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

Chapter 668 War begins

Two days had passed, and the dragon knights and wyvern knights who had scattered on Roland's side had just regrouped when news of battle arrived from Apophis Breo's side.

However, Apophis Breo was not alarmed. On the contrary, he told Roland not to rush to send reinforcements, but to prepare first before setting out. Why? Of course, it was because of the Valley behind them! When the elves of Rivendell learned that there was a human leader in the north who was taking the beating for them, King Elrond waved his hand and immediately dispatched 500 elite elven rangers to provide support. After all, even the Beorn knew that Gombad Fortress had sent troops, so if the Valley, which was watching all of Sauron's minions, did not react, it could only be said that the elves were just venting their anger.

As a result, Apophis Breo had no intention of dealing with the elves at all, but the elves sent reinforcements, which then stationed themselves at the eastern pass to the astonishment of the entire Lion's Lands population. Apophis Breo then received the leader of the elven army—Lind…yes, the same Lind who had been beaten to a pulp by Roland outside Rivendell.

The orc vanguard wolf riders arrived on the battlefield shortly after, which made Apophis Breo look at the elves with new respect. They had seized the opportunity perfectly!
The orc vanguard wolf riders charged in with murderous intent, only to find the desolate Lion's Territory and a tall pass. Lion's Territory itself was empty; Apophis Breo, for one thing, was a master of scorched earth! He had emptied Lion's Territory of everything he could! He had even inhumanely sealed off the wells, leaving only the sewage channels for the wolf riders to look at each other in bewilderment. If it weren't for the fresh scent of wood emanating from the buildings throughout Lion's Territory, the orcs would have thought it was a long-abandoned human town.

Since they were already here, they were bound to have a fight! Without a word, the orc werewolf riders turned their wolves around and charged towards King's Landing Fortress...

The entire scene was enough to make Apophis Breo's brain stem shrink. What kind of cavalry would charge a fortress for no reason? Well, after glancing at the wolf riders who leaped seven or eight meters high and then at his own city walls, which had been raised to seven meters, Apophis Breo immediately panicked.

"It's alright, the elves will handle it!" Lind and his men quickly fired back at the orc vanguard. The flying wolf riders were easier targets than targets themselves. After hundreds of "little flying wolves" died, Apophis Breo finally breathed a sigh of relief and suppressed his urge to frantically call for reinforcements. After several rounds of fighting, Apophis Breo felt at ease. After all, those orc wolf riders were nothing special. He even had a moment to send a magical communication to Roland, which was why the higher-ups had told Roland not to rush over.

……

"Your Highness, our forces are already stretched thin. If your reinforcements don't arrive soon, we'll be in trouble!" Linde grinned as he looked at the orc infantry that had begun to appear. After all, those wolf riders would jump up and be used as targets, but once the infantry started attacking the city, those jumping wolf riders wouldn't necessarily be targets anymore!
"Don't worry, reinforcements are on their way!" Apophis Breo nodded. He had his own selfish motives. After all, the more blood the elves shed, the less blood the kingdom would shed. He didn't need to urge the king for the sake of the elves. It was better to let the elves bear the brunt of the attack than to let the king's army bear it. However, what Apophis Breo didn't know was that Roland had no intention of sending troops at all. He had only sent some elite soldiers and high-level combat forces.

"I hope so! If things don't work out, I will lead the soldiers to cover the civilians' evacuation!" Linde didn't completely trust the human nobleman in front of him. After all, every human has a lot of ulterior motives, and it turned out that Apophis Breo did have some ulterior motives.

"Thank you so much for your help!" Apophis Breo couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. This elf was really kind! He even knew to cover the evacuation of the civilians! For a moment, Apophis Breo felt a little guilty, after all, he could say that he had tricked the elf a little.

"They're here!" Lind's sudden exclamation interrupted Apophis Breo's train of thought.

"Roar! Charge! Slaughter those weaklings!" the orc roared. "Kill! For Lord Angmar!"

"charge!"

Orcs, carrying makeshift ladders, surged toward the fortress in a dark mass, causing the valiant warriors on the city walls to tremble slightly.

"What are those? Light armored troops?" Apophis Breo narrowed his eyes, clearly realizing that these were not the orc heavy armored troops mentioned in the intelligence.

"They're the elite vanguard of the orcs! Their appearance means that the elite heavy orc forces are not far behind!" Lind frowned.

"Kill them first!" Apophis Breo wasn't going to let these orcs get away with it. Since they were wearing light armor, they should be prepared to die! If they were rushing to their deaths, then he would have to oblige them!
"Release the arrows!" Apophis Breo waved his hand, and a sparse rain of arrows began to fall. Apart from the brave warriors with crossbows who could neatly clear an area, the rest were mobilized militia. These able-bodied men numbered about a thousand, basically all the labor force of the Lion Territory! They casually hurled their hunting bows or crossbows. Although the killing power was not as great as military weapons, why bother with such finesse when dealing with lightly armored troops? Moreover, the random flying arrows put more psychological pressure on the orcs, after all, arrows from who-knows-where were even more frightening.

"Fire!" Linde didn't hold back, immediately ordering the elves to split into two teams and unleash a volley of arrows that blinded the orcs. After one team fired, they quickly retreated while the other team moved forward to fire, alternating back and forth. They drew a death zone with arrows 300 meters in front of the fortress, and almost no orc could cross that 300-meter line. Even if any escaped, they would be quickly shot down by the valiant warriors.

"Do! Do! Do!" The orcs began to retaliate, but Apophis Breo, who was prepared, sneered and ordered the militia to stop firing and raise their shields for defense. These shields were more like city gate panels than shields... These shields, which required three people to carry, blocked the heads of the warriors and elves, making the orcs' projectiles a joke for a moment.

"Thud!" The sound of an arrow piercing flesh rang out, and a warrior collapsed to the ground. It turned out that an orc archer had shot and killed the soldier with an arrow.

"Pfft pfft pfft!" The next second, the orc who had just shown his face was instantly locked onto by the elves and riddled with arrows, turning him into a hedgehog.

"Withdraw! Don't show yourselves!" Apophis Breo ordered the militiamen. Many militiamen and warriors had been shot down by the orc archers. Apophis Breo could not withstand such depletion of his young men, so he directly ordered the soldiers and militiamen to crouch down and hide behind the battlements and obstacles to launch projectiles.

Linde glanced at Apophis Breo but didn't blame or mock the human lord's cowardice. After all, this was the wise move. How many of him would trade human lives for the lives of orcs? However, Linde also knew he couldn't continue with volley fire. He didn't hesitate to disband the ranger groups and let them scatter and guerrilla-like across the fortress. Although the oppressive feeling of firing in formation was gone, the rangers, now dispersed, were actually more lethal than before!