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

Chapter 25 A difficult victory

"..." Roland stared blankly at Raven Ridge, lost in thought.

"Caslo!" Roland cried out in anguish.

Upon hearing his lord's call, Caslo immediately broke free from the swarm of bats and flew swiftly toward Roland.

"Send me to Raven Ridge!" Roland said angrily.

Upon hearing this, Caslo, who had just landed, nearly flipped off the dragon's back. Good heavens, a hefty sum to commit suicide? Caslo absolutely refused to send his lord up there. Was he kidding? Even a Knight Commander like Reno would be a sitting duck, let alone a Tier 3 Grand Knight…

"Cry, cry~" The loud cry of an eagle echoed through the sky.

“The giant eagles are here…” Billberg exclaimed excitedly.

"Roar!" Druid Bion descended from the sky, transforming into a giant bear using nature magic.

"Roar!" A gust of wind swept by, and a tall ogre had its head chopped off by his palm. His massive body plowed across the battlefield, carving a path of flesh and blood through a group of orcs. His thick fur gave him unparalleled defensive capabilities.

The giant eagles swooped down, their huge, sharp talons easily tearing apart the war bats flying in the sky, instantly clearing the sky.

The brown-robed wizard Redagast brandished his staff, unleashing a wood-elemental area-of-effect spell. Within a mile radius, thick thorns burst forth from the ground, tightly binding the orcs around him. The prepared dwarves and Lagrang warriors plunged their weapons into their bodies.

……

"Clang!" With the sound of a sword slicing through his neck, Thorin suddenly realized that there were no more orcs in front of him.

Bard and Thranduil of Dale also slaughtered all the orcs who had invaded Dale.

The Elven Prince Legolas was firing arrows with great enthusiasm from the top of the arrow tower when he suddenly realized that there were no longer any living orcs in his line of sight, only wailing humans and wounded elves. He paused for a moment, then leaped down from the arrow tower...

……

"Bang!" Roland landed and rolled to dodge the possible attack, but when he looked up, he saw Caslo's shifty eyes, and his mouth twitched.

On the vast Raven Ridge, apart from the fallen banner that Azog used to command the orcs, which looked like a dog crawling on the ground, there was no one else there. Through the smoke on the mountain, one could see the orcs leaving.

"They've run away, sir!" Caslo shook his head helplessly.

“Azog is really cunning…” Caslo sighed inwardly.

"Why would they retreat when they had such a significant advantage?" Roland asked, puzzled. "They didn't want to face the Knights on the plains." Caslo rolled his eyes at Roland. "If the orcs hadn't run away, do you think I would have brought you up here?" Caslo, who had been flying high and could see far, had long ago noticed the orcs' intention to retreat when the giant eagle and druid arrived.

“To devour our knightly order, in this terrain, they would have to pay the price of at least tens of thousands of lives. Don’t forget, sir, your command is a hundred-man knightly order led by a Grand Paladin of the Lagrange Royal Guard! They are not just ordinary people with the title of knight; they are genuine 100 second-tier professionals.” Caslo spread his hands.

“Besides, with us caught off guard, even if the orcs win, they'll be severely crippled. Don't forget we have air superiority now. Without the war bats to hold us back, I can definitely teach the orcs a lesson in the might of the dragons.” Caslo understood perfectly.

The orcs had their own agenda. They fought for the undead sage Sauron so that they could rule Middle-earth, not so that their race would be weakened. Azog had initially launched a lightly armed raid, and even the reinforcements from Gandabar were the weakest of the weak. Who could have predicted so many unexpected events? A single knightly order was one thing, but a mere 300 men holding off a charge of over 20,000 infantrymen was tolerable. The sudden appearance of two rare paladins was also tolerable, but the invulnerable druids were going too far. And the giant eagles tearing war bats apart like paper was simply outrageous. The most outrageous thing was the presence of a dragon rider! What, can't they handle this? Azog was terrified when the dragons rose; didn't they even wave their command flags at him? If he had jogged a few steps back then, he would have been turned into orcish pieces by the wind blades. From that moment on, he considered running away, but the arrival of the giant eagles completely shattered his hopes. Run! If you run away, you might survive; if you don't, you'll definitely be buried here.

While on the run, Azog even suspected that the Battle of Lonely Mountain was a conspiracy against the orcs. If it weren't for the fact that the armies of the elves, dwarves, and humans were too small, Azog would definitely have believed that someone was plotting against him.

……

"Thump!" Roland knelt directly before the corpses of the Swift Infantry. They hadn't advanced far; from encountering the orcs to their complete annihilation, they had only advanced about a mile. In that 500-meter stretch of battlefield lay the bodies of nearly 2000 orcs and 300 Swift Infantry. All the Swift Infantry's fatal wounds were in front of them; even in their dying moments, they hadn't stopped charging...

"Azog! Borg! I will kill you all!" Roland said hatefully.

The knights and Battanian archers silently moved the bodies of the Swift Infantry, arranging them separately. The atmosphere was incredibly oppressive. Their brothers, with whom they had spent every day, now lay here coldly. Everyone present had a grim face and gritted their teeth...

Roland and his men broke through the frozen earth on Raven Ridge and buried the Swift Infantry there. They lived to stop the enemy from crossing Raven Ridge, and now let them rest here to guard the tranquility of the mountain peak...

"Congratulations, host, on winning the Battle of Lonely Mountain! Participation rate 87%! System update in progress! Task panel loading..." The system has actually updated for the first time ever!
"Update complete! System features unlocked: Shop, Mission Hall, Storage."

"Rewards for the Battle of Lonely Mountain are being distributed..." It's still not over.

"Reward City: Swiftstream Town! The host can materialize on any land that meets the requirements at any time." Finally, the system notification ended.

Roland was dumbfounded, utterly overjoyed. His resources had been significantly diminished after sacrificing 300 Swiftflow soldiers, but now he'd made a killing. The final reward was a town! For Roland, who lacked a fixed territory, this was like a godsend. Most importantly, this city had a prefix—Swiftflow Town!
This swift current isn't just for show! Only towns located on both sides of the swift current in the game can be called swift current towns, and the key is that all swift current towns can recruit a special unit—the swift current infantry! In ordinary imperial towns, players can only recruit general units such as imperial guards, but the swift current infantry, which is a very common unit, can only be recruited in cities along the swift current.

Moreover, this is a real world, and the Swift Infantry's combat effectiveness has been tested in war, making them a mainstay of the military.

Roland pondered for a moment and then made plans for the town he had received as a system reward. He intended to build it at the mouth of what was originally Lake Long, the location of Stream City in the Lord of the Rings games, where Stream City was originally just a small town. Roland firmly believed that through his efforts, he could restore the town to the glory and grandeur of Stream City, using it as a starting point to revive the glory of Lagrange! However… he should now discuss the issue of payment with Thorin.

Roland clapped his hands, mounted his horse, and galloped toward Thorin and his men, who were collecting the remains of the dwarf warriors in front of Irubor.

Second update! It's a bit late today, please forgive me. Thank you again for your votes.

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(End of this chapter)