The acrid smoke at Ravenhill had yet to clear when the Redmane Legion's war horns turned toward Dale with ominous purpose.
While Radahn's forces systematically attacked Ravenhill, on Tarnes' side, the grizzled Jerren led the Redmane Legion's main force alongside Thorin and Dain's battle-hardened Dwarf armies and Bard's determined Lake-town guards, arriving near Dale's crumbling ruins like a tide of steel and flame.
This time Tarnes hadn't brought the Storm Legion, deliberately leaving them at Lake-town as a crucial precaution.
After all, Bard had brought about half his guard force with him. They couldn't afford to leave Lake-town's defenses completely empty and vulnerable.
Who knew if Orcs might suddenly emerge from other unexpected directions like wolves in the night?
Currently only Millicent accompanied Tarnes personally. Bernahl and Igon had also remained at Lake-town. The former was nursing a splitting headache from Storm Legion soldiers desperately wanting to join the Dale assault, while the latter meditated atop Lake-town's highest bell tower, vigilantly guarding against Smaug suddenly flying from the Lonely Mountain to incinerate the town.
Jerren approached Tarnes with military precision: "Lord Tarnes, regarding the Dale assault, I respectfully request that you and Lady Millicent need not act personally. Simply command from the rear. The Redmane Legion will personally sound the Golden Tree's fearsome reputation for you and General Radahn."
Tarnes paused slightly, then nodded with approval: "Of course, Jerren. I trust your capabilities completely."
Seeing Tarnes agree without hesitation, Millicent naturally consented as well with a slight nod.
Thorin approached with tactical urgency, addressing Tarnes and Jerren: "Our scouts have returned with intelligence. The western wall breach is widest, but Goblins have blocked the passage with rubble and debris. We'll proceed exactly as planned. You'll launch a feint at Dale's main gate to draw Goblin attention while Dain and I breach the western wall."
"A feint?" Jerren laughed with hoarse amusement. "Redmanes never feint. We only conquer."
As Thorin and Dain separated their Dwarf forces toward Dale's western approach, Jerren stood majestically atop a hill south of Dale's ruins, surveying the Goblin-infested wreckage with calculating eyes.
At the broken wall gaps, rubble and rotting wood piled high like makeshift fortifications, gray-green forms writhing within like maggots in a corpse.
Countless Goblins clustered everywhere, foul fluid dripping from dirty fangs, short rusted blades at their waists reflecting cold light in the murky air.
The Goblins buzzed like angry wasps, becoming increasingly agitated by the Redmane Legion's methodical approach.
Jerren raised his withered finger toward Dale's collapsed southern gate, his hoarse voice laden with killing intent: "Load fire oil, calibrate angles for maximum devastation."
Ten massive catapults slowly raised their windlasses to haunting horn calls, chains and gears meshing with the gnashing sounds of giant mechanical beasts.
In the ammunition bags, crimson oils sloshed in clay jars. Secret fire oils the Redmane Legion once used against the Scarlet Rot corruption.
Essentially, oversized Redmane flame pots specifically designed for catapult launch.
The igniting Redmane soldier struck flint with practiced precision, sparks leaping to oil-soaked rope, instantly lighting sizzling fuses.
"Fire!"
As ropes snapped with explosive force, ten fire oil jars split the sky, trailing red flames like vengeful meteors toward the ruins.
The first struck the wall breach directly. Pottery shattering in a thunderous explosion, red fire waves snaking through stone cracks into Goblin cellars like liquid death.
Goblin screams erupted from below ground, charred limbs climbing from holes only to be doused by the second jar's impact.
The central abandoned well became Inferno's core, flames plunging down walls to roast cowering Goblins into curled charcoal.
Thick smoke carrying an acrid stench shot skyward, staining the sky above Dale a dirty gray-yellow.
Then the Goblins rioted with unprecedented fury.
Not from fear of the Redmane assault, but because they'd spotted two familiar humans at the legion's front.
When Dwarves had invaded their underground kingdom, these humans were present, acquainted with the regicides, killing many Goblins during their escape!
Righteous anger conquered primitive fear.
"Avenge our murdered king!"
Gray-green tides gushed from wall breaches; Goblin forms twisted like specters in pale sunlight.
