Durnholde Keep itself was not merely a simple orc internment camp; it could even be considered a bustling commercial city.
Of course, this was a distorted kind of prosperity, as the city's economy was centered around slavery, gladiatorial combat, and the black market.
Where there are people, there is conflict; where there is light, there is darkness. The slave trade and bloody gladiatorial contests attracted a large number of nobles to watch.
The ruling class of Stromgarde, including Galen's old father Thoras, were not omnipotent rulers. A long time ago, Galen had positioned Stromgarde as a militarily advanced Sparta, while Lordaeron was an Athens with commerce and culture advancing in equal measure.
The Alliance and the Orcs had fought a great war for several years. After the victory, the restoration of people's livelihoods, the reconstruction of territories, and the subsequent construction of orc internment camps cost gold coins like flowing water.
Everyone did indeed hold a spoils division meeting, dividing up most of Alterac, but these divided territories needed time and population to enter the production stage. The massive capital investment in the early stage almost caused Gilneas to collapse. The Kingdom of Quel'Thalas, although definitely a wealthy household, was not stupid and unwilling to be a sucker, so they withdrew from the group chat, no longer playing the game of sending and grabbing red envelopes.
The remaining Kingdom of Alterac expressed, "I've already cut the meat to divide among you all, surely you don't want me to bleed my last drop of blood, do you?"
The Kingdom of Stormwind expressed, "I've just been rebuilt, not only do I owe national debts to Lordaeron and Stromgarde, but even the stonemasons' union's project funds are still being paid in installments, and the final payment is nowhere in sight. Want money? Why don't you sue me."
The remaining Dalaran was a mage city-state. They made money quickly and were not short of it. In addition, Terenas was not too afraid to offend Antonidas, so their share of the money was not large.
The dwarves in the south were wealthy households with mines at home. Their ironware was famous for being excellent, and the countries of the Eastern Continent scrambled to buy it, so they were not short of money.
Kul Tiras itself was a maritime commercial nation. It never cared whether they had money or not when establishing diplomatic relations with other countries.
Finally, there was Stromgarde left. In the original history, because Thoras stubbornly refused to withdraw from the Alliance, the domestic economy was eventually dragged down, and a continuous decline began.
In this timeline where Galen intervened, the Grand Steward of the Crusade paid a huge amount of taxes to the king every year, which fattened Stromgarde. Not only did it stand firm in the Alliance system to this day, but even with Galen's overseas colonies not fully exposed, it vaguely had a tendency to catch up with Lordaeron by relying on one-third of Hillsbrad, one Arathi Highlands, and half of Northshire.
Lordaeron, that was a populous country with four rich provinces, including Tirisfal Glades, Eastweald and Westweald, and Silverpine Forest abandoned by Gilneas!
Terenas had even begun to doubt his life. He had planned for more than ten years, using a little trick to make the high elves withdraw on their own, and then forced away Genn Greymane, who was the most threatening to the position of leader at the beginning. How come I haven't turned the Lordaeron Human Alliance into an alliance of the Kingdom of Lordaeron!
Wasn't all this because Thoras, who was once regarded as a younger brother by Terenas, had risen unknowingly?
Currently, the most profitable paths for the Trollbane royal family, in addition to taming warhorses, are the commercial trade of Helm's Valley, the arms business of Eastpoint Tower, and of course, the real estate of the Stromgarde Royal City, which has been expanded by half.
Of the four paths, three were the economic lifelines established by his own son, and the remaining one was the legacy left by his ancestors.
For King Thoras, whose mind was full of muscles, you couldn't expect him to come up with any money-making ideas.
Relying on orc slaves to restore the planting industry in the Hillsbrad region was a basic operation for various countries, and Stromgarde was no exception, but there were still a large number of orcs who couldn't be kept in the internment camps as rice buckets for nothing.
Therefore, under the instigation of the nobles, the Durnholde Arena came into being.
