On the watchtower of Lake-town, Igon was grimacing as he used his Dragonbone Greatbow to fend off the attack of the Ringwraith before him.
Because the space on the watchtower was quite narrow, and moreover, the watchtower of Lake-town was originally built symbolically, not expecting it to play much of a role, Igon's range of movement was even more restricted.
The Ringwraith attacking Igon could ignore the terrain and attack from all directions, never giving Igon a chance to switch to a melee weapon, forcing him to continuously use his Dragonbone Greatbow to block the enemy's stabbing blades.
Igon's back slammed heavily against the wooden baffle again, and the Ringwraith's longsword was already cleaving towards his nose.
He held up his Dragonbone Greatbow horizontally to take the hit, and the blade struck the hard dragon bone, sparking dazzling fire.
"Damn it… is it endless?!"
Igon cursed in frustration, kicking the Ringwraith out of the watchtower again, but the opponent, just like before, floated in the air, shook its black-armored body, and raised its sword to stab again.
Bernal's roar also came at this moment: "Igon, are you dead?! If not, hurry up and help!"
Bernal's battlefield was also not easy; although Legolas and Tauriel attracted the attention of two Ringwraiths, other Ringwraiths had come from other parts of Lake-town as reinforcements.
Even Bernal, facing so many Ringwraiths besieging him, was somewhat overwhelmed, especially since the world devouring scepter could not replenish his stamina from these undead creatures.
And after these Ringwraiths appeared, besides the agile great spiders that spewed webs everywhere attacking Lake-town, an orc army also joined in.
However, the Storm Knights noticed that this orc army was different from the orc army they had previously slaughtered in Lake-town; they actually formed formations to fight, which was definitely something Azog's orc soldiers could not do.
Therefore, the Storm Knights led their respective soldiers, defending against the combined attack of the great spiders and the orc army despite being outnumbered, but they were temporarily unable to spare hands to help Bernal.
And apart from the Storm Knights, the Storm Soldiers would be affected by the Ringwraiths' shrieks, and going to help Bernal would only be counterproductive.
That's why Bernal shouted to Igon on the watchtower, urging him to come and help quickly.
Igon heard Bernal's shout, and after dodging another Ringwraith's stab, he cursed: "Don't rush me! This damn thing is very troublesome! Can't kill it, and it floats around everywhere."
Just as Igon was responding to Bernal, the Ringwraith in front of him agilely shifted its posture in the narrow watchtower and cleaved another sword.
However, this time Igon did not choose to dodge or block with his Dragonbone Greatbow, but instead suddenly burst forward, using his bow to jam the sword guard, which is the protruding handguard below the hilt.
Igon seized the opportunity to fiercely kick the Ringwraith's knee pit, making the opponent kneel, then firmly stepped on its helmet, pressing it onto the watchtower floor and cackling hoarsely: "Finally caught you!"
Then a flash of red appeared in his other hand, and at this moment, the Ringwraith directly released the hand holding the sword, its sharp gauntlet turning into a spike, poised to stab into Igon's thigh.
"Roar——"
But just as the Ringwraith's gauntlet was only half an inch away, the watchtower's top was suddenly shattered by a colossal dragon head that materialized.
The dragon roar exploded, the air distorted into visible ripples in the sonic boom, and the glass of nearby houses shattered in response, fragments scattering like ice crystals.
As for the Ringwraith closest to the dragon roar, its iron armor bore the brunt; the breastplate forged by Sauron for the Ringwraith cracked inch by inch, black smoke gushing from the cracks, then being torn into shreds by the sound wave, as if countless transparent teeth were gnawing at its spirit body.
For the first time, a jumbled human voice came from beneath the Ringwraith's faceplate, hoarse like rusty gears grinding: "Im…pos…si…ble…!"
He tried to break free and get away from Igon, but was horrified to find that his intangible spirit body, which should have returned to its master after losing its armor protection, also suffered damage from that dragon roar, and the pain he hadn't felt in a long time made him scream and wail.
A second dragon roar followed, and the Ringwraith's intangible body vaguely appeared in the sound waves, a nearly withered and emaciated human body.
But at this moment, this body was being torn apart bit by bit by the dragon roar.
Every time a wisp of the Ringwraith's intangible body peeled away, it would emit a piercing shriek like glass scraping.
When the Dragon Communion Incantation performed by Igon ended, the Ringwraith's body disappeared, and its armor collapsed like a sandcastle; iron boots, kneepads, and breastplate successively crashed to the ground, and then a silver-white thumb ring slowly rolled out from the armor's wreckage.
