The Ultimate Evolution

Melody"s blessing had undergone significant strengthening. The huge increase in resistance and probability effect aside,there was also an insane new ability – to reduce the damage received by 25%, then turn it into HP! Taking into account both the reduction and addition effects, they totalled up to a staggering difference of 50%.

Mysterious Elven runes rapidly formed around Melody. She started chanting another divine art. Every tree on the mountain seem to sing in resonance with Melody"s chant.

Elrond"s face turned pale. He"s already on the path of no return. If he ran away now, he would still die once the effect of the Splitting Spell ended.

He would only have a chance to live if he stood his ground. Retreating meant death. If he stayed, even if he would be in a terribly disadvantageous position, there was still a chance for him to turn the situation around with his wits.

Elrond continued to target Melody. For Elrond, the Twilight Elf Melody remained the most useful and the most dangerous person there!

However, both Sheyan and Reef were in their peak conditions now. Under the protection of the both of them, the chance of Elrond directly harming Melody is very low. In addition to that, Elrond was also plagued by disease.

Elrond was still a famous legendary hero after all. He had stood tall amidst the history of Middle Earth and had even laid down his mark on it. He experienced countless battles throughout his life that spanned millenium. There"s no way he would be that simple to handle. Even though the situation was dire, it wasn"t enough to bring him down!

He actually made Melody lose her ability to battle, again!

Elrond"s move shocked even someone as shrewd as Sheyan. That"s because the price Elrond had to pay to do this was something that was second only to his life!

All divine equipments have a life of their own. After the Ring of Air Vilya was ripped away by Sheyan, it naturally returned to Elrond. But the current Elrond was (1) devoid of magic, and (2) had a human body. The Ring of Air was one of the Three Elven Rings of Power, so it naturally required an Elven bloodline to use it.

Strictly speaking, the powerful Ring of Air was nothing more than decoration to Elrond right now.

So, Elrond did something that Legolas, Glorfindel, and all other Elves could only dream of ever happening. He wiped away his own soul imprint on Vilya, then threw the ring into the air. The ring, Vilya, that was comparable to a divine equipment!

The powerful ring that was forged for the Elven race released a strong vibration in the air!

The vibration of the ring reached the heart of every Elf on Middle Earth. Even faraway Elves like Legolas, Glorfindel and Galadriel, the keeper of the Ring of Water, Nenya, could feel the strong sensation.

The same shocking thought crept into their minds.

“The soul imprint on the Ring of Air was removed? Has Elrond fallen?”

Out of all the Elves present, Melody was the strongest and had the purest soul. She was also a Twilight Elf who were naturally powerful. Naturally, she too could sense that Sire Vilya had lost its owner… Melody appeared very emotional. She absent-mindedly reached out her hand to infuse her own soul imprint on the ring out of instinct.

It must be emphasized that she was acting out of instinct without thinking. It was like how a person would retract their hand when they touched the flame, or how the author of this story would instinctively bend down to tie his shoelaces when a girl in short skirt walked by, or how Edison Chen would instinctively look for a camera whenever he saw a beautiful woman….

(T/N note: Edison Chen – 

(ED: THE GOLDEN a.n.a.lOGIES!! They just keep getting better…)

In the history of China, even a royal seal would cause royalties and n.o.bles to scrabble madly, and that was only a symbol of status. The Ring of Air, Vilya was the central ring among the Three Elven Rings of Power. It"s not only a symbol of status, it was also a source of power! Think of how important it was in the heart of every Elf.

With no one stopping her, Melody caught the Ring of Air and successfully engraved her soul imprint on it. Under her control, the ring flew onto her left ring finger.

However, once Melody put on the Ring of Air, her face instantly turned pale. She covered her head with her hands and slowly leaned against a stone beside her.She looked like a withering flower, slowly wilting away.

Sheyan"s pupils shrunk while Elrond burst out in laughter.

“A newly awakened Twilight Elf like you dare to lay your dirty hands on my Vilya? Dream on! Even though it had expended almost all its energy, you could consider it a testament to your ability that you weren"t immediately sucked dry. When the High King of the Noldor, Gil-galad gifted upon me the Ring of Air, it took me a whole month to master the ring even with his guidance.”

“A weak Twilight Elf like you wished to understand how to control the ring without guidance? How long do you think it would take? Ten years? Twenty? Or a hundred? Oh, right. You"re even a follower of the Sun G.o.d, Sin"dorei. Maybe in your next life then! Without the enlightenment bestowed by the Moon G.o.d, Luna, you will never find the correct path!”

As Sheyan looked at Melody whose face was pale and eyes were shut, he really hoped she would suddenly open her eyes and tell Elrond: "I was Gil-galad in my previous life you garbage", then kicked Elrond to the edge of the world. But from the look of it, it would remain his fantasy.

Elrond now had the confidence to ma.s.sacre everyone and take back his treasure. Such wit was a testament to his wisdom gained over thousands of years. His name wasn"t sung without reason!

Even Sheyan himself couldn"t help admiring Elrond"s decisiveness in letting go of the ring. That was one of the Rings of Power, yet Elrond could just throw it out nonchalantly as bait. A plan like this could no longer be called a hidden conspiracy; it"s an open conspiracy! You knew it was a trap, yet your body couldn"t help but jump into it!

“Reef, something doesn"t add up,” Sheyan suddenly said in the party channel.

“Elrond was so strong after he regained his mind that anytime he got close to one of the Elves, he could instantly drag the Elf away without any resistance…but why didn"t he finish you? Wouldn"t things be a lot more convenient for him without someone like you in his way?”

Reef sounded perplexed as he replied.

“Maybe he couldn"t kill me? No, that can"t be. He killed Elder Desirese Roots who definitely had higher HP than I do!”

Sheyan said in a heavy tone.

“Then there"s only one explanation. Elrond had prepared for this moment for a long time, so consuming the flesh essences of his own kin to rebuild his Elven bloodline was definitely within his plan. Therefore, he probably prepared a strong item or weapon for that purpose. But that item or weapon is only effective against the Elves, and not against us.”

They positioned themselves in front of Melody and the remaining Elf as they communicated. Unfortunately, Reef hadn"t advanced into an Awakener yet. If he had, be it the gravitational field of Zeus or Skull"s metal armour, they could have displayed their might right now.

Elrond once again charged towards Sheyan and Reef like a ghost. Reef wasn"t in a hurry to use "Shattering Cardiac Roar" this time, choosing to closely observe Elrond instead.

This time, Elrond landed both his punches heavily on Reef"s s.h.i.+eld. Reef was instantly pushed away by the heavy force. Elrond then twisted his body in a weird way and grabbed Sheyan"s right wrist just as Sheyan was about to throw out a curse-mix. Elrond then flicked his fingers lightly and robbed Sheyan of the curse-mix.

Sheyan immediately slashed back with determination. His blade firmly struck Elrond"s body. Just as Sheyan was about to dish out another hit, an emblem on Elrond"s chest suddenly radiated with a blinding white glow. Sheyan"s vision was covered by the white light!

The body of a contestant is a lot stronger than the body of a normal human. A blind debuff like this would only last for 2-3 seconds on Sheyan. As soon as the glow appeared, he had immediately s.h.i.+fted his head to the side and lashed out with his blade. But his blade struck nothing but air!

His heart sank. If Reef and Sheyan were the gate protecting the people behind them, then the gate was wide open right now.

Reef"s "Shattering Cardiac Roar" sounded from behind Sheyan and washed over Elrond like a raging tide. A series of lights flashed on Elrond"s body and once again negated the slowing effect from the roar. Elrond was now less than 3 meters away from Melody. She was within touching distance!

In this critical moment, Elrond sneezed despite himself.

Even if he was one of the strongest people on the continent, even if he was the Lord of Rivendell, even if he was the son of the human sailor, Eärendil and the Elf, Elwing who were sung in songs.

(T/N: Unlike what the author claimed, Earendil and Elwing were actually both half-elves)

But right now, he"s a human!

Any human that could fall sick would not escape from the terrifying effect of the Pestilence Monarch!

Not only was the dreadful ability bugging Elrond as inevitable as fate itself, it was also as cruel as fate itself!

Elrond had already been hit by the effect once. He even used up to 6 magical accessories amidst his coughing fit but to no avail. At the time, Elrond already had a bad premonition. However, there weren"t any outbursts afterwards, so Elrond put it down as a one-time use magic spell. He didn"t know that it was a ticking time bomb that was merely lying dormant in his body.

The shuddering of his body caused his movement speed to fall sharply. Reef immediately blocked his path and unleashed the formidable Steelclaw upon Elrond. Simultaneously, the surviving Elven mage hugged the unconscious Melody and rolled behind Reef.

Elrond"s last-minute failure caused his face to turn ashen. He unsheathed a longsword that had a notable Elven style and easily parried Reef"s attack. At the same time, he used the sheath to execute a block to his side. Sheyan"s "+7 West" immediately met with the sheath, causing sparks to fly. Sheyan even managed to hack off a gemstone. However, the force from the block forced Sheyan back a few steps.

Sheyan threw out a curse-mix in pa.s.sing. Elrond wasn"t able to stop him this time. He used another magic item to recover from the 1.5 second stun effect from the curse-mix shockwave, but he couldn"t do anything about the 25% reduction in movement speed from being inside the resulting green smoke.

At the same time, a malicious ray of light shot towards Elrond. It was the sly Franklin! Franklin used his staff to draw a circle in the air, and a sizzling ray of light shot out from the circle to burn Elrond"s back.

Sheyan and Reef finally gained the upper hand in this battle full of unpredictable difficulties. They were visibly shaken still.

It must be noted that, technically speaking, Elrond was a magic user, which meant that they were in fact engaging in a melee fight with a mage who had no magic power. The mage had even been injured to a certain extent and was far from his peak condition. Yet the battle was still so unbelievably difficult!

After he saw the strange green smoke envelope an area of several hundred meters square, Elrond did not look happy at all. He gritted his teeth and forced out his words.

“This is the concocting method of Saruman the White! Why would he pa.s.s his teachings achoo to a foolish human?”

Honestly speaking, even if Elrond had brandished his weapon, it was still really troublesome to fight both Sheyan and Reef in the curse-mix smoke. Plus, he still had to be careful of the sickness that might erupt anytime. However, he was still the great Elrond. The Elrond who left his name in the history of Middle Earth!

Even after being forced into a corner, he still relied on his devilish speed, practiced battle technique and surprising fighting methods to firmly suppress Sheyan and Reef. The two of them brushed shoulders with death multiple times in the short span of a few minutes.

Which is why Sheyan chose to once again unleash the dark gold giant leech!

Sheyan had already used the leech once in his fight with Drubal, but Drubal was too busy running away to attack the leech. After his extortion of Drubal, the leech was kept back in Sheyans possession in one piece. Thus, the leech could still be used at the moment. Sheyan unhesitatingly let it out.

The 25% drop in movement speed from the curse-mix smoke might not have affected Elrond much, but the 50% drop from the giant leech is another matter. Even though it"s attack was weak, it had a st.u.r.dy body and its attack had a large area of effect. Its debuffs were also really annoying for the enemy.

Elrond got careless for a moment, and Sheyan and Reef latched on to the chance to land their attacks. Sheyan"s blade was strong, but Reef"s claw was also pretty fierce. The claw struck Elrond"s right thigh heavily and tore open a large wound!

If Elrond had coincidentally coughed or s.h.i.+vered at the moment of impact, he might have lost his leg.

More importantly, when Elrond ran away with the Elven mage before this, he was alerted by the changes on Vilya"s seal on Melody before he could absorb the life essence of the Elf. He forcefully broke off the ritual and hadn"t managed to recover any of his HP.

After the series of fierce battle, Elrond now had less than 50% of his HP remaining. On the other hand, Reef and Sheyan could share the damage sustained and had the strong Twilight Elf"s blessings on them. Their HPs were sustained above 80% the whole time. Besides that, there were also Franklin and the sole remaining Elven mage. They were both forces to be reckoned with!

As soon as the dark gold leech appeared, it became the straw that broke the camel"s back. The scale of victory started to tip towards Sheyan"s side.

Under such circ.u.mstances, Elrond quickly retreated outside the poisonous smoke. Determination flashed in his eyes as he produced a scroll from his chest.

The scroll looked old but was s.h.i.+ning with a bright l.u.s.tre, giving it the luxurious feel of an antique treasure. Elrond looked at the group in front of him with venom in eyes. If it wasn"t for Sheyan"s interference, he would have already started the rebuilding process of his Elven bloodline by now. Instead, he"s still struggling for his life here.

Sheyan and Reef"s hearts both tightened when they saw Elrond"s action. A scroll that he had kept up to now would definitely be his last measure in case of emergency. It would be his final gamble!

Elrond obviously believed that the scroll would let him make a comeback. If Sheyan and co. could overcome this final hurdle, they would be grabbing victory by the throat. If they couldn"t, then all their efforts will go to waste!

With a solemn face, Elrond held the scroll in both hands and chanted earnestly:

“O power of the sprout. Please awaken. Honour the agreement from ancient times!”

“Clear all obstructions blocking my way.”

“Your freedom awaits after completing my wish.”

“Wake up, the ruler of all trees, the tyrant of roots. Man-Eating Devil Tree, Harlech!”

“Refuse me my wish, and your soul shall agonise within the fire of h.e.l.l for a thousand years!”

Throughout the whole chanting process, both Franklin and the Elven mage had continuously released a torrent of offensive spells towards Elrond. However, every time a spell was about to connect, an image of a yellow leaf would appear to block the spell.

Elrond had no magic power left in him; the terrifying defensive ability must come from the scroll!

When Elrond concluded his chanting, an indescribable pressure leisurely spread out from the scroll towards the surrounding forest. The trees it touched released mournful howls and shook their roots. Then, they stood up from the ground and hugged each other.

The trees in the Misty Mountains were at least 50 years old. Even if they did grow slower in cold climate, all of them required at least 2 people to join fingers to hug them.

Their branches firmly intertwined together; the sounds of branches snapping could occasionally be heard. The biggest change came in the leaves of these trees. The surface of the leaves started transforming into a pattern that looked like the scales of snakes!

Finally, hundreds of trees wove themselves together to form a magnificent Ent. The Ent was covered in a snake-like pattern. Tentacle-like vines formed into a pair of hands. The Ent gave out an indescribably evil feeling.

The Ent was a devastating Devil Tree killed by Elrond"s mother while she was wandering the continent. She sealed its soul inside a scroll and gave it to Elrond for him to use in times of need.

Just looking at the size of the Ent made Sheyan and Reef feel helpless. They were further intimidated by the sinister aura it emitted. Ents were huge to begin with – Ferrell, for example, was an enormous thing – but compared to Harlech, Ferrell was like a kid that could only reach Harlech"s thigh!

Suddenly, Reef and Sheyan felt a warm sensation on the skin on their back. They turned around and saw a whirlpool-shaped hole within the clouds. A ray of sunlight s.h.i.+ned down from the hole to envelope Melody. The whole scene looked incomparably sacred and glorious. The Elven mage couldn"t help kneeling down in tears, looking extremely emotional.

Melody floated up into the air with her eyes still closed. The strong sunlight produced bits of glimmer that wrapped themselves protectively around her body. Sheyan noticed that the Ring of Air, Vilya was glowing brilliantly on her finger.

“The eternal sun will guide our way, to keep us from getting lost in the dark.”

“The eternal sun will guide our way, to keep our future bright.”

“The eternal sun will guide our way, let its light cleanse away all evil.”

“The eternal sun will guide our way, to keep our morale forever high.”

Melody"s voice got louder with each verse she chanted, and the sunlight shone brighter. The sunlight looked as if it was converging around her!

With each chant, the body of the terrifying Devil Tree, Harlech would shake violently, and a burst of flame would explode on him!

Elrond looked on in grief as the hidden card left by his mother howled and shuddered. With Melody"s 4th verse, Harlech was turned into what was probably the world"s largest torch, burning fiercely!

Even Elrond himself started showing burn marks and letting out smoke. Soon, a few tiny embers even appeared on his body!

Melody dropped back to the ground soon after, looking rather pale. Blood dripped out of her lips. However, the persistent sunlight still pierced the clouds to blanket her protectively.

Melody"s actions had completely destroyed Elrond"s sense of rationality! Elrond wailed in despair. He didn"t even wait to extinguish the flames on his body before charging straight at Sheyan"s group. His eyes were bloodshot and he looked to be totally devoid of reason. Facing an Elrond who had completely given up on defence and gave everything he had in attack put Sheyan and Reef under immense pressure.

As the fight neared its conclusion, Elrond managed to kill the dark gold leech. That was a testament to how wildly he attacked! Even more surprising was that he still had quite a few magic items on his body that would activate themselves throughout the battle. The faint green glow of Rejuvenation spells would occasionally appear on his body. Sheyan and Reef could only persistently hang on.

Fortunately, they both had the Twilight Elf"s blessing on them. In addition to that, the Elven mage stopped attacking once she saw that the situation was dire with the two, and used her MP to relentlessly cast healing spells on them.

After 15 minutes, Reef"s life once fell into a critical state and the "Life-Link" was activated. Sheyan risked a stab by Elrond on his chest and grabbed onto Elrond"s weapon with both hands!

Seizing this opportunity, Melody once again stood up with difficulty!

She had barely recovered some of her divine power. Under the illumination of the sunlight, the green glow emitted from her body turned into golden characters. They were divine ancient Elven runes! 3 divine characters combined into a flaming javelin, and abruptly shot forward!

That was Melody"s advanced ability:

Scorching Dictum!

The javelin did not look like it possess a lot of speed, but as it tore through the air, it left behind a blinding trail of flame. The fire on the javelin itself looked even more intimidating and would occasionally form the illusion of a roaring beast!

Everyone there held their breath as if the surrounding air had been sucked away. A scorching heat wave a.s.saulted them like a tsunami!

The Scorching Dictum stabbed into Elrond"s chest, and melted away into his body as if it was absorbed by him.

Elrond was frozen in place. He looked down at his chest in disbelief as the defensive magic items on his body went off one after another like fireworks. Next, his whole body lit up into a conflagration with him at the centre.

The next second, Elrond floated up into the air. He released a long wail that contained sadness, pain, despair, relief… in short, all kinds of emotions mixed together. He then started to crumble into ashes bit by bit, which dispersed into the surrounding. This marked the moment Elrond disappeared from this world!

A few rainbow-coloured crystals dropped down from the ashes.

Melody fell hard to the ground after unleas.h.i.+ng the Scorching Dictum. She fell into unconsciousness while blood continuously flowed out from every orifice on her face, soaking up her clothes. The Elven mage immediately rushed forward to take care of her.

At the same time, the trio of Sheyan, Reef and Franklin received a series of notifications:

[You have killed a famous storyline hero of Middle Earth, Elrond Idril.]

(ED: Idril was the daughter of Turgon, King of Gondolin, and the mother of Eärendil, making her Elrond"s grandmother, it isn"t Elrond"s actual family name in the LOTR world)

[You obtained 2311 Fate points of the Dark Lord faction.]

[You obtained the mysterious item : Elven Illusion Bone Crystals.]

[You have obtained the relevant qualification. Please remember to visit the outpost of the Gray Dwarves at the outer border of Angmar on time.]

[Because Elrond Idril died under a special circ.u.mstance and an event character partic.i.p.ated in the attack, the grade of the key dropped by Elrond will be lowered correspondingly.]

[Contestant no. 1018, your Elven lover, Melody Sunstrider also partic.i.p.ated in the attack on Elrond and even obtained an extremely important divine equipment of this world – The Ring of Air, Vilya. Therefore, Elrond will not drop a key unless you cut all ties with Melody Sunstrider.]

[Contestant no. 1018, due to your party prestige being Silver, you will obtain some compensation. You and your party members will each get 3 chances to randomly draw from the things Elrond left behind. The scope of the draw will be limited to the contents in Elrond"s bag. If you add contestant no. 90 to your party, he will also obtain the chance to draw.]

Seeing the notifications, Sheyan could understand why the realm made that kind of decisions. Melody, who was his Elven lover, had already obtained the biggest reward – becoming the master of the Ring of Air! That was why the reward of the party was limited, or else the key dropped by Elrond would have a chance of drawing another Ring of Air. That"s just way too much.

Sheyan took a look at the unknown mysterious items – the Elven Illusion Bone Crystals. The item description was pretty decent:

[This is the bone crystal left by High Elves after their deaths. A lot of people from the Dark Lord"s side are interested in this item.]

Seems to be a trade item then.

Of course there"s no way Sheyan would be so short sighted and cut all ties with Melody. It"s not like he could bear to do it anyway. He could only sigh and throw out a party invitation to Franklin. Next, he went to check on Melody"s condition. After confirming that her injuries weren"t fatal and she was merely unconscious, he finally prepared himself to loot Elrond.

Franklin was honestly not that happy after receiving the party invitation. That"s because Sheyan only gave him a reserve party member spot. The calculative fella was hurt at the way Sheyan treated a comrade who went through life and death together with him just a moment ago. But when he saw the changes in his HP and MP, he was shocked speechless. Next, he was washed over by a feeling of immense joy! He stared at the party skill "Glory Heal" that the reserve members couldn"t use in antic.i.p.ation.

Now it was time for a contest of luck. Based on the generosity of the realm in allowing each party member 3 draws, "abundant" would be an understatement to describe the number of things contained in Elrond"s bag. There should be some good stuff in there…but there would definitely be a lot more useless things.

Sheyan looked at the first thing he drew, not knowing whether to laugh or to cry. They were a pair of socks. The socks were woven in an intricate pattern and had a grand and luxurious Elvish feel.

But that"s not the point. The point was, this thing that was marked as a miscellaneous item had a really long description:

[This is a pair of socks woven with Ice Cicada threads. The complex handicraft was the work of the grandmaster Siclair. They are a work of art. This series of socks had remained the sole choice for Elrond for 300 years…..]

In the end, the hint given was: worth 150 utility points.

When he saw the last sentence, Sheyan who had been forcing himself to read every word of the description coughed up blood. It"s fortunate there wasn"t a (Dirty) behind the socks" name or he really would have broken down.

Under Sheyan"s prior example, Franklin wasn"t expecting much from his draw. He only hoped he wouldn"t get Elrond"s underwear. He certainly didn"t expect to draw a black cloak.

[The Lost Cloak]

[Grade: Black]

[World Origin: Lord of the Rings]

[Requirements: 20 Physique, 15 Agility]

[Durability: 55/55]

[Material: Silk, Mithril thread, strong spider thread]

[Effect 1: Physique +3, Agility +2]

[Effect 2: Alchemists imbued a spell within the Mithril to increase your dodge rate by 15%]

[Effect 3: The cloak contains a magical enchantment. Whenever you receive an attack, there is a small chance of producing a magical barrier that can absorb 30 points of damage.]

[Properties: The Lost Cloak will lower your accuracy by 10%.]

[Description: This is an item that belonged to a person who used to be the most famous Alchemist. It disappeared a long time ago.]

