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

Chapter 40 El Niño Ranger
“System check-in…” Roland said weakly, hanging in the hammock.

"Sign-in successful! Congratulations, host, you have obtained Elnino Ranger*10."

"Damn it, you didn't give me any iron ingots or a desk today..." Roland lay on the hammock with a lazy look on his face, not wanting to get up. This damn system only knows how to give him useless junk all day long. No, it shouldn't be called useless, it's just that it's not Roland's current need. Roland is short of food right now! He's so worried that his head is almost turning white. The supplies he bought from the dwarves are gradually running out as the population increases. Last night, Renault took stock and found that even if they were to be frugal, at the current rate of population growth in Swiftstream City, they wouldn't be able to survive until spring. Within three months, the number of civilians in Swiftstream City will exceed one thousand.

Thinking of this, Roland couldn't help but envy Bai Yi. He inherited a complete force. Although he was forced to migrate south, most of his supplies were preserved. He had hundreds of carts carrying supplies. In addition, the civilians had their own supplies. Excluding the orcs, their lives were definitely much better than Roland's.

"Let the civilians cut down more trees to build their own boats for fishing. The soldiers' output alone is not enough, and it's not good to waste precious manpower here," Roland thought to himself.

"Caslo, what are the people from the Kadan tribe over there doing?" Roland lifted the tent flap and came out, just in time to meet Caslo coming towards him. Because Caslo would ride his dragon out to scout every day, he was quite familiar with the surrounding situation.

"They're cutting down trees to build city walls. I just discovered they have a few earth-type mages, but unfortunately their levels are pitifully low. They can't create magic-patterned bricks, so they can only release earth spikes to break them and use them to build the city," Caslo said after thinking for a moment.

"Then they should be making pretty fast progress, considering they have a lot of people and the wooden and stone walls are the easiest to build." Roland shrugged.

“As long as there are city walls, they should not be afraid of the orcs’ attacks. After all, they still have more than 500 soldiers and at least 100 professionals. Their population of nearly 4,000 can provide them with great war potential.” Caslo had high hopes for his human allies on the other side of the river.

“That’s true.” Roland nodded.

I don't know if there was any such northern human migration southward in the history of Middle-earth. In any case, Roland has never seen any trace of them. If there really was such a northern human migration southward, there are only two possible outcomes: either they merged with the River Valley under Bard's rule, or they were wiped out in the war against the Eastern Barbarians of the Wastes.

However, the northern humans that Whitewing and his group belonged to did not seem to be particularly skilled in horsemanship. They were more like a tribe that excelled in foot combat. Rohan, the Hussars kingdom next to Gondor, was also composed of northern humans. One has to admit that the fighting power of the northern humans was much stronger than that of the humans of Middle-earth.

"My lord, a band of Elnino rangers has come to seek refuge with you." Renault found Roland. "Hmm, bring them to me." Roland said calmly, the system's sign-in reward finally arriving.

"Your Highness, may the Elnino Forest protect us." The rangers bowed in greeting.

Roland finally had a chance to observe the most mysterious Elnino Rangers in the game. This ranger unit originated from the Elnino Forest beside the Rune Inner Sea. Who knows what they went through back then? But their dragon-slaying exploits certainly made them one of the most legendary unit types. During the Human-Dragon War, the only human army to reach Dragon Island was the Elnino Rangers. They possessed superb strength, combined with excellent archery skills and special class abilities. During the Human-Dragon War, they killed a significant number of wyverns. The subsequent scarcity of human wyvern riders was inextricably linked to the Elnino Rangers' exploits. After all, three-quarters of the wyverns on Dragon Island were killed by the Elnino Rangers. Of course, that battle also directly reduced the already relatively normal number of Elnino Rangers to an endangered species...

(Note: In the Lord of the Rings world, because there are no beings like the Valamaia, the western land of immortality, Aman, no longer exists. Instead, there is a vast island called Dragon Island, inhabited by countless dragons and various magical beasts.)
"Sigh, if only I had received it sooner, perhaps Changhu Town could have been preserved..." Roland sighed inwardly.

Elnino Ranger, a dragon slayer, possesses a special skill—Dragon Arrow. Magic arrows imbued with this skill can almost completely negate the high defense of dragon hides, so they can basically hit the target every time.

Roland nodded in satisfaction. The Elnino Rangers truly lived up to their reputation as a professional ranger team. Their high attack, high agility, and low defense characteristics were perfectly embodied in them. The exquisitely crafted mithril longbows were strung with bowstrings made of dragon sinew, and their close-fitting leather armor sewn from dragon hides barely protected their torsos. To maintain their agility, they were only equipped with greaves and arm guards polished from dragon scales. The rune blades they carried demonstrated their considerable melee combat abilities. Being close to nature, they did not wear helmets, only headbands polished from dragon scales as decoration.

“So not everyone is like the Battanian archers.” Roland nodded in agreement. After all, the Battanian archers’ heavy armor and agile movements made them seem nothing like the backline archer class. The Elnino Rangers had successfully given Roland a feel for archers. Sure enough! Archers in heavy armor were heretics. However, Roland was very interested in the Avalon Rangers, who lived in the Avalon Elf tribe at the northern end of the Eastern Mountains. As one of the few professions that combined martial and magical abilities, the Avalon Rangers could be said to stand at the top of all professions on the continent. The strongest rangers in Middle-earth were born in this small kingdom of night elves. If given the chance, Roland wouldn’t mind getting a few squads of Avalon Rangers. These professions, which had changed the fragile bodies of light armor classes, were simply can openers and harvesters. Roland was full of anticipation for this.

"You will stay here as my personal guards." After some thought, Roland finally decided to use these Elnino Rangers as his personal guards. After all, these rangers were few in number, and forming a separate force would be a drop in the ocean for any battle. It would be better to keep them by his side to defend against attacks from the sky.

Whether the orcs have Sky Knight Roland is unknown, but Sauron, a powerful figure, does control a group of abyssal behemoths. Rather than calling them abyssal behemoths, they should be called demonic wyverns. Their appearance, similar to that of two-legged wyverns, and their massive demonic energy fluctuations all indicate that they have an undeniable relationship with the dragon race. Even if they are not true dragons, they are still top-tier sub-dragons.

Later on, Roland will definitely have to face off against Sauron. This small squad of Elnino Rangers is the guarantee that Roland will be protected from the Sky Knights' decapitation tactics. An army without anti-Sky Knights will have a hard time against an army with Sky Knights. For details, please refer to the Azog brothers, who had a numerical advantage over the three-race alliance. If this friend hadn't received the aid of the Gombad War Bats, the unrestrained Caslo would definitely have shown them what dragon riders meant to them. Even when Caslo was restrained, he still inflicted unimaginable casualties and damage on the orc army. The orcs who invaded Dale City are the most qualified to say about this, after all, not everyone can be visited by dragon language magic.

(End of this chapter)