On the other side, in the pine trees by the cliff, after the Dwarves threw all the pinecones from the trees as incendiary bombs, they were once again plunged into a desperate situation.
Opposite them, the Orc leader Azog directed his subordinates, first extinguishing the fire in the forest, then gathering his forces to surround the pine tree where the Dwarves were, leaving no way out.
Next, several giant Wargs stepped forward, attempting to knock down the pine tree at the edge of the cliff with brute force.
As the pine tree began to tilt, the Dwarves' situation could be described as: no way to heaven, no door to the earth.
It was at this moment that Thorin, no longer harboring any illusions, resolved to die. He drew the ancient Elven blade at his waist, strode down from the tilting pine tree, and headed toward Azog.
Even in death, this descendant of the Dwarf royalty chose a "heroic" demise.
Vowing to compose a song of courage for the end of his life.
Watching the surrounding Orcs about to swarm forward and hunt Thorin to his death, the Orc leader suddenly called his subordinates to a halt, signaling for Thorin to come forward.
"I take back what I said before. As the grandson of Thor, King Under the Mountain, your courage is truly worthy of respect. So, to show my respect, I have decided to personally cut off your head..." Azog, riding on a tall Warg, looked at his cornered enemy with great interest.
For it, the current situation was simply wonderful.
"Kill!!!"
Thorin, having already cast aside thoughts of life and death and feeling no fear, did not think so much. He only wanted to "bite" a piece of flesh off Azog before he died; it would be even better if he could drag the enemy down with him.
But courage could not erase the disparity in strength. Thorin, charging forward, had barely approached Azog when he was knocked down by the giant Warg beneath him.
Subsequently, the Elven sword in his hand was also knocked away by Azog's mace.
Just as the Orc leader grinned, preparing to cut off the head of the defenseless Thorin.
Bilbo, who had always had little presence, suddenly rushed out from the side and used the sting in his hand to block the Orc leader's fatal blow.
But before anyone could breathe a sigh of relief, Bilbo was also knocked down by a Warg, his life hanging by a thread.
"Your opponent is right here—!"
Thorin, on the ground, gained a brief respite thanks to the Hobbit's timely rescue. He then climbed back up, picked up his Elven sword, and charged at Azog once again.
As for Bilbo, without the pressure of Azog, only one Warg remained in front of him.
The Hobbit's naturally nimble movements allowed him to temporarily deal with the Warg's lunges and bites.
These changes sound long when told, but they actually happened within a few seconds.
By the time the Dwarves reacted, Thorin was already trading blows with Azog again.
At the same time, Thorin's fearless aura also ignited the boundless fighting spirit of the Dwarves.
"Kill!!!"
"For the Dwarves..."
"..."
In an instant, amidst the huge roars, the Dwarves raised their weapons and charged into the battlefield.
With united efforts, the situation on the battlefield shifted briefly.
But as the saying goes, courage is not omnipotent in the face of a huge disparity in strength.
As more and more Orcs and Wargs joined the fight, the adventure party fell into adversity once again.
Even though Gandalf was personally very strong and could knock away several Orcs with a casual strike, he still could not guarantee the safety of everyone in the adventure party in this kind of chaotic melee.
Especially Bilbo, who was not adept at fighting to begin with; after dodging the Wargs' bites multiple times, he was gradually becoming exhausted.
After falling down in a wretched state once more, his hand slowly reached toward the ring in his pocket...
It was as if a voice was telling this Hobbit: Put on the ring, and you can kill all the enemies.
Just as the wizard felt powerless, and Bilbo was also preparing to accept the ring's call, several black shadows suddenly flew in from the distant sky.
"Screech—"
With the sharp cry of the Great Eagle King, the flock of Great Eagles that had arrived in time swooped down, their sharp claws ruthlessly tearing through the Orcs and Wargs.
In no time, the Orc squad suffered heavy casualties, and their formation began to fall into chaos.
"We're saved!"
Gandalf, having gained a moment of respite, smiled and nodded at the Great Eagle King, then gathered the members of the adventure party and departed on the Great Eagles.
"Roar—"
Watching the "fat meat" that was about to be eaten escape alive once again, Azog chased to the edge of the cliff and let out an unwilling roar.
...
It must be said that the Dwarves were lucky; the Great Eagles had just happened to be entrusted by the Brown Wizard to help watch over Gandalf and his party.
Therefore, a few days ago, the Great Eagle King had brought the Great Eagles to the middle section of the Misty Mountains.
