The Kingdom under the Mountain had once been one of the homes of the Durin Dwarves.
Now, in the square before its gates, several hundred Heavy Dwarves Infantry fought desperately against countless Uruk soldiers surrounding them.
They were the elite troops Dáin had brought from the Iron Hills, the more than eight hundred Heavy Dwarves Infantry sent to support Thorin Oakenshield.
In the fighting so far, they had been a rock in the path of the Uruk Soldiers' advance. Supporting one another, they had held firm even against enemies several times their number.
Moreover, while killing over a thousand Uruk soldiers, their own casualties had barely reached triple digits.
But three Trolls advancing on them had destroyed all of that. The shield wall they took such pride in offered no resistance to the monsters' brute strength and shattered in an instant.
Within moments, the Dwarves Heavy Infantry in the center of the shield wall were surrounded by Uruk soldiers.
Many Dwarven warriors caught off guard by the Trolls' attack were overwhelmed in the confusion by masses of Uruk soldiers. Countless weapons then hacked and smashed into them, taking their lives.
The veteran Dwarven warriors, with their greater battle experience, understood their predicament immediately. They shouted to the warriors around them, "Form a circle!"
Then those veterans charged out of the Dwarven ranks, attacking the encircling Uruks with reckless fury, heedless of the weapons swinging toward them.
They were buying the other Dwarves time to form up with their own flesh and blood.
The Dwarves on either flank of the shield wall had not been surrounded. Most of the Uruk soldiers' attention was focused on the encircled Dwarves.
Faced with this situation, those Dwarves Heavy Infantry abandoned their formation and swung their weapons as they moved to rescue their kin in