"I…"
Aragorn's life goal was to return to Gondor and restore his ancestors' glory, but he never expected this opportunity to come so suddenly.
Just as he habitually thought of declining, the sound of Orcs' war horns echoed from afar.
Immediately, countless boulders fell from the sky, causing entire sections of buildings in the main city of Minas Tirith to collapse.
The rumbling of the boulders and the screams of the people instantly merged into a chaotic din.
Even within the royal hall, the commotion could be clearly heard.
"Catapults, the Orcs have started their siege."
Gandalf went outside the hall, used his magic to shatter several boulders flying towards the hall, and then looked at Aragorn, who had also come out, saying, "Don't hesitate any longer, Gondor needs you now."
The sudden attack by the Orcs not only threw the populace into disarray, but even the kingdom's soldiers, after learning of the Regent's family's tragedy, were now scurrying around the city like headless flies.
Clearly, having lost their backbone, everyone urgently needed another "hero" to appear and turn the tide, saving the kingdom of Gondor.
"Please save Gondor!"
Faramir, who came out next, knew that neither his ability nor his courage was sufficient to handle the current dreadful situation.
Thus, he knelt before Aragorn, offering a gesture of "loyalty."
This represented the Regent's family formally submitting to the Gondor royal family, while also officially returning the kingdom's authority to Aragorn.
Beside them, the Ring-bearers, witnessing Gondor's plight, all turned their gaze to Aragorn.
Waiting for him to make a decision.
"Whew!"
Aragorn, as the person concerned, let out a heavy breath, then, with a look of compassion, drew the sword from his waist and said in a deep voice, "By the name of Isildur's descendant, I command: prepare the entire army and hold the Orcs outside the city gates!"
"By the name of my ancestors, I will be with all the soldiers and people of Gondor…"
As the descendant of Isildur raised his blade, the Gondor soldiers seemed to have found their backbone again.
Then, with the cooperation of Faramir and others, an army of over ten thousand quickly assembled.
"Soldiers of Gondor, my name is Aragorn. My ancestor Isildur once defeated Sauron, and protected the peace of Gondor…"
"Now, the forces of darkness have returned. For the glory of Gondor, for the people of this city. We shall emulate our ancestors and fight for peace…"
Before departing, Aragorn, mounted on a tall horse, delivered a pre-battle speech, then once again raised his blade and shouted, "Long live Gondor!"
"Long live Gondor!!" xN
"Fight for peace!!!"
"…"
Amidst the mighty shouts, Aragorn swung his sword forward: "Advance!"
Fight or perish. With this understanding, the Gondor soldiers, led by Aragorn, slowly coalesced their fighting spirit.
The saying 'a desperate army will win' was nothing more than this.
However, as this great army of Gondor neared the city gate, they suddenly encountered the fleeing city guards, followed by transformed Trolls and Mammoth squads, like giant beasts.
Clearly, the city gate had been breached by the Orc army, and the Gondor soldiers now had no city to defend.
"Damn it…"
Gandalf looked at the fierce Trolls and Mammoth squads, his eyes flickering with worry. Without the main city to defend, could Gondor hold out until reinforcements arrived?
And Aragorn, who was at the forefront, also felt a sense of urgency.
However, with the blood of Isildur flowing through him, he quickly regained his composure. After a brief analysis of the situation, he commanded, "Faramir, I order you to lead half the soldiers to help the ordinary people in the city, gathering them at the royal palace…"
"As for me, I will lead the other half of the soldiers to establish a new defense line there, hoping that it will still be in time."
The fall of the city meant the loss of lives. Retreating the defense line again to protect the populace was indeed the best way to minimize losses.
However, whether Gondor could survive this ordeal would depend solely on whether reinforcements arrived to disrupt the Orc army's offensive from the rear.
…
"Those catapults are very destructive, should we go destroy them?"
In a crater not far outside the city gate of Minas Tirith, Éomer quietly asked King Théoden.
Because of their small numbers and well-equipped warhorses, the Rohan reinforcements led by King Théoden arrived much faster than expected.
It only took one night to reach the capital of Gondor from the Rohan border.
However, this hundred-man reinforcement team was like a drop in the bucket against tens of thousands of Orcs.
One wrong move, and not only would they fail to provide support, but they might also sacrifice themselves.
"Wait a little longer, now is not the time."
An old man in the family is like a treasure. Although King Théoden was old, he had accumulated rich combat experience.
At this moment, the White City had been breached, and a large number of Orcs were advancing into the city.
This was bad news, but also an opportunity.
When the Orcs outside the city decreased to a certain number, it would be the time for the Rohan cavalry to launch an attack and destroy the catapults.
