Flowing City's Lament

"Thorin!" Roland nodded in greeting as he saw Thorin charge out.

"Your Excellency, on behalf of the Dwarves of Durin, I thank you in the name of the King Under the Mountain!" Thorin said faithfully.

"You're welcome, we had a contract after all," Roland said, feigning nonchalance. Thorin didn't know that if Reno hadn't had a slight accident, Roland would have taken his people and fled.

"Azog!" Thorin Oakenshield glared in the direction of Ravenhill, gritting his teeth.

"Give up, we don't have the ability to charge through them right now." Roland looked at the exhausted Dwarves around him.

The kind-hearted Ivy was currently holding her staff high, and a white light representing healing poured down from the tip of the staff. Instantly, the Dwarves within a hundred-meter radius felt their bodies lighten, and their wounds healed rapidly.

Roland's eyes lit up at Ivy. Good heavens, a healing spell with a wide area of effect, I've struck gold! Even among third-tier Temple Priests, those with wide-area healing spells are very rare. I'll have to protect her well from now on. If I teach a few more apprentices, I can form a medical team where everyone possesses wide-area healing magic.

"Roland! Can you lead the Knights to break through the Orcs! And send me and my subordinates to Ravenhill!" Thorin asked Roland anxiously.

"Impossible! The Orc reinforcements from Gundabad have already arrived! I can't send you to your deaths!" Roland said, turning his head to look at Ravenhill in the distance.

"Pfft!" Roland's eyes suddenly widened. What did he see? The Swift River Infantry had abandoned the River Valley City, which had the protection of its walls, and turned to charge towards Ravenhill, where the Orcs were surging.

"Charge out! Rescue our brothers!" Roland's eyes immediately turned red.

"My lord! Your Majesty! My King!" Reno quickly came over and grabbed Roland's horse reins.

"Reno! Are you going to disobey my orders again!" Roland narrowed his eyes and said coldly, tightening his grip on the Dragon-slaying Sword.

"My lord, do not doubt the professionalism of the Lagrange soldiers! They have merely made the most correct choice!" Reno said painfully. Having witnessed many separations and deaths, he knew what the Swift River Infantry was about to do. They were going to intercept the Orc reinforcements, even though there were only 300 of them.

"Only by quickly eliminating these scum in front of us can we have hope of victory! And save them!" Reno said earnestly, pulling on Roland.

"I want to save my people first!" Roland was about to charge out of the formation, disregarding everything.

"But! Even if we charge out, we won't be able to bring them back! They are infantry..." Reno stammered blankly.

"Holy Radiance Knight Order! Target: Leave no one alive among these damned Orcs in front of us!" Roland's face contorted. He knew Reno was right. Only by quickly eliminating the troublesome Orcs in front of them could they possibly rescue the Swift River Infantry.

"Kill!" The Dwarves' shield wall opened a gap, and Roland led the Knights charging out at the forefront. The Dwarves behind him, led by Thorin, also launched counterattacks.

"They fight for their king," Gandalf, who was slacking off while throwing Fireball spells, smiled approvingly.

"Hoo!" The right hand of the first rank of Swift River Infantry soldiers, holding their spears, bent backward and then thrust forward fiercely.

"Chichichi~" The sound of spear tips piercing flesh was continuous.

"Aooo~" Many Orcs, holding their Anti-cavalry Pikes, cried out in pain.

"Pfft!" The Swift River Infantry soldier spun and pulled the spear back, causing the impaled Orcs to collapse limply to the ground, drained of strength.

"Captain! There are too many Orcs! If we don't find a way soon, we'll be surrounded!" a Swift River Infantry soldier said anxiously, looking at the Orc reinforcements surging over the mountains like a tide.

"Brothers! Are you afraid of death!"

"Not afraid!" Everyone said in unison.

"Then in the name of the Swift River! Charge! For our homes! For the Swift River! For the King!"

The Swift River Infantry soldiers raised their Anti-cavalry Pikes, forming the Swift River military formation, and actually began to run forward. The sudden counter-charge caught the Orcs off guard, momentarily halting their massive army.

"Oh! By my beard, are they crazy?" A Dwarf, having just finished off his opponent, was shocked by the charge of the Swift River Infantry.

"God! How did they do it?" Bard, leading the townspeople in a desperate resistance within River Valley City, was also shocked by that small formation in the distance.

