The orcs who had gone out to scout returned to their temporary camp. The young chieftain Thrall was already waiting for them in the tent. The orc who entered was middle-aged, the gray in his black hair indicating his age, but his burly frame and bulging muscles still displayed his strength.
"What did you find, Brox?" Thrall asked.
Brox, the orc who had entered, replied, "We scouted and found that Eitrigg is indeed in this city. He was supposed to be hanged at noon today, but a human pleaded for him, and he is now being held in the prison."
"A human pleaded for him?" The orcs in the tent stirred.
Thrall pressed, "What kind of person was it?"
"A young mage."
Thrall slowly digested this unexpected news, then made a decision, "Then we will sneak into the city tonight to attack the prison and rescue Eitrigg."
His advisor, the respected old shaman Drek'Thar, frowned and said, "I have a bad feeling about this, for some reason."
"Did the elemental spirits tell you something?"
"No, it's just a feeling." The blind Drek'Thar paused, "I'm probably getting old, and I'm becoming more senile."
At this moment, the old shaman missed being in his homeland of Draenor. Back then, the ancestral spirits guided them, unlike now, where he couldn't grasp where the premonition came from.
However, Drek'Thar still advised, "Chieftain, you cannot participate in this operation yourself. You are the hope of the orcs and cannot take risks."
"But—" Thrall had just opened his mouth when Brox, who had reported the news, interrupted him.
"The old shaman is right. I am more familiar with the situation. Let me lead the team this time!"
Thrall looked at them and had no choice but to give up the idea of going himself.
"Alright, choose the best warriors to go, and be sure to return safely."
"Rest assured, warchief," Brox said with high morale, "I will use my great axe to chop off the heads of anyone who dares to stop me!"
After formulating a detailed plan, as night fell, Brox led twelve orc warriors silently into Stratholme under the cover of darkness.
Thanks to detailed reconnaissance and caution, they successfully avoided all the sentry posts along the way. During the day, Brox saw a knight order stationed in Stratholme depart from here, supposedly to go to Andorhal to clear out the orcs—Brox watched the cavalry leave, secretly mocking the humans' actions as completely misguided.
The orcs under the leadership of the new warchief Thrall were no longer the brave but foolish warriors of the past. He secretly rejoiced that since crossing the Dark Portal, the orcs had finally ushered in new hope.
It was precisely because this knight order had taken away a large number of defense forces that the defense of this human city was much weaker than usual. Presumably, there would be no surprises in tonight's operation.
The entire Stratholme fell into a quiet slumber, with only a few scattered lights remaining in the darkness. The thirteen orc warriors successfully found the prison in Stratholme where prisoners were held. Brox and the others gathered in the dark alley opposite the prison, and he carefully observed the surrounding guards: patrolling soldiers would pass by here approximately every fifteen minutes. There were only two guards at the door, which would be easy to deal with.
Brox thought of the action plan formulated by the warchief and decided to follow the plan. So he began to arrange things:
"Gaskal, take two people to set fire near that plaza, create chaos to attract the attention of the patrols and other guards. Try not to expose yourselves."
"Okay," a young and strong orc immediately agreed, "You, you, come with me!"
As Gaskal left the group, Brox picked out another person from the group: "You, come with me to the roof, and use throwing spears to kill the two gatekeepers from the roof. Don't let them make any noise. The rest of you, follow us after we take action!"
… …
As the guard prepared to knock on the door of Highlord Gavinrad, he had already donned his full plate armor, picked up his two-handed hammer, and walked out, adjusting his armor as he asked, "What is it?"
The guard replied, "Someone set fire to a residential building near the plaza, and the city defense is searching for them."
Gavinrad frowned. Because High Summoner Dathrohan had taken some of the knights to Andorhal during the day, he stayed here to temporarily serve as Summoner.
"Did anyone see what the arsonists looked like?" he asked.
The guard said, "No one saw clearly, but witnesses said they were very burly, and seemed to be… orcs."
"Orcs?" Gavinrad remembered that Dathrohan had told him before leaving that the orc warchief might come to rescue the orc in the prison. Thinking of this, he immediately walked quickly towards the stables and shouted loudly, "Organize the guard and residents to quickly put out the fire and investigate the arsonists. Members of the knight order, follow me to the prison immediately!"
Holy Light be with us, he realized that this time he might catch a big fish!