Burns and seething hatred for Tarnes drove them to absolute madness, rusted blades swinging wildly as they shrieked toward Redmane formations.
Fools, still daring to emerge from cover in groups.
"Ballistas, triple shot!"
Jerren's cold laugh accompanied iron-cold commands.
Twenty ballistas tensioned sinew strings simultaneously, arm-thick bolts screaming from mechanical triggers.
Arrowheads pierced front-rank Goblin chests, momentum unspent as they nailed rear skulls, skewering dozens of corpses like meat strings over still-burning fire oil, feeding the hungry flames.
Second and third volleys followed immediately, targeting gaps in Goblin charges, shredding formations to bloody pieces.
Limbs and organs spread across the wasteland in sticky blood carpets, yet more Goblins trampled kinsmen's corpses, cloudy eyes showing only vengeance hunger.
"Shield wall, advance!"
Jerren commanded again with battlefield authority.
Front-rank Redmane soldiers roared in perfect unison, tower shields thundering together into an impenetrable metal wall, spear points glinting coldly through gaps like beast fangs.
Goblin blades struck shields desperately, sparks flying as spear tips precisely pierced throats.
Rear soldiers raised Redmane flame pots overhead, hissing flames arcing toward Goblins beyond the wall. Fire waves exploded, shattering Goblin charges into scattered ant swarms.
Through acrid smoke, Redmane boots tramped steadily over glowing embers, the gray-green tide unable to halt this flame army's relentless advance.
Soon wall breaches lay within striking reach.
"Battering rams!"
Five iron-bound rams were pushed forward by the five massive Troll Knights, pointed tips gleaming dark red in surrounding firelight.
Windlasses turned with mechanical precision, chains tightened, and rams roared forward under tremendous momentum to smash Goblin-hastily piled rubble barriers.
Rotting wood and stones shattered under iron points, and hidden Goblins were crushed to pulp before raising weapons.
Minutes earlier, as Troll Knights pushed rams to the gates, three silver-maned black shapes suddenly exploded from Redmane ranks.
Lion Guardian roars rolled like thunder across the wasteland, massive bodies becoming three streaking shadows mid-charge.
Needing no ram clearance, hind leg muscles bulged as right forelimb curved blades trailed cold light, leaping over walls in single bounds.
The first Lion Guardian pounced at the battlements, claws embedding in stone as its bound curved blade swept a half-moon arc. Four Goblins hiding behind merlons were severed at the waist along with masonry.
As upper torsos still spun airborne, the second Guardian vaulted rubble into inner walls. Blade light swept the plaza like silver storms, clustered Goblins instantly becoming blood fountains.
The third Guardian, after leaping into Dale's ruins, charged directly at a tower crawling with Goblins continuously shooting at the massive Troll Knights.
This Guardian's sturdy body directly collapsed the tower's time-worn foundation, with rotted wood and Goblin limbs raining down with brick dust.
"Don't fight these beasts hand-to-hand like idiots! Shoot arrows, understand! Shoot..."
The former Goblin king's guard, who'd once spoken with Azog, was cut short, the first Guardian's fangs crushing its spine, curved blade cleaving surrounding Goblins.
As the first Guardian's blade, tangled with Goblin bone fragments, embedded in floor tiles, the second leaped with impossible agility onto a ruined tavern roof.
It dove from eaves, silver mane flowing like quicksilver, right forelimb blade sweeping with falling momentum to level seven or eight Goblins drawing bows along with supporting beams, limbs, and organs scattering like harvested grain.
Only then did the third Guardian shake its massive lion head, rising from tower wreckage to glare around with a dissatisfied roar.
Nearby Goblins had been nearly exterminated by its companions, with survivors still being systematically hunted by other Guardians.
Back to the present. As Dale's gates burst open under rams, long-prepared Redmane Knights pulled reins, warhorses neighing as they leaped broken walls.
Red-armored Redmane Knights with broad-headed spears level like forests, iron hooves crushing any Goblins daring to block their path.
Goblin madness finally crumbled before the steel torrent.
"Three-man teams, sweep street by street, no survivors."
Under Jerren's methodical command, Redmane Knights split into dozens of red columns in triangular formations, spear points flicking gray-green bodies skyward, hooves trampling fugitives to mud.