Franklin shrugged and handed the cloak to Reef without saying anything. That was the rule of almost every party with an MT. The MT had absolute priority over any equipment with defensive properties. Only after the MT pa.s.sed on the equipment could it land in the hands of other party members.

In the next few minutes, the three of them each witnessed the absurd amount of luggage that Elven n.o.bilities brought with them when they depart on a journey. For 8 draws, all they got besides the black cloak was a whole bunch of garbage that had a distinct Elvish flavour. In total, they were worth less than 10,000 utility points.

Sheyan calmed himself before taking the final draw. He went over to the unconscious Melody and stole a kiss for luck. The kiss seemed to have brought him good fortune indeed, as his last draw produced an emerald leaf that let out a soft silver glow. The glow gave off a cool feeling and made one feel very comfortable.

After significant effort from the surviving Elven mage, they managed to identify the leaf. It was a magic item that had a tiny magic seal on it. The seal needed to be removed before they can observe the leaf"s properties.

The seal wasn"t a strong one; it was only put in place to prevent accidental use of the leaf. However, the MP of the mage had been completely expended, so it would have to wait.

Melody was still unconscious, so Sheyan carried her. The group moved towards the designated rendezvous point under the guidance of the Elven mage who was familiar with the geography of the place. Segimli and Elder Annenia Cyathea should be anxiously waiting for them there.

It wasn"t the first time Sheyan had Melody in his embrace; they"ve had some pretty intimate encounters after all. Melody was quite slim and her body was actually pretty small except for her chest.

But when Sheyan carried her this time, he found that it took all his strength and he was even sweating. He was already out of breath after climbing over 2 hills.

Sheyan felt as if he wasn"t carrying Melody, but was carrying a metal statue! Something told Sheyan that it must be due to the ring, Vilya. But despite being tired, his legs never stopped moving and they managed to maintain a decent pace.

The journey was pretty uneventful so Sheyan once again enquired about the situation on the battlefield.

The Elven mage told them what happened after Sheyan detonated the bomb below the cliff to create an avalanche. The Gold Evergreen that was forcefully matured had an unstable foundation, so the defense of the Elven heroes naturally collapsed too. But Galadriel managed to force 3 Nazgûl into the avalanche with her spell.

Galadriel, Glorfindel and Legolas seized the chance to spread out and escape. The remaining Nazgûl had no choice but to break up to chase after each of them. Elrond was prepared for this moment. After his other half self-destructed, he tore a valuable scroll to turn invisible and vanished into thin air.

Reef and the rest of the Elves rushed towards Melody with Elder Desirese Roots leading the way. Ferrell fell while holding a Nazgûl back. Fortunately, the destroyed Ferrell wasn"t Ferrell"s real body. It took a huge toll on him, but he could still be reborn under the Sacred Oak.

They fled for a short distance after rescuing Melody, but Elrond caught up to them and activated the seal that he had prepared beforehand. The killings ensued.

After Sheyan heard all this, he hastened his pace. That"s because he knew that even if Galadriel, Glorfindel and Legolas were chased by 2 Nazgûl each, the encirclement of the Nazgûl had been broken. Escaping wouldn"t be a problem at all for these Elven heroes. The Nazgûl had no chance to kill them.

And this was exactly what Sheyan was afraid of! Sometimes, your “allies” are scarier than your enemies!

Suddenly, Franklin spoke out.

“Erm….Mr. Reef, there"s something that I need to tell you about.”

It seemed like Franklin wasn"t that observant. He"s already a reserve member of the party, yet he still hadn"t figured out who the real decision maker was in the party. It wasn"t entirely his fault though. It was almost a universal truth that the highest authority in a party would be the one holding the s.h.i.+eld. Furthermore, Reef"s dark gold s.h.i.+eld really stood out.

Reef release an abashed cough and asked.

“What is it?”

Franklin replied.

“When we left the place where Elrond was killed, I laid down some magic traps. They weren"t the type of traps that will cause damage, but the type used for sensing and investigation. A moment ago, my trap was destroyed.”

Reef asked in a heavy tone.

“Do you know who did it?”

Franklin replied.

“I couldn"t see his face, but I have an image of his back.”

Franklin then took out his staff and drew a circle in the air. The circle then projected an image in the air. That"s the advantage of having an Illusionist – information can be directly portrayed.

All of them had a solemn look on their face when they saw the image. The figure was tall and muscular. Unlike the breath of death on Elrond, every inch of the person"s body exuded life. The most telling sign was his s.h.i.+ning blonde hair!

“It"s Glorfindel,” said the Elven mage solemnly.

The name itself caused everyone"s breath to become heavy.

This guy wouldn"t be as easy to deal with as Elrond!

Honestly speaking, even if Melody returned to her peak condition and all the Elves Elrond killed were revived, they still wouldn"t be a match for the powerful and ambitious Glorfindel. Think back to the extreme difficulty Elrond posed them even after his bloodline was split in half, and he had to fight physically despite being a mage! They had almost lost to that Elrond!

How could they handle Glorfindel when he was at full strength?

Franklin tried to lighten the mood by saying.

“Hey, at least we left some false trails before we left. He definitely can"t find us.”

However, the Elven mage said dejectedly.

“As early as 140 years ago, after the fall of the top hunter of Rivendell, Jose Caca, a lot of people already felt that Glorfindel should inherit this t.i.tle. I recall that one time when Lord Elrond"s beloved flower lark flew away from her cage. After Glorfindel heard about this the next day, he caught the lark, and brought it back, within 2 hours. I was the one who forgot to lock the cage after feeding the bird, so I clearly remember it.”

The whole party was blanketed by a heavy atmosphere, but Sheyan who had reached the top of a hill smiled instead. That"s because, after trekking for one and a half hours, he could finally see the rendezvous point. The terrain of the place was rather unique and looked like the two humps on a camel"s back.

When the group found that their destination was within sight, they burst forward with renewed vigor. The thought of their terrifying pursuer spurred them on.

Sheyan then saw Segimli and Elder Annenia Cyathea. They indeed looked very anxious. They were pacing back and forth like ants on a frying pan.

After discovering the group, Segimli immediately ran over to give Sheyan a warm hug. The elite Dwarven warriors he led also tossed their caps into the air. That was the highest show of respect a Dwarf could give.

On the other hand, Elder Annenia Cyathea was absolutely shocked. He was stunned for a moment, looked around, and asked.

“Is…. is this all that"s left of your group?”

Sheyan nodded.

“That"s right.”

Elder Annenia Cyathea couldn"t believe it.

“What about Desirese Roots and Annil Yusu? They"re both dead?”

The female Elven mage was already in tears, and told him.

“They were consumed by Lord Elrond.”

Elder Annenia Cyathea was shocked speechless. His eyes fell on Melody – more precisely, on Melody"s finger! He stammered out in a strange voice.

“Sin"dorei above!!! Are my eyes deceiving me? Why does the ring on Lady Melody"s finger look so familiar?”

Sheyan simply said.

“Of course it would look familiar to you. You must have seen it before on Elrond"s hand.”

Elder Annenia Cyathea helplessly spread his hands and said with a shaky voice:

“That"s impossible! Even if Lord Elrond had pa.s.sed away, his soul imprint will still remain on the Ring of Air for a hundred years! Is Sire Vilya being used to seal and curse Lady Melody"s power? No, that"s not right. The feeling it gave out was in harmony with Lady Melody, as if they were one!”

Sheyan couldn"t be bothered explaining too much and simply told him.

“The eternal sun guides our way, so there is nothing we couldn"t do. By the way, my Dwarven friends, have you done the favour I asked of you?”

Segimli seriously replied.

“It was already done 4 hours ago. Please do not doubt the reputation of the Dwarves. It is as reliable as a boulder!”

Following Segimli"s words, the Dwarves parted to both sides to reveal a large piece of flatland behind them. This would be another trump card prepared by Sheyan!

As if the setting sun in the western sky wanted to display its last bit of glory for the day before falling into slumber, the sunlight that fell on the skin carried a penetrating heat.

The flatland looked as if it shone with a metallic silver glow under the bright setting sun. A total of 67 expensive gemstones were imbued into the ground in a circle. Within an area of 10 square meters lied an a.s.sortment of valuable materials including Mithril threads, Firegold fragments, magical-rune satin, Blackfang stones, hydromicas and Silver Crystals. These materials were banded together into a mystical, inter-linking diagram via mysterious means. Various dimensional spells were casted on the diagram. When a person looked at it, they would find their vision being distorted.

One must admit that the Dwarves truly had a natural talent in construction. If it were the humans or the Elves building this magical formation, they would need at least 6 months and double the amount of material.

But it only took Segimli and less than 40 Dwarves a total of 5 hours to complete the teleportation formation. Of course, Elder Annenia Cyathea and the other 4 Elven mages played a huge part in this too with their continuous infusion of magical energy.

“What a waste,” sighed Segimli as he inspected the one-way teleportation formation at Sheyan"s side. “The treasures that lie here are enough to buy a whole human city. Yet you used them to build a one-way teleportation circle that can only be used once! My dear Seaman, even if you"re so rich that the devils would be jealous of you, I must say it again – this is a huge waste!”

Sheyan looked back at the dense forest covering the mountains behind them, and smiled.

“Oh, my friend. Believe me, this isn"t a waste at all. These things are valuable, yes, but that means that their values can be measured. To use these materials in exchange for the invaluable lives of everyone here, that"s great business in my book!”

As Sheyan said this, he could already feel a strong presence from afar which exuded tremendous pressure. Feelings of unease, greed and domination were mixed in the pressure. Sheyan pulled Segimli close and asked.

“You did make this a one-time use formation, right?”

Segimli unhappily replied.

“You are doubting the skills of the Dwarves!”

Sheyan laughingly said.

“If that"s the case, can you disguise the formation so that after we"ve used it, it would appear to be usable still? Then, the person who sees this will step into the formation and will activate it. Of course, that"s not going to be a smart move. The s.p.a.ce-time distortion will give him a lesson to remember.”

Segimli frowned and said.

“That"s not hard, but it will increase the cost.”

Sheyan decisively said.

“Leave that for me to worry about, my friend. Also, it"s important that you finish the job within a short period of time.”

Segimli still frowned and said.

“I"ll need to add another energy stone, and I also need the help from our pointy-eared friends here to slightly change the magic pattern. Are you sure there"s a need to do this?”

“Do it. We don"t have much time left,” said Sheyan firmly. Then, he turned to Franklin and said, “Mr. Franklin, I believe you must have laid down some detection traps along the way. Tell me, how far away is he?”

Franklin honestly told Sheyan.

“At his current pace, he will reach us in about 30 minutes. That is, if he hadn"t messed with my magical detection traps to mislead me.”

Sheyan turned back to Segimli and said.

“My friend, I can give you only 20 minutes then. I look forward to your work.”

While they were waiting for the remodelling, Elder Annenia Cyathea walked over to Melody to inspect her condition. He could feel that the energies inside Melody were in a very complicated situation right now. The energy of the Twilight Elf, the energy of Sin"dorei, and the energy from the Ring of Air formed a chaotic mess.

Trying to unravel a bunched up ball of thread is enough to make one go crazy. Imagine if there were 3 b.a.l.l.s of threads bunched up together!

The main cause of this was still due to Melody forcefully used her power twice after signing the soul contract with Vilya.

Signing a soul contract with Vilya was a matter that should be handled with care. Even a genius like Elrond had to recuperate for a period of time after he did it. Besides that, he also had the guidance of the previous master of Vilya. And it still took him a whole month to control the power within the ring!

Melody was a follower of the Sun G.o.d Sin"dorei to begin with, and secondly, she used her power recklessly right after obtaining the ring. Even if Elrond and the High King of the Noldor, Gil-galad both came back to life, they wouldn"t be able to help her now.

The only good news was that, according to Elder Annenia Cyathea, Melody"s life was in no danger. Something like going insane due to the in-fighting between the powers in her wouldn"t happen. The powers in her body might repel each other and cancel each other out, thus weakening her strength, but they wouldn"t devour her.

Sheyan then took out the leaf from his bag and asked an Elven mage to identify it. The mage instantly asked in surprise.

“Isn"t this the leaf of the Sacred Oak that Lord Elrond"s mother brought back from across the sea?”

She easily dispelled the seal on the leaf with a wave of the hand. A fresh aroma instantly filled the air. She then placed the leaf back in Sheyan"s hand.

[Evergreen Leaf of the Sacred Oak]

[Grade: Silver storyline]

[Equipment slot: Bag]

[Materials: Chlorophyll, mitochondrion, Golgi body, Endoplasmic reticulum, lysosome, divine energy, permanent enchantment]

[ Additional installations: None ]

[ Weight: 4g ]

[After charging: Enable you to continuously receive the blessing of the forest. In battle, HP regeneration +3pt/5 seconds. Outside battle, HP regeneration +6pt/5 seconds]

[Every charge will cost 10,000 utility points. Lasts for 1 week.]

[Oak Recovery: The energy of the Sacred Oak is contained in the leaf. Use this ability on a target to cast a level 5 Rejuvenation spell which will heal the target over a duration of 12 seconds, for the total healing amount of 450 – 600 points.]

[Every use of Oak Recovery will cost you 3000 utility points/1 potential point. After using Oak Recovery, there will be a cooldown period of 1 hour. When Oak Recovery is in cooldown, you can still use it for a maximum of 2 times, but must pay double the previous cost (2nd use : 6000 utility points/2 potential points. 3rd use : 12,000 utility points/4 potential points. 4th use not permitted).]

[Description: This is a leaf plucked by Elwing from the foundation of the world, the great tree of Teldra.s.sil. She gave it to her son as a birthday present. It was something very important to Elrond.]

(ED: Teldra.s.sil is the home of the Night Elves in WoW.)

Sheyan felt that the leaf was very useful indeed. It gave Sheyan an active healing ability. 450 – 600 points of HP might not be much for Sheyan, but it"s quite significant for magic users like Franklin. Of course,the price for using the ability was pretty high. Sheyan must be careful or it might make him go bankrupt.

By this time, the Dwarves had finished the remodelling work. The size of the teleport formation had doubled and it now s.h.i.+ned with a brighter glow. In order to make it look more convincing, the Dwarves had even built some resting benches to the side.

Franklin told Sheyan that Glorfindel was already pretty close at the moment. Ironically, Glorfindel might have found his way here by following the traps left by Franklin. In other words, if Franklin hadn"t left those traps as a precaution, Glorfindel might have been delayed for a bit longer.

But that"s no longer important. He asked Segimli to activate the teleport formation and they started to step into the white light in the centre one after another. Each of them were transported to the predetermined destination after 2-3 seconds.

Sheyan was the last to step into the formation. His hand held a gemstone. Segimli had previously told him that if he crushed the gemstone before he was transported out, energy will continue being provided to the formation.

To make sure Glorfindel would fall for the trick, they actually perfected the weaknesses and gaps in this magic formation. Instead, they mainly altered the receiving point at the destination. That was the change that would be the hardest for him to notice.

Sheyan crushed the gemstone and stepped into the formation. Amidst the bright white glow of the teleportation magic, he saw a golden radiance on the faraway mountain range. A large number of birds were flying around the radiance in circles. That"s right, the golden glow came from the hair of the Great Elder Glorfindel, a Twilight Elf. He had indeed chased them all the way here. His target was obvious – the symbol of authority, the source of power, the Ring of Air, Vilya!

No doubt, Glorfindel had also seen the brilliant light from when Sheyan was teleported out. His expression turned dark. Without so much as lifting a finger, he appeared to vanish into thin air. When he reappeared, he had already moved forward by more than 200 meters. It took him less than 10 seconds to reach the teleportation formation.

The veteran Twilight Elf was indeed experienced. He first took a look at the surrounding area, then shouted.

“Your eyes shall be mine; your ears shall be mine!”

“Heed my wish, faeries of the forest! Use your wings to follow the trail of the enemy.”

Glorfindel s.h.i.+ned with a faint green glimmer. The glimmer then dispersed into the bodies of the surrounding birds.

All the birds surrounding Glorfindel scattered in different directions at a wave of his hand.

Everything that the birds see and hear will be instantly transmitted back to Glorfindel. Stealth and camouflage were useless in front of this spell.

The sly old fox was obviously wary of being tricked. He suspected that Sheyan might have left through the teleportation formation to bait him to give chase, while the rest of them ran away.

He didn"t believe that a teleportation formation of such scale would suddenly spring up here for no reason. The cost to build this formation was staggering. This spot wasn"t on an important trade route, nor was it a strategic defensive location. There were no forts, mage towers or any famous products nearby. The existence of the formation was definitely suspicious.

“This teleportation formation must be a smokescreen. It"s merely a counterfeit.”

That was Glorfindel"s first thought when he saw the formation. His second thought was that the formation was actually built pretty well.

Glorfindel believed that the faeries of the forest will sent back a satisfactory response within the next few minutes. He will definitely get his hands on those fleeing ants this time. He couldn"t help but burn with antic.i.p.ation.

However, as the birds sent their feedback one after another, the more enraged Glorfindel got. This was the first time he made a misjudgement when he was tracking something down.

Glorfindel once again focused his attention of the teleportation formation. To his surprise, he found that the all the expensive materials that made up the formation looked very authentic. More importantly, after expending a large amount of magic power, he could detect the clear traces of dimensional magic!

Glorfindel was filled with complicated and conflicting emotions. This was the closest he ever got to the Ring of Air, Vilya! He wasn"t worried about those ants running away; he was more wary of Galadriel and Legolas!

It was exactly because of how weak the ants were that he was worried. If either of those two found them first, then it"s almost a foregone conclusion that the Ring of Air would fall into their hands. Even though Glorfindel was strong, there was still no way he could s.n.a.t.c.h the ring from the possession of Galadriel or Legolas.

Glorfindel stared at the magic formation for a while before taking out a gemstone from his s.h.i.+rt. He engraved the gemstone at the core of the formation. Then, he took a deep breath and stepped inside. Little did he know that somewhere a few hundred kilometers away, a few Dwarves and a human were sinisterly laughing.

“It lit up! Glorfindel activated the magic formation!”

“Would he let an animal test the formation first?”

“It didn"t matter, let the animal be sacrificed then. After the formation was used once, its internal structure will malfunction and explode. Glorfindel won"t be able to use the formation either.”

As they speak, the receiving teleportation formation in front of them shone brightly. A blurry image of Glorfindel appeared within the formation. His signature golden hair was truly eye-catching.

Segimli pounded his warhammer hard on a certain mechanism on the formation with a shout. The receiving teleportation formation immediately started shaking violently. Then, the whole formation shattered and broke down into dust. Glorfindel"s image within the formation disappeared without a trace.

“Woohoo! Bon voyage, Mr. Glorfindel. I hope you like the taste of of the water in Lake Salgar!” Segimli was so excited he started whistling.

The young Dwarf had put his outstanding talent in construction on display. What he did was simple; after Glorfindel activated the magic formation, Segimli changed the coordinates of the destination to Lake Salgar thousands of miles away. Lake Salgar was a horrible place. In the local language, Salgar actually meant rotten smell. It was a place that was similar to the Great Ndipaya Swamp.

Of course, suddenly altering the teleportation coordinate like this might result in s.p.a.ce-time distortion, messed-up coordinate, getting lost in time and other risks, but that"s Glorfindel"s problem.

Segimli proudly exclaimed.

“My dear friend, I have completed your request. I swear upon the name of the G.o.d of Stones, even if he is one of the Twilight Elves, Glorfindel will still have to experience hunger, cold and a rotten environment for 10 days before he can catch up to us. At least.”

Sheyan smiled and said.

“To show my appreciation, I will increase the fee we agreed upon by 10%.”

Sheyan reached into his pocket and took out a simple looking leather pouch. Segimli was all smiles as he received it. He was about to keep the pouch when an old but strong-looking Dwarf took the pouch away from him and carefully weighed it in his hands. In the end, he let out a satisfied smile.

“The G.o.d of Stones above, we finally have enough Adamantium and Mithril to produce some quality goods. At least we won"t be left too far behind at the Skifz Ascûd now.”

After the elite Dwarven warriors heard the old Dwarf"s words, they erupted in joy. They once again threw their hats in the air.

The old Dwarf looked at Sheyan and said in a booming voice.

“My friend, you have won the good will of the Gimli tribe. Why not come take refugee in our tribe? As soon as news of Elrond"s demise spread, it will no longer be so easy for you to find a welcoming place on Middle Earth.”

Sheyan, though, smiled and said.

“Since Glorfindel has left us with so much time to prepare, it would be a waste not to use it to its fullest. I sincerely thank you for your invitation. However, our destination now shouldn"t be the welcoming Gimli tribe….but Rivendell.”

“WHAT!!”

All of them were extremely shocked to hear Sheyan"s words.

Elder Annenia Cyathea was the first to voice out his doubt.

“Lord Protector, this might not be the best time to go to Rivendell.”

Sheyan simply shook his head. A peculiar glint flashed across his eyes.

“I disagree, Elder. This is the perfect time to go to Rivendell. Please take a look at the map. With Rivendell as the centre, the place that was attacked by the coalition of 8 Nazgûls….yup, that"s right, the Noorie Ridges is about 900 km to the west of Rivendell. Thanks to the teleportation formation, we"ve travelled over 800 km in the blink of an eye. We"ve already reached the Nos Hills west of Rivendell. If we pick up the pace, we can reach Rivendell by midnight!”

Sheyan continued.

“Galadriel and Legolas are both being chased by Nazgûls. Glorfindel is on vacation at the beautiful Lake Salgar. Elrond has returned to the embrace of Mother Nature. Under such circ.u.mstances, none of these formidable Elves can reach Rivendell before us. That means, when our very own Melody Sunstrider walk into Rivendell with The Ring of Air raised high, she would be the one holding the highest position! No one currently in Rivendell has enough power to contest her authority! More Elves will bathe in the glory of Sin"dorei!”

Elder Annenia Cyathea sucked in a cold breath despite himself.

“So what you"re saying is….”

Sheyan said pointedly.

“We"re simply too weak right now. Only by becoming stronger can we stand on an even footing with those powerhouses. There"s a saying in my hometown – the things that you don"t have the power to obtain on the battlefield, don"t expect to get them on the negotiation table.”

“I agree with you, my Protector.”

Melody suddenly spoke out in a soft but resolute voice. No one noticed when she regained her consciousness. She looked weak, but her eyes showed a strong determination. When the setting sun s.h.i.+ned on her long hair, it glowed brilliantly.

“During my days of confinement, I"ve thought of many things. I still had hope and faith in my kin at that time. Fortunately, Galadriel, Lord Elrond, Lord Glorfindel and Prince Legolas taught me a valuable lesson. I now know the other meaning of justice. I now know what the true elegance of the Elves look like.”

Melody"s voice choked with emotions and tears dropped from her eyes as she spoke, but she resolutely continued.

“When I heard of their decision, I finally understood the truth regarding the world. So be it then. I will survive with my own way. I will take destiny into my own hands!”

The sun gradually fell below the horizon and took back its warmth. Something unexpected happened after that. Melody"s condition worsened after the sun set, and fell into a semi-conscious state.