When it started making money, Thoras even sent royal family members to guard it.
The 10,000 people named the Young Marshal Legion by Galen were arranged by Danath in a camp near the Thondroril River.
This was a crucial position. The castle's garrison had suffered heavy losses in the battle half a day ago. Before Marshal Orestes dispatched the First and Second Legions of the Wall of Thoradin over, the troops brought by Rhonin and the others became Danath's reliance.
"According to the latest news, the Lordamere Internment Camp has been breached by the orcs, and the local Lordaeron garrison has been wiped out."
Danath led Rhonin and the others to the castle, talking about the latest news as they walked.
"Lordamere Internment Camp? That place is west of the Hillsbrad region, and we are east. How did the orcs manage to cross most of the Hillsbrad Foothills in such a short time?"
Rhonin had lived in Dalaran for nearly twenty years and knew the situation of this land fairly well. The Lordamere Internment Camp was south of Dalaran and was a medium-sized internment camp.
Originally, this was the land of the Kingdom of Alterac, but later it was divided to the Kingdom of Gilneas. However, because this kingdom started a wall-building project, they abandoned a large amount of land, including this internment camp.
This internment camp was among the earliest built. For more than ten years, orc prisoners had been continuously thrown into this internment camp. The scale was not very large, imprisoning about 40,000 orcs. In addition to letting them develop the Hillsbrad farms as labor, it was also provided to the mages of Dalaran for research.
Antonidas still had not given up on researching why the orcs had become weak.
"I suspect these are two different batches of orcs, or they have split into two routes!" Danath said his guess. "Moreover, the orcs attacking Durnholde are obviously outsiders. I found dried fruit from the south and a lot of dried fish on them. This kind of fish is only found in Lake Darrowmere!"
Rhonin and Jaina glanced at each other after hearing this information, and they both saw the affirmation in each other's eyes.
It was confirmed that the orcs from the south had joined forces with the orcs in the Hillsbrad region!
As for how they bypassed the heavily guarded Thandol Span.
"Brother Danath, how did the orcs from the south come over? On land, they would have to cross the territory of the Kingdom of Stromgarde. Besides the Thandol Span, there is also Brother Galen's Minas Tirith in the southern mountains of Alterac. They couldn't have avoided the guards' sight."
Currently, Jaina could win the title of Galen's No. 1 fan. As a Galen supporter, she did not believe that the orcs could bypass the Minas Tirith
"Perhaps... by sea!" Iluxia interjected after a long silence.
"By sea? Impossible!" Jaina was even more disbelieving. The outer edge of Balor Bay was the patrol range of the Kul Tiras naval fleet. The orcs had no ability to build a large number of ships, and it was even more absurd to use manpower and small sampans to avoid naval patrols.
As the princess of Kul Tiras, Jaina was full of confidence in her country's navy.
"Perhaps... pirates provided them with help!"
Speaking of pirates in Azeroth, one must mention the two pirate groups that plunder the South Sea waters.
The first is the Blackwater Pirates, who have risen to prominence in the last decade, frantically plundering the merchant ships of the Stormwind Kingdom and Kul Tiras, prompting the two major kingdoms to offer huge bounties for their capture; even a sailor responsible for cleaning the deck is worth five gold coins.
So far, the Blackwater Pirates are backed by Rivigaz, the goblin tycoon who controls Booty Bay.
The other pirate group is called the Bloodsail, and they appeared a few years earlier than the Blackwater Pirates, but they don't seem to be just staying in the South Sea waters; their footprints are all over the Endless Sea.
However, their reputation is much better than that of the Blackwater Pirates; they basically don't rob merchant ships, but specialize in robbing Blackwater Pirate ships!
It's simply telling the whole world openly that they only do black eats black!
Even more bizarre is that, as pirates, they also take on escort and transportation missions in the black market, and they receive rave reviews.
