Chapter 4

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Chapter 004: Howling in the Deep Forest

"I went for a walk around the Mage Quarter." Jesse answered Greed’s question while tearing off another piece of bread.

Jesse was approaching the small building where he rented a room, knowing that if Greed called him out for a night of drinking, he would definitely refuse.

In fact, he didn’t want to agree to anything now, nor did he want to bother with Greed. All he wanted was to rush into his tiny rundown house and quickly fall asleep. After this ordeal, he felt that if he didn’t lie down soon, he might fall asleep at any moment.

Greed glanced at him and muttered softly, "Mage Quarter? You look like you’ve been squeezed dry. Someone who doesn’t know might think you went to the Old Town."

Jesse tapped Greed’s chest with the breadstick he had taken a few bites of, and said, "I’m not like you. Come on, why did you look for me?"

Greed glanced at the workers lying on both sides and whispered, "Of course, there’s work to be done."

"I can’t do it, I can’t do it," Jesse shook his head and said, "Today, I can’t do anything."

"Tomorrow, we’re going to Westbrook Garrison. Everyone can earn 1 silver coin and 30 copper coins for a round trip. Will you come with me? You don’t have to walk, we can take a carriage and even have a nap on the way."

"Escort food?"

"It’s military provisions from Moonbrook, to be delivered to Lakeshire for the Nethergarde expeditionary force… It seems things are getting tense over by the Dark Portal. But we only need to escort it to Goldshire this time, so we’ll be safe with the soldiers."

"What if Orcs attack? Is a silver coin worth sacrificing our lives for?"

"There are no Orcs near Westbrook Garrison! Let them worry about that on the next trip!" the dwarf climbed the steps and said, "Orcs come from the other side of Redridge; security in Westfall and Moonbrook is better than here, my friend. And with the soldiers, we’ll be fine. It’s easy money!"

"That’s good."

Jesse chuckled wearily, thinking that with this silver coin, he’d earn enough for the rent.

The next day at noon, the two of them signed up and joined the caravan heading to Westbrook Garrison.

Just like Greed said, they didn’t encounter anything on their way here, no wolves, murlocs, Kobolds, or Orcs. The Elwynn Forest was peaceful and quiet.

However, the food supplies that were supposed to arrive at the fortress around 3 o’clock in the afternoon ended up being delayed for a few hours.

In the evening, the red sunlight shone through the trees onto the tents near Westbrook Garrison, making the military camp by the riverbank look like freshly baked pudding cakes.

The carriage finally arrived, and the logistics officer had a conversation with the soldiers. It seemed like they had run into some trouble near Sentinel Hill.

Time was running out. The hired guards and soldiers quickly put on their armor and grabbed their weapons. It was already late, and they had to depart as soon as possible.

The escort team consisted of six fully armed soldiers with long swords and Stormwind lion crest shields. They wore intimidating blue plumed helmets that looked quite expensive.

If you added about twenty armed militia recruits like Jesse and Greed, even regular bandits wouldn’t dare to attack for a few carts of food supplies.

Unfortunately, the returning carriage was empty, so the soldiers had to walk back, feeling a bit demotivated.

Some new recruits who were on their first escort mission talked about the gray wolves and wild bears in the forest. They discussed how these hungry beasts could go mad and attack the convoy. Jesse had faced off with a few wolves at the Eastvale Logging Camp, but had never been in a real battle.

Listening to their words, looking towards the forest made him nervous.

His mind was filled with the Curse of Agony he experienced in The Slaughtered Lamb basement before, he didn’t even think much about the meaning represented by the name "Westbrook Garrison".

At that moment, a lone wolf howl came from deep in the woods, the logistics officer in charge of supplies blew the whistle, reminding everyone to get ready to leave.

That howl suddenly brought back memories from Jesse’s past, over a decade ago.

Is this… the Westbrook Garrison where the Gnolls ravage?

Gnolls are a type of humanoid monsters that live throughout the Kingdom of Stormwind, many young people can’t tell the difference between Gnolls and Kobolds.

If Kobolds are a group of really bad thieves, then Gnolls are a group of bloodthirsty bandits, in terms of size, combat power, and fierceness, they can’t be compared at all.

Several Gnoll tribes have united before and had conflicts with the Kingdom of Stormwind at a war level.

Although they ultimately failed to resist the regular human army and scattered to the surrounding mountains and wilderness in Elwynn Forest, nearly disappearing, after decades of recovery, these savage and brutal semi-intelligent races have made a comeback, infiltrating Elwynn Forest from all directions.

At that time, Westbrook Garrison was still in the period of rebuilding after the Orc War, but it later became a frontier against the Riverpaw tribe living in Westfall over a dozen years later.

Jesse jogged a few steps to reach a Stormwind Guard and asked, "Has the food truck been attacked by Gnolls before?"

The guard tilted his head and said, "Gnolls? A few years ago, when the Orc tribe attacked Westfall, they killed a leader of the Riverpaw tribe. Now that the Riverpaw tribe has no leader, they can’t organize to harass us. Of course, it’s still dangerous to go near the river alone."

Does the Riverpaw tribe have no leader?

Jesse nodded, slowly returned to his spot, and looked at the gradually darkening shadows of the trees, feeling that something was not right.

If the Riverpaw tribe has no leader, when did Hogger appear?

This Gnoll chieftain, who struck fear into countless new Alliance members in the World of Warcraft, repelled Stormwind’s pursuit attempts time and time again.

