"Morg! Morg, orishi!! (Attack, all forces attack!!)"
Azog stood on an undamaged high wall of the Lonely Mountain Palace, roaring and commanding his orc army with arms spread wide.
The dull sound of war horns blew, and the dense orc army, hidden within the Lonely Mountain Palace, swarmed out from every corner of the palace like cockroaches, surging towards Dale.
The Humans and dwarves in Dale also noticed the orc army charging towards them. Jerian immediately commanded the Red Lion Legion to prepare for battle, and Thorin, having calmed down, ascended the hastily constructed walls of Dale with Dain.
The orc army, like asphalt, spread across the wasteland between the Lonely Mountain and Dale. Row after row of strong orcs, clad in heavy armor that almost covered their entire bodies, held long spears and shields forged from fine iron.
This orc army, different from previous ones and equipped with excellent gear, could be said to be Azog's hidden trump card.
It was originally meant to be a surprise for those dwarves who thought orcs were weak, but that hateful wizard repeatedly disrupted Azog's plans, forcing him to deploy this orc army now.
Of course, in addition to this orc army, there were also wargs and more orc cannon fodder, clad in crude leather armor and worn out cleavers, surrounding this well-equipped army, gnashing their teeth and charging towards Dale.
Not only that, but after all these orcs poured out of the Lonely Mountain, the originally clear and bright sky was suddenly covered by dark clouds that appeared from nowhere, obscuring the sunlight. Troll after Troll pushed aside the rubble blocking the Lonely Mountain, roaring towards Dale.
Finally, over a dozen Olog-Trolls, whose limbs had been transformed into weapons and whose vision had been deprived, were controlled by orcs riding on their backs as they walked out of the main gate of the Lonely Mountain.
As Azog's army drew closer to Dale, the trebuchets set up by the Red Lion Legion behind the walls of Dale were the first to strike.
Burning large Redmane Flame Jugs arced through the air, landing on the ground with violent explosions, shattering the orcs around the impact point and leaving behind difficult-to-extinguish flames that consumed more orcs with their crimson tongues.
"Second echelon, switch to granite!"
Jerian's roar echoed on the walls of Dale. The messenger blew the horn, and eight heavy trebuchets simultaneously released their winches, whistling through the air.
Half-ton boulders crushed the bodies of the orcs, bursting forth black blood mist, and with undiminished momentum, also flattened nearby charging warg Riders into a bloody pulp.
But a dull grinding sound of gears suddenly came from behind the orc formation. Six Olog-Trolls roared forward; catapults were actually fixed to their broad backs.
These six Olog-Trolls half-crouched on the ground, and the orcs who jumped off them immediately skillfully operated these catapults.
With the orcs' sneers, rough granite also flew towards Dale.
Stone blocks as thick as a bucket slammed into the old walls of Dale, shattering the battlements, and the splattering Crushed stone deadly projectiles.
Three Rataan Soldiers who were too slow to dodge were hit by these splashing stones. Two of them reacted quickly, raising their brass shields to protect themselves. The rubble struck the shields with a crisp sound, leaving a dent.
But the remaining Lataan Soldier was unfortunately hit in the waist by the rubble, his spine was directly shattered, and his body exploded with a mist of blood.
One granite boulder landed precisely on a trebuchet. The trebuchet, which was being loaded, was instantly overturned and destroyed, disintegrating like a crushed walnut. Its remnants also crushed the large Redmane Flame Jugs placed nearby, and flames instantly enveloped two Rataan Soldiers responsible for loading the trebuchet.
Another one hit a stone house next to a trebuchet. The collapsing wall snapped the ropes of a nearby trebuchet, and the winch instantly flew out, hitting an unfortunate dwarf soldier nearby, slicing off half of his face.
Jerian's Flame-shaped Greatsword cleaved a small piece of rubble splashing towards him, and he shouted, "Aim for those beasts carrying catapults!"
But the Olog-Trolls' movement speed far exceeded Jerian's expectations. The stone projectiles launched by the Red Lion Legion could only hit empty ground, raising useless dust waves, and it was better to continue aiming at the orc army.
They move, we stay still. Now our trebuchets are going to be sitting ducks.
Jerian frowned tightly. He indeed did not expect the enemy to directly mount catapults onto those massive Trolls.
