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

Chapter 75 Tug of War

"Bolg failed? Why are elves here?!" Azog's eyes widened. The sudden appearance of a city in front of him was already ridiculous enough, but the city's defenders were actually elves! This was utterly absurd! Heaven knows how difficult it is to conquer a city defended by the archers and rangers of the Divine Elfs.

"Raise your shields! Form ranks! Don't panic!" Azog angrily swung his dark red warhammer, his anger rising as he watched the orcs in the front ranks being felled by the elves' North Wind Arrows.

Upon hearing the command, the orcs huddled together, raising their arm shields to deflect the barrage of arrows raining down from the sky...

"Will it even work?" Iovia's eye twitched. What could that short-lived wooden forearm shield possibly block? How could they possibly underestimate elven archers!
"Aim and fire at the orcs in formation!" Iovia's eyes gleamed with death; she wasn't about to pass up Azog's free kill.

"Ugh!" A beautifully crafted elven armor-piercing arrow instantly tore through the center of an arm shield, piercing through it and driving straight out of the mouth of the orc behind the shield.

"Swoosh!" Amidst the chaotic rain of arrows, an armor-piercing arrow easily tore through the obstacle in front of him and plunged down. The orc hiding behind his arm shield quickly turned his head. Although he was not directly hit, the wind element carried by the arrow mercilessly tore through the carotid artery in his neck, and foul-smelling blood spurted into the sky like a fountain.

"Bang!" After a buzzing sound, another volley of arrows was launched by the Star Elves.

Looking outside the city, the once densely packed orc army had been reduced to small, scattered remnants rushing towards Los Sannier.

Many lucky ones managed to escape the elves' deadly arrows and continued their frantic race towards Los Saint-Neill, carrying ladders, but they soon succumbed to despair...

A moat nearly twenty meters wide encircled the city of Los Saint-Neill, lying across their front!

This was clearly a brilliant move by Iovia and Whitewing. The entire city of Los Saint-Nil was built on straw, and the highest point of its wooden and stone walls was less than six meters. There was no way to increase the height difference in a short time. Finally, when Peter Gro went to see Roland, he saw the wide, swiftly flowing river and suddenly had a flash of inspiration. After borrowing old man Radil from Roland, the city of Los Saint-Nil soon had the moat in front of it.

"Release the arrows!" Whitewing waved his hand, and the human soldiers immediately released their bows. Awaiting them were the human soldiers led by Whitewing. The elven soldiers' stamina shouldn't be wasted on close-range attacks; long-range coverage was the best use of the elves. The human soldiers were more than enough to clear out these stragglers that had slipped through the arrow barrage; even dwarves could accurately hit them from tens of meters away.

"Pfft!"

"brush!"

"Chichi!"

"Ow~"

"Plop~"

The sounds of armor-piercing arrows piercing armor, flesh scraping against arrows, the dying cries of orcs, and corpses falling into the water mingled together.

"What a beautiful melody!" Iovia said with a satisfied look, her eyes flashing coldly, and a sneer on her lips.

"..." White Wing couldn't help but shudder when he caught a glimpse of Iovia's appearance. What's wrong with this elf? It seems to have unlocked some strange form...

Seeing Iovia's increasingly twisted smile, White Wing quietly moved a few steps to the side, keeping his distance from Iovia without making a sound.

Iovia was completely oblivious to the slightly horrified look in Whitewing's eyes beside her, still sneering. When she was in a good mood, she even personally drew her bow and shot down several thick-skinned trolls that were about to break through the arrow barrage. As soon as the huge troll fell, the orcs hiding behind it were instantly harvested like wheat.

“Ahem… Wang wasn’t like this before.” Peter Gro quietly approached White Wing and said with an embarrassed expression.

"I understand, I understand..." Bai Yi grinned helplessly and said in a low voice.

“His father, our previous king, was killed by orcs, so he…” Peter Groh spread his hands, not continuing the heavy topic.

“So…” Whitewing glanced thoughtfully at the orcs below the city, then remained silent. “Your Highness, there are too many orcs! You should look at our people…” Peter Gro said in a low voice to Iovia, watching the elves swinging their aching arms as they drew their bows.

"Cease fire!" Iovia leaned against the city wall and peered at the orcs suffering heavy casualties on the battlefield.

"Whoosh!" The sound of bows being put away in unison rang out. The elves slung their longbows over their shoulders and took a few steps back, disappearing from the sight of the orcs below the city.

……

"The elven arrow rain is too fierce, we cannot break through..." The orc commander in charge of the vanguard knelt before Azog and said timidly.

"Roar! Damn elves! What on earth did Polg do?!" Azog roared angrily. Even if Polg couldn't bypass the elven territory, it could at least hold off the elven army! What the hell is this elven army that suddenly appeared?

At that moment, Polger, who was leading his army up and down the dark forest to reach the foot of Lonely Mountain, suddenly sneezed a few times. He looked around at the snowflakes in confusion, and finally decided to take a fur robe and put it on.

……

"How's the battle going?" Roland asked Caslo behind him, standing on the city wall of Swiftstream and looking at the distant riverbank.

"The orcs and the Whitewing King are locked in a stalemate. The arrows of those Star Elves are too deadly..." Caslo sighed. As expected of the Elven race, who are experts in archery, the Battanian archers are like "useless" compared to them.

"Tsk tsk tsk!" Roland was instantly envious! He wanted such amazing archers too, he didn't want a bunch of melee brutes...

"By the way, how effective is the moat around Los Saint-Neill?" Roland asked.

"Hahaha! Very good! The orcs have lost nearly two thousand corpses in front of Los Santo Niel today." Peter Gro suddenly appeared.

"Greetings, Sir Peter, welcome to Swiftstream City!" Roland nodded in greeting, for a true dragon knight is a respected figure wherever he goes.

“I am here on behalf of the King and the White Wing King to discuss matters with you,” Peter Gro said, bowing. As an elven nobleman, Peter Gro’s etiquette truly impressed Roland. The complicated noble etiquette made Roland’s head ache just looking at it, let alone doing it himself.

"What's wrong? Is there anything I can help you with?" Roland asked.

“The orcs’ offensive will likely be even more intense tomorrow. I hope you can send Knight Caslow to support us, since I can’t just take action myself,” Peter Gro said, patting his chest.

“No problem, but I think the most intense battle should be the day after tomorrow or the day after that,” Roland readily agreed.

“Here’s the thing,” Caslo explained to Peter Gro after noticing his confusion. “I spotted orcs cutting down trees in the Dark Forest from the sky. They probably want to make large wooden shields to defend against your arrows. It’s possible they’re planning to cross the Swift Current River.”

"Thank you for reminding me. If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave now." Peter Gro bowed and expressed his intention to depart.

"Yes, take care. Please give my regards to the two princes." Roland smiled.

Thanks to the Dragon God, the Swift River hasn't frozen over yet in winter! It's just covered with large chunks of ice, but this good weather probably won't last long. After personally inspecting the area, Radil told Roland to be constantly on guard against the Swift River freezing over, as a cold front from the north is about to hit!
"Keep the sentries alert. We can't rule out the possibility that the orcs will cross the frozen River Swiftflow to attack us." Reminded by Caslo, Roland quickly turned to Marcus behind him and ordered. He hadn't even considered that once the River Swiftflow was frozen, the orcs could cross this natural barrier and attack Swiftflow City directly.

"Hopefully, the orcs won't discover Swiftstream City." Roland sighed helplessly. "Let Iovia and Whitewing hold them off for now. Better to sacrifice a friend than myself."

(End of this chapter)