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

Chapter 187 The Fortress Stands Tall
At dawn, with a few drops of morning dew on their feet, an army quietly marched out, their blood-red lager flag shimmering with a captivating light.

“What fertile land…it’s a pity we can’t make use of it.” Roland sighed.

“Our manpower is limited, and unfortunately we are unable to gather our wandering people.” Renault shrugged helplessly.

“We are constantly facing war. We have nowhere to retreat. We can only try to expand our territory as much as possible in order to buy time for development.” Roland’s gaze was incredibly profound.

"..." Renault was stunned. No wonder his king was so keen on expanding the territory, even though he was powerless to develop it. So that was his purpose.

“Our population is smaller than that of the orcs, so we can only use our vast territory and strong fortresses to stop their movements. If necessary, we can abandon some land and shrink our defensive line,” Roland said calmly to Renault.

“You are right.” Renault was taken aback, but after a moment of thought, he had to admit Roland’s words.

“But if Lulong Fortress is rebuilt… we cannot afford the cost of losing it!” Roland said slowly. He didn’t want the tragedy of Dolgodor to repeat itself in Swiftstream City. Dolgodor was originally just an elven city, not a true fortress, but after falling into the hands of the orcs, it was completely transformed into one! Lulong Fortress is even more terrifying than Dolgodor because it was built as a war fortress from the outset, with no consideration for civilian use whatsoever. All its facilities were built to serve military purposes. If the orcs were to seize it, Swiftstream City, and indeed the entire Kingdom of Lagrange, would never know peace.

"Do you think it's safe for her to have 500 people stationed around her now?" Roland asked with a sigh.

“But we can’t just ignore the safety of Swiftstream!” Renault said helplessly.

"Sigh... From now on, let Caslo stay at Lulong Fortress permanently. The deterrent power of a dragon knight can always keep most of the villains in check." Roland had no choice but to release his only dragon knight. The combat power of a Tier 3 dragon knight is by no means weaker than that of a Tier 6 professional. After all, their output relies entirely on their dragon mounts, and the knight's role is only to protect the blind spots behind the dragon mounts.

“It’s a bit of a waste to leave Caslo here,” Renault said with some regret.

"There has to be a high-end combat force here that can deter the enemy, right? If Caslo doesn't come, are we expecting Omske to come here?" Roland's face darkened immediately. Indeed, it was more outrageous to leave a hero here than to abandon a dragon knight. After all, hero units always move with the knights. As a class with extremely high leadership bonuses, knights are never a class that can survive by fighting alone.

"Your Highness, we're almost at our destination!" Before they knew it, Roland and the others had arrived near their destination.

The wide river reflected the distant lush green forest and azure sky, and a clear road appeared in the forest, leaving a distinct gap.

"Your Highness, Old Forest Road is on the other side. We have reached our destination!" Renault whispered, gazing at the road intersection on the other side.

"Huh? We're here!" Roland exclaimed in surprise, only then realizing what had happened.

"Let's begin!" Roland pulled out the alchemical vial that sealed the Lulong Fortress and held it up.

“What a magnificent fortress!” Renault murmured, staring at the miniature fortress in the bottle.

As Roland uttered his obscure dragon language, six golden and red six-pointed star magic circles instantly appeared on the alchemy bottle, hovering in the top, bottom, front, back, left, and right directions. As the dragon language flowed from Roland's mouth, the tiny magic circle patterns on those six-pointed stars constantly changed, and lines of magic quietly connected together within the dragon language...

"Buzz!" The first six-pointed star magic circle shone brightly, then vanished instantly after a blinding flash. Then came the second, the third... Finally, after Roland chanted for several minutes, the last six-pointed star magic circle exploded and dissipated, and the magic runes on the entire alchemy bottle shattered and disappeared with a gentle shake.

"The seal has been broken..." Roland's voice trembled with excitement.

“Yes… the last war fortress… Lulong…” Renault’s eyes glistened.

"Crack!" The alchemy bottle shattered with a crisp sound as Roland slammed it down.

"Boom!" A flash of red light appeared and a phantom slowly rose between heaven and earth.

"Lulong!" Two Lagrangian characters were written on the city wall, dipped in gilded ink. Countless red flags with golden dragons fluttered in the wind. The tall city wall was a deep purple and dark brown, and a chilling aura from the ancient wilderness emanated from it.

"That's stained with the blood of the orcs who fell beneath the fortress..." Renault was deeply shocked. How many orcs would have to be killed to cover the entire fortress wall with their blood?

"A bastion!" Roland exclaimed with delight. The Lulong Fortress that appeared before them was actually a four-pointed star-shaped bastion! A bastion that was hailed as the most difficult defensive structure to conquer in the era of cold weapons!
"Truly ruthless!" Only by seeing the actual structure could one discover the details that were hidden within the alchemical bottle. Besides the most obvious eight Meteorite Dragon Towers, this Lulong Fortress actually had a full hundred heavy crossbow towers! Those things could also pose a considerable threat to dragons, but if they were used against humans... even the Royal Guards probably wouldn't be able to withstand more than a few arrows!
"This thing was built to deal with dragons, right?" Roland couldn't help but complain.

“Your Highness…it turns out you were right…Lulong Fortress was indeed built because of the threat of wild dragons, and its purpose is to hunt dragons!” Renault grinned, revealing two rows of white teeth.

"Insane!" Roland couldn't help but applaud the Lagrange royal family; they were truly ruthless! They actually built a dragon-hunting fortress just to stop the dragons!
"This thing was originally set up on the Gray Mountains, but it was later said to have been captured by the northern orcs... But as it turns out, how could the orcs possibly breach the Lulong Fortress, which is known as the last fortress! It's a place where even dragons have met their end!" Renault exclaimed.

"..." Roland really wanted to tell him that the Lulong Fortress in the game had not only been captured, but also demolished by the orcs! If it weren't for the omnipotent system... he might not have even seen a single brick of the Lulong Fortress.

"How magnificent! What a spectacular building! This is the twilight of the empire! The hope of the empire! The embodiment of the empire's indomitable will!" Renault's voice gradually became more impassioned.

"Good heavens, is he going crazy? He's even starting to gesticulate wildly? Is he seriously ill...?" Roland frowned as he watched Renault gesticulating wildly as if he were possessed.

"Your Highness, why do you seem unhappy?" Renault, who had been amusing himself with the soldiers for a while, finally noticed Roland standing quietly to the side and asked curiously.

"Of course we're happy, but we won't go crazy. Even the most fortified and magnificent fortress is only truly ours if we hold it!" Roland said worriedly, looking in the direction of Dolgodo.

"Rest assured, Your Highness! No one will be able to cross Lulong while we are alive!" The soldiers who were about to be stationed here straightened their chests, their eyes gleaming with unwavering fighting spirit.

I got heatstroke while working yesterday... I'm so frustrated. I've already made up for yesterday's update.

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(End of this chapter)