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

“The situation with Apophis Breo is not good. We need to be careful. Perhaps we need to send troops to him…” Roland patted Nyx’s head and explained to her affectionately.

"Is the situation bad?" Nyx asked, blinking her big eyes.

"It's not terrible, but it's definitely not particularly good..." Roland shook his head. If you say it's terrible, then both sides are just weaklings fighting each other. Compared to the Eastern battlefield, it's like a contest of who's worse. A few knights can hold the line, and two third-tier knights can turn the tide of the battle... If you say it's not terrible, then Apophis Breo almost punched his brain. The soldiers are even more stretched than Roland's. Those who know him know he's a duke, but those who don't might think he's some fallen baron. His military strength is even less than that of a regular border baron.

“I hope the King’s Landing family can establish themselves safely, after all, they are your most loyal shield!” Nyx frowned, looking quite adorable.

"Don't worry, with the support of the Sky Knights, if he can't win, he might as well give up this fiefdom!" Roland shook his head with a smile.

……

“It seems our enemies are the Fourth Ring, the Dark Ring Amorath, and the Sixth Ring, the Ring of Decay Holrams!” Thranduil said, looking at the dark, overwhelming army of undead before him.

“That should be it. All the other Ringwraiths except the Witch-King of Angmar have appeared. It can only be the two of them on the other side!” Bard flicked his longsword, creating a flourish.

"The situation is not good for us. The dwarves' furnace fire can only be used once. Next time, they will be on guard and it won't be as effective as last time!" Thorin shook his head with some regret.

On the desolate wasteland, a vast expanse of black scorched earth still emitted a slow, lingering heat. Bone dust flew through the air with the wind, and the undead army, burned to ashes by the flames, drifted away with the wind.

"Thank goodness you're back!" Thorin looked at Caslo and Ajax with lingering fear.

"You guys are really ruthless!" Ajax's lips twitched. The scorched earth in front of her was obviously the result of the dwarves using magical tools to ignite the core furnace of Lonely Mountain. Just imagine how powerful the furnace fire, which required dragon flames to ignite, must be. The dwarves throwing it out like that was no less than the full breath of a fire dragon.

“There’s nothing we can do. Lord Caslo has left, and none of us can cast a forbidden spell to stop the undead scourge…” Bard shrugged.

The Scourge, a persistent and powerful forbidden curse, is the most disgusting type of forbidden curse, ranking alongside area-of-effect curses as one of the most nasty curses in Middle-earth for ten thousand years. Clearly, relying solely on manpower without the power of forbidden curses would be insufficient to stop the Scourge. With Caslo no longer available to restrain it, the Northern Alliance obviously lacked anyone capable of casting forbidden curses.

Although the elves are skilled in spellcasting, Thranduil clearly did not have any mages capable of casting forbidden spells; otherwise, Thranduil would have already used forbidden spells to bombard Azog during the Battle of the Five Armies.

"Thank goodness you're back, and you've brought reinforcements!" Bard was clearly in a good mood, having two dragon riders by his side, and even his breathing felt much more at ease!

“…” Ajax and Caslo exchanged a glance, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

"I feel like you're almost victorious even if we didn't come!" Caslo said, looking at the dwindling undead army. After all, how many could escape after being doused in fire by the dwarven furnaces?
“Isn’t it because we’re afraid of them becoming a second Scourge?” Bard chuckled. “The conditions for casting the Scourge are still quite strict. At least they’re not allowed to do it a second time here. Without corpses and spirits for them to desecrate, where would they go to summon the undead?” Caslo shrugged.

This wave of undead calamity has at least depleted most of the North's corpse reserves. The corpses from the northern wastelands and the orc corpses from Gombad Fortress have all been resurrected. Clearly, the Ringwraiths have not achieved their objectives and have instead wasted their cannon fodder. The southern front, which was the most likely point of attack, has also been held by Roland at the cost of his life. In other words, in this war in the North, apart from depleting some of the Allied forces' strength, they haven't even captured a single strategic point... It's a tough situation!
"The undead are retreating!" Thranduil's calm eyes reflected the slowly departing figures of the undead.

“It seems the Ringwraiths have admitted defeat!” Bard chuckled.

"The South was almost wiped out. Are we going to just run away and wait for everyone to surround them and slap them in the face?" Caslo said arrogantly. In reality, he was just putting on a brave face. Let alone going north to counterattack, it was hard to say whether the orcs could even get out of Lulong Fortress if they put on another forbidden spell. Moreover, the soldiers' spirit and physical strength were already at the limit of collapse. Counterattack was just talk.

"They're lucky they ran fast!" Bard said disdainfully, watching the slowly retreating undead.

"The dwarves can smash their heads again!" Thorin retorted, not to be outdone, daring anyone to do it since it's free anyway.

"Hmph!" Thranduil watched the war clouds drift away on the horizon, saying nothing, only letting out a cold snort. The short, nasal sound clearly carried a wealth of meaning; this snort was exquisite, highlighting the elves' disdain for the Ringwraiths and their mockery of the undead army's utter vulnerability…

"..." Ajax shook her head, rubbing her forehead. These people were such good actors, they were acting so convincingly... King Bard, who shouted "Run fast!", did you even look at your soldiers in such a sorry state? And that dwarf king who yelled "Crush their heads!", look at which dwarf is still unharmed? And that elven king who gave a cold snort... are you sure your rangers can still draw their bows?

Ajax's gaze was incredibly strange as she looked at the rangers whose arms were still trembling, and at the exhausted dwarves and the already few pitiful human soldiers... They'd suffered terribly; if they had actually made it up there, the Ringwraiths would probably have been laughing their heads off. If it weren't for the sudden appearance of the aura of the two dragon riders (mainly the pressure of the dragons), those two Ringwraiths probably would have planned to charge the allied lines a few more times and struggle on.

“Let’s stay for two more days to make sure those things are really gone… I don’t want them to be at the foot of Lonely Mountain when I go to sleep at night!” Thorin tossed his hair.

"Agreed!" Bard, whose family was not well-off, immediately raised his hand in agreement. At least the dwarves could retreat to Lonely Mountain, while the River Valley Kingdom would really be waiting to die.

“Alright.” Thranduil nodded. The Woodland Kingdom wasn’t afraid of these things making a comeback, but Thranduil understood the principle of “if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold”. How could he just stand by and watch the Ringwraiths plunder all his allies?

“Then let’s wait two days!” Caslow and Ajax exchanged a glance and nodded. At this moment, the two of them were unaware that Duke Apophis Breo of King’s Landing was already deeply embroiled in a battle of wits with the wandering orcs. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to sit still either.

……

"Congratulations, host, for defeating the northern undead army! Reward: 500 Lagrange City Guards! Side Quest: Two-Front Warfare Completed!" The system's voice suddenly boomed in Roland's ears, and then the reward was issued.

"Tsk tsk tsk! Looks like the north is finished too!" Roland shook his head, having expected it. He wouldn't get any of the annihilation rewards. After understanding the annihilation mechanism, Roland knew he was out of luck with those rewards. First, you had to annihilate all high-level combatants or generals, with a troop annihilation rate of over 70%! Putting everything else aside, just the requirement of annihilating all high-level combatants was a huge hurdle for Roland. Damn it! If I could kill that bunch of Ringwraiths, would I need those rewards?