Under Azog's command, the front-line orcs raised their shields and pointed their spears at the charging chariots and riders, forming a defensive formation.
However, whether it was the dwarves' equipnt or Garrett's tactics, they always exceeded the orcs' expectations.
Whoosh.
A firework crossbow bolt shot out, blasting a small gap in the orcs' formation. That bolt, packed with seven full firework stars, dealt over ten points of explosive damage. The impact was so strong it blew several orc shields straight out of their hands.
Close behind ca the dwarven goat cavalry.
The war-goats' horns were large, curved, and incredibly sturdy, like shields themselves. Unlike cavalry mounted on horses, these riders could charge directly into spear formations, and it was usually the enemy who suffered first.
These were cavalry that could even break through elven shield walls.
These scrawny orcs stood no chance of stopping them.
Crash!
The goat riders slamd into the ranks, sending orcs flying and tumbling. Following right behind were chariots pulled by similarly horned mountain goats.
Five chariots plowed into the formation one after another. The goats lowered their heads at the front lines, ramming into and sending a whole row of orcs flying. The wheels clattered over the orcs lying on the ground without the slightest hesitation.
Sharpened steel blades on both sides of the chariot wheels spun at high speed as they advanced, slicing through the approaching orcs, armor and all, cleanly in half, leaving a bloody path behind them.
The entire formation was split right down the middle, carving out a wide road of flesh and blood.
The width of the road matched the width of the chariots.
Garrett glanced back at the rapidly spinning cutting device on the chariot's rear wheel, silently comparing.
This thing, not to ntion orc armor, would shave off a good chunk of his own health if it hit him.
One graze would send you flying. A direct hit ant instant death.
Such was the overwhelming power of dwarven engineering.
Under the combined assault of the dwarven cavalry and chariots, the vanguard force sent to block them was soon annihilated. A massive portion was trampled to death, and broken orc corpses littered the ground.
The formation had long since collapsed. Five full-scale war chariots had diced the infantry formation into pieces, there was no putting it back together.
"Release the trolls!"
Azog gave the order.
Elite units had to be countered with elite units. These chariots might be devastating against infantry, but just one cave troll could flip them over with a single swipe.
"Our beasts took heavy losses," Bolg reminded him nearby.
During the siege, in order to counter Garrett's tactics, most of the thick-skinned, hulking siege-beasts had already been killed.
"Only a few cave trolls remain now."
Not even a single Olog-hai was left.
"Then send them out, quickly!"
Clang! Clang!
The front-line orcs quickly moved aside to make way for the trolls.
Though weaker than siege-beasts, they still had the strength to deal with the chariots, as long as they could seize the right mont...
Whoosh.
Garrett loosed another arrow, setting the lead troll ablaze. The flas burned fiercely, and even rolling on the ground didn't extinguish them. As long as the target wasn't fire-resistant, they had to burn for several seconds.
Orcs in the rear rushed to douse the fallen troll with water to extinguish the flas.
But while they were busy, neither Garrett nor the dwarves stood idle. Garrett's flaming arrows and the chariots' armor-piercing repeating ballistae, which could pivot to aim, were not to be underestimated.
Faced with the dwarves' relentless volleys of thick steel bolts, even Garrett's contribution seed secondary.
Each bolt could pierce a troll's hide and embed deep into its body.
With five repeating ballistae providing covering fire, the troll assault was quickly neutralized. Not a single one managed to reach a chariot before dying.
"Curse it all!"
Azog watched helplessly as the chariots and riders closed in, frustrated.
How could he not see what Garrett and the others were planning?
If they had even one siege-beast left, just one, it could have easily neutralized those chariots. Even without a siege-beast, an Olog-hai would have sufficed. But unfortunately, both the siege-beasts and the Olog-hai had already been deployed in earlier siege operations.
And after the city walls were breached, the remaining few were sent in as shock troops.
Once they went in, they never ca back, didn't even make an impact.
Now, only the catapult-trolls remained on the flanks, but they were never designed for frontline combat, they were siege-support creatures.
