To the east of the lake, there is a flat clearing on the cliff beside the lake, in which there is an old, strong wall, and within the wall is a castle. Legend has it that the castle was built during the migration of Arathi's descendants to the south, and it was the first castle built by Arathi's descendants in the warm south.

Once a territory of the Alliance, it fell to the orcs during the Second War, but was reclaimed after the war was won. However, due to the chaotic domination of Stormwind, the Alliance still has no strength to reorganize and repair this dilapidated fortress, and the Twelfth Legion stationed here has even been reduced to only three companies.

Now, seeing an opportunity, the Blackstone Orcs have taken the opportunity to attack, and if they can take this place, their power can radiate throughout the Red Ridge Mountain region, and even the lakeside town.

The Blackstone Orcs threw thousands of soldiers into this invasion. In all of Azeroth, it had not been seen such a large-scale military operation since the end of the three wars, but there were only three companies of Alliance soldiers stationed in the fortress, and strictly speaking, three companies that were not under the formation of the army, less than three hundred men.

However, it was not without advantages for the defenders, because they at least had an advantageous position. The walls of the fortress were twenty feet high and wide enough for four men to walk side by side, and the battlements of the walls were filled with holes that could be used by archers to aim at the enemy. The fortress has two gates, but to attack the south gate you have to bypass the entire lake and a narrow drawbridge. The walls of the north gate, on the other hand, were smooth and flat, with huge stones fitting closely with each other, leaving no place to stay. For the attacking troops, the wall was like a cliff that was an insurmountable obstacle.

Since yesterday, the Blackstone Orcs have been on the offensive unstoppable. They beat huge drums of war in animal skins, and ant colonies swarm from the west and north. Although most of the shoddy catapults had been overused, the orcs who had lost their long-range cover were still fearless to death, and some figures wearing heavy cloaks appeared in the battle formation. They all covered their faces with hoods, revealing only their scarlet eyes. They were armed with a myriad of staffs, some of which were simply made from the spine of a humanoid, topped with air-dried skulls. They all exude a strange evil aura all over their bodies, and several of them even have sharp bone spurs piercing through their backs, looking like demonic dorsal spines.

No one dared to approach them, and all the Union soldiers who dared to do so fell. After being struck by some invisible shadow energy, blood flowed out of the soldiers' mouths, nostrils, ears, and even the corners of their eyes like small snakes, and was absorbed into the hands of the assailants. Beside these evil demon messengers are their imp minions, who fire fire fire bombs and suppress the human crossbowmen on the city walls.

Under their cover, the gnolls cannon fodder propelled siege engines larger than their bodies towards the main entrance. From time to time, huge stones were thrown down from the city walls, breaking their tendons and bleeding their heads. But the orcs who drove them did not care about their casualties at all, and still drove them to their death with weapons. Perhaps, this is what they are worth - consuming the arrows and slings of the defenders.

After paying a heavy price of casualties, the siege engine was finally pushed in front of the city gates. The thick gate was made of the strongest old oak wood clad in steel, which could not be damaged even by time and axes, but it was the weakest point of the fort's overall defense compared to the solid rock walls that surrounded it.

This massive battering ram uses the trunk of an entire tree, and its black iron tip is cast in the shape of a two-headed lava hound, on which the Enchanter's super-impact effect is applied to enhance its impact. The battering ram was now pushed by the strongest orcs, who pressed the rack with the battering ram against the gate, and then shouted a trumpet and pulled the trunk backwards so that it could generate more impact after release.

With the crunch of the thick chain that hoisted the battering ram, the massive pile slammed straight into the main entrance, crashing into it. The gate shook, and a loud sound resounded through the fortress like thunder, and rubble and dust fell from the walls above, but the thick gate and steel-cast axle withstood the attack. The morale of the people on the city walls was greatly boosted, and some people cheered quietly.

But the attack was not over, and the orcs dragged the hammer again, pulling it backwards. The humans, who had just been cheering, hurriedly tried to stop them, arrows and stones rained down like drops, mixed with burning oil, and many orcs fell with screams, but more orc soldiers rushed up to fill the gap.

