Leaving aside how Thorin and his party were hunted down and finally escaped beneath the giant eagles Gandalf had summoned, let us turn our attention to poor Roland.
"Where the hell did all these goblins come from?" Caslo stared in astonishment at the goblins flooding in from behind.
Roland's mouth twitched. If his brain had not short-circuited, it seemed Gandalf had slaughtered some fat guy in Goblin Town in the Misty Mountains. He seemed to have been called the Goblin King or something...
"Damn it! That damned Thorin! You bastards ran off and still dragged trouble onto me!" Roland realized that he was taking the bullets for Thorin and his party.
"Retreat, retreat, retreat! Run for it!" Roland hurriedly shouted. It was not that he had not considered fighting back, but there was simply nothing to gain from turning around to fight. Lose, and they would lose face; win, and they would lose substance—the casualties among his men would definitely be severe. There was no need to make a losing deal.
Thus, a spectacular scene unfolded on the eastern foothills of the Misty Mountains. Around four hundred fully armed elite humans ran frantically through the forest and bushes, while several thousand frail, skinny-limbed goblins wailed and chased after them. Both sides gave it everything they had in a unique marathon.
"Return Fire!" Caslo suddenly roared.
As he held the rear, he discovered that some of the stronger goblins had nearly caught up to the slowest Swift River Infantry. At his command, the Knights and Bannaria Archers turned around on horseback and drew their bows. The Knights fired the first volley, but only sparsely brought down a dozen or so goblins. The hit rate made Roland cover his face. The Bannaria Archers, however, restored his pride. A hundred sharp arrows flew from their strings, and the goblin vanguard instantly looked as though something had taken a bite out of it. Goblins fell in swathes, and a closer look showed that nearly all had been struck in the throat or heart.
Wonderful! They really are Knights specialized in archery! Roland praised inwardly. Ah, screw that! What kind of damned Knights are they? He had once again been fooled by the Bannaria Archers' heavy armor, and Roland blushed in embarrassment. Well, it was not his fault! They were simply too misleading.
"My lord! The infantry can barely keep up!" Caslan suddenly shouted.
"What?" Roland took a careful look and saw that the Swift River Infantry were indeed struggling forward, panting like oxen. Seeing them drenched in sweat, Roland's heart sank.
This can't go on!
"Rear ranks to the front! The entire army, form up!" Roland suddenly bellowed.
Reno's eyes widened. What was going on? Had his lord gone mad? Was he planning to send them to their deaths? If they really turned around to face the enemy, aside from Caslo riding a dragon, Reno figured he would be the only one present who could survive.
Of course Roland had not gone mad. The long chase had not only drained the Swift River Infantry of their stamina; the goblins pumping their short little legs were equally exhausted. Sure enough, the "tidal wave" behind them had dwindled into a "stream," while farther away, small groups of goblins were still racing toward them like mad.
Well then! Those idiots had become so focused on chasing people that they had not even maintained their formation, scattering into small pursuit groups.
"Such a lovely piecemeal tactic. I love it!" Roland grinned viciously.
"Swift River Charge Formation! Form up!" Roland shouted.
Then... the Swift River Infantry stood there in confusion... Roland slapped his forehead in exasperation. The damned system had only given him two hundred men, while even the lowest-level Swift River Infantry formation required three hundred men. Others might not know it, but Roland did. A Swift River formation of thirty men per row and ten rows deep was incredibly formidable. Ten such formations could pin a hundred-man Knight Order to the ground. And that was a proper Knight Order! Especially since Professional Soldiers were not exactly everywhere in this world; they were relatively rare.
"One hundred men per row! Two rows! Roll over them!" Roland could only issue more detailed instructions.
Upon hearing the order, the Swift River Infantry hurriedly slammed their great shields into the ground. The first row laid their Anti-cavalry Pikes flat and braced their bodies against the Shield Wall. The second row did the same, driving their shields into the ground, but tilted them thirty degrees to the left, leaving a gap an arm's length wide. They propped their Anti-cavalry Pikes diagonally against their shields and drew the maces at their waists.
"Bannaria Bows, provide covering fire! Reno, lead the Knight Order and find a chance to charge them!" Roland said seriously.
