Rumble~~!!!
As countless rocks and logs tumbled down at once, the Orc formation was thrown into complete chaos. The tactic of utilizing the terrain was certainly effective. Large stones and logs gained momentum, sweeping through the Orc ranks, and a staggering number of enemies were crushed or struck dead. Because they were clustered together, the damage was even more severe.
Whoooaaa~~!!!
Our side, watching the scene, cheered. It looked like at least a third, if not more, had been killed or injured in this single attack. Due to the impact, the enemies faltered, unable to advance any further. Since the rockslide had poured into the center of their ranks, the enemy force was effectively split in two.
"Now's the time! Archers, take out the survivors in the front!"
At Aragorn's shout, the archers on the wall began to fire. The trapped enemies, with nowhere to go, scurried about in confusion before being struck by arrows and falling dead. The Orc and Easterling commanders, trying to handle the situation, shouted to calm their soldiers, but they were perfect prey for me.
Whiz~!!
Thud!!
"Gwaagh!!"
An arrow fired with the immense power of a greatbow sliced through the air with a whistling sound, piercing through a commander and the enemies behind him before embedding itself in the ground. Witnessing this, the enemy fell into even deeper confusion.
Swish~! Swish~! Swish~!
Thud! Thud! Thud!
"I can't let you come to your senses so quickly!"
Sensing it was hopeless, the enemy began a hurried retreat, scrambling over the scattered rocks. It seemed about half of their numbers had been taken down in this engagement.
Whoooaaa~!!! Whoooaaa~!!!
At that sight, the people in Helm's Deep Fortress let out cheers so loud they echoed through the valley. Thus, the first battle ended.
"What are our casualties?"
King Theoden walked along the walls, checking the situation.
"None, except for one man who accidentally cut his finger while firing his bow."
"The Gods have truly helped us... For now, feed the soldiers and let them rest. We don't know when they might storm us again."
King Theoden ordered his men, feeling relieved. Soon, they began distributing hardtack and a few pieces of jerky to the soldiers.
Seeing no sign of the enemy, I was thinking about heading down to eat, but my companions were already there waiting for me.
"My word, did you lot just come here to get a free meal?"
Gimli laughed heartily and replied.
"I can't help it. Master Dragon's cooking is simply delicious."
Merry added as well.
"That's right, Master Cassian's cooking is truly wonderful."
I found it a bit absurd, but I just chuckled and let it go. Thinking it wouldn't end with just them once I started cooking, I brought out several large cauldrons to boil soup. Seeing this, Aragorn called some women to help with prepping the ingredients.
When the soup was finished, Boromir, Eowyn, Aragorn, and Legolas distributed it to the soldiers and refugees. As expected, everyone's expression brightened once warm food entered their bellies.
After giving out the soup, we also sat together to eat. I noticed Eowyn and Aragorn eating together and talking in a pleasant atmosphere. Unlike the original story, since he wasn't engaged to Arwen, they seemed to be developing a good relationship.
'Hmm... The Princess of Rohan and the King of Gondor...'
I didn't know what the future would hold, but in some ways, this might bring about the union with Rohan even faster.
In any case, after the meal, King Theoden sent out scouts. They returned sooner than expected, reporting that the enemy had not left the valley entrance yet.
"Hmm... They must be reorganizing for another attack. Can the mountainside be used again?"
Boromir answered King Theoden's question.
"The same method won't work twice. They aren't fools."
"Then we shall have to fight with blood and steel next time."
Since there was no immediate movement from the enemy, the soldiers were allowed to rest in shifts. When morning came, the Orcs and Easterlings began clearing the corpses and rocks at the valley entrance to make a path. We didn't specifically attack them, just watched.
Once things were cleared to some degree, they began to march again. Despite losing so many, their numbers were still vast. In a normal war, if they had suffered such damage, they wouldn't have been able to attack again so soon. There would be morale issues and the need to reorganize. It seemed they were continuing to attack under Sauron's pressure.
'Sauron is probably trying to strike the head of Rohan to isolate Minas Tirith and make it easier to conquer.'
Indeed, since Rohan was similar to a nomadic nation with territories divided here and there, it had the characteristic that if the seat of the King fell, it would be difficult to unite quickly. They seemed to be aiming for that.