She leaned on Sheyan with her eyes closed, her pale skin looking soft and gentle.She tightly held onto her Protector"s arm with a smile on her face. Only the occasional creases that appeared between her brows betrayed the pain she was in.

The others exchanged meaningful glances. There were definitely some followers of Elrond and Glorfindel in Rivendell still. Without Melody leading them in with the Ring of Air, all their plans were meaningless. They know that casually striding into Rivendell would only result in their capture.

They concentrated their gazes on Sheyan as Sheyan had unknowingly become the centre of the group. He thought for a moment and said.

“Sire Vilya was created for the purpose of protecting the Elves. Even though Lady Sunstrider has to go through some growing pains to a.s.similate herself with the ring, it definitely wouldn"t curse her or harm her life.”

Sheyan continued.

“Let us depart first and find a place near Rivendell to rest for the night. Tomorrow morning, we will send someone into Rivendell to scout. After making sure the coast is clear, we"ll escort Lady Melody in. Our biggest worries now should be Legolas and Galadriel, but they surely hadn"t received any news yet, so they wouldn"t suddenly travel 800 km back to Rivendell overnight. Our plans might have been delayed but there"s still not much risk of things going wrong.”

Sheyan"s words were reasonable. The rest nodded their heads in agreement. About 3 hours later, they reached the foot of a hill that was situated less than 10 km away from Rivendell. Any further and they might be found by Rivendell"s scouting party.

Under the spells of the Elves, the proud trees bent down their bodies and weaved themselves into wooden houses. The fishes in the river voluntarily jumped onto the bank. The bushes parted themselves to reveal a piece of dry land. A short while later, bonfires rose on the clearing.

They knew Melody would want to spend some time with Sheyan, so they built a separate house for the both of them. The house was situated a bit of a distance away from the other houses, but close enough that they can still rush over if anything were to happen.

The dancing fire spread a comfortable warmth to the embracing couple. For Melody"s comfort, Sheyan actually lit 2 fires around them. The dry pine twigs crackled while they burned. The smoke they produced carried a faint aroma.

The warmth gave rise to hints of blushes on Melody, accentuating her beauty. Her thin body felt so frail in Sheyan"s arms.

Before this, Melody gave off a gentle fragrance, but now she emitted a strong aroma. The aroma was akin to the crisp smell of clean, dry clothes under a bright sky. Hugging Melody gave Sheyan the feeling of basking in an early summer sun. It made him feel clean. Comfortable. Happy.

Sheyan tightened his embrace, buried his face in Melody"s thin shoulder, and took a deep breath. He then said.

“It"s a nice feeling, hugging you.”

Melody smiled. She indulged herself in the strong body of her Protector, breathing in the distinct smell of her man. It made her happy, made her forget all her worries and pain. She slowly rested her head on his shoulder, and sang.

The noises in the surrounding somehow dimmed out as soon as the song started. The voices of conversations, the crackling of the twigs in the fires, the boiling noises from the pot – they were all silenced.

The only sounds that answered the song back were the cries of insects in the forest, the rustling of branches as they swayed in the wind, and the burbling of rivers as they flow. The song had no name, but anyone who heard it would only think of one word – nature.

“That"s the voice of an angel,” exclaimed Franklin who was hearing Melody"s song for the first time. He was baking a kind of root that looked like sweet potato in the fire, but lost himself in Melody"s voice and had burned the root before he realised it. The burn was so bad that end of the stick he was using to hold the root lit up in flames.

The rest of the Elves, including Elder Annenia Cyathea, closed their eyes and listened to the song attentively. The song seemed to hold a special significance for them.

The Dwarves showed an even stronger reaction. Some laughed and gulped down large mouthfuls of beer, while others planted their faces in the ground and wailed. The most extreme reaction belonged to Segimli. He tried hard to hold himself back initially, but eventually gave in. He stood up, grabbed his battle axe, and screamed.

“Aunt Ufraydin! My love for you will never change!”

Sheyan couldn"t help himself and laughed loudly.

“Such unique taste! His puppy love was for his aunt!”

But Sheyan quickly shut his mouth. He suddenly recalled that 99% of young Dwarfs would fume in rage when they found out that their infatuations were exposed.

Sheyan, too, gradually indulged himself in Melody"s voice and fell into a trance. He only woke up from the daze after Melody had finished her last note. Sheyan was about to say something when pain struck his chest. He felt as if there was a small file running back and forth. He let out a groan despite himself and grabbed his chest.

Melody looked at him with a soft gaze and suddenly gave him a kiss. From the tip of Melody"s tongue, a warm ball of light travelled down Sheyan"s throat. The ball of light left an indescribable trail of heat all the way to Sheyan"s chest.

Sheyan suddenly felt an itch in his throat. He instantly pushed Melody away and vomited out a few mouthfuls of blood. The blood was black in colour and had some solid substance mixed in it. Even though Sheyan"s body felt weak after throwing up, he felt relieved and his mind felt clear, as if he had slept for 24 hours.

Sheyan was about to comfort Melody, who looked really worried, when he received notifications from the nightmare imprint:

[You have listened to the song of a Twilight Elf. Due to the affinity of the Twilight Elves with plants, the Stairway of the Sun grew lively. All the activated abilities of the Pestilence Monarch will have their levels temporarily increased. There will not be any crucial options accompanying this boost. Duration: 120 minutes.]

[You have absorbed the Sunlight Love from Melody Sunstrider. The Stairway of the Sun in your body basked in the glory of the scorching sun. The hidden negative effects were removed. The duration of the temporary boost to the Pestilence Monarch is prolonged to a week.]

[Hint: If you can repeatedly get help from Melody Sunstrider, the boost may become permanent.]

The tyrannical "Pestilence Monarch" was melted by Melody"s gentleness!

Of course, Sheyan wouldn"t immediately ask Melody to give him more, more! But he already had a mind to stay in this world for a bit longer. He was even prepared to give up on some gains in order to do so.

As time pa.s.sed, Melody"s body gradually recovered. Sheyan guessed right. Vilya was created to protect the Elves, not to curse the Elves. Despite there being some friction with the powers in her, it wouldn"t cause her bodily harm.

When the first ray of dusk touched upon Melody"s body, she could already stand up by herself. She still couldn"t use any strong spells but at least she"s not half unconscious anymore.

Melody"s long hair swayed under the sun. She raised her hand high, with Vilya glowing brightly on her finger, and pointed to the east towards Rivendell!

“Let"s go! The light of Sin"dorei shall s.h.i.+ne upon Rivendell!”

But first, they took a detour to the Sacred Oak, Sindalor. She asked everyone else to stay put, then approached the tree with Sheyan.

Sindalor was as lush with life as usual and cut an imposing figure, as if he was holding the sky up. Before they got near, he already spoke in a low m.u.f.fled voice.

“I could sense that your aura is unusually weak. It was almost as weak as the first time I met you. What befell you, follower of Sin"dorei?”

Despite what he said, Melody was in high spirit. She extended her hand with smile, like a queen offering her hand for her subject to kiss.

“Through the guidance of Sin"dorei and the help of my Protector, Sire Vilya is now by my side. Which is why, grandpa Sindalor, I need your help.”

The afternoon sun shone bright as Melody strode forward slowly with a smile; looking so pure, so elegant. The Ring of Air, Vilya glowed with life on her slim, fair hand. Her steps had a unique rhythm to them that was in harmony with the wind blowing from the mountains, and the sway of the trees.

As a Sunstrider, Melody was naturally absorbing the light and energy from the sunlight all the time. However, the Ring of Air, Vilya didn"t seem used to this kind of ability yet. It kept reflecting back sunlight like a mirror.

This wasn"t actually a desirable effect, but for Melody who was about to make a grand appearance, the blinding radiance would draw attention to the Ring of Air on her hand!

Even the aged and wise Sacred Oak was stunned. Its leaves rustled loudly in the wind, and it spoke in a shocked tone.

“That"s….that"s impossible! Even if Lord Elrond perished, The Ring of Air should not have signed a soul contract with you!”

No one could have imagined the series of events that led to Melody obtaining Vilya. Not Sheyan, not even Melody herself! But that"s fate. Fate was great, fate was mysterious, and fate was awe-inspiring, all because of its unpredictability.

Melody merely closed her eyes and lifted her finger in response to Sindalor"s questioning. Suddenly, the surface of Vilya emitted a continuous stream of shapeless ripples. When the ripples touched the air, they created wind. When the ripples touched water, they created waves. When the ripples touched the earth, they created thunder!

Sindalor watched all this with a sigh. Only he knew whether he was sighing at his manners earlier, or sighing at the cruelness of fate. He remained silent for a long time before he spoke again.

“Fine, great Twilight Elf. What can I do for you?”

Melody secretly heaved a sigh of relief. The performance just now took everything she had!

The 2 previous masters of the Ring of Air were both followers of the Moon G.o.ddess Elune. Naturally, they used the divine power of the Moon G.o.ddess to activate the power of the ring. Melody, however, was a follower of the Sun G.o.d. Using the power of Sin"dorei to activate Vilya was a first for her and for the whole Elven race.

Fortunately, perhaps due to there being few followers of Sin"dorei, the Sun G.o.d seemed very willing to help. It was akin to how each student in a cla.s.s of 10 would get more attention from their teacher compared to the students in a cla.s.s of 100.

Take the ability Melody just showed for example. That was the only move Melody can currently perform with the Ring of Air, called "Natural Resonance". It was similar to a starting pose in martial arts, and can only be used in sunlight.

But, so what? The important thing was that others would notice Melody wearing Vilya, the foremost among the Three Elven Rings of Power, and she could even resonate with nature. They don"t have to know that it was the only thing she could do with the ring!

Melody smiled and answered the great Oak.

“I cannot just walk into Rivendell nonchalantly. I hope I can walk in with glory.”

Sindalor said in that low m.u.f.fled voice of his.

“Is having Sire Vilya in your possession not glorious enough?”

Sheyan chose to answer instead.

“It is a great glory, but the glory is too thin. Mortals care more about outward appearances. Vanity is a deadly sin, but a lot of times, it"s necessary to put up the right appearance.”

Sindalor gave it some thought and said.

“I understand. My nephew, Ferrell has somewhat recovered. He can"t fight yet, but he could let little miss Melody ride on him. ”

Sheyan instead asked sharply.

“Respected Lord Sindalor, can you tell me why you would stay here on this cliff looking over Rivendell, instead of staying inside the city itself to receive the adoration and care of the Elves there?”

The Sacred Oak turned silent. Seemed like Sheyan hit a sore spot. There was already a sacred tree called Noelier in Rivendell. Each city could only have one Mother Tree, that was the truth. The reason Sindalor moved here in the past was because Noelier was close to wilting at the time. Sindalor thought that it would be the chance to take Noelier"s place.

Unfortunately, Lord Elrond invited his father over to save Noelier, and he did. Sindalor could only keep waiting in disappointment. It had waited for over 400 years!

Even for a Sacred Oak, 400 years is a long time. In order to grow bigger, in order to surpa.s.s the shackles of the lifeform of a tree, it had to become a Mother Tree.

The reason Teldra.s.sil was called the foundation of the world was because it was the Mother Tree of the Undying Lands! It received the care of numerous great Elves everyday!

Sheyan told Sindalor honestly.

“We need Melody to make a grand entrance. If we only wanted Ferrell, we wouldn"t have put in all this effort.”

Sindalor kept his silence so Sheyan threw out his ultimate bait.

“Rivendell can no longer accommodate Lady Melody Sunstrider now that she has the Ring of Air. But, who cares? Rivendell has existed for way too long in the Misty Mountains. A new city belonging to Lady Melody Sunstrider will rise!”

“As for you, the great Sacred Oak Sindalor, you will take root at the centre of that city. The number of Elves that will bask in the glorious light of Sin"dorei in Rivendell today depends on your decision. You must know, the more Elves there are in a city, the more they can provide to the Mother Tree!”

It was all left on the table. Sindalor heaved out a long sigh, then the ground started shaking! Sindalor"s long roots plucked themselves out from the earth. Its leaves folded themselves before glowing with a holy light. Next, white flowers with red inner petals bloomed on the tree, spreading a nice fragrance to the surrounding area.

The Sacred Oak, Sindalor completely turned itself into a large Ent. On its shoulder was a seat made of flowers. It held out its long branch-like arm to grab Melody before gently putting her on the seat.

Melody insisted on having Sheyan sitting next to her but Sheyan refused. He followed after Sindalor with large steps while looking upon Melody"s back. Melody cut a holy figure on the Sacred Oak. It made Sheyan breathe a sigh of relief.

There were a lot of complications along the way, some of them Sheyan could never have expected. Despite that, things returned within his control in the end. In fact, it turned out even better than what he had hoped for.

When the great battle Ent carried Melody into Rivendell, it gave everyone there a scare!

Some Elves wanted to voice out their objections, but they were silenced by the sight of the Ring of Air on Melody"s finger. The light it reflected pained their eyes!

Melody called for a ma.s.sive gathering on the plaza. During the gathering, she told everyone of all the injustice and hards.h.i.+ps she suffered.

On the day the Elves came to an agreement, Melody, being the one sold out, had garnered sympathy from some of the Elves who had a neutral stance. Now that she told the Elves her story while Franklin created a perfect reproduction with his illusions, it won her even more sympathy votes!

Towards the end of the meeting, Melody shouted the slogan for the glory of Sin"dorei. At first, only a few answered her call, but in the end, the shouts from the Elves pierced the heavens. The Elves were a race full of emotions, and their actions were easily influenced by their feelings.

More crucially, for most of the Elves in Rivendell, Vilya was a symbol of authority. They recognised the master of the ring as the leader, and they recognised her justice!

The result was unbelievable. At least half of Rivendell were willing to follow the Sun G.o.d! Under the lead of Melody, they charged into Elrond"s and Glorfindel"s residences, and collected all the wealth ama.s.sed by Rivendell over thousands of years! Sheyan"s explanation was that the wealth originally belonged to them anyway.

The Elves then packed their belongings and left Rivendell under the lead of Melody, full of hope and unease for the unknown future.

The procession moved in the direction of the orc city deserted by Saruman!

Glorfindel returned much earlier than expected.

Segimli claimed that Glorfindel would have to experience hunger, cold and a rotten environment for at least 10 days before he could catch up, but he forgot that all Elves were clean freaks. There was just no way Glorfindel could rest in that kind of environment.

Glorfindel forced himself to stay awake for 4 days straight until he walked out of the territory of Lake Salgar. He then slept for a whole day before rus.h.i.+ng back.

He was in such a hurry, not because he could predict that Melody would seduce away a large number of Elves from Rivendell, but because he was afraid that Legolas and Galadriel would seize the opportunity of Elrond"s death to persuade the stronger Elders in Rivendell to leave.

He knew that"s what Galadriel and Legolas would do because if he was in their shoes, he would do the same thing. The Ring of Air, Vilya had protected Rivendell for millenia. As soon as the Elves found out that they had lost Vilya, it would become a huge crisis. But chaos is a ladder; the crisis would present a great opportunity to rope in some strong personnel.

Glorfindel was not prepared at all for the Twilight Elf called Melody Sunstrider to stick her nose into the power struggle. Imagine his surprise when he returned to a half-deserted Rivendell which was in a complete mess!

Glorfindel had always been a sharp one. He was right about Legolas and Galadriel.

Legolas and Galadriel did come to Rivendell 3 days after Melody left.

Both of them were worn out and covered in wounds after escaping the pursuit of the Nazgûl. Naturally, they chose to return to Rivendell to recuperate. At the same time, both of them wanted to bring back news of Elrond"s death to shake up Rivendell, in order to secretly pull some people to their side.

When they returned to Rivendell, they were shocked to discover a city that was half-deserted and enveloped in a distressed atmosphere. After asking around, they found out that Melody had done the exact things they wanted to do, and she did it more thoroughly than they would have!

Since someone already started it, then they might as well go with the flow and do it too. Legolas and Galadriel hadn"t actually planned to go all out before because they"re both famous people within the Elven race. If they poached too boldly, it would be hard to explain themselves to Glorfindel.

But it didn"t matter how far they go now because Glorfindel"s number one target would definitely be Melody, who not only started the poaching, but had even ransacked the place. Knowing this, Legolas and Galadriel executed their plans without restraint!

Can you imagine the Rivendell that Glorfindel returned to? First, Melody lead away half the population and took with her more than 4/5 of the wealth and resources in the city.

Next, it was Galadriel and Legolas" turn. They didn"t pillage the place for resources, but their words persuaded another batch of Elves – about a quarter of those who were left – to leave Rivendell. Above all, the Elves that they persuaded were elites in various fields!

In conclusion, the Rivendell inherited by Glorfindel only had about 1/3 of its original population, 1/5 of its original wealth, and 30% of its elite fighting force remaining.

Facing such a tragic sight, the hungry and exhausted Glorfindel blacked out and almost had a heart attack. He only recovered after resting for some time under a tree at the side. His shaking finger pointed at a trusted confidant of his and he said.

“Why did you let that wretched follower of Sin"dorei incite the crowd, and did nothing when they ransack the place?”

The Elven Elder helplessly replied.

“She was wearing the Ring of Air! We couldn"t protest her actions when she had Sire Vilya on her, let alone attack her!”

Glorfindel could only take deep breaths to calm himself down. He knew that it was difficult for Rivendell Elves to go against Vilya which had protected them for thousands of year. In addition to that, Melody also had Sindalor as her mount, adding on to her intimidation factor.

After thinking it through for one night, a sinister expression crept onto Glorfindel"s face. He already received news that Melody"s new city will be built close to the orc city. Glorfindel was planning on a visit to get some explanation from Melody.

He didn"t dare to brazenly kill her. All that would accomplish was to make all the deserting Elves his enemies. However, Glorfindel was confident that he had the advantage in personal strength over the newly awakened Twilight Elf. He knew that anyone who obtained the Ring of Air would not be able to control its power in such a short amount of time.

Therefore, Glorfindel"s game plan was to damage! He would destroy as many of the newly built buildings as possible to create widespread terror among the people. Then, he would appear in front of the Elves and rally them back to his side. He would be able to reverse the situation.

Glorfindel thought for a bit more and devised a complete strategy. He would focus on causing disturbance and unrest, while sending his underlings to comfort the people. This way, he would gradually win back their goodwill and could slowly carry out the plan of returning them to Rivendell.

As for the little girl called Melody, even though she surprised him a few times, he didn"t consider her a huge threat. Of course, she still had to die. Glorfindel could only get his hands on Vilya when Melody"s soul imprint on the ring disappeared after she died.

As for how she would die, Glorfindel could think of a hundred ways. He would make her death a tragic and glorious one. He would then attend her funeral and shed his tears to mourn over the death of the heroic Twilight Elf who made significant contributions to Rivendell.

Glorfindel suddenly felt that things weren"t as bad as he initially thought. At least Vilya didn"t fall into the hands of Legolas or Galadriel. It would truly be over if that was the case.

For it to fall into the hands of Melody….Glorfindel smiled with malicious glee. He believed that he had at least a 70% chance of obtaining the ring.

When the time comes, the Elves and the resources taken by Melody will all return to him. There were still the Elves that departed with Legolas and Galadriel, but they"re nothing compared to the Ring of Air….

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that things weren"t actually that bad. Fortune had played a prank on him, but it was still on his side.

He ordered for a feast of fruits to be brought to him. After he"d had his fill, he retreated to his chamber to rest. The things he was about to do would require his full concentration.

A dark silhouette traveled through the forest at an unbelievable speed. Even though the ground was littered with fallen leaves and branches, the silhouette made no sound as it moved. Its movement was as natural as a fish in water.

The silhouette suddenly stopped. Its body was shrouded by a strange black mist which completely hid its appearance. The only part that was visible was the pair of sharp, eagle-like eyes.

The place was the outer region of the old orc city. No traces of living animals could be felt from the snow covered forest. The silhouette opened its mouth wide and emitted a series of invisible soundwaves.

Not long afterwards, a great eagle flew down from the sky to perch in front of the silhouette. Based on its appearance, this great eagle should be from the same tribe as the one that Sheyan encountered the last time he came here.

The silhouette spoke with the eagle. After a short conversation, the silhouette exclaimed.

“You don"t know what the situation is with that place? You feel a great danger there?”

The voice belonged to Glorfindel. The great eagle screeched a few times in response, looking aggrieved. Glorfindel said bitterly.

“It"s just an old Ent! Sindalor had received your kind before, so it can simulate an aura that can cause fear in you. There"s no way the girl can take control of Sire Vilya within such a short amount of time. Go back and scout properly.”

The great eagle wouldn"t stop shaking its head. If Glorfindel kept forcing it, it looked like it would immediately fly away.

Glorfindel took a deep breath and angrily said.

“Fine. Tell me the location of the new city.”

The great eagle nodded its head and flew up. It lead Glorfindel to the location of the pine forest that once emitted poisonous gas during the day.

However, what appeared in front of Glorfindel wasn"t a pine forest, but a swamp! A great swamp filled with giant reeds, rushes and algae!

The great eagle was shocked and started screeching at Glorfindel again.

“This is impossible! I was here not even half a month ago. I clearly remember this place being full of sick and dying pines, and it was covered in snow!”

Glorfindel carefully observed around and said.

“You weren"t wrong, my old partner. This place was a pine forest not too long ago. But the pines were all taken down….to become food.”

He picked up a rock and threw it into the water. The water bubbled and dirt started evaporating. A reed lifted itself to reveal the rotting trunk of a pine tree half-submerged in the water. The roots from multiple reeds extended themselves like tentacles to firmly grab the pine trunk, absorbing the nutrients within.

Glorfindel walked to the edge of the swamp and extended his hand to touch the surface of the water. The water did not give off the cold sensation of molten snow; in fact, it was even a little warm. The warmth must be the cause of a swamp appearing at the foot of a snowy mountain.

What perplexed Glorfindel was, the impression a swamp give should be that of a decaying and smelly environment. It should be full of swamp vines, rotten thorns and other such plants. When one took a step in a swamp, one"s foot would submerge into the dirt with a disgusting splash.

However, the new swamp in front of him gave off a clean and fragrant impression, and was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with life!

The water of the swamp wasn"t crystal clear. From afar, it looked a mysterious azure blue, stopping one from seeing the bottom. Water lily-like plants floated at some places where the water was deep. Some of them had even absorbed enough nutrients to produce flower buds. Those should be the source of the aroma in the air.

But at some parts where the water was shallow, one could actually see the tender white roots of the green-coloured plants that floated above the water. Some brown-striped snails and mussels could even be seen digging into the mud at the bottom. There were also some yellow- and black-striped fishes swimming around.

The swamp was so full of life that it was terrifying! It gave the impression that with every pa.s.sing second, the swamp would grow a bit bigger.

Glorfindel snorted and walked into the water. Maybe it was due to the refraction of light, but the part of the water that only seemed knee-deep actually reached his waist! Soaking in the warm water actually felt pretty comfortable.

The water splashed and a strange fish was caught between thumb and index finger of Glorfindel"s left hand!

