"We can't continue like this, Your Majesty. I propose we immediately launch an attack on the Orc army outside the city."
On the border of Rohan, Éomer, as the Second Marshal, proposed to King Théoden, who was also the Grand Marshal.
To resist the Orc army led by Borg this time, Rohan had deployed its elite forces, gathering tens of thousands of Rohan Iron Cavalry on the border defense line.
While the total number of troops might be slightly less than the Orc army, Éomer still had confidence in leading the Rohan Iron Cavalry to break through the Orc formation.
"This…" The aging King Théoden looked at the distant Orc encampment from the city wall, pondered for a moment, and then said, "Until we understand what scheme the Orcs are up to this time, I still believe we should not act rashly."
To adapt to changes by remaining unchanged, and to make fewer mistakes, this was King Théoden's truest thought at the moment.
This might not be the wisest decision, but it was definitely the safest way to protect Rohan.
"We can't wait any longer. You must have also noticed that recently, many small Orc squads have taken advantage of harassing our army to invade Rohan…" Éomer said with a solemn expression, "How about this, you continue to lead the main army to hold the city walls, and I will lead a portion of the cavalry to repel the Orc army in the encampment outside the city."
Under the pressure of the Orc army, even if King Théoden and Éomer discovered small groups of Orcs invading Rohan, they dared not divide their forces to stop them.
After all, in terms of danger, the tens of thousands of Orcs in the encampment outside the city were the true threat to Rohan.
However, in Éomer's view, the immediate problem of the Orc army needed to be resolved, but the small groups of Orcs invading Rohan also needed to be dealt with quickly.
Otherwise, over time, the damage caused by those Orc squads infiltrating Rohan to its civilians would likely be immeasurable.
For this, Éomer's solution was to proactively attack the Orc army outside the city.
After defeating the Orc army, they would quickly deal with the Orc squads within Rohan.
"This is too risky," King Théoden looked at his nephew's resolute face and shook his head slightly, saying, "However, your concerns are not without reason. So I have decided to let you stay and guard the border, while I will lead a small group of cavalry to meet the Orcs in the encampment outside the city, hoping to figure out their long-term objective for staying there…"
Although the negative effects on him had been cleared by Mike, King Théoden could still clearly feel that his aging body was gradually becoming weaker.
In this situation, Éomer, as the future successor to the throne, was undoubtedly the hope of Rohan.
Therefore, in King Théoden's view, his nephew's safety was definitely more important than his own, as an old man.
As a junior, Éomer obviously did not want his uncle to take such a risk.
Just as the two were arguing over who should lead the troops to confront the Orc army outside the city, a spatial gate emitting white light suddenly appeared before them.
"Mr. Mike…" Éomer had seen spatial gates before, so he immediately recognized this as Mike's ability, and a look of pleasant surprise appeared on his face.
"Mr. Mike and Gandalf, how did you both come here together?" King Théoden also showed a look of pleasant surprise as he saw the two figures appear before him.
As Saruman's colleague, Gandalf had visited Rohan before, so King Théoden was not unfamiliar with him.
"I have found the mastermind behind your affliction, and it is the Wizard Saruman. And those Orcs outside are also here because of Saruman, wanting to cooperate with him from inside and out to take Rohan…" Mike, upon arriving, directly explained the current situation to King Théoden.
"How could this be? Why would Saruman do such a thing?" As a king who respected the powerful, King Théoden naturally had an impression of the White Wizard Saruman.
And he also remembered that neither he nor his father, King Thengel, the previous King of Rohan, had ever mistreated Saruman.
For this reason, King Théoden felt a sense of betrayal at this moment.
"The reasons are complicated and would take too long to explain in detail. However, you don't need to worry, Saruman's problem has been resolved," Mike said. "Now, we only need to deal with the Orc army outside, and Rohan's crisis will be lifted."
The reasons for Saruman's betrayal were complex; it could have been jealousy of Gandalf, or fear of Sauron.
Of course, it was also possible that he had always harbored such ambition.
In short, there were many reasons for the betrayal, but even if these reasons were explained clearly to King Théoden, they would not help Rohan's current situation.
Therefore, there was no need to say so much and only add to the worries.