And these Olog-Trolls had not entered the range of the ballistas. The orcs riding on their backs controlling them cunningly maintained an ambiguous distance, so Jerian could not order the ballistas to shoot at them.
As the orcs drew closer, the Red Lion Legion and the dwarf army began to use ballistas and bows on the city walls, dodging the stones thrown by the enemy while returning fire with arrows at the orc cannon fodder who rushed to the city walls, attempting to set up ladders.
Before long, even the massive Trolls and the wargs also rushed closer.
Just as Jerian was thinking about how to deal with these Olog-Trolls, Freya's voice suddenly came.
"Is this how Lord Jerian's white hair came about from worrying so much?"
Freya kicked away an orc attempting to climb the city wall, then overturned the entire ladder, causing the climbing orcs to fall to the ground with panicked shouts, suffering heavy injuries.
Her greatsword was still dripping with orc black blood, clearly indicating she had fought her way from the edge of the city wall to Jerian's side.
Jerian also used his Flame-shaped Greatsword to pry off an orc ladder that was hooked onto the battlement, then retorted grumpily, "Then tell me, what method do you have to deal with those moving catapults?"
Freya patted her sturdy chest and said, "That's simple. Give me twenty Red Lion Knights, and I'll take them to dismantle those things!"
She then had the leisure to tease, "Lord Jerian, you've been in Redmane Castle for too long and forgotten the Red Lion Legion's fighting style."
Twenty Red Lion Knights, which was also the total number of Red Lion Knights summoned by Arthur.
After hearing Freya's words, Jerian did not object or procrastinate, immediately nodding: "Good, I approve."
"I like your straightforwardness! No wonder General Radahn admires you so much." Freya didn't waste time either. After dropping a sentence, she immediately went to find the messenger to blow the horn and gather the Red Lion Knights.
The dwarves were also truly overwhelmed by the stones from the Olog-Troll catapults. Dain had just carefully dodged a piece of rubble, then quickly darted out from behind cover and slammed the warhammer in his hand onto the head of an orc who had just climbed up.
Then, he noticed the commotion on Freya's side and immediately found Thorin, who was hacking at an orc with his frozen shell axe, and pointed in that direction: "Hey! Thorin! Arthur's friends seem to be planning to gather cavalry for a counter-charge out of Dale to destroy those runaway catapults.
Our War Ram Knightss are just standing around anyway, so why not send them out with the Red Lion Knights to cover them?"
Thorin swung his axe downwards with force, the frozen shell axe's icy dragon-scale blade splitting open an orc's chest cavity, which Thorin then kicked away.
Upon hearing Dain's words, he immediately nodded: "Good!"
Then Thorin glanced left and right and shouted loudly: "Fili! Kili! Take the War Ram Knightss and follow Arthur's cavalry!"
Fili and Kili quickly gathered the War Ram Knightss, but Freya had already led the Red Lion Knights out of Dale, leaving the young dwarf brothers with a mix of battle intent and anxiety on their faces.
Kili said: "The city gate has been reclosed, we can't go out that way."
Fili calmly observed the surroundings and pointed to a spot where the orc offensive was weak: "Then we'll just jump down from the city wall by stepping on Orcs; War Goats aren't like those warhorses that can't climb walls."
As the Red Lion Knights charged out of the city gate, the iron horseshoes of their warhorses sparked against the ground.
Freya charged at the arrowhead position, her greatsword sweeping horizontally to cleave through two Trolls attempting to block her path, their corpses flying back to smash into orcs and wargs, briefly clearing a path for the Red Lion Knights behind her.
Freya and her group charged straight towards the nearest Olog-Troll carrying a catapult; the orc operator on the Troll's back was about to adjust the catapult's angle when he was torn to shreds by a Gravity Arrow shot by a Red Lion Knight.
"Cut the legs first!"
Freya's roar was drowned out by the Troll's bellow.
Her warhorse reared up, and her greatsword precisely sliced into the Troll's left knee tendon, causing the mountain-like monster to crash to its knees.
Two Knights took the opportunity to thrust their broad-headed spears, wedging them into the catapult's frame on its back, then their warhorses neighed and charged in the opposite direction, and the catapult disintegrated amidst the screeching of twisting wood.
At the same time, the iron hooves of the War Goats sparked on the city wall's bricks, and Fili and Kili simultaneously tightened their reins, hundreds of War Goats leaping from the crenellations like thunder.
