Chapter 850-875
The mage apprentice, Hants was truly unlucky. While he was nervously preparing all the materials for the medicine, he found that the Athelas herbs couldn’t be prepared according to his teacher’s instructions. That’s because Hants couldn’t find Old Steger’s old cat anymore. He suddenly remembered that the old cat had been brought to a village 3 days ago.
Sheyan then asked a question that he would come to regret for a long time.
“Um, Mr. Hants, what does Athelas have to do with a cat?”
Hants solemnly replied.
“Athelas isn’t really a rare herb. In fact, it can be found around the Shire. However, if we want to lift the Black Breath, we would need to use its seeds. Now, Athelas seeds are much rarer. They are highly poisonous so we normally use them to produce poison. This poison is very popular among hunters.”
“I still don’t understand what that has to do with a cat?” Sheyan continued with his enquiry.
“Please be patient while I explain, sir….Because the Athelas seed is poisonous, we must be very careful with its preparation. We must first remove the poisonous outer layer of the seed. Even if a tiny bit of the poisonous layer is left, it would severely affect the potency of the medicine. Therefore, we must let a cat swallow the seed first because its gastric acid can perfectly remove the seed’s outer layer. Then, we have to extract the seed from the cat’s body before its gastric acid can penetrate into the inner part of the seed.”
Melody asked nervously.
“Doesn’t that mean we have to kill the poor cat?”
“Oh, we’re not that cruel. If we kill the cat then mice will run wild in our shop. More importantly, the composition of the cat’s gastric juice will change following its death, which will destroy the seed. We only need to feed the cat some medicine that would irritate its stomach to let it vomit out or dispense out the processed seed as waste. Which route the seed takes to come out will depend on the cat’s mood.”
Sheyan’s expression had turned extremely ugly by this point. On the other hand, Reef brimmed with schadenfreude as he smashed any false hope Sheyan may harbor.
“Excellent, Mr. Hants. I must applaud you for your vast knowledge! I have a question for you, just one – is the medicine prepared with the processed Athelas seed a consumable medicine or an applied ointment?”
The apprentice then gave an interesting answer.
“If the Black Breath affected the outside of the victims body, then applying the medicine on the skin would show better result. But if the Black Breath lied inside the body, then the medicine has to be consumed.”
Old Steger only came back after 2 hours. His mood seemingly hadn’t changed for the better after talking to the administrators. The poor apprentice experienced another wave of shouting.
With the price of 2 platinum coins, Old Steger found a mountain goat to “process” the Athelas seeds. Sheyan used the excuse of taking a look at other magic shops to escape the scene.
The potion produced was an extremely disgusting thick substance that was yellow-blackish in colour. The wisps of smoke escaping from the potion had a brownish-yellow colour to it. The smoke would obstinately circulate in the air for a long time without dispersing.
Old Steger vigorously stirred the potion until it no longer produced any smoke, then passed the potion to Sheyan. Sheyan could only shut his eyes tight and “drank” it. Rather than drinking the potion, it’s more accurate to say Sheyan forced it into his stomach. He held his composure for 10 minutes before screaming miserably and retching out every last drop of the potion.
As if his disgusting vomit had a life of its own, it congealed into multiple bug-like creatures. The bugs jumped actively like they each possessed a soul. Old Steger was ready for this. He had prepared a wooden pail beforehand filled with privet leaves and oriental sweetgum flowers soaked in water. The creepy creatures hissed inside the water and dissipated into thin air.
Sheyan leaned on a chair and took in large gulps of breath. He only managed to compose himself after a long while. Even then, he looked like he had just recovered from from a severe illness. The good news was that the stubborn debuff on his body was finally removed. The treatment method of the old Hobbit was a bit disgusting but at least it was effective.
Franklin looked around in the shop and purchased some useful potions including some cold resistance potions, evocation strengthening potions, fountain of magic potions, etc. They were rather expensive, but Franklin didn’t seem to be short on platinum coins. He even passed 3 potion bottles to Reef and Sheyan.
The first was an infrared vision potion. Upon consumption, one would possess a strong night vision comparable to a wild animal. The previous battle with the Ringwraith in the dark probably left a deep impression on Franklin.
The second potion was called [The Obstinacy of the Dwarves]. The main component of the potion was supposedly the beard of a Dwarf. It contained a mysterious power that would significantly improve the balance of the user. The user would find it hard to fall down even if their legs were attacked.