"Thank you for your help. Now that we know the intentions of the Orc army outside, there's nothing more to say…" King Théoden was silent for a while, then changed his previous attitude and said proudly, "The Rohan Iron Cavalry are not to be trifled with!"
As mentioned earlier, the Rohan forces gathered at the border were not inferior in combat power to the Orc army outside the city.
Now that the situation was clear, King Théoden naturally did not fear a battle.
"Please let me lead the charge!"
Éomer, brimming with fighting spirit, was already eager to act.
"Given the wrongs Saruman has committed against Rohan, please allow me to also contribute," Gandalf, who had been mostly silent since his arrival, now stepped forward.
With no more worries and with the help of two powerful individuals, Mike and Gandalf, King Théoden quickly organized his army and blew the horn of attack towards the Orc army outside the city.
In the Orc army encampment, Borg, who was currently enjoying the food plundered by his subordinates, had never imagined that the Rohan army would dare to leave their defensive line and fight outside the city.
Therefore, he naturally had not made any prior preparations for such a scenario.
Seeing the Rohan Iron Cavalry appear in full force on the plains, Borg was first startled, then realized this was an opportunity.
An opportunity to take Rohan without needing to cooperate with Saruman.
Originally, with the high city walls obstructing them, Borg was not confident in taking the Rohan defensive line. But in an open field battle, he had full confidence in leading the Orc army to defeat the Rohan Iron Cavalry.
It seemed he could already envision Sauron's praise after taking Rohan. Borg excitedly dropped the half-eaten roasted lamb leg in his hand and shouted, "Assemble for battle!!! Let those humans witness the power of our Orc race!"
Even as cannon fodder, the Orc army had been subjected to dark magic by Sauron, when they left Mordor.
This allowed them to temporarily overcome their weakness of fearing sunlight.
At this moment, as tens of thousands of Orcs gathered, they triggered the dark magic above the army.
Black energy surged, forming large dark clouds that gathered in the sky above the plains.
The entire land was instantly enveloped in darkness.
"Roar!"
Immediately after, a huge roar echoed from the Orc army, which was ready for battle.
This caused a considerable commotion within the Rohan Iron Cavalry, who were charging forward.
"Keep your formation!"
Even though Éomer tried his best to control the cavalry unit, the warhorses, naturally suppressed by Orcs, continued to cause problems.
It was at this moment that Gandalf, finally finding an opportunity to show his prowess, rode a pure white warhorse and stepped forward from the ranks.
The staff held high in his hand erupted with bursts of white light, dispelling the dark clouds above their heads.
"Follow me! Kill!"
Beside him, Éomer, seizing this opportune moment, shouted and charged forward with the wizard's white light.
Countless Rohan Iron Cavalry followed closely behind, bravely charging into the Orc army.
The battle was about to begin!
On the Orc side, without the protection of the black clouds above, sunlight once again fell upon them.
Suddenly, those Orcs who feared sunlight only wanted to find a place to hide and had no desire to fight.
One side was full of momentum, while the other had no fighting spirit.
Instantly, the Rohan Iron Cavalry led by Éomer scattered the Orc vanguard.
"Damn it, pick up your weapons! Whoever dares to run, I'll kill them!"
Unlike the Woodland Trolls, who would turn to stone in sunlight, Orcs only experienced intense discomfort when exposed to sunlight, but were not directly killed.
Therefore, Borg, the Orc leader, feeling there was still a chance, defiantly re-formed his troops.
After smashing the heads of several Orcs who tried to escape with his specially made spiked club, the morale of the Orc army actually recovered a little.
However, it was at this moment that Borg's unique appearance was noticed by Mike, who had flown high into the sky.
As a flash of fire passed...
Borg, who was still organizing the Orc army, was burned to ashes by a small fireball casually thrown by Mike.
"Aow!"
This scene also terrified many Orcs who were watching Borg.
Fear then followed.
Already unwilling to fight, they turned and fled into the distant forest under the sway of this fear.
And since Mike had already made his move, he naturally wouldn't let those Orcs off so easily.
So, taking out the Flame Holy Sword, he once again summoned a flame barrier, just as he had sixty years ago in the Battle of Lonely Mountain.
