Chapter 263: Support

In the whistling cold wind, Allen, wearing an elven cloak, walked on a winding and long mountain path. A team several hundred meters long followed closely behind him. Everyone was protected by a thick grey hooded cloak, and at the same time, they carried huge backpacks for humans on their backs, filled with easy-to-carry supplies.

It was just that between walking, the light of armor still flashed in the sunlight from the open cloak, and would soon be covered again.

Occasionally, the figures of Noldor Rangers would flash in the pine forest or bushes in the distance. They were responsible for vigilance around the team, so as not to have any blind orcs ambush their own large army.

And the guide leading the entire team forward was an extremely tall dwarf, because this was the middle of the Grey Mountains, which was the territory of the dwarves thousands of years ago.

Due to the bitter cold weather in the north, this mountain slope located on the south side of the mountain range formed a distinct and extremely different climatic environment.

At the foot of the mountain, the four seasons were distinct, and a lush and dense forest connected to the boundless green grassland. They were living in midsummer there.

It was just that with the slight increase in altitude, the climate in the mountains gradually became cold, and only some cold-tolerant pine trees and shrub plants could live tenaciously here.

As for the place closer to the top of the mountain, besides the white snow, there were only craggy rocks and steep cliffs.

This was the bitter cold that was hard to endure and cruel.

Such a strange phenomenon led to the fact that most of the areas of this mountain slope were occupied by black and grey tones. Looking from a distance, it had an ominous meaning.

Elves and humans who were keen on beautiful things would never live in this harsh environment. Only dwarves who were born very tough would open up roads in these dark tones, facilitating the trade between their clansmen and humans.

After all, dwarves were by no means as legendary as only relying on eating stones to survive. Their rich and diverse recipes also did not include rocks.

"Allen, we need your help."

More than a week ago, Allen, who was studying rune magic in Grunwalder Castle, received an old friend of his in surprise, that is, Balin's brother, the tallest among all dwarves, Dwalin.

According to the information Allen knew, Dwalin, who was Thorin's right-hand man, should be expelling orcs in the Grey Mountains. At this period, he shouldn't have come here, or rather, shouldn't have come here alone.

Because Allen and Thorin's agreement was to meet in Grunwalder Castle, and then discuss the matter of expelling the orcs of the Misty Mountains and the Grey Mountains.

As for why not gather in the Grey Mountains?

That was naturally because those palaces that were once full of joy and glory had long been ruined by the evil dragon and orcs. At this time, the dwarf kingdom could not provide a camp for the soldiers Allen brought, let alone maintain the basic eating and drinking for morale, which was also a big problem.

Therefore, Allen actually had no intention of crusading against the Orcs in the short term; he was waiting for the accumulation of grain and fodder, which would take at least two autumns to pass.

Since coming to Grunwalder Castle, Allen only took the soldiers to sweep through the forest at the foot of the mountain. Besides breaking a simple orc city-state and killing dozens of unlucky ghosts who couldn't escape, this spent a lot of time, but didn't obtain too many military victories.

It was just that no more blind orcs would peep at humans in the forest, which could be considered achieving the main purpose of stabilizing the local area.

It was just that the soldiers brought to Grunwalder Castle spent nearly a year opening up large tracts of land nearby. At this time, the green wheat had already begun to draw ears, and it was estimated that it could be harvested in another two months, because it was already the summer of 2951 of the Third Age.

If it went on according to this trend, Allen felt that his subjects could soon settle down near Grunwalder Castle, and in another year or two, after having a stable rear, he could also let go and take the soldiers to attack the Misty Mountains.

And with the help of skin-changers and small animals, all the orcs north of the Stier Mining Town would be expelled to the further north Angmar Mountains.

There, the dwarves would build defensive works at Mount Gundabad, and at the same time, with the help of humans, completely eliminate the possibility of orcs invading the north again, and also opened another route between Eriador and Rhovanion.

Although this route didn't have much commercial value, it had extremely high military value. This was equivalent to putting a sharp sword on the necks of the northern orcs.

It was just that Allen's plan was broken by the arrival of Dwalin, because this good friend of Allen's recounted an extremely unexpected piece of news during the banquet: the Dwarves' battle to crusade against the Orcs had fallen into a stalemate, and the Dwarves, who had been advancing triumphantly all the way, had actually been outmaneuvered by the Orcs.

And with Dwalin's narration, Allen also understood the reason for all this. It was actually because the speed of the dwarves' advance was too fast.