The last potion was something that was specifically brewed to combat against the power of darkness. It had a strange name called [Darkness Sponge]. Upon consumption, it would harden one’s skin to absorb 50% of damage from dark energy. The duration of the potion was 24 hours, or until 1000 points of dark damage had been absorbed.
Sheyan and co. did not linger for long after their shopping spree. They headed directly to the Shire’s teleport formation. As expected, the teleport formation was a money-swallowing device. It charged an astronomical fee of 100 platinum coins, each. There was even a footnote in the operational rules that stated: materials must be provided by the users themselves.
Fortunately for Sheyan, the doors of the Dwarven mining warehouses were kept open for him. Thus, he did not lack the materials required for the teleportation. The high quality gemstones from Moria guaranteed a smooth operation of the teleport formation. Even the waiting duration for the teleportation process was shortened by a few minutes.
Eriador presented a contrasting sight to the gentle and beautiful Shire.
If the Shire was like a smiling, innocent girl, then Eriador would be like a muscular man in animal skin, bellowing fiercely with his upper body bare!
This was a rough place. Even the air seemed to be screaming, and reeked of blood.
Only such a rough and brutal place could remain so close to the Dark Lord’s territory. It provided endless valuable resources to the entire Middle Earth.
The ruler of this place was Lord Silon, who maintained the rarely seen slavery governing system on his land. Only such a tyrannical ruling method could maintain order in such a place. As Sheyan’s group travelled along a road built from a kind of red stones unique to this area, they saw many things that couldn’t be seen elsewhere.
For example, the patrol squad they encountered. The captain was a fully-armoured human, but following behind him were 10 enslaved half-orcs. These half-orc slaves were caught when they were young and were brought up here. They had bloodshot eyes, wore quality armours, and were equipped with axes and shields. If the squad were to meet with any danger, the captain would whip them, and the half-orcs would charge towards the enemy like pedigree hunting hounds.
From Sheyan’s estimation, a fully-armoured half-orc should have almost the same battle capabilities as an Uruk-hai. At least, that would be the case in individual fights.
Despite having such a heavy atmosphere, Eriador had a point in common with the Shire. As long as one had the money, one could obtain what one desires.
It would take a while to reach the Dwarven outpost in the outskirts of Angmar. In addition, the land they pass through from now on would be as barren as the Gobi desert. They would need some local camels as to use as mounts. In fact, they needed 3 camels each. Not only could the camels act as transports, they could also provide food and water in an emergency.
There was also something else they direly needed:
A guide.
They had to travel through the Gobi desert with no GPS, no compass, no aeroplane and no mobile phone. Furthermore, their destination was Angmar, which could be said to be the nest of demons. Getting lost was a scary prospect.
The only requirement for obtaining a good guide was enough money, which luckily they do not lack. But while they were waiting, Sheyan heard some whispers.
“Another batch that wants to look for the outpost of the Gray Dwarves?”
“A total of 5 caravans have already sent supplies of salt and ales to the Gray Dwarves this year. What else can they get from that bunch of stingy Dwarves?”
“But it’s weird. It’s been a while since the group of outsiders led by Samomo departed. They should have returned by now. I didn’t hear of any sandstorms occuring lately. ”
“That doesn’t matter. Even a world-destroying sandstorm is nothing to Samomo.”
For some reason, Sheyan’s heart felt heavier after he heard this conversation. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. The only things he could do now were to choose the best camels and offer more money to their guide to make haste.
Therefore, after merely 30 hours, they arrived at the Dwarven outpost at the cost of 10 camels dying from exhaustion.
This was a strange, wind-eroded place. The wind blew through a large number of mushroom-shaped rocks, bringing with it the damp, dark breath from Angmar which contained the acrid stench of blood and rotten bodies.
In front of Sheyan was the bloody mess of a large-scale massacre!!!!
The target of his main mission, the Gray Dwarves residing on the outskirts of Angmar, were all killed!!!!
Low grey skies, swirling clouds, rough, huge boulders, and lush sea buckthorns.
Those were the unique features of the Dwarven outpost.
