Dragon-sickness.

It was a curse lingering around the treasure of the Lonely Mountain. Anyone who got close would continue to be affected by its malevolent influence.

Simply drinking milk couldn’t dispel the curse, it only temporarily cleared the status effect. As long as one remained in the mountain, the affliction would soon creep back again.

However, in that fleeting moment of clarity gained from the milk, Thorin immediately realized what he had been doing.

He developed a mental resistance to its pull.

At the gates of Erebor, the orcs that had gathered were swiftly dealt with, and the surroundings quieted. The dwarves and elves who had idle hands immediately headed further ahead to purge the enemies there.

“You’ve finally emerged, Garrett.”

Gandalf rushed over and discussed the situation with him.

“The situation isn’t too dire yet. Most of the orcs and siege-beasts are still outside the walls. If we can simply block the one tunnel that leads inside, we can hold them off.”

Thanks to a layer of flowing subterranean lava laid beneath the battlefield, most of the were-worm tunnels intended to burrow into the walls had failed.

Only the tunnel whose destination was originally outside the walls had been successfully completed.

The only oversight was a section halfway up the eastern mountainside, where a were-worm had luckily dug above the lava layer, creating a tunnel that allowed the vanguard and a few siege-beasts inside.

But it was just that one breach.

Even so, Garrett believed that tunnel shouldn’t have existed. It felt forcibly squeezed in by desperation.

Gandalf looked at the were-worm tunnel in the distance and said, “I suspect their original plan didn’t account for these suddenly appearing defenses.”

Garrett’s wall construction and the orcs’ tunnel digging had started almost simultaneously.

When the tunnelers had finished most of their work and found the destination wasn’t as expected, it probably ended up like this.

Unable to continue, they could only cut their losses.

“Of course it wasn’t included.”

There was no way they could have predicted his intervention.

“I’ll go check out that tunnel.”

“The dwarven cavalry can provide cover. Their war-goats are highly maneuverable, perfect for that terrain.”

War-goats…

Garrett glanced at the mounts beneath the dwarves.

Those goats were indeed useful. As long as there was something to grip, they could even climb up to eagle nests atop the Misty Mountains, practically all-terrain combat mounts.

For complex terrain, they were superior to horses. Perhaps worth taming a few.

But right now…

“Since when did I need cover, Gandalf? Looking at this battlefield, there’s nothing here that can stop me. That vanguard unit doesn’t even have archers.”

They had only made it this far through surprise and superior numbers.

He equipped his elytra, pulled out a firework, and with a whoosh, launched himself off the ground toward the tunnel on the eastern mountainside, where orcs were still pouring out.

At that moment, a cave troll was just emerging from the tunnel. Seeing the unidentified flying object rushing from the sky, it raised its massive club, ready to strike hard.

Crash.

Just before landing, Garrett instantly switched into his armor, drew his longsword, and slammed into the troll.

The blade pierced deep into its skull, and under the momentum, he and the troll slid a great distance before stopping. The troll died instantly, multiple critical hits triggered by the impact.

He even knocked down over a dozen orcs in the process.

A skill orb dropped.

[Basic Sword Technique Skill Orb]

“Not bad luck.”

He immediately absorbed the skill on the spot.

“Where did this Man come from? Kill him!”

Whoosh.

These orcs, long dwelling in the deep pits of Khazad-dûm, surged toward him, weapons raised, intent on surrounding and dismembering him.

They were even more brutal than the orcs of the Misty Mountains.

But this time, they miscalculated.

Boom.

Empowered by his Sweeping Edge enchantment, an entire row of orcs seemed to be struck by invisible force. Fire spread across their bodies as they howled and fell, silent after only moments. Yet no matter how fierce his attacks were, no matter how many orcs he cut down, more immediately filled in behind them, seemingly endless.

Click click.

Several blocks of TNT were strategically placed on either side of the tunnel walls. Once the flint was struck, they began glowing and counting down.

Garrett quickly backed up several steps and sprinted outside the tunnel.

Just as the orcs thought they had finally gained momentum, forcing this powerful warrior to retreat, an explosion suddenly rang out. A massive crater was blasted in the middle of the tunnel.

The destruction of the terrain disrupted the advancing army behind them, forcing them to halt their charge.

Taking advantage of the brief gap, Garrett quickly placed blocks to climb to the tunnel ceiling and poured out several buckets of lava.

