Chapter 76: Battle on the Old Forest Road

As the home of the Woodland Elves, Mirkwood covers a vast area, stretching at least nearly 600 kilometers from south to north, and at its widest point, it is at least nearly 200 kilometers across, occupying almost more than a quarter of the region of Rhovanion; it is the largest forest in Middle-earth.

Within Mirkwood, there is an Old Forest Road, also known as the Old Dwarf Road; it runs west to the High Pass of the Misty Mountains, crosses the abandoned bridge at the Old Ferry, traverses Mirkwood, and reaches the Running River in the east of Rhovanion, making it one of the few roads connecting Rhovanion.

This road was built by the Longbeards in the Second Age or even earlier.

At that time, the Dwarves of Durin's Folk had built magnificent halls in Khazad-dum and the Iron Hills, and the bustling Old Forest Road was used to maintain trade and communication between the two Dwarf territories.

However, as time passed and the world changed, following the appearance of Durin's Bane and the renaming of Khazad-dum to Moria, this Old Forest Road gradually became rarely trodden.

Since then, the minions of the Dark Lord also began to appear in the southern end of Mirkwood, poisoning this forest; unable to bear the harassment, the Woodland Elves, under the threat of dark forces, migrated to the vicinity of Long Lake.

Without the protection of the Elves, the Old Forest Road fell into even greater disrepair.

At this time, this Old Forest Road has been completely abandoned; before the Battle of the Five Armies, Woodland Residents often saw Orcish riding Wargs appearing on this abandoned road, and the eastern part of this road near the Running River was completely covered by trees.

Today, for some reason, a troop of men is walking on this 6-meter-wide road, and in the forest around them, black figures flash by from time to time.

The ones galloping on the road are none other than Allen and his army; on the morning of the third day after the meeting, Allen had prepared everything for the trip to the Old Forest Road, and for this operation, Allen did not intend to bring his Twilight Knight personal guards.

After all, the surroundings are much safer now, and Holimion and the Twilight Knights have just returned from the Lonely Mountain after bathing in blood; Allen hopes they can rest more and, by the way, test Allen's concept of the Silvermist Rangers.

At this time, Holimion should already be leading the Twilight Knights in training those two hundred Archers.

And Allen, having arranged everything long ago, took Tier and the Cavalry led by Desaiwei and set off toward the Mirkwood Road.

Originally, Allen also wanted to invite Gandalf and Bilbo Baggins to go with him to the east of Rhovanion to take a look, just as an adventure.

As it turned out, these two had already gone to Rhosgobel to visit Radagast, so Allen had to give up this idea.

However, this reminded Allen that he also had some matters that required Radagast's help.

Allen and his party of nearly fifty people, in a relaxed mood, moved along the road previously repaired by Wilderness Town toward the Old Forest Road, and after spending half a day, they arrived at the western entrance of Mirkwood.

After the group rested here for a while, they plunged into Mirkwood.

At the beginning, everyone was in a very relaxed state of mind; Allen and Tier, who was riding the same horse as him, pointed out the conditions of the Old Forest Road from time to time, talking about ideas for subsequent maintenance.

It must be said that the Dwarves' craftsmanship in construction is indeed very strong; this section of the road on the west side of Mirkwood, without anyone actively maintaining it, has remained relatively level and wide for a thousand years.

Although some thick tree roots have broken through the road a little, it is not a problem for Allen's plan.

It was just that as time passed, Allen, riding on the road, always felt vaguely that something was staring at him; this strange feeling came from the dense forest on the right from time to time.

Gradually feeling uneasy, Allen immediately ordered the team to start setting up camp, but after they began to set up camp, this feeling disappeared.

Uneasy, Allen whispered a few words to Tier, then took Desaiwei and a few Cavalry along the south side of the road and cautiously walked into the dense forest.

Allen did not bring everyone with him; he considered that if there were too many people, it would not only cause too much noise but also destroy the tracks nearby, affecting the effectiveness of the tracking, which was not the result he wanted.

As they went deeper into the forest, the fully armed Allen followed behind Desaiwei with the Cavalry, carefully searching along the path they had come on in the forest covered with fallen leaves.

Allen did not have skills in reconnaissance and guiding; he and the Cavalry kept their bows and arrows in hand, vigilantly observing the surroundings, covering Desaiwei who was searching carefully.

And Desaiwei, who could be called a master in this regard, soon discovered traces; it was feces hidden under the leaves, and this fresh feces belonged to a Warg.

