Trol'kalar the Troll Slayer swung toward the Lich summoner Akira's skeletal frame, only to be blocked by a suddenly appearing Frost Shield.
"Young prince, you will become the finest gift I offer my great master, and in death you shall become a death knight, with your own hands destroying the kingdom you protect." Hiding within the Frost Shield, the Lich summoner Akira showed not the slightest panic at a warrior closing in, acting as though victory were already in his grasp.
Galen Trollbane gathered his rage and shattered the Frost Shield with a single strike, though his speed was also reduced by the ice shards, yet refusing to show weakness he replied, "Lich, it is far from certain who shall deer die, and I will take your skull to sacrifice to our fallen human compatriots."
At first Galen Trollbane found himself at a disadvantage, practically being toyed with by the Lich summoner Akira, unable to so much as touch a scrap of the lich's bones while being left thoroughly battered.
Yet as time passed, Galen Trollbane felt his mastery over his power and body grow increasingly profound, and the Frost Shield that previously required him to expend rage to shatter could now be breached by discovering its weakness and relying on sheer strength.
Amidst the drawn-out exchange, Galen Trollbane's strength continuously rose, his Heroic Rank aura growing ever steadier, until his eyes finally discerned a flaw in the Lich summoner Akira, and with a sweeping strike that cut every undead zombie blocking his path clean in half, he charged directly forward.
Just as the Lich summoner Akira attempted to repeat his old trick and cast Frost Shield, Galen Trollbane gathered his rage and unleashed a thunderous roar, the formidable energy directly interrupting the Lich summoner Akira's spellcasting so that the Frost Shield failed to form.
Galen Trollbane seized the split second of distraction from the Lich summoner Akira, bringing his blade down to hack several of the Lich summoner Akira's ribs apart.
"No! My perfect physique!" The undead felt no pain, but the summoner Akira was an extremely narcissistic individual who in life had kept himself meticulously groomed and in death, transformed into a lich, was incomparably fond of his lich body, which was now being ruined by Galen Trollbane.
Galen Trollbane cared little for the state of the Lich summoner Akira, and seeing the adversary abruptly lose his composure with his attention entirely focused on his lich body, he refused to let such a rare opportunity slip away. You're finished, lich!
Grasping Trol'kalar the Troll Slayer tightly with both hands, Galen Trollbane leaped high into the air and directly unleashed the warrior finishing technique Execute upon the Lich summoner Akira!
With that, the Lich summoner Akira's skeletal skull flew into the air, and upon losing the skull, all the power that had previously sustained the floating lich body vanished completely, causing it to tumble to the ground and turn into a pile of glistening white bones laced with frost crystals.
Having slain the Lich summoner Akira, Galen Trollbane's aura solidified completely, truly attaining the strength of a Heroic Rank warrior.
Earlier, Galen Trollbane had only just broken through with an unstable foundation, meaning his strength could only be described as half-step Heroic Rank, whereas the Lich summoner Akira was a pseudo-heroic rank, and even a pseudo one was stronger than his half-step.
Yet through battle with an adversary of the same tier, Galen Trollbane's strength began to stabilize, and once stabilized, a true Heroic Rank proved far more formidable than a pseudo-hero, which was also the reason why Galen Trollbane's Intimidating Shout was able to affect the Lich summoner Akira.
Coupled with the massive flaw revealed by the summoner Akira, this enabled Galen Trollbane to complete the ultimate execution.
At that moment, a vast mass of dark shadows appeared in the northern sky, and thousands of dwarf knights riding colossal gryphons emerged.
Galen Trollbane had likewise sent a request for aid to Aerie Peak in the Hinterlands, for Falstad Wildhammer, the highlord of Aerie Peak, understood full well the principle of the lips and the teeth.
Falstad Wildhammer hurled a Storm Hammer through the air, smashing the head of an abomination that sought to attack Galen Trollbane to pieces, and spoke in a rugged voice, "Congratulations, Prince Galen, another Heroic Rank powerhouse has been born to the Kingdom of Stromgarde."
