The Lord of the Rings: Lords of Middle-earth.

Chapter 182 The Dwarves' Eastward Expedition

"Descend! Lower your altitude! Don't fight the dragon knights at high altitudes!" The leading dragon eagle knight was very calm. No air knight could fight a dragon knight at high altitudes; only a dragon knight could restrain a dragon knight on the high-altitude battlefield!
"Boom!" The terrifyingly fast-moving dragon's wings created a sonic boom as it charged directly into the flock of dragon eagles. The dragon eagle knights immediately scattered and fled. However, Caslo was clearly just trying to scare them. Otherwise, that charge would have torn apart at least four dragon eagle knights and their mounts.

"Scatter and escape!" the dragon eagle knights cried out bitterly. Their formation had been broken up by the attack, and they were powerless to resist. Meanwhile, the dragon knights who had gained air superiority could easily use their massive dragon bows to shoot down the dragon eagle knights below who dared to provoke them.

"Who are you? Why have you entered our airspace?" Caslo asked knowingly.

The sudden sound was like heavenly music to the dwarven dragonhawk riders! As long as the dragon rider could communicate, there was still room for maneuver. At worst, they could pay to save their lives. The dwarves were as famous for their wealth as for their temper.

"Your Excellency Dragon Knight, we are the dwarven dragonhawk knights! We come from the Blue Mountains, and we are on our way to seek refuge with the King of the Mountain. Please forgive our unintentional act..." the dwarf said, feeling aggrieved. There was nothing he could do; the wyverns couldn't even raise their heads in front of pure-blooded dragons. While dragons and wyverns could fight back, wyverns could only lie down and submit.

"Land!" Caslo commanded Kaldo to unleash a burst of dragon breath, which, along with a dense barrage of wind blades, cleared a space below in an instant.

“Yes, Your Excellency.” The dwarves quickly rode their docile dragon eagles, which were as docile as quails, to the open space designated by Caslo.

"Boom!" Kaldor's heavy and massive dragon body mercilessly crushed the flowers and plants, and Caslo, carrying the dragon spear, leaped off the dragon saddle.

"Thump!" The dragon spear sank steadily into the ground, more than halfway in.

"Tell me, what are we going to do about this? The city of Los Sannier on the other side is terrified and has fled in a frenzy! We are also prepared for battle. As Sky Knights, don't you know the Sky Knight Code?" Caslo's expression was unfriendly. Everyone was frightened. After all, the continuous dragon roars had terrified Caslo. Although it turned out to be just a false alarm, neither the Kingdom of Lagrang nor the Kingdom of Akvia would let it go. These two countries were prepared for a war of national annihilation.

“We apologize for the disturbance we dwarves have caused you. My name is Ad, and I am the commander of this squad. Your Excellency Dragon Knight, may I ask your name?” Ad said humbly.

“I am Caslo, a dragon knight belonging to the Kingdom of Lagrand! You can go to Thorin and have him come and take the person away!” Caslo said with an unfriendly expression.

“Then what about us brothers…” Yad said somewhat awkwardly.

"Press me here first! Let Thorin give us an explanation! A squadron of dragonhawks swaggered through the city without prior notice and directly entered our airspace! What are you trying to do? Are you declaring war?" Caslo roared.

The straightforward dwarf, knowing he was in the wrong, could only lower his head and brace himself to face Caslo's roar. The dwarf, who was about to return to his homeland, had no idea how much fright a flock of dragon eagles roaring in the sky would cause to the towns on the ground.

"Uh... alright, I'll relay your message to the King... I'll go now." Ad looked back at his brothers every few steps, but intimidated by the dragon knights' terrifying power, he could only mount his dragon eagle and leave with his tail between his legs. "What's going on?" With the thunder of hooves, Roland appeared with the knights of the Holy Glory Knights. As for the Cross-Bauhinia Knights, they refused to join the Holy Glory Knights; they still held high their Cross-Bauhinia banner. Perhaps this was their last stand as members of the Grand Duchy of Nyx; besides that banner, there was no other trace to prove the existence of that weak yet tenacious duchy.

"It's them!" Caslo said irritably, raising his dragon spear and pointing it at the dwarves and dragon eagles in front of him who looked like quails. However, Caslo's actions clearly frightened the dwarves, who screamed and raised their weapons to retreat, as if Caslo was about to kill them.

"Dwarves? Dragonhawk Knights? These things haven't gone extinct yet?" Here, Roland was referring to the dragonhawk, a creature with a long, slender head like a dragon but a body like a giant eagle. It possesses a certain magical talent, and although it did not inherit the power of dragon language magic, it is still considered a decent high-level magical beast. Among the sub-dragons, it is considered to have a relatively pure dragon blood.

"It seems not! The dwarves have actually preserved the dragon eagle's flame! What a miracle!" Caslo exclaimed in amazement. Perhaps the world thought that the dwarves only had the ram riders left, but little did they know that the dwarves had actually preserved the dragon eagle.

"Alright, my dwarf friends, I want to know how many dragonhawks you dwarves actually have left?" Roland asked curiously. It has to be said that life always finds its own way. Demon dragons are one, and so are dragonhawks! Just when the world thought they were extinct, they always managed to stubbornly reappear in the eyes of the world.

"What are you trying to do? We will not hand over the dragon eagle to you! The dwarven dragon eagle knights can die in battle! But we cannot betray our comrades, not even if you are a god!" The dwarves were unusually sensitive to this. Even the dwarves who were usually intimidated by the dragon knights straightened their backs instantly. They gripped their weapons, leaned against the dragon eagles, and nervously watched the Lagrang soldiers.

"What? Such a big reaction?" Roland was startled, as if he thought he was about to force himself on the dwarves.

"Don't be nervous, I'm just curious..." Roland sighed. Sure enough, dwarves can be quite sensitive at times. Perhaps after experiencing the loss of their homeland, dwarves are very sensitive to these issues.

“There shouldn’t be many left. There are 13 dragon eagles here, plus the one I released, making a total of 14. Adding the breeding seeds I left behind… there should be about 20 left.” Caslo whispered to Roland. Dragon-type magical beasts are already quite rare, let alone dragon eagles, which are considered extinct by the world.

"Wait? You said to let one go? What do you mean?" Roland suddenly noticed the words in Caslo's words.

“Literally, these are the ones I detained. I let their leader go. I want Thorin to give me an explanation. Go and look at Los Sannier City on the other side. People are running around in the wasteland in fear. The whole kingdom has collapsed. How much damage has it caused? How could I just let them go?” Caslo glanced at the dragon eagles who were being held down on the ground by Dragon Might and were as docile as quails. He said coldly.

“This… indeed, White Wing must have suffered considerable losses this time…” Roland quickly realized that it was already a miracle that such a large number of people hadn’t suffered a stampede; the economic and material losses were nothing short of catastrophic.

“Stay put, all of you, and wait for Thorin to come and ransom you. You all think you're so high and mighty just because you ride a wyvern! There are places where even I, a dragon knight, have to be careful. How dare you be so bold?” Caslo thought to himself, laughing in exasperation. He was truly glad these silly kids hadn’t passed through any dragon colony’s territory, or he would have been beaten to a pulp by them! You see, although dragons are rare on Middle-earth, there are quite a few wyvern colonies, and there just happen to be a few in the Misty Mountains.

(End of this chapter)