At this time, Allen finally knew what was staring at him in the dense forest and inferred the origin of these guys.

These Wargs must be the army sent by Azog to raid Wilderness Town; according to Yamila's report, the number could reach over a thousand.

Facing such a large number of enemies, Allen was already prepared to announce the order to retreat; the road could be repaired at any time, but the lives of his subordinates should not be wasted in such a situation where the enemy was strong and they were weak.

It was just that it was a bit late now, and running away might lead to being chased by the Wargs all night in the dark; Allen was considering how to get away.

Just at this moment, Desaiwei came to Allen's side and said in a low voice, "My lord, I have found new clues; should we follow them to take a look?"

Hearing Desaiwei's report, Allen thought quickly and felt it was better to take a look; there was still a long time before dark, and perhaps there might be some new changes.

He nodded, responded with a "Let's go," and led the Cavalry to follow Desaiwei deeper into the forest.

Soon, the few of them arrived at the side of a small stream in the forest; on the soft ground by the stream, there were dense claw prints everywhere. After spending some time searching, Desaiwei came to Allen's side.

"My lord, according to the freshness of the claw prints and the condition of the feces, there are no more than two hundred Wargs here. You see these traces; they indicate that these guys have been living here for a long time, at least a month or two."

Hearing Desaiwei's words, Allen suddenly realized that he had still thought too little; over a thousand Wargs scattered throughout Mirkwood, of course, did not count for much.

But for this piece of land around the Mirkwood Road, how could it support so many wolves? Even if they ate all the living creatures here, it would not fill their hungry stomachs, not to mention that it was winter now.

If there were fewer than two hundred, Allen estimated the combat power in his hands; running was definitely not an option, but he could consider a frontal battle to force these guys away.

The intelligence of these guys is no less than that of ordinary Humans; if Allen's deduction was not wrong, they must be waiting for dark, waiting for Allen's team to fall into a deep sleep before launching a surprise attack. If Allen could put on an attitude of fighting to the death and inflict some casualties on these wolf packs, it would very likely force them to retreat.

And this wolf pack preparing to ambush Allen was indeed the army that raided Wilderness Village, but after the mission failed, the wolf pack scattered instantly; after all, these guys were gathered together following Sauron's orders.

After Sauron left Dol Guldur in a sorry state, they no longer needed to risk their lives to wander around Wilderness Town; after all, those three large bears had left too deep an impression on them.

A more realistic problem than this was that the food the Orcish had found had almost been devoured by them.

If they were forced to gather together again, the possibility of them starving to death was greater, so the more than a thousand Wargs split into several parts and scattered.

Most of them returned to the Misty Mountains, while these fewer than two hundred wolves were hiding in Mirkwood.

In these less than two months, they wandered everywhere in Mirkwood, mostly relying on small animals that came out to forage in winter for a living, and sometimes, they would risk casualties to raid the Northmen living in the east of Mirkwood.

It just so happened that Allen brought people into Mirkwood at this time; when these Wargs saw the traces of Allen and his party, their eyes turned red immediately. In their eyes, Allen's party was no different from a running feast, and hunger was about to overwhelm their sanity.

And their pack leader was still relatively calm, arranging a few clever guys to follow Allen, while it prepared to summon all its subordinates to hide in the deeper forest, waiting for Allen and his party to relax their vigilance after midnight.

As time passed, the sky gradually darkened; the light in the forest around the Old Forest Road faded much earlier than the light near Wilderness Town.

In the dim forest, four blazing campfires illuminated the surrounding environment and the fence made of dense branches.

These thorny branches were connected to the trees, forming a large circle that enclosed the campfires, the dozens of fully armed, tough Cavalry, and the nearly fifty steeds tied firmly to the trees.

At this time, Allen and a few subordinates walked out of the forest quietly; he did not want the cunning Wargs to know his whereabouts.

These nearly two hundred Wargs had been entrenched in the southern part of Mirkwood, which was always a threat to Wilderness Town, not to mention that it would hinder Allen's plan to open up the Mirkwood Road.

After this danger was cleared, Allen, upon returning to Wilderness Town, would take his elites to sweep through Mirkwood and kill these sneaky guys.

But the premise was that he could really completely withstand this wave of attacks at night; for nearly fifty top Cavalry to entangle with Wargs in an environment like the forest was very dangerous, especially in the dark. Even if they won, the losses would be at least half, and Allen did not want to accept such casualties.

