Chapter 153: Battlefield Preparations (Part II)

Ever since killing Azog at Ravenhill and simultaneously repelling the Orcish assault to reclaim the Lonely Mountain with great difficulty, the Durin's Folk Dwarves had been immersed in the fanatical fervor of having taken back their homeland.

Supported by such positive emotions, these Dwarves were enthusiastically repairing their own palace while throwing themselves into mining veins and crafting weapons, armor, and jewelry; this was the life they loved most.

As for those Durin's Folk Dwarves living in the Blue Mountains, upon learning that their lord, Thorin Oakenshield, had accomplished the feat of reclaiming his homeland and become the great Thorin II, they began to call upon friends and companions, returning to the Lonely Mountain in team after team to return under Thorin's rule.

Coupled with the Dwarves who relocated from the Iron Hills, the strength of the Lonely Mountain grew increasingly formidable.

In these past few years, the Easterlings stationed in the eastern part of Rhovanion had caused some impact on the Dwarves' lives, but it was not particularly severe.

By this time, the rebuilt Dale was fully capable of providing the Dwarves with basic survival supplies; the jewelry and fine armor crafted by the Dwarves were highly sought after by Human nobles, and Dale had also begun producing Toys.

Compared to the furs, ready-made clothing, wood carvings, and small amounts of silver ornaments, bows, arrows, and musical instruments that the Woodland Realm could provide, the goods from the Lonely Mountain were undoubtedly more favored by these merchants.

Moreover, the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain and the Humans of Dale were in a stage of reconstruction and lacked immunity to most commodities, finding themselves in a phase of frantic buying; the gold and silver produced by the Lonely Mountain were fully capable of supporting their expenses during this shopping spree.

This led many well-connected merchants to be more willing to bring various supplies along the water route of the Running River to make a trip to the Lonely Mountain, and while earning a fortune, they would take the specialties of the Lonely Mountain and Dale to other parts of Middle-earth for trade.

As for the Easterling leader Ashur, upon learning that the Dwarves had participated in that war near Long Lake, he also began to send some soldiers to harass the Dwarves' roads and the caravans heading to the Lonely Mountain, though the effect was extremely limited.

Facing the threat of the Easterlings, the Dwarves had long since opened up other paths in the high mountains and ridges between the Lonely Mountain and the Iron Hills; the Easterlings could not possibly compete with the Dwarves in such terrain, and the stretch of the Running River from Heidelberg to Long Lake Town was guarded by the warriors under Allen, making it difficult for small groups of Easterlings to take advantage in this area.

After all, Allen had collected tariffs from these merchants, so he naturally needed to ensure their safety.

Thorin II, who was governing the Lonely Mountain with increasing prosperity and strength, received Allen's request for help and pondered for a long time in the new hall his people had opened for him; he hesitated over whether to participate in this war, because the Dwarves' current situation was quite good, and whether or not to fight the Easterlings was not a necessary matter for him or for Durin's Folk.

After a period of contemplation, Thorin suddenly laughed at himself; he remembered that in the battle to reclaim the Lonely Mountain, Allen's Human army and Lord Elrond's Elf troops had helped him at the most critical moment, suffering heavy losses in the slaughter against the Orcish army.

They could have chosen not to participate, but whether for the sake of the great cause of defending Middle-earth or for the friendship between the two, Allen had led his warriors and helped the Dwarves a great deal through desperate fighting at that time; so now that Allen needed his support, what was he hesitating about here?

Thinking of this, Thorin II stroked the beard he had just grown, sat back at the stone table in the hall, and finished his reply to Allen with a bold flourish.

Allen sat in his study and opened Thorin's reply; even though he was mentally prepared, he was still surprised by Thorin's grand gesture.

At the beginning of the letter, Thorin teased Allen in an extremely relaxed tone for actually using gold, silver, and jewelry to deal with a friend who sat upon a mountain of gold and silver; he did not need that wealth, but whether it was to expel the Orcish from Gundabad or the future battle to reclaim Khazad-dum, he needed Allen's full support, and this was also his war plan as King of Durin for the next few decades, or even a hundred years.

Gundabad was the holy land of the Durin's Folk Dwarves, and Khazad-dum had witnessed the thousands of years of prosperity and development of the Durin's Folk Dwarves; Thorin II, who had already reclaimed the Lonely Mountain, hoped to complete another feat belonging to the Durin's Folk Dwarves in his lifetime, but this could not be done without the help of allies.

