As dawn broke over the battered landscapes of Tranquillien, the once ominous blackish-gray hues of the eastern skies began to shift. The orc warriors, having rested through the night, emerged from their encampments with an even more ferocious aura.
Their muscles, still taut from sleep, seemed to pulse with renewed vigor, and their eyes burned with an unyielding intensity. The chaotic sound of their advancing footsteps reached the ears of every elven soldier on Tranquillien's defensive line.
Commander Thalorien calmly observed the orcs' route. This was the last line of defense for Ghostlands, and regardless of victory or defeat, he, as commander, had to fight. The Horde could not be allowed to easily invade Eversong Forest!
Besides the rangers and warriors arrayed neatly on the defensive line, six magisters from the Silvermoon Council and the Magisters Association stood atop the domes of every building in Tranquillien.
The magisters needed to be on high ground to maximize the effectiveness of their spells.
A shout of 'Lok'tar ogar' from Orgrim ignited the fury of the orcish army. The orc warriors charged towards Tranquillien like war machines.
Interspersed among them were hundreds of two-headed ogres, their bodies encircled by powerful magical shields. Their faces were blank, but the arcane energy surrounding them made them exceptionally dangerous.
Far off on the ranger's defensive position, Leylin saw these creations and sensed the storage of miniature magical arrays within the bodies of these two-headed ogres. Gul'dan and his warlocks had created these powerful creatures using the energy of the Sunwell.
The immense arcane energy these two-headed ogres carried increased their offensive capabilities, which Leylin also exploited. Leylin now possessed the power to control the miniature magical arrays within each two-headed ogre.
Almost every ogre had at least one miniature magical array within its body. But that was enough. Leylin didn't activate these miniature magical arrays immediately; the time wasn't right yet.
A mighty horde of orcs surged from the scorched, desolate forests of the east toward the higher ground of Tranquillien. Rangers formed the first line of defense for the elves, unleashing a torrent of arrows from their quivers into the charging horde.
The rangers were highly accurate, but in reality, fewer than a hundred orc warriors fell to their arrows. Next, the magisters began constructing the second and strongest line of defense.
The orcs were most troubled by the power of mages. These war machines, who knew only how to charge and brute force, were struggling against such powerful and restrictive magic.
Fortunately, the orcs had a numerical advantage together with the amani trolls.
With a whoosh, the orcish charge crashed down upon Tranquillien. The orcish artisans had plundered vast amounts of timber and resources in northern Lordaeron.
Here, they also constructed catapults identical to those they had used in Draenor. The previous catapults were halted in the Hinterlands, but now they had found a new alternative.
The boulders crashing against the Tranquillien elven structures were not merely the result of natural forces. Warlocks behind the orcish horde had imbued these boulders with a multitude of shadow spells. These stones, wreathed in dark yellow flames, rapidly disintegrated and shattered upon impact with the walls.
Magister Senethir began teleporting these leaping shadow boulders. His teleportation magic was perfectly suited to defend against the Tranquillien's artillery fire.
Magister Nallorath and Magister Rommath, on the other hand, wielded powerful natural forces. The massive water elementals they commanded were unlike those of ordinary mages; the water elementals they enslaved were far larger.
Grand Magister Belo'vir's magic lacked the visual effects of other mages' spells. It was undeniable that Belo'vir's dozens of fire spells raged around the orc warriors like colossal dragons.
As the distance closed, the orcs, utilizing their numerical advantage to break through the mages' spell restrictions, finally stormed Tranquillien. They engaged the mages, rangers, and elven warriors atop the tower in a direct assault.
Freed from the protection of most magic, the orcs' bloodlust and ferocity proved their fighting prowess. Most elves questioned whether these orcs were truly born to fight. Their understanding of war filled their entire lives; war was their way of survival.
Thalorien's longsword pierced three charging orcs in quick succession before he surveyed his position. The entire Tranquillien defenses were instantly torn apart by orc soldiers.
The death rate for elves and orcs was exactly the same. The orcs numbered in the thousands, but the elves were different.
Since the high elves arrived on this continent, their numbers hadn't even doubled. If they fought the orcs to the death now, Silvermoon City would be utterly hopeless.
"All guards, provide cover for each other! The Radiant Guard, rush to the flanks and repel the orcish advance!" Thalorien shouted, trying to buy time for his troops to regroup.
As Deputy Commander of the Radiant Guard, Leylin led from the front. Under Tyr'ganal's cover, Leylin unleashed a barrage of spells, arcane energy mixed with fire energy tearing apart the twenty orcs standing before him.
He immediately switched to melee if some orcs got close, using [Beowulf] punches and kicks enhanced by magic and together with his spells dealt a massive blow to the orc warriors charging at the forefront.
The guards immediately raised their massive shields, gleaming with the light of the sun, to assist Leylin's advance. Their orderly advance halted the orcs' advance, nearly creating a gap of thirty meters. This opening helped the scattered elves retreat quickly with the Radiant Guard buying them time.
However, while commanding the Radiant Guard and engaging in the battle, Leylin was also observing the battlefield situation. The orcs' attack was now at its most concentrated, their reinforcements from the rear and the short-distance retreat of the soldiers at the front completely converging on one point.
This was the perfect opportunity.
Taking out the controller from his magical pouch, and using his mastery of magic, Leylin simultaneously detonated the miniature time bombs hidden within the bodies of all the two-headed ogres.
"Boom!" A series of explosions reduced the orc soldiers' offensive momentum by more than half.
Especially the Horde Warchief, who was preparing to tear apart the elven defenses on the flanks. He was wounded in the arm by the explosion of the two-headed ogres beside him.
"Gul'dan tampered with these creations, that damned warlock!" Orgrim completely ignored the wound on his arm, even though the muscles next to it were bulging out.
Cho'gall looked at the two-headed ogres in a panic and said: "Impossible, Warchief, Gul'dan couldn't have altered these creations. We can't make these simultaneously exploding magical bombs."
Orgrim was even more furious at this reply: "Disgrace! Compared to Gul'dan's failure, this time you have disgraced the Horde!"
"Gather all the troops, drag the wounded to the rear, Horde warriors, and I will raze this elven land to the ground!" Orgrim shouldered his weapon Doomhammer and angrily slammed the shield wall erected by the elves of the Radiant Guard with the armor on his shoulder.