Igon bent down and picked up the silver-white thumb ring; it was inlaid with a large, ornate gem, and within the gem, a miniature eye of Sauron pattern was vaguely visible.
Igon closed his hand and put the thumb ring into his bosom, keeping it safe.
He planned to take this trophy to Arthur for examination, as the eye of Sauron pattern in the gem made Igon's heart feel somewhat uneasy.
Then he kicked the armor left by the Ringwraith and mocked in a hoarse voice: "So you damn thing are also afraid of dragon roars."
"Igon, are you done?!"
Just as Igon stood up, panting, Bernal's urgent voice came again.
Igon quickly shouted in Bernal's direction: "Done! I dealt with one Ringwraith! Use Prayers, Bernal! These damn things can be hurt by Prayers!!"
What Igon didn't expect was that he didn't receive words of gratitude from Bernal, but instead, a much louder outburst of curses from him.
"Damn it, I found that out minutes ago!! I told you to come help me! Not tell me how to kill them!! Do I look like I have time to cast Prayers?! Pick up your greatbow and shoot them for me!"
Only then did Igon look closely; Bernal was fighting one against five, or rather, against six.
Because Tauriel had not successfully interfered with the Ringwraith holding the dagger, but was instead badly beaten by it, and it would also join Bernal's battlefield to cause him trouble whenever Tauriel reacted.
At this moment, Bernal's heels had not yet touched the ground, and six different weapons were already attacking from different angles.
The shrieks of the Ringwraiths' weapons cutting through the air almost merged into one sound, like six venomous snakes simultaneously striking at Bernal's throat, heart, and joints.
"It's a bit too crowded here!"
Bernal grinned and leaned back, and the moment a sword's edge grazed his nose, the world devouring scepter in his hand slammed heavily onto the ground, and a red light exploded, sending the two closest Ringwraiths stumbling.
He seized the opportunity to spin and slip out through the gaps in the encirclement of the six weapons; the spot where he had just stood was immediately shattered by a heavy hammer, scattering into wood chips and dust.
Before the dust could clear, the fifth and sixth attacks crossed to cut Bernal's neck, as if forcing him into a dead end.
But Bernal was completely unmoved, even sidestepping the sword of the Ringwraiths' attack from his left, violently ramming his thick shoulder guard into the opponent's chest, while simultaneously raising his right foot to kick away the Ringwraith on his right, resolving the crisis.
He used the recoil from kicking away that Ringwraith to flip over and retreat from the encirclement of the other Ringwraiths, but five shadowy figures of Ringwraiths leaped up like festering sores, and the death net woven by the weapons in their hands once again tightened around Bernal.
The floating wooden floor of Lake-town shattered under Bernal's stomping, like an out-of-control rhinoceros, he crashed through the wooden wall of the house behind him, and at the same time, amidst the flying splinters, he swept his scepter, deflecting two pursuing sword blades.
Tauriel's anxious voice came: "Be careful!"
Before her words fell, the Ringwraith using a dagger had already burst into this wooden house from another side, its sharp dagger aiming for Bernal's figure as he was thrown backward into the house, intending to pierce his ribs.
However, Bernal, in an incredible manner, spun in mid-air, hugging the blade, dodging this Ringwraith's sneak attack.
The dark dagger punched a large hole in the wooden wall, and spiderweb-like cracks appeared around it.
Before this Ringwraith could pull his hand out of the wooden wall, the world devouring scepter had already followed Bernal's spin, smashing his shoulder guard.
Outside the wooden house, the iron armor of the three Ringwraiths who had not yet entered the house glowed with a cold, damp light.
One of the Ringwraiths lifted its iron boot, and the wooden planks beneath its feet groaned like a dying creature, while Bernal's roar and the sound of his scepter striking his companion's armor inside the house were close at hand.
"Buzz!"
The moment the bowstring vibrated, a copper arrow as thick as a wrist tore through the air, piercing the chest plate of the last standing Ringwraith like a hungry dragon preying on its food.
Subsequently, the arrow's momentum did not diminish, actually impaling the two Ringwraiths in front like candied hawthorns onto a half-rotted floating wooden stake outside the wooden house.
Three grotesque iron armors convulsed and twisted on the floating wooden floor; these three Ringwraiths could not break free from their restraints for a while, and seizing this opportunity, Igon added a few more arrows, firmly pinning the armor on these three Ringwraiths to the floating wooden floor.