The fish was camouflaged quite well. From afar, it looked like a floating leaf. The fish struggled for its life in Glorfindel"s hand.

Glorfindel exerted some pressure with his fingers to force open the fish"s mouth, revealing rows of sharp teeth. The fish gave Glorfindel a menacing look and actually started to hiss like a poisonous snake.

As the hissing sound spread, a strange phenomenon occured. All the animals and plants nearby started swiftly moving away at the same time!

The water lilies raised their leaves and sailed in the wind like yachts. The giant reeds plucked out their tender white roots and used them to run away. The snails and mussels furiously dug deeper into the mud.

In an instant, the world that was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with life around Glorfindel a moment ago disappeared. The only thing that remained was the water. The water that looked clear from close, but from afar or in places where the water ran deep, looked a proud azure blue!

Glorfindel"s hand emitted a faint green glow. The camouflaged fish had left his hand but was now encased in the glow. It struggled violently inside as if it was being fried in a pan.

The fish distorted its body in pain and took a bite out of its own tail. It chewed down forcefully. In the end, it broke down into multiple orbs of lights and dispersed into the air.

Glorfindel"s expression turned dark. He started to feel that this trip might not be as smooth as he initially thought it would be. However, he was a still a formidable Twilight Elf! In addition, he had a firm grasp on Melody"s ability. He still felt confident of coming out victorious.

Next, Glorfindel chanted a long Elven incantation. He had used this spell not long ago to great effect. He could feel natural elements congregating into his body from the surrounding.

But to Glorfindel"s surprise, the spell took 3 times longer than usual to chant. This meant that there was very little natural element that he could control in the vicinity. There wasn"t time for him to think too much about it; he completed the incantation and extended a finger out. From the finger, a single drop of golden blood dripped into the water.

The drop of blood made ripples on the surface of the water. The ripples radiated a faint green glow and spread for close to a hundred meters!

Anywhere the ripples pa.s.sed through boiled like a pot of porridge!

The mussels buried in the mud were forced out and helplessly spread their sh.e.l.ls open, revealing the white meat within. A grey prawn that curled like a rock was ejected out of the surface. It lost its life while it was still airborne and started decaying when it fell back into the water.

A water snake suddenly slithered out of a rotting tree trunk towards Glorfindel. However, it went limp halfway and exploded into a b.l.o.o.d.y mess. A few rock-like aquatic insects ran away in fear, but when the ripples went through them, they slowly floated up to the surface….

“You lowly creatures. How dare you attack me.”

Said Glorfindel in disdain.

Even so, he felt rather astonished. His original plan was simply to come here and destroy, but now he had no choice but to investigate the situation first.

Facing the "Blood Ripples" of Glorfindel, all living creatures within a hundred metres either died or ran away.

Glorfindel seemed to be able to swim pretty well. He moved in the water with a quite grace, like a fish.

The deeper he advanced into the swamp, the more pinewoods he discovered at the bottom. These pines looked like they were artificially placed there. A layer of algae grew on the pines. Through the water, they looked very elegant. Of course, Glorfindel wouldn"t know that the scenery was plagiarised by Sheyan from Jiuzhaigou Valley.

(T/N note: 

After a while, Glorfindel found that he was leaving the shallow water area. The water ahead turned deep and its color turned into an ocean blue. He didn"t know that he"d reached the end of the pinewood area and was about to enter the lake area that Sheyan traveled through during his first visit here.

Glorfindel couldn"t help but hesitate for a moment. He felt a bad premonition, as if something was exerting pressure on his chest.

But he can"t just leave without even seeing Melody"s new city. It wouldn"t sit right with him, and he wouldn"t be able to explain himself to his followers. What would he tell them? That he was already at the doorstep of Melody"s city, but came back because he had a bad feeling? Even his remaining followers might leave him.

He contemplated for a bit and pushed down the feeling of unease in his heart. He continued to swim forward. But every time he laid eyes on the indescribable shade of blue of the water, the feeling of unease would somehow grow heavier.

Suddenly, something happened that made Glorfindel"s eyes go wide. He could feel a quake sending ripples through the whole lake. He immediately casted a few buffs and defensive spells like Barkskin, Detect Evil, Bull"s Strength and Haste on himself. While he was still casting spells, an enormous s.h.i.+p made its appearance. Wait, no, it wasn"t a s.h.i.+p – it was a colossal wooden fortress shaped like a pyramid!

The fortress was at least one square kilometer in size. Countless giant logs combined together into a huge raft to make up its base and enabled it to float. Numerous roots grew from the bottom of these logs to absorb nutrients from the water.

On the first layer of the raft, in each of the four directions of the compa.s.s, grew a giant tree. Their roots grabbed onto the bottom of the raft to hold it together firmly. The branches of these trees spread like umbrellas to form the platform for the 2nd level! The 2nd level was filled with buildings that displayed the characteristics of Elven architecture, but had a rough edge to them, perhaps due to the influence of the Dwarves.

On the 2nd level were railings, ballistae, and even embrasures for the Elves to shoot or cast spells from, as well as some decorative engravings. A large amount of vines intertwined together to form the structures. A lot of Elves were standing on the terrace, looking over.

In the middle of the 3rd level was a Sacred Battle Oak. The oak was the true body of Ferrell, the Ent who battled alongside Sheyan.

He might not be as old and as powerful as the Sacred Oak Sindalor, but he"s more than powerful enough to be the core tree protecting this water fortress. He transformed his legs into 7 thick roots which held together the whole water fortress into a single unit. On Ferrell"s sides were piles of rocks that weighed hundreds of kilograms. Ferrell"s arms were left free so that he can throw the rocks as projectiles. With his terrifying strength, his range was frightening.

A fortified railing encircled Ferrell. The Elves standing on the 3rd level were all Elves of high statuses. They grouped around Melody like stars congregating around the moon.

Melody was no longer the Melody from before. She wore a bright red robe which brought out a more mature side of hers. In her hand was a fine staff made by the Dwarves. Dazzling spots of lights of emerald green floated around the staff. Occasionally, the staff would project images of sprouts, leaves and flowers.

Melody was also wearing a flame shaped accessory on her ear. On it was engraved a dazzling gemstone that had 3 colours – red, yellow and blue. The accessory was an exquisite piece of work made especially to counter Melody"s lack of MP. Melody could store her spiritual power in it when she meditates, and use it later. Sindalor also bestowed a permanent flame s.h.i.+eld spell on the accessory.

According to Segimli, this accessory named [The Attention of the Sun G.o.d] would definitely rank top 3 in the coming Skifz Ascûd. It even had a chance of coming in first.

Glorfindel"s heart tightened at such a formidable sight. He was still floating in the water while Melody and the rest of the Elves were all standing on the battle fortress at least 5 meters above water level. It formed a psychological pressure on Glorfindel because he had to look up at everyone else, while they looked down on him.

As the battle fortress drew near, Glorfindel realised that powering such a behemoth should be a major problem. He carefully observed the water below the fortress and could instantly feel a summoning formation engraved into the bottom of the floating platform carrying the fortress.

The thing that the formation summoned was a 3rd rank legendary creature that only existed in the ocean – a whale shark. It was extremely uncomfortable in fresh water, but was still diligently pulling the fortress along with a vine rope. This should be the result from the combined effort of Paul + the Dwarves + Elven magic + the magical materials collected by Rivendell over thousands of years.

The water fortress stopped a kilometer away from Glorfindel. His face looked ashen. He didn"t expect Melody to be strong enough to detect his presence so quickly.

He could"ve ran away if he was in the forest, but he was in water! Plus, there"s no way he could just run away the moment he was found. His ego wouldn"t allow it!

Melody casted a voice amplifying spell on herself and called out to Glorfindel.

“Welcome to Dawn City, Lord Glorfindel.”

Since he was found, Glorfindel naturally couldn"t keep up the pretense. He dispersed his disguise and casted a divine art to float above the water. The divine art consumed a significant amount of MP, but at least he wouldn"t be looked down upon by everyone. He was really unhappy about that.

“Did you bring them here to welcome me, Melody? I"m afraid the ceremony isn"t grand enough for my liking.”

Glorfindel still spoke in a condescending tone. Well, he was powerful enough to be condescending.

A human male beside Melody suddenly laughed and said.

“You guessed wrong, Glorfindel. No one"s here to welcome you. We brought the whole population of Dawn City here to let them witness a historic moment. We want them to see for themselves the might of the Holy Beast protecting us. We want them to know that, even without the protection of Sire Vilya, a cruel fate still awaits the foolish creatures that try to invade the city!”

“Foolish creatures?” Glorfindel couldn"t help but laugh in anger when he heard that. He stared at the man and spoke sinisterly, “I remember your name should be Seaman, right? Melody"s Protector? Since you"re no kin of mine, I don"t need to hold back. You will hang from a tree!”

Sheyan laughed and replied.

“Such bad manners. But don"t worry, I will be lenient when I deal with you, to show respect to your Elven bloodline.”

Glorfindel was about to say more when he felt an indescribable pressure from the deep water below his feet. The next instant, a giant tentacle emerged and whipped at his waist. Glorfindel only had the time to block and was sent flying by the force.

Glorfindel glided above the lake for 30 meters like a surfer before he could steady himself and flew back up. The tentacle kept itself upright on the water and bent its tip towards Glorfindel like a finger. A long, thin piece of frostbolt instantly shot towards Glorfindel.

Glorfindel"s right palm emitted a faint green glow. He used the palm to casually deflect away the frostbolt, and said mockingly.

“Petty tricks.”

As soon as he said that, another tentacle appeared. Both tentacles instantly cast frostbolts together. It put some pressure on Glorfindel, but he could still handle it.

However, everyone knew an octopus normally had 8 tentacles!

If things kept developing in this manner, he would eventually have to deal with 8 tentacles and 8 frostbolts at the same time! For Glorfindel, he could deal with 2 pretty easily. 3 was his limit. 4 or more, he would have to take a beating!

Therefore, Glorfindel laughed and said.

“I know your plan, Melody! This place is close to the Mines of Moria. You think that you can win just because you persuaded the Ocean-freak of Moria to help you? Dream on!”

Glorfindel"s body wouldn"t stop flas.h.i.+ng as he activated the spells on his equipment and accessories. His golden hair rose like a burning fire. The power of nature around his body was so thick it could be seen with naked eyes.

He raised both hands towards the sky, crossing them at the wrists. Then, he vanished all of a sudden and reappeared in front of the Ocean-freak of Moria. He pulled his hands apart with force. A crossmark over 10 meters long appeared in the air and slashed towards the Ocean-freak of Moria!

The cross looked like a mark that was forcefully ripped apart in the atmosphere, as if s.p.a.ce and time were cut open!

The cross. .h.i.t the Ocean-freak of Moria with a blast that sent tremors across the whole lake. The Ocean-freak emitted a long howl as one of its tentacles was severed at the middle. The severed tentacle was at least 6 meters long. It spurted out blue-coloured blood, flipped a few times in the air, and dropped into the water heavily. The waves it cause was mixed with a strong smell of blood.

“HAHAHAHA!” Glorfindel stood tall and laughed menacingly. “Is this the Holy Beast you were so proud of, Melody? For you to depend on something like this is a disgrace to the Elven race.”

Glorfindel once again thanked Fate. He was racking his brain for a way to display his might to the Elves, and here came Melody bringing along with her all the Elves to watch his performance. He was having a headache because he couldn"t injure the Elves directly, and here came Melody again sending out a “Holy Beast” for him to trample on!

But for some reason, he couldn"t see any trace of disappointment from the faces of the Elves. All he could see in their eyes were surprise!

“This is bad!” Glorfindel abruptly turned around and found another giant tentacle behind him. The tentacle was dark black in colour and the suckers on it continuously wiggled. It gave off the terrifying feeling of having unlimited strength. It looked as if it had been waiting there for a long time.

If the tentacle had wished to attack Glorfindel, he wouldn"t even know what hit him!

It wasn"t until Glorfindel turned around that the tentacle whipped at him. It was just an ordinary lash that looked rather slow, but to Glorfindel"s horror, none of the 9 magic spells and 8 secret arts he threw out could help him avoid being hit!

When Glorfindel was. .h.i.t by the tentacle, the pain was as unforgettable as the childhood memory of falling face-first onto a rock from a tree!

His vision went black with sudden dizziness and he almost lost his consciousness due to the pain. Fortunately, he had a strong willpower, and he forced himself to use his signature skill: "Twilight Cross Slash"!

As he vanished and reappeared again in front of the terrifying tentacle, he furiously slashed out. The destructive X-mark once again showed up in the air!

Glorfindel"s "Twilight Cross Slash" used the power of s.p.a.ce-time, so anywhere it cut would be severed from the current dimension. It"s an unstoppable force that can cut through anything!

But! The tentacle belonged to a formidable creature that can travel between realms purely relying on the fearsome strength of its body. Even the terrifying dimensional vortexes connecting different dimensions could do nothing to it, let alone the temporary dimensional crack created by Glorfindel"s skill.

The Elves watched on in surprise as the "Twilight Cross Slash" emerged, reached its climax, and dispersed back into nothingness after pa.s.sing through the tentacle, yet the tentacle still towered majestically over the water as if it was ridiculing Glorfindel!

Glorfindel looked at the tentacle in disbelief. He suddenly roared and flashed a few times, throwing out 3 continuous "Twilight Cross Slashes" which hit the tentacle almost at the same time!

This was Glorfindel"s strongest attack!

Unfortunately, it was futile. It didn"t matter if he threw out ten, a hundred, or a thousand "Twilight Cross Slashes", it looked like they would all be futile.

Glorfindel"s heart rapidly sank.

He suddenly realised the source of his unease. It was this creature in front of him whose strength felt as deep as the vast ocean!

At the same time, he also realised how foolish it was to fight this d.a.m.ned creature in water.

Glorfindel has encountered many situations that were more dangerous than this throughout his life, so he abandoned his pride and did what he do best – running away.

Just like when he attacked, he disappeared in a flash. The other Elves on the water fortress held their breath in antic.i.p.ation of the attack he would launch next. But contrary to their expectation, when he popped up again, he was already more than 500 meters away, escaping like a dog with its tail between its legs!

“Did Lord Glorfindel just….run away?” a young Elvish girl that was rooted to the spot asked hesitantly.

Her voice was as soft as a whisper, but it caused a huge wave among the Elves on the fortress!

They watched in horror as the black tentacle stabbed forward menacingly the moment that Glorfindel once again vanished into thin air.

The tentacle bizarrely vanished just like Glorfindel did. Evidently, the owner of the tentacle had a grasp on dimensional power that was no weaker than Glorfindel"s.

A lot of Elves on the fortress found it difficult to breathe. Only now did they recognise that even though Lady Melody"s Protector, the human called Seaman, wasn"t that strong himself, but the behemoth he summoned under the water was a hundred times stronger than what they imagined!

The strength was overwhelming enough to crush all conspiracies and selfish intentions!

The colossal tentacle"s speed was astonis.h.i.+ng when it stabbed out, but it was considerably slow in retracting back. All throughout the retracting process, the huge suckers on it kept wriggling and sucking on the energy leaked out by the dimensional rifts. The tentacle was finally pulled back after quite some time. It"s tip was curled up.

Grasped in the tentacle was the great Twilight Elf, Glorfindel! His face was full of disbelief as he roared helplessly. His signature golden hair was currently wet and pushed flat against his head, losing its l.u.s.tre. He cut a pathetic figure.

The water fortress approached Glorfindel under Sheyan"s order.

Sheyan wanted to let all the Elves take a closer look at Glorfindel. The same proud, untouchable Glorfindel who now looked like a beaten dog in the hands of their Holy Beast guardians.

Presented at such a sight, the images of the Ocean-freak of Moria and Paul as strong “Holy Beasts” would undoubtedly be established in their hearts, while the image of Glorfindel would simultaneously take a nosedive! Sheyan wanted to climb up by stepping on Glorfindel"s head!

Glorfindel was so humiliated that he would have prefer death. He howled in anger and tried in vain to struggle free while hurling a string of curses at Melody.

Melody didn"t care, but Sheyan"s expression turned dark. He said with a sneer, “Mr. Glorfindel, I chose to pardon you when you threatened to hang me from a tree. Yet you repaid my generosity by sullying Lady Melody Sunstrider with such filthy words. She may forgive you out of kindness, but as her Protector, I"m not so patient!”

Sheyan waved his hand and Paul"s scary giant tentacle tightened a little. Glorfindel"s shouts were abruptly stifled. He felt such tremendous pressure on his chest that even breathing became a luxury, let alone shouting. Not long after, his whole body started shaking due to a lack of oxygen.

To make things worse, the suckers on Paul"s tentacles sucked hard at that moment. They completely absorbed the rest of the MPs in his body that he had secretly retained, thus totally denying him the opportunity to launch a suicidal attack!

The difference in strength between Glorfindel and Paul weren"t actually that wide. However, Glorfindel made a fatal mistake, and that was to fight an aquatic creature in water! Paul"s strength directly increased by a rank in water.

In addition to that, being the summoned creature of Davy Jones, Paul was naturally very familiar with dimensional magic.

Glorfindel"s dimensional power was child"s play in front of Paul. If Glorfindel had used divine arts of nature against Paul, the effect would have been much better.

After displaying Glorfindel"s pathetic figure to all the Elves present, Sheyan asked Paul to let Glorfindel down. Glorfindel was delighted to hear the order. He knew that as long as he could free himself from the terrifying tentacle, his chance to escape would significantly increase.

Paul revealed its magnificent body to the Elves upon receiving the order, sending huge waves to the surrounding area. Instead of immediately letting Glorfindel free, it first sprayed Glorfindel"s whole body with ink. It didn"t look like much to other people, but Paul"s ink was definitely not that simple.

Glorfindel instantly screamed in agony. The ink seeped into every orifice on his body as if they had a life of their own, completely paralysing him. Only now did Paul loosen his tentacle to drop Glorfindel onto the deck of the battle fortress. Glorfindel"s only reaction was to convulse involuntarily on the deck.

At a wave of Sheyan"s hand, a few Elves brought out Paul"s favourite delicacy – some cleaned cows – and threw them into the lake. Paul happily ate a few of them before burping in satisfaction. Then, it swung its tentacles to bring back a couple of cows for the injured Ocean-freak of Moria.

The water battle fortress had achieved its objective for the day. Under the lead of the shark whale, it circled around to return whence it came. After crossing the whole lake, they once again arrived at the pine forest where Sheyan and Reef had once traversed. This was the place where Sheyan first found the eggs of the Ocean-freak of Moria, and the valley behind the pine forest was where Reef separated from Sheyan after being hypnotised.

The place looked entirely different now. The pine trees were completely gone; in their place were a kind of giant trees that grow in water called Seaforest Trees. Sheyan and co. found the seeds of these trees from the stock of Rivendell. With their ample supply of energy crystals, it took less than 3 days for the seeds to mature into a magnificent forest on water.

The Seaforest Trees had taken root on the wetland with their trunks at least 5 meters above the water surface. The abundant branches of the Seaforest Trees weaved together with parasitic vines living on the trees to form the platform for the 2nd level of the forest. At the very top of the Seaforest Trees, viewing platforms and residences were inter-connected with vines and vine ladders.

The Seaforest Trees have different heights, so the whole city in the air had an uneven beauty to it.

The favourite daily activity of the Elves of Dawn City was to watch the sunrise from the top of the city. The snowy mountains on the horizon dyed gold by the morning sun formed a magnificent scenery that could hardly be described with words.

As the sun rose to the top and the day got hotter, the Elves would move to the lower layer of Dawn City. Spots of sunlight would penetrate through the branches to illuminate the surrounding. The water lilies and lotuses in the wetlands would provide a fresh fragrance. Various types of fishes swam in the clear water as if they were floating lazily in the air. The beautiful patterns on the pinewoods under the water could also be clearly seen. It was like the view from a dream.

Glorfindel finally recovered from the agony brought by Paul"s ink. Right now, his hands and feet were bound by a type of special Elven shackles made from sharp grey thorns that penetrated into his body. With the divine power of Sin"dorei sealing his power, it was close to impossible for him to escape.

Glorfindel had calmed down somewhat. He still held a cold and overbearing att.i.tude because he knew that according to Elvish customs, the Elves were forbidden from openly killing kin. Furthermore, he"s not just any Elf. He"s one of the sacred Twilight Elves.

The ones escorting Glorfindel weren"t Elves but a bunch of strong Dwarven warriors. Sheyan casually strode next to them with his hands behind his back. Melody walked in front of the group surrounded by the Elders who had the highest authority and power. She would occasionally steal a glance at Sheyan and smile sweetly.

When Glorfindel was escorted into the city, he could immediately feel a strange power at work. The power was immense and covered almost half of the entire Dawn City!

Glorfindel was someone who had seen a lot of things. It didn"t take long for him to identify the source of the power. At the roots of most Seaforest Trees were egg-like objects that were about half a man in size. They should be the ones causing the rapid development of Dawn City.

One of the reasons that Dawn City and the wetland surrounding it were so full of life was thanks to the valuable materials brought from Rivendell, but the most important reason was actually these objects. They were the eggs of the Ocean-freak of Moria which were placed everywhere in the wetlands to continuously provide life forces to the living things there!

What actually happened was, after Paul conquered the Ocean-freak of Moria, he naturally couldn"t accept the eggs that had no relation to him at all. This is a primal instinct for animals, like how an African lion that took over a pride would bite the cubs that weren"t of his seed to death.

Sheyan naturally wouldn"t let these eggs go to waste. At first, he used the life force from the eggs to cultivate another kind of aquatic plant that was smaller in size. The Dawn City then was designed in the style of a miniature garden. However, after obtaining the wealth of Rivendell, they changed the trees to the gigantic Seaforest Trees, and built the city as a grand forest city.

After walking for close to half an hour on the vine tracks of Dawn City, they reached the valley. The valley had also been turned into a swamp. Travelling through the valley on the vine bridges presented to one a unique scenery.

Sweats started trickling down Glorfindel"s forehead. He didn"t know why the further in he walked, the more uneasy he felt. The feeling of unease was hard to describe and caused him unexplainable fear. Of course, Glorfindel wouldn"t show any weakness and forced himself to maintain a brave front.

They soon arrived at the naturally-formed cave after taking a turn. The cave was too high for the water to reach. It used to be the territory of the Balrog, but the owners.h.i.+p of the cave had now been pa.s.sed to the Dwarves. The Gimli tribe had sent at least 500 masons to inhabit the place.

The dwarves, being natural masons, had spent no time in making the cave their base. They found the temperature of the place very much to their satisfaction. It was suitable for smithing, and also warmed their beds nicely.

The original lord of the cave, the Balrog, appeared in front of Glorfindel.

It made its appearance in a way that no one could have imagined.

The place where the Ocean-freak of Moria used to incubate her eggs now had a gigantic magic formation. Glorfindel noticed that the formation was formed from a coalition of 7 magic formations, each of them an exquisite piece of work that the Dwarves put significant effort into.

