480 Chapter 480: Good Buddy Muradin

Duke lamented inwardly, grumbling to himself, "Not every man is called Arnold Schwarzenegger."

Alas, Azeroth is, generally speaking, a world with primitive medical care and harsh natural environments. Infants who aren't particularly robust simply don't survive to adulthood.

In a sense, the average modern human's physique is far from that of a European medieval adult.

But I digress.

"Cough, cough." Duke coughed a few times before catching his breath.

Muradin glanced around, "Come on, let's get back to our base, and then we'll talk."

Dwarves truly do burrow up from the ground. No one would expect that beneath the damp, muddy swamps, dwarves have dug countless tunnels.

They're not simply reinforced with wooden planks, but built with proper beams and pillars, and stone slabs for the ceiling and walls.

Looking at the damp tunnel, with water dripping from above, and a ceiling that's quite low by human standards, Muradin promptly apologized, "Sorry, my friend. We didn't mean to inconvenience you. After all, this was built to dwarf standards."

Even the most robust dwarf doesn't surpass five feet three inches, so a tunnel of about six feet feels quite comfortable to them.

This made it tough for the towering Gavinrad, who had to stoop as he followed along.

Walking through the tunnel, everyone managed to get by, except Marian, who disdainfully used her magic. She covered the entire ceiling, walls, and floor with frost elements to ensure that the areas she passed were relatively clean.

Muradin frowned but said nothing.

As they walked and talked, Duke finally understood why Muradin was here.

At the founding of the Alliance, Muradin stayed in Lordaeron, serving as the highest representative of the Bronzebeard dwarves. He also tried his best to obtain support for his country.

He quickly realized that he only needed to deal with Duke. As long as his requests weren't too outrageous, Duke would get them for the Bronzebeard dwarves, even if he had to extort them from other human kingdoms. Medicines, food, and even iron ore were shipped directly to a rendezvous point on the northern coast of Ironforge.

Duke did everything an ally could do.

Over time, Muradin and Duke became very close friends.

Recently, with the Alliance turning from defense to offense, Muradin couldn't sit still. He left his duties to his deputy and rushed back to Ironforge. Despite King Magni not being able to spare more manpower, the second son of the Bronzebeard clan managed to organize a resistance, striking at orc-controlled mines and rescuing many brethren.

Then, with these rescued kin, he formed a resistance in the Wetlands, attacking the orcs everywhere.

Duke couldn't help but chuckle, "I was wondering why there were so many flying dragons. Turns out they were looking for you!"

He felt like he had been shot by mistake.

Muradin shot back, "Aren't you preparing in advance? When you attack the Thandol Span, we can support you from the south!"

Duke could only smile wryly.

After about half an hour, they finally arrived at the base of Muradin's resistance – the Whelgar Excavation Site in the southern Wetlands.

Unlike the chaotic site of later years, this was just a dwarven digging ground. Countless pits and complex terrain had given the orcs a headache.

In the eyes of the orcs, the dwarves here were more troublesome than burrowing groundhogs. The orcs temporarily gave up on this place, and in some sense, it was a liberated area for the dwarves.

Upon entering the large cave, the dwarves noticed Muradin's guests, especially Vereesa and Marian.

A dwarf's eyes sparkled, "Ah—beautiful elven ladies! And two at once!"

He scurried over, bowing awkwardly, "Falstad Dragonreaver at your service, elven ladies!"

Note that he was only bowing to Vereesa.

Duke then realized that before him, the high elves of Quel'thalas were the only truly trusted allies of the dwarves. Of course, this doesn't fully explain why Falstad focused entirely on Vereesa. Most of the dwarves' eyes were on her, seemingly finding her utterly enchanting.

Uh, did you all forget someone?

Marian stood with hands on hips, her face spelling 'annoyed.'

Duke quickly intervened, "Alright, alright, let's get to business for the sake of your liberation effort."

Ignoring this little interruption, the group made their way to a more secluded cave within the large cave. They entered a narrow passage, guarded by a massive gate said by Muradin to even ward off dragon's breath.

Once inside Muradin's command post, Duke saw the markers representing the orcs on the sand table and immediately realized that the situation was far more troublesome than he'd imagined.

He saw many, many small flags near Grim Batol Keep, currently controlled by the orcs.

Muradin introduced each to Duke.

"Those accursed green-skins knew this day would come. Ever since Orgrim and the Horde's tragic defeat at the gates of Lordaeron, the Horde's forces have been gathering here. Look, these are the Horde's second-tier clans, each ranging from ten to thirty thousand adult orcs. This is Steeljaw, that's Burrowfang, that's Brokenaxe."

Duke squinted.

Without the Red Dragonflight, the victorious Alliance forces would soon press into the Khaz Modan area.

Yes, the Lordaeron Alliance might have to fight tooth and nail to get here, but Duke had no doubt they could do it. He could almost picture the Alliance's forces gathering north of the Thandol Span.

But as long as the Horde's chieftain was Orgrim, they'd anticipate that before the Alliance launched its attack, it might try to further weaken the orcs. The simplest way was to either kill or rescue the Red Dragon Queen.

And the clumsy Lordaeron elite rogue group had already sounded the alarm for the orcs.

This situation was at least ten times more severe than the historical rescue mission. Now, over a hundred thousand orcs had Grim Batol surrounded.

Even if these second-tier clans' warriors were only half as strong as the Blackrock and Warsong orcs, and not much stronger than regular human soldiers, they weren't a hundred thousand pigs...

"Duke, you said you wanted to save the Red Dragon Queen?

Are you sure? If you are, I've got a thousand elite troops who can launch a feint for you," said the hearty Muradin, a true friend who would willingly go through hell and high water for a buddy.