Chapter 264: Contact

Dots of cold raindrops began to drift from the dark clouds, and were then turned into small knives like ice by the raging wind between the mountains, leaving bursts of bone-chilling pain on the tense faces of the soldiers.

And this could not make the warriors waiting in full battle array close their eyes, because they were staring dead at the orc army rushing towards them from the steep slope in the north. The grey-black tide occupied the entire hillside, Snaga holding simple weapons ran around between the rocks, and at the same time made unpleasant hissing sounds.

Among them were quite a few Uruk-hai. They were well-equipped with complete armor, and the weapons they held were either pitch-black iron hammers or ferocious and terrifying big sticks, while further away, a wolf rider team was watching the battle. All human warriors knew that these cruel and cunning things must be waiting for a suitable opportunity.

The rain fell heavier and heavier in the whistling wind, and the orc team was getting closer and closer to the human unit. And faster than the orcs was the black arrow rain shot by hundreds of Snaga archers. Even under the washing of the rain, these pitch-black arrows still remained with a fishy and unpleasant smell.

Clearly, some unknown poison was fed on this, perhaps it was orc feces, who knows.

However, facing the long-range attack launched by the orcs, all human soldiers just raised their left hands, strictly protecting their faces without protection. Besides that, there was no other action.

Human soldiers indeed shouldn't make too big movements, because the orcs' vanguard unit had already approached them. If they disrupted the formation that had been well-standing because of avoiding the arrow rain, then they might be at a disadvantage in the subsequent battle.

Because the number of enemies was really too many, just like a continuous tide, only by forming a formation could they better gain an advantage in the battle.

The black arrow rain shot by the Snaga archers from a high position was very accurate. Their bloodthirsty and cruel eyes revealed greedy looks, watching those poisoned arrows fall on the human soldiers one after another.

These guys expected this wave of attacks to kill enough humans, so that they could improve their food in the evening. Even if it was meat, they didn't want to eat their own kind every day, and what's more, the taste of humans was more oily.

"Ding" "Ding" "Ding"......

However, the result far exceeded the expectations of these orcs, because those arrowheads only made a little noise in the heavy rain after hitting the cyan armor, and then fell to the ground in vain.

The rough iron arrowheads didn't even leave any traces on the human armor, let alone cause any decent damage.

Seeing that their shooting had no effect, these Snaga archers threw away the black bows in their hands and picked up short knives one after another to join the attack.

In fact, they couldn't shoot again, because the water-soluble glue used in the production of the black bows in their hands was made of animals or plants. If they launched multiple shots forcibly in the heavy rain, it might not be the humans who were injured.

Orcs with limited intelligence might not understand the principles contained in it, but the tragic events that happened in the past would provide them with some experience, allowing them to make the right choice at the critical moment.

The human archers protected in the middle by spearmen didn't have these concerns. The longbows they held were weapons carefully crafted by the Woodland Elves. These skills from Valinor were applicable to most weather.

Soon, after one "shoot" order after another, bunches of arrow rain shot out from the human formation, nailing the charging orcs to the hillside one after another. Their suddenly falling bodies rolled on the hillside, and sometimes even became obstacles for the subsequent troops to run.

It was just that the number of orcs was really too many. A wide crescent-shaped battle line was gathering on the hillside, gradually surrounding the human soldiers waiting in full battle array. The scale of such enemy troops could not be stopped by archers alone.

"Awoo"

After a howl that pierced the sound of rain, the orcs, relying on their number advantage several times that of humans, launched a charge.

Although the seeds of fear were left in the hearts of these scum by the previous long-range attacks, the new leader's actions all along still established a certain prestige among the orcs, so after receiving the order, these dark claws still launched a fierce attack regardless of everything.

Due to the dark clouds and heavy rain, the light emitted by the sun was blocked by more than half, which made the light between the mountains extremely dim. The originally bright morning was now like the dusk before the sun set, and with the orcs' charge, this remaining little brightness seemed even dimmer.

"Hoo! Ha!"

The heavy soldiers standing at the front of the team issued neat shouts while looking at the gradually approaching enemy, encouraging the morale of the comrades behind them.

After all, most of the soldiers holding spears were citizen soldiers, and their experience in participating in battles was still a bit less. The only continuous battle was the battle to expel the Easterlings a few years ago.