The materials used to build the magic formation were naturally extremely valuable. Some of them looked very familiar to Glorfindel because he had seen them many times in Rivendell"s storage.

The Balrog was placed above the magic formation. Its whole body was covered in a black, rock-like sh.e.l.l akin to solidified lava. Multiple cracks formed on the sh.e.l.l to reveal a glimpse of the scary red turbulence within. From afar, it looked like a giant egg.

7 chains were nailed firmly to the stone wall of the cave. The other ends of the chains wrapped around the Balrog to hang it in the air. The chains were extremely thick; each ring on the chains was the size of an adult human. Some strange runes were engraved on the chains and they would emit a faint green glow. Whenever a red light flashed from within the body of the Balrog, it would be evenly absorbed by each chain and would be transmitted away.

Glorfindel finally understood why the climate was as warm as spring when the place was right beneath a snowy peak. They caught the Balrog and absorbed its life force to provide energy to the surrounding land! It would explain the warm water in the swamp and the mysteriously high temperature of the area.

"Wait!" a thought crept into Glorfindel"s mind that almost made him stop breathing.

"The Mines of Moria are right next to this area! The ancient Dwarven kingdom moved here because the caves here are rich with minerals, but the appearance of the Balrog caused the mines to be abandoned. Now that the Balrog has been captured, there would be no more threats in the mines, which means the Dwarves can operate the mines again. Doesn"t that mean Dawn City already has the foundation to cooperate with the Dwarves?!"

Glorfindel was absolutely right. Every step in Sheyan"s plan was linked. He brought over Paul the octopus to conquer Ocean-freak Moria, then ambushed the Balrog with the krakens. With the Balrog captured, he used the rich minerals in the Mines of Moria to attract the Gimli tribe. Under the promise of the ma.s.sive profit that cooperation would bring, the Gimli tribe gave Dawn City their full support. If it wasn"t for that, there was no way Melody and the few followers she had left could build a city of such scale.

The procession moved into a cave next to the one where the Balrog was imprisoned. It was a cave hollowed out by the Dwarves. An eerie glow emanated from within. Sheyan took a look in front and gently told Melody.

“There"s something I need to talk with Mr. Glorfindel about. His mouth is too dirty so I need to clean it a little.”

Melody nodded obediently and left with 2 of her followers. As soon as she left, Sheyan revealed a cold smile. He waved his hand and the elite Dwarven warriors begun their rough “inspection” of Glorfindel. They completely stripped him of everything on his body. The process was far from gentle.

Glorfindel screamed madly.

“You fool! How dare you insult a Twilight Elf like this!”

The other Elven elders did not look too happy either. But Sheyan ignored them and said.

“You call this an insult? Then what do you call that time when you said you would hang me from a tree? I"m not a generous person. Any time someone threatens me, I will keep it in my heart and will always look for a chance to pay it back.”

Since Glorfindel had made thorough preparations for his hara.s.sment activity, he should have a lot of valuable items on him. Of course, Sheyan wasn"t able to use them, but the Elven elders and the Dwarves seemed very interested in them. Sheyan"s face remained cold as he nodded his head slightly at Annenia Cyathea.

Annenia Cyathea was a loyal confidant of Melody"s, so he had no trouble at dealing with Glorfindel. He smirked at the helpless Glorfindel and produced a tree branch. He then dipped the branch in his own blood and started drawing strange runes and patterns on Glorfindel"s body. The process seemed very tiring for him and he started breathing heavily halfway through drawing on Glorfindel"s back.

Sheyan looked at the rest of the Elven elders and told them.

“What we"re drawing now is a secret rune pa.s.sed down by the sacred Sin"dorei for Lady Melody Sunstrider called the Soul Absorbing formation! The process of drawing the formation is very taxing on one"s mental power so it"s impossible for Elder Annenia Cyathea to complete it by himself. However, he had drawn the outline of the formation, so we now need your help to complete it.”

An Elven elder suddenly exclaimed in indignation.

“I refuse to perform such barbaric acts! This is an insult to the great tradition of the Elven race!”

Whenever someone starts something, there would always be people who follow. Two other elders stepped forward to protest.

Facing these confrontations, Sheyan simply waved his hand and said.

“Have it your way, but Dawn City no longer welcomes you. Please return to Rivendell!”

The 3 Elven elders retorted angrily.

“You do not have the authority to decide that!”

Sheyan simply smiled and replied.

“If you want to hear Lady Melody personally order you away, it"s not a big problem. Just wait until I"m done with the matters here. ”

The other Elven elders stepped forward one after another to help complete the magic formation on Glorfindel"s body. In total, 6 Elven elders took part. By the time the formation was completed, Glorfindel could no longer speak. All he could muster were angry howls in his throat. The runes looked like molten gold as they stuck to his body. They were actually seeping into his skin like tattoo ink!

Annenia Cyathea moved his hand slightly and Glorfindel floated up from the ground. The 6 elders started glowing with a golden radiant. They surrounded Glorfindel and advanced deeper into the caves.

The 3 elders who did not partic.i.p.ate wanted to follow along, but after taking a few steps forward, they discovered a light barrier. The glow from the light barrier was dim, but it radiated with an imposing dignity, stopping them in their tracks outside the barrier. However, the barrier showed no effect on Sheyan. He walked through it casually.

One of the elders tried to do the same thing, but as soon as he touched the barrier, he immediately cried out in pain. A burn mark appeared at the part of his body that came into contact with the barrier. He immediately tried to heal himself with natural magic but the burn mark persisted on his skin like a brand.

“G.o.d only needs the most loyal servants,” a drawn-out voice resounded over from the distance. “Unfortunately, you have disappointed G.o.d.”

The 3 elders looked at each other. They started to have a bad feeling about this.

The group that proceeded deeper into the tunnel travelled for what felt like a long time, but strangely also felt pretty short. In the end, they stepped foot into a large cavern that had 5 holes on the ceiling. They were undoubtedly deep in the mountains yet bright sunlight s.h.i.+ned through each of the holes to illuminate the cavern.

The 5 rays of sunlight represented the 5 Honours of the Sun G.o.d – Radiance, Warmth, Brilliance, Dignity and Heat. The rays of sunlight were produced by Sin"dorei to display his Divinity. They would last here forever.

Annenia Cyathea chanted a string of incantations and the 5 rays of sunlight slowly moved until they s.h.i.+ned on Glorfindel"s limbs and head. As if in response to the sunlight, the magic formation on his body glowed bright!

Glorfindel screamed in agony. He struggled with all his might in the air but to no avail.

Gradually, the brightly lit cavern turned dark. It wasn"t that the Divinity of the Sun G.o.d had disappeared; it"s just that the light energy from the 5 rays of sunlight were completely absorbed by the magic formation and were turned into divine energy. The cavern that lost its light source naturally turned pitch-black.

Suddenly, a few spots of red lights appeared from the walls of the cavern and intertwined in the air. Upon closer inspection, one would see that they were all in the forms of the insignia of Sin"dorei. Then, multiple trails of lights formed in the air and intertwined with each other to form a divine image of Sin"dorei. The whole cavern became a mysterious, large-scale magic formation!

Glorfindel"s face was already twisted to a terrifying extent but he did not utter a sound. An extremely dense green glow seeped out from his body and it slowly floated up into the air as if it was being held in the palm of the Sun G.o.d. Then, the dense green glow condensed into 6 emerald-green light orbs and floated towards the 6 Elven elders.

“I, Annenia Cyathea, solemnly swear that the honour of the Sun G.o.d shall forever s.h.i.+ne upon my soul! I shall become the most loyal believer of Sin"dorei!”

The pious voice of Annenia Cyathea echoed loudly in the cavern. Compared to the other 5 Elven elders, he understood more clearly what the ritual meant. Even if this great Elven elder had reservations about Sheyan before, all his doubts disappeared after witnessing the Holy Beast Paul forcefully capturing Glorfindel alive!

“This is the Oath of the Fanatics!” the other Elven elders were completely shocked.

Following the oath of Annenia Cyathea, the emerald-green light orb floating in front him gradually turned a golden colour and seeped into his body. After the light orb was completely absorbed by Annenia Cyathea, his magic power increased tremendously! The shackles that had held him back from becoming stronger for 196 years completely vanished. Annenia Cyathea"s might reached a whole new height!

All these happened because the emerald-green light orb that he absorbed contained 10% of Glorfindel"s power!

All energy came from the sun. Only the Sun G.o.d Sin"dorei could convert any energy into the divine power of the Sun G.o.d, then infuse it into the body of His devout fanatics. As someone who pursued power, Annenia Cyathea took the step without hesitation!

The remaining 5 Elven elders were shocked speechless. A portion of Glorfindel"s power was definitely tempting, but if they became fanatics, they would have to obey Melody for the rest of their long lives. In addition to that, they will become Glorfindel"s mortal enemies! They must think it through carefully!

While the other elders were hesitating, the strengthened Annenia Cyathea suddenly kneeled down and chanted loudly.

“O great Sun G.o.d, this believer of yours is willing to wors.h.i.+p you with everything he has. Please bestow upon me more power!”

Annenia Cyathea attempt to “sell” himself completely to Sin"dorei resulted in him being showered with more grace by the Sun G.o.d. The 5 remaining emerald-green light orbs that were hovering in front of the other elders turned golden. A golden ray shot out from each light orb into Annenia Cyathea"s body!

Annenia Cyathea"s magic power experienced another wild burst! He was now only a step away from reaching the Heroic rank like Legolas and Galadriel!

The rest of the Elven elders could no longer hold themselves back. They, too, recited the Oath of the Fanatics and absorbed Glorfindel"s power in front of them. One of them imitated Annenia Cyathea and offered himself completely, thus absorbing additional power from the other 4 light orbs.

The rest of the elders quickly realised what happened and “sold” themselves one after another. However, the last one to offer himself was rather unfortunate. His light orb only contained 5% of power after the other elders took their share from it. He became the one who drew the short straw.

The biggest winner of the ritual was, without a doubt, Elder Annenia Cyathea. Before this, his power was only below average amongst the Elven elders. But through his decisive actions, he was now the strongest person after Melody, which meant that the position of First Elder was pretty much in the bag.

Sheyan finally heaved a sigh of relief after witnessing the ritual. With this, the ruling council of Dawn City was established. All the members were made up of the Fanatics of Sin"dorei. Thus, even if Melody wasn"t that smart, her position would be as stable as Mt. Tai.

More importantly, the 6 elders climbed up the ranks by absorbing Glorfindel"s power. There would no longer be any ground for compromises between them and Glorfindel. Sheyan couldn"t help revealing a cold smile when he thought of that.

The elders needed to stay at the holy ground to pray and meditate in order to stabilise their newly obtained power, so Sheyan grabbed Glorfindel"s hair and dragged him away like he was dragging a garbage bag.

Outside the cave, Sheyan pa.s.sed Glorfindel into the hands of 2 elite Dwarven warriors. He then returned to the highest point of Dawn City and announced to all the Elves.

“Mr. Glorfindel came here with evil intentions, disrespected our faith and tried to destroy our peaceful lives. However, the merciful Lady Melody Sunstrider has decided to pardon him after showing him the majesty of Sin"dorei. She will let him return to Rivendell to repent for his blasphemy.”

None of the Elves expected this. They thought that the best Glorfindel could have hoped for was imprisonment. If Melody wished to, she could even have executed him.

They only believed it when they saw Glorfindel being thrown into a wooden boat and was left to float away. The Elves cheered for Lady Melody Sunstrider"s kindness.

Sheyan actually came to this decision after giving it a lot of thoughts. He had limited time in this world after all. The defense of Dawn City was already quite thorough, so it didn"t matter whether Glorfindel lived or died. It was even more so now that Glorfindel only had 40% of his power left.

As long as Glorfindel stayed alive, he would remain a formidable enemy to the 6 elders who absorbed his power. Such a huge outside threat would keep them busy from initiating internal power struggles. Of course, others wouldn"t understand the game of thrones that Sheyan was playing.

Dawn City was even more beautiful at night.

Fireflies that flew all around the wetland looked like stars that illuminated the night. Bellflowers that glowed like street lamps scattered across the swamp to add to the mysterious atmosphere, s.h.i.+ning a gentle light upon the steps of the wetland"s inhabitants.

The occasional wind would shake the vines and branches slightly to produce a beautiful sound. The Elves that hadn"t retreated to their beds would choose to meet in front of their treehouses to chat. Their laughters would add to the song of the night.

Sheyan was currently in a huge treehouse that was the tallest in Dawn City. It was the residence of Melody. Next to him were Segimli and Elder Annenia Cyathea, while in front of him was a huge magical sandbox that was at least 5 square metres in size.

Annenia Cyathea pointed and the sand started glowing softly. It quickly rearranged itself into an accurate model of the detailed layout of Dawn City.

The sand model showed everything from the wetland, lake and the battle fortress parked on the bank, to the Seaforest Trees behind them, to the Balrog held within the mountains, and to a few newly excavated caves to the side.

Sheyan couldn"t help feeling extremely proud as he looked over the giant sand model. The whole Dawn City was built according to Sheyan"s plan. To watch it rapidly grow and expand into the scale it showed today was immensely satisfying.

Sheyan had actually started planning for the construction of Dawn City the moment he heard that Melody had a group of Elves following her. It"s just that the initial plan was nowhere near as colossal.

The reason he planned to build a city was simple. If Melody wanted to establish her own faction and poach a group of Elves away, she would first need to solve the basic problems of security and accomodation for these Elves. It"s the same as courting someone"s hand for marriage. If you have a humble abode then you would still have a chance, but if you don"t, then good luck.

Paul the Octopus was the X-factor that provided meat to Sheyan"s plan. It was actually strong enough to capture the Balrog. Once the Balrog was taken care of, the rich ore veins in the Mines of Moria became Sheyan"s negotiation chip. Even if the Gimli tribe rejected his proposal for cooperation, various other Dwarven tribes would queue up for the chance.

And thus the first construction phase of Dawn City was rapidly carried out. Yet it was barely enough to satisfy the basic needs of the Elves that Melody “kidnapped” from Rivendell.

Fortunately, the resources plundered from Rivendell was unnaturally rich, with an abundance of energy crystals. Sheyan didn"t even need to do much after that. Following Sheyan"s concepts of “Wetlands” and “City in the Air”, the Elves started making changes to Dawn City themselves. The magic formation to absorb the Balrog"s life force, the Reconciliation Room of the Sun G.o.d where Glorfindel was robbed of his power, and the Seaforest Trees were all completed during this phase.

Sheyan was able to witness the terrifying might resulting from the cooperation between Elven magic and Dwarven construction. The appearance of Dawn City changed with every pa.s.sing day! Each day brought new surprises.

The next phase in the plan of the Elves was to build a new Elven town called Tisdale on the ruins of the orc city nearby. The town would serve 2 purposes.

The first was to let the Elves that grew tired of the wetland environment of the City in the Air to experience life in a snowy forest.

The second was to act as a place to receive guests and make contact with people from other places. There were simply too many secrets within Dawn City, plus the Ring of Air, Vilya wasn"t fully under Melody"s control yet. They couldn"t easily let outsiders into Dawn City.

After experiencing Glorfindel"s visit, both the internal stability and security problems of Dawn City had been put under control. Melody"s position as the “Queen” of Dawn City was completely unshakeable now. Even after Sheyan left this world, he wouldn"t need to worry about rebellions.

If there were anything Sheyan was still worried about, it would be the Balrog.

If he recalled correctly, the Fellows.h.i.+p of the Ring in the story wanted to stay overnight on the bank of the lake, but they were attacked by the Ocean-freak of Moria. In their chaos, they escaped into the Mines of Moria and met with the ambush from the Balrog….

But now, the Ocean-freak of Moria was living a happy life with Paul. A large number of Dwarves and Elves would provide food for these two “Holy Beasts” everyday, so they probably wouldn"t have any interest in hunting anymore.

As for the Balrog, it was currently wrapped like a dumpling in captivity, continuously providing warmth to Dawn City and its surrounding area. The heat emitted by a Balrog was so great that anywhere it stayed would naturally turn into lava. The magic formation only restricted its freedom and absorbed the heat dispersed from its body without harming it. Even if Gandalf wanted to duel the Balrog, he would have to ask for permission from Dawn City!

Since they altered the storyline to such an extent, Sheyan couldn"t help but feel uneasy. To make matters worse, the Stockholm party definitely caused major changes to the plot as well. The future was now completely unknown. Sheyan felt as if his eyes were blinded by fog.

“My dear friend, I actually came here today to bring you a good news,” said Segimli. The little Dwarf was a chatterbox, so he quickly broke the silence when he felt the atmosphere turn heavy.

Sheyan"s eyes lit up as he asked.

“What"s the good news?”

Segimli happily answered.

“Following the underground rivers, we"ve opened up a path to the Mines of Moria. Everyone was really excited. From the injuries on the Inokas we"ve released inside, we deduce that they were attacked by some half orcs and undead creatures. Those creatures shouldn"t pose a problem to our warhammers. (Inoka = a kind of lizard reared by the Dwarves. They could be used as mounts underground, or as hunting hounds and scouts.)”

Sheyan nodded.

“I completely believe that they would pose no problems at all for the courageous warriors of the Gimli tribe.”

“Not only that, my friend. Despite the order forbidding us from entering, a companion of mine called Bronzebeard couldn"t hold himself back and rushed in on an Inoka!” exclaimed Segimli excitedly.

“The important thing is, he came back safely 3 hours ago. Of course, he can"t have any beer for 3 days as a punishment by the elders. But he brought back great news. There were 7 major ore veins underground just waiting to be mined! The facilities left by Durin"s Folk when they evacuated were still operational, which means that we can start mining immediately. Each ore vein can be mined for a thousand years! Our only pleasant problem now is that we don"t have enough hands!”

Segimli was already flinging his hands in excitement as he explained.

“Bronzebeard was sure that the captured Balrog inside Dawn City is the same Balrog inhabiting the mines previously. That means our greatest threat had been nullified! Even though the place had been deserted for a thousand years, he could still see the splendor of what used to be the biggest Dwarven city in existence. There were a total of 8 floors. Each floor possessed a large amount of arched tunnels. The rooms and halls were made of black walls that were as smooth as gla.s.s. The bottom floor contained mines, treasuries and prisons! Oh yeah, there were also the legendary Durin"s Bridge and the Endless Stair! So cool! I can"t wait to step inside!”

Elder Annenia Cyathea smiled and said.

“Moria, or as it was known in the ancient days, Khazad-dûm, was built together by our Ñoldor Elves and the great Dwarven race. The great Lord Celebrimbor personally recorded the glorious feat with Mithril. In the present day, under the collaboration of the Sin"dorei Elves and the Gimli Dwarves, Moria will definitely s.h.i.+ne again as the number one Dwarven City on the continent.”

After giving it some thoughts, Sheyan said grimly.

“Mr. Segimli, I must regretfully inform you that the news you bring are not good news at all. I wish to meet with your uncle and all the elders in your tribe within the next half an hour. There is something I must discuss with them.”

Segimli asked in shock.

“It"s not good news? If this isn"t good news, then what else can you call good news? Fine, fine, I"ll go notify them immediately. But I must warn you, my uncle should be enjoying a nice gla.s.s of beer with some Dwarven cheese on his lazy chair right now. If you call him over for no good reason, he will be very angry.”

Sheyan"s words apparently had some weight within the Gimli tribe. Half an hour later, all the important Dwarves in the tribe that could come have gathered.

Sheyan looked at the beardy, honest faces in front of him and cut straight to the point.

“The reason I asked everyone to gather here was to raise a few questions. If you can answer them, then there will be no problems.”

The old Gimli suppressed his annoyance and said.

“Ask away.”

Sheyan organised his words and said.

“I heard the Gimli tribe had confirmed that there were no more significant threats inside the Mines of Moria, and there are 7 major ore veins inside. My first question is, how does the wealth of the ore veins compare to the rewards of Skifz Ascûd?”

Segimli had an impatient nature so he instantly answered with pride.

“The Mithril content of the Mines of Moria is unlike any other in Middle Earth. The ore veins rewarded on Skifz Ascûd may be rich, but even 10 of them combined cannot compare to a major ore vein in Moria.”

Sheyan nodded his head. His second question was very sudden and seemed to have no relation to the first question at all.

“The Gimli tribe should be a pretty big Dwarven tribe, correct? How many Dwarves are there in the tribe?”

Segimli looked even prouder as he exclaimed.

“The size of our tribe ranks at least top 10 among the Dwarves. We number over 10,000.”

A Dwarven elder yawned and wiped his eyes as he said.

“If that"s all, then I"m going back to sleep. We still need to move tomorrow.”

He turned and walked towards the exit. A few Dwarven elders followed his lead prepared to leave. But Sheyan"s third question rooted them to the spot.

“Then how many Dwarves are there among Durin"s Folk?”

Durin was almost a G.o.d-like existence to the Dwarves! The leader of Durin"s Folk had always adopted the name of Durin. The current king of the Dwarves of Durin"s Folk was Durin VII. Even now, he remained the lord of Erebor and Iron Hills. One can imagine the status of Durin"s Folk among the Dwarves. It was akin to the Han among the Chinese, maybe even more prominent!

Segimli hesitated for a moment before he answered.

“Those Dwarves have always been arrogant. Even something as important as Skifz Ascûd was hosted by them. I don"t know the exact figure, but there should be hundreds of thousands of them….maybe more.”

Sheyan said.

“From what I understand, Khazad-dûm, or Moria as it is known today, has always been the royal capital of Durin"s Folk. They persisted here for a long time before the Balrog appeared. The Balrog"s abilities were the bane of the Dwarves. Durin"s Folk had no choice but to move to Erebor and the Iron Hills after the Balrog killed Durin VI and slayed his son, Náin. Am I right?”

Complete silence fell over the room. Melody who was sleeping on a soft couch suddenly woke up. She rubbed her eyes, looked at the crowd in front of her in confusion, and finally laid down on Sheyan"s thigh to continue her sleep.

Everyone there was used to the Twilight Elf, Melody Sunstrider"s reliance on her Protector, so they didn"t even bat an eye. After a prolonged silence, the old Gimli finally said with difficulty.

“Seaman, my friend, you were completely correct.”

Sheyan continued.

“The news of you inhabiting the Mines of Moria will inevitably spread. What do you think Durin"s Folk would do after they hear of it? Maybe their king is a magnanimous person and would leave Moria in your hands eh.”

Another prolonged silence ensued. Segimli vehemently said.

“If that person is magnanimous, how could our Mithril accessory fail the preliminary elimination?”

Sheyan had revealed a cruel truth in the face of the Dwarves. With only a few words, he had smitten the Dwarves from heaven to h.e.l.l! They feeling almost made them cough up blood!

Obviously, the only way to prevent retaliation from Durin"s Folk was to voluntarily offer Moria to them. But! But! How could the Gimli tribe stomach that?! For the Dwarves, there were only 3 things they cared about in their long lives: beer, mining and smithing.

Old Gimli suddenly stood up and saluted Sheyan.