Redmane warhorse hooves shattered roadside cellar covers, spears piercing cowering Goblins behind.
Another Goblin king's guard tried rallying scattered kinsmen but was throat-shot by a skilled Redmane archer from horseback.
As Redmane soldiers entered Dale, flames spread through ruins. They forced Goblins lurking behind rubble into the open, sword blades harvesting necks like wheat.
Sword-and-shield bearers kicked open tavern doors, repeating crossbow fire nailing Goblins between beams to moldy walls.
Flame pots were precisely thrown into every dry well, Goblins' charred limbs curling shrimp-like toward parched bottoms in explosive firelight.
As the Redmane Legion under Jerren's command burst through the southern gate, Dwarves at Dale's western side also faced active Goblin assault.
Compared to Tarnes and Millicent, the Goblins harbored deeper hatred for the Dwarves who'd stood beside their king's executioner.
When Dwarf armies appeared at Dale's west before formations were set, discovering Goblins erupted in venomous shrieks, becoming extraordinarily vicious as seemingly endless numbers poured from western wall breaches.
Dwarf soldiers nearly in formation saw this, pupils contracting sharply, yet none retreated in panic.
Front-rank shield bearers slammed tower shields as tall as themselves into earth, iron boots crushing ground ice and snow as shield walls thunderously aligned under Dain's commanding shouts.
Through flying dust and snow, spear points already protruded with cold gleams through shield gaps.
"Ha! These whelps are more enthusiastic than drunkards at our feasts!"
Dain's booming laughter drowned Goblin shrieks as he swung his war hammer, crushing a leaping Goblin mid-air into meat paste, black blood splattering his shoulder armor.
He still had leisure to turn and joke loudly with Thorin: "Thorin! Don't tell me they want to use your bones as chew toys?"
Thorin wielded his Frostbite Axe, an ice stomp freezing approaching Goblins solid before surrounding Dwarf soldiers shattered these fresh ice sculptures with weapons.
Not wanting to engage with his somewhat noisy battlefield relative yet unable to ignore him, he could only helplessly shout back: "Mind your own hammer, Dain."
No matter how Goblins charged, Dwarf formations remained steady as reefs parting waves.
Fili and Kili, those two brothers skilled in beast incantations, led hundreds of war-goat riders in rapid flanking charges through western wall breaches. Under war-goat rider cover, beast claw incantations were repeatedly cast by the Dwarf brothers along wall cracks, completely tearing the western breach wide enough for Dwarf armies to enter.
On Thorin's side, Goblin corpses piled into slopes before shield walls yet failed to budge them an inch.
Dain crushed a Goblin skull underfoot, war hammer pointing at the wall breach Fili and Kili had created: "Sons of Durin! Let these ugly bastards see what Dwarf reciprocity looks like!"
Also at noon, Dale's ruins fell into complete silence.
On charred walls, Golden Tree banners and Redmane standards rose simultaneously through gunsmoke.
Jerren stepped on a charred Goblin skull, surveying the devastated battlefield.
Redmane soldiers used sword points to shift corpse piles, ensuring no green-skin survivors feigned death for a counterattack.
Seeing Redmane's actions, Dwarves similarly searched for stragglers.
Bard and the Lake-town guards who'd waited behind all day expecting to help regarded the Redmane soldiers with eyes full of respect and awe, secretly swallowing saliva from shock.
Under Bard's orders, Lake-town guards hurried to join the battlefield cleanup, cooperating with Redmane and Dwarf soldiers to find Goblin survivors hiding in Dale's dark corners.
After entering Dale, Tarnes couldn't help but admire the Redmane Legion's devastating power.
Though facing only weak Goblins in a near-abandoned city, their crisp coordination still amazed Tarnes.
After all, in the Lands Between, he'd never seen so many Redmane forces fighting together.
Jerren returned to Tarnes' side, saying respectfully: "Mission accomplished, Lord Tarnes."
Tarnes smiled, patting his shoulder: "Well done, Jerren. If 'Tarnes' feels awkward, calling me 'Tarnished' like before is perfectly fine."
Then Tarnes looked toward the Lonely Mountain, gaze seemingly penetrating thick rock walls, seeking that dragon: "But we can't relax yet, Jerren. Goblins were just skirmishes. The real war begins now."