Chapter 181: What to Do with the Rear Guard?

Peering through the monocular telescope, Anduin and Bolvar stared wide-eyed at the blood-soaked battlefield and the groaning orc peons inching toward death.

"Damn, these goblin contraptions make me feel like my decades of martial training were all for nothing," Anduin muttered, seemingly thirsty from anxiety.

"Duke! How many of these did you order? I want more of these... what were they called? Ironskin Grenades!" Bolvar demanded, starting with a bold request.

Duke silently handed over a price list, detailing the unit cost of Ironskin Grenades and the skyrocketing prices due to overtime production by goblins. Most importantly, Duke specifically noted that the already abysmal misfire and premature explosion rates would soar even higher due to rushed manufacturing.

Indeed, in an era without mechanized mass production and reliant on manual labor, how could one expect a high success rate?

Humans make mistakes, get tired, and produce items with varying levels of precision. The goblins' lax approach to work guaranteed that everything they created was highly dangerous.

Bolvar couldn't in good conscience expose his soldiers and militia to such risk. If the grenades didn't kill the enemy but blew up his own troops instead, there would be nowhere to cry.

Anduin, on the other hand, was more sanguine: "We should console ourselves with this: a crate of grenades is enough to arm an entire militia battalion."

Duke chuckled, "A militia battalion requires extensive training, but these toys only need half a day's instruction."

He had a point. Ordinary infantry training demanded long-term close combat practice for even a modicum of success. Despite that, the survival rate of new recruits on the battlefield remained abysmally low, giving any commander a headache.

It was even worse for the physically disadvantaged humans. Human recruits had strength, speed, and agility comparable to orc peons, who were used as cannon fodder. They were significantly outmatched by proper orc warriors. And the opponents weren't ordinary orc soldiers, but the elite of the formidable Blackrock Clan.

As they spoke, Bolvar winced, "I feel like you're throwing away His Majesty's gold coins!"

Duke shrugged, "War itself is a game of money."

Anduin scoffed, "I've noticed for a while that your way of thinking is completely different from ours. Sometimes I really doubt whether you're from Azeroth."

Duke remained noncommittal.

How could he admit that he was a traveler from another world?

Archers, initially deemed useless against the orcs' river-filling tactics, were brought back into action to deal with the orc peons. However, their effectiveness waned at night, even with covering fire.

The Ironskin Grenades significantly expanded the humans' strategic and tactical arsenal. After all, archers had to aim, while grenades could damage a wide area with a single explosion!

As time passed, the orcs discovered the drawbacks of the Ironskin Grenades. While these noisy metal contraptions posed a serious threat to orc peons, they were less lethal to true orc warriors, especially the heavily armored ones.

The explosion's shrapnel struggled to penetrate the thick muscles of the towering orc warriors. As long as their vital points remained unscathed, the injuries were mostly superficial.

Upon Warchief Blackhand's agreement, the orcs began to better arm their troops attacking the city walls. In the following days, Lothar saw orcs using large quantities of leather, metal plates, and even salvaged human armor to create makeshift protective gear.

Once armored, the orcs rendered the Ironskin Grenades half as lethal.

Lothar asked Duke, "Do those damned green-skinned goblins have anything more powerful?"

Silently, Duke handed over the price list for the High-Explosive Bombs, which required a large amount of thorium to manufacture and were highly recommended by the cunning merchant Monte Clones.

Lothar stared blankly for a good ten seconds before finally saying, "The weather is really nice today."

Indeed, it was a hot and stormy afternoon. Thanks to the thunderstorm, all the bowstrings nearly lost their elasticity due to the dampness.

It was a war of attrition.

However, the balance of victory still tipped in favor of the orcs. When Orgrim Doomhammer had the orc peons don thick leather armor or layers of heavy clothing and resumed the plan to fill the moat, Lothar knew they were in trouble.

On the seventh day after Duke had dealt with the Bloodsail Pirate fleet, the moats on the east and north sides of Stormwind were completely filled.

The orcs even built makeshift ramps at many points, using peons to pile rocks and create straight inclines leading to the barbican.

The once well-fortified barbican had nearly become a deathtrap. Orgrim seemed addicted to piling up dirt, still sending a large number of orc peons to charge forward.

"Throw the rocks into the humans' pits. If you can't come back, throw yourselves in there too." This was Orgrim's order of certain death for these 'weak' and insignificant orc peons.

As a direct result, the number of orc peon deaths skyrocketed.

At first, the human side attempted to clear some of the orcs' earthworks under the cover of night or to cut off some of the ramps. But Stormwind was severely lacking in heavy machinery. Goblin excavators were not only exorbitantly expensive to rent, but Monte also refused to let his subordinates risk their lives operating the 'expensive' robots to dig in a city that was bound to fall.

Unless...

Monte rubbed his thumb, index, and middle fingers together again, signaling that he wanted more money.

Duke was tied up. As he had expected, the Horde quickly discovered Stormwind's Achilles' heel: the area near Stormwind Harbor to the north.

Unlike the steep, treacherous cliffs to the south, the mountain path to the north of Stormwind was a dead end for humans but not an insurmountable obstacle for the orcs, who were skilled climbers.

At first, the orcs successfully deployed a few scouts, causing a stir among Stormwind's military and civilians. King Llane immediately ordered Duke, the strongest force in Stormwind, to guard the mountain peak, effectively suppressing the orcs' attempts to launch an attack from that side.

The sea was the domain of the Kul Tiran navy and Duke.

Even though they managed to evacuate more than ten thousand people daily, the situation continued to deteriorate. After holding out for more than twenty days, King Llane and the remaining forces faced the biggest problem: there were still 100,000 people left, and the final 50,000 were unlikely to escape, according to Lothar's estimates. The bloodthirsty orcs wouldn't allow the humans to evacuate safely at a rate of ten thousand people per day.

Unfortunately, there was no stronghold like Stormwind Keep near the vital Stormwind Harbor.

What should they do? (To be continued.)