Countless fire orbs, the size of fireflies, then spread across the entire battlefield.
These holy fire orbs, which had healing properties for allies and deadly threats for Orcs, instantly turned the battlefield into a hell for the Orcs.
The sight of Orcs being burned to ashes one after another also made the Orcs recall the terror of the Lord of Lonely Mountain.
Fifteen minutes later, except for a very small number of lucky Orcs who escaped, there was not a single standing Orc left on the battlefield.
"How exhilarating!"
King Théoden, who had returned from chasing the fleeing Orcs in the distant forest, had an unwaning look of excitement on his face.
After this battle, the old man seemed to have regained some vitality.
"As expected of the Lord of Lonely Mountain!"
After the battle ended, Éomer also came to Mike's side, his eyes filled with deep admiration.
He had heard of Mike's heroic deeds in the Battle of Lonely Mountain sixty years ago, and he had also personally witnessed Mike use his miraculous spatial gate ability.
But the scene just now, where Orcs were cut down like grass, still thrilled him immensely.
"Alright, now that this is done, I should return to Lonely Mountain. We'll meet again next time."
Mike, who was already pressed for time, simply greeted King Théoden and the others after the battle, then summoned a spatial gate and disappeared from the battlefield.
King Théoden, who had intended to invite Mike for a celebratory drink, could only shake his head helplessly.
But fortunately, the Wizard Gandalf was still there, so the celebratory drink could still be had.
King Théoden soon learned that Gandalf also had a mission and needed to rush to the border of Gondor immediately.
After all, according to the Ringbearer Squad's previous progress, Aragorn and the others should be nearing the border of Gondor.
Therefore, Gandalf, whose heart was set on the mission to destroy the One Ring, declined King Théoden's invitation to the feast and rode his white steed towards the agreed-upon border of Gondor.
...
"Princess Arwen, welcome to Lonely Mountain…"
Mike, who had returned to the Lonely Mountain Great Hall through the spatial gate, immediately saw the Elf Princess who had arrived earlier and was waiting there.
"I've been in Lonely Mountain for several days already. Your welcoming ceremony seems a bit late," Princess Arwen glared playfully at Mike.
"It's never too late to welcome the beautiful Princess," Mike said with a smile, stepping forward and giving her a warm embrace.
Then he freed one hand and pulled Sophia, who was watching from the side, into his arms as well.
The Elf Princess coming here clearly meant she had given up a lot, and her courage was worth encouraging.
And the half-elf Sophia, as Mike's right-hand woman, was equally important to Mike.
Therefore, Mike would not favor one over the other when it came to the two girls.
Fortunately, both beautiful ladies had long been aware of Mike's philandering nature, and having accepted this fact, they had no intention of being jealous.
"Mike, I brought you a gift this time, and only you're worthy of it." After a moment of tenderness, Princess Arwen took out the kings sword.
A fine sword for a hero; this King's Sword, inherited from Isildur, was only worthy of the greatest hero.
At least, that's what the Elf Princess believed.
"This is the King's Sword that Isildur once wielded…" Mike naturally recognized the kings sword. "Thank you, I really like this gift."
From a manufacturing standpoint, this kings sword, which had existed for thousands of years, was even inferior to Legolas's Bow of the Galadhrim.
However, in Middle-earth, the significance represented by this King's Sword was incomparable to other weapons.
Although Mike didn't consider himself a great hero, he, who urgently needed to gather Power Of Faith, was indeed a perfect match for this mysterious kings sword.
"As a token of my gratitude, I also have a gift for you, and I believe you will like it very much," Mike said, taking out two Fruits of Fortuna from his storage space.
Yes, these were indeed the Fruits of Fortuna Mike had obtained from God.
This item not only granted immortality but also allowed the user to maintain eternal youth and beauty, making it absolutely the best gift for women, especially beautiful women.
"This is for me?" Elven Princess Arwen instantly saw the vast magical power contained within the golden apples before her.
"Of course, it can keep you young and beautiful forever…" Mike briefly introduced the Fruit of Fortuna's abilities, then handed two Fruits of Fortuna each to Princess Arwen and the half-elf Sophia.
Seeing their touched expressions, Mike knew that the deed was done.
Tonight, the two of them should become good sisters…