This was also the reason why the flock of Great Eagles arrived not long after Gandalf sent out his distress signal.
At this time, the Dwarves, having escaped disaster once again, had already flown over the towering Misty Mountains on the Great Eagles.
Looking at the vast world below, many Dwarves, while laughing, could not help but sing the ancient songs of the Dwarf race.
Meanwhile, in the flock of Great Eagles, two fledgling eagles with golden lines on their beaks, after obtaining the Eagle King's consent, left the group and flew toward the south.
...
"You mean, the Great Eagle King just brought you to save Gandalf and his party. And you two came here specifically to support me?" On a wild hillside, Mike met the fledgling eagle brothers who had flown over in a hurry.
"Chirp... Chirp..."
The two fledgling eagles nodded in a human-like way, as if asking for credit.
"Fine, I suppose you still have some conscience, it wasn't in vain that I treated you so well—" Mike stroked the bird heads of Gwaihir's brothers, then pulled two large pieces of fresh meat from his space and fed them to the two fledgling eagles.
Subsequently, Mike also learned from the two fledgling eagles that the flock of Great Eagles led by the Eagle King would continue to stay in the middle section of the Misty Mountains to facilitate support for the adventure party at any time.
Therefore, Gwaihir's two brothers did not need to rush back to the Northern Highlands this time.
"So you're planning to stick with me." Mike muttered, then a smile appeared on his face.
Although Rohan was already close at hand and it would be quick to walk there, having two Great Eagles as mounts and flying there felt pretty good too.
So, half an hour later, Mike experienced the feeling of flying on a big bird once again and arrived at the border of Rohan.
Also, because human towns might have ballistae, which could threaten the lives of the Great Eagles, the Great Eagles generally would not go to unfamiliar human settlements.
Therefore, after arriving at the Rohan border, Gwaihir's two brothers set Mike down on the ground, while they themselves flew up to an altitude of a thousand meters to continue following.
...
"The situation here doesn't look too good." As Mike walked into Rohan, the villages on the border were all in a dilapidated state.
The fields that should have been harvested were overgrown with weeds due to neglect.
In some of the small villages along the way, most were deserted, with almost no living people to be seen.
Logically speaking, the Gondor Line of Defense established by the human forces connected Rohan and Gondor; no matter how weak the military preparations were, it shouldn't have left the rear of Rohan this desolate.
"Something must have gone wrong somewhere..."
Mike silently calculated in his heart, and just as he passed by a dilapidated small village again, dozens of Orcs riding Wargs suddenly rushed out from inside.
This...
The situation looked even worse than Mike had imagined.
"Catch him and offer him to the leader as food supplies..."
"Awoo, we haven't eaten fresh meat in a long time either, why don't we keep him and enjoy him ourselves..."
"Eat him... Eat him..."
"..."
Perhaps mistaking Mike for an ordinary citizen of Rohan, this Orc squad, after surrounding Mike, actually excitedly discussed how to deal with him.
This also indicated that the missing residents in the village had likely mostly become food for the Orcs.
"Die!"
Facing the inhuman Orcs, Mike had nothing to say; after manifesting a longbow, he instantly pinned them all to the ground.
"Come out, perhaps I can give you some help..." After killing the Orc squad, Mike looked toward the village.
In a hidden, dilapidated thatched hut over there, someone was peering out.
"Outsider, Rohan is no longer suitable for human survival, you should leave quickly." An old man walked out, trembling. Seeing the dead Orc squad on the ground, he felt a little shocked, but also a trace of satisfaction.
"Can you tell me what exactly happened here?" Mike looked at the old man's weak appearance, as if he hadn't eaten in days, so he casually took out some milk and bread from his space and handed them to him.
"This, it's a long story, if you're interested in knowing. Let's find a safe place, and I will tell you slowly..." Perhaps because Mike was willing to share food, the old man regarded him as a very good person.
Then he led him and walked into the village.
Next, the two entered a thatched hut that had collapsed by half; the half that hadn't collapsed was also piled with miscellaneous items.
At first glance, this place didn't look like a place where people could live at all.
"Grandpa, are you okay? Have those monsters left?" At this moment, a discarded board on the ground tilted slightly, and a faint questioning voice came from inside.
"Lily, Grandpa is fine. It's temporarily safe outside; those monsters have already been killed by the warrior beside me. You let everyone come out to get some fresh air..."