When the enemy attack began again, we used arrows to keep them at bay as much as possible, just like yesterday. I climbed up high again to snipe the commanders. Whenever I saw one giving orders, I shot and killed them immediately.
However, even when commanders died, the enemy's charge continued, and they began to set up ladders on the walls. Seeing this, Aragorn shouted.
"Ladders! Spearmen, get ready!"
This was also something I had taught them. When a ladder was hooked, the spearmen behind the archers would form teams to handle each ladder, with multiple people stabbing or pushing the climbing enemies to prevent them from crossing. The advantage of this method was that because the roles were clearly divided, the archers didn't need to drop their bows and draw swords to deal with enemies coming up.
'It's an optimized division of roles.'
The same went for the fortress gate. Fearing the wooden gate would be easily broken, I had taken sandbags out of my inventory and stacked them filled with sand. This meant even if a Troll came, they couldn't easily break through. This allowed us to pull as many personnel as possible away from the gate area.
I didn't just stand idle either. I kept targeting commanders and used a single shot to pierce through multiple enemies on particularly dangerous ladders to delay their climb. Furthermore, I destroyed the large ballistae intended to fire hooks onto the walls before they could be used.
Because of this, neither Orcs nor Easterlings could cross the wall, dying one by one. As this continued, they became desperate and tried to bring large explosives, but I thwarted them by sniping the explosives and detonating them before they could reach the wall.
The siege lasted for five hours. For all that time, the enemy couldn't even breach the first gate, let alone the first wall. However, a problem arose. So many enemies had been killed that the corpses began to pile up at the base of the wall, and the height needed to climb over was getting lower and lower.
The enemies realized this too and began bringing over the rocks we had used, along with the corpses of their allies, to stack them at the foot of the wall. Their tactic was to eliminate the height advantage of the wall. It was an incredibly brutish tactic.
"Wow~ There's no stopping that. I didn't think they'd come at it this way."
Aragorn also realized the danger was mounting and ordered the soldiers.
"Oil barrels!!!"
Soldiers threw large barrels of oil down from the wall and poured more oil below. Then, Aragorn fired a fire arrow to set the base of the wall ablaze. This was merely to buy time.
"Retreat!! Fall back to the second wall!!"
Following Aragorn's instructions, the soldiers quickly entered the second wall area. Boromir was the last to retreat, fighting off Orcs. The shield I had given him seemed to be doing its job perfectly.
Once Boromir entered the second wall, they closed the entrance and blocked it with sandbags. The second wall of Helm's Deep was very high, so the tactic used on the first wall wouldn't work here.
The second wall was defended in the same manner as the first. The interesting thing was that while the second wall was higher, it was narrower, making the area limited enough for soldiers to take turns resting. In exchange, they couldn't kill as many enemies as during the first wall defense.
The difference from the original story was that there were clearly fewer casualties. Almost all the Elves had survived as well. Furthermore, because we defended so efficiently, the enemy numbers had noticeably dwindled. Still, it wasn't enough to face them in a direct frontal confrontation.
"Everyone, just a little bit more strength."
Aragorn encouraged the exhausted soldiers.
While we were defending with all our might, the enemy's rear suddenly became chaotic. I checked and saw massive Ents and a vast number of Rohan soldiers advancing toward the valley behind the enemy. At their lead, Gandalf in his white robe, Eomer, and Seodred were attacking the enemy's rear along with the soldiers of Rohan.
So, I informed Aragorn of this fact.
"Aragorn!"
Aragorn looked at me when I called. I pointed my finger in the direction the reinforcements had come from. Aragorn hurried to the wall and checked where I was pointing.
"Reinforcements have arrived! They are attacking the enemy rear right now!"
At those words, the people cheered. Then, Aragorn said to King Theoden.
"Now is the time! We must charge while the enemy is in chaos."
"You are right. Bring the horses!"
King Theoden hurriedly prepared the horses, cleared the sandbags blocking the gate, threw open the gates, and charged at the enemy on horseback.
"For Rohan!!!"