The knights were a little stunned at first, but they immediately realized that this might be a smokescreen set by the orcs—soon the Summoner led more than thirty cavalrymen to the prison—sure enough, two innocent guards had already fallen in a pool of blood. They were killed by two short spears inserted into the back of their necks, a fatal blow.
Gavinrad heard shouts of fighting inside and immediately roared angrily, "Surround this place! The rest of you, follow me in!"
… …
Brox angrily looked at the scarred old orc in the steel cage in front of him. He could still recognize that this was Eitrigg, whom they had come to rescue. They had fought side by side in the past. But now this guy was covered in wounds, weak and Unbearable, it was hard to imagine what kind of torture he had suffered.
Eitrigg was a little older than him. If he hadn't come, this old guy probably wouldn't have survived a few more days of such torture.
He kicked away the body of a human guard that he had chopped in half with his axe, and picked up a bunch of prison door keys from the ground. He tried to find the one that could open the lock in front of him from the dozens of keys.
This operation was not so smooth—at first, it was indeed as he imagined, they easily solved the two guards at the door. But the number of other guards in the prison was almost double the normal number!
He sacrificed the lives of three orc warriors to eliminate the opponent's resistance.
"Click," after trying half of the keys, he finally opened the prison door.
"Eitrigg, I've come to save you!" Brox kicked open the prison door and strode forward to help up the old orc, who didn't even have the strength to stand up.
"You… are you Brox?" Eitrigg gradually recognized the orc's face in the dim light.
"It's me!" Brox saw that Eitrigg's hands were locked with shackles, and the other end of the iron chain was embedded in the solid wall. And the remaining keys were obviously larger than the keyhole.
He was just about to have someone look for the key when an orc who was left at the door to keep watch suddenly rushed over and said in horror, "General, human reinforcements are here!"
Brox quickly asked, "How many people?"
"At least thirty cavalrymen!"
Brox's heart sank. Such quick reinforcements, the other side didn't seem to be attracted to the fire at all. He realized that this mission was probably dangerous. Thinking of the old shaman Drek'Thar's advice, he felt fortunate again: Fortunately, the warchief was persuaded.
"Leave me alone, you guys go!" Eitrigg's voice rang in his ears, "I'm already dying, you don't need to come and save me, a dying old man. Run quickly, save as many as you can."
"No, I'm not a scaredy-cat! I accepted the mission, and I will complete it even if I die! Don't say anything, Eitrigg, I'll get you out of here!" Brox roared, raised his great axe, and slashed at the thick iron chain. The violent force easily broke the iron chain, but a large gap was also chipped out of the originally sharp axe blade.
"You, carry Eitrigg on your back! The rest of you, stand in front with me!" Brox pointed to a young orc, then roared at him and Eitrigg, "Before the rest of us die, you will not be harmed in the slightest!"
"Charge with me! Kill everyone who blocks our way!"
"Roar! Roar! Roar!"
The orc warriors erupted with unimaginable power in desperation. They all knew that in this enclosed prison, they only had one way to break out, and this road was destined to be paved with blood!
Under Brox's leadership, encouraged by courage, and supported by the desire to survive, they drove back the knight order members who had rushed into the prison. Then the two sides began a great battle at the door. Brox fought with Gavinrad, while the other orc soldiers were heavily surrounded by human knights who outnumbered them several times.
Tears flowed from Eitrigg's eyes on the back of the young orc warrior. He was both moved by the rescue of his fellow clansmen and hated his own incompetence, becoming a shameful burden.
Seeing the orc warriors protecting him fall one by one, he couldn't help but blame himself, thinking that perhaps if he died in prison, these orc warriors would have fewer sacrifices!
Seeing all this, Brox, after forcing back the human knight who was fighting him, let out a violent war cry and charged towards the man who was clearly the leader of the human knights in a burst of running. He knew that if he couldn't kill this human immediately, then he and all the orcs would die here.
Brox was not afraid of death, but believed that dying on the battlefield was the highest honor for a warrior. But he was afraid of failure, afraid of not being able to complete the warchief's mission.
Gavinrad saw the orc who was fighting him rushing over with an indomitable momentum, and he knew that this would be a moment of life and death. He did not hesitate, and vigorously waved his dazzling warhammer, bursting out his strongest strength, and swung it towards the orc.
His many years of combat experience told him that if neither he nor the other side stopped, his warhammer would shatter the other side's chest, and the orc's great axe would split him in half from the left shoulder.
But at this moment, he could not retreat. Retreat meant failure, especially in front of an orc!