Following the old man's response, a brief discussion sounded from under the wooden board, then the board was lifted, and a timid child climbed up.
Then, a dozen or so people, equally covered in dirt, climbed up.
Even though these people knew it was temporarily safe outside, they were still very careful in their movements, not making any loud noises from beginning to end.
After everyone came out, the previous old man immediately distributed the food he had just received to everyone one by one.
Mike also noticed that the old man, who was clearly very hungry before, hadn't touched the food in his hand, and it turned out to be because there were so many people here waiting.
"Everyone, don't be polite, I have plenty of food here..." Seeing how everyone treated the food with caution, Mike shook his head and took out a large amount of food from his space again.
This time, he specifically included many soy products and some meats that could be stored for a long time.
"Thank you, thank you so much." Seeing so much food, the old man was moved and thanked him again.
At the same time, he wisely did not inquire about how the young man in front of him stored this food.
The dozen or so people behind also voiced their thanks to Mike one after another.
Subsequently, Mike observed that even with sufficient food, these refugee-like villagers did not eat a lot at once.
"I've made you laugh, you can ask me anything you want to know..." After carefully chewing half a piece of bread, the old man from before came to Mike again.
"Where did the young people in the village go, and why are there Orcs here?" Mike asked the question that had been puzzling him.
He also observed that the dozen or so people here were all old people and children, and there wasn't even a single young person among them.
"This starts from when the greedy and incompetent King Fengel took office as the King of Rohan..." In the old man's cloudy eyes, there was a look of reminiscence.
As the second largest human kingdom, and being close to the strongest kingdom, Gondor, Rohan also once had a glorious history.
At that time, Rohan, which possessed the finest cavalry regiment, established an iron wall on the allied defense line, forcefully suppressing the Orc army outside its territory.
It won a stable living environment for the people of Rohan, and the hardworking people of Rohan also used their own hands to support all the armies of the kingdom.
With such a virtuous cycle, even though Rohan was close to Mordor, this place could still become a land of happiness.
But when the incompetent and greedy King became the King of Rohan, all of this changed.
The King, who only cared about personal pleasure, in order to satisfy his own selfish desires, on one hand, wantonly plundered the people's wealth without restraint, and on the other hand, was stingy in allocating funds to the army.
Over time, the people's lives became unbearable, and the army also slowly lost its combat capability.
What followed was that the Orc army could break through the Rohan defense line at will and invade the interior, making the already suffering Rohan even more miserable.
A large number of defenseless people were slaughtered by the Orcs, and the survivors, seeing no hope for life, fled their homelands one after another to seek refuge in Gondor.
This situation also caused the population base of Rohan, which originally had millions of people, to wither rapidly.
This time, the Orc and Warg squad led by the Orc leader Azog crossed the Rohan defense line and went to Moria to pursue Thorin and the others.
And the food along the way was likely the people along the route in Rohan.
"This guy really deserves to die." After listening to the old man's explanation, Mike had a rough understanding of the current King of Rohan.
In a nutshell, he was both stupid and evil.
"I plan to go to Gondor to have a look next. Do you want me to take you all there?" Mike had originally intended to go to Edoras, the capital of Rohan, for a visit, but now he had no interest at all.
He just wanted to go to Gondor to check the situation first; if that didn't work, he would just have to wait until he returned to Rohan again to kill that King and enthrone a new king.
As for becoming the king himself, Mike didn't have the patience, nor did he have the time.
After all, he still had to reach the Lonely Mountain before the Dwarves.
"No, no, we useless people might not be able to survive even if we fled to Gondor." The old man declined Mike's kindness and continued: "Prince Secheer of Rohan is an ambitious heir to the kingdom. Because he couldn't stand his father's incompetence, he went to Gondor alone to study..."
"Perhaps it won't be long before this Rohan Prince returns to overthrow King Fengel's rule. By then, our days should be a little better."
A very helpless reality, and very cruel.
Whether the people can survive depends entirely on the king's character.
Mike had no good solution for this. Not having thought about being king himself, he could help the dozen or so people in front of him, but could he go and save all the people in Rohan one by one...
Then who could guarantee that Gondor, or even other human kingdoms, wouldn't experience the same situation as Rohan now?
"I am indeed not cut out to be a saint." Unable to dedicate himself entirely to others and fearing trouble, Mike gave himself an objective evaluation in his heart.
Subsequently, after leaving a large amount of food for the dozen or so people in front of him again, he set off on the road to Gondor.