Allen felt that he might have been a bit carried away after finishing the Battle of the Five Armies, or perhaps he was just too unlucky; he had just thought about letting his Champion Squad have a good rest, and then he ran into this kind of evenly matched battle.

For a moment, Isildur actually came to Allen's mind; although the scene was not quite the same, the situation was slightly similar.

Allen had never understood why Isildur, as the King of Arnor, did not take the easier North-South Road but instead chose to pass through the more dangerous Misty Mountains; was it to reminisce about his father?

Allen did not dwell on this question but carefully observed the current camp.

In order to block the Warg attack that would inevitably come at night, Allen specifically instructed Tier before heading to the forest to ensure there were enough large bonfires to deter the Wargs.

He also had to tie these horses firmly to sturdy trees; horses without a Rider to control them are easily startled by hungry wolves, and at that point, these steeds, running wild in panic, would certainly bring harm to the warriors guarding the camp.

And most importantly, there had to be a defensive wall to withstand the sudden assault of the Wargs.

Yet, as Allen looked at the messy barricade built in haste, he felt a bit uneasy; even if these barricades were pointed, they could not completely block the charge of the Wargs.

As the sky gradually darkened, the Cavalry who had received the order kept adding fuel to the bonfires to maintain the surrounding light, their vigilant eyes also constantly observing the surroundings, guarding against enemies that might suddenly spring out from the darkness.

They were exceptionally familiar with these evil creatures; under the leadership of Desaiwei, these Horse Archers had spent years fighting the Wolf Riders that harassed the horse herds north of Horse Pasture Village.

On the vast plains, with their exquisite horse archery skills, they had no fear of small-scale battles with Wolf Riders, and the number of Wargs that had died under their arrows was at least a hundred.

It was just that they had never experienced defending against a surprise attack of two hundred Wargs in a camp, but looking at Allen, who was fully armed and wiping his Greatsword by the bonfire, they felt no tension in their hearts.

At this moment, Allen was a little nervous; he was not worried about his own safety in this battle, he was only considering how to minimize the casualties of his subordinates in the coming fight.

Under the illumination of the firelight, he quietly wiped his Two-handed Greatsword with a piece of linen, wanting to clear his thoughts and come up with a good method through this process.

Opposite Allen was Tier, who was fully armed and looked like a small steel man; the Dwarf in full Plate Armor was swinging the Great Axe in his hand casually, looking at Allen with a calm face, as if to say, "Watch me, this is a small matter."

Desaiwei was patrolling everywhere in the vicinity; at this moment, she was walking toward Allen, preparing to report on the situation in the surrounding area.

And just at this moment, Allen, who was wiping his Longsword, stood up abruptly and stopped Desaiwei, who was about to speak.

He heard a little movement; the sound of wolf howling came from the deeper forest to the south, and at the same time, the bursts of shouting from Humans fighting were also carried into Allen's ears by the night wind.

The phrase "the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind" suddenly came to Allen's mind; subsequently, the movement became more and more intense, and it was clearly a group of Humans engaged in a fierce battle with the Wargs that were preparing to ambush Allen.

At this time, Desaiwei, who had been stopped by Allen, also heard these movements; her originally calm expression showed a trace of surprise, and the firelight was reflected in her dark, bright eyes as she looked at the thoughtful Allen, waiting for the King's order; she knew that in this situation, Allen would absolutely not stay here quietly.

Amidst this chaotic sound, Allen made a decision quickly.

"Desaiwei, pick thirty people and come with me; be quick."

Desaiwei turned and left quickly.

Then Allen turned to Tier beside him and said, "Tier, I can only entrust you to take the rest of the people to guard the camp."

Tier, who was holding a Great Axe, was eager to follow Allen to the battlefield, but after hearing Allen's arrangement, his excited chubby face suddenly became depressed.

However, as Allen's Scholar, Tier did not refuse Allen's order, but nodded sullenly.

Subsequently, Allen and his party of more than thirty people, relying on the movement coming from afar and the slivers of clear moonlight pouring down through the leaves, looked carefully at their feet and rushed quickly toward the place of the battle.

Under Allen's order, they did not light torches; after all, the Wargs' night vision was extremely strong, and it would be good to be able to launch a surprise attack.

The ones fighting the Wargs were exactly the Northern Men they had harassed before; as descendants of the old Kingdom of Rhovanion, living at the junction of the Running River and Mirkwood, they were often subjected to small-scale attacks by dark forces.

In such a living environment, their conduct was far more fierce and direct than their compatriots in the Anduin Valley.