"..." Roland stared blankly at the charging Swift River soldiers in the distance. The warhorses, no longer spurred by their riders, slowly stopped and wandered aimlessly on the battlefield.

The figures before him slowly overlapped with a scene from his memory...

The world of the Ring System, Year 2375 of the Fifth Age.

The dark allied forces besieged Lagrange City. The once bustling imperial capital was now heavily fortified. The empire's remaining six Dragon Knights gathered on the city walls, their gazes fixed on the dark clouds spreading across the distant horizon, filled with an unspeakable oppression... Those were not clouds, but War Bats!

At the barbican of the city gate, a full 30 Lagrange Royal Guard Paladins, leading 10,000 Lagrange Empire Knights, stood silently. They were like motionless statues, as if frozen in time.

Emperor Gary Karl stood silently on the battlements of the city wall, gazing into the distance. Lagrange City's nine walls were filled with Lagrange-style city guards. Sages retreated into tall mage towers, and Priests emerged from their temples, moving among the soldiers...

"Let the war begin. Lagrange's survival depends on this battle!" Emperor Karl said dejectedly. Under his rule, the empire had lost vast territories in the south, and now even the capital was besieged.

"Boom~" The massive dragon gate opened. Led by the Lagrange Royal Guard Paladins, the knights of the Imperial Knights were the first to charge out. An impassioned dragon roar echoed through the sky, and the empire's last Dragon Knights ascended into the sky, riding their dragons.

The Twilight of the Empire...

"Speed up!" Reno, then Governor of the Northern Territory, flew overhead on a Holy Light Pegasus. Behind him were millions of player-NPC allied forces.

"My God!" This was the first time Roland had seen such a grand spectacle. The noble blood of Dragon Knights splattered across the sky, the unyielding pride of Paladins fell to the earth, and Sage-level mages, who were once rarely seen, had their heads easily twisted off by ordinary Orcs. Priests from the temples moved through the battlefield, and allies of humanity such as Elves, Dwarves, and Treants rushed from all directions...

At this moment, Roland saw a scene he would never forget: the Swift River Infantry from Swift City and along the Swift River, forming formations of 30 men in a row and 10 columns, singing battle songs as they charged the lines of the dark allied forces one after another. With perfectly synchronized steps, thousands of Swift River Infantry soldiers, like the waters of the Swift River, fiercely battered the defenses of the demons and orcs. Under their reckless assaults, Reno's troops successfully tore open their defenses and, at the last moment, broke into the crumbling Lagrange City, stabilizing the city's defenses.

In that battle, fewer than a thousand of the 500,000 Swift River Infantry soldiers who charged into Lagrange City with Reno survived... They all fell on the path of their charge. Outside Lagrange City lay the scattered corpses of Swift River Infantry soldiers clad in blue-green steel armor. With their mortal bodies, they had faced the professional army...

Tears filled his eyes. Tears flowed silently.

The familiar figures from the past now merged with the present ones... Roland looked at the streak of green surging against the black tide, as if he could faintly see the Swift River formations spread out beside them...

"They are the spirits of the Swift River..." Roland murmured.

Amidst the battle cries of the Swift River Infantry, they advanced alone, yet they did not seem lonely. Their ancestors were still with them, marching in neat formations with synchronized steps... The towering phantom of Lagrange City was faintly visible before them...

"For Lagrange!" Just as in his memory, the Swift River Infantry of the Lagrange Empire remained reliable.

The sound of anti-cavalry pikes snapping rang out, the sound of shields shattering… sharp sabers pierced their bodies, heavy warhammers crushed their helmets. They might fall, but they would never stop advancing. From time to time, Swift River Infantry would fall, and those behind them immediately filled their empty ranks. After their anti-cavalry pikes broke, they drew their maces and swung them with all their might…

Roland trembled all over, but could do nothing. He could only watch his soldiers sacrifice themselves on the battlefield, just as he had watched the Swift River Infantry fall at Lagrange City…

"No!" When the last Swift River Infantry soldier was overwhelmed, Roland cried out in grief and anger.

They had kept their oaths. The last Swift River Infantry in the world… had perished.

Tears welled up. There is no such thing as a peaceful age; it is only because some people bear the burden for you. Though the Swift River Infantry had made their final stand, Roland's journey had only just begun.