"Push harder, you swine! Lord Sauron commands that we take the Black Gate at any cost! Even if you die of exhaustion, die on the Black Gate walls!"
An Orc commander rode atop a snarling warg, wielding a whip and constantly lashing two Olog-hai trolls whose bodies were already torn and bloodied.
These two Olog-hai were using all their strength to push a siege tower, which was packed full with Orcs wearing patched armor, making it extremely difficult to move.
When the Orc commander's whip struck them, the pain made them howl, and then they squeezed out every ounce of strength in their bodies to push, making the siege tower's advance slightly faster.
"BOOM!"
"The Orc commander scowled at the slow-moving siege tower. These damn trolls only knew how to eat but wouldn't work hard. Just as he raised his whip to lash them again, a thunderous roar exploded overhead—and shadows covered him along with the surrounding warg riders."
The Orc commander only had time to lift its head and catch a final glimpse before being crushed under the broken siege tower, black blood slowly spreading from beneath the wreckage.
On this destroyed siege tower, azure magic particles gradually dispersed.
This sudden phenomenon struck the Orc commanders' frayed nerves like a red-hot brand.
"Wiz... wizard!"
A scarred Orc chieftain wearing crude iron plates was first to let out a broken-gong shriek. Its murky yellow eyes instantly filled with terror and rage as it waved a blood-stained cleaver, frantically pointing toward the battlements where the blue light had vanished, spittle flying with its roars.
"There's a wizard on the walls! Damned glowing rat! Catapults! Move! Aim at the walls! Smash! Turn that glowing bastard into paste! Bring down that whole section of wall!"
Its roar ignited like a fuse. Nearby Orc commanders who had also witnessed the blue light, whether hot-tempered Uruk chieftains or relatively cunning ordinary Orc squad leaders, all reacted with surprising unanimity.
They beat their chests, screamed themselves hoarse, and roared the same command in various foul Orcish tongues.
"Catapults! Target the walls above! Fire!"
"Quick! Kill that wizard! Don't let him cast light again!"
"Target where the wizard stands! Smash it hard!"
The orders spread like plague through the catapult positions behind them, an area of massive bone frameworks, crude ropes, and rotting wood. The Orcs operating these clumsy killing machines immediately sprang into motion like whip-cracked spinning tops.
Massive, dim-witted trolls wearing only simple leather loincloths let out dull grunts under the Orc overseers' whip-cracks and curses. With their muscled, filth-covered massive arms, they struggled to lift enormous stones, each the size of four or five robust humans, with rough edges and jagged corners.
These stones were incredibly heavy. Every time the trolls moved one, their feet left deep impressions in the muddy ground.
The stones were laboriously placed into the catapults' huge throwing pouches made of tough beast hide. The Orcs operating the winches showed their crooked yellow teeth, straining with all their might to turn the heavy mechanisms. Thick ropes groaned under the enormous tension.
The Orcs responsible for adjusting angle and direction squinted their small eyes, gesturing roughly while baring their teeth at the general area where blue light had appeared on the Black Gate walls, making threatening, mocking hisses and growls.
"Release!"
The Orc petty officers at each catapult almost simultaneously let out piercing shrieks.
"Whooom... whoosh!"
Dull sounds of cutting air suddenly rang out as over a dozen massive shadows tore through Mordor's foul air, howling as they rose from the ground.
They traced heavy, brief parabolic arcs, their shadows instantly covering the Orc vanguard preparing for the siege below.
"Roar! Smash those human scum!"
"The walls are coming down!"
"The wizard's finished too!"
The Orcs below who noticed this spectacular sight, spectacular to them at least, had ugly faces beaming with primitive excitement and bloodthirsty anticipation as they waved weapons and let out deafening cheers mixed with various strange cries.
Some even opened their mouths, drooling with disgusting saliva, showing rows of yellow-black fangs, eagerly awaiting the delightful screams when the stones struck the walls.
However, atop the Black Gate walls, the gray-green-cloaked Dúnedain Rangers stood like cold stones behind the battlements.
Their faces showed no panic or tension. T"They didn't even seek cover to avoid the bombardment, only coldly watching those massive howling stones with barely detectable mockery."
"CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!"
A series of heart-stopping thunderous impacts, like heavy hammers pounding hard earth, shook the ground at the wall's base with their massive force, throwing up clouds of dust.
But the sound's source wasn't the incredibly solid black walls above.
Every stone, without exception, struck precisely and heavily into the empty ground forty to fifty meters in front of the Black Gate walls.
The earth was pitted with shocking, crack-edged craters as shattered stone and dirt sprayed outward in all directions. Smoke and dust filled the air, obscuring part of the view.
Those deafening crashes seemed to slam hard into the wide-open, drool- and filth-streaming mouths of all the Orcs who had been excitedly howling moments before, instantly plunging the previously thunderous battlefield front into deathly silence.
All the Orcs with upturned heads and open mouths froze mid-expression, their excited roars stuck in their throats, becoming comical, silent freeze-frames.
Seeing this scene, Tarnes looked at Talion with some admiration. "So their range really is insufficient to hit the Black Gate."
Talion's face showed confidence, though he quickly sighed at the numerous Orcs below. "I've fought these Orcs for so many years. Of course I know their catapults' maximum range and their temperament. Whenever they're attacked by ranged means, they always counterattack with catapults. These brainless Orcs saw your spell hit their forces and thought their catapults could reach us too."
Tarnes shrugged and raised his staff again.
His magic power was still abundant, and Melina and Bernahl's incantation-casting was nearing completion. He could release a few more spells to buy more time.
Talion worriedly instructed his trusted aide to send word to Gondor that the Black Gate faced assault by Mordor's great army led by Nazgûl and urgently needed reinforcement.
Just as he finished his instructions, he suddenly heard several soul-rending shrieks from the sky.
However, having already been blessed by Bernahl's magic, these shrieks were merely ear-piercing sounds that caused only physical discomfort.
Talion immediately understood that the Nazgûl hiding in the sky's dark clouds could no longer restrain themselves. While taking his bow from his back, he quickly commanded, "Archers, watch the skies!"
From the thick, dark clouds, three Nazgûl riding fierce beasts burst forth, flying directly toward Tarnes, who was casting spells on the walls.
"Loose arrows! Don't let the Nazgûl harm Lord Tarnes!" Talion roared, first releasing his bowstring to send an arrow toward the diving Nazgûl.
Tarnes didn't stop casting his spell. Glintstone magic continued emitting azure brilliance, smashing into the siege towers and catapults advancing on the Black Gate, destroying the Orcs' siege equipment.
Even with Melina temporarily away from his side and Bernahl casting incantations on the rangers, someone was always protecting Tarnes from behind.
In Talion's anxious peripheral vision, as he saw arrows couldn't stop the diving Nazgûl, a crimson figure suddenly burst into view like flame petals caught in a gale.
Millicent moved so fast she almost left afterimages. She precisely used the rough, protruding stonework of the flanking watchtowers as leverage points, her feet lightly touching, and in just a few bounds, she had leaped to the highest point of one watchtower.
The tower's fierce wind instantly billowed her crimson dress. Without pause, Millicent swung her weapon toward the massive, twisted Nazgûl above that carried the aura of death and had swooped closest to her, unleashing a cascade of blade-light.