"Hold on, behind us are our unarmed compatriots, we have no retreat!"
At the Gondor Palace, Aragorn climbed onto the makeshift defensive wall and loudly encouraged the soldiers.
It was fortunate that he had made a decisive decision earlier, instructing Faramir to gather most of the populace from the White City to the palace before the Orc army pressed in.
This action undoubtedly reduced many casualties.
However, the situation remained dire. Many of the transformed Trolls that had previously breached the White City gate now had battering rams attached to their heads, and their arms replaced with giant iron hammers.
Coupled with the massive, heavily armored Mammoth squads.
The temporary defensive wall in front of the Gondor Palace could not withstand them for long.
"Legolas, those big guys in the air, do you have any way to deal with them?"
After encouraging the soldiers on the defensive wall, Aragorn turned his gaze to the Elf Prince.
Compared to the threat of the transformed Trolls and Mammoth squads, the nine corrosive dragons circling above the palace posed a clearly greater danger to the ordinary people and soldiers hiding there.
Those dozens-of-meters-long corrosive dragons could take dozens of lives with each dive.
They also caused greater panic among the ordinary populace.
"I'll try!"
Legolas, seizing the moment when a corrosive dragon dove down again, drew his Galadhrim Bow to its full extent, and an arrow shot out like a meteor.
However, as the arrow plunged towards the corrosive dragon's head, the Ringwraiths riding on its back swung their Cursed Swords, instantly deflecting the Elf Prince's attack.
Missing once, the Elf Prince fired several more arrows in succession.
However, those arrows were either blocked by the Ringwraiths or could only strike the corrosive dragon's body.
The corrosive dragons were huge, and ordinary-length arrows were like toothpicks to them, posing no fatal threat whatsoever.
"Unless I can defeat the Ringwraiths first, I have no way to deal with those corrosive dragons." After several attempts, Legolas shook his head helplessly.
It was also at this moment that the temporary defensive wall, under the impact of the transformed Trolls and Mammoth squads, gradually began to crack.
Instantly, the situation in Gondor worsened to an extreme.
"They're here!"
Just as Aragorn couldn't help but feel despair, Gandalf, looking at the distant sky, suddenly showed a hint of a smile on his face.
"Caw—!"
Accompanied by bird calls and whistling sounds, dozens of giant eagles descended from the sky. Some rushed towards the transformed Trolls and Mammoth squads outside the defensive wall.
Others engaged in a fierce battle with the corrosive dragons in the air.
Amidst the shrieks, large amounts of foul blood splattered…
After several giant eagles fell, the flock finally brought down all nine corrosive dragons in the air.
On the other side, the diving giant eagles also temporarily repelled the transformed Trolls and Mammoth squads.
However, very quickly, a unit of Orcs armed with crossbows emerged from the Orc army.
These crossbows, also modified and strengthened, instantly caused heavy losses to the giant eagle formation.
Seeing the unfavorable situation, the giant eagle leader, Thorondor, immediately summoned his companions to fly high into the sky.
The entire process was, as it were, quick to come and quick to go.
However, their arrival did indeed significantly reduce the pressure on Gondor.
At the same time, the Rohan reinforcements outside the White City finally got their chance to attack.
After the main Orc forces had entered the White City, King Théoden led the Rohan cavalry out, aiming directly for the catapults brought by the Orcs.
After a quick blitz, dozens of catapults were almost completely destroyed.
At the Gondor Palace, Aragorn, who had once again climbed onto the defensive wall, also noticed that no more boulders were falling from the sky.
This allowed the Gondor soldiers to finally show themselves openly.
"Our reinforcements have arrived, everyone hold on!"
Aragorn, having gained a brief respite, also noticed a commotion appearing behind the Orc army.
So he again loudly encouraged the Gondor soldiers.
Then, he turned to Gandalf and the others and said, "Those transformed Trolls and Mammoth squads pose too great a threat to us; we must find a way to deal with them, otherwise the temporary defense line will be breached by them sooner or later."
The combined number of transformed Trolls and Mammoth squads was probably over a hundred. Although the previous giant eagles had killed some, there were still seventy or eighty remaining.
At this moment, these behemoths had regrouped and were once again crashing into the defensive wall.
It looked as if the defensive wall was about to collapse under their impact.
"I've heard a saying: the best defense is offense!"
Legolas, who hadn't been much help against the corrosive dragons earlier, held up his Galadhrim Bow and lightly leaped down from the defensive wall.
After several leaps, he landed on a Mammoth's trunk, then, using the Mammoth's head shake as an opportunity, jumped again to its head.
During this time, his Elf Bow fired arrows from both hands, knocking down the Orcs commanding from the Mammoth's back.
