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

Chapter 529 The Council of Kings
Upon receiving news of the undead army's appearance, even the most xenophobic and withdrawn woodland elves rushed over. Soon, almost all the former kings of the Lonely Mountain Alliance appeared in Irubor's reception hall, where the atmosphere was lively and filled with clinking glasses.

"I feel like we're missing someone?" Verway, who had come with Roland, looked around and said.

At this moment, the dwarven reception hall was occupied by the following elf kings: Valewe (currently a wild king), the king of the plains elves; Roland, the king of Lagrange; Thorin, the king of the mountains; Bard, the king of Vale; Whitewing, the king of Akvia; and Thranduil, the king of the woodlands elves!

"Iovia and Dain haven't arrived yet?" Thranduil took a sip of fruit wine and frowned.

“Singree and the Iron Hills are too far, so please be patient, Your Highness Thranduil!” Roland waved his hand, signaling Thranduil to remain calm.

"Alright, let's stop waiting for them and get started..." Thorin was also impatient, and he had selectively ignored his brother and the Star Elf.

"Well, that's fine!" Roland looked at the kings around him, and after everyone agreed, he nodded.

"The reason we've gathered all the kings here is to discuss the southward advance of the northern undead army!" Roland began.

"What! Nobody told me about the undead army?" Verway jumped up immediately upon hearing this. This was terrible! When did the undead army arrive? He hadn't received a single word about it!
"..." Thorin, White Wing, and Roland first looked at Verway with scrutinizing eyes.

"???" Thorin and White Wing then turned their questioning gazes to Roland.

"Damn it! Why are you looking at me? This kid hangs out with the centaurs all day long, I never see him..." Roland jumped up like a cat with its fur standing on end.

"Hmm?" Thorin and White Wing turned their gazes to Verway again upon hearing this.

"Ahem... Our topic today is the army of the undead, ahem, everyone, let's continue!" Verway quickly changed the subject.

"Roland, you didn't tell me you came here to discuss the undead!" Verway stomped on Roland's foot under the table and growled in a low voice. He had just jumped up like an idiot, thinking he could dig a fortress out with his foot.

"You didn't ask!" Roland looked completely innocent. Who could have known this kid was so out of touch with the times? Wait a minute? It seems no one really told them about this...

As Roland pondered this, he looked apologetically at Verway. At that moment, the "Wild King" of the steppe was awkwardly biting his nails under Thranduil's mocking gaze. Damn it! He'd embarrassed his fellow countrymen!
"Alright, let's get back to the main topic. Our combined cavalry forces from the Dwarves, the Kingdom of Akvia, and the Kingdom of Lagrang have already clashed with the undead army north of the Grey Mountains..." Thorin tapped the table and said seriously.

"What was the result?" Thranduil looked up into Thorin's eyes.

"...It's a long story!" Before Thorin could even speak, White Wing said with a dark face. If it weren't for the righteousness of Roland's soldiers, probably very few of his cavalry would have been able to retreat.

"That's for human cavalry. Those undead aren't very effective against dwarves, but they're very troublesome, and there are just too many of them!" Thorin rubbed his beard.

"Double the damage!" Verway suddenly blurted out.

"Hmm?" Everyone except Thranduil and Roland turned to look at Valwy. Roland was reminded of the Middle-earth lore: when elves, who worshipped the forces of nature, faced undead or other evil spirits, they would inflict damage on each other, with the damage doubled compared to other enemies! Every strike would draw massive blood—are you scared yet?!
"It's nothing..." Verway, realizing he had misspoke, quickly waved his hand.

“It seems we need to form an alliance to fight those demons.” Thorin was surprised that the woodland elves, who were usually xenophobic and withdrawn, were the first to propose forming an alliance.

Roland wasn't surprised, though. After all, elves have always been less resistant to dark and evil forces than other races. While they can inflict the greatest damage on dark races, they are also countered by them! So elves need other races to act as the front line to share the burden, and forming an alliance with dwarves and humans is a very good choice.

"Hahaha! My dear brother! The esteemed King of the Mountain, King of the Iron Hills, Dain, pays his respects to you!" The door was suddenly pushed open from the outside, and Dain walked in with a smile on his face, his large beard twitching.

“Oh! My brother! Welcome to Irubor!” Thorin immediately stood up to greet him.

"Greetings, King Roland! Greetings, King Bard..." Dain greeted everyone in turn. Everyone nodded in response.

"It just so happens that Dain is here too, so we're only missing Iovia." White Wing smiled.

"What happened this time?" Dain turned to look at everyone.

"The undead army has marched south from the north!" Thorin said, pulling him to a seat and supporting his shoulder.

"Ah! By Turin! You're in big trouble!" Dain immediately realized that the countries surrounding Lonely Mountain were flat and easy targets for the undead army. Dain's expression was very serious.

"Otherwise, why would everyone be sitting here..." Roland said helplessly, covering his face.

"Your Iron Hills aren't affected much," Roland said, changing the subject to praise. The Iron Hills had developed for so long, its ecosystem functioning well, forming a self-contained system far superior to the recently reclaimed territory of the Lonely Mountain Kingdom. Moreover, the Iron Hills, hidden deep in the mountains, were virtually undetectable by the undead army once its gates were closed. In contrast, look at Irubor… its gate was more conspicuous than that of Ruins of the Rivers! Even more absurdly, the gates were damaged twice during the Battle of the Lonely Mountain and the Battle of Smaug, meaning that Irubor's gates were still not fully repaired.

"It's alright, but we were attacked by something a while ago. Part of the mountain was blown open, and half of the mountain's top was ripped off! We've been repairing it all this time..." Dain muttered.

"Cough cough!" Roland quickly coughed a few times to cover up his embarrassment, after all, the culprit was fast asleep in his arms.

“Dain from the Iron Hills has arrived, so what’s going on with Eovia? Singrey should be able to get to the Lonely Mountain faster than Dain!” Thranduil was somewhat worried at this moment, after all, Singrey was isolated in the Dark Forest and news from it was very scarce.

"Don't worry, I sent a dragon rider to inform him a long time ago, we'll have news soon!" Roland said calmly. He had sent Akvia to inform Singrey, but Roland was also a little worried. Both sides were traveling by air, so they should have been back this morning, and it was almost afternoon...

“Let’s wait a bit. We’re not in a rush right now. We can discuss the size of the allied forces when King Iovia arrives. After all, we need to deal with those undead. If they come over, we’ll be in big trouble,” Bard chimed in.

(End of this chapter)