Battle of Mirkwood

Leaving aside Thorin and his companions being pursued and eventually escaping under the giant eagles Gandalf had summoned, let's turn our attention to the unfortunate Roland.

"Damn, where did all these goblins come from?" Caslo exclaimed, looking at the swarm of goblins surging from behind them.

Roland's mouth twitched. If his memory served him correctly, old Gandalf had apparently killed a fat one in the Goblin Town within the Misty Mountains, something about a Goblin King...

"Holy crap! Damn it, Thorin! You guys ran off and dragged me into this mess!" Roland realized he was being used as a shield for Thorin's party.

"Retreat, retreat, retreat! Let's get out of here!" Roland urged. He wasn't opposed to fighting back, but he felt there was no advantage in turning to fight. Losing would be embarrassing, and winning would come at too great a cost (his subordinates would suffer significant casualties). It simply wasn't worth engaging in a losing proposition.

And so, on the eastern foothills of the Misty Mountains, a spectacular scene unfolded: about four hundred fully armed elite humans were fleeing in disarray through the woods and bushes, pursued by thousands of weak, skinny-armed goblins wailing and howling. Both sides were giving it their all in a unique marathon.

"Return fire!" Caslo suddenly roared.

He, who was covering the rear, noticed that some of the stronger goblins were already close to catching up to the slowest Swift River Infantry. At his command, the Knights and Bannaria Archers on horseback turned and drew their bows. The Knights fired the first volley of arrows, but only a sparse scattering of them took down a dozen goblins. Roland covered his face at their accuracy. The Bannaria Archers, however, brought glory to Roland. A hundred arrows flew from their bows, and the goblin vanguard immediately fell as if gnawed upon, a wave of goblins collapsing to the ground. A closer look revealed that they had almost all been hit in the throat or heart.

"Excellent! As expected of archers specializing in shooting!" Roland praised inwardly. Wait, what the hell! Knights my ass! He'd been fooled again by the heavy armor of the Bannaria Archers. Roland blushed. Well, it's not my fault! I can only blame them for being so deceptive.

"Sir! The infantry can't keep up!" Caslo suddenly shouted.

"What?" Roland listened and then looked closely. Indeed, the Swift River Infantry were struggling, their breathing heavy as if they were oxen. Seeing them covered in sweat, Roland's heart sank.

"This can't go on!" Roland thought.

"Rear guard to front guard! Form ranks!" Roland suddenly roared.

Reno's eyes widened. What's going on? Has our lord gone mad? Is he planning to sacrifice himself? Apart from Caslo riding a dragon, Reno was probably the only one present who could survive a direct confrontation.

Roland wasn't mad, of course. He knew that after the long chase, it wasn't just the Swift River Infantry who had lost stamina; those goblins with their short legs were equally exhausted. As expected, the "giant wave" behind them had become a "small stream," and further back, small groups of goblins were still rushing forward frantically.

Fine! These foolish kids are so eager to chase us that they've abandoned formation and scattered into small pursuit groups.

"Reinforcement tactics are great, reinforcements are great, I love reinforcements the most!" Roland grinned menacingly.

"Swift River Charge Formation! Form up!" Roland shouted.

Then... the Swift River Infantry looked bewildered... Roland slapped his forehead, speechless. Damn it, the system only gave me 200 people. The lowest-level formation for Swift River Infantry requires 300 people to form. While others might not know, Roland did know that a Swift River formation of 30 people per row and 10 people per column was incredibly powerful. Ten such formations could take down a hundred-strong knight order, and those were regular knight orders! Especially since professional fighters weren't flying around in this world; they were quite rare.

"100 people per row! 2 people per column! Crush them!" Roland could only give detailed commands.

Hearing the order, the Swift River Infantry quickly slammed their large shields into the ground. The first rank of Swift River Infantry laid their anti-cavalry pikes horizontally, leaning their entire bodies against the shield wall. The second rank of infantry also slammed their shields into the ground like the first rank, but they tilted their shields 30° to the left, leaving a gap of about an arm's length. They leaned their anti-cavalry pikes against their shields and drew the maces from their waists.