How difficult it was to break through to the Heroic Rank was clear, for aside from those blessed with exceptional talent, many Ninth Rank powerhouses remained firmly trapped there for a lifetime, which was why after the appearance of the Scourge, many hidden powerhouses willingly defected to the Scourge in exchange for eternal life and formidable strength.
Take Falstad Wildhammer, for instance: though he was the highlord of Aerie Peak, he was merely at the Ninth-Rank Peak, trapped at this rank for over twenty years, while Aerie Peak's only Heroic Rank powerhouse, Kurdran Wildhammer, had joined the Alliance Expedition.
With the addition of the Wildhammer Dwarves' gryphon rider regiment from Aerie Peak, the gargoyles of this detachment of the Scourge were no longer anything to fear, and furthermore, with Stromgarde holding the aerial advantage, the moment for a counteroffensive had arrived.
Oslett, the marshal of Stromgarde commanding atop Thoradin's Wall, seized the tactical opportunity to have the Stromgarde militia forces open the gates, and charging out in the lead were neither the Stromgarde militia nor the highland cavalry, but rather the Witherbark trolls of Witherbark Village, who under the leadership of their chieftain Zalas Witherbark launched an attack upon the Scourge.
Though the Witherbark trolls were poorly equipped, with the majority wielding wooden stone axes, relying on the trolls' formidable regenerative capabilities and the Ninth Rank strength of their chieftain Zalas Witherbark, they nevertheless pushed back the undead who had been relying on a numerical advantage.
Watching the Witherbark trolls continuously falling in battle, Galen Trollbane wore a dark expression and refrained from issuing the command for the Stromgarde militia forces to sortie, for Stromgarde and the Witherbark trolls were destined enemies, and mercy to an enemy was cruelty to oneself, and while he had made a promise to Zalas Witherbark, he could use the Scourge to thin the numbers of the Witherbark trolls.
After the Witherbark trolls had paid a heavy price in casualties, Galen Trollbane finally issued the command to march, and the Stromgarde militia forces, having waited long and rested well for quite some time, launched a counterattack against the Scourge.
Lacking the command of the Lich summoner Akira as the Scourge commander and Heroic Rank powerhouse to hold the line, the Scourge detachment was nothing more than a tray of loose sand, with only a handful of high-ranking undead directing low-ranking undead in meaningless resistance.
The Stromgarde militia forces, the Aerie Peak gryphon rider regiment, and the Witherbark trolls joined forces, ultimately securing victory in this defensive battle of the Arathi Highlands.
Upon routing the Scourge, Zalas Witherbark led the fewer than ten thousand remaining Witherbark trolls fleeing toward the north, disappearing from sight.
Falstad Wildhammer, the highlord of Aerie Peak who had been fiercely battering the undead, let out a strange squawk and abandoned the attack on the Scourge with his gryphon rider regiment to give chase to Zalas Witherbark.
This was because the direction in which Zalas Witherbark was fleeing with the remnants of the Witherbark trolls was none other than the Hinterlands.
Presently, the majority of the Wildhammer dwarves resided in Aerie Peak within the Hinterlands and were naturally hostile toward the Witherbark trolls, and if Zalas Witherbark, a Ninth Rank powerhouse, were allowed to run off to the Hinterlands accompanied by so many Witherbark trolls, the danger facing Aerie Peak would escalate significantly.
Galen Trollbane had promised to spare the lives of Zalas Witherbark and the Witherbark trolls, but Falstad Wildhammer, the highlord of Aerie Peak, certainly had not.
Though the Witherbark trolls and the gryphon rider regiment successively withdrew from battle, the situation between the Stromgarde militia forces and the remaining troops of the Scourge detachment had already become essentially one-sided, serving as a fitting opportunity to train the new recruits.
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