Chapter 267: Dwarves Advance

The dark clouds shrouding the Grey Mountains were still rolling incessantly, as if an evil hand were constantly stirring them, gathering them, making the grey darkness that blotted out the sky even more profound.

The commotion created by hundreds of fully armed dwarf cavalry was so intense that the rocks trembled in their charge, the stream water splashed in their wild run, and the lightning flashing across the sky illuminated their armor, which was still bright but full of scars.

Facing the dwarf cavalry running wildly, the Orcs located at the rear of the formation began to prepare for the cavalry. They set spears and lances of varying lengths before them, hoping that these simple weapons could bring them a sense of security.

And amidst ear-piercing roars, the gathered Uruks, under the command of their captain, hid behind the spear and lance ranks. If any dwarf fell while charging the spear formation, they would immediately brandish the pitch-black iron hammers in their hands to give their enemy a fatal blow.

At this moment, the King under the Mountain, whose longsword shimmered with blue light, drove the fully armed Great Horned Goat beneath him, flying rapidly toward the Orcs' left flank. The rain falling from the sky pattered down onto his steel helmet, which was full of scars, then flowed down along the simple patterns, wetting the long beard he had already grown.

A beard was so important to a dwarf, so after Thorin became king, he grew his beard back and groomed it very beautifully.

After all, reclaiming the Lonely Mountain had already fulfilled the wish of his grandfather, his father, and himself. The once-wandering prince no longer needed to remind himself at all times that his clansmen needed to find a home.

And now, what he wanted to reclaim was another territory that had belonged to the Durin dwarves for thousands of years—the holy land located at Mount Gundabad and the rich kingdom of the Grey Mountains.

"Descendants of Durin! Crush them!!"

Looking at the Orcs getting closer and closer, Thorin, with a face full of rage, drove his mount and crashed in fiercely. Several spears snapped directly upon touching the heavy armor on the Great Horned Goat's face, and the splashing spear blades flew toward the surroundings; one even inserted directly into an Orc's eye.

For a time, cries of pain, shrieks, sounds of impact, and roars resounded through the sky. Thorin, in the charge, was not affected by these mixed noises. He hacked down fiercely with the blue-shimmering Orcrist, hacking an Uruk who was trying to swing his hammer at him to the ground.

Following this, his arm lifted upward, and the Orcrist in his hand raised up, just happening to pierce into a Snaga's chest. Before this, this pierced Orc was trying to jump onto the goat to knock Thorin, who was charging, off the goat's back.

And at the same time, the metal shield strapped to Thorin's left hand, after knocking away several weapons attacking him, smashed one filthy, ugly face after another. The splashing filthy blood quickly stained the shield surface that was originally shimmering with silver light, and the torrential rain then washed the black blood clean in an instant, revealing an oak pattern inlaid in the middle of the shield.

If one observed carefully, that pattern looked extremely like the "Oakenshield" that Thorin had lost in the Misty Mountains.

As the dwarf king continued to penetrate, the hundreds of dwarf cavalry following closely behind him, relying on the fine equipment on themselves and their mounts, as well as the powerful momentum brought by the charge, scattered the Orcs who were waving weapons in an attempt to block them.

The dwarves and these Orcs entrenched in the north had never had peace. The cessation of war was merely one side licking its wounds. As long as there was a suitable opportunity and reason, these two races would definitely fight to the death among these mountains.

In the few years that Thorin prepared and took the initiative to launch the war, the Orcs of the Grey Mountains, after the failure of their resistance, had always been driven by the high-spirited and well-equipped dwarves. Their morale could be said to have fallen to the extreme.

At that time, they, who were fleeing everywhere, had no other thoughts in their minds besides running away when they saw dwarves.

It was Lagash who, after becoming the commander, used the speed and agility of the Wolf Riders in the mountains to successfully cut off the dwarves' supply lines and compress the dwarves' range of activity. This was the only way to barely reverse the Orcs' decline in this territorial struggle and restore some confidence to those Orcs whose morale had fallen to the bottom.

However, at this very moment, facing the dwarf charge that even the Woodland Elves had to avoid, timidity and fear once again occupied the filthy hearts of these scum. Their hands holding weapons began to tremble, and their wavering eyes searched for a retreat in the crowd.

Soon, the Orcs' formation became chaotic. Those Snagas who had been chased and hiding since the beginning of this war could no longer bear the fear rising from the bottom of their hearts. After all, those high-spirited and loyal, fearless dwarves had once brought them endless death.