The Gray Dwarves may be called Dwarves, but they were very different from actual Dwarves. The Dwarves, Gray Dwarves and Hobbits in the Lord of the Rings world were all shorter than a meter, but their differences were very distinct. They were a bit similar to the Dwarves, Goblins and Gnomes in WoW.
The most distinct feature of the Gray Dwarves were their large ears, their messy hair, and their evil smile. Because they lived in such a desolate land, even the faces of younger Gray Dwarves were full of wrinkles. Their flesh and blood contained a terrible stench, while their souls were distorted and in tatters. They had no use to creatures of darkness. That was also the reason why they could survive here and do business with the creatures of darkness.
Sheyan walked around the base of the Gray Dwarves with a cold look on his face. The rancid smell of decay indicated that quite some time had passed since the massacre. It was clear that the Gray Dwarves had attempted to fight back, but from the look of fear and confusion on the faces of the corpses, their resistance wasn’t very effective.
Sheyan found some strange injuries from grabbing, freezing and piercing attacks on the ankles and backs of some of the corpses. Besides that, there were also some injuries caused by explosions and shrapnels. Franklin cast an ‘Evoke Detection’ spell. He informed Sheyan that there was a very chaotic fluctuation of mana in the area.
Sheyan noticed that the area around the outpost showed an odd but strong vitality. Plants started sprouting here and there. What was strange was that the plants did not grow on the spots where the bodies lied. In theory, those spots should provide richer nutrients. Instead, the plants grew in some irregular places.
“I know who did this,” said Sheyan faintly as he stood up.
“It was that guy from the Stockholm Party, Drubal! Only his advanced ability of ‘Misty Jailhouse’ can entrap all these Gray Dwarves and kill all of them without letting a single one escape! I’m guessing that the thing I extorted from him is extremely valuable. That’s why he would come here and do something like this that served no purpose except to vent his anger.”
Reef frowned as he asked.
“But how did he know this is place is our objective?”
Sheyan calmly said.
“You forgot one thing. There were many contestants who entered this world together with us and received the same mission. With the overwhelming might that the Stockholm Party displayed, it wouldn’t be hard for them to find out.”
Franklin abruptly sucked in a deep breath and asked nervously.
“Could he have…laid down some traps here to ambush us?”
Sheyan shook his head and said.
“The chances are low. He probably paid an additional price to continue staying in this world in order to come here, but he should be long gone by now. More importantly, he knows that even if he tries to ambush me, he has no confidence in killing me. He may be the one killed instead.”
Reef kept frowning as he asked.
“So what do we do now?”
Sheyan gave it some thought before he replied.
“Call the guide over. Let’s ask him if there are any more Gray Dwarven outposts around this area.”
Franklin shouted for the guide a few times but there was no answer. They started getting nervous. After all, there was still a minute possibility of the Stockholm Party lying in ambush.
They searched around and finally found the guide next to a Gray Dwarven underground cave. He actually was killed by the Stockholm Party. A trigger-type magic ice trap froze him into an ice sculpture. The guide was still half kneeling on the ground with a greedy smile on his face.
The ice trap was placed on the body of the guide who brought Drubal’s group here. Sheyan’s exceptional memory told him that the guide’s name was Samomo. The delighted look on his face showed that he died a very sudden and unexpected death. A few rubies on his chest gleamed amongst the wind of the Gobi desert. Sheyan’s guide also held a ruby in his hand.
Even an idiot could tell what happened. Sheyan’s guide went on a search for his colleague’s body, either out of comraderie or for other reasons. He found the body and also found the glimmering rubies on it. Once he touched a ruby, an ice trap was triggered.
The trap seemed simple but the real trap lied in the greed of humans. It completely severed all possibility of Sheyan finding the next Gray Dwarven outpost with the help of their guide. Even after leaving this world, Drubal could still so accurately manipulate their situation. He really was an extremely calculative person.
Sheyan’s party only had 2 days left in this world. 48 hours was obviously not enough to return to Eriador to hire another guide. It seemed like they only have one choice left, and that was to use the remaining 48 hours to search around the area and see if they can stumble upon another Gray Dwarven outpost by chance.
Since the scope of the choices left to them was so limited, who’s to say Drubal wouldn’t lay another trap for them? Don’t forget that the Stockholm Party was very influential in the world of the Lord of the Rings, so much so that they could even stir the Ringwraiths into actions.
“We’ll go back,” Sheyan announced calmly.
