Sneak Attack on Menethil

Menethil Harbor was Lordaeron's largest port. Built jointly by the two great human kingdoms to facilitate communication with Stormwind, it possessed the largest fleet and harbor facilities outside Kul Tiras. Due to its importance, both Lordaeron and Stormwind stationed troops there. In the future, after the Scourge descended, Lordaeron's garrison would answer the call and return home to fight the Scourge, leaving the port to be taken over by Stormwind and Ironforge's dwarves.

For the entire Horde, with its millions of orcs, to reach the new continent, only Goblins, Kul Tiras, Zandalar, and Menethil Harbor possessed fleets capable of accomplishing the task.

Eighty percent of the fleets belonging to Lordaeron, Stormwind, and Ironforge were gathered here. The Alliance had established it to prevent Kul Tiras from monopolizing maritime transport. Funded by the three kingdoms, it could at least rival the three major powers on the Maelstrom in scale.

The combined forces stationed at Menethil Harbor received reports of orc riots in the north and orcs marching north from the south. Terrified, the governor activated the highest level of alert and sent requests for aid to the three kingdoms.

On the walls, human guards patrolled constantly, guarding against a terrifying orc assault.

In the swamp, warriors of the Warsong and Blackrock Clans slowly approached Menethil Harbor.

"I didn't expect these humans to be so cautious. It seems there won't be much of a chance for a sneak attack." Rend observed Menethil Harbor's forces. Under the torchlight, Menethil Harbor shone brilliantly, allowing the orcs hidden in darkness to easily see the human guards pacing back and forth.

"Futile. These people cannot stop the Warsong Clan." Grommash thought little of the humans' defenses. He was confident that the Warsong Clan under his command was invincible; Menethil Harbor alone was not enough to bar his way.

"I know how brave the Warsong Clan is, Chieftain Grommash, but every bit of fighting strength is worth preserving. Achieving the greatest return with the fewest casualties is what we should do. Don't sacrifice the Warsong Clan's warriors for nothing." Rend knew Grommash's courage, but the mindset he had inherited from another world told him that strategy came first for a commander.

"Oh? Do you have a good idea, Rend? This isn't the Rend I know. It seems the ancestral spirits really did awaken you." Grommash mocked Rend. The Rend he had known before was a fool who only knew how to charge headlong into battle. Without Grommash's strength, he had blindly lost many battles. Grommash had always looked down on this rash and arrogant hothead. Just now, Grommash had merely been testing whether Rend had truly improved or remained the same as before. Grommash did not want his clan to suffer needless losses either. Though the years had not diminished his valor in battle, they had tempered him considerably.

"The night is the Blackrock Clan's best protection. Isn't the mud of the swamp a perfect match for us?" Rend freely teased his clan's skin color.

"I'd like to see how many more surprises you have for us, Rend. You really have changed." Grommash looked at Rend with satisfaction, then led the Warsong Clan into readiness, prepared to see Rend's plan unfold.

Rend led the Blackrock Clan warriors forward, slowly creeping toward Menethil Harbor beneath the cover of mud and night. He had summoned the few rogues available to the Blackrock Clan and instructed them to deliver their gifts to Menethil. Today, they would put on a fireworks show for the Horde.

In the game, there were often missions that involved sneaking into ports and sabotaging them, but reality was not so simple. It took an exceptionally skilled rogue to carry out such a task. Yet besides Garona, the orcs had another master of stealth.

They waited patiently until the rogues returned. The rogues had mainly handled the outer perimeter of the walls, while the task of infiltrating the heavily guarded interior had been entrusted to a professional.

Just as dawn was about to break and the Blackrock Clan could no longer remain concealed, the most crucial orc returned.

"Everything is ready, Chieftain Rend." A powerfully built orc warrior emerged from the shadows. He was not from the Blackrock Clan, but the banner on his back and the massive blade in his hand made his clan unmistakable.

Samuro of the Burning Blade Clan was one of the Horde's few remaining Burning Blade blademasters. In the future, he would help Rexxar plant explosives within the fortress of the Kul Tiras expeditionary force, moving freely among the elite Kul Tiras soldiers. Menethil Harbor, lacking any powerful guardian, was even less of a challenge. Of course, this mighty blademaster would later lay down his weapon for the arts, join the Tauren Chieftain Band, and become its lead singer. As the old saying went, a blademaster who did not want to become a rogue was not a good singer.

Boom! Boom! Rend detonated the explosives within the city. These were powerful explosives produced by Blackrock Spire, and in an instant, the fortress built in the Wetlands was engulfed in flames.

The sounds of explosions, panic, and firefighting drew the attention of the Alliance soldiers on the walls. Just as they were distracted, Rend detonated the high explosives he had planted at a concentrated point on the wall.

Bang! The explosives within the city were mainly incendiaries meant to create chaos, but the bombs at the base of the wall were all high explosives. Dwarves used them to blast apart hard underground rock veins, which showed just how powerful they were. Concentrated at one point, they blasted open an enormous breach.

"Warriors of the Blackrock Clan, for the Horde!" Before the defenders on the walls could recover from the blast, Rend led the Blackrock Clan in a charge.

The change had come too suddenly. With the Blackrock Clan lying in ambush so close under cover of darkness, they rushed through the breach before the Alliance forces could block it.

Rend wielded Ashkandi and charged at the forefront, relying on muscle memory and instinct to evade the mages' spells and the hunters' arrows.

He charged forward and swung Ashkandi in a wide arc. With the blade's sharpness and Rend's strength, he cleaved three fully armed Alliance soldiers in half at the waist.

This was Rend's first time killing someone, but not this body's first. The bloodlust of slaughter awakened the body's memories. The bloody sight thrilled Rend beyond measure, and the body's excitement told him that it had been born for the battlefield—it wanted to kill more.

Rend used reason to forcibly suppress his bloodlust. Rather than charging into the crowd for a massacre, he divided the Blackrock warriors into two groups. He had Malkorok lead one group up the walls, while he personally led the other to widen the breach.

Though he tried his best to restrain himself, before Grommash, the Warsong chieftain, could lead his wolf riders through the breach, Rend had already pushed the Alliance defenders back far enough to give the Warsong cavalry room to charge. During that time, Rend had slain more than a hundred Alliance soldiers. The physical gifts inherited from Rend, combined with his strengthened soul, had heightened his reflexes and given him better control of his body. Ashkandi's sharpness made the Alliance soldiers utterly incapable of resisting him.