When Lothar and his troops arrived at the battlefield, they had already seen the outpost forces retreating. From one of them, he learned that more than thirty people were covering the rear. He immediately clamped his legs to the warhorse's flanks and ordered everyone to speed up.
The battlefield was not unexpected. The cylindrical formation formed by over twenty soldiers was already precarious, but what was more eye-catching was the other area of fighting far away from the formation. Standing on the small hillside, they could see at a glance that the area was piled high with Orc corpses.
'Are there such powerful warriors among the outpost forces?'
Lothar couldn't recall immediately, but despite his confusion, the action in his hands did not slow down at all. Tightly gripping the reins with one hand, he led the cavalry unit directly into a charge against the Orcs.
"Bang~!"
"Bang~!"
...
Although cavalry had an advantage in confronting infantry, when facing the tall, muscular, and physically strong Orcs, the strength of human cavalry could not achieve the kind of overwhelming force they had when fighting their own kind. No one expected that several knights would accidentally fall off their horses in just the first round of the charge.
The fate of a dismounted knight on the battlefield was predictable: they were almost instantly dismembered by the Orcs' axes or great swords. But the good news was that they did hold the advantage in numbers, and they eventually managed to forcefully punch through the Orc unit.
"Come here!!"
Lothar, charging at the very front of the team, extended his right hand to the unfamiliar warrior without hesitation. Lancer also sharply swung his spear to force back the Orcs around him, then used the other party's strength to vault onto the horse's back.
The arrival of Lothar's forces directly signaled the failure of this Orc raid.
More than twenty knights were wounded in the first charge, and the number of dead Orcs was roughly the same. By the time the third charge began, not many Orcs were still alive.
"Hoo~!!"
As the warhorses gradually came to a stop, Lothar couldn't help but let out a breath.
He had read the information about these 'Orcs' many times, but this was his first time fighting them on a real battlefield.
'These Orcs are strong and sturdy. Ordinary soldiers probably won't be able to defeat them one-on-one...'
Although the attire and weapons of these Orcs looked too primitive, it was precisely because of this that he was more concerned. After all, even using these primitive weapons, they still displayed terrifying combat power. Once the other party's weapons were upgraded, the gap in combat power between the two sides would probably be even more alarming.
Just as he was pondering how to deal with these Orcs, he suddenly felt a dip behind him. Then he noticed that the 'knight' who had been holding a long spear and sitting behind him had jumped off his mount.
He then saw the other person walk to a certain corpse.
"You know him?"
Although the other party was a little strange — after all, from the battle just now, he could tell that the person was not a soldier of the Stormwind Kingdom, as the value of the armor on the person was enough to make most ordinary soldiers despair — regardless of the other party's identity, since they were an ally, he didn't mind interacting with them, given the other party's demonstrated strength.
"Not exactly. This young man gave me some roast meat last night..."
After speaking, Lancer stood up and looked around. Then he saw a man being dragged onto a stretcher by other soldiers.
The middle-aged man who was initially moaning on the stretcher was also stunned when he saw Lancer, and then a wry smile appeared on his face.
"Looks like I owe you that drink."
It sounded like a complaint, but in reality, there was an excitement he couldn't suppress in his voice, after all, he was initially prepared to die.
Lancer simply showed a smile in response to this.
——————
When Lothar accepted King Llane's order to go to the Black Morass, he was prepared for a tough fight, but he still underestimated his enemy.
The Black Morass was completely lost. Subsequently, several more battles took place in the Tears of the Earth, but the results were all unsatisfactory.
The army that the Stormwind Kingdom prided itself on was actually being pushed back steadily by those Orcs. But the only good news was that Lothar himself was very rigorous. No matter what kind of battle it was, he would prepare contingency plans in advance, which allowed them to minimize their losses.
However, it was not without good news. Although the war was in a state of decline, they were not without local advantages, especially regarding a certain man.
"Lancer? The SI:7 people said there's no such warrior in Lordaeron... what exactly is going on?"
That's right, after noticing Lancer strength, Lothar ordered the SI:7 to investigate Lancer information, but unfortunately, they found nothing. Lothar was very puzzled by this. Initially, he thought the person was the last descendant of a noble family stripped of their noble title in Lordaeron, and judging by the person's skill, they did not look like an unknown figure in any way. Not to mention that the armor on the person was not cheap either.
But confusion aside, the other party's strength was fully demonstrated in the previous battles.
Whether it was charging through the battlefield with a spear or using special ice magic to create opportunities for others.
A person's strength can be trained, but cooperation with others requires experience.
'I'll test him out first. If possible, it would be best if I could convince him to settle in the Stormwind Kingdom.'
But just as Lothar was considering how to recruit Lancer, a messenger rushed into the tent again.
"Marshal, enemy scouts have appeared on the outskirts of the camp."
"Scouts... again?"
Lothar couldn't help but frown after hearing his subordinate's report.
"We can't retreat anymore. Any further, and we'll reach Duskwood... Have the other units consolidate the front line. Reinforcements from Stormwind City will arrive soon. We absolutely cannot let those green-skinned monsters cross the blockade!"
By fighting and retreating previously, Lothar had enough time to send his men to notify the nearby villages to evacuate. But if the enemy was allowed to penetrate further, both the number of villages to be notified and the potential damage the enemy could cause would increase exponentially.
Moreover, Lothar had a faint feeling of unease. These green-skinned Orcs initially only operated in the Black Morass, then suddenly launched an attack, and now they seemed to have an intention to expand...
Wait?! Did I overlook something important?
Lothar violently pulled a stack of documents in front of him. He scanned the documents with wide eyes, then suddenly slapped his forehead.
"Damn it!! I actually overlooked such an important matter!!"
The number of enemies!
From the scattered Orcs initially, to later attacking scouts and transport units in the form of small teams, and then actively starting several battles of considerable scale with the Stormwind army, and now strangely shrinking their defense and only sending scouts to monitor them.
Lothar was undoubtedly an excellent commander, but he lacked experience fighting invaders from another world. But now he had found the 'loophole.'
The enemy's numbers were increasing. It should be due to the 'Portal' mentioned by Lady Aegwynn.
This meant that the longer the time dragged on, the more enemies there would be...
"The Portal must be destroyed!"