Land Tank

With Magatha's help, Rend's twelve thousand centaur raiders did not encounter any large-scale Quilboar encirclement. Upholding the fine traditions of nomadic peoples, they fought, killed, burned, and ran.

The enormous losses on the outskirts led many Quilboar chieftains to pressure Karga, the Quilboar's true leader.

But Karga said, "The centaurs and that so-called Horde are both our enemies. One has been our sworn enemy for generations, while the other slaughtered our kin in Durotar. Since the two sides want to kill each other, we should not act rashly." As an old and cunning Quilboar shaman, Karga weighed the pros and cons and tried to persuade the other Quilboar chieftains. But aside from her, there was practically no Quilboar with normal intelligence. They merely endured for the time being because of Karga's strength.

Meanwhile, Rend escorted the theft squad while also launching a deep strike behind enemy lines. Like a sharp blade, he plunged straight into the outskirts of the Quilboar homeland and nearly reached the entrance to Razorfen.

That made the Quilboar chieftains unable to sit still. They could endure the losses of the outlying Quilboar villages, but the inner settlements were all their assets. Whether for pride or profit, they would not allow Karga to keep indulging these centaur raiders. Their scouts had indeed seen centaur raiders, and the looted villages even had centaur corpses left behind. The Quilboar had also truly died by centaur weapons. Therefore, with Quilboar intelligence being what it was, not even Karga guessed that these centaur raiders were actually disguised Horde forces.

Under pressure, Karga Spine had no choice but to send Overlord Ram'thas with thirty thousand Quilboar boar cavalry to intercept this brazen band of centaur raiders.

However, Rend's forces had the powerful shaman Magatha serving as their guide, which was practically like having an area-wide satellite. Through her communion with the elements, they learned Overlord Ram'thas's location in advance. With Varok's guidance as well, Rend was able to employ rudimentary tactics he had learned in the past, such as strategic depth, leaving Overlord Ram'thas constantly choking on his dust and never once managing to catch the centaur raiders he hated so fiercely.

And so, as one side chased and the other fled, Rend and his men had a grand time. Overlord Ram'thas, following behind them, was furious. His boar cavalry simply could not catch the centaurs. At first, he had thought driving them away would be enough, but after they were chased off, they would return from somewhere else. They kept dragging things out as though they intended to settle there permanently. Using his clever brain, Overlord Ram'thas concluded that these centaurs must have found the outlying Quilboar villages too easy to loot, treating them like lambs waiting for slaughter. That was why they kept returning even after being driven away. He had to make them truly understand that the Quilboar were not to be bullied.

Thus, Overlord Ram'thas began recruiting Quilboar warriors from every village along the way into his forces, intending to use greater numbers to intimidate the centaur raiders and make them afraid to loot the Quilboar again. Ideally, he would drive them out, then leave behind the warriors recruited from the villages to defend the area, letting the centaurs see that the Quilboar were prepared. That way, no centaur raiders would come bother them again in the future. It was a permanent solution, one that would surely astonish that old hag, Overlord Ram'thas thought happily.

Rend had not expected the Overlord to pull this stunt. This time, just after they had been driven out of Quilboar territory, they saw Overlord Ram'thas organizing the newly recruited Quilboar forces into defensive positions, while he himself confidently departed with the Quilboar boar cavalry.

Although Overlord Ram'thas had recruited tens of thousands of troops along the way to establish a defensive line, more soldiers were not always useful. This simple defensive line was not the Great Wall. How could it stop the ferocious "centaur raiders"?

Besides, with his pig brain, he did not understand that more troops did not automatically mean greater strength. The Quilboar had always believed that their vast numbers alone would allow them to win through human-wave tactics. But reality was not so simple. If it were, Azeroth would have long since been dominated by trolls. Though trolls had been oppressed and slaughtered by the major races, they were still Azeroth's most numerous race, even outnumbering the nerubians and humans.

It was merely a simple defensive line made up of several tens of thousands of Quilboar. Infantry stood in lines to defend—what could they use to stop Tauren Kodo Beast cavalry, known as Azeroth's heavy tanks? Kodo Beast cavalry were equivalent to heavy cavalry, while Orc wolf cavalry were equivalent to light cavalry. According to Rend's classification, he had always intended for heavy cavalry, the Kodo Beast riders, to assist in breaking formations and charging, while light cavalry, the Orc wolf riders, would assist in harassing enemies and engaging them. Compared with the cumbersome Kodo Beast riders, the experienced wolf riders were stronger in close combat, and their wolves were fiercer as well. Though they could not be raised directly into battle partners like those of the Frostwolf Clan, Orc mounts still possessed considerable combat strength.

After confirming that Overlord Ram'thas had led the Quilboar cavalry far away, Rend ordered Arnak Grimtotem, the exceptionally robust and towering Tauren warrior who had already become his subordinate, to lead the Tauren Kodo Beast cavalry at the forefront. They only needed to smash straight through the Quilboar's so-called defensive line by force.

Arnak Grimtotem perfectly matched Rend's ideal candidate for a heavy cavalry commander. He was massive, powerful, and possessed tremendous spearhead force. He also led from the front. Once he charged, he was like a raging bull, fearless and unstoppable. As long as he was given a direction, no matter what line stood before him, he would charge straight through it. Inspired and led by him, the Kodo Beast cavalry behind him truly lived up to the name of heavy tanks. Everywhere they passed, anything that blocked them was crushed beneath the Kodo Beasts, as if the ground had been ruthlessly plowed. The Quilboar warriors who had formed the blockade were trampled directly into pulp.

The Kodo Beasts' powerful bodies gave them incomparable impact force. Combined with their resilience, much like that of the Tauren, they were capable of prolonged, high-intensity combat even while bearing heavy armor and fully armed Tauren warriors. The horns on their heads were also charging weapons, granting them even greater killing power.

Furthermore, according to Rend's memories, Kodo Beasts were not just cavalry mounts. They could provide support as well. Strap war drums around their waists, add a shaman's encouragement, and they could provide a battlefield aura. Kodo Beasts also possessed the divine ability to devour. Though they were not like in the game, where they could swallow almost anything that was not especially large, even Abominations, in reality Kodo Beasts could only swallow things much smaller than themselves, things they could at least eat. For example, Rend had once been astonished to see one swallow a war boar whole. The war boars raised by the Quilboar were enormous, yet they were still swallowed whole by a Kodo Beast. Trained war Kodo Beasts were much smaller than wild ones. If they were wild Kodo Beasts, Rend believed they truly could swallow heaven and earth.