Ambush

Andy did not hide what he had seen today from Tyrande; on the contrary, he needed her to resolve his doubts.

"Is this the pendant you found today?" Tyrande held the dark green pendant in her palm. "It looks like an old relic."

"And what about those shadows drifting in the sky?" Andy asked. "One of the soldiers saw them today."

"Sigh..." Tyrande set the pendant down, stood up, and looked at the bleak scenery outside the tent. "Those should be the projected images of the souls of High Elves who died long ago. They have no physical form and no consciousness, but they are not undead. They simply replay the things they did while they were alive."

Andy picked up the pendant. It was useless to him now; the Elf System had already absorbed its attributes and added them to his own. "Can you tell what material this is made of?" Andy asked.

Tyrande shook her head and smiled. "Most materials from ancient times have completely vanished. It's impossible to determine the composition of the pendant now, but it seems capable of gathering souls, so it must be extraordinary."

As the two were speaking, Hilar walked in from outside and said, "High Priest, the larger ruins outside have been cleared, and the various squads of soldiers have moved in."

Tyrande nodded, looking at the setting sun outside, lost in thought.

Darkness completely enveloped Azshara Beach, with only the ruins occupied by the troops glowing with the light of campfires. Andy sat inside a ruin, huddled in a corner with his bow and arrows in his arms.

"Hey, Andy." Saria, the timid big guy from earlier today, nudged him. "Is what you said about those Orcs really true?"

Andy looked up at Saria and nodded. Even now, there were still people who didn't believe the facts he had presented. It was understandable; they hadn't seen the ferocity of the Orcs with their own eyes. No one would believe something they hadn't experienced themselves. Sometimes even Andy felt a bit uncertain—were the Orcs really just like the ones in the game?

"Hold the line!" A roar echoed across the entire sea.

On the ship where Orgrim was, the Orcs on both sides of the gunwales rowed with all their might using large oars. They had departed from the port of Stormwind City nearly twenty days ago. Before this, they had sent a small squad of Orc scouts to cross the Endless Sea. Sadly, all the scouts were like stones cast into the ocean, vanishing without a trace. Orgrim didn't want to wait any longer. Ever since he discovered that massive world map on the roof of the palace in Stormwind City and learned that there was another continent across from them, he had been unable to contain his impatience.

Orgrim recalled the events of a while ago and could only shake his head helplessly. Durotan, his chieftain and comrade-in-arms, had died right before his eyes while resisting Gul'dan's rule. Although that battle had completely disgraced Gul'dan, it had been bought with his sacrifice. The reason he insisted on sailing to find that land was also to get away from that bastard warlock and the tyrannical Warchief Blackhand.

Orgrim looked back at the vast sea, where dozens of warships were floating. Building these ships had required cutting down nearly half the trees in Elwynn Forest. But helplessly, he had no experience sailing on the sea, and the Orcs who followed him out were equally at a loss.

They seemed to be lost. Yes, lost, and on the sea at that. The great storm a few days ago had nearly sent Orgrim's old bones to the bottom of the ocean. Although he hadn't fallen into the sea and drowned, his personal retinue on the ship hadn't been so lucky. This had given Orgrim a thorough lesson in the power of the ocean.

"Row harder! The land is waiting for us just ahead!" When Orgrim shouted this, he felt his own lack of conviction, and he didn't even know how many times he had shouted it. Yes, the land was ahead, but why could they never see it?

In the quiet of late night on Azshara Beach, some of the campfires were so weak they were about to go out. Except for the soldiers on guard duty, no one else was standing or sitting. At the edge of the camp, a watchtower nearly twenty meters high had been erected to keep a constant eye on the movements at sea. The guard on the tower had just finished his shift and was yawning as he went to rest.

The larger moon in the sky was about to set, while the smaller one still hung above. Dawn was approaching; it was the darkest hour.

"Bang!" A loud noise startled the soldiers near the shore. One soldier rubbed his eyes, poked half his head out of the ruins, and looked around. The soldiers on the watchtower were drawn by the loud noise. At this moment, the horizon was just beginning to turn a pale white, and the soldier strained his eyes, peering through the mist on the sea.

"Bang!" Another loud noise rang out, and the soldier on the tower seemed to hear a clamor coming from the sea. Then, a corner of a ship pierced through the fog and revealed itself.

"Woo-woo!" The soldier on the tower blew the horn hanging around his neck with all his might. In an instant, the sound of the horn spread across the entire Azshara Beach. The Elf soldiers, still immersed in their dreams, all scrambled up, grabbed the helmets they used as pillows, poked their heads out of the ruins, and looked around.

Andy had already woken up after the first loud noise, his eyes fixed on the movements at sea without blinking.

Orgrim now had the urge to curse. What kind of situation was this? How could they hit a reef for no reason? Exhausted in body and mind, Orgrim had finally succumbed to fatigue in the second half of the night and curled up on the ship to doze off. He had truly fallen asleep, and just as he was in the middle of a dream, his ship struck something. The vessel jolted violently, nearly throwing him overboard. The ships behind, not knowing what was happening, couldn't stop and crashed directly into Orgrim's ship, which had turned sideways.

This collision nearly snapped the ship's keel. Just as Orgrim was about to shout and ask what was going on, another ship behind them hit a hard object and came to a sudden halt. The Orcs on the ships behind roared, and as they watched their vessels crash into the ones in front, many Orcs fell off.

"What is going on?" Orgrim roared. "Why did the ships hit a reef!"

No one could answer his question. He could only watch helplessly as the Orcs who had fallen into the water thrashed about, shouting for the Orcs on the ships to throw ropes to save them. Finally, one Orc thrashed in the sea a few times, then pushed off with his feet and managed to stand firm in the water. This Orc stood up straight, and his head was actually above the surface.

"Chieftain, the water here isn't deep!" the Orc shouted at Orgrim.

Orgrim heard the shout and looked at the Orc, watching more and more of his body emerge from the sea. Could it be that he had stumbled upon the right place by accident? Was that really land ahead?

"What's the situation down there?" Orgrim roared.

The Orc looked at the water, which only reached his knees, and ran forward with all his might. Land, it was land! "Chieftain, it's land! It really is land!" the Orc shouted.

The expression on Orgrim's face was one of relief. They had finally arrived!

"Swish!" A cold, glinting arrow pierced through the back of the Orc's neck and exited through his throat, bringing with it a spray of blood. Orgrim saw it clearly, and the muscles on his face couldn't help but twitch. There were others here, and they seemed to have known he was coming.

The moment the Orc fell, a large cluster of arrows, shielded by the darkness, flew toward the unsuspecting Orc fleet.

"Ah!" After a few screams, the arrows covered all the ships in the front row, scaring Orgrim into crouching down in the ship, not daring to lift his head. "Get down! Don't show your heads! We've been ambushed!" he shouted.

After the arrows stopped, the surroundings immediately fell silent. Orgrim stole a glance; the bodies of several unlucky Orcs were floating on the sea, and a few others were rolling around in the shallows, clutching their thighs or arms.

Orgrim slowly poked his head out. By now, the sky was beginning to brighten, and the scenery in the distance was vaguely discernible. He saw that on the beach not far away, huge ruins stood one after another, yet within those ruins, points of cold light flickered incessantly.

There really were people here!