Chapter 57: Eve of War

Under the vault of heaven, three for the Elf-kings.

In stone halls, seven for the Dwarf-lords.

In the mortal realm, nine for mortal men, doomed to die.

Shadows shroud Mordor, black dust upon the throne.

The Dark Lord holds them all.

One Ring to rule them all; One Ring to find them; One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

After Allen finished reciting this passage, he smiled and asked Dain, "Do you know the origin of these words?"

Dain shook his head and said, "I have never heard it, but these words feel so dark to me, filled with manipulation and mockery. You know I have no interest in poetry or prose, so just speak plainly."

Allen nodded and continued, "Then everything must start from these sixteen rings of the Dwarves and Humans..."

In the time that followed, Allen first explained the situation of the Nine Rings of Humans to Dain in detail; after putting them on, humans could not only significantly extend their lifespans and strength, but they could also slip into the void and enter a state of invisibility.

With the help of the power of the rings, the original nine could easily obtain honor and wealth they could never have attained before.

But Allen then emphasized to Dain that such great power was not without a price; after wearing the rings for a long time, those nine humans had lost their physical forms and become monsters that were neither human nor ghost.

They were the most loyal servants by Sauron's side, the nine Nazgul.

Upon hearing the names of Sauron and the Ringwraiths, the expression on Dain's face, which had been relaxed just a moment ago, suddenly became grave.

Yes, he thought of the seven rings distributed to the Dwarf-lords.

He asked Allen urgently, "Are you saying that Thorin's current state is also because of the ring? But he has never worn Thror's Ring, has he?"

Allen looked at the impatient Dain, cleared his throat, and continued, "No need to worry, you Dwarves are different. Just look at your sturdy bodies and you will know that your resistance to the magic rings is much stronger than that of humans. So, the ring only awakened the greed in Thorin's heart; now he only has eyes for treasure, not for us."

Allen then took a sip of water and continued, "That is the situation with Thorin now. The treasure of the Lonely Mountain has completely occupied his heart with greed. He indeed has never worn the ring, but his grandfather, King Thror, and his father, Thrain II, wore the ring in front of him every day; it is only natural that he would be affected."

Yes, Allen pushed all the responsibility onto Sauron, onto the Ring of Power that Sauron had gifted to the Dwarves of Durin's Folk—that very Thror's Ring.

What else could he do? Could Allen tell Dain that his cousin had a hereditary mental illness? That he was currently having an episode and was just being insufferable?

That would likely cause the two to fall out immediately. Letting Sauron take the blame for everything gave Allen no psychological burden at all.

After listening to Allen's account, Dain immediately asked, "So Thorin will just stay like this? Is there any way to make him return to normal?"

After all, that was his cousin; setting aside state affairs, the relationship between the two was still decent.

Allen felt a bit helpless upon hearing this; after all, he was just a human with relatively extensive knowledge and possessed no magic at all. What could he possibly do?

So Allen could only shake his head and say, "There is no good way. If Thorin wants to walk out of this, he can only rely on himself."

Upon hearing this, Dain fell silent, standing there for a long time like a statue.

Finally, he nodded and said, "I understand. Thank you for your help, Allen."

Dain also knew that if everything Allen said was true, then the information Balin had told him could not be false.

It was true that an Orcish army of over ten thousand would soon arrive here.

Then the contract Allen had managed to get Thranduil to help defend was effectively a huge favor to the Dwarves of Durin's Folk.

Of course, what he did not know was that the number of Orcish coming was not ten thousand, but several tens of thousands.

"You're welcome, Dain. We are friends, aren't we?"

Allen smiled as he looked at Dain, knowing that this King of the Iron Hills had chosen to trust him.

But as he watched Dain turn to climb onto his goat, he suddenly remembered something.

He asked, "Dain, don't go yet. Do any of your men know how to repair a Catapult? I have a few that need some help."

After finishing, Allen remembered something else and continued, "Oh, right, if you can, send me a few people who know how to repair fortifications; I'm about to go crazy with work."

There was no help for it; the Dwarves in Allen's team had returned to the Lonely Mountain after slaying the dragon. They had originally intended to go back to visit relatives, as they had already stayed in Allen's town for five or six years without going home.

Upon hearing Allen's request, Dain did not mind and casually named a few Dwarf Cavalry, leaving them behind.

Afterward, he bid farewell to Allen and headed toward the Kingdom of Erebor; he and his cousin Thorin likely had some matters to deal with.