To this end, in the middle part of the letter, Thorin described in detail the support he was providing to Allen this time: his cousin Dain would lead one thousand Elite Infantry Dwarves to march directly into the Easterlings' territory from the direction of Long Lake Town at the same time Allen launched the war, while Thorin and his two nephews Kili and Fili would lead four hundred Goat Cavalry as a mobile force to seize the opportunity on the battlefield to deal a fatal blow to the enemy; and to counter the Easterlings' War Chariots, Thorin also brought out five Dwarf Chariots as a supporting unit to follow behind the infantry.

These troops would not be directly commanded by Allen; they would serve as allies to attract and contain the Easterlings' forces, thereby sharing the pressure on Allen on the front line. In addition, Thorin stated that from now on, he would stop all work in the Lonely Mountain to fully craft Allen's order, and would transport at least three hundred sets of armor and three hundred sets of Horse Armor to Wilderness Town before the war.

In the previous two years, Allen had already received one hundred sets of heavy armor; counting these three hundred, he could prepare four hundred Heavy Cavalry before the war. This required a certain amount of selection and training, and he prepared to let his Attendant Gale take the order to supervise this matter; the Swadian Knight who had already become an officer would assist Gale in completing this training.

At the end of the letter, Thorin teased Allen, the King of Rhovanion, for not having an heir yet, and even asked when Allen intended to marry Yamila, adding that he also planned to be the godfather to Allen's son.

Looking at Thorin's reply, besides being surprised, Allen felt more moved and at ease; he also knew that the only ally who could truly provide him with military support might be the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain, and Thorin's letter gave Allen a sense of reassurance.

At this moment, if one simply calculated strength, the armies of Allen and Thorin already exceeded those of the battered Ashur, but Allen vaguely felt that in these few years, it was certainly not just he who was actively developing his strength. As a brutal yet shrewd leader, facing the alliance of Dwarves, Elves, and Northern Men, Ashur's strength must also have increased, but the specific situation still required the Light Cavalry, who shouldered the heavy responsibility of reconnaissance, to bring back news from the enemy's territory.

After handling the matter of his allies, Allen felt that the burden of war had become much lighter at this moment, and by this time, it was already the spring of the year 2945 of the Third Age.

In the remaining days, while dealing with some trivial matters, he devoted all his remaining energy and time to the Simulator; he still needed to earn hundreds of thousands of Dinar to arm his Conscript, and at the same time save up enough Honor to have a continuous draw before the war to increase his chips for victory.

Allen, who had become the lord of Sunor, first reduced the burden on the people under his rule and simultaneously made a promise of letting bygones be bygones, using this as a measure to reduce the number of Greenwood Bandit in the surrounding area. Among the bandits, a large portion were farmers who could not survive under heavy taxes and levies; after Allen reduced some taxes, they returned to the life of farming on the land.

As for those Greenwood Bandit who remained stubborn, Allen led his private soldiers to sweep through them all the way, not only eliminating the banditry in the surrounding area but also obtaining a considerable amount of wealth in the camps of the Greenwood Bandit. What surprised Allen even more was that he actually rescued the sallow and emaciated younger brother of his own Town Mayor in one of the camps; this was a proper noble, and his Town Mayor had never mentioned this to him, but that bit of Honor was very sweet, so Allen was not willing to pursue the family affairs of his subordinate too much.

Through such efforts, Allen maintained the stability of the surrounding trade routes, thereby attracting caravans to trade in Sunor and obtaining stable tax revenue; as for the bit of heavy taxes reduced for the farmers, it was soon smoothed over with the increase in the number of people in the territory.

Now, Sunor could provide the Simulator with an income of twenty thousand to forty thousand Dinar every month; all this money was used by Allen for the expenses of purchasing equipment, but after a simple calculation, it was still not enough, falling short by at least over one hundred thousand.

After stabilizing the territory in Calradia, Allen turned his mind to the Magic Continent. At this time, the army of the Druid Sect began to appear in the surrounding countries, constantly bewitching the people who originally belonged to the nobles to believe in their Dark God, and committing some extremely outrageous sacrificial tragedies against the commoners who were unwilling to believe, making the continent, which was already somewhat chaotic due to war, even more chaotic, providing convenience for the main army of the Druid Sect to attack other kingdoms.

And in order to deal with these destroyers who acted strangely and were not weak in strength, the nobles of the major kingdoms, while mobilizing their private armies, unanimously chose to hire mercenaries or Bounty Hunter to clear out the Druid Soldier lurking in their territories.

Allen did not leave behind any illustrious reputation on this continent, nor did he redeem any extraordinary background, but facing such a chaotic situation, he prepared to rely on his own fairly strong strength to recruit some companions at random in Zendar, and by clearing out these Druid Sect believers, obtain a large amount of Dinar, reputation, and the extremely rare Honor in the short term.

This was actually a very easy opportunity to gain benefits, and he could also gain a certain degree of favor in front of the nobles of the major kingdoms.

