Erlino Rangers

"System check-in..." Roland muttered weakly from his hammock.

"Check-in successful! Congratulations, Host, you have obtained Erlino Rangers ×10."

"Damn, for once you didn't give me iron ingots, desks, and other junk..." Roland lay sprawled in the hammock like a salted fish, unwilling to get up. This damn system spent all day giving him useless crap. No, that wasn't right—it wasn't useless, just not something Roland urgently needed right now. What he lacked was food! The supplies bought from the dwarves were gradually running short as their numbers grew. Reno had taken stock last night and found that even if they rationed carefully, with Flowing City's current daily population growth, they simply would not last until spring. Within three months, the civilian population of Flowing City would at least surpass one thousand.

Thinking of this, Roland could not help envying Bai Yi. He had inherited a fully established force. Although they had been forced to migrate south, most of their supplies had been preserved. Hundreds of wagons alone had been brought along, not to mention the supplies carried by the civilians themselves. Setting aside the Orcs, their lives were definitely much better than Roland's.

I should have the civilians cut more trees, build wooden boats, and fish for themselves. The soldiers' output alone is nowhere near enough, and wasting precious troop strength on this would be unacceptable.

"Caslo, what are the people of the Kadan Tribe across the river doing?" Roland lifted the tent flap and walked out, just in time to meet Caslo coming toward him. Since Caslo flew out on his dragon to scout every day, he had a fairly good grasp of the activity in the surrounding area.

"Them? They're cutting down trees and building walls. I only just discovered they have a few earth-element mages too. Unfortunately, their levels are pitifully low. They can't make Magic Rune Stone Bricks, so they can only cast Earth Spikes, smash them up, and use the rubble to build the walls," Caslo said after thinking for a moment.

"Then their progress should be pretty fast. They have plenty of people, after all, and wood-and-stone walls are the easiest kind to build." Roland shrugged.

"As long as they have walls, they shouldn't fear Orc attacks anymore. They still have more than five hundred soldiers, and at least around a hundred Professional Soldiers. With a population base of nearly four thousand, they have enormous war potential." Caslo placed great hopes on the human allies across the river.

"That's true." Roland nodded.

Roland did not know whether this northern human migration had existed in the history of Middle-earth. In any case, he had never seen any trace of them. If such a northern human group really had migrated south, their fate had likely been one of two possibilities: either they merged with River Valley City under commander Bard, or they were wiped out in wars against the Eastern Yi of the wastelands.

However, Bai Yi's branch of northern humans did not seem particularly skilled at horsemanship. They were more like tribes that excelled in infantry combat. Rohan, the Riding Kingdom beside Gondor, was also made up of northern humans. Roland had to admit that northern humans were truly far stronger in battle than the humans of Middle-earth.

"My king, a group of Erlino Rangers has come to pledge themselves to you." Reno found Roland.

"Mm. Bring them to see me." Roland spoke calmly. The system's check-in reward had finally arrived.

"Your Highness, may the Erlino Forest protect us both." The rangers bowed in salute.

Only then did Roland have the chance to study the most mysterious unit in the game, the Erlino Rangers. This ranger force had originated in the Erlino Forest beside the inland sea of Rhûn. Who knew what they had gone through back then, but their dragon-slaying record had indeed made them one of the most legendary troop types of all. During the great war between humans and dragons, the only human army to reach Dragon Island had been the Erlino Rangers. They possessed extraordinary strength, and with their superb archery and unique class skills, they had killed countless wyverns during that war. The later scarcity of human Wyvern Knights was inseparably linked to the Erlino Rangers' accomplishments. After all, three quarters of the wyverns on Dragon Island had been slain by them. Of course, that battle had also directly reduced the once reasonably numerous Erlino Rangers to an endangered species...

(Note: In this One Ring world, beings like Valar did not exist, so Aman, the Undying Lands of the West, no longer existed either. In its place stood an enormous Dragon Island, inhabited by countless dragons and magical beasts.)

If only they had come earlier. Maybe Lake-town could have been saved... Roland sighed inwardly.

As wyvern slayers, the Erlino Rangers possessed a special skill—Dragonfall Arrow. Magical arrows imbued with this technique could almost ignore the high defenses of dragonhide, allowing them to strike flesh with virtually every shot.

Roland nodded in satisfaction. The Erlino Rangers truly deserved to be called a proper ranger force. Their traits of high attack, high agility, and low defense were displayed to the fullest. Their exquisitely crafted Mithril Longbows were strung with Dragon Sinew. Their close-fitting dragonhide armor only protected their torsos. To preserve their mobility, they wore only greaves and bracers polished from Dragon Scale. The Rhûn War Blades on their backs showed that they possessed considerable close-combat ability. Being close to nature, they wore no helmets, only circlets made from polished Dragon Scale as decoration.

"So not everyone is like the Bannaria Archers." Roland nodded approvingly. The Bannaria Archers, with their heavy armor and nimble movements, looked nothing like a rear-line class such as archers. The Erlino Rangers finally gave Roland the proper feeling of what archers should be. Sure enough, archers in heavy armor were heretics. Still, Roland was very interested in the Avalon Rangers of the Avalon Elf Tribe, which was nestled at the northern end of the Eastern Mountain Range. As one of the few Professional Soldiers proficient in both martial and magical arts, Avalon Rangers stood at the pinnacle of the continent's classes. This small kingdom of dark elves had produced the strongest rangers in Middle-earth. If he had the chance, Roland would not mind acquiring several squads of Avalon Rangers. These Professional Soldiers, who overturned the frailty of lightly armored classes, were practically can openers and harvesters. Roland looked forward to it greatly.

"You will remain here as my personal guards." After considering it for a while, Roland finally decided to make these Erlino Rangers his guards. Their numbers were too small; forming an independent unit from them would be a drop in the bucket in any battle. It was better to keep them at his side as protection against attacks from the sky.

Roland did not know whether the Orcs had Sky Knights, but Sauron had an entire population of Abyssal Beasts under his command. Rather than calling them Abyssal Beasts, it would be more fitting to call them Demon Wyverns. Their appearance, identical to that of Two-legged Wyverns, and their enormous demonic energy fluctuations all suggested that they had an undeniable connection to dragonkind. Even if they were not true dragons, they were still top-tier Dragon-kin.

Sooner or later, Roland would definitely have to clash with Sauron. This small squad of Erlino Rangers was his safeguard against being decapitated by Sky Knights. Facing an army with Sky Knights without any anti-Sky Knight troops was extremely unpleasant. For details, one only needed to look at Azog's brothers, whose troop strength had surpassed that of the three-race allied army. If they had not received assistance from Gundabad's War Bats, Caslo, once freed from restraint, would certainly have shown them what Wyvern Knights truly meant. Even while restrained, Caslo had inflicted unimaginable casualties and devastation upon the Orc army. The Orcs who invaded River Valley City had the greatest right to speak on that matter. After all, not everyone got to experience Draconic Magic.