With the presence of the red dragons controlled by the Dragonmaw clan, Orgrim Doomhammer was highly confident that his fleet could break through the human naval defenses.
The sheer power of these dragons surpassed anything Orgrim had ever encountered. Even the demons summoned by warlocks and the towering gronn that roamed the wastelands of Draenor were no match for these terrifying creatures.
What made the dragons truly fearsome was their ability to fly and their deadly breath attacks.
Unlike other colossal beings, dragons were natural rulers of the skies, possessing an innate advantage that made them nearly invincible in battle.
No matter how formidable a giant might be, it could still be overwhelmed by a swarm of ants. But a dragon, capable of flight, could choose when to attack and when to retreat.
Their breath attacks made them even deadlier, turning these mighty creatures into merciless killers.
As the only one in the Alliance aware of the Horde's secret weapon, Alaric knew that to stop them at sea, the red dragon threat had to be neutralized in advance.
Fortunately, these dragons were not truly allies of the Horde—they were merely enslaved by the Dragon Soul.
If Alaric could steal or destroy the Dragon Soul, the Horde's greatest weapon would turn against them and become their doom.
However, there was a crucial problem.
If the Horde lost the red dragons, Orgrim Doomhammer would immediately abandon his plan to invade by sea and instead choose an alternative route to attack Lordaeron.
This would ruin Alaric's original strategy: luring the Horde's forces onto the ocean, where the Alliance's superior naval power could annihilate them.
While the Horde had received assistance from the trolls and goblins in shipbuilding, naval warfare was not something that could be mastered overnight.
Beyond simply constructing ships, experienced sailors and knowledge of ocean currents were also essential.
Though the Horde had built a fleet capable of transporting a large army, they lacked the skills for naval combat.
Against the Alliance navy, they were little more than moving targets.
If Alaric could lure them to sea, the Alliance could wipe out a massive portion of the Horde's forces with minimal losses, sending the green-skinned invaders to a watery grave.
However, this plan, despite its brilliance, was incredibly difficult to execute.
The key challenge was getting the Horde to take to the sea in the first place.
This was why the Alliance commanders believed an amphibious attack on Lordaeron was impossible—they saw it as a suicidal move.
The Alliance's mistake was underestimating Orgrim's intelligence and failing to account for the existence of the red dragons.
Now, Alaric had to figure out how to eliminate the red dragon threat while ensuring the Horde stuck to their original plan.
His conclusion: the mission to rescue the red dragons and seize the Dragon Soul had to commence only after the Horde's fleet had set sail.
Furthermore, it had to be completed before the Horde and the Alliance navies clashed—and ideally, even earlier.
This way, the Horde fleet wouldn't receive news of their secret weapon turning against them in time to retreat. Even if they did learn of it, they would already be too far out at sea to return to land.
Additionally, the operation needed to be completed swiftly so the red dragons escorting the Horde fleet could be informed in time, preventing the Alliance fleet from suffering heavy losses.
At the same time, the mission had to remain completely secret to avoid alerting the Horde and causing them to abort their plans prematurely.
These constraints added significant challenges to Alaric's strategy.
First, the operation had to be highly covert. A small team would be ideal, as deploying an army would make it impossible to remain undetected.
Grim Batol, where the red dragons were imprisoned, was located a considerable distance from Alliance-controlled territory.
A large military force would slow down movement, require extensive preparation, and be nearly impossible to conceal.
Second, the mission had to be executed with extreme speed. From the moment the Horde fleet departed until it engaged with the Alliance navy, only about a day would be available.
But this timeframe also included time for intelligence gathering, relaying messages, and travel.
Grim Batol was a dwarven city built within the mountains, much like Ironforge in Khaz Modan. Its fortress-like design made it nearly impregnable.
Even with a full-scale military assault, it wouldn't fall in a day or two. Given these factors, infiltration was the only viable option.
However, sneaking into such a heavily fortified city was no easy task. Even getting there would take considerable time.
Beyond these challenges, Alaric had another goal for this mission—he wanted to set a trap for Deathwing.
The treacherous black dragon had spent centuries in hiding, avoiding the wrath of the other Aspects.
Even his own offspring didn't know his whereabouts. His involvement with the Dragon Soul was the only clue Alaric had to track him.
Given the importance of the Dragon Soul, Alaric believed that even if Deathwing didn't personally oversee it, he would still keep a close watch from the shadows. His ultimate goal was to use the Horde to lure the other Aspects—especially Alexstrasza—into his grasp, control them, and bolster his Black Dragonflight.
As the Life-Binder, Alexstrasza's ability to reproduce was unparalleled. Despite reproducing asexually for hundreds of thousands of years, she had grown the Red Dragonflight into the most numerous among the six dragonflights.
Alaric planned to exploit this opportunity. A mortal team would steal the Dragon Soul, while the Aspects lay in ambush. When Deathwing made his move to stop the mortals, the Aspects would strike.
Even if this ambush couldn't kill Deathwing outright, it would deal him a severe blow, forcing him into hiding once more.
For this plan to work, the infiltration team could not rely on the dragons for assistance. Otherwise, Deathwing would see through the ruse. But this restriction made the mission even more difficult.
Ultimately, Alaric decided to personally lead the operation, assembling an elite squad to assist him.
Of course, he would still leverage the Alliance's resources.
To conceal his ties with the three dragon Aspect sisters, he had Alexstrasza issue the mission through Krasus—the red dragon known as Korialstrasz, who was secretly observing human society from Dalaran.
As a member of the Kirin Tor's ruling council, he was in the perfect position to propose such a task.
With the plan finalized, all that remained was execution.
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