In just two years, the dwarves swept through the dirty tunnels from the eastern end of the mountain range in the withered wilderness, pulled out simple city-states, and drove the orcs to move west for hundreds of kilometers all the way.

Along the way, no orc tribe could withstand Thorin's anger, even if several orc leaders forced to a dead end united, trying to launch a decisive battle with the dwarves in the mountains to avoid the fate of being slaughtered.

But the orcs who had just recovered their vitality for not long, how could they fight the dwarves who were prepared in the frontal battlefield.

Under the circumstances of great differences in combat skills, weapons and equipment, and personnel quality, even if the number of orcs was extremely large, far exceeding the dwarves several times, they were still defeated by the Durin clan, who were high in morale, in a very short time.

Just like this, the decisive battle to save the situation became a ridiculous collapse. For a time, a large number of orcs fled to the west, and even the goat cavalry who could jump vertically and horizontally between the ridges could not handle all the enemies in a short time.

Then, all the orcs in the Grey Mountains knew the intention of the dwarves. Driven by fear, they began to flee west all the way, and as time went on, this fleeing team became more and more huge, and the number of orcs also expanded to a critical point, a critical point where outstanding orcs could appear.

As claws of darkness, the object served by orcs was undoubtedly Sauron far away in Mordor. When the Nazgul representing the Dark Lord appeared in front of the orcs, they would unconditionally follow the orders from Sauron.

It was just that the orcs living in the Grey Mountains were basically free-range most of the time. Then, according to their own survival habits, when the number gathered to a certain extent, if there was no leader enough to deter everyone, then they would spontaneously fight for a leader.

The bloodiness and cruelty of the process need not be mentioned, because such things were enough to wake a normal human from a dream. During the fight, the participating orcs would not care about anything. Those leaders with relatively high intelligence would use all the means they could think of to make themselves win.

Of course, Thorin at this time didn't know everything that happened. This was the result of Allen's deduction based on his understanding of orcs.

The King under the Mountain at this time had just returned to the long-lost dwarf palace in this period, and began to repair the damaged halls and gates, preparing to use this as a bridgehead to attack Mount Gundabad.

Like Allen, Thorin also needed to accumulate strength and hoard enough material equipment for the great war.

And this gave the orcs a chance to catch their breath again, and more importantly, at this time they were no longer a plate of loose sand. A leader accepted by the vast majority of orcs had already appeared, and this orc leader possessed cruelty and cunning far beyond his kind.

In Dwalin's description, the fate of the dwarves became gloomy at this moment, because the warriors brought by Thorin, although very elite, were not too many. Even with the help of the goat cavalry, they could not monitor all the tunnels and mountain roads in the Grey Mountains.

From that time on, a large number of wolf riders began to wander between the mountains with speed far exceeding the goat cavalry. Of course, they didn't foolishly attack the mountain gates guarded by dwarves, but focused on harassing the dwarves' supply teams.

Their purpose was not to launch a massacre with the advantage of numbers, but to destroy the wooden carts transporting materials while attracting the attention of the dwarf guards, and by the way, burn the flammable grain and materials with a big fire.

Dwarves, after all, were not Easterlings who would move their whole clan at every turn. On the contrary, their combat style tended to be elite. They would never carry enough supplies to eat for months or even years when they came out to fight. Under the frequent harassment of the transport team, Thorin, who had regained his homeland, fell into a passive state.

In fact, even if they lost their source of supplies, the dwarves didn't immediately fall into a desperate situation, because in any case, the gathered orcs couldn't defeat Thorin in the frontal battlefield. The dwarves who still had enough supplies at the time could choose to leave, return to the vicinity of the Lonely Mountain to make more preparations, and then return here.

But Thorin didn't choose to do so. In his view, such a move was no different from running away, and it would also make the efforts of the Durin clan for the past two years a joke, so he chose to move forward and chose to launch a fierce attack on the orcs.

As long as they could seize an opportunity for a decisive battle and defeat the gathered orcs again, the crisis faced by the dwarves at this time would naturally be lifted, because by then Thorin would have enough manpower and sufficient time to re-plan the transport route, and could even obtain material support from Grunwalder Castle.

However, after discovering the dwarves' intention, the orcs didn't have the slightest intention of fighting. It was estimated that their new leader also knew very well in his heart that according to the current strength of the orcs, it was impossible to defeat Thorin in the frontal battlefield.

