Chapter 358: Gnomish Invention

'Northward we go!' Duke pondered, stroking his chin as he listened to the report from the Windrunner sisters and studied the military map.

'Orgrim is truly formidable.' Windsor, who also discerned Orgrim's strategy, expressed the same sentiment.

'Since we know the Horde's target is still Quel'Thalas, we should march quickly and get ahead of them.' Sylvanas slammed the table.

As soon as she finished speaking, she noticed that everyone else had an expression that read, 'You're right, but it's meaningless.'

Alleria shook her head, 'This is where Orgrim's brilliance lies. We can't grasp the movements of the Horde's main force, so we're likely to be ambushed during a forced march. The Horde's forces far outnumber ours, and if we're ambushed, it's all over.'

'We can expand the scouting range.' Queen Sylvanas suggested persistently.

Alleria still shook her head, 'Simple early warning is meaningless. With the current power comparison, as long as we engage the Horde in the wild, it's our complete defeat.'

No one knew exactly how many trolls had joined the Horde. The latest intelligence indicated that at least three troll tribes had joined. The number of trolls in each tribe has always been a mystery.

The worst-case scenario would be Duke's thirty thousand men facing the Horde's hundred thousand. Even if these men were brave, they would still be lambs to the slaughter. This was no joke, as the Horde had its strongest heroes.

Orgrim, Gul'dan, Cho'gall, Zuluhed...

Regardless of whether Gul'dan would give his all, even if Gul'dan only used twenty percent of his power, Duke would be doomed, and there would be a high chance he couldn't be resurrected. After all, Gul'dan was a master of forbidden death magic. Duke didn't want to be turned into a ghoul or a frost lich just when he was making some progress with Alleria...

'Should I call back the Windrunner family's rangers?' Sylvanas asked unwillingly.

Duke still shook his head, 'Not to mention how much chance you would have against trolls who are also experts in jungle warfare, just the loss of energy and stamina from going back and forth would put you at an absolute disadvantage. Even if you exhaust all the elites of your family, you still wouldn't know where the Horde's main force is.'

Windsor gritted his teeth, 'If only the Wildhammer air force could arrive sooner. At least we could contend with the Horde's dragon riders.'

Duke nodded, 'I've already sent a message to Kurdran. He promised to send a gryphon squadron to us within three days.'

'Phew, that's the only good news so far.'

'However, our information blockade situation has not been lifted. Windsor has found more and more troll hunters around the camp.' Windsor mentioned another issue.

Duke pondered. Now, whether to advance or stay put, both carried great risks. If this thirty-thousand-man force always remained stationary, it might pique Orgrim's interest, and he might make a forced march to counterattack them, which was not impossible. All motives still depended on the changes in the situation. Once they were close enough to the Horde's main force, Orgrim would definitely not mind eating this human tail first.

'Let's first retreat to the foothills near Hinterlands. I can solve the early warning issue the day after tomorrow at the latest.'

Alleria widened her bright eyes, 'How will you solve it?'

'Dear Alleria Windrunner, are you interested in taking a trip to Dun Morogh with me?'

Huh? What?

A trip to Dun Morogh?

Dun Morogh is the region where Ironforge, the capital of the southern continent's dwarves, is located. The dwarves there are currently defending their capital city, so the entire Dun Morogh is essentially Horde territory.

Why would Duke suddenly suggest a trip to Dun Morogh?

Just as Alleria opened her mouth to say something, Duke suddenly placed a finger on her lips. Hmm, his finger sinking into those charming red lips felt quite nice.

'Don't ask, just trust me and follow me. I promise I won't disappoint you, Windrunner.'

Sometimes, things just happen. The old Alleria would definitely have given Duke a good knock on the head. But now, Alleria often chooses to trust Duke.

However, Queen Sylvanas was not pleased. She put her hands on her hips and demanded an explanation from Duke, 'Hey! Don't forget, there's another Windrunner here! Why do you only take my older sister?'

Duke gave a mischievous smile, 'We need a Windrunner to be in charge of the camp's scouting and enemy detection tasks, don't we?'

Sylvanas was almost furious. It was clear that Duke was using his official position for personal gain.

Unfortunately, she also knew that if she were the one to go, she would definitely not cooperate with Duke as smoothly.

I'll remember this! Humph!' Sylvanas turned around and left, 'I'm going on patrol.'

This time, Duke didn't open a portal. It wasn't a good place for that. Because the place Duke wanted to go didn't have a fixed coordinate. This required Duke to use his brain and system to lock the spatial position.

To everyone's surprise, Duke beckoned Vanessa to come over.

'Me?' Vanessa was a bit stunned.

'I need a trustworthy rogue with nimble hands.'

Upon hearing the word 'trustworthy,' Vanessa, who still had a bit of a little girl's mentality, immediately ran over to Duke's side. Then Vanessa felt a bit regretful.

Because Duke suddenly put his arm around her waist. In fact, Duke was holding one on each side. Vanessa was on his left, and Alleria was on his right.

Without giving them much time to feel shy or struggle, Duke immediately initiated the teleportation.

The dazzling blue-purple arcane light turned into dozens of mysterious rune ribbons in the air, spinning non-stop. As a large amount of arcane energy spilled out, the two women suddenly felt that the scenery around them was a bit blurry and unreal.

A small tear in space appeared, and immediately, a powerful force sucked them in.

'Ah!' Alleria, who had seen and experienced a lot, was a bit better off. Little Vanessa was so scared that she tightly hugged Duke.

It was at this moment that Duke realized Vanessa had developed quite well...

Without saying anything, he directly infused himself with Medivh's boon, at least to avoid making a fool of himself.

This was not a traditional teleportation. Teleportations between the major kingdoms' main cities all have relatively fixed spatial coordinates and stable spatial structures.

This was a temporary target-locking teleportation, so it was more strenuous.

Duke quickly found Ironforge, the dwarven capital, and then quickly searched for his target.

Fortunately, the thing was quite large, so Duke didn't have to expend a huge amount of energy to find it.

It was Gnomeregan, a level 35 dungeon in the previous game, and now the former home that the gnomes were forced to abandon.

Once upon a time, the dwarves of Ironforge and the gnomes of Gnomeregan, although they had a good relationship, didn't live under the same roof. Because of a certain gnome's big mistake, their homeland collapsed. Various monsters ran out, killing all the surviving gnomes.

Those who remained mostly turned into leper gnomes, or rather, neurotic gnomes.

Looking at the unfamiliar scene before her, Alleria was a bit confused, 'What are we doing here?'

'We're here to find the 'Gnomish Invention'.'

'What?'