They were shocked to hear Sheyan’s decision.
“Go back where?”
Sheyan emotionlessly said.
“Eriador, of course.”
Reef exclaimed in disbelief.
“But we won’t make it back here in time.”
Sheyan instead answered emotionlessly.
“We’re not coming back here. In fact, we can’t stay here any longer. We must leave at once! Every step of Drubal’s plan is interconnected. Did you guys notice? Most of the corpses exhibited bite marks. Once it turned dark, there might be a terrifying creature coming here for food!”
Franklin instead laughed and said.
“Our Main Mission has no punishment for failure anyway. The default punishment was only to force us back to the realm. I feel like we’ve already gained an absurd amount from this trip. So what if we miss out on some rewards from the realm.”
Franklin was telling the truth. He felt that his biggest gain from this world was to become a member of this party called Ace. Truthfully, with Franklin’s ability, it’s not hard for him to join a major party. But this is a Silver party! To join this party was like winning the lottery.
Sheyan’s lips curled into a weird smile as he said.
“It’s too early to declare that we will fail the mission for sure. We’re not at the end of the road yet. Back at the teleport formation, I saw the name of another destination. I feel like we can try our luck there. I don’t think Drubal could stretch his hands so far away.”
They once again rushed back to Eriador. They paid no heed to the cost as all their remaining mounts were worked to death due to exhaustion. As a result, they managed to squeeze out 16 remaining hours from their precious 48 hours.
When they arrived at the teleport formation and asked to use it, they were refused.
The reason was simple. The guide that they hired, Lubaba, had not returned.
Due to the precedence of Samomo’s disappearance, Lubaba’s disappearance became a big deal. Even though Sheyan explained that the guide died from an accident during the trip, no one would listen to them. These greedy f*ckers had their eyes on the group’s wealth. The cost to send 4 people to Isengard was not a small sum at all.
Melody was unexpectedly the first one to act in this situation.
She pulled her bow at an alarming speed and shot out a couple of really sharp arrows. They pierced into the arms of a tanned, stout fella a distance away and pinned him onto a board behind him.
The man screamed in pain as the bottle he was holding shattered on the ground. Next, he was instantly engulfed in a fierce flame, causing him to wail in agony.
For the group of people to even prepare Molotov cocktails, this must be a planned operation. The one who was pinned to the board revealed a cruel expression as he slashed his blade at the arrows pinning him, then launched himself to the ground. He rolled around a few times before shouting.
“Kill these bandits! They deceived our people to follow them into the Gobi desert, then murdered them. They must be followers of the Dark side.”
His provocation caused the other local guides to rush madly towards Sheyan’s party. All of them used a kind of thick-spined long blades as their weapons. They would leap forward and chop down to initiate their attack, a move which left no ground for retreat for themselves nor for their opponent.
Sheyan faced the assault of two local guides. He ignored the attack aimed at him as he brandished ‘+7 West’ and lodged it deep into the abdomen of the other enemy. Then, he used his strength to tear a long, deep opening in the enemy’s abdomen. The guide’s internal organs spewed out with a large amount of blood as he cried in pain. The scene was truly gory.
At the same time, the blade of the other local guide slashed down on Sheyan’s shoulder. However, it was clamped by Sheyan’s muscles and couldn’t move another inch!
Sheyan didn’t even bat an eye when he was struck. He remained as steady as a boulder.
Instead, it was Melody who shouted. She pulled on that ordinary-looking longbow of hers that contained a destructive force. A blinding ray of green light flew out from the bow to force the local guide who injured Sheyan back by a couple of steps. As spots of green light dissipated amidst his scream, a large hole appeared where his palm should be. His white bone eerily protruded out from the wound.
Sheyan decided to add insult to injury. He silently stepped forward and stabbed deep into the local’s abdomen. The local wailed in extreme agony as Sheyan used him as a human meatshield.
He was immediately struck by a few throwing axes, which took away his life. A Molotov cocktail shattered on his back to light him up in flame. Only then did Sheyan kick the poor guy away.
At the same time, Reef’s silver claw lodged itself into the throat of a local. He exerted strength to push the local back amidst a gory spray of blood. Reef gradually retreated into the building housing the teleport formation as he fought.