A wall of molten rock formed just like that. And thus, the only route into the inner defenses was completely sealed.

“He did it!”

At the rear of the battlefield, the sharp-eyed Bilbo was the first to spot the reddish glow of lava coming from the tunnel.

“No, it’s better to say, he completed the objective.”

Gandalf corrected with satisfaction.

“Counterattack!”

With the enemy’s entry point cut off, only the vanguard troops remained inside the walls.

They just needed to wipe them out, then could focus on the enemy forces outside.

The commanders raised their weapons high, leading their armies to encircle from both flanks. Garrett also reinforced the tunnel blockade with additional stone blocks, then flew off to join the battle.

“Wait for me!”

“Let me farm some skill orbs!”

The legend of the wilds began his slaughter anew.

The orc vanguard fought desperately, trapped within the encirclement and unable to escape, utterly doomed.

Normally, they would have already collapsed by now. But this time, they were different, still charging forward even after more than half had died.

The dwarves’ morale was high, partly due to their ancient blood feud with the orcs, and partly because they had strong leadership behind them.

But the same could be said of the orcs.

They too had blood feuds.

They too had a commander.

—

Buzz.

A flag signal was given. Azog furiously smashed a rock and altered his orders.

Him again!

Even from a distance, across a mountain, he recognized that dark figure, it was Garrett!

The persistent wretch!

All these setbacks must be his doing. Whenever something went wrong, blaming that human was always the safe bet.

“Break the walls!”

A dozen catapult-trolls stood in the distance adjusting their angles, while a horde of orcs busily transported and loaded heavy stones.

“Loose!”

Whoosh!

Massive boulders, two or three meters in diameter, were launched high into the air, cutting through the wind before slamming hard into the smooth walls ahead.

However, instead of collapsing or cracking as expected, the wall merely shed a pile of… blocks?

A full volley of boulders had only managed to strip off a surface layer?

Azog’s jaw dropped slightly, stunned.

Something was wrong with this wall.

Was this really Dale? Even Minas Tirith’s walls weren’t this resilient.

“What sorcery is this?”

Beside him, the lieutenant Bolg furiously grabbed a small orc scout and lifted him up.

“I-I… when I was here a few days ago, these walls weren’t here…”

The scout stammered, trembling.

“If you lie, I swear, every piece of your carcass will end up in a different warg’s belly.”

That silenced the scout completely out of terror.

“He might be telling the truth.”

Azog spoke, “This is the work of our greatest enemy, the battle-mage Garrett, the one so skilled with construction.”

Bolg tossed the scout aside and stepped to the edge of the command platform, looking down.

“I’m very interested in facing him.”

The mace in his hand trembled.

But Azog didn’t respond to that comment. Instead, he ordered, “Gather a strike force, preferably with plenty of archers.”

He had clearly seen their enemy flying through the air.

“Yes.”

Bolg departed temporarily to muster troops.

The orc war-horns sounded, and Azog pulled a lever, sending another flag signal.

The orcs quickly massed at the front of Dale.

“Siege-beasts, charge!”

ROAR!

A seven or eight-meter-tall cave troll, with a massive conical battering ram strapped to its head, charged ferociously at the wall.

Atop the wall, hunters, rangers, and longbowmen from Lake-town focused their fire on the creature, but their arrows couldn’t even pierce its thick hide.

Thud!

With a massive impact, the bottommost layer of the wall was chipped away slightly. Both physically and psychologically, this wall was proving a major headache for the orcs.

Any thinner wall would have collapsed from that blow.

“Continue the assault.”

Azog gave the ruthless order.

Another troll picked up a siege hammer and continued the battering. The orcs stood ready behind it, waiting to flood into the city and begin their slaughter once the wall was breached.

What they didn’t know, however, was that as the siege progressed, the iron golems had been drawn to the wall. No longer wandering aimlessly through the streets, they now waited just behind the fortification.

At that moment, inside the dusty armory of Dale, Bard was tensely organizing his people, arranging for the townsfolk to evacuate.

“Take everything! Everyone who can fight, grab a weapon and armor!”

As a city that had once flourished, Dale possessed a big reserve of weapons and armor. Though useless against Smaug, they had remained untouched since the city’s destruction.

Because of the dragon’s lingering presence nearby, no Men, or orcs, had claimed them.