Of course, it was not the Bloodsail Pirates who provided ships to the orcs, after all, the founder behind the Bloodsail is Galen, and so far no one dares to betray the Great Lord.
Only goblins who are greedy for money and can earn any kind of money would do that.
"Damn Blackwater Pirates!"
Danath compared the styles of the two pirate groups and determined that it was the Blackwater Pirates who were helping the orcs!
At this moment, an officer ran over quickly, seemingly with important information to report.
Ronin and the others retreated a distance knowingly.
Although the three of them were all disciples of Gandalf and were trusted and entrusted with important tasks by Galen, only Ilucia among the three was from Stromgarde, Jaina was from Kul Tiras, and Ronin grew up in Dalaran.
Therefore, they still needed to avoid suspicion.
"No need to do that!" Danath stopped the three of them, "Captain Skarok, speak directly, there is no need to avoid the three young masters and ladies."
Captain Skarok was also one of Danath' confidants. As soon as he heard his boss's address to the guests, he immediately knew that they were considered to be on their side, so he reported directly: "General, according to the information I obtained after interrogating the orc prisoners, their main force is in the Alterac Mountains, and sending small groups to attack Hillsbrad's towns is to cover up their true purpose!"
"Well, it is indeed a tactic commonly used by Orgrim, so do you know their real target?" Danath stroked his thick beard and asked again.
"It's Strahnbrad!"
"It's actually there!"
Danath fell into thought, while Jaina stayed in Dalaran all year round, studying arcane knowledge, so her knowledge of military strategy was lacking. In this regard, Arthas, a paladin from a warrior background, was much stronger than the three mages.
After all, Gandalf, the Crusader Archmage who is good at f2a, cannot compare with Uther in marching and fighting.
"Is there a problem? Big Brother Danath?" Ronin kept in mind the teachings of Galen when he appointed him as the commander of the Young Marshal Corps. If he didn't understand something, he would ask. The surrounding generals were all on his side, and no one would look down on an Archmage!
"Strahnbrad is a large town located at the foot of the Alterac Mountains, with a population of more than 15,000 people, but this town basically has no defense force, not even a few militiamen!"
"Huh?"
The three mages were puzzled. They had never seen a town with so many people without a garrison. With more than 10,000 people, it would not affect the overall production to recruit hundreds of strong men.
"This has to do with historical legacy issues."
In the end, the Kingdom of Alterac was divided too much. Currently, except for the core Shattered Ridge area and the surrounding four highlands, the other territories have been divided by several neighboring countries, and their king seems to have no intention of managing the country, only occupying a title, and not paying attention to other areas except for the royal city.
"The army of Lordaeron has also set out, and the commanders are Uther and Prince Arthas. Perhaps we should inform them of this information!"
Jaina was stunned. She didn't expect Arthas to come out to suppress the orc rebellion like her.
After hesitating for a moment, Jaina finally chose to go see Arthas: "Arthas and I are good friends, let me go and inform them."
"That would be great!"
… … … … … … … … … …
In the camp near Andorhal, Arthas finally joined forces with his mentor Uther after many days of marching.
Uther, wearing golden armor, had just finished inspecting the camp and heard that the prince was already waiting for him in the tent, so he quickly passed through the guards and entered his command tent.
"Welcome, Prince Arthas!"
"Your arrival makes me and the warriors feel honored!"
Uther, carrying a warhammer, opened the tent curtain and saw the young prince looking at the map in front of the table.
"No need to be so polite, Uther, I am not yet the king, I am very happy to see you!"
Arthas turned around and reached out to shake hands with Uther.
Uther let go of his hand, and after the two warmly embraced, Uther patted Arthas on the shoulder: "Haha, I am also very happy for your arrival. King Terenas letting you come to help me is really great."
"Father still hopes that I can learn your patience and experience well, mentor."
