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

Chapter 38 Orc Movements

Early the next morning, Renault led the entire Knights across the Swift River in batches. With Radil's help, they built a sentry post that, while not aesthetically pleasing, was absolutely sturdy. The entire sentry post was constructed by Radil using earth magic. It was surrounded by a square stone wall, 100 meters long, 3 meters thick, and 6 meters high. Inside the wall, they built wooden sheds to serve as stables. In the very center was a watchtower, 10 meters long, 15 meters wide, and 15 meters high, for both guard duty and living quarters. A beacon tower was also built on top to warn the city of Swift River on the other side of the river. The price for successfully establishing this sentry post was that old man Radil drank all his mana potion reserves. Even so, the excessive consumption of mana left him in a weakened state.

"Caslo, you stay here. I'll take some men to scout along the riverbank." Renault waved to Caslo.

"Yes, if things get complicated, don't confront them head-on. At worst, we can retreat to Swiftstream City and defend it," Caslo instructed. He was afraid that Roland might be careless and be lured into a trap by the orcs, since a knightly order with depleted battle energy was less effective than infantry.

"Defend the city..." Renault's lips twitched. He thought about the pitiful walls of Stream City and felt even more unreliable.

"Go and come back soon!" Caslo slapped his warhorse's rump, and the fine Shire warhorse shot off like an arrow.

With a thunderous roar, the Holy Knights led by Renault gradually disappeared into the distance.

"I hope everything goes well." Caslo sighed, then mounted the dragon saddle. The four-legged dragon flapped its wings and took off, flying into the depths of the dark forest.

……

"Hmm~ How's your reconnaissance going?" Azog stared menacingly at the orc in front of him with his small eyes.

"Master...Master, we haven't found anything yet...That army just appeared out of nowhere," the orc chieftain stammered.

"Roar!" Azog roared, the iron claw embedded in his left arm plunging directly into the neck of the orc in front of him. Then, with a mighty lift, he hoisted the orc high into the air and casually tossed him into the wolf pack. Instantly, a dozen or so dire wolves leaped up and tore him apart in mid-air.

"Trash, you don't deserve to live!" Azog snarled, and countless orcs beneath him lowered their heads in fear.

"Find them! I need to know where they came from!" The angry roar echoed through the abandoned castle.

……

"My lord, we've arrived at Old Forest Road!" a knight said to Renault, who had stopped. Returning to this place again, Renault was filled with emotion. Back then, that mighty Swift Infantry had gone north with the king to participate in the Battle of Lonely Mountain. Now... he and his men had returned, but they had all remained on Lonely Mountain.

"Ten men per team, spread out and scout!" Renault said casually after glancing around.

……

"Human knights..." The orcs with keen hearing spotted them earlier than the knights of the Holy Light Knights. They quietly lay in ambush in the shadows of the woods, ready to leap down at any moment...

……

"Why does it feel so eerie?" A knight cautiously raised his lance and surveyed his surroundings.

Be careful!

"I feel here... Ah!" A knight screamed as an orc descended from the sky and successfully plunged his dagger into the knight's body. Due to the angle, the dagger pierced through the plate armor and embedded itself in the knight's shoulder.

"Roar!" The enraged knights swung their swords and began to hack and slash.

"Orcs!" The scream carried far. "Grab them! Let's get out of here!" A minor orc leader waved to the approaching orcs.

"Glory, mercy... humility!" The knights stacked various states on themselves except for sacrifice.

"For the glory of Lagrange! Charge!" The ten knights, trapped in the encirclement, swiftly broke through the orcs' weak encirclement and galloped away on horseback.

"Lek! Hold on! Don't fall asleep!" The charging knights surrounded the wounded knight, and the group quickly rushed out of the forest. The knights in the group kept urging the wounded knight with their voices to keep him from falling asleep.

"Lord Renault! Orcs!" Upon spotting Renault and his party by the river in the distance, the knights quickly led their comrades to join them.

"Alert!" Renault immediately turned his gaze to the wounded knight.

"Divine Inspiration! Divine Healing!" A soft golden light fell upon the knight, and as he regained consciousness, he gritted his teeth and pulled out the dagger embedded in his flesh.

"Ugh~" The pain made his face contort, and he desperately gripped his weapon to relieve the pain.

"Alright, young man! You're very brave." As he passed Renault, the knight suddenly heard the words in his ear. Excessive blood loss had made him drowsy, but under the Holy Healing skill, his wounds healed and scabbed over rapidly…

"Clang!" Renault casually hung his lance on the side of his saddle and drew his favorite knight's sword. Compared to the heavy lance, the 1.5-meter-long knight's sword was incredibly agile.

"Slash!" Renault shouted softly, and his battle aura surged towards the knight's sword. The peaceful and holy battle aura formed a sword beam about 3 meters long on the outside of the sword.

As the word "slash" fell, the golden sword light swiftly swept past the surging orcs and finally dissipated behind them.

The orcs whose upper bodies were swept by the sword's edge were still struggling to charge forward, but their lower bodies had been severed in two and left in place. They lay on the ground, limbs severed, howling incessantly. Renault watched indifferently as they rolled and howled in their own entrails and blood. He carefully examined their totems and discovered that these orcs came from the same place as the first batch of orcs at the foot of Lonely Mountain—Dogold!
"This is bad! The orcs are already right under our noses..." Renault's eyes were full of anxiety. If Legolas hadn't brought up the unusual movements of the orcs in the north, which reminded Roland of the orc army in the south, they probably wouldn't have found out until the orcs were already at their doorstep.

“We cannot fight on two fronts…” a knight murmured, looking at everything before him.

“But we estimate we’ll have to fight on two fronts again!” Renault sighed softly, gazing into the distance.

……

"So... Azog in the south can't hold back anymore?" Roland looked at Renault, who was reporting, with surprise in the warm tent.

“We’re in big trouble…” the weakened old man Radil said, while playing with the griffin egg he had brought.

“Hmm, this is a huge problem. If they attack, we will be the first to be hit. River Valley and Irubb can offer us very little help. They also need to guard against the orcs from the north crossing the Lonely Mountain to attack them. The only ones who can get involved in this matter are the elves... well, what can you expect the elves to do?” Roland analyzed.

"Good grief! So all these allies are useless after all!" Caslo rolled his eyes.

“Instead of hoping for Thranduil’s reinforcements, we should consider the army of Dain the Ironfoot.” Radil raised an eyebrow.

"Your Highness! There's a situation on the other side of the river!" A Battanian archer suddenly burst in.

(End of this chapter)