"Cool!"
Although Gimli the Dwarf disliked all Elves except Queen Galadriel, he couldn't help but cheer when he saw Legolas's smooth sequence of movements.
Then, he also raised his great axe and jumped down from the defensive wall.
On the other side, the Elf Prince, having reached the Mammoth's head, had already placed two arrows together and fiercely stabbed them into the Mammoth's eyes below him.
Amidst the rising dust, the mortally wounded Mammoth stumbled a few steps before its body finally collapsed heavily onto the ground.
"A very good method!"
Gandalf, seeing this, praised him, then also jumped down from the defensive wall.
Although the Elf Prince's method was a drop in the bucket, it did indeed slow down the efficiency of the transformed Trolls and Mammoth squads in impacting the defensive wall.
In fact, if enough people attacked, it might even be possible to completely wipe out the transformed Trolls and Mammoth squads.
"Merry, do you think we should go help too?"
On the other side, Pippin on the defensive wall, watching Gimli the Dwarf chop off the legs of a transformed Troll with his great axe, also began to feel eager.
"Uh, I think we need to reconsider…"
Merry, looking at the daggers that were their only weapons, wisely chose to observe.
It could be said that his approach was correct; two Hobbit children who hadn't experienced much hardship would only cause trouble if they jumped off the defensive wall.
"Faramir, the task of guarding the defensive wall is entrusted to you. Also, please keep an eye on these two little guys for me…"
Aragorn, seeing that the "decapitation operation" was effective, also organized several special forces teams equipped with chains.
However, before setting off, he specifically looked after Pippin and Merry, the two Hobbits.
Subsequently, Aragorn, jumping down from the defensive wall with the special forces team, cooperated with the team members' chains to trip several transformed Trolls.
Just as the situation was gradually improving, the Orc army finally couldn't sit still. Under the command of their minor leaders, the Orc army, along with the transformed Trolls and Mammoth squads, charged towards the palace defensive wall.
Instantly, the dense Orc army engulfed Legolas and Aragorn and the others.
Left with no choice, everyone could only retreat back to the defensive wall.
"Damn it—!!"
Watching the transformed Trolls and Mammoth squads once again ramming the defensive wall below, Aragorn clenched his fists and let out an unwilling roar.
Clearly, with the Orc army joining the attack, the situation for Gondor had worsened.
And everything Legolas and Aragorn and the others had done earlier had all been in vain.
After all, the number of transformed Trolls and Mammoth squads was simply too large. Even with their previous impressive results, they had only killed a dozen or so.
Now, half of these behemoths remained, and with the help of the Orc army, breaching the defensive wall was only a matter of time.
On the other side, the Rohan cavalry, who had come as reinforcements from outside the White City, also found themselves in a stalemate.
With only a hundred men, after destroying the Orcs' catapults, they were quickly surrounded by the returning Orc army.
Worst of all, the nine undying Ringwraiths, having lost their corrosive dragons, happened to retreat outside the city.
Subsequently, those Ringwraiths also joined the ranks besieging the Rohan reinforcements.
"You're so small, why do you still resist? Why not join us and serve the Dark Lord together…"
Seeing that the forces of darkness were about to take Gondor, the Witch-king of Angmar, leader of the nine Ringwraiths, was in a very good mood, even having the leisure to chat with the relatively thin Rohan reinforcements before him.
Being underestimated by the Ringwraiths, Princess Arwen held back her anger and silently looked for an opportunity.
One side was intent, the other oblivious…
Soon, the Witch-king of Angmar paid the price for his carelessness, as Princess Arwen found an opportunity and struck the Cursed Sword from his hand with a single blow.
"It's useless, no man can kill a Ringwraith…"
After the Cursed Sword was knocked away, the Witch-king of Angmar directly spread his arms defenselessly, expressing his disdain.
With rule-based abilities, as long as their corresponding Rings of Power were not destroyed, the Ringwraiths were essentially "immortal."
"Die—"
However, Princess Arwen completely ignored the Witch-king of Angmar's rambling. Seeing her opponent defenseless, she immediately stabbed her sword into his head.
"I said, no man can kill… die…"
The Witch-king of Angmar was about to mock the slender warrior before him, but under the girl's sword, the black mist on his body began to dissipate, and his body became increasingly ethereal.
"Wh-why… is this happening…"
Before dying, the Witch-king of Angmar still couldn't understand how he could have fallen in such a place.
"I'm sorry, I am not a man… but a woman…"
After confirming the opponent's death, Princess Arwen removed her helmet, revealing a head of golden long hair.
Under the sunlight, it shone brilliantly like gold.