"Fathers always hope that their children can be more excellent, hehehe!" Uther is a holy believer. He chose not to marry for life, but he regarded Arthas as his own when he taught him and could understand the king's thoughts.
Arthas came to the map and put his hands on the table: "Okay, Uther, let's get down to business. Along the way, the Royal Secret Service has confirmed that an orc camp is located in the Sophia Highlands south of Shattered Ridge."
Uther also stepped forward and stood beside Arthas watching the map: "This is what I expected. Now that the small Kingdom of Alterac is in chaos, it is indeed easy for the orcs to hide there."
"There's worse, they're preparing to attack Strahnbrad. As far as I know, that town is completely unprepared. Once the orcs attack there, there will be corpses everywhere!"
"Then I will immediately lead troops to attack the Sophia Highlands and destroy the orc base!" Uther patted Arthas on the chest affectionately: "Can you hold Strahnbrad, Arthas?"
"Of course, Uther, don't worry about me!"
"After you secure the town, come to the orc camp and join me immediately!"
"Be careful, Arthas!"
Stratholme, located in the northern part of the Kingdom of Alterac, is a town nestled in the mountains, a necessary passage for Arthas and his company from Andorhal in Westweald to the Hillsbrad region.
Arthas and Uther chose to rescue this town not only out of a paladin's sense of justice, but also because the Menethil royal family had been collecting taxes for the new Prestor family for ten years.
The reason Stratholme didn't have a permanent garrison was due to this; the home country didn't care, and a foreign power was collecting taxes, so no one was willing to spend extra on military expenses.
This was also why Arthas had to go to the rescue when a crisis arose.
On a smaller scale, it was about taking people's money and helping them out of trouble; on a larger scale, it was about not losing the hearts of the people of Lordaeron.
So Arthas and Uther split their forces into two groups: one went straight to the orcish lair, and the other went to defend Stratholme.
On the way, Arthas's team encountered a petitioner in a small village. This woman, named Alicia, told Arthas that gnolls had kidnapped Little Timmy and taken him to their lair in the forest.
The villagers hoped that Prince Arthas could rescue Little Timmy. Arthas remembered his vow before Invincible's grave: If anyone needed protection, even for the welfare of others, requiring the sacrifice of one's own life, he would do it regardless of the cost!
So he chose to save Little Timmy before marching on, only to encounter an ambush by a group of thieves!
Arthas's team included some paladins of the Silver Hand, and the rest were Lordaeron Royal Guards and elite veterans who had experienced the Second War. These thieves were easily defeated by them.
Through interrogating the prisoners, they discovered that they came from an organization called the Syndicate.
The Syndicate is a complex bandit and criminal organization composed of humans from the former Kingdom of Alterac, occupying parts of the Alterac Mountains and Hillsbrad Foothills.
Its members were mainly Alterac nobles who chose to cooperate with the orcs after the Second Alliance-Horde War. After Nefarian, disguised as Prestor, ascended to the throne, the golden dragonkin transformed into humans and gradually occupied the main positions in the palace. These nobles who betrayed the Alliance were exiled, and later, Duke Fal'krest and Aiden's son took the lead in forming the Syndicate thieves' organization.
It was because of the obstruction of the gnolls and the Syndicate that Arthas missed the opportunity to rescue Stratholme. When they arrived at the town, it had already been breached by the Blackrock orcs, and most of the townspeople had been captured!
After assuring the remaining townspeople that he would rescue the captives, Arthas went to Sophia's Heights to meet up with Uther.
When Arthas entered Sophia's Heights, he saw Uther's newly established camp.
"Child, you've come at the right time. I sent two excellent knights to negotiate with the orcs, they should be back soon!"
Arthas's face was somewhat gloomy. The tragic situation of Stratholme was still echoing in his mind. He had even led his troops to fight the rearguard orcs, and he could feel that these orcs were different!
The orcs in the internment camps, as recorded, were hunched over, listless, and submissive. The orcs were completely enslaved, with numb expressions on their faces. If you told them to go east, they would never go west.