Has he been born yet? If he has, how old is he now? Is he an adult?

A cool breeze swept by, providing a rare moment of coolness in the hot summer day. Greed comfortably hissed, scratching his neck.

The wind blew through the forest, making the leaves rustle, and the air felt a bit damp.

Jesse felt like he heard a metallic scraping sound, was it Gnoll?

Different from the rhythmic footsteps of soldiers in armor, the noises were chaotic and frantic, as if chasing something. But when the wind passed, everything quieted down.

The lingering effects of the Curse of Agony, including ringing in the ears and a lingering sense of nausea even after a night, made Jesse hesitant to jump to conclusions about any enemies nearby.

Moreover, Gnoll hasn’t attacked humans much since the war. It wouldn’t be a coincidence to encounter danger while on their mission, right?

Just as he took a deep breath trying to suppress the urge to vomit, he suddenly heard a loud "thud" from the other side of the carriage.

Something had knocked the carriage.

"What’s wrong?" the logistics officer in front turned around.

Swoosh…

Thud!

Swoosh…splatter!

"Ah!"

Swoosh…

"By all that is holy… it’s Orc’s crossbow bolts! Orc attack!" shouts echoed from all directions.

"Orc?!" Greed tightly grabs his Lumberjack Axe, looks around, and asks, "Where are the Orcs? I thought there were no Orcs here?"

"Ha! La la la la!"

"Ah la la la la!"

"Wow wow wow!"

Strange howling burst out from the dark jungle, twisting black shadows rolled out crookedly from behind trees, bushes, giant rocks, and railings.

A militia member, holding onto his neck where a crossbow bolt had hit him, suddenly had his head chopped off by a shadow wielding a knife as he tried to escape, still managing to take a few steps before falling.

"You fool, this isn’t an Orc at all, it’s a Gnoll!" Greed muttered in Dwarven language, leaned on the carriage, then climbed up and stood on a sack of food, raising his axe high, shouting, "Come at me, you bunch of brainless wild dogs!"

The Gnolls seemed to understand Common language, hearing the sudden outburst from the dwarf, three or four of them shouted and started gathering towards them.

They wore ragged armor of unknown origin, wielding an assortment of weapons taken from Orcs and humans, their tactics chaotic but absolutely wild, showing no hesitation, except for a few Stormwind Guards and two or three pairs supporting each other, most militia members were scattered in an instant.

A Gnoll climbed onto the supply wagon, struck in the head by Greed’s axe, trembling and slipping off, yet the dwarf failed to hold onto his axe, letting it embed in the Gnoll’s skull and fall off the wagon.

At the same time, another Gnoll climbed up and smashed down with a small hammer, only for the dwarf to grab the wrist bare-handed, and they engaged in a show of brute strength.

The ferocious Gnoll locked in a struggle with the slightly shorter dwarf, Greed shouting frantically, completely unaware of the smaller Gnoll behind them who had climbed up with a cleaver in hand.

"Behind you, Greed!" Jesse bypassed them and stabbed the small Gnoll in the waist, the latter howling in pain, trying to crawl away from Jesse’s attack using both hands and feet, surprisingly unaffected in speed by the hit to the waist.

Jesse kept chopping but only hit the little Gnoll’s leg. The Gnoll couldn’t stand firm and was kicked off the cart by the dwarf, falling into the muddy water.

By now, the rain was pouring heavily. Jesse wiped his arm against his forehead, pushing back the hair sticking to his face and eyes. He walked over and aimed his sword at the little Gnoll’s chest.

"If I don’t kill you, you will kill me…" he whispered, then fiercely stabbed the sword in.

The Gnoll, stabbed in the chest, suddenly leaped up like a mad dog, coughing violently as it ran towards the river. This startled Jesse, who never thought that a stab in the chest could lead to such a frenzy.

"Jesse, hurry, retrieve my axe! I can’t hold him off much longer!"

Seeing Greed still wrestling with the tall Gnoll on the cart, Jesse paid no attention and ran to the Gnoll whose head had been split open by falling off the cart earlier. He stomped on the Gnoll’s neck with all his strength to pull out the axe. With a "snap", he broke the Gnoll’s head.

"Here!"

Jesse tossed the axe up to the cart, and without even looking, Greed caught it in the air and smashed it into the Gnoll’s eye socket.

The Gnoll howled and stumbled back two steps before falling off the cart. Greed roared and leaped down. After a series of chaotic sounds of flesh, blood, and metal clashing, there was silence.

Jesse held the sword and wanted to see if anyone needed help. Before he could even look around, a Stormwind Guard helmet with a head attached suddenly flew over and hit the wheel in front of him, splattering blood all over his face.

What’s going on?

Looking towards where the head flew over, in the rain, a giant shadow stood on a headless body, wielding an exaggerated iron axe and fiercely smashing a Stormwind Guard repeatedly, the guard’s helmet already filled with blood, probably unable to hold on much longer.

Without hesitation, Jesse threw the sword directly. The slightly bent and worn sword spun and hit the huge and exaggerated Orc’s shoulder armor, bouncing off and embedding into the ground.

The gigantic Gnoll turned its head, becoming clearer.

Its expression was hard to describe as fierce, at most you could say it looked silly, but its imposing figure was not something a silly stare could counteract.

Jesse felt his heart beating rapidly, almost about to burst out of his chest, the discomfort brought by the Curse of Agony disappeared in an instant.

Just then, the Gnoll sneered and muttered, "Hogger."