The orcs sounded three times, the massive ram swung three times, and with a final blow, the gates of the fortress collapsed and shattered into pieces with a loud crash. Amid their beastly cheers, the orcs poured into the fortress like a black torrent.

However, near the main entrance, the human soldiers were still stubborn, and some of the soldiers whose flanks were threatened had to retreat, only to meet them again after reforming the array. All of a sudden, the gates of the fortress were filled with humans and orcs fighting to the death, officers and the most seasoned warriors. Arrows rained down on every inch of the battlefield, and the battering ram was finally destroyed, crumbling into a pile of wood and burning in the flames, but it had already fulfilled its mission, and it was no longer a matter of whether it was destroyed or not.

Colonel Todman, the commander of the legion, was covered in blood and fought to the death on the steps in front of the main castle, the knight of King Ureon's bodyguard, who had long since lost his horse and was now slashing like an infantryman at every orc who dared to stand in front of him. The corpses around him were piled up, but driven by unimaginable madness, the orcs rushed up desperately, trying to drown him in a sea of people.

It has to be said that the numerical superiority of the orcs was completely apparent after the alliance lost its geographical advantage, and the human soldiers had completely lost their formation, and they relied on each other in twos and threes, resisting the siege of a circle of enemies.

The situation couldn't be worse, the human soldiers were becoming desperate, and now it was not so much faith as the fear of death that sustained them to continue fighting, but people have limits, and maybe in the next moment, they will completely collapse when they are alone.

But just then, reinforcements arrived.

"The Light is with us!" Someone shouted loudly outside the fortress. This is the faith of mankind, and it is the most tenacious and unyielding voice that this race has ever heard. On Blackstone Mountain, Anduin Lothar shouted this; At the Gate of Darkness, Tulayan cried out; On Mount Hyjal, Gianna Proudmoor shouted the same. When humanity fell into a moment of pessimism and despair, the heroes raised their arms and shouted to let the light of hope shine brightly. This slogan is an immortal monument in the history of mankind and the last dignity and pride of mankind!

Almost all of them, orcs and human soldiers, looked in that direction during the battle. On the gentle slope in front of the fortress gate, a knight with a shield appeared, he was wearing a standard armor of Stormwind City, and the western sun shone on him, reflecting him like a golden god of war. With one hand, he held aloft the Alliance Lion Banner, a flag that had been discarded outside the castle. When he reached the fortress gate, he slammed the flagpole into the ground, then raised a large black horn and blew it to his lips.

With the thrilling sound of the horn, five knights rushed up the ramp and stood behind him.

"For the Alliance!" Windthor roared like a lion, and the horses beneath him immediately galloped. Behind him the banner fluttered in the wind, and five knights followed him. A few people rushed towards the orcs like ten thousand horses, and the marshal still took the lead. He looked like an invincible steel golem, and Arathi's veins were boiling within him, as majestic as King Soladin in the Battle of Quel'Thalas. He held aloft the lion's shield, reflecting the golden afterglow of the sunset, like a blazing torch that lit up the light of hope in the hearts of the soldiers.

The sun was setting and the night was approaching, but the human soldiers in the fortress felt as if they had seen the dawn in their hearts, and the light and the hot wind from the north were invigorating! The orcs began to panic, they were nervous and their hearts were shaken, and the knights behind Wendthor sang majestic battle songs, mercilessly slaying their enemies, their most glorious battle. Their deafening singing drifted into the wind into the precarious fortress.

"The marshal is back." Someone was shouting loudly, and the voice was full of joy and excitement.

"And Kishan, their squad is back." The soldiers shouted for joy, "They have finally caught up!" ”

"Thoryin's guts, our hero is back." More echoed, chanting the legend's name and fighting with the orcs, "Windsol, Windsol!" He's with us! ”

The morale of the humans was boosted, and unimaginable power erupted from their exhausted and broken bodies, and together with their fury, they poured out on the orcs.

Windsor bravely advanced into the depths of the orc ranks, but some of the orcs returned and formed a human wall to thwart him, which made him feel some pressure, and his speed inevitably slowed down. The other orcs began to approach his horse, determined to drag the Alliance Marshal off his horse and tear it to pieces.