"Yes, my lord!" Reno led the Knight Order away.
"We should be in Mirkwood now, right?" Roland asked Caslo.
Caslo took out the detailed map Elrond had given him and compared it for a long while. "My lord, we should be at the edge of Mirkwood now."
"Mm." Roland nodded.
"Clang!" Roland drew the Dragon-slaying Sword and urged his warhorse to the front of the formation.
"Soldiers! Brothers! We cannot run any longer! Without our strength, we are merely lambs for slaughter! So we can only make a last stand! I ask you to hold this position with me! Tell the enemy this! The glory of Lagrange has never vanished! The Empire's soldiers are still fighting! Are you willing?!" Roland shouted.
"For the glory of the Empire! Long live the Empire!" everyone shouted in unison.
"Kill!" The five-meter Anti-cavalry Pikes thrust forward, instantly skewering more than a hundred charging goblins like candied hawthorns. Seeing the goblins behind them rush forward, the heavy weight tugging at their spears forced the first row of Swift River Infantry to decisively abandon their weapons. They grabbed the maces at their waists, while the second row behind them immediately lowered their own spears.
"Bang!" With an explosive crack, a Swift River Infantryman swung his mace and smashed open the skull of an overzealous goblin.
"Rapid Fire!" Caslo saw more and more goblins pouring forward and beginning to creep around the infantry's flanks, so he quickly gave the order.
"Thud, thud, thud!" The Bannaria Archers immediately abandoned precise shooting and emptied the feathered arrows from their quivers at the fastest rate possible. Before long, a fifty-arrow quiver was empty, and the Bannaria Archers were grimacing as they massaged their cramping arms.
The results were obvious. What did five thousand refined iron arrows mean? One only had to look at the goblins twitching across the ground ahead. Roland estimated that at least several hundred goblins had become one with the earth beneath the rain of arrows.
The Swift River Infantry swinging their maces suddenly found the space before them empty. Only then did they realize the ground ahead was littered with corpses. The goblins killed by the arrow rain were in better shape, but the bodies that had fallen before the Swift River Infantry were piled into small hills. Those at the very front either had dozens of holes through their bodies or had been smashed into unrecognizable shapes by maces.
The first row of Swift River Infantry hurriedly stepped out, pulled their Anti-cavalry Pikes from the piles of corpses, and formed a line once more, creating a Shield Wall.
"Whooo... whooo!" A low horn sounded. On the horizon, the Knight Order led by Reno came pouring down. The goblins trapped between them descended into chaos and scattered in every direction.
"All troops, charge!" Seeing that the time was ripe, Roland ordered the entire army to attack.
The Swift River Infantry pulled up their shields, leveled their spears, formed a line, and charged forward in great strides. Behind them, the mounted Bannaria Archers actually put away their longbows and reached behind their backs for the Mithril Armor-piercing Hammers, each about a meter long...
"Damn it! If anyone calls them archers again, I'm going to have words with them!" Roland said, the corner of his eye twitching.
"Does this count as a battle?" Roland asked smugly.
"Barely, I suppose... There are nearly two thousand goblins lying here, after all... But can killing goblins really count as a military achievement?" Reno flattered Roland with a dark expression.
"Uh, at least the numbers count!" Roland waved a hand grandly, wearing an expression that said he refused to hear otherwise.
"Let's go! It's time for the final battlefield..." Roland sighed as he looked into the distance. What was coming would come eventually. He wondered whether the outcome of this battle would still be as he knew it...
"Congratulations, Host, for completing an exceptional-grade battle! Enemy-to-ally casualty ratio: 2457:0. Reward: Swift River Infantry ×100."
"The system is the best! Well done!" Roland was thrilled when he saw the reward from the system. It was exactly the troop strength he lacked most right now.
"All troops, heed my command! Destination: Erebor! Move out!" Roland said with high spirits as he watched the one hundred Swift River Infantry arriving in the distance as reinforcements.
What do you all think of this book? Leave some suggestions in the comments. If the response is good, I'll change to two updates a day (ε). Rolling around once again to beg for recommendation votes.
Before you continue