At this moment, Tauriel also appeared, panting heavily, her beautiful face stained with blood, from where the dagger Ringwraith had burst in, and with a swing of her silver blades, she helped Bernal block the attack of another Ringwraith wielding a black longsword.
With the pressure of four fewer Ringwraiths attacking him, Bernal looked at the three Ringwraiths he now only needed to face inside the house, revealing a dangerous, ferocious grin.
At the same time, just as Freya leading the Red Lion Knights and Fili and Kili leading the War Ram Knightss had just dealt with those six annoying Olog Trolls, the cheers from Dale had not yet faded when countless black dots erupted from within the Lonely Mountain.
Initially, those black dots were like spilled ink, but in an instant, they condensed into rolling black clouds—a sky-obscuring swarm of bats.
These bats had wingspans as tall as dwarves, and they were chattering and baring their fangs at the humans and dwarves on the ground towards Dale.
Ori's axe clanged against the battlement, and he staggered back a few steps, his pupils reflecting the sky-obscuring swarm of bats, and he said with a trembling voice, "Th-this many bats? How did Azog hide these evil creatures?"
The aged and kindly Balin grabbed his trembling shoulder guard, his white beard fluttering in the wind, and comforted him, "Stand firm, Ori. Don't let fear take hold of your heart, we still have Thorin, and we have Arthur and his allies, and even Gandalf."
As Balin comforted Ori, his peripheral vision also glanced at the other side of the city wall.
Thorin stood there, leaning on his frozen shell axe, silently looking up at the sky, like a silent statue.
Inside Dale, the residents of Lake-town, who had only recently relocated to Dale, also looked at the swarm of bats flying in the sky with despair, the buzzing sound of the bats' wings growing closer and closer.
However, just as these humans were about to be overwhelmed by fear and began to flee in panic, Bard's roar drowned out the sound of the bats' wings flapping.
"Everyone who can shoot an arrow, pick up your bows, and then light your arrows!"
The people who heard Bard's words were stunned. Bard directly took down the bow from his back, lit an arrow on a nearby brazier, and shot it into the sky at the swarm of bats, which were beginning to lower their flight altitude and getting closer and closer.
The burning arrow sliced through the low sky, and the bat swarm instinctively scattered to both sides to dodge, but this flaming arrow still pierced a bat's wing, sending the evil creature spiraling down to the cold ground, the scattered dust briefly dispelling the panic.
Then Bard turned and scanned the crowd, his eyes blazing as he shouted, "Do you see?! They are afraid of fire! Just as we are afraid of hunger! These beasts can block the sun, but they can't block the courage our ancestors had to dig for food in the ice lake!"
After a brief commotion, the crowd began to act. Some of the fishermen who couldn't shoot arrows soaked burlap in tar and wrapped it around arrow shafts, while those who had ever pulled a bowstring and could barely use a bow, under Bard's command, shot arrows at the bat swarm as a symbol of resistance.
Freya, who had already returned to Dale, had just ascended the city wall when she heard Bard's shouts, and looked over with a surprised expression.
She said to Jerian beside her in a praising tone, "It seems there are more heroes in this world than I imagined. Those dwarf brothers are, and this little human leader is too."
Jerian replied without changing his expression, "What? Are you thinking of recruiting them all into the Red Lion Legion?"
Freya nodded openly and said cheerfully, "Of course, the Red Lion Legion loves such brave warriors. General Radahn will surely appreciate these few when he sees them."
Fili and Kili, who had ascended the city wall from the same step as Freya, saw Freya and Jerian still having time to chat. Kili directly said anxiously, "Now is not the time for idle talk. What should we do about these bat swarms? We can't fight the bats in the sky and Azog's elites at the same time."
Freya looked at Kili, paused for a moment, then realized, "Oh, it's our fault for not explaining clearly. Don't worry, brave dwarf warrior who knows Beast Prayers, with General Radahn here, no enemy can fly in his battlefield."
"Huh?" Kili looked bewildered.
Radahn, who was currently clashing with Smaug, had already noticed the overwhelming swarm of bats. It wasn't until the bat swarm flew to the outskirts of Dale that he began to parry Smaug's dragon fire while making a grasping motion towards the direction of the bat swarm.
Purple light erupted from Radahn's palm, and visible gravity ripples swept through the bat swarm like a giant net.
The sky-obscuring bat swarm suddenly froze, as if mosquitoes embedded in amber, even the sound of their wings flapping abruptly ceased.
The next moment, countless bats plummeted vertically to the ground like iron blocks, the sound of breaking wing bones exploding one after another, their fangs piercing the mud, raising waves of dust.