But the orcs who fought them came howling, aggressive, and brave green monsters.
Arthas was only seven or eight years old during the Alliance-Horde War, but he had also seen the orcs climbing the walls of Lordaeron.
He had a deep impression of the Horde that had once destroyed the southern Kingdom of Stormwind, leading the intelligent races of the entire continent to form the Alliance, which then resisted the Horde. This group, calling themselves the Blackrock clan from across the sea in the south, was no less powerful in combat!
So he had already concluded in his mind that the two negotiating knights were likely dead.
Sure enough, two warhorses without riders returned to the camp.
Uther knew that the negotiations had failed, and two excellent knights had been lost!
"Ah! Damn it, those orcs don't understand surrender at all!"
Looking at his mentor's annoyed face, Arthas suggested, "Mentor, let's charge in and kill them all!"
Uther frowned: "Remember, Arthas, we are paladins, revenge is not our creed. If we let fanaticism turn into a bloodthirsty desire, then what difference is there between us and those orcs?"
"You're right, Mentor." Arthas nodded, keeping these words in his heart.
"It's good that you understand," Uther nodded with satisfaction when he saw that Arthas had listened. "Now, if you think it's okay, I hope you will command the camp and launch an attack on the orcs!"
"No problem,!"
On the other side, Jaina first used teleportation to return to Dalaran, and then galloped along the eastern shore of Lake Lordamere to Stratholme.
However, she was also one step late and only saw Stratholme after the ravages of war, a scene of ruins and corpses everywhere.
This was the first time she had seen the brutality of the orcs!
She had once visited the Lordamere Internment Camp near Dalaran and only felt sorry for the enslaved orcs, but what she saw and heard today subverted her perception of the orcs!
Looking at the civilians who had been disemboweled, and those rebels who had been impaled on spears, Jaina was enraged.
Learning about Arthas and the orcs' movements from the survivors, Jaina continued on her way, tracking south!
Subsequently, Jaina discovered the aura of fel energy. After quietly approaching, she found an orc Blademaster slaughtering the residents of Stratholme, sacrificing their lives to demons!
Jaina had studied with Gandalf for more than ten years, and learned many secrets about the orcs from her mentor. She recognized the Blackrock clan's mark from the banner!
However, Jaina didn't know that the origin of these orcs was very complicated.
They were originally the Blackrock clan, but later followed Rend Blackhand to form the Black Tooth Grin clan.
Before the Horde was defeated at Blackrock Spire, the Black Tooth Grin clan chose to betray the Horde and go solo. Later, the Dark Portal was closed, and the Blackrock orcs loyal to Orgrim were captured and imprisoned in internment camps.
Under the leadership of Rend Blackhand, the Black Tooth Grin clan chose to quietly lurk in the Burning Steppes and Redridge Mountains, and restored the name of the Blackrock clan, occasionally cooperating with the Warsong clan to raid human towns to obtain food and iron supplies.
At this time, the Blackrock clan didn't know how they had gotten back in touch with the demons!
The only explanation was that there were still warlocks in their clan who hadn't died, and only they could make contact with demons!
The orcish unrest is connected to demons!
As a high-ranking Archmage at her peak, Jaina had sufficient authority to access information about the Burning Legion.
Furthermore, due to the ease with which arcane magic could attract demonic attention, Dalaran placed great importance on educating its mages about the threat of demons.
Jaina immediately prepared to report this discovery to Dalaran, to her mentor, Gandalf!
Indeed, after Kel'Thuzad's open betrayal of Dalaran, a vacancy had appeared in the Kirin Tor's Council of Six!
Gandalf, with his immense power and his outstanding contributions to the magical community over the years, such as writing constructive papers like 'The Freezing and Piercing of Blizzard,' 'How to Summon One Hundred Water Elementals,' 'The Glorious Meditation Method for Rapid Mana Recovery,' and 'A Basic Analysis of Spatial Teleportation,' was a prime candidate.