Finally, amidst shrieks symbolizing timidity, a large number of Snagas who had not yet engaged with the dwarves ignored the whipping and cursing from the Uruks and began to collapse, fleeing toward the south.

Even if the south was a steep cliff, they, panicked and at a loss, threw away their weapons and climbed down without hesitation.

At least, in their simple thinking, they also knew that the charging Great Horned Goats could not jump directly off the cliff after them. As long as they climbed down now, this life would be saved. As for the rest, they would probably have to wait until they survived to make other plans.

Perhaps, they would continue to flee toward the west of the mountain range, heading to Mount Gundabad to serve the ruler there.

Facing the Orcs' collapse, the charging dwarves split into a majority of the team to chase the collapsing and fleeing Orc troops, driving them thoroughly off the cliff, while other dwarves formed small teams one after another, beginning to hunt down those small groups of enemies who were fleeing in panic, as well as those Uruks who were still fighting like trapped beasts.

And Thorin was already standing on a giant rock, observing the situation of the entire battlefield.

At this time, the Orcs' crescent-shaped square formation had completely changed its appearance. Their left flank, which was the east side, had been thoroughly routed, and the Orcs who were preparing to thicken the encirclement of the human troops had been thoroughly driven off the battlefield.

This charge launched by Thorin routed at least a quarter of the Orc troops and also exposed those Orcs who were surrounding the humans to the dwarves' blades.

Of course, those Orcs would not sit still and wait for death either. The enemies on the outermost edge had already raised the weapons in their hands and stood densely together, ready to resist the charge from the dwarves at any time.

And on the right flank, which was the west side, Thorin could not see very clearly. He only knew that the hundreds of heavy cavalry sent by Allen had already been fiercely entangled with the enemies there.

But the dwarf king, who had extremely rich combat experience, could guess that the Orcs with the help of Trolls had probably already gained the upper hand in the battle.

Moreover, he could vaguely see through the curtain of rain that human soldiers clad in armor were knocked away from time to time by the clubs in the Trolls' hands, which further confirmed Thorin's conjecture.

With the constant shifting of his line of sight, Thorin, standing on high, soon saw Lagash on the other side of the battlefield. Although he did not know who the other party was, the dwarf king, who often fought with Orcs, guessed the other party's identity in the first instance.

That must be the opponent who forced him into a dilemma, the current Orc commander of the Grey Mountains, and a black flag was erected there, on which was drawn a blood-colored giant wolf howling at the sky.

In fact, when the charge began on the hillside, Thorin did not discover the existence of this Orc commander at all. Otherwise, Lagash would definitely have been Thorin's first target for the charge.

It was precisely because he did not discover it that Thorin, who had just arrived at the battlefield, after a short thought, led his cavalry to charge directly toward Allen's location.

According to his plan at the time, he was to crash open the Orcs' encirclement in a short time, help his human allies open a passage to rush out of the Orcs' encirclement from the inside and outside, and then fight while retreating, waiting for the support of his other clansmen.

After all, there were still over a thousand dwarf infantry on the way here, but they were marching on foot, and their speed really could not be fast.

However, when Thorin led his subordinates to charge one-third of the way, a human cavalry unit suddenly appeared and plunged headlong into the enemy army where Trolls existed. This made Thorin immediately change his initial plan and change the target to the enemy's left flank.

If he could rout the Orcs' left flank in a short time, and then use the high morale to rout the Orcs surrounding the human infantry, as long as the two units could reunite, they could definitely hold on until the reinforcements arrived. By then, the Orcs would only be able to face the result of failure.

Even, they could launch a pursuit of the Orcs. In Thorin's view, in the territory he had already reclaimed, the fewer the number of Orcs, the better.

"Everyone come to my side, return to my side."

Thorin suddenly shouted loudly, and Kili and Gloin, who were always by the king's side, after hearing the shouts, also began to roam the battlefield, gathering those clansmen who had already scattered because of chasing the Orcs.

Soon, the dwarf cavalry scattered in various places began to gather around the giant rock. At the same time, they also discovered the reason for the king's call—it was a large group of Wargs advancing continuously among the mountain ridges like black smoke.

It was precisely because of these evil creatures with evil spirits dwelling in their bodies that their pace of reclaiming the kingdom had stalled, and in the end, they had to rely on the remaining supplies to hide in the broken ruins.

"Let the goats take the wounded away, the rest of the people form a formation~! Form a formation~!"

Thorin, while driving his mount, gave the order to form a formation to his clansmen.