The shaman who operated the teleport formation felt that things were going awry and tried to run away. Unfortunately, his sarcastic comments previously had attracted enough aggro to himself. Franklin’s staff pointed at him from far away. The shaman instantly felt a violent fluctuation of magic in the air, causing him to stay rooted to the spot like there was a rifle pointing at him. Despite that, his words remained stubborn.
“All you foolish non-believers! How dare you cause trouble in Eriador. If you do not immediately repent for your sins, I will make sure that you will be tied to a horse and be dragged to death!”
Sheyan wiped away the sweat from his forehead – or blood, he couldn’t tell – as he retreated back, and coldly said.
“Make him shut his trap.”
The patrol team had arrived by now. The local guides rushed over to the patrol team like they found their saviours and complained in an uproar. The captain instantly whipped hard on the bodies of the enslaved half-orc warriors to make them prepare for battle. They did not plan to hear Sheyan’s side of the story at all.
Melody was enraged at the treatment they suffered. As the squad captain shouted at the half-orc slaves to charge, she once again lifted her longbow and released an arrow at an alarming speed.
Her face even turned a little pale after the arrow was released.
A glaring green light flashed for an instant!
The captain, who was clad in a full set of heavy armour, froze on the spot with a strange expression. His left hand trembled violently as he tried to touch his throat, but he felt as if he had lost all strength. A very ordinary looking arrow – not even an arrow, it was a branch with some green leaves on it – was stuck to his throat.
The branch looked like it grew out from inside his throat!
Suddenly, the branch exploded into a green mist and dispersed. The next instant, a mist of scarlet blood burst forth from the captain’s throat for a few meters. A fist-sized hole appeared on the captain’s throat, revealing torn flesh and muscles.
The captain fell rigidly onto the hard ground as his life left him. A large amount of blood flowed out from the major wound on his throat to drench the earth, while the people around him screamed in shock!
Sheyan took this opportunity to approach the shaman operating the teleport formation.
“Adjust the teleport formation for us at once!”
“Shut up, non-believer! Release me at once, or I’ll AAAARRRRGHHHHHH…”
Sheyan chopped down one of his ears before he asked coldly.
“Do I need to repeat myself?”
“”I will never AAARRRGGGHHHHH”
Two more bloody lumps of flesh appeared on the ground. Upon closer inspection, one would find them to be the nose and the other ear of the shaman.
Sheyan continued.
“I will give you 10 seconds to adjust the teleport formation according to our requirement. 10, 9, ….”
“Yes, m-m-my lord-d-d, but I don’t have suitable gemstones to provide energy to the formation. Even if I adjust the formation to the correct settings, it would be for naught.”
“Leave that for me to worry about. You have five seconds left to do as I say, or prepare to say goodbye to your legs.”
“NO!!!! Here! It’s all done!”
“You better not play any tricks because you will be the first one to teleport over.”
“Wait, I forgot to adjust the knob! And let me just re-enter the coordinates…”
The shaman was completely ignored after that. Franklin casted a ‘Mirror Image’ spell on Melody to produce a doppelganger before stepping into the teleport formation. Next was Sheyan, then Reef.
Melody went last to guard their backs. After continuously shooting out 3 arrows, she diagonally hooked her longbow on the building behind her, then used the longbow as leverage to leap lightly onto the roof of the building next door, thus avoiding 5 throwing axes aimed towards her. Next, she broke a side window to jump into the hall housing the teleport formation to teleport away. The whole sequence of actions was so smooth it was a work of art.
Before she left, she threw a bottle of potion to the ground just like Sheyan did. However, the potion she threw was a one bought from the magic shop in the Shire called the Parasite Potion. The potion would quickly grow a large amount of parasitic plants within a certain area. The amount of plants would be based on the amount of natural power imbued into it.
An abundance of parasitic plants grew wildly as the potion bottle shattered. Dark green gigantic moss rapidly spread through the hall. The moss produced dark green bubbles the size of basketballs that would trap the feet of anyone who stepped on them. Even the mighty half-orcs could only howl in anger but couldn’t pull their legs out. Some of the moss spread to the teleport formation and destroyed some of its mechanisms with their strong vitality.
Melody had infused the purest of natural energy into the potion, so theoretically the parasites could grow for a whole hour. More importantly, the most direct way of dealing with the moss was to use fire, but they were unable to do so for fear of damaging the teleport formation. By the time the inhabitants of Eriador finished dealing with the situation, Sheyan’s group had already been gone for more than 15 minutes. The shaman who adjusted the formation for Sheyan was already killed, so they couldn’t give chase even if they wanted to.