The Kirin Tor's Council of Six could not remain vacant for long. Antonidas nominated Archmage Ansirem Runeweaver, while Kael'thas, Krasus, Modera, and Drenden jointly nominated Gandalf.
As the Archmage, Antonidas possessed a special privilege: his vote counted as two. However, Ansirem Runeweaver still couldn't overcome Gandalf's four votes.
Thus, our White-Robed Wizard successfully became the sixth member of the Kirin Tor Council!
Boom!
Jaina, startled by the appearance of the demon, failed to conceal her aura. The orcs detected her, and a rain of Hellfire immediately crashed down upon the forest where she was hiding.
"Crap!"
Realizing she had been discovered, Jaina immediately thought of running. This was a common tactic she employed after discovering her talent for teleportation: if she couldn't win, she'd run.
Unfortunately, she didn't possess her mentor's ability to teleport instantly. She needed to channel the magic within her, even if it only took a few seconds!
A Blackrock Blademaster seized the opportunity, using Wind Walk to quickly approach Jaina. He suddenly appeared behind her and executed a leaping strike!
The massive blade directly shattered Jaina's Ice Barrier. Seeing herself about to be decapitated, she instantly unleashed her full potential, activating Ice Block!
Bang!
The Blackrock Blademaster's blade struck the ice block, sending only a small shard of ice flying.
Although Jaina was completely encased in solid ice, sweat was already beading on her forehead!
In ten seconds, she would face an assault from hundreds of orcs, including a Blademaster even stronger than herself!
"I'm done for! Save me, Galen!"
Through the solid ice, one could clearly see the terrified expression on Jaina's face.
"What are you panicking about?"
Jaina, completely distraught, suddenly heard these words. It was the human language!
There was hope!
"How could Archmage Gandalf have taught you to be such a terrible apprentice?"
"Being surrounded after using Ice Block, using Frost Nova to freeze the enemies the moment it expires, and then using Blink to escape the encirclement isn't that basic?"
"If your hand speed is fast enough, you can even turn around and follow up with a Blizzard to freeze them again!"
Jaina was stunned. It seemed her teacher had indeed taught her that. She had simply been scared witless by the orcish Blademaster's leaping strike. Under the threat of death, she had lost her composure and forgotten all her training!
The moment the Ice Block disappeared, the orcish Blademaster and the surrounding orcish soldiers were about to swing their weapons at Jaina when they heard a bang. They couldn't move their legs; they were all frozen in ice.
Jaina Blinked out of the encirclement, even turning around to cast Blizzard!
"Silly girl, why didn't you run when you should have!"
Another soft voice echoed in her ear!
Why run? I think I can kite these orcish soldiers to death!
What Jaina didn't know was that the moment she cast Frost Nova to freeze the orcs, the Blackrock Blademaster immediately used Mirror Image to break free from the ice on his legs and re-entered Wind Walk's stealth state!
Jaina was fully focused on channeling her spells. Behind her, the Blackrock Blademaster, carrying a banner, reappeared. Just as the warblade in his hand was only an inch away from Jaina's neck, the Blackrock Blademaster felt a wave of dizziness!
At this moment, Jaina also sensed a cold light behind her. Turning her head, she saw a large blade held to the back of her neck!
Another moment of terror!
"Run! Silly child!"
This time, Jaina obeyed without question, using Blink again. Under the threat of her life, her potential exploded. This Blink covered half again the distance of her previous Blinks. Jaina's figure directly entered the distant dense forest. Feeling uneasy, Jaina activated Disguise and fled all the way.
As she ran, she kept looking back to see if the orcs were chasing her.
In her life, she had never experienced such a desperate escape.
Only after running far away and seeing no trace of the orcs did she breathe a sigh of relief.