He knew that even if these Great Horned Goats were carefully cultivated by the clansmen and could completely become mounts comparable to horses, the suppression of bloodlines made these herbivorous creatures forever unable to fight head-on against those Wargs with Orc cooperation.

That would not only bury these agile and sturdy lives but also provide those cunning and fierce Wolf Riders with an opportunity to split his clansmen.

Dwarves wearing heavy equipment must stand together to form a tight formation to confront these swift and deadly enemies in the mountains. A head-on collision with Wargs would only lead to being slowly bled by enemies with numerical and speed advantages until the last drop flowed out.

Rich combat experience allowed the dwarves to quickly execute the king's orders. A square formation with strong shields as walls and spears standing like a forest surrounded the giant rock where the king stood.

And a battle flag representing the Durin royal family was tightly held in Thorin's hand. The patterns of stars, crowns, hammers, and anvils emitted a faint silver light even in the heavy rain, telling everyone in the mountains that the King of Durin was here.

And those goats, when they discovered the Wargs, actually already showed signs of restlessness. After breaking free from the knights' restraint, they hopped away from this battlefield.

They had their own way of survival. The cliffs that the Wargs could not reach were their best hiding places. Even wearing armor and carrying wounded on their backs, it would not hinder them from completing these things they were already skilled at.

Following the goats' departure, clusters of black smoke formed by Wargs also rolled forward continuously among the mountains. Before long, they arrived at the battlefield full of corpses and blood pools. Looking at the food that had already gone far away, knowing they could not catch up, they charged directly toward the dwarves.

At this moment, the dwarf warriors, prepared for battle, were already enough to see the fangs of these bloodthirsty creatures through the rain curtain. Anger made them grip the shields and spears in their hands tightly, and loyalty made them stand still in place.

"Surround them."

An unpleasant and ear-piercing sound was shouted from the mouths of the Wolf Riders. The charging Wargs soon dispersed and began to run and howl around the dwarves incessantly.

The Orcs certainly would not let the agile Wargs hard-confront the dwarf square formation that was like a hedgehog, not to mention that this "hedgehog" also wore steel armor that was difficult to break.

The order from Lagash was to drag these dwarves down, not to kill the enemy. Even if they were to attack, at least they had to wait until those dwarves moved, so they could find the best opportunity.

And the Wolf Riders holding short bows attempted to shoot at the dwarves standing on the giant rock in the heavy rain. However, the weak force caused the arrows to fall quickly in the heavy rain. Even if they could hit the dwarves, they could not penetrate the fine armor on the dwarves at all.

The arrows fell to the ground amidst clanging sounds.

Finally, these fellows could only abandon this idea resentfully and instead surround the dwarves before them together with the Wargs.

At this time, Thorin, holding the flag, had his brows tightly furrowed, because the situation before him once again disrupted his original plan, and the Orcs surrounding the humans in the distance also split off a part of their soldiers, who were rushing here.

What was worse was that some of those Snagas who had fled in all directions earlier also gathered again under the cursing and whipping of the Uruks.

The Wargs came too fast, which meant the dwarves did not have much time to expand their results after routing the enemy.

However, what made Thorin somewhat gratified was that those Orcs who were driven under the cliff should not be able to come back, because they could not see the situation on the battlefield at all. Moreover, the dwarf king could see that the enemies who had gathered again had already been scared out of their wits in the previous engagement, and it would probably be difficult for them to regain the courage to fight him in the short term.

However, Thorin saw that there were still too many enemies between him and Allen. If he wanted to rush over, he would inevitably be obstructed by the enemy.

And those hundreds of Wargs eyeing them covetously in the surroundings would definitely look for opportunities to leave his clansmen behind. The safest method at the moment was probably to wait, wait for his clansmen who were on the way to arrive here.

Only then could he reduce his losses to the minimum.

However, Thorin looked from afar at the human army fighting heroically, whose defensive range was still constantly shrinking, as well as the west battlefield where the fierce battle was ongoing, but he did not choose that seemingly safe method.

Instead, he took his personal guard and leaped downward, sliding from the giant rock he stood on into the midst of his clansmen. The battle flag in his hand, which emitted silver light, waved violently, and he shouted loudly: "Descendants of Durin, our allies who support us are fighting the enemy, so we have no choice but to stop. My warriors, advance~!!"

After speaking, the battle flag in the Lonely Mountain king's hand, which emitted silver light, waved forward violently, and the dwarf square formation with shining spears also moved firmly and orderly under the leadership of the flag. Even with wolves surrounding them, even with the enemy being many and them being few, the dwarves' pace of advance would inevitably not stop. ===== CHAPTER 268 =====