Chapter 59: The Fog Fills

In the darkness, Zhao Mian opened his eyes, and on the sentry post not far from him, the soldier standing on the last guard before dawn fell into the Anduin River with a thud, and gradually drifted away with the flow of the river, and on his back on the corpse of the river, a black feather arrow stuck in his neck represented the approach of the enemy.

As Zhao Mian speculated, at this dark dawn, the enemy's troops quietly approached the west bank of the Anduin River, and the fog on the river surface obscured the sight of the warriors from Gondor, and some spells from the darkness also interfered with Zhao Mian's perception, so that Mordor's army approached not far from the west bank before being discovered.

But that didn't give them much of a battlefield advantage - although there were reasons why they already had a very large advantage, but at least they didn't extend it. Because in such a dark hour, not many people can sleep peacefully.

Not too far from Zhao Mian, Faramir stood up, the armor that had not been removed for the past two days was still stained with dew, and the mist of dawn also wet the tips of his hair. He patted the warriors beside him with their eyes closed—the warriors beside him, or all the men in the camp, had not shed their armor, and they were holding their weapons—perhaps with the surnames of their ancestors engraved on them—from the mud, and exchanged gestures and movements with each other, and quickly approached the arranged ambush position.

Faramir looked around at the warriors around him—no one had stopped, and the few warriors who had met his gaze had simply given him a hurried salute and walked toward their positions. He knew, and the soldiers knew, that this battle might well be their last, and that under the bridge that crossed the Anduin River, where their ancestors had shown their ancient wisdom, they would most likely swing their last slash and be tainted by the orcs—but with the sheer sharpness of their blades, they would cut through their bodies and let their blood flow through the land.

He drew his sword, the sword of the royal family of the past was still as sharp as it had been hundreds of years ago, and the passage of time had not taken away the guards stationed there, and the gray and mud could not be stained on it in the slightest. He danced the hilt slightly, and the blade sliced through the air around him with his wrist so fast that the sharp edge was palpable even through the wind—he walked toward the riverbank, where, at the very head of the ambush, he had placed himself in a key position.

Unlike the other fighters, Zhao Mian did not choose to rest on the drier river beach, but closed his eyes directly at the ambush position he asked to rest, and from time to time there was a turbulent river water overflowing his waist, wetting the hem of his jacket, the feeling of dampness and mud made people unable to sleep, but the flow of the river would also bring him some subtle information. He stood up, the river water accumulated in the armor flowed down his body into the river, the sound of the oars from the enemy hitting the water had clearly reached everyone's ears, the enemy had approached the shore, and all the warriors from all parts of Gondor had already entered the arranged positions, and from time to time there was a slight sound of armor rubbing against the stone pillar in the shadow of the bridge pillar - Zhao Mian pulled out his weapon.

There is no light, no holy light, and even the faint glimmers that permeate Zhao Mian's body all the time have disappeared into the darkness, since it was cast, this may be the bleakest moment for Zhao Mian's weapons and armor, not only without the blessing of the holy light, but even the magic engraved on itself has been deliberately suppressed. Zhao Mian leaned against the bridge pier, and a slight vibration was transmitted from the stone pillar behind him to the armor, and he knew that it was the information that the enemy had landed.

A slight whisper came from the mist, then a little footsteps and the sound of tapping wood, and then, as if a signal, a meaningless cry tore through the last silence of the dawn, and all the orcs who echoed the cry rushed up the riverbank with their weapons, over the piers, and towards the ruins of the buildings on the riverbank. In the midst of it, not a single orc looked back, and behind them, a group of well-armed warriors were watching their silhouette with their blades clenched.

Ten, fifty, hundred, thirteen, one hundred and sixteen, two hundred...... Zhao Mian gently pressed the hand of the warrior beside him who was about to draw the blade of the sword, while calculating the approximate number of enemies who had already rushed to the river beach. Four hundred, four hundred five, five hundred, five hundred and five,...... Seven hundred, seven hundred and five......