"Bannaria Archers, provide covering fire! Reno, take the Knight order and find an opportunity to charge them!" Roland said seriously.

"Understood, sir!" Reno led the Knight order away.

"We should be in Mirkwood now, right?" Roland asked Caslo.

Caslo took out the detailed map given by Elrond and compared it for a long time: "Sir, we should be at the edge of Mirkwood now."

"Mm," Roland replied.

"Clang!" Roland drew the Dragon-slaying Sword and urged his warhorse to the front of the formation.

"Soldiers! Brothers! We can't run anymore! With our lost stamina, we are just lambs to the slaughter! So, we can only fight with our backs to the river! I implore you to hold the line with me! Let the enemy know! The glory of Lagrange has never faded! The soldiers of the Empire are still fighting! Are you willing!" Roland shouted.

"For the glory of the Empire! Long live the Empire!" everyone shouted in unison.

"Kill!" The 5-meter-long anti-cavalry pikes thrust forward, and immediately a hundred attacking goblins were impaled like candied hawthorns. Seeing the goblins behind them charging forward, the heavy feel of the long spears in their hands forced the first rank of Swift River Infantry to decisively abandon their spears and grab the maces at their waists. The second rank of infantry behind them immediately laid their long spears flat.

"Bang!" With an explosion, a Swift River Infantry soldier swung his mace, smashing a goblin that had charged too far.

"Rapid Fire!" Caslo shouted as the surging goblins increased, beginning to flank the infantry.

"Thud thud thud!" The Bannaria Archers quickly abandoned precise shooting and rapidly unleashed the arrows from their quivers at the fastest rate. Soon, a quiver of 50 arrows was emptied, and the Bannaria Archers were gritting their teeth, rubbing their cramping arms.

The effect was obvious. What did 5,000 fine iron arrows mean? Just look at the twitching goblins in front. Roland estimated that at least several hundred goblins had merged with the earth under the arrow rain.

The Swift River Infantry, who were swinging their maces, suddenly felt the space in front of them clear. They then realized that the ground was littered with corpses. The goblins that died in the arrow rain were better off. The corpses that fell before the Swift River Infantry had piled up into small mountains. The ones at the very front were either riddled with dozens of holes or smashed into unrecognizable shapes by the maces.

The first rank of Swift River Infantry quickly moved out, pulled their anti-cavalry pikes from the piles of corpses, and reformed into a line, creating a shield wall.

"Woooo~ Wooo!" A low horn sounded, and Reno's Knight order descended from the horizon. The goblins caught in the middle descended into chaos, scattering in all directions.

"All out charge!" Roland saw that the time was right and ordered the entire army to charge.

The Swift River Infantry pulled up their shields, raised their long spears, and formed a line, striding forward. The Bannaria Archers, riding warhorses behind them, put away their long bows and took down the roughly one-meter-long Mithril Armor-piercing Hammers from their backs...

"Damn it! From now on, if anyone calls them archers, I'll fight them!" Roland's eye twitched.

"Does this count as a battle?" Roland asked, his tone light.

"It barely counts... after all, nearly two thousand goblins are lying here... But then again, can goblins be considered a military achievement?" Reno replied with a dark expression, flattering Roland.

"Uh, at least the numbers count!" Roland waved his hand dismissively, acting as if he wasn't listening.

"Let's go! It's time to head to the final battlefield..." Roland sighed, looking into the distance. What was coming would eventually come. He wondered if the outcome of this battle would still be the same as he knew it to be...

"Congratulations to the host for completing an excellent-grade campaign! Enemy-friendly casualty ratio 2457:0. Reward: Swift River Infantry *100."

"System, you're the best! Well done!" Roland looked at the reward given by the system, which was exactly the troop strength he needed most, and couldn't help but feel excited.

"All troops, heed my order! Target: Lonely Mountain! Depart!" Roland said spiritedly, looking at the 100 Swift River Infantry arriving from the distance for support.

What do you all think of this book? Please leave some suggestions in the comment section. If the response is good, I'll change to two updates a day (ε). I'm begging for recommendation tickets again.