The Second Empire of Azeroth

The Northrend Expedition soldiers watched the Proto-Dragons soaring across the sky, utterly astonished.

"Are those… dragons?"

Many of them had seen dragons before. After all, Rogge had two Black Dragon mounts, and every member of the Lothar's Sword Regiment had a Black Dragon whelp as a mount. The Black Dragon whelp mounts alone were enough to shock these soldiers.

But now, the adult dragons filling the sky, and the tall warriors on their backs, filled them with dread.

Because these Dragon Knights were targeting them.

"Take cover!"

Arthas shouted loudly, not knowing where these dragons came from. But he knew that if these dragons wanted to prey on them, they would have a hard time escaping this calamity. Even with the Fiend's Hand in his possession, he could barely protect himself, let alone the ordinary soldiers.

Just then, a portal appeared beside him, and Rogge stepped out.

He raised his hand and unleashed a barrage of Arcane Missiles, attracting the attention of the Dragon Knights. Then he opened several portals in quick succession, "Quick, into the portals!"

The soldiers rushed into the portals, disappearing from the Dragon Knights' sight.

"You go too! Take them and organize a defense!" Rogge said to Arthas.

Arthas nodded and plunged into the portal, only to find himself back at the camp. He was puzzled. The camp had already been breached by the undead, making it impossible to defend against the dragons' attacks. But when he turned his head, he saw more than a dozen gunships patrolling the river. The dragons flying in the sky were attacked by the gunships before they could even descend.

Under the barrage of Apexis cannons, even dragons as powerful as they were would be injured or even killed.

At this moment, two gunships docked at the makeshift pier, and a steel behemoth slowly disembarked from the warship.

Apexis Tank!

Arthas recognized this weapon. He had seen it when he came to Northrend. However, he never knew its power. But since it was also equipped with Apexis cannons, it should be able to deal with the dragons, right?

The tank drove into the camp, quickly raised its cannon, and after charging, a laser-like pillar of fire shot out, sweeping across the Proto-Dragons in the sky.

The Proto-Dragons' bodies were even stronger than those of regular dragons, but because they lacked the protection of the Titans' power, their defense was far worse than that of other dragons. Any Proto-Dragon hit by the pillar of fire would instantly have its body torn apart, its wings broken, and would fall from the sky.

With a loud "bang," the Proto-Dragons were either killed or severely injured. But the Dragonflayer Clan Vrykul on their backs were mostly unharmed. Although they suffered from the Curse of Flesh, they still possessed steel-like skin and amazing defense.

Having lost their mounts, the Dragonflayer Clan Vrykul were extremely angry. They drew their weapons and charged towards the camp. If they didn't destroy these weapons that could kill Proto-Dragons, the Dragonflayer Clan would lose their dominion over the sky.

Arthas quickly organized a defense. The Vrykul's tall stature and extraordinary strength overwhelmed the ordinary soldiers. He could only send the tanks to meet them head-on, drawing the Vrykul's attention, and then lead the soldiers to attack from the flanks.

Although the Apexis cannons were incredibly powerful, they also had their own flaws. They were very effective against the fleshy Proto-Dragons, but they were difficult to use against the Vrykul's steel-like skin. If they weren't made of black iron and possessed superb mobility, they would probably be scrapped as soon as they came into contact with the Vrykul.

Even so, they were still countered by the Vrykul, and defeat was only a matter of time.

Arthas tried to burn the Vrykul with fire, but the Vrykul's skin resisted his flames. Several Vrykul even discovered that he was the commander and launched a decapitation strike against him.

Arthas kept dodging, which also caused chaos among the soldiers in the camp, and some were accidentally trampled to death by the Vrykul.

Just then, four ballistae rose from the gunships docked next to the pier. The ballistae fired spear-like bolts, instantly piercing the Vrykul's bodies and sending them flying.

The ballistae were operated by elven rangers. Although they were a little unaccustomed to using such giant crossbows, it was still no problem to hit targets like the Vrykul.

Arthas took the opportunity to attack and kill the Vrykul.

After losing more than a dozen Vrykul and Proto-Dragons, the Dragonflayer Clan fled the battlefield. Although their skin had amazing defense, they were already flesh and blood, and they had developed a fear of death.

The Dragonflayer Clan's retreat greatly boosted the morale of the Northrend Expedition.

After the camp was built into a fortress, in order to commemorate the feat of killing the Vrykul Dragon Knights, they named this fortress Dragon Hunt Hold. As for the Valgarde camp previously named by Arthas, it had been forgotten by the Northrend Expedition. Arthas had no objection to this. He also admired the Apexis cannons that killed the Vrykul Dragon Knights, and installed as many as a hundred cannons in Dragon Hunt Hold to deter the Vrykul's fortress.

The Vrykul could not attack Dragon Hunt Hold, which was like a hedgehog, so they could only look for new sources of supply.

Soon, they set their sights on the trolls and taunka in the north, as well as the furbolgs in the wilderness and the tuskarr on the southern coast.

Based on the idea that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, Rogge sent envoys to the trolls, taunka, furbolgs, and tuskarr one after another, wanting to unite them to deal with the Vrykul. Unfortunately, the trolls expressed hostility and even wanted to kill the envoys. The furbolgs ignored the envoys and warned the Northrend Expedition not to enter their territory.

On the other hand, the less populous taunka and tuskarr were very interested in Rogge's proposal and decided to send envoys to contact the Northrend Expedition.

Rogge promised to recognize their sphere of influence and would help them from the Vrykul and other enemies. The tuskarr and taunka decided to ally with the Northrend Expedition.

At this time, the Northrend Expedition soldiers realized that the humanoid undead that attacked Valgarde camp were taunka.

At the same time, the Alliance also received an unexpected reinforcement.

Muradin was leading a Bronzebeard dwarf expedition here.