"For Gondor!" When Zhao Mian counted seven hundred and fifty people, Faramir's signal also pierced the dark dawn, and with his voice, the warrior standing beside him blew the horn on his waist, and the majestic sound made the orcs of Mordor standing beside him stop in shock, but before they could turn back, the sharp blade had pierced into their bodies, and the filthy blood fell to the ground.

"For Gondor!" all the warriors from Gondor shouted the name of their homeland, raised their swords and slashed into the crowd, the ambushed warriors quickly severed the connection between the enemy's front and rear forces, leaving the orcs in a state of confusion, some of them turned their heads to attack the enemy behind, but those who were still carrying out the order to charge stopped their attack.

There was no threat to the chaotic army, but it was impossible for the generals of the army to keep their army in such disarray, and the dense drumbeat soon came out of the fog on the river, and a new group of enemies approached the river beach with their generals.

To the sound of the war drums, the orcs quickly changed the direction of their attack in unison, turned their heads and launched a counterattack against the small ambush force, and the enemy Gondor army soon fell into a fierce battle, and the situation changed twice in a short period of time. And it was at this time that Faramir used the gauntlet of his sword to hold the axe of a half-orc, and at the same time cut off the enemy's wrist with a quick counter-blow, and the warriors covering by his side quickly approached and took away the opponent's head, and Faramir picked up the horn from the fallen warriors around him, and blew out the order for a second wave of attacks.

"Boom!" With the sound of the horn, a feathered arrow shot out of the shadows of the buildings on the riverbank, pinpointing through the gap in the back of an orc's helmet, and peeking out of his mouth, the orc threw himself to the ground, twitched twice and lost his reaction.

"Kill!" some warriors roared and rushed down from the riverbank, and behind them, rangers in black cloaks played the role of spokesmen of death with bows and arrows.

Once again, the severed orcs were thrown into disarray, exhausted by two successive rear assaults, frightened by feathered arrows from the shadows, and quickly became the new rust on the blades of the warriors from Gondor.

The drums on the river were silent for a moment, and then the sound of the drums beating more rapidly reached everyone's ears, and the sound of the oars hitting the river on the river surface became clearer and more dense at this moment, and it was obvious that the enemy generals had found that their vanguard was out of control and was rapidly approaching.

Zhao Mian let the orc's blade slash at his waist, and the big sword in his hand slashed from the enemy's neck to the chest, and then he kicked the enemy out, and hit the tall orc on the head who was entangled with the warrior beside him. Ignoring the half-orcs who were cut open and blood was gushing out, Zhao Mian turned around, and the light shone in everyone's eyes at this moment, the warm holy light, as if it was a sun that had not been seen for a long time, brought them a little warmth, and the slash that a half-orc was about to hit was bounced away by the sudden light, and the wounds on the warriors' bodies were rudely closed, and then returned to their original state- Even some of the warriors who were seriously wounded on the ground once again grabbed their swords and slashed at the orcs near them.

But these things are not what Zhao Mian cares about now, in front of him, hundreds of wooden boats appeared in front of him with the gradually fading fog, and above this ancient river, a black army showed its strength with its majestic military momentum.

And it wasn't just Zhao Mian, Faramir, who noticed that the injuries on his body were recovering at a speed visible to the naked eye, turned his head to look at Zhao Mian, but what appeared in front of him was the army that seemed to be boundless and occupied the entire river that could be seen.

"Woo~~!" he blew the horn, the majestic voice that originally came from the ancient Gondor brought a little sadness at this moment, he separated the enemy's attack with a sword, but the light attached to the blade cut the throat of the half-orc at once, but he didn't care about the enemy's situation, but shouted his own order loudly: "Retreat!"

When everyone didn't react, another voice echoed him, Zhao Mian, who was standing on the edge of the river beach, took a deep breath, and the stinky half-orc blood covering his visor was sucked into his lungs by him, and then his voice spread on the river beach, and the light also exploded under the broken bridge: "Holy light, please burn those dark eyes - then, burst!"