“Since the Lord Protector pointed out the problem to us, I believe you should have a solution to the problem.”

Sheyan smiled and replied.

“Of course. Anyone who wants to inhabit the Mines of Moria has to respect the will of Lady Melody, because if we can capture the Balrog, we can naturally release it. Besides, we have Holy Beasts that can control the flow of water. If we are angered, then we might completely flood the Mines of Moria. As far as I know, no one has the ability to mine underwater yet. ”

Old Gimli"s eyes lit up at Sheyan"s words.

“Our cooperation has always been pleasant. I hope we can continue our relations.h.i.+p. ”

Sheyan revealed a difficult smile as he replied.

“The basis for a pleasant cooperation lies in how much both sides are willing to offer. If Durin"s Folk are willing to offer more….”

Sheyan looked over at Annenia Cyathea. The Elven elder"s jaw had almost dropped to the ground, but he quickly picked it up and supported Sheyan with his own righteous remarks.

“No one can impose their will on the entire Elven population of Dawn City. Even Lady Melody and Lord Protector can only make suggestions. All decisions must go through the elder council and be announced to the public! No one can damage the interests of Dawn City for personal reasons!”

Old Gimli was instantly thrust into helplessness. He obviously knew that Durin"s Folk could offer anything that the Gimli tribe can, and more. However, this was the best chance the Gimli tribe had encountered for thousands of years. How could he let this chance slip from his hands? He wouldn"t dare let the chance slip.

It was Sheyan"s hint that enlightened them.

“This piece of meat is too big for the Gimli tribe to stomach alone. Why not collaborate with a few other Dwarven tribes? There are as many as 7 major ore veins in the mines, and there should be countless minor veins too.”

7 days later, without paying any heed to the cost, 6 major Dwarven tribes formed an alliance and teleported themselves over. (As to why the Fellows.h.i.+p of the Ring didn"t use teleport formations, it was because the power of the Ring was too great and would interfere with the teleportation. If they had used a teleport formation, they might even be transported to earth due to a malfunction.)

The 6 great tribes totalled over 100,000 Dwarves. They declared themselves the Sunstrider Alliance, and also announced their collaborative agreement with “the mighty and holy Dawn City that captured the evil Balrog”. They then settled their whole population into the abandoned Mines of Moria, and renamed it Lesso-dûm (the land of peace).

(T/N note: dûm actually means mansion but whatever)

Durin"s Folk might be strong, but under such circ.u.mstances, they wouldn"t dare make a rash move. They might be large in numbers, but due to the distance, they could only mobilise a force of about 50,000 – 60,000 to Moria. The Sunstrider Alliance had the geographical advantage and wouldn"t be expelled easily.

Furthermore, they were extremely wary of the power that Dawn City was hiding. There was no way Dawn City could lie about capturing the Balrog, because they didn"t kill it, they captured it. That meant the Dwarves could see the Balrog! Durin"s Folk were forced away from the Khazad-dûm of old by the same Balrog, so they fully understood the might required to capture the Balrog alive.

For Sheyan, the reason he chose to cooperate with the Sunstrider Alliance was simple. A divided alliance was easier to control and separate. Even if they wanted to do anything big, they would need a long time to come to an agreement.

More importantly, Sheyan had never given up on acquiring the silver t.i.tle “One Hand to Cover Heaven". Melody might be in control of a large faction, but it"s difficult for her to live in another world. It"s not that she"s unwilling. The arachnids have a technology like the wormhole which enabled them to travel through dimensions, but Melody has no such technology.

(T/N note: The details of the t.i.tle can be found in chapter 435)

A crucial reason Sheyan pa.s.sed on Durin"s Folk was because their area of expertise was in smithing weapons and armours. Under the guidance of Sheyan, the 6 tribes that formed the Sunstrider Alliance were more proficient in making accessories, enchanting, and constructing formations.

The Sunstrider Alliance wasn"t just another layer of protection for Dawn City, they were also a strong Research & Development team for magic formations!

The weather was fine. White clouds float on a blue sky.

The dry weather was showing its might in this place. The spa.r.s.e gra.s.ses on the ground all showed a deep yellow colour; the sandy soil beneath them fully visible. The leaves of the waxyleaf privets on the roadside were also displaying tints of yellow while their barks showed signs of being trampled by pa.s.sing horses that tried to climb up the hill.

The hill was actually not that tall. It merely stood out because of the landscape surrounding it. Sheyan unmounted his horse to check the map, and said.

“We should be within the territory of the Arnor Kingdom. This place should be Amon Sûl, more commonly known as Weathertop, where the Amon Sûl-stone used to be.”

“I"m thirsty. I want some water with ice,” said a clear voice coquettishly. It was the voice of Melody.

Sheyan sighed and said.

“I shouldn"t have let you come. Our trip this time is really dangerous.”

Even though he said that, he still fetched a bottle of water from his personal s.p.a.ce and pa.s.sed it to Melody. Melody cheerfully replied.

“If I don"t come with you, I don"t know when I"ll see you again.”

Sheyan helplessly said.

“I"ve already asked the Dwarves to research on teleport formations. They already have the technology to teleport to other dimensions, but the dimensional storm during the teleportation process could heavily-injure even the Ocean-freak of Moria. I don"t think it will take long for them to solve this problem. You should have a bit more patience.”

“No, I want to be with you,” the gentle Melody retorted.

She blushed and lowered her head, unable to meet Sheyan"s eyes. But in the end, she still pouted and said with a huff.

“Besides, Sire Vilya has masked my Elvish appearance and aura. It can also return me to Dawn City anytime I wish. What"s there to be worried about?”

Melody shouldn"t have mentioned this matter because all it did was to aggrieve Sheyan further.

Dawn City was just established and was just entering its developmental phase. The Dwarves and the Elves had only entered into a rough agreement which was still fragile. There were a lot of things that had to be handled. The absence of Melody would cause a lot of difficulties in matters such as receiving visitors and signing agreements.

However, as Sheyan"s eyes fell upon the innocent face of Melody with those huge eyes and that sweet smile, he swallowed back the admonis.h.i.+ng words that he was about to utter. Honestly, deep down in his heart, he also hoped for Melody"s company on this journey.

Under the protection of Vilya, Melody still exuded innocence, but her Elven features had been covered up. Her Elvish aura had also been changed into a human one. That was why Sheyan dared to take her along.

Sheyan didn"t dare to bring a strong group of Dwarven warriors and Elven mages to Angmar. Now that Reef and him had killed Elrond, they would need to deal with the dark side for the main storyline quest.

If he brought too many Elves and Dwarves with him, then it might be misunderstood as an attack and they would attract the attention of the Nazgûls. But if he only brought a few, then as soon as the Elven and Dwarven auras appeared within the territory of the Dark Lord, they would just be a.s.sasinated.

Melody"s battle strength was currently not that strong. Sheyan had specifically asked her to prioritise unlocking the defensive abilities of the Ring of Air first. She also had to spend a large amount of magic power to coexist with the ring.

Her battle abilities mostly consisted of buffs and healing abilities. Currently, her only method of directly causing damage was with her bow, which means her damage output was not much different from other Elves her age.

But as Sheyan watched her smile, he felt incomparably happy and peaceful. He took her hand in his to give it a kiss, then turned his head away and said.

“How long will it take before we find a place to rest?”

Sheyan directed the question towards the guide of the caravan that they were riding with. With the help of Segimli, they didn"t take much effort in finding a caravan heading for the s.h.i.+re that they could board. From the s.h.i.+re, they could pay to use the teleport formation to reach a place in Eriador that was only 200 km away from Angmar. From there, it would only take a day of journey to reach their destination: the residence of the Grey Dwarves on the outskirt of Angmar.

Technically speaking, Angmar was also within the territory of the Misty Mountains. If one were to draw a straight line from Angmar to Moria, the distance was not that far. However, to travel in a straight path, they would have to go past the defensive line formed by the orcs and Uruk-hai. They might even meet with big bosses such as Lurtz or the Nazgûls.

The faction of the Dark Lord was notorious for backstabbing among themselves, so Sheyan didn"t expect them to welcome him with open arms just because he had considerable Fate points. So, he chose to take a huge detour. There was no need to gamble with his life just to save some time.

Fortunately, they went the extra mile in completing the mission by killing Elrond, and each member of Ace party obtained 2311 Fate points of the Dark Lord"s faction. So on the 20th day of their stay in this world, they were presented with the following options:

A) To reach the destination in time and obtain additional rewards, or

B) To prolong their stay in this world for 10 days without additional rewards.

Sheyan chose option B. Otherwise, he wouldn"t have enough time to take this longer, safer route because he spent too much time on the matters of Dawn City.

The caravan guide beamed as he answered Sheyan"s question.

“We"ll be there soon. Even though the climate around Weathertop is dry, there is a spring to the west of the hill. We normally stop there for rest and to refill our water. There will be at least a day afterwards without another fresh water source.”

Melody grew up within the lush greenery of Rivendell and had never seen a barren place like the Weather Hills. The curious new environment coupled with the presence of her loved one at her side put her in a good mood. She couldn"t help asking.

“This isn"t a desert. Why is there no fresh water?”

The guide had a weather-beaten face carved full of wrinkles. He smiled as he answered.

“That"s because the land and water around here were all cursed by the devils. Even if there is water, it will taste so sour and bitter that even the horses and cows wouldn"t drink them. Only the area around Weathertop has fresh water because it was a place that used to be protected by the G.o.ds, even though the G.o.ds had abandoned the place due to prolonged war.”

As they chatted, the caravan climbed along the road that whirled around Weathertop.

The horses and cows in the caravan were carrying heavy goods. Some of them showed signs of slipping as they climbed up slowly. The leader of the caravan was worried that the burden on the beasts might be too heavy, so he ordered his team to unload half the goods and left some people there to stand guard. He planned to take 2 trips.

Sheyan"s group of 4 followed the first group to the peak. The weather was sunny so the view was clear from Weathertop. They pointed out to Franklin the tall tower that the Hobbits built in Buckland. It was once the symbol of the s.h.i.+re.

(T/N note: As far as I know, there are no tall landmarks in Buckland besides the High Hay but that"s what the author wrote, so we"re gonna roll with it.)

Weathertop looked steep, but it"s peak was actually a plateau, as if the hill was cut across. The plateau looked like a pocket-sized plain.

Everyone heaved a sigh of relief when they arrived at the top. The guide brought them across the ancient ruins and continued trekking west through the gra.s.sy camp road. There lied the only fresh water spring within a few hundred miles.

Even though the sun was strong, the wind here carried a chill that pierced into their bones. Coupled with the sight of the abandoned ruins and forts, it made one think of the cruelty and sadness of the world.

Melody suddenly pulled on Sheyan"s sleeve and whispered to him.

“This place emits a strange aura. I suspect there are ghosts here.”

Even though the guide repeatedly insisted that the trade route was very safe, Sheyan didn"t believe him. It was exactly here that Gandalf the Gray was attacked by the Nazgûls and a large number of spirits. Even the old man could only run away.

Melody was an Elf borne from the breath of nature, plus she was the owner of the Ring of Air. The strength of her sense of perception couldn"t be questioned. Sheyan nodded after hearing her. He didn"t plan to disturb the caravan with this news. He merely raised his awareness and prepared himself for anything unexpected.

They soon reached the spring. It was obvious that the spring was regularly visited. The paths to the spring were trampled into roads. A few straw sheds and a clearing lied to the side of the spring.

The goods were unloaded from the horses and cows. The animals were left to rest on the ground and to graze on the dry gra.s.ses.

It was the turn of the caravan workers to get busy. After unloading the goods, they had to fetch water for the beasts. Then, they had to mix some salt into the gra.s.ses to feed to the animals. After the animals recovered their strength, the workers had to bring them back to the abandoned goods and escort the rest of the goods over. Only after putting the beasts to rest could the workers themselves rest.

Sheyan took the opportunity to approach the old guide to ask where they would spend the night. The guide gave his “VIP guest” a strange look as if he was trying to read Sheyan"s intention, before he answered uncertainly.

“Normally, the caravan would spend the night here if we arrive in the afternoon.”

Sheyan appeared to have something on his mind as he enquired.

“Have you heard of anything strange occuring around the area?”

The old guide searched his memory before he answered.

“I didn"t hear of any strange news of the place around here, but I"ve heard stories of corpses constantly popping up at the crossing of the Marui river which we pa.s.sed earlier. Why, is there a problem?”

Sheyan nodded his head but he didn"t tell the guide what Melody sensed. He lacked concrete proof after all. It"s not like Sheyan could say that his girlfriend was a Twilight Elf wearing the Ring of Air and she could sense something was wrong….

Of course, Sheyan could choose to leave with his group. But Goots, the owner of the Caravan, was a friend of the Gimli tribe and treated Sheyan and his group well throughout the journey. Sheyan also heard that he was someone of high standing in the Chamber of Commerce, so he could sometimes get his hands on some good stuff. Sheyan couldn"t just leave the caravan to its fate.

Sheyan took a look around with Melody. The old guide followed along and would occasionally point out spots where famous historical battles had occured. Sheyan was shocked to discover that as many as 4 kings had fallen at a place as small as Weathertop. It was also a place both the Middle Earth alliance and the Dark Lord faction have been clas.h.i.+ng over for several hundred years! Numerous warriors met their death in this land. No wonder there were evil spirits here.

Once the caravan"s animals rested after tiring themselves out, they would need 2-3 hours to completely recover their stamina. If they didn"t, and they were forcefully put to work again, they would face a major risk of getting injured. That was why any caravan that reached Weathertop after 12 o"clock at noon would usually stay here for the night. It would already be 3-4 o"clock in the afternoon after the beasts regain their strength. They wouldn"t be able to travel much further this day.

Suddenly, a worker from the caravan rushed over and shouted in alarm.

“This is bad! Our pack horses went wild and ran away!”

The old guide was horrified and immediately rushed back. Under such circ.u.mstances, there was no way Sheyan and his gang could continue their sight-seeing tour, so they hurried back as well. They discovered the resting place of the packing horses in a complete mess. The piled goods had been trampled over into disarray. A horrifying trail of blood was left on the ground.

They asked around and found out that the trail of blood was left by a worker who tried to pacify one of the raging horses. He pulled on its reins, only to be dragged for 7-8 meters before he hit a boulder. His injury may be fatal.

The pack horses had been tamed for a long time. They had always displayed a mild temperament so it was strange for them to go berserk all of a sudden. The boss of the caravan, Goots, was at the foot of Weathertop looking after the other half of the caravan goods, so it was left to the old guide to take charge. The situation was chaotic. Some of the workers went after the horses, some stayed back to look after the injured, some tidied up the goods….

Sheyan felt that there was no way the pack horses would go wild for no reason. He contemplated for a while and placed his suspicions on the food consumed by the horses. The straws and salts were brought by the caravan themselves so they should have no problems. Sheyan took a look at the spring. The water looked cool and clear, and didn"t seem to be poisoned. More importantly, the people drank the water too but they were all fine.

That means…. Sheyan strode over to the resting spots of the packhorses. The workers taking care of the horses had led them to a slope on the side because the gra.s.ses there were relatively more abundant. Melody walked over together with Sheyan. As soon as she got near, she told Sheyan that the place made her feel very uncomfortable; even the plants on the ground seemed to contain a certain madness.

Sheyan"s brows furrowed when he inspected the spot grazed by the packhorses. He found the soil to be fresh. He immediately took an iron shovel and dug hard at the spot. Under Sheyan"s furious digging, a hole quickly emerged on the ground to reveal a pale, half-rotting hand!

The other caravan workers ran over with horrified expressions. In total, Sheyan dug up 16 corpses! Half of these corpses hadn"t even started rotting yet. The caravan workers easily identified them as members of other caravans. They had feasted with them and flirted with the barmaids together only a few months ago!

A feeling of immense horror spread among the spectating caravan members. But right then, the old guide approached the corpses with a solemn look and inspected the bodies with not a care for the horrible stench they emitted. After a while, he spoke.

“They all have cuts on their bodies, but they have the same cause of death – poison! The poison in the bodies seeped into the soil, and into the gra.s.s growing on the soil. When the horses grazed on this gra.s.s, it caused them to go berserk.”

The words of the old guide at least calmed the caravan members down. They approached slowly and saw for themselves that the faces of the corpses were indeed tinged with black, and their expressions showed they struggled in pain when they died. It really did look like a death from poisoning.

There were many dangers facing the caravans on Middle Earth. The members of the caravans were elites in both courage and ability. What they were afraid of was the mysterious forces that they couldn"t defend against. When they found out that the corpses merely died from poisoning, they naturally regained their courage.

Sheyan remained silent at the side as if in agreement with the old guide"s opinion. At that moment, someone brought the raging pack horses back. The rest of the caravan workers went over to help. However, the old guide walked over to Sheyan with his brows furrowed and spoke to Sheyan as if he had something heavy on his heart.

“Thank you.”

The guide was evidently thanking Sheyan for not exposing some of the untruthfulness in his words. Sheyan exhaled a deep breath, and said.

“If we don"t leave immediately, we will meet with great peril.”

The old guide"s face was pale. He wasn"t lying when he said that the people they dug up had died from poisoning, but how did they get poisoned? Normally, it would either be because they consumed the poison, or the weapons that cut them were coated with poison. Unfortunately those were not the cause of their poisoning. The real cause was because they breathed in poisonous gas!

If Sheyan remembered correctly, it should be the special ability of the Nazgûls, the "Black Breath". According to the records kept by the Elves, The Nazgûls" a.r.s.enal of deadly armaments was not confined to physical means. They were surrounded by a general aura of terror which can spread fear in the hearts of living creatures (except for some extremely strong ones), and their breath (called the Black Breath) could be toxic to those hapless enough to come near them.

Those that have been touched by the Black Breath will fall into an state of helplessness and experience endless nightmare and hallucination. It could even cause death. Only a type of herb called athelas could fight the symptom.

It seemed like the attack on Gandalf the Grey at Weathertop was not a coincidence. The Dark Lord might have once again set his sight on this strategic location and had begun to move his pieces. He probably wanted to hide an army of undead here to strike at Rhudaur, Cardolan and The s.h.i.+re at crucial moments!

Goots had received news and rushed back. When he heard what they had to say, he said decisively.

“What are we waiting for, then? Leave all the goods behind, we will set off at once! Our Dwarven friends have tasked us with taking care of you, so your safety is our top priority.”

Sheyan couldn"t help but have a high evaluation of Goots in his heart. Merchants have always operated for profit, but Goots was able to decisively abandon all his merchandise. His action may even bankrupt him but he showed no hesitation. Sheyan nodded his head and said.

“Then let us depart at once. However, there is a problem. All your packhorses might have been found, but they are probably in a berserk state. We can"t ride them anymore.”

“We will put them all to death!” said Goots with a wave of his hand. “Then, we will leave at once.”

Four hours later.

All of them were gasping for breath in exhaustion.

In a mere 4 hours, the lightened caravan had reached a place that was at least 50 km from Weathertop. All the caravan members could feel the mysterious atmosphere in Weathertop, so they showed no objection to the order of their boss to abandon all merchandises so that they can travel faster.

Darkness fell. They were all extremely tired. Even though the caravan team was used to hards.h.i.+p in their travels, but they truly pushed themselves to the limit this time to run so far away in such short period. They found a place to take shelter from the wind, raised a bonfire and gulped down their dinner. Goots was also eating his share with huge mouthfuls and drinking heartily, but it couldn"t mask his sorrow.

It was to be expected. It"s impossible to remain indifferent as a person watched his career crumble in the blink of an eye.

However, after they have rested for about an hour, Melody"s pretty face broke into a frown. She grabbed onto Sheyan and told him in a serious tone.

“I can feel a strong evil presence slowly getting close to us.”

Sheyan smiled at her and said.

“Don"t worry, I"m here by your side.”

Melody cheerfully kissed him and said.

“I"ve waited for a long time to fight alongside you.”

As she said that, she forked out her staff and chanted some natural spells. Of course, the chanting was only for show. She was a Twilight Elf in possession of Vilya, and her spells were of the support type. Therefore, all her spells could be instant-cast. However, she was playing the role of a human mage, so she must put on an act.

“Bull"s Strength.”

“Barkskin.”

“Haste.”

A series of group buffs were received by every person present, accompanied by flashes of green lights. However, only Reef and Sheyan were qualified to receive the Twilight Elf"s blessings.

After that, Melody completed her performance by taking out a scroll. The scroll was actually nonfunctional. She chanted a short incantation before tearing the scroll up. 2 rays of light burst forth from her hand towards two big trees in front of them.

The two trees shook themselves, then stood up. Their branches bunched up together to shape themselves into tier-2 legendary Ents. These Ents were summoned puppets with a time limit. Their strength were naturally far below battle Ents like Ferrell.

Right at this moment, clear sound of hooves resounded from the distance. The hooves were obviously stepping on the ground, but they somehow sounded as if they were crus.h.i.+ng human bones.

After that, a large skeleton army appeared from the darkness! Behind the army was a tall, horrifying silhouette that was riding on a Nightmare!

The Nazgûl that had chased Sheyan"s group throughout the night finally caught up to them!

All the caravan members obtained buffs that they never had in previous fights. However, they still reacted the same way all human warriors would when they saw the old-style weapons and broken armours of the skeletons – their morale hit rock bottom. Unless, of course, the undead army was there to aid them.

Fortunately for them, ignorance is bliss. They didn"t recognise the real terror – the Nazgûl hidden at the back. Even those who saw the Nazgûl thought of him as merely a common undead knight.

After Melody once again waved her staff to cast "Fear Ward" on everyone on their side, her MP was completely spent. However, Melody did not sit down to meditate like most mages would, but did something that surprised everyone; she kept the magic staff, and took out an ordinary looking longbow! She then pulled the longbow tight.

This was the core reason for her slow progress with Vilya.

Even though she was also a Twilight Elf in her past life, she was a strong Twilight Elf archer…. while Vilya was a ring made for mages through and through. Therefore, after wearing the Ring of Air, Melody"s progress in magic started from scratch and was pretty slow.

Sheyan and Reef stepped out to the front to stand alongside the summoned Ents. Sheyan shouted at the caravan members behind him.

“You cowards! Raise your axes! Your hammers! Your sticks! Raise anything that you can use as a weapon. If you wish to race against the skeletons in the dark, then feel free!”

The caravan owner, Goots, displayed tremendous courage. He was the first to step up with his two-handed hammer. Following that, there were some who ran away, but they were few in numbers. Most people stayed because they had witnessed Melody"s power, and because of the security provided by the two Ents.

The skeleton army charged over like a raging tide. When they clashed against the defensive line on Sheyan"s side, it felt like a tidal wave splas.h.i.+ng against the walls of a dam. Sheyan"s defensive line was forced back by a few metres.

The fragile looking skeleton warriors proved to be unexpectedly troublesome for Sheyan to deal with. A hack of his "+7 West" could only break a few bones off a skeleton soldier. If the strike landed on the backbone, it might not even break.

After a while, Sheyan found that the blunt back of his sabre was more useful than its sharp edge….