"Die, Greenskin!" Windthor swung his sword and slashed at the side of an orc's neck, slashing the ugly head away with a single blow, and then slammed his shield into one of the orcs on the other side, giving him enough time to poke the orc through a gaping hole.

The orcs were strong enough, they lacked skill, but they possessed strength, and while Windsor's shield was always able to block their slashes in time, their arms were numb from the shock. There were more and more orcs around him.

At that moment, with a wild roar, a huge brown bear crushed it like a tank. Dozens of orcs were knocked to the ground by him, and it looked like they had knocked over a pile of straw stacks.

The situation was finally reversed, and little by little, the Union soldiers advanced the battle line, driving the orc soldiers out of the fortress and towards the fortress gates. But the orcs were not willing to be defeated, and after they had overcome the initial panic, they finally calmed down, and the two sides were once again at a stalemate.

The sword slashed against the armor, sending out a flurry of sparks that flew in all directions. Fragments of halberd handles, broken flagpoles, tassels, broken armor and bloodstained emblems, and human and orc corpses were all mixed together to decorate the fortress inside and out. In this case, whoever is injured and falls off the horse is dead. But as if they were really being watched by the Light, none of the five knights had yet fallen, and they walked on either side of the marshal in a winged formation, shouting Windsor's name while slashing ferociously. Although the blackstone orcs in front of them were strong, they lacked sophisticated armor protection and strict training, and the knights swept through the autumn grassland like fire, and the horses' hooves did not leave a single grass.

Karakel rushed the hardest, and once the berserker went insane, he didn't even care for his own safety, he often wielded his axe like a wind, cutting down one orc after another to the ground, and if it weren't for Danvers's repeated shields to defend him against deadly attacks, he would have fallen from his horse and died. Comparatively speaking, Jorgensen and Kishann cooperated more tacitly, Jorgensen brandished his two-handed sword and charged in front, while Kishann guarded his flanks to guard against covert sneak attacks.

After a round of charging inside the fortress, they finally returned to the fortress gates again. At this time, this is the place where the battle is fiercest in the entire battlefield.

"Queue, queue! Raise your spear, set up your shield, and attack in unison! Windsor shouted loudly on horseback, and the human soldiers quickly obeyed the command—as they had done so many battles before, and in fact, with a backbone and a great command, these veterans were far more powerful than they thought they were. It must be said that in terms of morale and the art of commanding as he pleases, Colonel Todman was still a long way from Stonecastle to Lakeside Town on the other side of the lake.

Now, the human soldiers moved together, expelling a sturdy shield wall with their spears exposed, and the tribe slammed into it. But they could only leave the corpses that fell to the ground softly, and even if some parts of the shield wall were knocked out of the gap, the humans in the back row could always quickly step over them to fill the gap.

But they didn't advance far, as the Blackstone orcs had mobilized more than a third of their men, if not more, to resist their charge, and although they were attacking just as wildly, they weren't as brainless as the previous attackers, but showed some tactical awareness, especially the big orc among them. Dressed in brass armor, with a shield in one hand and a broadsword in the other, the orc's attacks moved quickly and cautiously, taking care not to let himself escape the protection of his shield as he attacked. This discovery shook Windsor's heart, and he realized something, this was the leader of these green-skinned monsters. This orc is so different, his eyes are not red like other orcs, but black, it looks calm and sharp, and it is completely free of the madness and bloodlust of other blackstone orcs.

The orc's name was Gasselzog, and he was the Overseer of the Ripper Legion, and Windthor realized that if he could take him down, he might be able to settle the battle quickly. He rode his horse a few steps forward, but there was a whole line between him and Gaselzog, both humans and orcs. He couldn't even rush to the orc overseer.

However, just when he was at a loss, a death-like screaming gunshot resounded throughout the battlefield.

The head of the orc leader jerked to one side, and it looked like someone had punched him in the face. Blackstone Overseer's body shook for a moment, then fell to one side skewed, reflexively raising his broadsword in an attempt to balance his body, but his hand had completely lost its strength and slipped off the hilt. The shield in the other hand also fell into the dust with a thud.