Now, drawn once more from storage, the swords and spears were still sharp as ever.

“All able fighters to the walls! Women, elderly, and children, evacuate to the safe zones!”

Under Bard’s direction, everyone hurried to their assigned tasks.

Suddenly, Bard grabbed a woman whose ample chest clinked with the sound of metal.

“Ah, what are you doing! I’m headed to the safe zone!”

The “woman” shrieked in a falsetto, never daring to lift her head.

“Alfrid.”

Bard was astounded by this man’s shamelessness.

He yanked the pouch of gold coins stuffed in Alfrid’s chest and threw it aside, grabbing him by the collar.

“I said all men to the front lines, didn’t you hear me?”

“Master Bard, let’s discuss this reasonably, fine, fine! I’ll go, I’ll go…”

Bard shoved him away and forced a sword into his trembling hands.

“Don’t let me catch you skulking in the rear.”

Gritting his teeth, Alfrid shivered and reluctantly followed the troops, looking back every few steps.

Clack.

At that moment, the rear city gate facing Erebor suddenly opened, and two organized military units quickly streamed into the city, heading for the high walls on either side.

It was the Elves and Dwarves.

“We’ve cleared out the orcs inside the walls. How fares the defense here?”

Thranduil found Bard and asked for an update.

“They cannot breach the walls, at least not yet.”

Bard looked up at the towering, solid walls, then at the clusters of iron golems nearby, and a sense of security welled up inside him.

With this kind of defense, even if the walls were breached, it wouldn’t really matter.

Not that they could break through anyway.

“You there!”

As they spoke, Dáin rode up on his war-boar and called out to Thranduil, “Move your troops to the other side, leave the wider staircase for us! Otherwise, we can’t haul our ballistae up!”

Thranduil gave a resigned wave of his hand, signaling his troops to switch positions with the dwarves.

Soon after, Thorin arrived with the members of his company. He raised his head and met Thranduil’s gaze for several seconds. But before Thranduil could speak, he addressed him first, “After this battle, I would like to invite the King of the Woodland Realm to Erebor for a formal audience.”

“I accept your invitation,” Thranduil replied, his head held high in pride, gazing down at Thorin.

But, unusually, this haughty demeanor didn’t anger Thorin. The clear-headed king simply nodded and led his companions to join the dwarven host rushing up the walls.

“Wait!”

Just then, Garrett and Gandalf arrived, catching sight of the two armies awkwardly switching positions.

“Hold on, this is all unnecessary.”

Click click.

Garrett quickly placed some stone blocks, widening both sets of stairs on either side.

“Marvelous! Now this is more practical than Gandalf’s sorcery!”

Dáin turned his head and exclaimed, beckoning his dwarves to start hauling the heavy ballistae onto the wall.

Gandalf’s expression tightened slightly.

The Lord of the Iron Hills was being rather tactless.

“Let those great brutes taste dwarven steel!”

“Don’t miss, lads!”

The dwarves shouted excitedly as the veteran Balin took the first shot with a ballista.

Thud!

A massive, spiraling bolt soared high and slammed into a charging troll from the flank, sending it tumbling and rolling off to the side. It didn’t stir for quite some time.

“Ha ha!”

The old warrior laughed heartily.

“Loose!”

Whoosh!

Several more ballistae were hauled up and fired in unison. The whirling bolts tore through the orc ranks, unleashing devastation.

“Hold formation!”

An orc captain at the front yelled, trying to keep the ranks together.

But when a bolt came flying straight at him, he quickly dodged aside, then calmly stepped back into place, pretending nothing had happened.

“What are you all gawking at? Focus on your duties!”

He bared his fangs menacingly.

—

Meanwhile, the dwarves atop the walls cheered and continued launching volleys.

“Let those scum taste our wrath!”

The elves joined the defense as well.

Compared to the dwarves’ crude but powerful weapons, the elven bows were more elegant, and far more accurate.

“Loose!”

A rain of arrows descended, felling scores of orcs.

Of particular note were the smaller cave trolls among them, each bristling with at least a dozen arrows.

When precision wasn’t enough, quantity did the job just fine.

“Curse it all.”

“Pull the vanguard back, wait! Let the siege-beasts advance first. Archers, provide cover!”

Azog closely monitored the battlefield and switched to an all-out assault strategy.