Meanwhile, Reef was faring much better. His "Cardiac Shattering Roar" could inflict full AOE damage on the undead creatures. A few skeletons in his vicinity had already sustained heavy damage beforehand. Their soul energy was depleted and the h.e.l.lfire in their eyes dimmed. Reef"s "Cardiac Shattering Roar" was like a roaring wind that reduced them into piles of bones.

The 2 summoned Ents also went on a rampage inside the crowd of skeletons. The damage they sustained from the blades of the skeletons were simply negligible, while their huge bodies went could charge around violently like tanks within the skeleton sea. They don"t even need to use their long hanging tendrils to attack; they simply needed to move around to tank the attacks from the skeletons. There was no shortage of skeletons that died from their stomping.

However, the one who killed the most was someone none of them expected – Melody!

Logically speaking, the hard bones and empty frame of the skeletons should prove to be a nightmare for archers. The power of arrows would dip by at least 90%. But with the ordinary-looking bow in her hands, Melody displayed a shocking might.

As she pulled on the bowstring, an incomprehensible charm would mature in the darkness. When the bowstring was drawn taut like the beautiful curves of a woman, the dark-looking bow showed an unexplainable elegance.

Her arrows naturally had perfect accuracy. Also, when the sharp arrowhead was about to come into contact with the skull of the skeleton, it would radiate with a bright, mesmerizing glow as if it was dipped in the red radiance of sunset, looking like a cigarette tip within the dark. The skeletons that were hit by her arrows would emit smoke and struggle on the ground with their limbs flailing wildly, before breaking down into piles of bones.

What perplexed Sheyan was, that each skeleton warrior eliminated by their side would provide 1-3 Fate points of the Dark Lord faction! Even though this battle started in confusion, they managed to obtain a pretty good haul. For example, a +4 Intelligence bone bracelet that dropped just now. He directly gave it to Franklin.

The army of about 50 skeleton warriors were quickly eliminated. Broken bones and broken armour scattered across the ground. The caravan team had also sustained 4 casualties. All of them died because they fought with their usual fighting habit; they treated the skeletons the same as other living creatures with flesh and blood, and moved on to another target after they stabbed a skeleton in the chest. Naturally, they were stabbed in the back in turn.

The defeat of his vanguard team did not bring forth any special reactions from the Nazgûl at the back. He still sat imposingly on his Nightmare and simply gestured with his hand. Some whimpering noises could suddenly be heard from the ground. A large, pale, rotting hand abruptly broke through the surface of the ground, then supported its body to crawl out of the kingdom of the dead. It stepped into this world, bringing with it fear and a terrible stench.

“So the 2nd wave will consist of zombies?” thought Sheyan as he exchanged a look with Reef. He then asked Franklin to produce a doppelganger of Reef and placed it right at the very front. The move proved to be a wise one. There were less than 20 zombies summoned, but their formidability shocked both Sheyan and Reef. Besides being a bit slow, the other stats of the zombies were almost comparable to the Uruk-hai.

They managed to endure the 2nd wave with extreme difficulty. The loss on their side was huge. Both Ents were torn to shreds by the bites and claws of the zombies, while the caravan team lost more than half of their members. Even the old guide perished in this wave of attack. Franklin had spent all his spiritual power. Only Melody had the strength to carry on.

After Sheyan chopped the head off the last zombie standing, the Nazgûl finally moved his Nightmare mount and sauntered over slowly. Under the dim moonlight, an emotionless voice drifted over from behind his rusty faceguard.

“You have gained the honour to die by my hands, humans.”

His voice sounded like the friction between rusty chains, sending chills into their bodies.

“You have displayed respectable might and have gained the right to make a choice. Now, tell me. Will you become a loyal servant of Dwar, Lord of Shantell Castle, the 3rd Earl of Waw, believer of the Shadow G.o.d, and loyal servant to Lord Sauron; or suffer eternal torture from a cruel death?”

Sheyan eyes suddenly turned bright as he spoke into the party channel.

“Is he trying to recruit us? From what I know, Nazgûls aren"t this friendly.”

Franklin asked.

“Why can I sense the aura of natural power behind the Nazgûl?”

Melody pointed her finger at the Nazgûl called Dwar. The Nazgûl immediately released a groan in pain and his body visibly turned ghostly for a split second. Lumps of green light could be seen from within his abdomen, right leg and chest. His nightmare mount looked to be in an even worse condition. The lump of green light in its organ was as big as a soccer ball! A large amount of black miasma obstinately surrounded the green glows.

Sheyan eyes displayed a glint when he saw this scene. He said.

“Aha! This Nazgûl was hurt by either Galadriel or Legolas! Maybe his underlings were all killed too. He definitely hasn"t recovered from his heavy injury, that"s why he wishes to recruit us. What are we waiting for then?”

Sheyan inhaled deeply. The nightmare imprint on his chest radiated to signal his awakened state. He activated "Hornrage" and charged over! Sheyan currently had a staggering amount of 3000 HP. Coupled with his "Endurance" ability, he could take more daring measures compared to before!

He crashed into the Nightmare mount of the Nazgûl, prompting the mount to release a miserable neigh! The natural power within the injury on its body was inflicted by the formidable Galadriel with the power of Nenya, the Ring of Water. The Nazgûl, Dwar, was unwilling to receive the attack so he used the mount to s.h.i.+eld himself. The Nightmare only appeared impressive, but was actually greatly weakened!

Before Reef could rush over to help, Melody had already provided support. She shot 3 arrows simultaneously with her bow; the red glimmer on the arrowheads truly blinding. More importantly, with the help of the memory from her past life, the 3 arrows flew at a frightening speed! They released sharp howls as they tore through the air.

High speed naturally meant high damage.

If a 3 year-old held a bullet and knocked it on the head of a man, the man would at most feel a bit of pain. It would be a miracle if he sustained a concussion from that hit. But if the bullet had the same velocity as a bullet fired from a gun, forget surviving, he would be fortunate to die with his brain intact!

After those 3 arrows left Melody"s bow, they oddly descended and sped away close to the ground like electric sparks. They were almost too much for the eyes to take in!

The sight caused the red glint behind Dwar"s faceguard to glimmer. He reached behind with his rusty gauntlet and grabbed the hilt of the greatsword on his back.

The series of action in brandis.h.i.+ng his sword gave off a clear, steady, powerful and reliable feel. It was as if a sword instructor was giving a demonstration to his students.

The moment his greatsword was unsheathed, it hacked away 2 out of the 3 arrows shot by Melody!

The speed of his sword was enough to distort one"s senses.

A terrifying black flame enveloped the greatsword. As soon as Melody"s arrows come into contact with the black flame, they melted with a hiss like they were made of snow. However, after chopping down 2 arrows, the downward trajectory of the slas.h.i.+ng greatsword was stopped by Sheyan"s "+7 West"!

There were no sharp clangs that one would expect when metallic weapons collide. There were no shrill screaming noises either. It was a silent collision with a few dim sparks.

When Sheyan decided to block the Nazgûl"s greatsword, he was already prepared to be blown away and receive a heavy damage. However, even though the force transmitted through his hands felt really heavy, it wasn"t something he couldn"t withstand! He was only forced back a few steps from the block. Right as he was feeling stunned, he discovered that the black flame had travelled through his blade all the way to his hands, before burning once and extinguis.h.i.+ng itself.

The penetrating pain made Sheyan groan. Both his palms were burned scarlet-red. But thanks to his parrying, Melody"s “surviving” arrow was able to lodge itself deep inside the body of the Nightmare mount.

After the arrow drew a spurt of black-coloured blood, the red s.h.i.+ne on its tip seeped into the Nightmare and touched the green glow of natural power inside the Nightmare"s body!

The scene made one think of a lit cigarette being thrown into a barrel full of oil….

The Nightmare mount was momentarily stunned. The next moment, it suddenly cracked and exploded into dozens of fleshy chunks! Thick black liquid splashed everywhere, carrying a foul stench with it.

Reef arrived at this moment to unleash his usual "Shattering Cardiac Roar". He next tried his luck with the "Trampling Hooves" ability on his shoes. It actually succeeded! He dropped the Nazgûl to the ground and proceeded to step on him ferociously.

“This Nazgûl has really experienced a severe drop in strength,” said a baffled Sheyan in the party channel.

Franklin seemed to have given some thought to this matter. After shooting out an evocated ray at the Nazgûl, he said.

“Actually, the strength stats of the Nazgûl have never been outstanding. Their specialty lied in causing fear. They possess a large amount of black magic and the ability to control undead creatures, in addition to their aura of terror. This Nazgûl is even heavily injured. It"s understandable for him not to possess overwhelming strength.”

Sheyan naturally wanted to literally kick the Nazgûl while he"s down. He immediately rained down a flurry of slashes. The remaining caravan members also rushed over to unleash attacks of their own.

The 3 green glows in the Nazgûl"s body were still s.h.i.+ning brightly after being stimulated by Melody. Those should be the places where the Nazgûl previously sustained the worst injuries. Just to be safe, Sheyan focused his attacks on the right leg. His plan was simple; cripple the Nazgûl, then with the G.o.dly sniping skills of Melody, at the very least they can kite him to death!

Suddenly, the Nazgûl opened his huge, black, mouth wide and emitted a piercing scream.

As the scream reached Sheyan"s ears, an image of a fully wrinkled Sheyan waiting for his death appeared in front of his eyes. He felt like someone on the brink of death, ready to depart from the world any moment. That feeling of helplessness made him cry out in hysteria. He ran away holding his head, as if that was the only way he can escape the terrible fate.

However, after taking 5-6 steps, a warmth permeated through his head as if he was basking in a strong afternoon sunlight. He was instantly jolted awake. Only now did Sheyan notice the battle notifications:

[You have been affected by the Nazgûl"s "Cry of Terror". You will fall into a state of extreme fear. The effect will last for 15 seconds (1 minute for common people) or until you suffer 2 attacks.]

[The fear you emitted was absorbed by Dwar. His HP will be recovered by a certain amount.]

[The Twilight Elf"s blessing has been triggered. You escaped from the state of fear.]

“Holy sh*t!” Sheyan had a bad feeling and instantly turned back.

The scene he saw was of the Nazgûl standing tall while the caravan members ran around him with their faces distorted in fear. All the caravan members continuously released a black trail of mist that floated out of their body into the Nazgûl"s mouth.

In such a short amount of time, the glows of natural power in the Nazgûl"s body had been suppressed by 1/5!

Sheyan"s eyes flashed with determination. He gritted his teeth and ran to a caravan member, then killed the caravan member with a slash of his blade!

“We have no other choice. The fear provided by these people would become quality nourishment for the Nazgûl. Kill everyone except for Goots. Melody, focus on attacking the Nazgûl, don"t lift your hands against the humans!”

Sheyan didn"t want Melody"s help in eliminating the caravan workers because he didn"t want her to directly face such cruel realities. Franklin was situated pretty far away so he wasn"t inflicted with the "Cry of Terror", while Reef also had the Twilight Elf"s blessing. Together with Reef, Sheyan killed off the caravan members running around in fear one by one. It didn"t take them long to eliminate the defenseless humans.

Dwar didn"t expect them to take such extreme measures. He lifted his greatsword with a grunt to launch his attack, but Melody"s deadly arrows forced him to defend himself.

The arrows contained the dual aura of the power of nature and sunlight that he hated the most. His Nightmare mount had already demonstrated the consequence of being hit by one. Dwar didn"t want to personally taste the might of an arrow if he could help it.

When Sheyan finished “clearing away” the caravan members, Melody was already so tired she could barely lift her longbow. She was only a newly awakened Twilight Elf, and she also needed to maintain the 2 protective spells that Vilya bound on her body: "Eternal Field" and "Instantaneous Teleportation". She had already pushed herself to her limit.

Goots was noticeably stronger than his subordinates. He didn"t say anything after escaping his state of fear. He understood that if his subordinates weren"t killed, then they will all die here today! He no longer dared to engage in melee attacks against the Nazgûl and instead chose to attack with his own longbow from afar. However, the damage that normal arrows could do to a Nazgûl was expectedly meagre.

When Melody stopped to catch her breath, the Nazgûl"s eyes flashed. He took the opportunity to chant an incantation.

“Spread, Fog of Death.”

“I shall return your souls to you. I shall grant you immense power. I shall give you a chance for revenge.”

“Rise! Rise! You souls who died an unjust death. Use your weapons, your nails, your teeth to cause the enemies injuries they will never forget!”

Dwar plunged his greatsword deep into the ground before forcefully pulling it back out. Puffs of grey fog billowed out from the ground and rapidly enveloped the area. The fog seeped into the noses and mouths of the fresh corpses. The next moment, the corpses climbed up from the ground amidst moaning noises from their throats. They charged towards Sheyan"s group with extreme hatred!

Looking at the claws and teeth of these zombies, Sheyan was almost certain that they are at least a few times stronger than the zombies created by T-viruses. He braced himself for battle, when the Nazgûl once again chanted.

“The power of darkness has congregated around the blood and the souls.”

“The song of the banshee echoes through the night.”

Franklin stretched out his palm towards the powerful Nazgûl. A distortion was immediately created within the atmosphere. Franklin casted an evocation type magic called "Hand of Suffocation" to try and stop Dwar"s chanting.

Unfortunately, he did not succeed. Dwar continued chanting while pointing his greatsword towards Franklin. The latter released a groan and staggered back. Blood flowed down his nose; it was the backlash from his failed casting.

Sheyan didn"t know what Dwar was trying to cast, but he did know that if he let Dwar finish his chant, the Nazgûl would hold absolute advantage over them for the remainder of the fight. To fall into the enemy"s rhythm would only lead to defeat!

Therefore, he decisively yelled.

“Reef, it"s time to use that move! Melody, support him!”

Reef inhaled deeply and ran in front of Sheyan. Zombies were closing in all around them. Reef lifted his s.h.i.+eld and held it high.

In that instant, the bright light of the sun radiated through the night!

A ring of indescribable light spread from Reef"s s.h.i.+eld towards the surrounding, as if it was a liquid that covered up everything. The light brought with it unbearable heat. All the zombies near Sheyan"s group burned with a red flame, causing them to scream in pain.

At the same time, Melody threw out a leaf that looked incomparably green.

After the leaf absorbed the sunlight – even if the sunlight only s.h.i.+ned for a moment – it rapidly melted into an emerald green orb of light and flew towards Dwar. Dwar kept chanting as he slashed fiercely at the green glow. However, he failed. The orb of light reached his armour and melted into the 3 green glows that were originally in his body, thus enlarging them.

That was a sunlight divine art: "Leaf of Amplification". It"s terribly unfortunate that it was currently nighttime. Otherwise, Melody could have performed even more divine arts of Sin"Dorei.

The Nazgûl trembled from head to toe. Cracks even appeared in his armour. Despite that, he persisted with his chanting!

As the burning zombies fell one after another, Dwar completed his chant. A mysterious blood-red magic rune appeared in front of him. It rapidly increased in size and floated to about 10 metres in height. The magic rune looked like an evil eye that casted its poisonous gaze on everyone there.

Sheyan immediately received notifications from his nightmare imprint:

[You are being watched by the Bloodmoon Rune!]

[While you are under the gaze of the Bloodmoon Rune, you will receive a damage deep inside your soul every 10 seconds. The damage may cause abnormal statuses such as fear, blind, slow, cursed, etc.]

[Warning: The effect of the Bloodmoon Rune is directly imparted on your soul. It will keep following you in an inexplicable way until the Rune loses its effect. If you turn your back to it, each time it inflicts damage on you, there will be a 100% chance of causing 3 seconds of stun.]

[Warning: Your fear will be absorbed by the Nazgûl to recover his HP.]

Without a doubt, the only way they can win under the effect of that dastardly Rune was to finish the fight quickly!

Melody"s face turned troubled. She lifted her longbow to attack again. The insanely strong Nazgûl seemed to be really wary of Melody, so he took another measure.

He once again plunged his sword into the ground. When he pulled his sword out, a weird noise could be heard from the ground. It sounded like the cries of vengeful spirits mixed with the sound of ice freezing. The Nazgûl actually used black magic to create a strange wall. The wall was built using the bones of the fallen skeleton warriors as its core, the vines and roots of trees as additional materials, which were mixed in soil that was frozen solid.

It wasn"t merely a wall, it was a rampart that was almost half a metre thick and had a surface of over 5 square metres!

With such an obstacle between them, unless Melody could return to the peak strength of her previous life, she could do nothing to the Nazgûl.

The Nazgûl overcame skills with brute force!

Even the world trembled with the rise of the rampart. Being the monster that he was, Dwar pushed the gigantic rampart forward slowly. Sheyan and Reef wasted no time in rus.h.i.+ng towards the Nazgûl to stop him. Facing their charge, the Nazgûl continued to resolutely push the rampart with his left hand while hacking his greatsword towards the ground with his right.

Fissures instantly formed on the ground. From the fissures flew numerous pieces of soil that burned with a black flame towards Sheyan and Reef.

Sheyan groaned. He hacked away 2 pieces of flung soil but a third piece that was about the size of a fist hit his chest. The black flame on it burned his body. There was also half a skeleton finger lodged inside the lump of soil that burrowed deep into Sheyan"s chest upon contact. The flesh around the bone started to blacken and rot!

Reef, under the protection of his s.h.i.+eld, continue advancing forward. Seeing this, the Nazgûl once again hacked towards the ground. Even more flaming lumps of rock and dirt were flung this time. Despite Reef"s strength, he was still forced back by the dense hail of soil.

At that moment, the Bloodmoon Rune flickered once. Sheyan instantly felt a sharp pain in his brain and his heart, causing his whole body to feel weak. His legs became devoid of energy. The Bloodmoon Rune"s damage had seemingly triggered a speed reduction effect.

It was even worse for Franklin; he was inflicted with fear. He held his head and ran around aimlessly while screaming in terror. His fear formed into a visible black substance that was rapidly absorbed by the wide-open mouth of the Nazgûl.

In this chaotic situation, Melody once again pulled her bow to attack!

Her pupils changed from the normal light blue of the Elves into a silver-white colour. Her emotionless gaze looked down on everything in existence, making one avert one"s gaze from her eyes like one would with the bright sun!

“Forward!” rang Melody"s clear voice that brimmed with decisiveness and authority!

A large illusion of a female Elf appeared behind Melody. The face of the female Elf was veiled, but just like Melody, her eyes looked as clear as the stream between the white rocks on a mountain!

Then, the arrow on Melody"s longbow incinerated into ashes! However, the flame remained. The string of the bow even lit up with the bright light of the sun!

When Reef previously activated the skill "Scorching Radiance" on his s.h.i.+eld, Melody had used a divine art that was only possible with the presence of sunlight: the "Leaf of Amplification". No one knew that she had stored some extra sunlight at that instant. Using the stored sunlight, she unleashed another divine art in this crucial moment.

A divine art which used sunlight as the bowstring and scorching flame as the arrow.

"Cleansing Impact"!

The fiery arrow flew forward and crashed fiercely into the mysterious rampart in front of the Nazgûl!

At the moment of contact, the rampart seemingly turned invisible under the glow of sunlight. The fierce fire burrowed through the rampart leaving a small hole in its wake, then hit the Nazgûl hidden behind the rampart. The flame spread all over the Nazgûl"s body and lit the Nazgûl ablaze.

The hollow and emotionless voice of the Nazgûl rang out.

“You"re…a…Twilight…”

Sheyan took the chance to land a heavy kick on the cracking rampart.

The heavily-damaged rampart couldn"t withstand Sheyan"s battering. The soil on its surface was blasted away to reveal the intertwining roots and bones within.

Reef hit down hard with his giant claw to completely shatter what remained of the rampart.

Sheyan then took out Ambition, activated "Rum and Songs", and shot towards Dwar. Just like he expected, the Nazgûl was immune the effects of "Rum and Songs". Sheyan"s Pestilence Monarch did not do anything against the Nazgûl either due to its low level.

But Sheyan remained decisive. Amidst the cloud of flying dust, he lowered his posture and charged towards the burning Nazgûl like a tiger charging down the mountain to hunt; full of hunger, greed and dominance.

Sheyan grabbed Dwar"s right hand tightly to prevent him from casting anymore strange spells with his greatsword. Even though Sheyan was wearing a chainmail glove, a strange feeling still spread onto his hands upon contact with the Nazgûl"s flesh. It felt as if his hands were bound by sticky spider webs. The feeling was disgusting and hard to shake off. However, Sheyan displayed a strong determination. Both his hands held on firmly, winning a precious chance for Reef and Melody.

Reef"s claw glittered as he unleashed the skill on the claw upon the right foot of the Nazgûl. Sparks flew as the hard claw collided with the Nazgûl"s steel armour. It looked as if Reef"s claw was blocked by the armour, but upon closer inspection one would find the green glow of natural power within the Nazgûl"s right foot to have grown bigger.

The Nazgûl lowered his head and opened his mouth wide in Sheyan"s direction. Sheyan instantly felt a huge threat but with the corner of his eyes, he saw Melody once again lift her longbow while loading a strange-looking arrow. So, he gritted his teeth and endured.

A mysterious cold wind blew forth from the Nazgûl"s mouth.

The cold wind could be seen with naked eye. As if it was alive, it crept into Sheyan through every orifice on his face. Sheyan instantly felt weak all over. It was followed by a disgusting feeling, as if all his internal organs had rotted and were crawling with maggots! It made him vomit furiously.

Sheyan knew that he was inflicted with the Black Breath of the Nazgûl. That was terrible news to him. The endless list of victims of the Black Breath included such prominent storyline characters as Faramir, Éowyn and Merry. The victims would experience severe despair, nightmare and unconsciousness. In serious cases, it may even prove fatal.

The darkness of despair a.s.saulted Sheyan. Right before he lost consciousness, he caught a glimpse of Melody shooting out an extremely long arrow. The arrow accurately lodged itself into the left palm of the Nazgûl. Instantly, the 3 glows of natural power in the Nazgûl congregated towards the arrow like they were attracted to a magnet. Then, a blinding light burst forth!

Sheyan felt numb all over after he regained consciousness. He tried to sit up, but he couldn"t feel his limbs at all. No part of his body responded to him, as if every nerve in his body had been destroyed.

He didn"t panic. Instead, he shut his eyes and pulled his senses back within himself. He could feel the roots of the Stairway of the Sun coursing through the major arteries and nerves in his body. Once it realised that Sheyan"s consciousness had returned, it retracted back its roots. Sheyan"s brain instantly regained control of his body.

Simultaneously, Sheyan received notifications from his nightmare imprint.

[The parasite in your body, Stairway of the Sun absorbed away most of the Black Breath which invaded your body.]

[The parasite in your body, Stairway of the Sun will fall into a sleeping state. The estimated duration of the sleep is 24 hours. During this period, your Pestilence Monarch ability will be locked.]

[There is still a small portion of Black Breath left in your body. All your stats are temporarily decreased by 20% until the Black Breath in your body is dispelled.]

