The first units the Scourge deployed were always the massive numbers of low-tier troops, brainless zombies and ghouls.
"Ranged fire, open up with the artillery." The opening moves were, of course, simply wars of attrition. Facing the Scourge, who relied primarily on sheer numbers, there was no need for pinpoint accuracy; they just needed to fire directly into the dense sea of the undead, as long as one could draw a bowstring or operate a cannon.
Volleys of arrows rained down continuously, yet the High Elf rangers of the Kingdom of Quel'Thalas had already proven that against an undead Scourge that refused to die unless its soul fire was extinguished, the lethality was reduced to the absolute minimum. Some of the undead looked like hedgehogs, yet they continued to push forward driven by a thirst for blood.
The power of the artillery, however, was exceptionally remarkable. Under the violent explosions of the cannons, the bone frames of the undead were blasted directly to pieces. Furthermore, lacking self-awareness and possessing only the most rudimentary instincts, the brainless zombies and ghouls made no attempt to dodge the bombardment.
The cannons that King Magni Bronzebeard of Ironforge had sold to Stromgarde out of a sense of guilt possessed tremendous might. A single cannonball could instantly obliterate dozens of undead. Most crucially, compared to the products of those two other diminutive races-Gnomes and Goblins-the dwarves' craftsmanship was far more stable, and sudden accidental explosions virtually never occurred.
The soldiers responsible for archery and artillery were all recruits; Jorin Trollbane did not waste the stamina of experienced veterans on these tasks, having them hold back to await the right moment instead.
Those seasoned veterans would only step in whenever a defensive gap appeared among the recruits. This approach not only served to temper the newcomers but also created a false impression for the Lich Summoner Akira-that the forces of Stromgarde might break at any moment, and that he merely needed to continue employing a piecemeal human-wave tactic.
After all, the Lich Summoner Akira had spent the first half of his life as an ivory-tower mage untroubled by worldly affairs. High-reaching yet incompetent, he had never commanded a battle in his life, and for the moment he failed to perceive anything amiss.
And so, the two sides traded blows. Several times, the detachment of the Scourge managed to scale Thoradin's Wall, only for the forces of Stromgarde to push them back in "nail-biting" fashion.
This state of affairs persisted for several days, until it could no longer be kept hidden from the Lich Summoner Akira. After all, he was neither a fool nor blind; watching tens of thousands of Scourge foot soldiers fall beneath Thoradin's Wall while the enemy's casualties barely numbered in the thousands-with the majority of those merely wounded soldiers who were dragged back for treatment-made the reality clear.
The Lich Summoner Akira decided to take the field himself. As this lich, whose entire body had been reduced to bare bones, approached Thoradin's Wall, the Stromgarde militiamen upon the ramparts felt the ambient temperature drop by several degrees in an instant.
The moment his Heroic Rank aura was unleashed, the overwhelming power of frost and death plunged the recruits into terror, driving them to drop their weapons and flee.
"Insiginficant mortals, only death is the truth!" The Lich Summoner Akira pointed a bony finger, and a formidable surge of death energy instantly erupted outward.
In a flash, Death and Decay formed across a sector of Thoradin's Wall. Every Stromgarde militiaman within that zone felt the rapid draining of their stamina and vitality.
A Heroic-Rank spellcaster possessed formidable lethality. If the Lich Summoner Akira were allowed to run amok, it was a threat the currently underpopulated Kingdom of Stromgarde could not withstand.
Thus, growing bold on his own skill and relying on the fact that he too had broken through to the Heroic Rank, Galin Trollbane leaped directly down from Thoradin's Wall.
Thoradin's Wall was ancient. While not as towering as Greymane Wall, it still had a height of at least ten meters. Jumping straight down from it meant certain death for an ordinary person.
The Heroic Rank was a threshold, an elevation of one's very essence of life. Only upon reaching the Heroic Rank could one be called a powerhouse of a region, and every aspect of one's physique would undergo a comprehensive enhancement.
The height of over ten meters lent Galin Trollbane formidable gravitational momentum. Gathering the downward force squarely beneath his feet, he executed a standard warrior landing that shattered the surrounding undead creatures of the Scourge into powder.
Once he locked onto the signature of the Lich Summoner Akira's presence, he began an unrestricted Charge straight through the ranks of the Scourge's undead minions, cutting down the undead blocking his path in two with every single charge.
Before the Heroic Rank, Charge belonged to the skill sequence, but upon attaining the Heroic Rank, by forcing the limits of his physique, Charge transformed into an unrestricted ability.
Galin Trollbane certainly had no intention of wearing himself out inside the sea of the undead. After all, even the mighty Ashbringer, Alexandros Mograine, had been overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the undead horde, draining his stamina and Holy Light.
Had the Lich Summoner Akira not stepped forward to cast spells and instead remained safely hidden behind the main host of the Scourge army, Galin Trollbane would never have exposed his strength as a Heroic-Rank warrior so readily.
Though the Lich Summoner Akira's intuition was not as sharp as a warrior's to detect Galin Trollbane's presence immediately, as Galin closed the distance through his charges, the lich naturally sensed the immense threat bearing down on him.
"A Heroic-Rank warrior? How is that possible? Wasn't Thoras Trollbane already dead?" The reason the Lich Summoner Akira had been confident enough to lead a Scourge detachment to attack the Arathi Highlands was precisely because he had heard that the warrior king Thoras Trollbane had perished; otherwise, he would never have dared face a veteran Heroic-Rank powerhouse like Thoras.
Yet soon enough, the sharp-eyed Lich Summoner Akira realized it was not Thoras Trollbane. Although the two shared a sixty-percent facial resemblance, the Heroic-Rank powerhouse before him was someone else.
"Galin Trollbane? Wasn't he rumored to be someone who could never break through in his lifetime?" The heirs to the kingdoms of Lordaeron and Kul Tiras, along with the Stormwind monarch, were all so dazzlingly prominent that Galin Trollbane appeared utterly negligible by comparison. Furthermore, the old king, Thoras Trollbane, had once pronounced that Galin could never achieve a breakthrough.
However, the Lich Summoner Akira sensed that the Heroic-Rank aura emanating from Galin Trollbane was unstable, clearly having broken through only recently. He could not help growing excited; if he slew Galin Trollbane, his master would surely look upon him with greater favor, and he would gain an additional Heroic-Rank death knight as a servant.
Formidable frost energy condensed, and a Frost Nova was cast directly toward Galin Trollbane's feet.
A surge of keen intuition alerted Galin Trollbane to the danger beneath him, prompting him to leap clear of the spot. Sure enough, the moment he landed, every undead creature in the area he had just occupied was pierced through by jagged frost.
A warrior, even a Heroic-Rank one, had to close into melee combat; fighting at range would only allow the Lich Summoner Akira to wear him down to death. Ignoring his physical discomfort, Galin Trollbane executed several more charges until he finally brought the Lich Summoner Akira within his attack range.
"Lich, you've chosen the wrong place! The Kingdom of Stromgarde is mine to protect!" Galin Trollbane roared, launching a Charge straight at the Lich Summoner Akira.