Although before setting out, they had already learned from the king that there was a high possibility of battle in this operation, and they had also made sufficient psychological preparations for this, but at this moment, facing enemies several times their own, they were still inevitably a bit nervous.

Gale, who was commanding the heavy infantry, clearly sensed this, so he led the soldiers to issue shouts before the battle at the last moment before the engagement.

However, Gale's worry soon disappeared.

Because after they issued the shouts, the light around them suddenly brightened, as if someone had lit a pile of encouraging fire in the darkness, dispelling the tense atmosphere covering the soldiers' hearts.

The one who lit this fire was naturally Allen, who was standing at the front of the team.

In the eyes of many soldiers, their king, facing the boundless enemies, slowly stretched out his right arm wearing silver armor, as if he was calculating something.

And a few seconds later, a fire column like a dragon's breath, dozens of meters long, suddenly appeared in the heavy rain, sweeping from the left side of the orcs' formation all the way to the right, crossing a distance of several hundred meters and then disappearing into the heavy rain, as if it had never appeared.

However, hundreds of orcs covered in flames and making miserable screams told all the soldiers on the battlefield who were about to start fighting that everything that had just happened was by no means a delusion. The raging fire that ignored the cold rain and continued to burn was side-proof of the reality of all this.

Not to mention the corpses of more than a hundred orcs that turned into coke, silently telling everyone that the temperature of the fire was fierce enough, at the very least, it was more than enough to burn orcs to death in the heavy rain.

The suddenly appearing hell of flames made the orcs' charging footsteps stop immediately. A guy who was knowledgeable and not young even rubbed his eyes with his dirty and velvet-covered back of his hand, because he suspected that a fire dragon had just flown over the sky, and very strangely sprayed dragon breath at his own side.

This was not in line with common sense. All orcs knew that evil dragons were their allies. Even if most of the giant reptiles with sturdy scales looked down on the orcs whose strength was getting weaker and weaker, such things had never happened today. Even if they sprayed fire, they should burn the humans who were concentrated together.

However, Ragash, who was watching the battle from afar, saw everything clearly. As an orc leader who had just become one not long ago, he had also seen quite a few magic tricks when he followed Azog, but the scene in front of him still made his heart full of astonishment.

According to what he knew, the Dark Lord who hid in Dol Guldur more than ten years ago was also a master of playing with fire. The rumors circulating in the dark region had relevant information. In the Battle of the Last Alliance, the Great Emperor Sauron pinched to death the High King of the Numenoreans, Elendil, with one hand, and sprayed flames with the other, burning the High King of the Noldor Elves, Gil-galad, to death.

But compared with the scene in front of him, the Great Emperor Sauron in the legend seemed to be inferior.

It was just that after a short loss of focus, Ragash still let his partner issue an order to continue the charge, because he knew that this was the last chance for the orcs.

As early as when the human soldiers walked out of the forest and stepped on the Grey Mountains, Ragash learned of all this from the wargs scattered in the mountains, and at the same time, he concluded that this human unit was the reinforcements of the dwarves.

Of course, it was the reinforcements of the dwarves. Ragash was an orc who participated in the Battle of the Lonely Mountain. He knew that the humans and dwarves in the north were almost sleeping in the same cave.

Now, the battle between orcs and dwarves, although there had been no frontal conflict, was experiencing the most important moment. For Ragash, whether it was victory or defeat depended on this last month.

If he couldn't stop these humans from continuing to move up, it would be equivalent to losing the initiative of this battle. After humans and dwarves officially met, he himself could only return to Mount Gundabad in disgrace and compete for the position of leader with that Arag who didn't have a good brain.

And Ragash also couldn't guarantee whether losing the Grey Mountains would cause dissatisfaction from the Dark Lord.

Although he was only a leader selected recently, Ragash was worried that those black knights riding monsters might not consider this, but would wave that terrifying steel sword to cut off his head.

Even if it was for his own life, he wanted to try hard, what's more, after victory, Ragash had a great hope of becoming an existence like Azog.

You know, an orc leader trusted by the Dark Lord was almost second to none in the north. Such huge power had a fatal temptation for Ragash.