“d.a.m.n, so unlucky!” complained Sheyan to himself while he tried to stand up with difficulty. He didn"t expect the Black Breath to be so malicious. The duration of its debuffing effect was actually semi-permanent. He might actually have to wait until he returned to the nightmare realm to purify the debuff with utility points. It was terrible news for Sheyan.

The sky was still dark. Seems like it would be awhile before the sun rose. Warmth permeated to Sheyan"s skin from a bonfire next to him. The comfortable heat provided some comfort to alleviate the remaining feeling of paralysis.

Melody quietly sat cross-legged under a huge tree about 7 meters away from him. She had her eyes closed. Formless threads connected her body to the forest behind her. Everytime she breathed, the forest gently swayed with her. Bits of lights continuously streamed into her body like fireflies before once again dispersing to the environment.

“Boss, you"re awake?” Franklin noticed Sheyan"s movement and came over to check on him.

Sheyan made a hus.h.i.+ng motion as he pointed towards Melody. He didn"t want to disturb her training.

“Where"s the Nazgûl?”

Franklin answered in a quiet voice.

“He scattered. Our attacking focus at the beginning was a mistake. The Nazgûls don"t care about injuries to their physical bodies. Even the power of nature could only suppress them, but not destroy them. The source of their power lies in the Nine Rings! Their only weaknesses were the rings they wear.”

Sheyan abruptly recalled the matter. The current conflict in the Lord of the Rings world began in the Second Age when the talented Noldorin smith, Celebrimbor forged the 3 Elven Rings of Power, the Seven Dwarven Rings, and the Nine Rings for mortal men under the guidance of Sauron.

Unbeknownst to them, Sauron secretly forged the One Ring, a ring that can not only grant the wearer immortality, but also let the wearer rule over all the lesser Rings and enslave the world.

The Nine Rings of the humans were the ones that the One Ring exerted the strongest influence over. Their powerful wearers who pursue strength became the terrifying Ringwraiths after they died. Therefore, the weakness of the Ringwraiths were not their hearts or their brains like other humans, but the Nine Rings on their fingers!

No wonder Melody"s last arrow was directed towards the Nazgûl"s palm. It was to concentrate the other powers of nature in his body towards that area, in order to destroy him. In fact, even the Dark Lord Sauron was only defeated before this when his finger was chopped off together with the One Ring. Sheyan thus asked Franklin.

“What happened to our friend, Mr. Dwar in the end?”

Franklin shrugged his shoulders and answered.

“Unfortunately, Miss Melody"s Ring of Air was not strong enough yet to capture the Ring worn by Dwar. The Ring was recalled back by the One Ring. Dwar"s soul imprint on the Ring will allow him to be revived after a certain amount of time. In the meantime, his power will be shared by the remaining Ringwraiths. That means the other Nazgûls will become stronger during this period of time.”

“So we didn"t get any keys, chests or loot?”

Asked Sheyan regretfully.

Franklin answered.

“Both Mr. Reef and I received 500 Fate points of the Dark Lord faction. Besides that, we also triggered an advanced t.i.tle – Dark Conqueror. The requirement was to destroy 9 Ringwraiths. We can choose 1 out of 3 options for the t.i.tle reward. Finally, we received an unknown item – [Armour Fragment of Dwar the Nazgûl].”

Initially, Sheyan was baffled as to why they would receive Fate points of the Dark Lord faction when they kill the underlings of the Dark Lord. From what he could see now, he could make a guess. Everyone on the Dark Lord"s side were eccentric and had strange personalities. If they were the ones who initiated attack, then self defense by the contestants was fair play. Otherwise, it would be too unfair for people who chose to side with the Dark Lord"s faction.

He looked at his notifications to check the detailed explanations for the triggered milestone of Dark Conqueror.

[Dark Conqueror (1/9)]

[Once you have defeated all the Nazgûls, you shall receive this formidable t.i.tle. You can choose one reward for the t.i.tle from the following 3 options.]

A. You will receive the mount of the Nazgûl – a Nightmare. This is an extremely fast mount which has a level 3 Aura of Terror. It would exhibit its usefulness regardless of whether you are in a battlefield, making a tactical retreat, or in pursuit of your enemies. When the Nightmare dies, it will self-revive after a certain amount of time.

B. Your reputation is quite notorious within the Dark side. By paying a certain fee, you can randomly summon either a vampire, a dark knight, or a lich. The rank of the summoned creature of darkness will be 3rd rank + the difficulty level of your current world.

C. All your attacks will contain the darkness element. You will inflict an additional 10% of dark damage.

Sheyan noted the explanation stated that as long as one partic.i.p.ated in the battle against a Nazgûl, it would count towards the completion of the milestone. It means that he can complete the milestone with the power of storyline characters. The difficulty may not be as high as he initially imagined.

Next, he examined the [Armour Fragment of Dwar the Nazgûl]. The description given by realm was:

[This is the proof of your partic.i.p.ation in the destruction of a Nazgûl.]

It should have the same use as the [Elven Illusion Bone Crystal] that they got after killing Elrond.

Melody had finished her training by then. She walked over and gently inquired.

“How are you feeling?”

Sheyan forced out a smile and answered.

“I"m alright. The Black Breath won"t kill me, but my power is inevitably weakened.”

Melody then brought over a kettle that was put to boil on the fire. She poured the boiling content into a bowl and offered it to Sheyan. It appeared to be some sort of strange looking medicine that was blackish-green in colour and was very viscous. It kept bubbling even after it left the kettle. Every time a bubble burst, a weird noise which sounded like clapping could be heard.

“Drink this.”

Sheyan was dumbstruck. To be honest, he did not want to drink that stuff at all. However, facing Melody"s clear, round eyes, he didn"t have the heart to refuse. He could only brace himself and gulped down the whole bowl in one go. The medicine actually didn"t taste as bad as he thought it would. A warmth spread from his throat all the way to his stomach, then permeated into his limbs, comforting his pain.

Sheyan"s reduction in stats dropped to only 10% after consuming the medicine. Melody sighed regretfully.

“Looks like need the Athelas herb to completely remove the negative effects of the Black Breath. Fortunately, the s.h.i.+re isn"t far from here. Hopefully we can procure some Athelas there.”

“To get to the s.h.i.+re, we will need the help of Goots,” said Sheyan with a cough.

Melody nodded.

“Goots has lost everything in this trip. We must find a way to compensate him. We can ask the Gimli tribe to provide him with a several loads of goods at base cost.”

She turned her gaze towards the kettle used to brew the medicine. It was something that was exchanged from the realm, so the handicraft was more advanced compared to this world. Melody asked.

“I"ve never seen such an exquisite kettle before. Is this a product from your world?”

Sheyan hugged her with a smile and told her.

“That"s right. From where I come from, anyone has the luxury to use a kettle like this.”

Melody"s clear eyes glimmered with antic.i.p.ation.

“Such mysterious craftsmans.h.i.+p. I"m really looking forward to seeing your world.”

Sheyan kept smiling and said.

“Don"t worry, that day will come soon. However, I must warn you that we have a very different way of life compared to the Elves. When you get there things might be fresh and exciting at first, but after a while you may find the leisurely lifestyle of the Elves much more preferable.”

At that moment, Goots woke up with a groan. After gulping down some water, he asked.

“Am I still alive? Where"s the Nazgûl?”

“We chased him away,” explained Sheyan simply. “Mr. Goots, I must apologise for the death of your people…”

Goots closed his eyes and sighed regretfully.

“I can understand the predicament you were in. In fact, I must thank you for saving my life. It was the evil Nazgûl who caused their death, G.o.d bless their souls. This is still a dangerous place so I suggest we depart at once. Before the sun sets this afternoon, we should be able to taste the Hobbits" famous smoked intestines with garlic.”

Goots turned out to be a good caravan owner but a mediocre guide.

Following his suggestion, they departed at once. However, after what felt like 3 kilometers, they were still walking around in the endless forest. They would lift their head after a certain distance, hoping to see the starry sky or feel the caress of the wind on their faces, but to no avail. The forest trapped them in a cage of branches and leaves.

Besides the sounds they emitted themselves, they were surrounded by an eternal silence, a long darkness and the absence of life. They have torches, of course, but the light only penetrated as far as 5 meters. Beyond that, they couldn"t even see their own fingers. The darkness was awfully eerie.

Sheyan felt something was wrong. Under such a situation, if they were to meet with any danger, they wouldn"t be able to react in time. He instantly asked Melody.

“What"s happening to us? Something"s not right.”

Melody shut her eyes, then shook her head slightly.

“The [Armour Fragment of Dwar the Nazgûl] on you is shrouding us with a dense black aura. I can"t feel the flow of nature; only madness, fear and chaos.”

It appeared impossible for them to keep travelling, so they decided to stop. A bonfire was once again raised. Not long after that, glimmers of colourful lights appeared around them. The lights were actually multiple pairs of eyes staring at the group.

When they approached the eyes, the eyes would gradually disappear only to reappear in another direction.

Luckily, dawn soon arrived. With the modest light from the early sun, they could finally observe the real ident.i.ties of the eyes. They belonged to countless grey and black moths, some of them as big as a palm. Some of the patterns on the moths looked like truly frightening smiling faces. The moths flapped their wings to scatter some kind of powder all around them.

Sheyan frowned in thought. It must be noted that the personal s.p.a.ce of a contestant is independent from this world and should theoretically isolate any aura from spilling out. It seemed the [Armour Fragment of Dwar the Nazgûl] was not so simple.

The face-patterned moths couldn"t resist the light of dawn and gradually flew away. The clouds on the sky were enveloped in a layer of gold, signifying a fair day ahead. Only now did the group discover that they had been walking in a huge circle for several hours. Their current location was less than 200 meters away from the place where they fought the Nazgûl.

The matter became much simpler now. Goots discerned the direction they should advance in and gradually steered them onto the main road. At noon, they were fortunate enough to encounter a merchant caravan that set off from the s.h.i.+re. From the caravan they purchased some mounts. About 5 hours later, they successfully arrived at the s.h.i.+re.

The s.h.i.+re was inhabited by Hobbits. The Hobbits were about half as tall as the Númenóreans in the north, so they were also called Halflings.

Large patches of plowed farmland could be seen around the s.h.i.+re, looking like orderly, brightly-coloured carpets.

The spring barleys looked green and should only mature in two months. The green leaves of the onions supported dandelion-like flowers. The North Down Hops would soon be ready to add their fragrance to ales and beers. Purple cabbages were currently being harvested. The carriages ahead carried full loads of pipe-weeds that will be sent into the s.h.i.+re to be processed into aromatic tobacco leaves.

As they proceeded along the flat gravel road, the number of Hobbits they encountered grew larger. The Hobbits all had stout bodies, red jovial cheeks, curly hair, honest faces, bright eyes and large mouths that were accustomed to smiling and enjoying good food. They were all shorter than a meter, without exception. The sounds of musical instruments could occasionally be heard from amongst them.

Sheyan noticed that the carefree Hobbits" feet were covered with brown curly hair and had leathery soles. That should be the reason why they were able to move so fast.

Quite a number of Hobbits had a long object made from cowhide on their backs. Goots explained that those slings were their weapons. One can imagine the slings to be like the chain b.a.l.l.s used in hammer throwing events, except the chain can be severed according to the wielder"s will. They possessed significant might and were rumoured to be able to sling egg-sized rocks at a shocking speed.

The Hobbits" residences are in the form of underground holes with only their roofs showing above the surface. Round doors made up the entrances to their houses; that was their preferred style of architecture. As Sheyan and his group travelled further, more round signposts and hobbit-holes crept up. They also met with more Hobbits with some Dwarves, Elves and Númenóreans mixed in. Unrestrained laughter blended with the smell of juniper wine to create a unique atmosphere.

Goots finally heaved a sigh of relief when the famous landmark of the s.h.i.+re, the Old Windmill, appeared in front of them. It signified that they have finally stepped foot into the s.h.i.+re. He was obviously still afraid of the Nazgûl keeping chase.

The whole s.h.i.+re was built on a few hills with soft contours. Its streets were like mountainous paths,winding around those hills. The face of the hills were dug full of hobbit-holes. Wooden accessories decorated the residences with the unique style of the Hobbits. If one were to look from afar at night, the s.h.i.+re would look like a collection of hills with bright lanterns hung on them. It depicted a scene full of warmth and tranquility.

The four of them chose an inn called the Black Sheep to rest in. The inn had a unique signboard that was charred by smoke. Quite a few mounts were resting outside the inn, indicating its thriving business. After settling matters concerning their accomodation, Goots had to rush off to handle his own business. Having his whole caravan decimated on their return trip was a serious matter after all. His operation was based in the s.h.i.+re, so he had to go explain himself to his people.

Before Goots left, Sheyan shoved a pouch into his hands. Melody felt terrible for the loss he suffered, so she contributed 8 platinum coins as his compensation. 8 platinum coins were a small fortune worth 8 thousand silver coins. Goots seemed to be in dire financial straits as he accepted the coins without much hesitation.

The four of them were received with a warm reception in the inn. They were a.s.saulted with the blended smell of ham, eggs, freshly baked bread, ale and tobacco while coursing their way through multiple round tables and wooden benches. Finally, they managed to grab an empty table at the corner. While waiting for their food to arrive, Sheyan suddenly heard a loud voice boom out from the neighbouring table.

“I"ve never seen such a generous person. Truly! I swear upon my smoking pipe. In order to teleport to Eriador as soon as possible, he paid 30 platinum coins! He even gave me a platinum coin as a tip. That"s why I can afford to treat all of you to Aunt Such.e.l.l"s delicious smoked meat today!”

There were a hundred such conversations in the inn every minute. The reason Sheyan was attracted to this particular one was due to the name “Eriador”. That happened to be the sole reason he was in the s.h.i.+re – before he got inflicted with the Black Breath, of course. Now, he also had to find some Athelas here.

Unfortunately, he did not hear anything else worthy of note. Their dinner was soon served. Sheyan didn"t let the surly looking waiter leave immediately. Instead, he put 10 silver coins on the table with a smile and said.

“This is a small fee to have you stay and answer a few questions for me. If your answers are satisfactory, I will pay an additional 20 silver coins to show my appreciation.”

The beardy waiter looked at Sheyan suspiciously, but still grabbed the coins.

“I only have minutes. Any longer, and “Quenn” Such.e.l.l in the kitchen will skin me alive. That"s a risk worth at least 10 platinum coins.”

Sheyan continued smiling and asked.

“Do you know where I can buy some Athelas?”

The waiter grumbled to himself.

“d.a.m.n, what the h.e.l.l is an Athelas?”

But he was unwilling to let the additional tips slip from his hands as he added.

“Maybe you can wait for another hour? I"ll help you ask around.”

Sheyan raised his brows.

“I"ll be staying here the whole night. 2nd question, and also the last one – is there a merchant selling plants or seeds around this place?”

“You can find many merchants dealing in magical materials in Buckland. The pipe-weed of the s.h.i.+re is famous for being an indispensable spellcasting material. A lot of sages wish to purchase them. You should be able to find the plant you wish to buy there. Thank you for your coins, sir.”

The waiter deftly swept away the coins left by Sheyan on the table. Before he left, he added.

“If this is your first time in our inn, I suggest you spread some b.u.t.ter on your smoked meat. It will taste even better.”

Sheyan smiled and nodded. However, the only thing on his mind was the question.

“Who was the person that was in such a hurry to get to Eriador? Is this a mere coincidence, or an ominous sign?”

The s.h.i.+re had a magnificent night view, but not a lot of people took the time to appreciate it. Most people here prefer to spend their evening in bars and taverns.

That was also the reason why Sheyan kept tossing and turning in his futile attempt to chase after sleep, despite the comfortable bed and warm blanket. The sound of clapping, laughing and Hobbit lutes kept being transmitted from the gap of the wooden floor in his room. Sheyan patiently bore with it until the lute sounds finally ended, but it was soon followed by a series of rhythmic knocking sound as if carpenters were continuously knocking on the tables.

Sheyan suddenly saw his old and blackened door bar shake and move by itself. A few thin branches somehow grew out from the bar. The door bar slowly and respectfully removed itself from its place, as if it was a bodyguard opening the car door for its queen.

The door opened by a crack and in came Melody, along with the fresh and pa.s.sionate air she brings. Her smell completely submerged Sheyan; her cloudy eyes dreamy and lovely. Sheyan reached out to pull the soft but full figure into his embrace and gave her a deep kiss. His hands showed no restraint in caressing her lovely curves.

Sheyan whispered a few words into Melody"s pointed ear, prompting her to lift her head and look at Sheyan those bright eyes of her while she asked.

“Is that really alright?”

Sheyan answered earnestly.

“Of course. I won"t mislead you.”

“Then why is your smile so weird?” Melody blinked and asked in a confused and naive tone.

“Trust me,” said Sheyan. “I"m your protector.”

Even though he said that with a serious expression, under current circ.u.mstances, he sounded really perverted.

“Come on. Hurry up.”

Melody finally gave in to his urging. She grudgingly held her hair back with a blush and moved down….

About 2 hours later, Sheyan lied contentedly on his bed. Meanwhile, Melody was punching him with watery eyes.

“You lied! It really hurt.”

Sheyan merely yawned lazily. He had a really high defense, while Elves – even Twilight Elves – had never been famous for their muscles. As long as Melody didn"t pick up a weapon, her punches merely felt like a ma.s.sage. He suddenly frowned as he said.

“Why aren"t the people downstairs sleeping yet? They would knock on the tables after playing the lute, then after knocking on tables they would go back to playing the lute. Aren"t they tired?”

Melody glared at him and said.

“They"re not knocking on tables. That"s the cancan dance spread from Anduin. The one performing today is Aunt Marilyn who"s famous around here. Of course the crowd would be excited.”

When Sheyan heard the words “cancan dance”, images of black stockings, long legs, and s.e.xy red lips immediately formed in his mind. However, when Melody said “Aunt Marilyn”, he suddenly lost all interest. He sighed and said.

“Let"s just sleep early. Wait, how come you didn"t close the door when you came in?”

Melody turned back in surprise as she exclaimed.

“No way! I did put the door bar back after performing the natural magic….AH! You liar! I don"t want to be the one on the bottom….you"re a bad man!”

The next day, Sheyan only stirred awake at noon. If it wasn"t for the smell of Aunt Such.e.l.l"s smoked meat, he wasn"t sure what time he would wake up.

When he was getting dressed, Melody jumped slightly in surprise. She extended a hand and touched a wooden cupboard at the side. The cupboard s.h.i.+vered with a green glow and emitted some creaking noises. Suddenly, the bottom drawer of the cupboard shot out to reveal a brown patch inside. The patch looked suspiciously like dried bloodstain.

Green glow kept circling above the brown patch. Suddenly, a black, three-legged, toad-like creature leaped out from between wood shavings. It jumped up and down a few times before growing an odd pair of wings and tried to fly away.

Melody lazily pointed at the demonic creature. A lump of natural energy instantly wrapped around the creature to reduce it to ashes. She sniffed at the air and frowned.

“The wooden cupboard probably absorbed some death aura. The armour fragment on you is truly filled with darkness; even the aura it leaked out could turn anything it can corrupt into creatures of darkness.”

Sheyan was shocked but he maintained a composed expression and smiled instead.

“It"ll be fine. We"ll be rid of this annoyance soon.”

They went down to meet up with Reef and Franklin. The duo"s constant yawning indicated that they were also victims of the cancan dance last night. Goots had long been waiting for them. The heard that the magical materials merchants in Buckland would open their shops late and close early, so the four of them quickly ordered 4 extrlarge portions of smoked beef and b.u.t.tered black bread before departing.

After tasting some sour catfish soup from a roadside stall, their bellies were completely filled. They hastily hurried to Buckland. Upon arriving, they were delighted to find that a lot of magic item shops showed no signs of closing yet. They were taking advantage of the sunny day to dry some herbs or to charge some magic items.

As the leader of a merchant caravan that traveled upon the dangerous Middle Earth, Goots naturally had dealings with the shop owners here. He took them to a magic shop that appeared very ancient. The name of the shop was Mouldy Bread, in line with the Hobbits" unique aesthetic sense.

The shop was owned by an aged Hobbit called Old Steger. He always maintained a smiling expression on his face. When he saw Goots leading some customers over, he immediately invited them to sit outside under the warm sun like he was receiving close friends and family. His employees brought out some cherry cookies and hot grapefruit tea for the guests. A warm atmosphere was instantly created.

As expected of a veteran merchant. With merely a few tiny actions, he pulled both sides closer.

Goots gestured towards Sheyan and said.

“My friends fought with a very formidable dark creature while they were escorting me back. Even though we were fortunate enough to defeat the dark creature and escape, he was heavily injured in the process. He still hasn"t fully recovered.”

Old Steger coughed a couple of times before inquiring with a smile.

“Can I take a look?”

Sheyan answered nonchalantly.

“No problem.”

Old Steger strode over to observe Sheyan"s face. He then went back inside his shop and rummaged around for a long time before bringing out a very old and primitive-looking bowl. A gemshard was engraved at its bottom. Old Steger proceeded to fill the bowl with water.

When Sheyan stared at the clear water inside the bowl, the reflected glow of the gemshard interweaved with sunlight to form a dazzling sight. As per Old Steger"s request, Sheyan blew a breath into the water. The clear water gradually turned black as if Sheyan"s breath contained a strong pollution.

Old Steger took a deep look at the water before sighing and told Sheyan with a solemn expression.

“It has been many years since I"ve seen someone as strong as you. You directly took on the Black Breath of a Ringwraith and still look so full of life.”

Sheyan"s estimation of Old Steger instantly soared. Just from him being able to identify the Black Breath, it was enough to show that Old Steger was no scam! Sheyan humbly said with a smile.

“That was only because the Ringwraith was already injured.”

“Injured?” asked Old Steger in doubt. “In this world, who can injure something as strong as a Ringwraith?”

Sheyan sighed.

“Seems like you haven"t received news of the 8 Ringwraiths" ambush on the leading figures among the Elves. Lord Elrond of Rivendell has fallen, while the 8 Ringwraiths were heavily injured from the deadly retaliation of the other Elven heroes.”

“WHAT!!!!” Old Steger was so shocked by the news that he spilled grapefruit tea on himself. “How is something like that possible!”

Sheyan sighed again and told him.

“The Elves may be great and sacred, but they aren"t without desires. The Ringwraiths made use of the cracks between them to launch their offense.”

Old Steger was shocked stiff. It took him a while to compose himself before saying.

“We must inform the s.h.i.+re"s administration of this news at once! Fear not, Númenórean warrior, the Black Breath on you isn"t heavy and you are also being protected by a natural power. You will heal completely after consuming a magic potion called Boiling Heart. ”

Sheyan smiled at Old Steger and said.

“That was why I came here today. Only the Athelas herb can cure me of the Black Breath.”

“Hants! Perform the preparation work for the potion immediately. I will be back after a quick trip to the administration office. You better finish the preparation before I come back. I"m in a bad mood today, don"t give me an excuse to dish out punishment.”

Old Steger was already rus.h.i.+ng away while he was bellowing out the order.