However, she didn't know that her seemingly successful escape was only because someone was bearing the burden and moving forward.
Edwin VanCleef followed behind Jaina, helping her cover her tracks all the way, even appearing and briefly clashing with the orcish Blademaster, leading him in another direction.
"Alright, stop running, you're safe!"
Jaina heard the human language again, but this time it wasn't the previous male voice, but a crisp, melodious female voice.
Jaina silently activated Ice Barrier and Magic Shield, choosing to stop and lean against a giant ancient tree.
"Who are you? Thank you for saving me. Can you show yourself?" Jaina said sincerely.
"Hey, you're really interesting." A girl's figure appeared in front of Jaina.
Jaina finally breathed a sigh of relief. She noticed the Argent Crusade's symbol on the girl's body.
"Thank you for saving me!" Jaina wiped the sweat from her forehead and expressed her gratitude again.
"It wasn't me who saved you, it was my father. I was just following you the whole time." The girl took off the red mask on her face, revealing a beautiful face. "By the way, my name is Vanessa VanCleef. Galen, the Highlord, sent us to protect you."
"Hey, Vanessa, why did you show yourself? Didn't the Highlord tell us to protect them from the shadows?" At this moment, Jaina heard the familiar male voice from before.
"Come on, Father, we've already rescued Jaina. If I didn't come out, she would have run back to Dalaran!"
These words made Jaina's ears turn completely red. She felt extremely ashamed. Just now, she was the closest she had ever been to death. Her heart had been in her throat the whole time, and she had fled in a panic. A dozen Blinks had almost drained all the magic in her body.
However, it wasn't without its benefits. She vaguely felt that the bottleneck at her peak of high-level mage had loosened.
Perhaps it wouldn't be long before she could touch the threshold of a legendary mage!
Edwin VanCleef, a top shadow walker whose career was delayed by his work as a stonemason, was later appointed by Garrosh as the public leader of the Stonemasons Guild and Baron of Stromgarde. In the dark world, he was also one of the five elders of the Defias Brotherhood.
This time, he was tasked with secretly protecting the three young marshals of the legion, along with his daughter Vanessa and an elite Defias squad. Among them, Jaina was Garrosh's primary concern.
Ronin and Illuxia were older and more mature. Ronin, during a low point in his life, was ostracized by the mages of Dalaran before being taken in by Gandalf. Illucia's family was under the protection of Stromgarde. Both had firm stances and would not sympathize with the orcs.
Jaina, however, had a poor record in Garrosh's past life memories, which was why Garrosh paid special attention to her and dispatched VanCleef, who had experience in raising children.
So far, the results have been good. Jaina has witnessed the brutality of the orcs and will at least not become another "Orc Lover" in the future.
However, this level of experience is not enough. VanCleef does not believe that this experience can meet the requirements of the Highlord. At his insistence, Jaina no longer seeks out Arthas but follows him to investigate the traces of the orcs and then report back to Durnholde Keep.
Hillsbrad Farm is located in the transportation hub of the entire Hillsbrad Foothills, an area composed of a dozen farms of varying sizes.
At the same time, it has the largest grain output in the entire region, especially in the last decade, as the farm owners have used strong, obedient, and cheap orc slaves for farming and planting.
However, recently Hillsbrad Farm has also suffered from the orc army's retaliatory attacks!
When VanCleef and his daughter, along with Jaina, arrived here, they were presented with a hellish scene.
It was clear that the farm had been attacked by orcs. There were dead bodies everywhere, each corpse retaining the miserable state of death, the fear, anger, and unwillingness before death all frozen on their faces.
The smell of decay and blood rushed towards Jaina's face, causing the young woman to cover her mouth tightly, her face filled with disbelief.
The houses in the center of the village were still burning. VanCleef dragged an orc corpse out of a collapsed house. Apparently, the orcs did not notice that one of them was missing when they left.
Yue!
