Chapter 389: Overthinking It

"Duke Marcus?"

"Duke Marcus!"

"It's really Duke Marcus!"

Orcs are simple-minded. They revere their own culture and heritage. Except for a few ambitious individuals, most orcs would rather fight a dragon than learn even a single character of another language.

There aren't many foreign names that ordinary orcs remember.

90% of orcs don't even know that trolls are called trolls, often referring to them as 'skinny ones' when needed.

However, every orc remembers a nightmare of a name—Duke Marcus. They also remember his blue banner with the symbol of a tornado.

Because this banner represents a terrifying myth that no orc hero has been able to break to this day. This myth boils down to one thing—that is, the blood of five hundred thousand orcs.

From the Great Fire of Elwynn Forest, to the burning of Stormwind, to the slaughter by warships flying the blue Stormwind flag during the sea crossing, to the two meat grinder battles of Southshore, and then to the repeated mockery in Hinterlands.

Duke is the absolute nightmare of the orcs!

Orcs often complain about warlocks using the power of demons. But in the eyes of most orcs, Duke is the true king of demons.

Rumor has it that Duke has endless mana, countless devil's hands, releases the flames of hell, he can destroy heaven and earth, can blow up a planet with one move, and pierce the entire universe with two moves.

Anyway, most orcs are illiterate, and the more they pass on, the more mysterious they become.

If Orgrim Doomhammer, who hasn't drunk the blood of demons, is commanding greenhorns just coming from the Dark Portal, he might fool them into testing it out.

Obviously, they are not.

They are the last elites of the Blackrock clan, but also survivors who have been abused by Duke several times. They can unhesitatingly kill any kingdom in the world, any owner of a banner, except for this one.

The former chieftain and warchief Blackhand is dead.

Nearly sixty thousand Blackrock elites became the burial objects of Stormwind.

...

Even the Black Tooth clan, which split from the Blackrock clan, was recently severely pitied by an elemental giant princess who mysteriously ran out during the Battle of Arathi Highlands, with heavy casualties.

Almost every major victory of Duke is built on the pain of the Blackrock clan.

In the Blackrock clan, every household is spreading the name of Duke, which is equivalent to the god of death.

The morale of the entire orc camp is visibly declining.

One by one, they bowed their heads, even daring not to look at that banner.

Orgrim Doomhammer, who hasn't drunk the blood of demons, maintains the natural brown-red skin of the orcs, but his face is now iron blue.

He is iron blue for the disgrace of his clan and compatriots.

And he is iron blue for another thing.

"Gul'dan! Was the power of the Storm Altar used by that female long-ear just now?" Orgrim Doomhammer grabbed Gul'dan in surprise and asked hurriedly.

Gul'dan glanced at him, lowered his head and replied, "Yes."

This time, what Orgrim Doomhammer felt was no longer anger at his compatriots' disgrace, but a bone-chilling cold. It seemed that in this instant, the elusive scythe of the death god passed directly through his robust body like an elusive cold wind.

Everything that happened after landing in Hinterlands, like a movie, played over and over again in his mind.

Orgrim Doomhammer suddenly felt like a ridiculous clown dancing in the palm of a ghost god. He thought that by drawing in new forces and quickly attacking the elves' main city, he was making a smart move. Who knew that every step he took, every action he made, was part of Duke's calculation.

If the evidence wasn't clear before, everything could be explained from the moment the Rune Stone was deciphered.

Duke also coveted the power of the Rune Stone, but due to the traditionally good relationship between elves and humans, he couldn't take action himself. So he used the orcs to cause destruction first, then he picked up the spoils.

The elves are not part of the Alliance of Lordaeron, and the death of many elves has nothing to do with him, a human, or the Alliance.

So he could watch from the sidelines as hundreds of thousands of elves were slaughtered by their combined forces and the trolls, until the elves couldn't hold on and surrendered.

The infamy was certainly all on the Horde.

The benefits were clearly reaped by Duke!

Although Orgrim Doomhammer didn't know what Duke had gained, it was clear that Duke had gotten what he wanted, so he set up his banner at this moment to warn the Horde.

Zuluhed was unconcerned, grumbling, "So what if that Duke is here? I don't believe he can save so many long ears by himself."

"Hmph!" Orgrim Doomhammer snorted coldly, "Duke Marcus and the holy power his lord believes in have nothing to do with each other. He can burn down his own capital. Why can't he burn down the city of the long ears when the Horde captures this city, and let us be buried with the long ears?"

Someone who can be so ruthless to himself will definitely be more ruthless to others!

This seems to be very accurate.

Unfortunately, Orgrim Doomhammer will never know that Duke's origin has nothing to do with Stormwind at all!

Orgrim Doomhammer was in a dilemma, and the Warchief hesitated.

Orgrim Doomhammer had a deep understanding of Duke's city defense skills. The voices of the compatriots who died in agony under the three-dimensional attack seemed to still echo in Orgrim Doomhammer's ears.

If Orgrim Doomhammer had the Horde's army at his disposal at this moment, with the supply line backed by the Dark Portal, he could receive a steady stream of orc reinforcements. Perhaps Orgrim Doomhammer really wouldn't believe in evil and would fight Duke.

After all, it's quite morale-boosting to wipe out the capital of a race.

That's under the premise that Duke doesn't intervene.

Now the situation has changed significantly. Originally, Orgrim Doomhammer believed that Grom Hellscream's main force, even if it couldn't capture the capital of the strongest human kingdom, Lordaeron, could still inflict heavy damage on the human alliance. Who would have thought that Grom's assault would be ruined by a new type of flame weapon invented by Duke?

Just so happens that this news was received after he promised Zul'jin to attack the elves and stepped into Eversong Woods.

Grom can't break out on his own, he needs the help of his Blackrock clan. So he doesn't have the capital to waste here. What's more, Duke's nature of biting a piece of meat off you even if he loses badly is what gives Orgrim Doomhammer the biggest headache.

Considering all these, Orgrim Doomhammer instead determined that retreat was the inevitable choice. He would never think that as long as he really wanted to fight, Silvermoon City couldn't hold on...

"Notify Zul'jin! Retreat!" The Warchief ordered.