A Hard-Fought Victory

"..." Roland stared blankly at Ravenhill, lost in thought.

"Caslo!" Roland wailed.

Hearing his lord's call, Caslo immediately broke free from a swarm of bats and flew quickly towards Roland.

"Take me to Ravenhill!" Roland said angrily.

Caslo, who had just landed, almost fell off his dragon's back when he heard this. Good heavens, was his lord seeking death? Caslo absolutely refused to take his lord up there. It was a joke. Let alone a third-tier Great Knight, even a Knight Captain like Reno would be sent to his doom up there with no chance of survival...

"Caw caw~" A clear eagle cry echoed through the sky.

"The Great Eagles are here..." Bilbo said excitedly.

"Roar!" Druid Bibion descended from the sky. He used nature magic to transform into a giant bear.

"Roar!" A gust of wind blew past, and a tall Ogre had its head sliced off by his palm. Its massive body plowed through the battlefield, carving a bloody path through a group of Orcs. Its thick fur gave it unparalleled defensive power.

The Great Eagles swooped down, their huge, sharp claws easily tearing apart the War Bats flying in the sky, instantly clearing the heavens.

The Brown Wizard Radagast waved his staff, unleashing area-of-effect wood magic. Within a mile, thick thorny vines erupted from the ground, tightly entangling the surrounding Orcs. The Dwarves and soldiers of Lagrange, who were prepared, drove their weapons into them.

"Clang!" Accompanied by the sound of a blade slicing through a neck, Thorin suddenly found no Orcs in front of him.

Bard of River Valley City and Thranduil had also wiped out the Orcs who had invaded River Valley City.

Elf Prince Legolas was happily shooting from the arrow tower when he suddenly found no living Orcs in his line of sight, only groaning human and Elf casualties. He was stunned for a moment, then leaped down from the arrow tower...

"Bang!" After landing, Roland rolled to dodge any potential attacks. When he looked up, he saw Caslo's unfocused gaze, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

On the vast Ravenhill, there was no one except for the collapsed banner used by Azog to command the Orcs lying on the ground. Through the smoke on the mountain, the retreating Orcs could be seen.

"They're running away! My lord!" Caslo shook his head helplessly.

"Azog is really cunning..." Caslo sighed inwardly.

"Why would they retreat when they had the advantage?" Roland asked, confused.

"They didn't want to face the Knight Order on the plains." Caslo gave Roland a sideways glance. If the Orcs hadn't run, do you think I could have brought you up here? Caslo, with his high vantage point and keen eyesight, had seen the Orcs' intention to retreat as soon as the Great Eagles and the Druid arrived.

"To devour our Knight Order, in this terrain, they would have to pay a price of at least tens of thousands of lives. Don't forget, my lord, your subordinate is a hundred-man Knight Order led by a Lagrang Royal Guard Paladin! They are not ordinary people who are just called Knights; these are a hundred genuine second-tier professionals." Caslo spread his hands.

"Besides, with us having the element of surprise, even if the Orcs won, they would be severely weakened. Don't forget that we have air superiority now. Without the War Bats to tie me down, I could absolutely tell the Orcs about the majesty of dragons." Caslo saw things very clearly.

The Orcs also had their own calculations. They fought desperately for the Undead Sage Sauron so that the Orcs could rule Middle-earth, not to have their own race severely weakened. Originally, Azog's raid was a light assault, and even the reinforcements from Gundabad were the most common fodder. Who would have thought there would be so many variables this time? A Knight Order was one thing, and they could tolerate infantry that could charge through over 20,000 enemies with 300 men. They could even tolerate the sudden appearance of two rare Paladins, but the invulnerable Druid was too much. And the Great Eagles, who tore War Bats apart like paper, were simply too bullying. The most outrageous thing was that there was actually a Wyvern Knight! What, can't play fair? Azog said that when the Wyvern rose into the air, he was extremely scared. Even his command banner was blown away! If he hadn't run a couple of steps slower, he would have been turned into Orc slices by Wind Blade by now. From that moment on, he had the idea of running away, but the arrival of the Great Eagles completely made Azog give up. Run! If he ran, he could still live; if he didn't, he would definitely be buried here.

Azog, while fleeing, even suspected that the Battle of Lonely Mountain was a conspiracy against the Orcs. If the Elf, Dwarf, and Human armies weren't so few, Azog would definitely think someone was plotting against him.

"Plop!" Roland directly knelt before the corpses of the Swift River Infantry. The distance they had traveled wasn't long; from encountering the Orcs to their complete annihilation, they had only advanced about a mile. Within this battlefield of about 500 meters, lay the corpses of nearly 2,000 Orcs and 300 Swift River Infantry. All the fatal wounds of the Swift River Infantry were in the front. Even at the moment of their death, they had not stopped charging...

"Azog! Bolg! I will definitely kill you!" Roland said hatefully.

The Knights and Bannaria Archers silently moved the corpses of the Swift River Infantry, arranging them separately. The atmosphere was incredibly oppressive. Brothers they had spent their days and nights with were now lying here cold. Everyone present had a livid face and clenched teeth...

Roland led his men to dig open the frozen earth on Ravenhill and buried the Swift River Infantry on Ravenhill. They lived to block the enemies crossing Ravenhill, and in death, they would guard the peace of this mountain forever...

"Congratulations to the host for successfully winning the Battle of Lonely Mountain! Participation rate 87%! System updating! Loading mission panel..." For the first time, the system was actually updating!

"Update complete! System functions unlocked: Mall, Mission Hall, Storage."

"Lonely Mountain Battle rewards are being distributed..." It wasn't over yet.

"Reward: City - Swift River Town! The host can materialize it on suitable land at any time." Finally, the system's prompts ended.

Roland was stunned at this moment, naturally, he was overjoyed. After paying the price of 300 Swift River soldiers, Roland's foundation had greatly shrunk. He never expected to make such a huge profit. The final reward was a town! For Roland, who had no fixed territory, it was like charcoal in winter. The most crucial point was that this city had a prefix – Swift River Town!

This "Swift River" was not obtained for free! Only towns located on both banks of the Swift River in the game were called Swift River Towns. The key was that all Swift River Towns could recruit special troops – Swift River Infantry! In ordinary imperial towns, players could only recruit general troop types like Imperial Guards. However, this common troop type, Swift River Infantry, could only be recruited in cities along the Swift River.

Moreover, this was a real world, and the combat effectiveness of the Swift River Infantry had been tested in war, making them undoubtedly a main force troop.

Roland pondered for a moment and made arrangements for this town rewarded by the system. He planned to build it at the mouth of the original Long Lake, which was the location of River Valley City in the Ring System game. And River Valley City's initial appearance was just a Swift River Town. Roland firmly believed that through his own efforts, he could let this town reproduce the glory and grandeur of River Valley City, and with it as a starting point, he would restore the glory of Lagrange! However... now he should go and discuss remuneration with Thorin.

Roland clapped his hands, mounted his horse, and galloped towards Thorin and the others who were collecting the bones of the Dwarf warriors in front of Erebor City.

Second update, the update is a bit late today, please forgive me. Thank you again to all readers for your recommendation tickets.