Facts proved that Allen's actions were effective. At this time, the troops of the Druid Sect in the major kingdoms were far from being able to compare with Allen's combat power. In the process of deliberately seeking battle, Allen spent nearly half a year in Middle-earth, fought for several years in the Simulator, dealt with one team of Druid Sect believers after another, and saved countless villagers. In the whole process, Allen obtained an income of over one hundred thousand Dinar and more than five hundred reputation, but those rescued were all ordinary villagers; after reaching a certain accumulation, he obtained two points of Honor.

While Allen's actions initially gained a large amount of friendship from nobles, they naturally also attracted the targeting of the Druid Sect. One after another, the assassination units sent to kill Allen died under the sharp blades of him and his companions. Facing such a situation, Allen knew that he had to do something, otherwise his current identity might not last too long.

Because the killers sent by the enemy were becoming stronger and stronger, soon he might encounter those top-tier warriors of the Druid Sect; facing them, even Allen did not have the certainty of victory.

At this moment, Allen, who had already made a great name for himself in various countries, did not want to give up this identity just like that. He still wanted to wait until the situation stabilized a bit to obtain a fief here, and then get a stable Dinar income to arm his soldiers in Middle-earth in the days to come. One must know that iron armor was more expensive than Leather Armor; before the War of the Ring, Allen's goal was for all his men to be equipped with iron armor and fine weapons.

So in order to save his life and avoid the pursuit of the Druid Order, Allen planned to hide for a period of time and let his figure disappear from the eyes of the crowd.

To this end, Allen took out a large sum of settlement money to dismiss the vast majority of the men around him, letting them wait for his recall in Zendar. Most of these dozens of mercenary Cavalry were minor nobles without fiefs who were looking for work in Zendar to support their families, and Allen, who was in need of strong assistance, chose to hire them several years ago, and they had supported each other all the way to the present.

Thus, only Momucha remained as a companion by Allen's side; this companion with a face full of vicissitudes was actually a horse thief, whom Allen had happened to rescue from the hands of a noble in Vaegirs.

In fact, Allen had never thought about deliberately pursuing some key NPCs on this continent because this script had a plot line, and Allen was not sure if he was the protagonist, but he happened to hear about Momucha's situation, and in order to achieve his goal, he very much needed a scout who was proficient in reconnaissance and guiding, so he relied on his friendship with the local lord and spent a little bit of Dinar to rescue this companion with a full beard and dark skin.

Although Momucha always had a bitter and deep-seated look, his ability was absolutely worthy of the salary Allen paid him. In the past few years, Allen had hunted down nearly a hundred teams of Druid believers, totaling more than two thousand people, dealing a heavy blow to the Druid Sect's plan, and Momucha had made great contributions to this.

By the time the Druid Sect reacted and sent assassination units to hunt down Allen, Momucha also played a crucial role in the process of counter-killing the enemy.

Therefore, even though Ailong had dismissed the vast majority of his companions, he did not let Momucha leave his team; in the upcoming actions, he still needed the help of this companion.

Soon, Allen and Momucha disappeared. In such a social environment, it was actually a very easy thing for a person to hide himself; for example, Allen took Momucha to purchase enough supplies and then plunged into the dense forest of Vaegirs, living a few months of wild life in the icy and snowy environment.

And when all the supplies were exhausted, he and Momucha appeared again in a village near the dense forest, preparing to eat something and get some sleep before heading to Zendar to inquire about the current situation.

Because he had stayed in the dense forest for too long, Allen did not know the specific name of this village, and Momucha told Allen that this was Sharpster; he had raised horses for others here in his early years. Allen felt that since there was an acquaintance, that was also a good thing, because some villages did not receive strange outsiders.

But as they gradually approached the village, Momucha, with his sharp eyes, discovered the traces of the Druid army; their number was about several dozen, and they seemed to have something to do here. In any case, disrupting the enemy's plan was a pleasant thing, and if a battle occurred, Allen could also get rewards from the Simulator, so after slightly estimating the combat power of both sides, Allen took Momucha and quietly followed them.

Even if he could not annihilate the enemy on the front line, Allen still had the confidence to retreat unscathed with Momucha.

But to Allen's surprise, these people wandered around the village for a long time, as if they were looking for something. He and Momucha watched the enemy from the shadows for nearly a week, and finally saw these guys rush into a cave.

This familiar village name plus the familiar environment made Allen suddenly think of something; he impatiently shot and killed the enemy guarding the cave entrance and then stepped into the cave.

After initially entering the cave, there was nothing unusual here; it looked like just a very ordinary ruin, but Allen knew that there might be something hidden in this ruin.