All the siege-beasts, large enough to damage the walls, were fitted with heavy battering equipment and launched repeated attacks.

The elven arrows clattered uselessly off the conical rams mounted on the beasts’ heads. A few well-angled shots struck their bodies, but inflicted little actual harm.

The beasts, unfazed, pressed through the arrow storm and continued battering the walls.

“Heavy ballistae, loose!”

Whoosh.

The massive bolts shot forward with a thunderous roar.

“Olog-hai, advance!” Azog commanded.

Fully armored Olog-hai stationed at the rear surged forward, using their armored bodies to shield the siege-beasts from the bolts. One Olog was blasted back several meters but quickly got up, barely scratched.

“Catapults, loose!”

BOOM!

From the orc lines, over a dozen massive boulders were launched, some crashing into the top of the wall, shattering the battlements and exposing the defenders behind.

Among them was Balin, still operating his ballista. Had it not been for Garrett’s unnaturally strong wall, that boulder would have taken him, and the weapon, right off the ramparts.

He was thoroughly shaken.

“Take cover!”

Boom boom boom.

The stones kept flying, striking the wall from all sides, knocking layer after layer of stone loose.

Meanwhile, the orc archers also began emerging from tunnels, gathering and loosing volleys freely at the wall.

They weren’t very accurate, but sheer volume made up for that deficiency.

Siege-beasts attacked again, shaking the very foundations of the wall.

“Garrett!”

Seeing things start to turn dire, Thorin rushed to Garrett’s side and quickly said, “Can you make a hole in the wall for me, just large enough for me to leap through and land on that creature? I’ll handle it myself!”

Before Garrett could respond, Kíli spoke up first, “That’s too dangerous! I’m coming with you!”

“And me!”

Fíli chimed in immediately.

“The royal bloodline must be preserved, you’re still young.”

Though Thorin still looked vigorous and had a head of thick black hair, in truth, he was older even than Balin, whose hair and beard were already snowy white.

“No need,” Garrett interrupted their emotional moment.

Click.

A mechanism activated.

Just as the siege-beast reached the wall, the ground beneath it suddenly gave way, the platform, which had been lying flat on the ground like a stone courtyard, swiftly retracted under his control, revealing glowing red lava beneath.

It all happened too quickly for any reaction.

Only now did the orcs realize… that wasn’t flooring at all, it was a trap door.

“ROAR!!!”

The giant beast plummeted into the pit of lava, its roar was heart-wrenching and echoed through the valley, but it soon fell silent.

Azog’s expression turned grim.

“Bring building materials, fill in the roads, avoid the suspicious areas on the ground, and attack from multiple directions!”

He issued new orders.

At the same time Azog’s commands were being relayed, on the city wall, Garrett called out to Bard.

“Gather a group of archers, actually, call them all. I’ve got something good for you.”

“What kind of thing?”

“Crossbows. And fireworks.”

Bard looked puzzled.

“Fireworks…?”

“Just bring the people, you’ll see.”

Soon, all the folk from Lake-town who could use bows or crossbows gathered before him.

Garrett looked at his material inventory and paused for a moment.

“Actually, we don’t need this many… Keep the hundred with the best aim, the rest can go back.”

Click.

A crafting table was placed on the ground. Iron, wood, and string were consumed in large quantities. Crossbows were crafted one after another and handed out to the neatly arranged group of one hundred.

After distributing the crossbows, he then synthesized a large batch of explosive fireworks on the spot, pulling them from his inventory and stacking them to the side.

“These are your ammunition. Try them out. Bard, you go first.”

“Will this truly work?”

Bard was more proficient with bows, but he had some skill with crossbows as well.

Still…

“Fireworks, used as bolts?”

Though it made no sense, Bard gave up on logic, after all, it was Garrett, and tried loading a firework into the crossbow like a quarrel.

Creaaak.

It actually worked.

“Excellent. You’ve learned how to load it. Now, teach the townspeople how to use these, and lead them in bombarding the orcs!”

“Uh?”

Moments later, a group of human crossbowmen appeared on the city wall.

Gandalf turned to look. Seeing Bard and Garrett leading them, he didn’t interfere…

“Hmm?”

He turned back again.

“Fireworks?”

“Aim, fire!” Garrett shouted the command.

Whoosh.