Aragorn and Boromir also mounted up and followed King Theoden into the charge. Behind them, the Elves all came out and began slaughtering the enemy.
The Orcs and Easterlings were caught between two forces and began scurrying in confusion. They were completely trapped in the valley with nowhere to run.
The army of Rohan and the Elves following King Theoden struck so hard the enemy couldn't gather their wits, and the Ents from the rear were kicking and trampling the enemies. Furthermore, the army that came as reinforcements from behind was taking care of the surviving enemies.
Thus, before long, the enemy army was completely wiped out in Helm's Deep.
"Rohan!" "Rohan!" "Rohan!"
The cheers were so loud they seemed to shake the entire valley. King Theoden bowed his head to the Elves and Ents in a show of gratitude.
"Thank you truly for your aid."
Haldir said to King Theoden.
"It was an honor to fight alongside you. However, I doubt this war is over yet."
"Hmm... That is likely true. We do not know what Sauron will do next..."
While they were conversing, 'Treebeard', the leader-like figure of the Ents, spoke.
"We must return now, Humans."
Then Gandalf said to the Ents.
"Thank you for your help."
"We cannot fight the Balrogs directly, so we leave the rest to you, Wizard."
Leaving those words behind, the Ents began to slowly walk back toward Fangorn Forest. King Theoden and his men once again bowed their heads in thanks to them.
Now, the soldiers of Rohan and the Elves began the cleanup. They gathered the corpses of the Orcs and Easterlings and burned them, but since the number was so vast, it took a significant amount of time. Still, if they left them as they were, a plague might break out. Helm's Deep reeked of the smell of burning corpses.
"Phew... there's no end to it."
Gimli grumbled, looking at the seemingly infinite number of enemy bodies. During the cleanup, the bodies of Elves and Rohan soldiers were also found; their bodies were set aside, and once the area was cleared, they held a solemn funeral for them.
After that, after a short rest, they led the people back to Edoras. Strangely, Edoras was perfectly fine. It seemed the Orcs had simply left it alone after realizing no one was there. From Rohan's perspective, it was quite fortunate. King Theoden had things roughly sorted out and let the people rest.
One day passed, and on the second day, King Theoden, his ministers, and Aragorn's group gathered to discuss the road ahead. Aragorn voiced his opinion.
"They might target Minas Tirith next. If there are Balrogs, even Minas Tirith will not be able to hold out."
Boromir added to that.
"He is right. Minas Tirith will likely be the greatest battlefield."
"I understand your words. But we do not know when that will be."
Gandalf spoke regarding Theoden's words.
"King Theoden, it probably won't be long."
"But that is only a guess. I cannot call an army together blindly."
Theoden's position was understandable; Rohan's territories were scattered, making it hard to gather soldiers, and even if he did manage to assemble them, maintaining a large army in this small Edoras was not an easy feat. So, without concrete information, it was a difficult situation to call for a mobilization.
As mentioned before, I understood it to some extent since Rohan was a nation similar to a nomadic people, but after so much time had passed and they had been attacked several times, I felt it was about time to change their ways.
'It's so hard to defend and hard to gather an army, I don't know why they keep doing this. Is it because of tradition?'
While I was thinking this, Boromir said to King Theoden.
"I will go to Minas Tirith and light the beacons immediately if something happens."
Gandalf decided to follow along as well.
"I shall go too. Lately, there have been peculiar rumors circulating in Minas Tirith."
King Theoden gave Boromir and Gandalf horses. As they were being seen off by the group and getting ready to depart, I also mounted a horse and joined them. My work here was done, and if I stayed, I felt like I'd just be cooking meals all the time.
The three of us traveled toward Minas Tirith for a long while before making camp as night fell. Boromir asked Gandalf.
"What are those 'peculiar rumors' circulating in Minas Tirith that you mentioned earlier?"
It seemed the words Gandalf said had been bothering Boromir. Honestly, I was curious too.
"The rumors say the Steward has lost his mind. He talks to a strange black sphere in a room where no one else is present, and his words and behavior have become extremely volatile."
"That can't be. My father..."
Listening to their conversation, I could roughly guess the situation. It seemed that the 'Palantir' which should have originally been in Saruman's hands was now with 'Denethor'.