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

Chapter 78 Blade Dance
The rangers' scimitars spun around from front to back, unleashing a dazzling blade of light—the prelude to the rangers' core skill, Blade Dance. The blinding light instantly illuminated the somewhat dim sky! The orcs' terrified faces were clearly visible on the sun-reflecting blades.

"Thump thump~" More than a hundred corpses fell straight down from the sky, none other than the orcs who had just climbed onto the city wall.

"what!"

"Uh~"

"Woo..."

The orcs' dying screams echoed from the city walls, and the corpses falling like dumplings severely dampened the morale of the orc army, even slowing down their assault on the city walls.

"Damn it! These cowardly elves! They cower in the city like pathetic worms!" Azog roared angrily. Clearly, the elves' will to resist had exceeded his expectations, and their resilience moved him.

They were, after all, an elf who had participated in the final battle of the Alliance. The glory of their ancestors was etched in their hearts, and the once-cooled passion had been rekindled. They were warriors who had faced the Black Gate! They were brave warriors who had charged into Mordor! They were the Star Elves of Singori! They were children of the stars!
"Why aren't they exhausted yet!" Azog watched as the energetic elven rangers on the city walls, like harvesting machines, cleared away the emerging orcs like they were playing whack-a-mole, the only difference being that they were slicing them with blades...

If Roland were here, he would surely scoff at Azog. Having never dealt with an elven army, Azog would naturally be oblivious to the elves' dirty tricks. (During the first Battle of Lonely Mountain and the battle against the Woodland Elves, the Woodland Elves didn't have time to scale the walls when they entered Vale, so Azog was fortunate enough to avoid witnessing their dirty tactics.)
Once the elven army has formed its formation, their attack pattern becomes fixed. First, they use a long-range barrage of arrows to wear you down. If the elves are exhausted or the enemy approaches, elven spearmen and rangers will immediately fill in at the front for melee combat. But note this! Exhaustion doesn't mean depleted energy or mana! Often, rangers and druids are exhausted from shooting, but their energy or mana is still relatively high… If you think they're fish on a chopping board… then you'll witness dazzling elven blade dances and druid transformations, since skills don't require stamina to cast. Therefore, the elves' tactics are simple yet incredibly effective.

In all the games Roland has played, he's rarely seen anyone who can gain the upper hand against a well-prepared elven battle formation, unless your knightly order or air knights can crush them, but clearly Azog doesn't...

As Azog watched the scimitars, imbued with dazzling battle aura, dance and whirl across the flesh of the orc soldiers, his heart bled! These were genuine second-tier orc warriors! And they were being hacked down like vegetables...

"Let the cannon fodder wear them down!" Azog ordered. He couldn't afford the loss of so many professionals! It would diminish its dominance and deterrent power.

So the elite orc warriors retreated, and ordinary orc cannon fodder surged forward...

"Tsk! They've gotten smarter!" Iovia's expression changed. She knew that killing a professional was a one-hit kill, and killing an ordinary orc was also a one-hit kill, with the energy expenditure being almost the same. But the elves were clearly losing out! Their precious battle energy could only be wasted on ordinary orc scum.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh~" The troll carrying the battering ram strode toward the city gate.

"Shoot it!" The elven archers who were resting in the rear jumped up as if they had been injected with chicken blood when they saw these moving mountains of flesh. Having just recovered some strength, they drew their bows without saying a word!
"Boom!" More than a dozen heavy bodies crashed onto the ground hundreds of meters from the city gate, leaving deep scratches. The ogres, which were being pointed at by hundreds of bows, were instantly turned into giant hedgehogs.

"Mount the catapult!" Azog waved his hand and unleashed another attack.

"Boom!" Dozens of ogres carrying small trebuchets slammed their fists into the ground and stopped a kilometer away from Los Sannier City. The orcs behind them immediately began loading stone projectiles.

"Idiot!" Iovia's lips twitched. How much did this guy underestimate the attack range of elven archers? Iovia was embarrassed for Azog, even if Azog wasn't.

Without Iovia's command, the sharp-eyed archers spotted the targets that were stuck in place...

"Explosive Arrows! Fire!" Under the command of the squad leaders, a barrage of arrows imbued with skill effects was unleashed upon them. The elven archers, having finished their volleys, didn't even have the desire to fire another volley...