The dense sound of fireworks launching filled the air, over a hundred streaked out, flying straight toward the orcs and giant beasts near the base of the wall.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

With the explosions, the nearby orcs were blasted away, armor scorched black. Even the cave trolls in the front took heavy damage, two or three of them collapsed on the spot.

What were those projectiles?

Over a hundred wizards casting explosion spells?

Azog broke into a cold sweat.

How does one even fight this?

“Wait!”

He suddenly noticed, one firework exploded in midair before reaching its target.

“They have limited range! Fall back one hundred paces!”

With the signal flags flying, the orc formation quickly withdrew.

—

“What a drag.”

Watching the signal flags changing rapidly atop Ravenhill, Garrett thought for a moment, then equipped his elytra wings.

“Where are you going?”

Having spent enough time around Garrett, Gandalf immediately recognized the wings. He knew that once Garrett put those on, he was definitely heading somewhere far.

“Decapitation.”

“Decapitation?”

Whoosh.

Garrett leaped from the wall and soared into the air. The orc archers below shot at him en masse, but only a few arrows grazed him.

Still, it stung.

He grimaced.

When wearing the elytra, he couldn’t also wear his chestplate. And the chestplate provided the most damage reduction, without it, even basic blades could cut his defenses, let alone a volley of arrows.

Whoosh.

It didn’t take long before he was high above the battlefield, outside the archers’ range. Only now did he have time to survey the entire field below.

Outside the wall, stretching to the edge of the wilderness, orcs and wargs filled the land as far as the eye could see. On either flank, catapult-trolls stood on high ground, bombarding the walls relentlessly.

“Incredible…”

Garrett couldn’t imagine how, in a timeline without his intervention, this overwhelming difference in strength could have been overcome, just five hundred elite dwarves and three thousand elves, and they actually won?

It seemed the key really was eliminating the leadership…

He turned his gaze toward Azog’s position, at the command platform, Ravenhill.

A swarm of fell beasts hovered above the tower like a black cloud, blocking out the sunlight.

And hiding what was beneath.

He silently stored away his ender pearl. If he threw that now, it would definitely land in the middle of the flying creatures.

Their density was far too great for firework bolts to clear a path. It would take Gandalf casting a major spell to break through.

But while there were many fell beasts, they had little offensive capability, they were just there to create a dark and oppressive battlefield atmosphere.

So, fly past them for a direct assault?

But then, why were there over a hundred archers guarding the command platform, why was Azog still acting so cautiously?

Whoosh.

Garrett flew back into the city and immediately said, “Gandalf, can you drive away those bats?”

“Let me see.”

Gandalf looked off into the distance.

“How about I drive myself away instead?”

Garrett covered his face with his hand.

That was asking rather much, to be fair.

A siege-beast charged toward the wall again, braving the rain of arrows. Gandalf was just raising his staff, ready to show he could be useful, but Garrett beat him to it, firing an arrow that ignited the beast. It immediately collapsed, rolling on the ground and throwing aside its battering ram.

“Very well then,” Gandalf nodded, finally understanding how Radagast must have felt back at Dol Guldur when he had been brushed aside.

You’re strong, you’re capable, I suppose you don’t have much need for my level of power.

“The situation isn’t looking good.”

Standing on the city wall, Garrett raised his head and looked toward the distant horizon again. Far out on the plains, orcs marched in organized formations, slowly advancing. More troops were continuously streaming in from the rear.

They were orcs from the Misty Mountains, reinforcements.

“There are just too many of them.”

Even he was starting to feel overwhelmed at this point. If this were a game, the system would have already crashed from the processing load.

The rendering resources this scene would require…

—

Moments later.

Atop the high wall, commanders from all factions gathered together. They looked grimly at the battlefield, all lost in thought.

While they hadn’t suffered major casualties yet, no one could claim the situation was looking good.

“Hah! Let them come. I can hold this wall until I die of old age!”

The dwarves were surprisingly optimistic. The sheer resilience the wall had demonstrated so far gave them solid confidence.

Die of old age…?

Thranduil shook his head.

If it meant guarding this wall until old age, he’d be here until the ending of the world.

“We need to devise a strategy…”

Thorin was clearly the most thoughtful among the dwarves. While the others cheered and jeered, he remained silent, deep in contemplation.

Bard didn’t have any brilliant ideas either. He simply kept reloading his fireworks crossbow and scanning below for a good target.

