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

Chapter 516 A Shield That's Better Than Nothing

"Dragon! A blue dragon!" a knight roared from atop an arrow tower, his voice hoarse as he screamed at the crowd. In the dark clouds, a blue dragon twisted and turned.

"Damn it! How can there be a dragon here!" Olaf exclaimed in frustration.

"Raise the shield! Activate the shield! Activate the shield immediately!" The great knight stumbled and rushed towards the main castle, because the magical shield inside the castle required magic power or magic crystals to activate. Therefore, the shield needed to be manually activated.

"Soldiers, take your weapons! Not all dragons are as easy to talk to as that big blue reptile in Swiftstream City!" The Grand Knight slammed a long spear into Olaf's chest.

"It's coming at us!"

"By the Dragon God! When I joined the army, they didn't tell my mother that I was going to fight dragons! I always thought my opponents were orcs!"

"Where is the lord? We need the lord's orders!"

"Calm down!" Apophis Breo suddenly roared, his voice amplified by his battle aura instantly drowning out the others.

"Roar!" Amidst everyone's panicked gazes, the cyan figure landed outside Lion's Fortress.

"Holy crap! His Majesty Caslo!"

"Thank God! The kingdom's dragon riders..."

"Mom! I survived!"

"Huh? Can anyone explain to me what happened?" Caslo looked at the group of people who seemed to be facing a great danger and shrugged.

"They mistook you for a wild dragon passing by!" Apophis Breo jumped down from the city wall, shrugged helplessly, and said that if he hadn't noticed that the dragon was wearing dragon armor (after all, only domesticated dragons have dragon armor, wild dragons don't), he probably would have ordered an attack himself.

"Hiss..." Caslo glanced at the Lion Castle, which looked like it was facing a formidable enemy, and his eyes twitched involuntarily a few times.

"I said hypothetically, I mean if it really was a wild dragon that came just now, you wouldn't actually be planning to use this thing to defend against dragon attacks?" Caslo stared in shock at the swaying magical shield that rose up, with thin hexagonal matrices emerging and forming a hemisphere that enveloped the entire Lion Keep.

“Of course! Men of the King’s Landing will not back down!” Apophis Breo said proudly.

"Ahem, well... can you break through this Caldor thing?" Caslo asked with a mix of doubt and helplessness.

“Um…you should ask how many seconds it can last in my hands…my knight…” A visible embarrassment appeared on Kaldor’s ferocious dragon face.

“Uh…” Caslo looked at the Imperial outpost, which was still struggling to release its shield, with a wry smile.

“This kind of stronghold is equipped with a basic magic shield. Although it is only two levels lower than the advanced magic shield of Swiftstream City, the difference between them is like heaven and earth…” Kaldo whispered to Apophis Breo.

"Huh? Swiftstream City has a magic shield?" Apophis Breo and Caslo exclaimed in unison, their faces filled with question marks.

"...Yes, but King Roland didn't fix it." Kaldor said calmly, after all, the Swiftstream City system had given them a city in ruins, with nothing but low walls. "I always thought Swiftstream City didn't have magical shields..." Apophis Breo was stunned. He had been in Swiftstream City for quite a while, but he had never known that Swiftstream City had shields. He thought Swiftstream City had always been naked.

“Of course! Aren’t magic shields standard equipment in imperial cities? Every imperial castle has a magic shield,” Kaldo said, twisting his head.

"By the way, have your men turn off the shield. Aren't magic crystals free?" Kaldo tapped the thin shield, sending up ripples of magical energy. After all, the King's Landing family currently has no mages, so maintaining the magical shield can only be done with expensive magic crystals.

"Olaf! Deactivate the shield!" Apophis Breo shouted into the room.

“Yes, sir!” Olaf glanced down from the city wall and waved.

"Tear!" With a light flick of his claws, Kaldor and Apophis Breo and Caslo clearly saw a surge of dragon power envelop the wind dragon's sharp claws, which then plunged straight into the shield like a hot knife through butter.

"Bang!" Before Olaf could cut off the magic supply to the main castle's magic circle, the shield shattered under the dragon's tearing attack.

"See, it's that simple!" Kaldo wagged his tail triumphantly.

"Uh... this is too much!" Apophis Breo's eyes widened. The magic shield he had placed so much hope in was shattered by just one swipe of the dragon's claw? He knew it was unrealistic to rely on a basic magic shield to stop a dragon, but he didn't expect it to be this abstract? Just one swipe?

"Is it strange? A basic magic shield is only equivalent to the strength of a shield cast by a magic apprentice. It's already quite good that it can withstand one claw!" Kaldo exclaimed in admiration. As expected of a product from the Empire, it is indeed a high-quality product!
"This thing was originally meant for bestowing titles upon barons, right? I bet none of the emperors in the empire would ever imagine that one day this thing would be used by a duke..." Caslo covered his face. Baronies need so much defense; it's definitely several levels weaker than a dukedom.

“That’s true!” Apophis Breo nodded, agreeing with Caslow’s statement. This thing was originally designed without the expectation that a duke would use it, so he was the first person in history to do so.

"Not bad, it's better than nothing, but it's enough to hold off orcs who aren't fully armed and common magical beasts!" Apophis Breo was quite optimistic. As long as the orcs couldn't break through, that was fine; he'd deal with the rest later! Apophis Breo didn't believe he was really unlucky enough to have his territory attacked by high-level magical beasts.

"By the way, Your Majesty, what brings you here?" Apophis Breo looked at Caslo with suspicion. After all, it would make Apophis Breo think twice if a dragon rider came running over without saying a word.

"His Highness is concerned about you! He sent me with arrows and 300 crossbows!" Caslo released a stack of "arrow mountains" and dozens of large boxes from his spatial storage device.

“Thank you, Your Majesty! It has troubled you to make this trip in person.” Apophis Breo bowed respectfully.

"Beware of the orcs' counterattack! If there are any targets that need to be destroyed, I can help you destroy them!" Caslo asked. After all, he was already here, and he would be embarrassed to return to Swiftstream City without helping the kingdom's little brother slaughter some orc scum.

“They are still hidden deep in the mountains, but I would like to ask you to help bring Olaf back when you return!” Apophis Breo said seriously.

"Oh?" Caslo looked at him in confusion.

“It is so, Your Highness has allowed me to recruit soldiers to guard my fiefdom. I want to recruit a group of able-bodied men for training as soon as possible, and at the same time recruit a group of commoners to cultivate and reclaim the land!” Apophis Breo told Caslow.

“Okay! I’ll take him with me when I go back!” Caslo nodded and agreed to Apophis Breo’s request.

(End of this chapter)