The War Ram Knightss galloped down at a nearly vertical angle to the wall, stepping on the orcs attempting to climb into the city.
"Let your dwarf grandpas use you as a stepping stone!"
Amidst Kili's loud laughter, the War Ram Knightss crushed the orcs' helmets, their skulls bursting open like ripe pumpkins, and their greenish-black brains splattered across the rock face, forming abstract paintings.
The War Goats themselves also occasionally impaled orcs attempting to grab them with their horns, and by the time the last dwarf War Ram Knights landed on the ground, a three-meter-high pile of orc corpses had accumulated at the base of the city wall.
"Support our allies!"
Fili shouted, controlling his War Goat to charge towards the Red Lion Knights.
Outside the Red Lion Knights' encirclement, the War Ram Knightss transformed into steel wedges, piercing through the enemy lines, with orc limbs still dripping blood from their horns.
Two Olog-Trolls with catapults on their backs were being besieged by the Red Lion Knights; Fili, approaching Freya, shouted loudly: "The one on the left belongs to the dwarves!"
Freya did not hesitate, immediately leading the Red Lion Knights to yield the left side of the battlefield, focusing on charging towards the Olog-Troll on the right that was trying to escape.
Fili drove his War Goat to leap, and the claws transformed by Beast Prayers sliced open the Olog-Troll's ankle, while his brother Kili, with tacit understanding, used rocks conjured by Beast Prayers to smash its knee.
The Troll lost its balance and toppled, the orcs riding on its back were flung into the air, landing on the ground to be crushed by the War Ram Knightss' iron hooves, turning into a puddle of flesh.
Fili then agilely climbed onto the Olog-Troll's back, plunging his longsword into the top of its head; the Troll below immediately lost the strength to struggle and fell to the ground, and Fili jumped down, landing precisely back on his War Goat.
When the last Olog-Troll catapult was cleaved in half by Freya's greatsword, the Red Lion Legion's catapults within Dale resumed their suppressive fire, and the surrounding orcs finally began to rout.
Thorin stood on the city wall, watching Fili and Kili on the battlefield outside Dale with concern, only secretly sighing in relief after seeing that they were unharmed.
Dain saw Thorin's reaction and, while sending his warhammer into the heads of those orcs, said: "If you're so worried about them, then just don't send Fili and Kili to the battlefield."
Thorin shook his head: "The blood flowing in their veins does not allow them to watch their comrades fight and bleed while they remain in a safe place."
On the battlefield, Freya rode her warhorse closer to Fili and Kili, grinning broadly at the dwarf brothers who were wiping their weapons, her voice of praise coming from beneath her helmet: "Not bad at all! If I'm not mistaken, you two just used Beast Prayers? And your moves just now had a bit of Bernal's shadow.
How about it, interested in joining the Red Lion Legion?"
Fili and Kili exchanged glances; Kili was somewhat tempted, but Fili subtly declined Freya's invitation: "I'm sorry, Kili and I haven't fully mastered what we learned from Master Arthur and Master Bernal."
When Freya heard that they were Arthur's apprentices, she clicked her tongue in regret and mumbled: "Tsk, Arthur's apprentices, huh.
It's really strange that that tarnished would take on disciples..."
Then she realized Fili and Kili were still present, cleared her throat, and said: "The gates of the Red Lion Legion are always open for both of you!
General Radahn will surely be interested in warriors like you! You can come anytime you change your mind!"
This time, Fili did not refuse, but nodded in agreement.
At this moment, a mournful horn sound faintly came from Lonely Mountain, and at the same time, black smoke rose from within Lonely Mountain, and the ground began to tremble slightly; this was caused by the footsteps of thousands of orcs approaching.
Azog's elite army began to advance.
Not only that, Fili and Kili also saw countless bats erupting from within Lonely Mountain like a black torrent.
They spread their wings, so numerous that they formed continuous black clouds in the sky.
"Oh, please! Is Azog some kind of beast tamer? Trolls and Goblins are one thing, but where did Azog get all these bats from?" Kili shouted in shocked wide-eyed amazement.
Freya tugged her reins, turning her horse around, and shouted to Fili and Kili: "Save the witty remarks, hurry back to Dale; the real tough nuts have just been served up by Azog."