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

Chapter 571 Flying Dragon Rides the Face
"Greetings, Imperial infantry! Perhaps you need us!" a voice called from the sky.

"Who goes there?" The guards of Lagrange City raised their guns and pointed them at the sky, looking on alert.

"Boom!" One after another, black dots swooped down from the sky like dive bombers.

"Greetings, brothers! The Lightning Dragon Squad of the Imperial Royal Dragon Knights salutes you!" The leading dragon knight bowed slightly, patting his chest.

"Greetings! Valin Angus, commander of the Lagrange City Guard's Thousand-Man Unit, salutes you!" The commander of the Lagrange City Guard slapped his chest in salute, recognizing the dragon knights in front of him as his own men at a glance, since they were wearing the standard plate armor of the Lagrange Sky Knights.

"What's going on with you guys?" Verin Angus looked at the squad of bipedal wyvern riders in front of him with a puzzled expression.

“We returned to the Empire from the south and happened to see you here, so we came to check on you. Friendly reminder: a 10,000-strong chariot force is rapidly approaching from your east. Perhaps you have something to say?” The wyvern rider squad leader shrugged.

"It seems they're after the remnants of the Empire!" Verin Angus said confidently, looking at the knight squad leader.

"Do they have a grudge against the Empire?" The dragon knights frowned.

“God knows! We’re also a team preparing to return, and we haven’t seen any trace of the Imperial forces yet!” Verin Angus shook his head.

"Maybe we'll only know after a fight!" The dragon knight captain waved his hand dismissively.

"This isn't good! What if they're not after us?" Verin Angus hesitated, after all, if they accidentally harmed a neutral force, it would be a diplomatic incident.

"As far as I know, the Empire has always seemed to be hostile to the Chariot People, after all, when they were expanding... cough cough! I'm getting off topic, I suggest we take action!" As expected of someone from the Empire's Sky Knights, even their manner of speaking is different; they would never talk nonsense if they could take action.

"Let's see. It's never wrong to be prepared for battle!" Verin Angus shook his head, deciding not to make the first move. Although it was a force of tens of thousands of tanks and civilian troops, who were they? The iron walls of Lagrange! The unyielding representatives! The defenders of Lagrange!

"Alright, we'll provide you with fire support! Lightning Dragons are very effective against clustered targets!" The dragon knights offered their goodwill one after another. It was never too much for the air knights to take care of their infantry brothers, after all, these brothers who had to run on two legs had the highest casualty rate among all units!

"Thank you!" Verin Angus did not refuse. After all, the combat power of infantry with air knights and those without air knight support is completely different. Of course, it would be even better if there were dragon knights, and even better than dragon knights would be dragon knight generals and dragon knight commanders!

With the assistance of a group of unexpectedly joined dragon riders, Verin Angus's confidence increased. If they were a neutral force, everyone would be at peace; if they were enemies... well! Verin Angus could only say that the Lagranges put away their weapons hoping to talk to him properly, and picked up their weapons hoping he would talk to him properly!
"Form ranks! Let's see what their composition is like!" Verin Angus gripped his steel rifle and commanded.

Under Verin Angus's orders, the soldiers formed two ranks, creating a simple yet sturdy double-layered shield wall. This would ensure that their formation wouldn't be broken by ordinary cavalry and chariots. What? Knights? Then hurry up and write your wills!
"I don't think there's much hope, considering how aggressive they seem..." the dragon knight captain muttered to himself.

……

"My lord! That's the flag of that kingdom!" The scout pointed to the Lagrange dragon flag fluttering across the river. Through the thin mist, one could vaguely see the giant dragon on the flag, its claws outstretched, waving in the wind!

"Heh! Kill them all! Kill them all! For my darling! Sweetheart, I'll send them down to their graves right now! This is just the first interest! I'll kill them all!" Darky, whether he was swayed by the Mordor messenger or something else, seemed a bit off. His bloodshot eyes, upon seeing the Lagrange dragon banner, were filled with the same eagerness as if they were seeing his own father. Didn't he realize that Lagrange was not so easy to destroy? If Roland were really that weak, would Mordor need to drag its minions along? "Whoosh whoosh!" With Darky's command, the archers on the chariots, wielding longbows, began to fire, a thin rain of arrows sweeping towards Valin Angus and his men.

……

“…Fine! Let’s kill them! They started it!” Verin Angus’s lips twitched as he spread his hands.

"Sigh... what a waste of time!" The dragon riders burst into the air.

"Watch out for crossbows! We're not sure if they have black arrows! Those dwarf bastards..." As he spoke, the dragon knight captain began to inquire about the health of the dwarf's entire family.

After all, the dwarves' black arrows were a major headache for all flying units. The most outrageous thing was that because the dwarven kingdom had been destroyed several times, a large number of black arrows flowed into various parts of Middle-earth, with the most black arrows lost after the fall of the kingdom of Moria!
"Okay! Prepare for an airstrike!"

"Roger that! Have the dragons use their lightning breath on them; that way we'll be safer!"

The dragons ridden by these dragon riders were bipedal wyverns, the lowest bloodline among dragons, with a bloodline purity far lower than the quadrupedal wyverns Kaslow had originally ridden. These bipedal wyverns had their forelimbs and wings fused together, much like Smaug. Therefore, these dragons possessed virtually no ability to cast dragon language magic; the few dragon language spells passed down through their bloodlines were among their few magical abilities. However, they had perfectly inherited the powerful physique and breath control of dragons!

"Shield Wall!" Verin Angus gave the order.

Upon hearing the command, the Lagrange City Guards slammed their half-shields into the ground, unleashing their Shield Wall skill. Battle aura surged forth, forming a semi-transparent, life-sized shield that blocked their path. Then, the shields of battle aura began to merge, until finally, a vast shield wall appeared on the riverbank! Because the Shield Wall skill requires a shield to be held, this dual protection of the physical shield and the battle aura shield made the shield wall even more resilient!
"Crack!" The bottom of the half-shield, which had been smashed into the ground, broke through the ice, and fine cracks spread out, gradually moving away from the ice in the middle of the river.

"Oh dear!" Verin Angus blinked, already feeling a pang of sympathy for the brave chariot drivers charging forward. One could only imagine the sheer spectacle of speeding across the cracked ice—truly a journey with the Grim Reaper...

Just as Verin Angus was thinking, the dragon riders in the sky had already launched their attack.

"Roar!" Compared to the giant dragon, the roar of the flying dragon was sharper, but the charioteers below couldn't tell what was in the sky.

Ten balls of blue-purple lightning were spat out by the lightning dragon and hurtled straight toward the speeding chariots.

"Sizzle!" The tank warriors who were directly hit were instantly turned into charred remains. Then, these spherical breaths continued their momentum, piercing through the tanks and crashing onto the ice.

"Bang!" The sudden burst of breath directly unleashed a dazzling bolt of lightning, covering an area of ​​more than ten meters in radius with hemispherical chains of lightning. The chariots and their horses within the area were charred by the lightning...

This wave of flying dragons not only stunned the chariot civilians, but even the well-prepared Lagrange City Guards were shocked by the destructive effect and exclaimed that they were experts!

(End of this chapter)