By the early hours of the morning, less than a quarter of Rivendell's men remained, the city guards had only about 4,000 remainers, and the more than 8,000 archers had less than 2,000 remaining.

Old Rivendell himself also retreated to the rear due to serious injuries, if it weren't for the narrow gate of the Crusader Square, which could only accommodate a dozen or twenty people to enter, I am afraid that the tens of thousands of natural disaster soldiers under Xue Huan's command would have drowned Stratholme long ago.

But even so, with the festive trails, King's Square, and the market area, Xue Huan's army of death had captured most of Stratholme's territory, and all that was left was the crusader ramparts that Oryx and Malor had stubbornly held.

"Ah!!h

In the square where there was a river of blood and rotting corpses, another Lordaeron soldier whose neck had been broken by the abomination force was thrown out with a wail and slammed against the city walls.

Abomination, as a mid-level undead made by necromancers with painstaking efforts, has rough skin and thick flesh, and infinite power, and when each abomination is made, it basically has a level equivalent to the second to third order of human beings, and Ramsden, the king of abomination made by Kel'thugad himself, has the terrifying strength of the fifth order.

What is the level of the second order?

In the Seven Kingdoms of Azeroth, many of the soldiers who were conscripted into the army did not even reach the first rank in strength, and this was still a full-fledged soldier, but what about the soldiers of the warbands of a border city like Stratholme?

Their combat effectiveness can be imagined ...

Therefore, when these abominations with bloody butcher knives crossed the gates of Stratholme and rampaged through the Crusader Square, they lost the combat power of old Rivendell, and Orix and Malor, as third-order warriors, had no way to deal with these powerful flesh-and-bullet chariots.

"It's over, Master Oryx, we can't hold on, these... There are so many of these mongrels !!"

After slaying a ghoul who was gnawing at a corpse with a severed arm, Malor wiped the blood from his face and looked around at the abomination of his own soldiers slaughtering like a pig and a cow, and the Stratholme adjutant's eyes were filled with despair.

He is not a timid person, but in the face of a disparity in strength and no chance of victory, no one can hide the fear in his heart.

They have less than six thousand fighters left, and the opponent...

After more than ten hours of bloody fighting, Malor clearly felt that the number of these monsters had not decreased, but had become more numerous, and there were terrifying ghouls with green eyes everywhere, many of whom were still comrades who had fought side by side with them just now, and at this time...

In such a battle, it is really difficult for people to see the hope of victory.

"Bastard, I don't need to say this, of course I know!!"

After the elder Rivendell was forced to retreat into the Crusader fortress due to his injuries, his son, Orrix, naturally took over the command of the army, but the dense undead creatures around him made the young man, who was only twenty-seven years old, a little panicked.

Although he is not a pampered son, and he has led the squadron to exterminate several gangs of bandits around Stratholme, this is the first time he has faced tens of thousands of undead creatures.

When his father left, he asked him to guard the Crusader Square, saying that he was waiting for reinforcements from Uther, but he had been guarding for nearly four hours, and his soldiers had suffered heavy casualties.

It was an extremely difficult task, and behind him was the Crusader fortress that housed the tens of thousands of inhabitants of Stratholme, and if it were to be captured, the consequences would be devastating.

Spitting, Oryx looked around at the scattered warriors with bitter faces around him, and in Malor's glaring eyes, he stretched out a finger and gestured in front of the adjutant, "One hour, Malor, we must hold on for another hour, even if it is to fight for our lives, we must not let these mongrels enter the crusader barrier behind us." ”

An hour, this is the deadline that Oryx gave himself, and if Uther can't make it to Stratholm yet, then it's all over!!

Compared to Oryx, who was nervous in his heart, Xue Huan seemed much more relaxed at this time, and after pulling out the frost sorrow from the chest of a soldier with staring eyes and dead eyes again, the number of souls he absorbed in this battle had reached one hundred and fifty-three.

According to the withered voice in his head, Frost Sorrow must take care of the soul absorption, and the quality of the soul must be guaranteed to be at least above the first order, which also limits his efficiency in absorbing souls.

But it also makes sense, just imagine, if absorbing souls is really that simple, then wouldn't the nearly 300,000 inhabitants of Stratholme allow him to activate all the power of Frost Sorrow overnight?

It's not that simple to think about.

But he's not in a hurry...

Turning the horse's head, Xue Huan returned the horse pistol, and used the magic sword to cut off the head of a soldier who tried to sneak attack him, the whole set of actions was done in one go, and the frost sorrow like a work of art drew a cold arc in the air.

With an endless stream of ghouls and zombies surrounding the Crusader ramparts from all sides, and the abomination under his command being unstoppable, with less than 5,000 Lordaeron soldiers still struggling to prop up the crumbling line, all he needed to do was wave his hand, and the bloodthirsty and crazy creatures would cleanse the city in an instant.

The feeling of being able to decide the life and death of a person, a city, or even a country at a single thought, the feeling of manipulating the fate of others... It's so cool!!

But this pleasure was only one of the reasons why he didn't order the general attack, and the other key reason was that he was waiting...

Thinking of this, the corners of Xue Huan's mouth couldn't help but hook a cruel smile.

The precarious Stratholme has a total population of up to 300,000, and once it is occupied by itself, it is natural that this place will become a terrifying nest for the production of undead creatures, and those paladins, especially warriors like Uther, who have been galloping on the battlefield for decades, certainly cannot fail to think of this, and naturally will not let him do whatever he wants.

So what choices do they make at such times?

Hehe, that's right, of course, it's the integration of troops to help Stratholme, and in this way, it just happened to fall into my own hands...

Xue Huan didn't know that those scouts had already brought the news of his siege of Stratholme back to Uther, and he wanted to use this almost endangered city to lure Uther out.

In fact, it took less than a third of his troops to attack Stratholme Xue Huan, and most of the rest of the undead troops had already been arranged by him to ambush in the surrounding woods.

As long as Uther and the others arrive, then...

Thinking of this, Xue Huan looked up at the sky, the time was almost up, he waved his hand and summoned the necromancer Tered who had been staying behind him.

"You're here to take over my command of the army attacking the fortress, the strongest warrior among them is incapacitated, and all you have to do is drag out the battle here, understand?"

"Of course, great hosts!!"

Treed bowed reverently, looking at Xue Huan who turned around and walked away, the necromancer leaned over and waved the glowing staff in his hand, "Keep attacking, slaves, the master is watching us, and set foot on this city in the name of the Lich King!!"

(End of chapter)