"We absolutely must not let the enemy get any closer. Send the wargs to deal with them!"
Azog imdiately activated his backup plan.
Buzz.
With a signal flag raised, wargs surged forward from both sides.
"This could be troubleso..."
Compared to trolls, wargs were far more fragile, one arrow was enough to kill one. However, their strength lay in numbers and extre mobility.
Moreover, these wargs were natural enemies of the mountain goats.
Once they got close, the front-line goats would likely fall, and the chariots would be forced to a halt, completely inoperable.
"Prepare for combat!"
Seeing the worsening situation, Thorin quickly stood at the front of the chariot and shouted.
They were probably going to have to dismount and fight.
Balin, operating the repeating ballista, fired wildly at the wargs while glancing sideways to ask, "Garrett, do you have any more tricks up your sleeve? Like that lightning storm Gandalf used on the Goblin-town, can't you do sothing like that?"
"If you're expecting to whip out a spell like Gandalf's, you might as well hope for reinforcents to drop from the sky and deal with the wargs for us," Garrett replied, shaking his head and dashing Balin's hopes.
"Get ready to fight on foot. We're close to the destination anyway, we can push our way through. Once we reach the ruins under the watchtower, I'll block the path. They won't be able to get through."
"Very well then."
"It'll just cost us a little more ti, that's all."
Garrett drew his longsword, eyes fixed on the approaching swarm of wargs, ready to charge at any mont.
But just as the chariots' firepower was no longer able to suppress the wargs and the mountain goats were about to clash with the oncoming wave, suddenly, cries rang out from the sky.
He looked up to see seven or eight Great Eagles swooping down, wings spread wide, raking their razor-sharp talons through a line of wargs, tossing them aside like leaves.
At the sa ti, a large figure leaped off one of the eagles, transforming mid-fall into a giant bear, crashing into the enemy ranks and tearing through the warg pack, clearing a path ahead of the chariots.
It was the skin-changer, Beorn.
"Huh?"
On the chariot, Garrett looked at Balin, and Balin looked back at him.
"By my beard, Garrett! You called it, reinforcents really did fall from the sky!"
"Is this so kind of summoning magic?" Even Thorin joked from the front.
"I was just talking nonsense..."
Garrett facepald.
Weren't these eagles showing up a little too conveniently?
"Ho there—!"
On the back of one eagle, the brown-robed Radagast waved his staff and leaned over, greeting Garrett cheerfully.
"I brought reinforcents! We're not late, are we?"
"Perfect timing!" Garrett waved back.
"Haha! Now let's see who still says I'm useless!"
That jab was aid squarely at Gandalf.
When they faced Sauron, both Gandalf and the White Council had refused to bring him along.
Now, finally, it was his ti to shine.
After dropping off Garrett and the others at the base of Ravenhill, the eagles let out shrill cries and swooped back into the orc army, while Beorn tore through the wargs in a violent rampage.
"Can't handle him? Fine. But I can handle you lot!"
Seeing the arrogant bear wreak havoc, Azog couldn't take it anymore. He quickly sent a strike team to encircle and eliminate him. After all, a bear's strength had its limits. If one bear really could take on an entire army, the skin-changer race wouldn't have been hunted to near extinction.
After the initial fierce charge, Beorn began to slow down, his stamina gradually wearing thin.
anwhile, the eagles t their own resistance. From the burrowed tunnels erged another batch of cave trolls.
Their stone-like skin resisted the eagles' sharp talons, while they swung giant clubs toward the sky.
Not very dangerous, but extrely annoying.
"I think it's ti we retreat for now. I saw Gandalf on the wall over there," Radagast said as he and the eagles proposed pulling back.
Soon, the eagles carried him and Beorn away toward the city wall, leaving behind a torn-up battlefield of orc corpses and a bunch of enraged, useless trolls.
With the sudden departure of the eagles and the bear, the orcs once again searched for Garrett and the dwarves, only to discover that, at so point, a wall had appeared in the ruins beneath Ravenhill.
A wall made of the sa impenetrable material as the city walls of Dale.
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