However, no matter how the wargs howled, the orcs who were deterred by the flames seemed to have no desire to continue moving forward. They peeked at each other, as if they were waiting for the appearance of the first warrior. Of course, what appeared might also be a deserter.

However, whether to fight or flee, they needed a role model, or a turning point to change the battle situation.

Confrontation appeared strangely in the raging fire and cold rain, and the howling of wolves began to approach the battlefield gradually. Ragash was a bit anxious.

At this time, Allen, who had used the manipulation of flames with all his strength, saw the fear permeating the hearts of the orcs in his panting, but he didn't issue a charge order to the soldiers looking at him, because this was a hillside. Even if the armor worn by his subordinates was not heavy, it was impossible to catch up with the agile orcs.

The current situation made Allen have a little other thoughts. If possible, he hoped to cause a heavier blow to the orcs.

In fact, based on his understanding of orcs and wolf riders, after stepping into this mountain range, Allen knew that his whereabouts had been detected by the enemy.

Allen knew that wargs, this dark creation, could be said to be very excellent scouts to some extent. They themselves had intelligence like humans, and their sense of smell was sensitive and their eyes were sharp. Plus they occupied the high ground of the mountains, so there was no way they could ignore his more than a thousand humans.

Not to mention that Allen used his ability at the beginning to indeed discover the traces of wolf riders near the team.

So, as long as Allen wanted to meet with the dwarves, this battle was impossible to avoid. The orcs would definitely fight him, but fighting also required techniques.

In order to prevent orcs from ambushing himself in some special terrain, Allen tried his best to avoid the team walking in extremely dangerous places like canyons and cliffs, and let Dwalin try his best to choose terrain with relatively gentle slopes to march. This spent a lot of time for the team, and the mountain road was not easy to walk.

At the same time, Allen also sent out all the Noldor Rangers and Twilight Knights, letting them serve as scouts to increase the safety range of the team, which was clearly telling the orc leader that if you want to stop me, you can only launch a fair battle. Humans would absolutely not step into the orcs' ambush circle.

And the terrain where the duel was launched now was also chosen by Allen. He had a certain grasp that the orcs would launch a surprise attack here, because the terrain here was relatively flat, with a very wide hillside, which was one of the few places where orcs could exert their number advantage, and also had the advantage of being high and hitting low.

As for the roads behind, they were either too narrow or very steep. Small-scale conflicts were fine, but large-scale decisive battles were simply not possible. And Allen guessed that the orcs' purpose was to destroy the supplies, or to drive his team out of the Grey Mountains.

Such a purpose could not be achieved by just blocking, and time was actually on Allen's side, because it was closer to the dwarf kingdom here, and the movement made during the battle would likely attract Thorin's attention, by which time the orcs would be more likely to enter a state of being attacked from front and back.

Or, the dwarves might have already discovered the orcs' movements and were already organizing troops to plan a surprise attack at this time. You know, there were almost nearly ten thousand orcs appearing on the hillside at this time. As long as Thorin was not particularly ignoring the collection of information, he should be able to discover the movement of the enemy's large-scale march.

Therefore, Allen believed that the orcs needed a victory that ended as soon as possible to ensure that they occupied the advantage in the Grey Mountains.

If Allen were commanding the orcs to complete this campaign, then in the current situation, he would likely choose this place, and according to Dwalin's description, Allen believed that the orc leader in the Grey Mountains had a certain command ability and would likely make the same choice as himself.

The Allen who thought of this plan at the time was also forced to do so. If the birds and small animals were willing to fly in this mountain range, then he wouldn't need to be so troublesome at all. Under the guidance of birds, he and Thorin's team should be able to meet very easily.

Although the dwarves' supplies couldn't let the large army walk out of the defense zone, as long as there was the help of hundreds of dwarf warriors, Allen believed that the orcs would naturally give up attacking his team and obediently retreat to the west.

It was a pity that this mountain range had been eroded by dark power for too long, and the smaller birds and ravens were not willing to stay here for a long time. From the spies' mouths, Allen heard the panic of the small animals, and the ravens even said in a "caw caw" sound that they would be affected and become bird-not-bird ghosts.

And now, Allen's plan could be considered successful, and things developed as expected. Now he still needed an opportunity to uncover his last trump card, so that he could win this battle in one fell swoop. ===== CHAPTER 265 =====