As the two of them continued to go deeper, some corpses of Druid Soldier gradually appeared in the passage, and what was very conspicuous among them were two corpses similar to Troll, which were also thrown by someone against the wall of the passage. At this time, Allen finally confirmed that this was the treasure ruin that housed the Star Horn and a certain gemstone.

Thinking of this, Allen could not help but quicken his pace, and the corpses lying on the ground all the way, as well as the increasingly loud shouts of killing, also pointed the way for him, until Allen saw a brightly lit hall, and all around the hall were countless gold and silver treasures, and in the center of the treasures was placed a very simple wooden box.

Allen knew that the Star Horn that guided the protagonist was placed in the box over there, and he also knew that the two Trolls who were entangled with the Druid Soldier were immortal existences under the blessing of the formation.

In fact, Allen knew how to break the formation; he just needed to smash the oil lamp that never went out in the hall, but Allen did not do so. He was waiting, waiting for the Trolls to kill all the Druid Soldier.

Facing the Trolls who never knew fatigue and could quickly recover from their injuries, the commander of the Druid Soldier was covered in sweat. He now hated the tavern owner who provided him with information; there were indeed a large amount of wealth and treasures left by heroes of the past here, but no one told him that there were also monsters here that could never be killed.

"Charge for me, block them! The speed at which these monsters recover from their injuries has slowed down. For the Dark God, we will definitely be able to achieve final victory."

As he spoke, the commander brandished his weapon and lunged directly at the trolls; leading so many subordinates out, he could not return in such a crestfallen manner, otherwise he would surely face the punishment of the tongue of fire, and furthermore, he held a shred of luck in his heart, because the trolls' recovery speed was indeed a tiny bit slower.

But only when the commander rushed to the front of the trolls did he realize what kind of pressure his subordinates were actually facing; the strength of these two trolls was immense, even whipping up a whistling wind with their attacks, and their movements were also very agile, able to catch up to the retreating Druid Soldiers in just a few steps, then brandish the wooden clubs in their hands and strike the enemies before them flying with a single blow.

Even with the commander's participation, the situation of the Druid Soldiers inevitably slid toward failure; seeing that it was about time, Allen used the bow and arrow in his hand to break the oil lamps on the walls one by one, and his actions also attracted the gaze of everyone and the trolls in the hall.

These two trolls were not stupid; after seeing the oil lamps that sustained their lives being broken one by one, they tilted their heads and roared wildly, roughly shoving aside the enemies beside them and charging toward Allen's direction, but it was too late; at this moment, Allen had already aimed at the last burning oil lamp and released the bowstring in his hand.

With a "pop" sound, the charging trolls fell to the ground as if a pause button had been pressed, and subsequently vanished into the dust and smoke; in the spot where the two trolls had disappeared, a gemstone flickering with blue light was left behind; having been prepared for this, Allen ignored the gemstone and instead aimed the bow and arrow in his hand at the exceptionally exhausted Druid Soldiers, killing them all under the gaze of their shocked and desperate eyes.

After confirming that the enemies had no signs of life left, Allen lowered his head and picked up the spoils of war at his feet; this gemstone was about the size of a glass marble, and inside the azure gemstone, flashes of lightning flickered one after another.

At the same time, the Simulator sent a notification sound.

【Congratulations to the player for obtaining the supreme treasure of the Magic Continent, "Sky Stone" Favor of the Firmament.】

【The player can use the gemstone to exchange for related abilities, or keep the gemstone to use the ability inherent to it.】

【"Sky Stone" Favor of the Firmament: Possessing this item, one can expend the Qi within the body to see most of the people and objects one wishes to see; the further the distance and the stronger the power of the people and objects being seen, the more Qi is expended.】

【Consuming "Sky Stone" Favor of the Firmament, one can obtain the following two abilities; the ability list is as follows.】

【Ability 1: Chain Lightning, expend the Qi within the body to inflict lightning damage on a target, and the lightning can jump between multiple targets; the damage will decrease, and the attack does not distinguish between friend and foe.】

【Ability 2: Eye of the Sky, expend Dinar to see most of the people and objects one wishes to see; as more Dinar is invested, the location of the people and objects seen becomes clearer; the distance is limited, please use the ability near the target object; usage frequency is once per day.】

Allen did not pay attention to the Simulator's prompt, but instead placed the gemstone in a close-fitting spot, walked to the side of the wooden chest, and took out the Star Horn that could guide him to obtain the second gemstone, and regarding this item, the Simulator gave no prompt at all.

Allen guessed that apart from guidance, this horn might not have any other power, which is why the Simulator did not provide a prompt, and as Allen just picked up the horn, a passage of words appeared in his mind.

"Camp in the desert near the lake in the southwest; when the stars shine and the horn sounds, the hero's will shall reappear."