Therefore, facing the pursuit of the dwarves, they fled to the west after a hurried arrangement. Although they also paid a not-small price along the way, they didn't give the dwarves an opportunity to defeat them in one fell swoop, and the team still maintained relative integrity.

This, for creatures like orcs, was already a very remarkable feat.

And the most favorable condition for the orcs in this pursuit battle was that they ate almost everything. Even the same kind who died on the road would become the food for other orcs to satisfy their hunger the next day. And for orcs, this was already a very good food. At the very least, it was meat, which was more delicious than some weeds and leaves, and lasted longer in the stomach.

It was just that the dwarves couldn't do it. They wouldn't eat the corpses of orcs, let alone cruelly devour their own clansmen. Even with super high physical fitness, they carried enough food when they left the palace, but facing the orcs who were always fleeing, there was always a time when they were exhausted.

At this time, Thorin, who led the team, corrected his mistake in time. He knew that if he continued to chase, his clansmen would sooner or later die of hunger and fatigue in a cowardly way. By then, even weak orcs could raise their butcher knives at him at will.

After a pursuit battle that lasted for half a month, the orcs stopped their fleeing steps, and the dwarves also returned to their kingdom again. The situation seemed to have returned to a confrontation, but the predicament faced by Thorin was even more serious.

If the previous dwarves still had enough conditions to leave here and return to the Lonely Mountain, now they had lost this opportunity, because the food piled up in the warehouse was only enough for them to walk less than a third of the road.

Even if those dwarf cavalrymen riding big-horned goats were willing to give up their mounts, it would only be enough to walk less than half the road. What's more, many dwarf cavalrymen were not willing to eat their partners who were born and died with them.

At this time, Dwalin, who was tall and the most aggressive, stood out. He knew that Thorin was not willing to give up the kingdom he had finally regained, so he didn't make any suggestions to leave here at all.

Instead, he expressed his willingness to risk his life, travel along the tributaries of the Greyflood to Grunwalder Castle to seek help from humans, even if the human leader there couldn't make a decision to support, Dwalin could also take a boat along the Anduin River to quickly rush to Fislate. He didn't believe Allen would watch his allies fall into a predicament.

And Fislate was closer to their current position. The wilderness that used to be was built with roads one after another. If it was just to deliver news, Allen, who had elven horses and Mearas, could completely send the order for support to Grunwalder Castle within a few days.

As long as they obtained a batch of material support, Thorin could persist longer, and then Dain, who was guarding the Lonely Mountain, could have sufficient time to gather a force again to support the Grey Mountains after receiving the news, and the difficulties faced by the dwarves would naturally be solved.

Just as Dwalin expected, Allen naturally couldn't watch his allies fall into a dangerous situation, even if he thought this situation was entirely Thorin's own fault.

It was just that Allen also understood the stubbornness belonging to the dwarves, and Thorin was the best among them, so the predicament in front of him was actually a situation that would inevitably appear.

Soon, the troops under Allen's command gathered. They put down their hoes and sickles, picked up their spears and bows and arrows again, and followed their lord to advance towards the Grey Mountains. And unlike the past, this unit already had extremely unified equipment.

Among them, three hundred archers and seven hundred spearmen were all equipped with green leaf armor that Allen had started to build a few years ago. The team of more than a thousand people gathered into a grey-green torrent in the sunlight, while the silver spear blades shining with light swam like silver fish in the water.

Besides that, Allen also brought one hundred heavy infantry. They wore silver-shining Noldor rune armor. This was the elven armor that Allen had just re-engraved, and he hadn't even had time to give it a loud name.

These armors with excellent protection but very low weight were extremely suitable for humans to fight in the mountains, and could also allow soldiers to carry more supplies.

Therefore, the team led by Allen, under the protection of the cavalry, soon boarded the Grey Mountains, and a few days later came to the middle of the Grey Mountains, already close to the kingdom that once belonged to the dwarves.

"Swish~~"

A sharp and loud sound rang in the sky. This was the signal arrow shot by the Noldor Rangers, and it also indicated that the enemy was approaching.

"Enemy attack, everyone get ready for battle."

Allen's loud voice transmitted the combat order to the entire army. Soon, a formation based on defense appeared between the mountains, and the enemy like a black tide also rushed down from the hillside with the help of the dark clouds in the sky.

The battle was about to begin. ===== CHAPTER 264 =====