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The sounds of arrows exploding after piercing flesh continued to echo. When everything calmed down, only the remaining large, skeletal remains of feet told the story of a group of ogres who had once stood here...

"Roar!" Azog roared in a fit of impotent rage!
Alas! Poor Orc King, does he think everyone is Vale? Can Bard's archers compare to the elves? Who gave him the audacity to stand before the elves as target practice...?

"Surround them!" Azog finally unleashed his fury! He no longer cared about whether that damned knightly order might suddenly appear, because he had just received news...

"Woo~woo~woowoo~!" The unique horn of the orcs came from the west! "Holy crap!" White Wing, who was fighting with the orcs who were holding back the human soldiers, felt a chill run down his spine when he saw the black tide and orc totems appearing on the western horizon.

"By the Dragon God!" Caslo, who was dodging attacks from the dragon-hunting crossbows on the ground and constantly restraining the orcs, suddenly felt a chill run down his spine as he looked at the rolling torrent of orcs from the air!
"Are all the woodland elves dead? How did they protect the West?!" Iovia, who had also heard the commotion, cursed as she looked at the distant Black Tide.

After more than a month, this army of Gombad orcs successfully bypassed the Woodland Kingdom and arrived in the heart of the battlefield!

All the orcs ceased their attack and retreated to a safe area in an orderly fashion. Watching them slowly spread out in a semi-circle around Los Sannier, Iovia, the White Wings, and everyone on the city walls cast a shadow over their hearts.

Why didn't Azog besiege the city at the beginning? Because it was wary of Roland's Holy Knights. It always thought that the knights were hiding in the city and could come out at any time to deliver a fatal blow. With an army of about 20,000, Azog didn't dare to besiege the city from all sides. But the arrival of the Bolg army changed this balance! Azog had enough confidence to fight against the knights.

"Destroy them! Tear them apart! The era of the orcs is about to begin!" Azog roared madly, waving his arms and legs excitedly as he shouted.

……

Crossing the frozen Swiftflow River, Roland led his Swiftflow Legion and Holy Knights to the west bank. They were behind a hill several tens of meters above sea level. They had also heard the commotion earlier. The calm Lance immediately advised Roland to stop the march. The group climbed the hill to investigate. Because of the thickness of the ice on the river, they had to walk more than ten kilometers north to cross it. The ice there was thicker and allowed heavily loaded warhorses to trample it. From their vantage point, they could see the orc army surging in from the west.

"...Damn it, the Woodland Kingdom is gone?" Roland finally blurted out after holding it in for a long time.

“The biggest joke of the year… a dwarf has become a prophet…” Roland murmured, suddenly recalling Thorin’s words… He didn’t trust the wood elves…

“It seems the orcs really have broken through the woodland elves’ defenses! I hope it’s not what I thought… that the elves are just watching from the sidelines…” Roland said gravely.

“Your Highness…” Lance hesitated, unable to finish his sentence.

“Let’s retreat…” Renault, who upheld the code of chivalry, was the first to suggest retreating.

“We cannot put you in danger…” Radil said solemnly.

This battle was different from the first Battle of Lonely Mountain. The vast difference in strength meant that Renault couldn't even muster the thought of resistance. This was no longer a matter of abandoning allies! He was in dire straits himself!
"Dude... is this what you call easy?" With his exceptional eyesight, Verway clearly saw the well-equipped orc warriors.

"No! We still have a chance!" Roland rejected the others' suggestion.

“Don’t forget! The Star Elves have Dragon Knights, and a Dragon Knight represents… at least one forbidden spell!” Roland smiled.

The crowd's expressions immediately brightened. That's right! Dragon Knights! They're known as walking nuclear bombs of Middle-earth, alongside the Sages, right? If these orcs were grouped together, a single forbidden spell might wipe them out...

"Roar!" A clear and stirring dragon roar resounded through the sky! A magnificent blue dragon, shimmering with starlight, roared into the sky from the city!
Iovia dared not hide anymore. They were having a good time, but this Azog had no sportsmanship! He actually doubled down on calling in reinforcements! He'd flip the sign at the drop of a hat! Well then, don't blame us for showing our hand too.

Family members... please give me your votes... I desperately need votes to boost my "battle strength".

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(End of this chapter)