After sending Dain off, Allen returned to his busy work. The Dwarves indeed possessed high attainments in architecture; with their help, the work of repairing the city walls became much simpler.

But now Dale was full of Elves, and Allen had to stay by the side of the helping Dwarves to prevent any conflict between the Elves and Dwarves; if blood were to be splashed on anyone, it would be too unsightly.

After a busy day, under the guidance of the Dwarves and the efforts of several thousand people, the two city walls were finally mostly repaired. Although they were still a bit low, the defensive capability looked quite good.

The Dwarves also simply handled those few Catapults; only two of them were usable, while the others were beyond repair. Using them by force could potentially bring great danger to the operators.

Just like that, when late night arrived, Allen watched those few Dwarves with reluctance, seeing them off as they returned to the Kingdom of Erebor.

But what Allen did not know was that it was not just Dwarves who arrived at the Lonely Mountain today; an Orcish troop had already ascended Ravenhill.

That was the commander of the Orcish, the Pale Orc Azog. At this time, after a thorough search and confirming there was no danger, he had already begun building his command post on Ravenhill.

This rare military talent among the Orcish had a clear strategic layout for the battle to capture the Lonely Mountain.

And this place, Ravenhill, allowed him to overlook the vast plain in front of the Kingdom of Erebor.

This location was extremely important to Azog. Tomorrow, just tomorrow, he would command his army from here to crush all his enemies.

When he first arrived here, he had already discovered the Elves and Humans guarding Dale, but he sneered at them, not caring in the least.

What he focused on were the Dwarves who had already entered the Kingdom of Erebor; after all, he still had unresolved hatred with Durin's Folk.

Right, and that detestable human. Azog remembered that arrow aimed specifically at his left arm; it was nothing short of a naked insult.

Azog secretly swore in his heart that he would end it all here.

This Orcish commander now had an absolute advantage in troop numbers, totaling almost ten times that of the combined army of Humans, Elves, and Dwarves. No matter what, Azog did not believe he would lose.

He was still thinking that after taking the Kingdom of Erebor, his master would reward him with this place. Not only was there much wealth here, but it was also closer to the territories of Humans and Elves, making it much more convenient to capture slaves.

Moreover, from then on, he would never have to live with that Balrog again. Even Orcish were unwilling to stay with that even more evil thing.

That was simply too terrifying; some Orcish had even started to treat that Balrog as a god, kneeling and worshipping it incessantly.

Of course, at this moment, Azog did not know that his master had already fled in disgrace, and Dol Guldur had already been razed by the bigwigs of the White Council leading their soldiers.

He was still doing his utmost to complete the mission Sauron had entrusted to him, and he swore to exterminate the bloodline of Durin's Folk in this battle.

And after this war was over, he would lead his army to raze that town in the Wilderland to the ground, enslaving all the humans there for generations to avenge his son, Bolg.

Yes, a few days ago, he learned of his son's death from a Warg that had fled back, and while there was sorrow in his heart, there was even more fury.

This rage would surely burn upon his enemies, incinerating them until not even their bones remained.

Therefore, Azog did not follow Sauron's orders to send those one thousand Wargs to the Lonely Mountain; instead, he had them coordinate with the Orcish forces and head toward Allen's territory, and soon they might appear near Wilderness Town.

At this moment, Allen, lying in an abandoned house in Dale, was also speculating on when exactly Azog would attack, because according to the original plot, Azog should have arrived at the Lonely Mountain right on the heels of the Dwarves.

But now the entire timeline had been disrupted by Allen; the Elves, who should have been a day behind the Humans, had arrived in Dale ahead of schedule, and the Dwarves, who should have arrived together with the Orcish forces, had also reached the Lonely Mountain a day early under the influence of the Elves.

Relying only on those few scenes from the movie, Allen could not calculate just how chaotic this timeline had become.

He only knew that Azog must have already arrived in the vicinity, as this fellow was not moving with the main army.

In fact, when Allen had first arrived at the Lonely Mountain, he had considered whether he should take his own troops to ambush Azog at Ravenhill.

But having had the experience of ambushing Bolg last time, Allen knew that creatures like Orcs could not be judged by human logic; if he were to alert Azog and the latter changed his command post, it would not be so easy for Allen to cut off this snake's head.

After all, ever since that guy had his left arm severed by Thorin Oakenshield, his actions had become visibly more cautious.

Thus, in the end, Allen abandoned this idea and drifted off into a hazy sleep.

And at this time, large numbers of Wolf Riders had already begun to appear in the vicinity of Wilderness Town.