After three nearby villages were harassed by Wargs, their leaders sat together to discuss how to solve this problem; these wolf packs had come to rob them three times in a month and a half, and who could endure that?

The result was undoubtedly that they, with their explosive temperaments, directly chose revenge; now the dark forces of Dol Guldur had been mostly cleared by the Elf, and they had no need to continue to compromise and endure the aggression of these bastards by migrating.

After returning to their villages, they successively assembled all the forces capable of fighting, gathering more than three hundred warriors, who wore all kinds of ancestral armor and held various weapons.

Among them were some extremely outstanding hunters, their hands tightly gripping Purple Willow Longbows; they had once used these weapons to shoot at the Great Eagle in the sky.

Now they had been chasing the tracks of the Wargs for nearly a week; if it were not for the fact that these people were extremely tenacious and their desire for revenge was very strong, they might have turned back a few days ago, and then it would have been impossible to have such a scene with Allen.

Yesterday, after these Northern Men tracked the fresh traces of the Wargs, according to the habit of hunting, the men from their three villages divided into three teams, forming a huge encirclement, and surrounded the wolf pack.

At this time, the Wargs, under the leadership of the Alpha, were waiting for the deeper night, but soon their sentry counterparts died amidst whimpers, and a team of Northern Men rushed directly toward the direction of the wolf pack, and then the two sides engaged in a melee.

When Allen arrived at the battlefield, the scene had already become a mess; hundreds of Humans were fighting and confronting the Wargs.

Some Human warriors held torches in their hands, gathered into several small circles, and kept waving the firelight in their hands to drive away the black hungry wolves surrounding them.

And their companions standing behind them kept using the polearms in their hands to protect the places without firelight, barely maintaining the formation.

Behind them, those hunters using Purple Willow Longbows pulled their bows from time to time to shoot at the Wargs entangled with the Humans.

And not far from these circular formations, there were several waves of Humans whose formations had been broken, who were in a melee with the Wargs.

The pouncing and biting of the Wargs, the slashing and stabbing of the Humans, were rapidly reaping lives on the field amidst the howling of wolves and the roars of Humans.

After standing still, Allen did not immediately launch an attack, but keenly searched all around; in the dark forest, Allen could still see very far, and he also knew deeply that in the battle with the wolf pack, one must quickly kill the Alpha, otherwise, the trouble would inevitably be endless.

At this time, bursts of shouting and killing sounded in Allen's ears, and he, frowning, soon found his target.

Among the trees on Allen's left hand, there was a huge rock, on which lay a guy whose body was taller than other Wargs; at this time, its pair of green eyes were staring closely at the battlefield of Humans and hungry wolves.

At this time, it was very comfortable, because this was just a simple battle, and the number of its subordinates far exceeded that of the Humans.

But what it did not know was that a pair of black eyes had already locked onto it at this moment.

Allen, who had found the target, quickly drew a Cone-headed Arrow, pulled open the Runic Longbow, and aimed at the head of that Alpha.

Under the threat of losing its life, this Alpha seemed to have sensed something; being aimed at, it stood up quickly, its pair of green eyes searching everywhere, and soon found Allen.

After all, Allen was wearing a suit of silver-bright armor at this time; even in the middle of the night, under the deliberate search of the Warg leader, it was extremely dazzling.

It was just that the Warg leader, who had been staring at the battlefield just a moment ago, was ultimately a step slower in reaction and was shot in the kidney by Allen, who was holding a Noldor Rune Bow.

"Awoo~ awoo~ awooooo~~~"

Immediately, a miserable wolf howl attracted all the attention on the field; most of the Humans and wolves looked at the Warg leader that was hopping and fleeing into the distance.

The Horse Archers following behind Allen, who had just steadied their figures, also took out their Khergit Bows one after another, drew arrows, and shot at the stunned Wargs; for a time, several Wargs let out death screams under the attack of the Horse Archers.

And the Wargs, hearing the miserable cries of their companions, also reacted one after another; a small portion of Wargs that had not joined the battle soon followed their leader and fled into the distance, while the other large portion of Wargs, whose eyes had turned red from killing, could not give up the food already in their mouths and were still entangled with the Northern Men in front of them.

And those Northern Men were also unwilling to watch the enemy in front of them escape just like that; a burly man waved the Great Axe in his hand, issued orders loudly, and led his clansmen to engage in a melee with the remaining Wargs.

At this time, the situation on the field had actually become even more chaotic with the escape of the Warg leader.