Boom!

Tremors suddenly shook the ground from several directions, some close, some distant.

It was the siege-beasts. They had begun attacking from multiple flanks, especially targeting areas where the ground appeared less suspicious.

Boulders and battering rams came flying one after another.

Whoosh.

A massive stone came hurtling toward the main gate.

While everyone else was still discussing plans, Garrett suddenly pulled Bilbo aside a few steps.

“Garrett?” Bilbo called out, puzzled.

The boulder swept past unexpectedly.

Garrett raised his shield to block it. But after barely a second, there was a loud crack as the shield shattered and went into cooldown. The next moment, he was slammed straight into the rubble below the wall, losing about seven or eight health points.

That impact had half the force of a full melee strike from Sauron.

Don’t ask why he didn’t dodge, he was just curious about the damage values.

After all, this was his own territory. He could experiment as much as he wanted.

“Garrett!”

Several people shouted at once.

“May the Valar preserve you!”

Thranduil was so startled he began to pray. Gandalf leaped down immediately. Thorin and Bard rushed toward the base of the wall. Bilbo, still standing atop the ramparts, froze in shock, his heart pounding in disbelief.

“Sweet Eru…”

If Garrett hadn’t pulled him aside just then, that boulder would have turned him into hobbit paste.

“I’m fine, I’m fine. No need to worry. I was just curious and wanted to test how strong that thing was.”

Garrett dusted off his clothes, despite no visible dust, and climbed back up to the wall, rejoining the command group while everyone stared in silence.

—

“He’s… not dead?”

At the highest point of Ravenhill, Azog, who had witnessed the entire scene, began to panic.

That boulder had been a special order, he had commanded them to aim directly at Garrett.

Azog began reciting lessons learned from the recent waves of battle.

“Do not attempt to block his attacks. His strikes will connect and carry fire damage. His flames are extinguished instantly upon contact with water. Wherever he appears, support units must be ready to deliver water to the front lines.”

“Do not approach the iron platform lying on the ground. It can retract at any time and reveal a lava trap underneath.”

“Before the wall is breached, infantry must maintain at least a hundred paces distance. Their crossbowmen fire explosive projectiles.”

“Even if there are breaches in the wall, it won’t collapse entirely. It can only be destroyed piece by piece.”

“He can fly. Archers must be on constant standby. The fell beast swarm must prioritize obscuring his position to hinder aerial attacks.”

“Those square-shaped lava pools, block the source with something larger and the surrounding lava will slowly recede.”

“If you see a glowing red block, it will detonate within seconds. Everything except trolls and siege-beasts will perish instantly.”

“And he appears to be nearly indestructible.”

His voice trembled as he recounted all these hard-learned insights.

At this point, the orc commander had essentially been forced into adopting tactical thinking, trying to survive by understanding and adapting to Garrett’s unconventional methods.

Traditional siege logic no longer applied. New patterns had to be discovered.

Honestly, forcing an orc with a violent, bloodthirsty mind to engage in this much analytical thinking, it would make even a dwarf feel sympathy for him.

After finishing his mental assessment, Azog stared dead at the corner of the wall where enemy commanders were gathered.

Not uttering a word.

This was without doubt the most challenging battle of his career, even the great war against Durin’s entire dwarven army a century ago had been easier than this.

But the problem was, the enemy didn’t even have that many troops!

All of them combined didn’t number more than five thousand.

Keep in mind, the forces under his command were composed of the elite armies of Khazad-dûm and the Misty Mountains, bolstered by a massive number of war-beasts provided by the Dark Lord himself.

One could say that even Mordor would struggle to muster such a powerful force.

That said, armies like this were fairly common in the Elder Days, and warriors as formidable as Garrett weren’t unheard of. In fact, not only were they not rare, there had been many of them.

However, back then, the attacking side also had Balrogs at their disposal, each of which could match an entire army on its own.

Azog was starting to wonder if Sauron had any spare Balrogs available for him to use.

“Our offensive is stalled,” Bolg reported from behind.

Many of their attacks had been rendered completely ineffective.

“Don’t rush. It’s almost time…”

BOOM!

One of the lava pits had been filled with the corpses of countless orcs. Lava that had spilled from the walls was now covered by hurled stones. Heavy ballistae, arrows, fireworks, and explosives were all blocked by a full row of armored Olog-hai and war-beasts who used their lives to shield the advance.

