Battle

The Battle Begins

When Albert teleported back to Southshore, dawn had already broken. Looking out the window, he discovered that a squad of torch-bearing guards was patrolling the streets at this hour. Roderick and the others had apparently come up with some new arrangement. Without stopping to rest, Albert washed up briefly and headed straight for Roderick's doorstep.

Seeing that Albert had indeed returned before the battle as promised, Roderick could not help but smile. There was no time to catch up. He handed Albert the intelligence on the Shatterfin Murloc Tribe that he had compiled over the past several days. The young mage sat at the table and read through it carefully.

"Murloc Tidecallers and Murloc priests? Most of their spells are probably water-based."

"It would be great if the town's priests knew dispel magic. It could effectively counter the slowing effects caused by water spells."

"The murloc leader should be a powerful priest. I'll prepare a powerful Silence spell in case anything unexpected happens."

"Oh, right. Murlocs are amphibious combatants. We'll inevitably have to fight underwater, so water-breathing spells are essential as well."

Albert offered several suggestions for improvement based on his understanding. At last, the weight in Roderick's heart lifted. The Guard's greatest weakness had now been addressed, adding another heavy weight to their chances of victory.

Preparations for the battle proceeded in an orderly fashion. After meeting with the others, Albert returned home to rest. Everyone worked at full capacity like tightly wound machines. The whole of Southshore had become tense because of the coming battle. After two busy days, all preparations were in place, and today was another clear, fine day suited for bloodshed.

Fully armed, Roderick stood on the training field and looked over a force utterly different from the one they had been a month ago. He shouted, "Warriors, your many days of hard training will finally be put to the test. True warriors must always be tempered by the flames of war. The safety of Southshore rests on your shoulders. Glory lies before us. The Southshore Guard will triumph!"

"Move out!"

"Victory! Victory!" the soldiers roared, marching toward the coast in columns. The other support personnel had gathered and were waiting in the dock district. There were fewer than one hundred and fifty frontline combatants in total, while the Shatterfin Murloc Tribe had no fewer than three hundred warriors. The disparity in numbers left many councilors deeply worried.

"Roderick is still too young and hot-blooded. The murlocs outnumber us by more than two to one. How can he dare take the initiative? I say we should have the security forces join the battle too. That would be safer."

"Now that is the voice of prudence. Weren't the security forces and Guard soldiers all militia before? I support sending all of them into battle."

"Exactly. We exempted them from their autumn taxes. What use is that if they cannot be counted on when war comes? There is no such thing as a free lunch."

For a time, the docks boiled with indignation. It seemed as though they might dismiss Roderick and have the councilors command the battle themselves. Seeing the chaos unfold, Mayor Heni gave a soft cough. "The battle has not even begun. Please remain calm, councilors. After all, Captain Roderick's achievements this past month are plain for everyone to see. As for how the battle should be fought, let Captain Roderick decide."

Once Mayor Heni spoke, the chaotic voices vanished without a trace. All that remained were praises such as the mayor was wise, the mayor had great foresight, the mayor had an eye for talent in promoting Roderick, and victory was assured. Hidden among the crowd, Albert could not help but marvel at Mayor Heni's supreme prestige here. Without the mayor's support, Roderick's plans likely would not have gone so smoothly.

Before long, the neatly equipped Guard soldiers arrived in the dock district. At the sight of the familiar infantry gear of the Kingdom of Lordaeron, many watching Southshore residents began shouting excitedly. These survivors of the Kingdom of Lordaeron desperately needed an army like this.

On the beach near the dock district, they joined up with the Dwarf musketeer squad and the apprentice priests of the Church of the Holy Light.

After making a slight adjustment to the marching formation, Roderick shouted once more, "Southshore lies behind us. This battle allows only victory, not defeat. All soldiers, heed my command: those who disobey orders or rush ahead for glory will be executed!" The knights surrounding him shouted in unison, "Those who rush ahead for glory will be executed!"

"Those who fear death and retreat without orders will be executed!"

"Those who retreat without orders will be executed!"

After several cries of execution, the atmosphere turned solemn. Watching the departing force, Mayor Heni thought to himself, Now this is beginning to look like an elite force. He sat down with the other councilors to await news of victory.

The First Squad marched at the front of the formation. Most of its members were miners and refugees brought by Yug. As deputy captain, Yug walked in the middle of the formation, responsible for regulating its overall advance. The men on both sides had to keep pace with him. The squad of over thirty men was divided into four rows, with eight soldiers in each row. The three squads advanced in a triangular formation. The musketeers and priests were protected in the center, while Albert, the sole mage, was mixed in among the priests.

The murloc patrol quickly discovered the human army. Accompanied by a burst of piercing wailing cries, some murloc warriors charged forward, brandishing their weapons.

Yug gripped his shield tightly. The murlocs before him were about to rush into his face. Their enormous fish eyes stared wide, their gaping mouths revealed two rows of sharp teeth, and waves of stench blasted from their mouths like chemical weapons. Their crude weapons were almost too insignificant to notice by comparison.

With sharp whistling sounds, bullets tore through the air. Before the melee soldiers on either side had even clashed, the Dwarf musketeers fired first. Thalmar smugly blew away the smoke rising from his recently fired barrel. In the distance, a Murloc Tidecaller had been hit by several bullets. Its thin scales could not withstand the impact of iron shot. It convulsed and collapsed to the ground, utterly dead.

"Raise shields!" The brutal close-quarters battle was about to begin. The soldiers in the first row raised their shields before them. The clanging of weapons striking shields rang without end. Once Yug had adapted to the force battering his shield, he shouted with Red, the captain of the First Squad beside him, "Thrust!"

The soldiers in the second row raised their longswords and spears, stabbing through the gaps between the two comrades ahead of them. All they could hear were the wet sounds of sharp weapons piercing murloc flesh, punctuated occasionally by the clash of weapons when a murloc warrior successfully parried.

"Counterattack!" The shield-bearing soldiers in the first row also drew their shortswords and slashed at the murlocs before them. These murlocs were either evading the longswords thrust from the rear ranks or had already been struck and were struggling desperately. Attacked from two directions at once and unable to do anything against the enemy's shields, the murloc force collapsed in an instant. The lucky murloc warriors who had not died turned and fled to the rear, but the Dwarf musketeers' bullets followed close behind. The exposed murlocs were unsurprisingly struck down by attacks from behind.

This small murloc force was almost entirely slain by the Guard's blades, and even the fleeing murlocs found it difficult to evade the Dwarf musketeers' fire. The heavy casualties sent the murloc warriors who had not charged in at first fleeing into the distance. Restricted by their formation, however, the Guard soldiers could not pursue.

Seeing the enemy flee, the Guard's morale soared. The soldiers of the other two squads, who had not yet entered battle, cheered loudly as well. Once he had caught his breath, Squad Captain Red rotated the first-row soldiers to the last row to preserve their strength. After the formation was adjusted, it began advancing steadily once more.

Though these murlocs had formed a tribe, their priests and warriors showed that murloc society had developed stable social classes. Their use of various weapons also indicated that murlocs as a whole were evolving toward a civilized race.

Yet they could not manufacture tools themselves, nor had they developed a written language of their own. In battle, they relied more on murloc instinct than coordinated formations, proving that the beastly nature within them remained strong. The murloc patrols they encountered afterward suffered from the same problem. Some warriors were exceptionally fierce, screaming and charging as soon as they saw humans, while others were intimidated by the human force and turned to flee. The already outnumbered small murloc groups were continuously bled dry by the human battle formations. As they advanced, the beach beneath their feet became covered with the corpses of fallen murloc warriors.