The battle became more and more intense, as if there was an invisible hand playing with the battle, when the ogre slaughtered, the bravest and most rushing ogre warriors would be inexplicably killed and fell to the ground, and when humans gained the upper hand, there would be various factors to support the ogre from completely collapsing, these factors were either just the right amount of bloodthirsty magic, or a team of troll minions who came in a hurry.

As the battle progressed, both sides had forgotten why the war had started in the first place. Bloodshed begets hatred, and hatred begets more bloodshed, and once the wheel of hatred is pushed, it can never be stopped. The only thought in the minds of these blood-red-eyed, hair-haired warriors was to kill the enemy in front of them. Tumbling to the ground, only blood and death could appease the anger in their hearts.

Gradually, due to their numerical inferiority, the ogres inevitably fell into the encirclement, and when they realized that defeat was inevitable, the surviving ogres, led by Shaman Rul Monolith, mustered the last of their strength and broke out of the encirclement, fleeing outside Fort Riptide. At this time, there were only more than twenty of them left, and they could no longer make waves.

In fact, for the next few days, these monsters did not dare to stop on the road like lost dogs, and fled to the eastern part of the highlands, where they were located in the lair of the mountains, the Hall of the Stonefist.

Looking at these fleeing ogres, none of the victorious syndicates could laugh. Almost all of the original seven companies suffered more than half of the casualties, some companies were even wiped out, and almost all of the survivors were wounded.

Some of those who had survived the initial battle looked around, looking for the musketeer who had "inadvertently" started the battle, not to hold him accountable now—but to salute him, for more than one had seen his exploits, and at least ten ogres had fallen under his powerful dwarven musket. However, no one could see him, either from the vantage points around him or among the moaning heaps of wounded soldiers.

"Maybe he's dead!" Looking at the piles of dead bodies, they guessed with some regret.

Just as the syndicate gathered the corpses and treated the wounded, outside the gate of the upper city, there was a sudden sound of neat footsteps, which was the sound of the infantry advancing neatly.

At the sound of this voice, the faces of all the syndicates changed!

If they heard this voice in normal times, the syndicate would not be surprised, because they and the Arashi had a small fight in three days and a big fight in five days, and they were about to start a relationship. But today, at this critical juncture that has been battered, the Arashi have come at a better time.

In fact, the Arashi are a little stuck. If they had appeared too soon, perhaps the Syndicates and Ogres would have stopped due to external pressure and turned around to deal with the enemy. If it had been a little later, the Syndicate might have finished licking his wounds and was ready to defend.

The army of the Arathi stopped at the gates of the Upper Town. Although it only takes a less intense battle to defeat these remnants, that is not what the Arashi want, as the current kingdom of Riptide can no longer afford any casualties.

The Arashi and the Syndicate were at a stalemate, but apparently no one wanted another bloody battle.

A moment later, as if an appointment, Valocal walked out of the queue, and out of the syndicate came Otto, Duke Facurrest's aide-de-camp - the Duke was still unconscious.

"Surrender, I can give you a decent treatment!" Varocal said as cautiously as possible, so as not to touch the other party's sensitive psychological bottom line. These nobles of the former kingdom of Alterac were always pretentious and could not be offended by anyone.

"No, you didn't defeat us." Otto said arrogantly.

"But you can no longer have any chance of victory, your men are now less than half of ours, and all of them are wounded." Valocar said matter-of-factly.

"No, we'll fight until the last moment," Otto said stubbornly, "and every one of us still has weapons in our hands, even those who are wounded, and if we all die in battle, it will cost you dearly." ”

Varocal laughed, he could see the lieutenant's inwardness, if the syndicate was really as strong as he said, then he wouldn't have come to negotiate with him.

"You look back at your people, are they still willing to keep fighting? We haven't attacked yet, it's just that we don't want to add more casualties, not that we don't have the ability to win. You can continue to stand in our royal capital only because we do not want any more bloodshed. Varocal said politely. To prove his words, he beckoned behind him, and a beast as large as a hill came out of the crowd, it was a huge brown bear.

The beast, which was more than two meters tall at the shoulders, walked up to Otto and looked at him condescendingly, its mouth open and bared its teeth, which Otto guessed was greeting him, but its huge fangs looked thicker than his arms.

"Well, I think you're right, we really can't afford to be at such a stalemate any longer," Otto quickly changed his mind, the Alterac nobles were stubborn but not known for their hard bones, "our men will give up their resistance and leave Riptide with their families." But we want you to provide us with enough water and food so that we can keep our weapons, and you know, the whole north is not peaceful right now, and we have to be able to protect ourselves. ”

"Yes, but you can only keep your personal weapons such as swords and spears, and you must leave the Arathi Heights immediately." Varocal replied forcefully, and he also put forward his own conditions, "From now on, the kingdom of Riptide will not allow anyone with weapons to enter, except for true friends." ”

"Can you keep us safe on this journey?"

"I assure you," Valokal said in a deep voice, "as long as you don't resist, you can get out of here unhindered, and our cavalry will escort you all the way to the wall of Soladin." ”

"Okay, we'll get back to you as soon as possible!" Otto replied. He could not make decisions for the comatose duke, a responsibility that needed to be shared by the officers. However, after some heated debate, the people who sued for peace were in the majority.

After a while, he walked back to Valokar.

"We agree to your terms!" He said with some difficulty. In the Heathfield Hills and the Alterac Mountains, there are still syndicate forces, where they still have hope of a comeback.

A huge cheer rang out at once. Not only from the mouth of the Arathi, but also from many syndicates, not everyone can face a doomed battle, especially those who have just experienced a bitter battle.

Under Valrocar's arrangement, the old priest Landulf Liddell entered the upper city with seven or eight priests to treat the wounded syndicate soldiers—because their banditry was not in line with the teachings of the Light, there were very few priests in the syndicate, and in most cases, the wounded syndicates had to rely on herbs to survive.

It was on this afternoon that the Syndicate left the city they had occupied for nearly a year and embarked on the long journey back to the Alterac Mountains. However, to the surprise of Otto and most of the officers, many of the Syndicate's low-ranking soldiers were reluctant to leave with them, and their years of fighting had exhausted their energy and enthusiasm, and they were not as eager to restore the glory of the kingdom of Alterac as the noble officers. A warm home, a steaming meal, this is already most of their life goals.

And they can also see from the attitude of the Arashi towards them, they are indispensable for the underpopulated Riptide Fort, and many farms and mines are waiting for them to reclaim and excavate. Moreover, Varokal may have promised them the right to stay in the Arathi Basin after a year of hard labor, and the kingdom of Riptide could even grant them the Duke of Rapids if he wished. The legal status of the people.

Standing on the balcony of the main castle, Varocal watched the sad figure of the Syndicate fade away, and on the same avenue, countless of the city's former inhabitants were rushing from the direction of the Valley of Refuge. At this time, the square in front of the castle has already turned into a sea of joy. Countless Arashi are waiting, looking forward to it.

"Today," Valocar knew he had to say something, especially on such an exciting occasion, "and with the help of our allies, we won a great victory." We have recaptured our capital and driven out the bandits who once occupied it. I believe that this ancient city with a long history, in our hands, will surely glow with new glory and become our happy and stable home! ”

A huge cheer poured out, and Varocal looked around at the hundreds of faces brimming with joy and happiness. They cheered, brandished their weapons, and every part of their bodies seemed to speak of their joy and excitement. He turned his head and looked at the equally excited faces in the hall behind him, Samuel Hawke, Randulf Liddle, Captain Niès, Commander Amaron, ...... and, most importantly, the one most grateful, who had brought them all the changes - Saint Diego Asnar!