That hope-crushing wall had finally, under concentrated bombardment from the catapults and the relentless assault of siege-beasts, begun to show a small breach.

To open just this one gap, nearly all their elite war-beasts had been sacrificed.

“HAHAHA! ATTACK!”

Azog laughed triumphantly and immediately signaled for the full assault to begin.

HUMMMM.

The horn signaling the orcs’ general offensive blew. The orcs eagerly swarmed toward and through the small breach.

“We finally broke through this accursed wall!”

But once inside, they were confused again.

Where were the Elves, Dwarves, and Men?

Why weren’t they coming down to fight?

Were they cowering in fear?

Soon, they received their answer.

CLANG CLANG.

A dense formation of iron golems surrounded them and charged headfirst into the front lines.

BANG!

From the moment the first orc was sent flying, the momentum couldn’t be stopped. More and more orcs screamed as they were launched skyward, then crashed back down.

The iron golems swarmed like relentless guardians, plugging the breach with their bodies and hurling orcs aside one by one.

“Olog-hai, advance!”

At the command, the remaining armored trolls surged forward and engaged the golems in close combat.

To the orcs, the three-meter-tall golems were like small giants they couldn’t budge. However, now they faced Olog-hai, each over four or five meters tall and clad head to toe in steel armor. The golems suddenly appeared dwarves in comparison.

CLANG!

The sound of metal crashing into metal rang out. The Olog-hai swung their massive hammers and maces, and with one sweep, they knocked back groups of golems. The overwhelming tide of iron guardians was temporarily halted.

Taking advantage of the moment, the last remaining siege-beast shoved through the gap and hunched low to enter the city.

With a single stomp, it crushed a golem into the dirt, leaving it covered in cracks.

“Time to end this!”

Garrett leaped from the city wall and plunged his sword into the beast’s neck, igniting it in flames.

The dwarves of Thorin’s company followed right behind him. Under their king’s lead, they charged without hesitation, some slashing at its heels, others hammering its toes, and a few even loosing arrows at its flanks. In no time, they had the beast scrambling, unsure where to strike.

But soon, it didn’t need to think anymore. Under Garrett and the dwarves’ sustained attacks, it barely lasted ten seconds before collapsing with a massive crash.

It even dropped a skill orb.

[Dodge Skill Orb]

“Gotta admit, its hide was thick.”

CLANG!

After taking down the beast, he immediately turned and charged at the Olog-hai.

Steel clashed with steel.

“Damn, that’s tough.”

His arms went numb from the impacts.

These creatures were practically walking fortresses, fully armored, with a minimum of seventy to eighty hit points each, tougher even than the iron golems.

Still, their numbers were ultimately too few. Only three had broken through the wall. After initially knocking back some golems, they were quickly surrounded and unable to retreat.

In the end, after destroying several golems, they were overwhelmed by the mob.

Good thing these don’t spawn easily.

If even a hundred or two Olog-hai had stormed in first to clear the way, the golems might not have held the line.

Erebor’s iron reserves weren’t infinite, Garrett had only managed to summon just under a thousand iron golems before the materials ran out. But for a defensive battle, that was more than enough. Each golem could handle ten orcs, though the enemy outnumbered them by far more than ten to one.

“What sorcery is this now…?”

Azog was already starting to feel overwhelmed.

“But if you think this is enough to halt our army, you’re gravely mistaken. We still have an entire division in reserve.”

He signaled again with flags.

“Wargs, attack!”

From the tunnels dug by the were-worms, packs of wargs burst forth, racing toward the breach.

This was their other reserve force, the warg cavalry. Before the wall was breached, they had been of little use. But now was their moment.

“Please stop attacking…”

Garrett quickly attempted to seal the breach, sweat beading on his brow.

“I’m seriously starting to think this difficulty setting is a bit too high.”

“What difficulty?” Gandalf asked while cutting down some orc stragglers within the walls.

“I mean the difficulty of this battle. Why are they so damn vicious?”

“Haven’t they always been like that?”

“No, I mean… never mind…”

“What?”

Now Gandalf was genuinely confused. Garrett was speaking in riddles that even he couldn’t decipher.

“I’ve decided to respect the mechanics,” Garrett suddenly said.

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