章 463: Chapter 463: The Fall of Stromgarde
Stromgarde was on the verge of collapse.
Just one more city district to capture and the banner of the Horde could be hoisted on the palace of Stromgarde.
However, those two or three seemingly small city districts in front of the palace had become the meat grinders for both the Alliance and the Horde. There were no established positions. Humans were playing hide-and-seek, popping up from any pile of rubble, even not showing themselves at all, and directly shooting a crossbow bolt into an orc's forehead.
It wasn't until the Horde broke through the outer city walls and entered the city district of Stromgarde that they realized that beneath this ancient city, inherited from Emperor Thoradin, the whole mountain was almost hollowed out. Underneath Stromgarde City, there were spiderweb-like tunnels.
Many of the tunnel entrances were quite narrow, impossible for the burly orcs to enter.
As a result, every time the orcs attempted to assault the inner city, they were constantly harassed on the way from the outer city to the inner city. The orcs' slightly heavier siege weapons couldn't be transported there at all. Perhaps a bag of fire oil would be thrown out from somewhere, burning the catapults and siege engines to ashes.
On the fifth day after Orgrim Doomhammer withdrew from Lordaeron, Rend Blackhand, who was in charge of the attack on Stromgarde, received an order.
This order from the Warchief made Rend Blackhand very unhappy, but he had to execute it.
"Since it's an order forwarded by Zuluhed, let Zuluhed handle it."
Upon receiving the reply, an hour later, Stromgarde faced its destruction.
Talannasstrasz— the red dragon's wing beat created a wind pressure, causing further destruction to this ancient city that had already been half destroyed.
The terrifying storm caused by the dragon's wing beat easily knocked down all the remaining, relatively intact houses. Some of the older buildings were uprooted, and the walls made of loose mud and bricks shattered and disintegrated in mid-air.
The defense zone in front of the palace, which had troubled the Orcish Horde for several months and prevented them from advancing, was flattened in just a few moments like a sandcastle washed away by a wave.
"Forgive me—" A deep voice of remorse echoed from the dragon in the sky.
Accompanying this voice, Talannasstrasz's abdomen swelled, then to his chest, and finally his neck. In the void in front of the dragon, dense, golden flame patterns formed by dragon language appeared.
This light, for a moment, even outshone the sun.
A destructive flame, from a small spark rapidly enlarged, into a fireball larger than an entire house. The golden light engulfed the entire palace of Stromgarde.
The grey-black palace was drenched in flames like molten lava. Amid the screams of the people of Stromgarde who witnessed this scene, the palace melted.
The huge blue stones became flat like pieces of cheese melted by high temperature, and the unknown hot substance spread in all directions.
Was Stromgarde's symbol gone like that?
Was the ancient capital of the Arathor Empire, which had been inherited for more than two thousand years, gone like that?
Talannasstrasz seemed a bit weak, but the orc on his back was shouting something. The pitiful ancient dragon had no choice but to muster his strength, aim at a large exposed cave, and spew out his scarce dragon breath again.
Inside the pit, it was as if a terrible volcanic eruption had occurred. Those narrow tunnels that had restricted the orcs' entry had become the humans' tombs. The doors and boulders that had restricted the enemy's entry collapsed or shattered like dominoes.
Not just Talannasstrasz, other red dragons under the orcs' orders quickly located each seemingly deep pit and spewed dragon breath into them.
This situation was a bit like a syringe.
Apply enough pressure from one side, and the flame would spread throughout all the spaces in the mountain along the tunnels.
King Thoras Trollbane, who had just arrived at Thoradin's Wall, collapsed to his knees in despair. Not just him, every warrior of the Kingdom of Stromgarde saw the golden flames spewing from every ventilation hole on the mountain where Stromgarde stood.
How many people could survive inside?
Were they on the brink of death?
Or was there one in a hundred chance?
"No—" Despairing tears fell from the faces of these sturdy mountain men.
Watching their homeland, the Kingdom of Stromgarde, sink into darkness, burn in flames, their relatives and compatriots crying and struggling in pain...
For a moment, almost all the people of Stromgarde felt that everything was lost... whether it was hope or the road ahead.
Stromgarde was destroyed.
This was the second capital destroyed since the establishment of the Alliance, and the third city to fall among the seven human kingdoms.
This news spread throughout the Alliance within a day.
Almost every survivor in the remaining countries was shivering with fear.
Among the remaining countries, only Dalaran and Silvermoon City had the strongest magical defenses. Perhaps they could withstand the dragon's devastating attack. But the rest were all in danger. Let alone the small countries like Kul Tiras and Gilneas, even Lordaeron couldn't guarantee they could withstand it.
For a time, the urgency to save the Red Dragon Queen, Alexstrasza, reached an unprecedented peak.
Every big shot in the Alliance was waiting for the results from the special squadron from Lordaeron.
The result made all the big shots in the Alliance fearful and uneasy.
Forty-eight human bodies, pierced by huge wooden stakes, were nailed to the open ground outside Thoradin's Wall. Looking at these human corpses dressed in epic leather armor, most of the soldiers on the wall didn't understand.
Only King Terenas Menethil was so angry that he pulled out several tufts of his own beard.
The surprise attack by Lordaeron had failed, utterly failed.
The senior rogues Terenas had sent were all killed without exception, not even a single one escaped to bring back the news.
This was a slap in the face to Lordaeron.
For a while, Duke Marcus's self-rescue operation plus the rescue of the Red Dragon Queen attracted the attention of all the big shots in the Alliance.
A sense of unease hung over the six-person council of Kirin Tor.
In the aerial council hall, there were no walls around, and the numerous, uncertain clouds were surrounding these high-level mages, changing and flowing rapidly. Looking up, it seemed as if time was also speeding up. Only the dark gray marble floor inlaid with diamond symbols symbolizing the four elements and shining faintly gave this scene a bit of realism.
At this moment, the most intense debate broke out in the council. These normally gentle and scholarly council members were now making a fuss, more excited than the old ladies in the market.
"I have no objection to supporting Duke Marcus, I have to admit he's a young man who can create miracles. But why does he specifically want Rhonin."
週次パワーステータス
-- 推薦
ランキング 
-- 推薦
チケット