Chapter 403: The Plot Begins to Unfold

In truth, Orgrim Doomhammer, unwilling to accept defeat, had made another move: he dispatched Zuluhed's dragon riders to assault the Sunwell.

Unfortunately, they returned empty-handed.

The battle in Quel'Thalas had ended, rather abruptly.

The invading trolls were entirely wiped out. Aside from a few chieftain-level individuals who managed to escape using the power of the wind from the Storm Altar, not a single one was left, even the great troll chieftain Zul'jin was captured.

Quel'Thalas suffered even more. Preliminary counts showed more than eighty thousand soldiers and two hundred thousand civilians had died. The most cherished Eversong Woods was burned down by a third. This was only due to the mercy of the heavens, which changed the wind direction, otherwise, the outcome would have been unknown.

On the Alliance side, Duke's human army merely conducted an armed march. With the support of the Windrunners, they didn't engage with the Horde at all. The Wildhammer dwarves, however, had a fierce battle with the Dragonmaw clan's Red Dragonflight. Kurdran and his mount Sky'ree were awe-inspiring, with the King of the Wildhammer single-handedly slaying nine red dragons.

The northern watchtower Duke had prepared was not put to use.

As they withdrew from the borders of Quel'Thalas, the orcs split their forces.

The issue, once again, stemmed from the Sunwell.

"We simply can't break through!" Zuluhed complained to Orgrim. His frustration seemed to far outweigh his guilt for his lack of combat effectiveness: "Even the dragons can't do it."

Orgrim squinted, listening intently.

Zuluhed emphasized loudly, shaking his head vigorously: "I had my dragons exhaust the last of their saliva to create dragon's breath, their flames already enveloping the entire city in the sky. But what of it? We're like fools trying to roast a stone, no matter how fierce the fire outside, it can never reach the inside. I tried to have them charge through, but their claws were blocked by an invisible barrier."

"That's the Sunwell," Gul'dan interrupted Zuluhed: "It's the elves' source of magic, providing them with endless energy. It's fortunate you didn't truly break through, otherwise, the elves backed by the Sunwell could cast spells almost indefinitely, pelting a thousand fireballs onto your face."

Zuluhed was left speechless.

Orgrim, however, fell into deep thought: It seems I was right not to forcefully attack Silvermoon City. Even if the Horde gathered a hundred thousand, it wouldn't be enough to take Silvermoon City. That would have to be a fortress taken after dealing with the Alliance, gathering all forces.

However, temporarily setting aside the elves, this hard nut to crack, doesn't mean it won't need to be dealt with in the future.

The endless large magic circles from the elves gave Orgrim, who only knew how to hack and slash, a huge headache. Especially knowing there's another Sunwell further north of Silvermoon City.

To conquer this world, whether it's the elves' Silvermoon City or the Sunwell, it's always a hurdle that can't be avoided.

"Is there a way to destroy it or drain its energy? Or can we control it? Or can we use the Storm Altar to destroy their defenses?" Orgrim asked Gul'dan three questions in a row.

A cunning smile appeared on Gul'dan's face: "I don't know, I would be willing to try, but I don't know what will

happen when the Sunwell starts operating. The Storm Altar is made of the elves' unique runestones, their energy originally sourced from the Sunwell. I can try to connect to its energy source through them, and channel my magic there, to destroy or control it. But Warchief, this will take time, a lot of time."

If successful, whether to destroy or control, Orgrim knew without a doubt which Gul'dan would choose.

Deep down, the Doomhammer did not want Gul'dan to control such power, but rather than leaving the power of the Sunwell to the elves, who wielded mysterious magic beyond the orcs' imagination, it was better to give it to Gul'dan.

At least Gul'dan was an orc.

Clearly, if they were to retreat in a hurry, Gul'dan wouldn't have enough time to conduct various research.

Seeing Orgrim's hesitation, Gul'dan decided to push further, humbly bowing his head deeply.

"Honorable Warchief, we cannot just leave like this. Regarding the Storm Altar, I actually have another plan, which will help the Horde speed up the conquest. I insist that my clan and I staying here for a while will be more beneficial to the Horde." Gul'dan tried to persuade Orgrim in a low voice.

Orgrim frowned, he had always distrusted this short, ugly, and evil warlock. But the pressure from the human and high elf mages on the Horde was too great, he had no choice but to employ Gul'dan. Without the warlocks, the Horde's warriors would only fall tragically and helplessly under the powerful magic, just like the trolls.

Moreover, he had to admit that the two-headed ogres created by Gul'dan played a crucial role in the battle of Quel'Thalas. It was these enhanced ogres and Gronn's breakthrough that completely shattered the elves' massive arcane defense.

According to the latest news, the humans had come up with some fire-breathing contraptions. The brave and unparalleled Grom Hellscream had no solution for this.

The two-headed ogre mages were different, they could maintain an ice shield while charging through the flames. One could imagine, without their help, the Horde would lose the breakthrough force to crush the Alliance's front line.

After much consideration, in the end, Orgrim nodded: "Do what you must."

Still not at ease, he added to Gul'dan: "But don't delay too long, we need to concentrate our superior forces to quickly take Lordaeron."

After the orcs passed through the Dark Portal into the world of Azeroth, the humans, after overcoming the initial discomfort and continuous failures, showed great resilience. Various tactics and new weapons against the orcs emerged one after another. If they continued to use the aggressive tactics of Blackhand the Destroyer when they first arrived in this world, the orcs would soon face extinction.

Humans were progressing, and so must the orcs.

Upon reaching the northern continent of the Eastern Kingdoms, also known as the continent of Lordaeron, Orgrim found that his tasks had changed a lot. He began to pay more attention to intelligence.

With enough intelligence, the Horde wouldn't foolishly attack one city after another. Nor would they foolishly cross the entire continent to attack the farthest elven city just to gain the trolls as allies.

Out of the eight nations of the Alliance, they had only taken Stormwind so far. If they were to attack one by one, when would they finish?

Orgrim decided to revise the Horde's plan, aiming directly for the key point, the city of Lordaeron.

"I won't delay too long," Gul'dan assured Orgrim, grinning: "If it really doesn't work, I'll just create another Storm Altar to strengthen the army and hurry over."