In the end, Jaina couldn't hold back and vomited the food in her stomach!
Her palms were clenched tightly, and she didn't even notice that her sharp nails had broken the skin of her palms.
Jaina had never seen such a tragic scene up close!
A greenhouse flower, under the planning of someone with ulterior motives, began to experience wind and rain.
Awoo!
A wolf howl came from outside the village, apparently the orcs had returned!
"Haha, I knew it. Rook must have died in the human village, otherwise he would have been squawking long ago," a gray-green-skinned orc riding a black war wolf leaped in from the periphery.
He saw Jaina in the center of the village at first sight!
VanCleef and his daughter immediately entered stealth mode.
"Haha! Brothers, come quickly, look what I found! A tender human mage!"
"Awoo!"
Hearing the wolf rider's call, more wolf howls came from all directions.
Soon, dozens of wolf riders sealed off all the passages in the center of the village, trapping Jaina.
"Father, what do we do? This mage is really a burden!"
Vanessa was very dissatisfied with Jaina's performance. Compared to the eighteen-year-old Jaina, the twelve-year-old Vanessa had completed Garona's training two years ago and successfully became a formal Defias member with her outstanding talent, and had carried out assassination missions.
Therefore, she looked down on Jaina, this talented mage who was holding them back.
"Don't worry, the person valued by the Highlord must have her own strengths!" VanCleef was very sure of this. Over the years, he had long discovered that in the Argent Crusade, not only were the soldiers elite, but any high-level member could become a big shot.
In the Minas Tirith, one could occasionally see dwarves, gnomes, brown-skinned orcs, and even trolls, except for the palace in the inner ring. And these top talents were all willing to serve the Highlord!
"Be ready to act at any time and cover Miss Jaina's breakout."
Just as VanCleef finalized the plan, the orc wolf riders also moved. The giant wolves slowly approached Jaina under the control of their riders.
Jaina's body was half-kneeling on the ground, her body hunched over. She had been in this posture since she vomited just now.
If Gandalf or some archmage were present at this time, they would definitely be able to detect the violent fluctuations in Jaina's mental power.
"Hmph, putting on an act!"
The wolf rider who spoke first saw that Jaina was not moving, so he had the idea of capturing her alive. A human spellcaster, bringing her back to the Warchief, would definitely earn more merit.
Whoosh!
A net was thrown out by the orc wolf rider, netting down towards Jaina's direction.
At this time, Jaina finally made a move, only to see her holding her staff and standing up all of a sudden!
"Ya!"
Jaina shouted, and the magic power in her body poured out frantically like a blizzard!
A large piece of white frost spread rapidly from under her feet in all directions!
The giant wolves felt the threat and wanted to take the knights away, but the frost had already arrived the moment they turned around!
VanCleef and his daughter chose to escape at the first moment!
When the magic subsided, the two quietly touched back and found that the area within a few dozen meters of Jaina had become a world of ice and snow!
It's August now!
VanCleef was secretly shocked.
Continuing forward, they saw dozens of ice pillars, each with an orc wolf rider stuck in it. The blood of the giant wolves and orcs flowed down through the ice pillars, creating a frozen hell.
Jaina was unconscious in the center.
"How is she, Father?" Vanessa's tone changed, from impatience to admiration.
After all, she certainly couldn't assassinate such a powerful mage. Judging from the power of this frost, she would probably be forced out by this large-scale spell and killed.
"She broke through, Legendary rank! So young! This talent is even stronger than Arthas, who was previously hyped up!"
"Let's take her back to Durnholde quickly. After all, we are not mages or priests, and we don't know how to help her recover!"
"Okay! Father!"
Vanessa struggled to support the unconscious Jaina, while VanCleef took out a scroll from his arms. After activating it, the figures of the three disappeared from Hillsbrad Farm, leaving only a pile of corpses.
Soon after, Arthas's troops finally came out of the Sofia Highlands and entered this killing field.