arms and puffed out her chest, looking like she completely agreed with her sister.

"Did you forget that the Horde actually has warlocks? The library of Karazhan has a superficial description of your forest's magical defense system. If you're using runestones, as long as they corrode a few key parts of your runestones with enough power, the magical shield protecting the entire forest is just a joke."

When Duke said this, the faces of the Windrunner sisters, which were pale with a hint of red, had completely lost their color. It was a deathly pallor.

As the Ranger-General of Quel'Thalas, they of course knew the secret of the forest's magical array. The daily maintenance of the array's runestones was carried out under their watch.

If they didn't know Duke very well, the Windrunner sisters would definitely think Duke was a troll spy.

And Duke's last sentence extinguished the last glimmer of hope in the sisters' hearts.

"According to my calculations, the worst-case scenario is the trolls choosing to join the Horde, then Quel'Thalas will face a disaster."

Deep down, the Windrunner sisters were very unwilling to believe Duke's inference.

But along the way, when has Duke ever been wrong about the overall situation?

Their slender bodies were trembling.

Duke stepped forward, putting one hand on each of their shoulders,

"You've done enough for the Alliance. Take advantage of the situation before it collapses, hurry back and warn Quel'Thalas. Also, remember to evacuate your parents and your youngest sister to Silvermoon City, only there can they be relatively safe."