Orcs Attack

"The Lonely Mountain Expedition: Joined. Reward: Badenia Archers *10. Recruitable at any time."

"Pfft!" Roland nearly choked on his own spit. What was he seeing? The famed Bannaria Bows, hailed as the strongest archers in Mount & Blade... This was way too modded.

After summoning these ten archers, Roland couldn't help but admire them. Ah, this was truly satisfying!

First off, their class ranks were ridiculously high. The archer profession was divided into: Trainee Archer, Archer, Sharpshooter, Eagle Eye Archer, Sniper, and the highest rank, Star Hunter.

Then he looked at their gear, and Roland couldn't help but feel envious—too luxurious... Mithril Inner Armor overlaid with Silver Chainmail, a Mithril Purplewood Bow in hand, fifty Star Silver Steel Armor-Piercing Arrows on their backs, a Mithril Combat Sword at the waist, a Fine Steel Arm Shield strapped to the left arm, and the most absurd part—they even carried a one-meter-long Fine Steel Armor-Piercing Hammer on their backs... Thank goodness they wore chainmail; if they swapped to plate armor, they could pass for heavy infantry... Roland really wanted to grab them and ask if they'd forgotten their actual job. Doing this made melee heavy-armor professions feel pretty hurt...

But these guys seemed to catch Roland's confusion. Without a word, they drew their bows in the dark night, each loosing one arrow, and then brought back eleven startled birds for Roland as a little extra meal. As for why eleven—one arrow had pierced through two birds... After that, Roland shut his mouth and never again entertained the thought of whether these guys had forgotten their real job.

At dawn, Roland led his men early to wait outside the woods of Hobbiton. His hundred Novice Knights stood in neat square formations, while the ten Badenia Archers had mounted the system-issued fully armored Shire Warhorses. Now they looked even more like heavy cavalry... Roland had given up caring. Ignoring the conspicuous longbows, just from their appearance, anyone would think these guys were melee units.

"Hey! Folks! I've been waiting for you!" Roland finally spotted the late-arriving figures of the expedition.

"One, two, three... fourteen. Good, Bilbo still hasn't come." Roland counted the heads and nodded. Just like in the movie, Mr. Baggins hadn't decided to join last night, but he should be on his way now.

"Is everyone here? Aren't we waiting for Master Baggins?" Roland asked.

"No, we're all here. He won't come!" Thorin said firmly.

"Hey, Master Roland, your troops are truly magnificent!" the dwarves praised in unison, and even Gandalf cast an astonished glance.

"Thanks for the compliment. But I think Bilbo will still come!" Roland's last words were directed at Thorin.

"But it's fine. He can catch up to us!" Roland glanced back at Hobbiton and muttered to himself. After all, Hobbits were famously good at running.

"Oh! By the forge god above! It's Mithril and Adamant and Star Silver Steel!" Fili suddenly exclaimed.

"Oh, folks, their gear cost me a pretty penny. That's why I'm still broke like this..." Roland said casually.

Everyone chose to believe him. After all, how could they possibly know about something as unreliable as the system?

"Hey! Wait! Wait!" Suddenly a voice came from afar, growing closer. It was Bilbo Baggins, sprinting at full speed.

The Badenia Archers immediately raised their longbows, and a few knights at the rear leveled their lances, ready to pin this fast-running little fellow to the ground.

"Oh! Master Baggins! Put down your weapons, he's one of us." Roland showed a look of realization as Bilbo appeared.

"Oh! Hello, Master Roland. Master Thorin, I've signed!" After greeting Roland, Bilbo quickly raised the contract to show.

"Hmm, correct and accurate!" The dwarves gathered around to check, found no issues, and announced to the group.

"Then welcome as the fourteenth member of the expedition!" Thorin spread his arms.

"The fourteenth? Wait, what about them..." Bilbo pointed at Roland's group in disbelief.

"We're mercenaries, Master Baggins!" Roland explained.

"They get a separate share of the pay," Gandalf added.

"Wizard, which way are we going?" Roland asked.

"We take the East Road, then cross the Misty Mountains, and finally follow the Old Forest Road along the Swift River north to the Lonely Mountain."

"Sounds good, but this road won't be peaceful at all..." Roland gazed into the distance.

"Sigh... This journey is bound to be full of danger," Roland thought to himself. Knowing the plot well, he was aware of the many Orcs they'd encounter later, and even a Battle of Five Armies.

"Sir, your troops amaze me! Their armor seems unfamiliar to me..." Thorin, walking alongside Roland, asked.

"Hmm, I'm a human from the East. This is a unique plate armor from our homeland. We were defeated in battle against the Eastern Yi tribes, and our people began wandering in the north." Roland quickly made up an excuse. After all, the system's plate armor looked vastly different from Middle-earth's armor styles. Wearing it, everyone looked like tin cans. Only the Badenia Archers' chainmail seemed normal, while the knights' plate armor resembled the Milanese Plate Armor from his previous life.

"My lord! Enemies are approaching us! Orcs!" A Badenia Archer on reconnaissance galloped back, bringing this bad news.

"Are you sure? How many?" Roland asked urgently.

"About three hundred or so!"

"My lord, I think we should gather the knights now. The Knight Order's power comes mainly from a mass charge. Get the knights moving, or scattered like this, we're just perfect targets." Caslo rode up beside Roland and advised. He understood that Roland didn't want him to reveal his identity as a Wyvern Knight.

"Gather the knights! Let's crush them under our iron hooves!" Roland said fiercely. With troops in hand, his heart was steady.

Sure enough, before long, hundreds of Orcs burst out of the woods in chaos, waving all kinds of broken weapons as they charged. Roland even spotted a pitchfork among them...

"Phew—" Gandalf let out a long breath. "Thankfully, they're not Orc troops from the Misty Mountains."

"Don't celebrate too early. Maybe our movements and purpose have already been exposed." Roland doused cold water on that.

"Charge! Crush them!" Roland drew his Dragon-slaying Sword and charged out first!

Various Battle Qi Flames surged as the Novice Knights activated them, covering their warhorses, armor, and weapons. In the charge, the knights gradually merged their momentum into a single whole, with nearly half a meter of Battle Qi blade extending from each weapon. This was the difference between knights and cavalry—knights released their Battle Qi during the charge to connect themselves with other knights into one entity. From then on, as long as their Battle Qi wasn't exhausted, they would share damage and receive the Knight Order's Battle Qi boost! At this moment, they were the Knight Order, known as the king of land warfare!

"Boom—" With all kinds of dull impacts and the tearing sound of lances piercing flesh, the Knight Order collided with the Orc vanguard. Roland and his knights swung their weapons and steered their warhorses, cleanly shredding the dozen Orcs in front of them. Behind them, the ten Badenia Archers raised their Purplewood Longbows. With each raise of their hands, an Orc fell with an arrow in its eye socket or throat. Every Orc that slipped past the Knight Order's charge was taken down by these ten men.

"So, aren't you going to help?" one Badenia Archer asked the stunned group.

"Uh! Kill!" The dwarves snapped out of it, grabbed their axes, greatswords, hammers, and other weapons, and charged forward. Only Bilbo stood frozen in place, unsure what to do. Gandalf raised his staff and chanted a spell. The next second, a fireball the size of a human head flew over everyone's heads and slammed into the Orc rear guard.

"Nice! Finally not a battle mage from the movies." Roland shot Gandalf a surprised glance and muttered to himself.