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

Chapter 8 The Forest of Trolls

At dawn, the group packed their bags and left the town of Buri under the rising sun.

Roland opened the map and frowned as he looked at the woodland on the west side of the Misty Mountains on the East-West Avenue.

"The Troll Forest?" Roland couldn't help but worry. In both the game and the movie, that area was inhabited by roaming trolls, and it was also the most important part of the Hobbit storyline, where the three elven swords shone once again: Gramdrin - the Enemy Sword, Ocrest - the Beastbite Sword, and Bilbo's exclusive Thorn.

“Evil lurks in this forest…” Gandalf murmured as he appeared beside Roland at some point.

“Ogres? Perfect, my knights will cut off their heads!” A cold glint flashed in Roland’s eyes.

“I hope so…” Gandalf gave Roland a deep look.

"Clang!" Roland casually drew the Dragon Slayer sword from his waist.

"Attention, everyone! Stay alert!" Roland raised his longsword and rode his horse back and forth in the ranks to make sure everyone could hear him.

The knights silently tightened their belts, fastened their swords, and hung their lances in the most convenient place on their saddles. The knights in the lead row raised their lances and scanned the surrounding dense forest. The Battanian archers took down their mithril bows and nocked arrows.

"Stay alert and maintain formation. Don't panic if danger arises. Use your shields to block attacks from all directions. Keep moving and don't become stationary targets!" Renault rode up to the outer edge of the formation and loudly instructed the knights on guard.

"My lord, I've discovered that some knights are close to advancing in rank." Kaslan suddenly noticed something and rode quickly to Roland's ear to whisper.

"Hmm?" Roland raised an eyebrow, opened the Magic Ring System, and sure enough, the battle aura levels of his earliest 10 apprentice knights were almost approaching the knight level. Roland smiled happily. Although apprentice knights were still knights, the title of knight sounded much better and was much stronger in combat. Moreover, knights had some decent skills that apprentice knights couldn't match.

Compared to the Apprentice Knight, the Knight possesses several highly practical skills: Shield Wall: Condenses a large amount of battle aura into a shield, forming a 2-meter long and 1-meter wide light shield in front of the Knight. Requires a shield to be equipped! Sword Parry: After successfully parrying an enemy attack, the Knight can immediately launch a follow-up slash. The slash's battle aura has armor-piercing properties. Requires a sword-type weapon. Flash Sword: Summons a longsword formed from battle aura that descends from the sky, inflicting burning damage upon impact with a 10-meter attack range.

"Caslo has a task for you." Roland's eyes darted around.

“My lord, I am at your service at any time,” Caslo replied hastily.

“You should be able to teach them skills,” Roland whispered.

“Of course, a large portion of the skills of dragon knights are shared with ordinary knights,” Caslo said in a low voice after a moment of surprise.

"Then you'll be in charge of teaching them skills," Roland quickly patted him on the shoulder.

"Huh?" Caslo immediately looked confused.

"We don't have any professional mentors here, so could you please do this for us? Renault has to lead the team, so this task is yours!" Roland patted him on the shoulder and encouraged him.

"Sir, am I being conscripted?" Caslo asked, covering his face.

"Ahem, this is called 'the capable should do more'," Roland said without blushing or skipping a beat.

……

"Thorin, we need to be careful coming down. Tell your dwarf brothers that our whereabouts may have been exposed, and the orcs may be watching us." Roland found Thorin.

"What?" Thorin exclaimed in surprise.

"This forest won't be easy to traverse; the ogres lurking inside won't let us pass easily," Roland sighed helplessly at the group.

It's important to know that the ogre forest contains far more than just the three ogres shown in the movie; there are many more hidden ogres within.

"Don't worry, Your Excellency, I will keep everyone on high alert at all times," Thorin replied after a moment's thought.

"hope so."

……

At night, by the campfire, Balin, just as Roland knew, continued to tell Bilber the story of Thorin and the pale orc Azog.

"And then what happened? What about that orc?" Bilbo couldn't help but ask.

“Dead! He succumbed to his injuries and died in the dark cave.” Thorin walked over with a cold face.

"Get some rest, we still have a long journey ahead tomorrow." Roland approached. "Sleep, sleep." Bilbo quickly spread out blankets with the others and lay down by the warm campfire, while Roland went to his own marching tent to rest. The marching tent was large enough to accommodate 10 fully armed knights, while Roland and his men set up 13 tents: one each for Roland, Caslo, and Reno, one for the other 10, and another 10 to keep watch.

……

"Damn it! Someone's gone missing!" Roland heard someone shout in his daze.

"Damn it! I forgot there was a scene involving ogre attacks these past few nights!" Roland did a somersault and casually drew his Dragon Slayer Sword as he stepped out of the tent.

"What's going on?!" Roland asked, pulling Olli aside.

"Billber and Chili are missing!" Ollie exclaimed in a panic.

"Renault! Wake everyone up! Prepare for battle!" Roland shouted.

"Thorin! Your men are always getting into trouble!" Roland said helplessly.

"Wait, where did you tie the horse?" Roland suddenly realized that in the story, they had tied the horse in the woods and let the ogres steal it.

“Kili and Fili have tied their horses to the woods,” Devalin suddenly said.

"Go check if the horse is there!" Roland said hurriedly.

Someone rushed over, and a moment later Bahrain ran over: "He's gone!"

"Damn it! There are at least a dozen trolls!" Roland had a headache.

"Knights! Assemble!" Roland shouted.

"Help! Help!" Suddenly, Philip scrambled out of the bushes.

"Ogres! They've caught Bilbo and stolen our pony!"

"Lead the way!" Renault said coldly.

"Oh, come with me!" Philip paused for a moment, then quickly realized what was happening.

……

"Watch me catch you and tear you to pieces, dip you in sauce, and eat you!" roared a troll that was three or four meters tall.

Below, Bilbo and Chili kept dodging the giant hands that the ogre reached out.

"Have you caught those two little mice yet?"

How should these horses be fed?

"I think it should be eaten raw."

"Let's make soup with it. I still have some squirrel droppings to add flavor."

"Hmm? I hear the sound of horses' hooves. It sounds a bit like the hooves of human heavy cavalry." An ogre who was tending a fire suddenly looked up at the swaying bushes in the distance and asked in confusion.

"For the glory of the knights! Charge!"

"Kill! For justice!"

"For the revival of Lagrange!" This is Renault.

In an instant, a torrent of steel surged out of the bushes. Rows of lances, gleaming with a cold light, stood like a forest of trees, and tin cans smashed through everything in their path. The ogres chasing Bilber and Kili were instantly knocked down by a single cavalryman. The knights behind him raised their lances and charged again, but feeling the immense resistance, the knight frowned, immediately releasing his lance and grabbing a hoe. Taking advantage of the moment they passed each other, he swung the hoe down.

"Agh!" the troll howled in pain.

Unfortunately, before it could howl for long, it was engulfed by the steel torrent, and under the light of the torches of the knights who kept pouring out, all that could be seen on the ground was a paste of minced meat.

(End of this chapter)