Melody staggered a little after stepping out of the teleport formation. Turned out her foot had been hurt by a throwing axe from the half-orcs. But when she looked around, she was instantly bewitched by the grand surrounding view.
The teleport formation they came out from was built on the peak of a mountain. A flag of Rohan stood next to the hall housing the formation. Even the Dark Lord Sauron didn’t dare look down on the blades of the Númenoreans.
The wind was strong on the peak. Mountain ranges surrounded them every direction they looked. A great river flowed fiercely from west to east.
Mountain peaks surrounded a valley below as if they were bodyguards guarding the valley. In the centre of the valley was a metropolis built in the shape of concentric circles. Dense buildings and straight roads occupied the metropolis. It was a prosperous city bustling with activities.
The tight security displayed in the metropolis qualified it to be called a fortress. But with the irrigation of a river, the lands around the area were green and comfortable. Grassy fields and an abundance of trees surrounded the city.
The key landmark of the metropolis was a tall tower which strangely, had its top split. It was a peculiar looking tower. The tower was originally built when the humans were flattening Isengard in historic times. It was composed of 4 multi-faceted stone pillars grouped together. A small space was left between the pillars. Horn-like sharp protrusions reached out from the top of the tower. The tower was mysterious! Grand! Dignified!
Even among the many towers in Middle Earth, this structure was one of a kind. One would never mistake it for another. This, is the magic tower of Orthanc!
It was built by the smiths of ancient times, but it did not resemble human architecture. Instead, it looked more like a bone structure that was forcefully pulled from the ground. It was an independent stone peak which black surface reflected sunlight. Four pillars were forcefully melded together but the top was left to branch out into separate protrusions that had tips as sharp as the tips of spears, and sides as sharp as the edges of blades. A platform sat between the sharp protrusions. Many strange runes were carved onto its flat surface. A person standing on the platform can overlook the land from a height of almost 500 feet!
Traditionally, only the rulers of the metropolis can stay in Orthanc.
The one living in Orthanc currently was a strong and imposing presence. He was the chief of the White Council, and was also someone familiar to Sheyan. In fact, one could say he was Sheyan’s teacher!
Saruman!
One of the most famous fortresses on Middle Earth:-
Isengard!
Isengard was one of the most important towns in Middle Earth with a strategic geographical location. It was also the provisional capital of Rohan. It’s importance was comparable to China’s Tianjin, Shanghai and other municipalities.
As early as two decades ago, King Théoden, the king of Rohan, handed over the governance of Isengard to his good friend, Saruman the White. Saruman had kept his true nature well hidden. Only when he had Gandalf imprisoned did he reveal his true character. This should only happen more than half a year later.
(ED: Isengard is in fact a Gondorian fortress, and was never under the governance of any Rohirrim king, it was given to Saruman by the then Steward of Gondor, Beren. The author, like in many instances, has taken liberty to mess with the continuity here.)
After Isengard fell into Saruman’s hands, he found one of the Palantíri in the the Orthanc Tower. Because of his indulgence in the Palantír, his long-term use enabled Sauron’s will to gradually corrupt and change him.
At the same time, due to his fanatical research in the One Ring, he was also plunged into a mire of desire for power while he was researching forces of darkness. The reason he allied with Sauron was not because he was enslaved like a Ringwraith, but because of his burning ambition!
The real purpose of Saruman, without a doubt, was to take the One Ring for himself and rule the world instead of Sauron.
The reason why Sheyan, who lost the opportunity to complete the main mission, came to Isengard was very simple. He was looking for Saruman!
Presently, Saruman had yet to expose his true colours, so in the eyes of other people, he was still the respected Head of the White Council, the holy White Wizard. At the same time, it must be acknowledged that Isengard was indeed flourishing under the administration of Saruman, and the people under his rule were prosperous and happy.
This means that it wouldn’t be too difficult for Sheyan to meet him. Secondly, Saruman wouldn’t reveal his true nature at this time; more precisely, it wouldn’t be worth it for him to do so for Sheyan. This means that Sheyan was not under a great danger.
As for the risks brought about by previous conflicts, Sheyan had also given it some thought. But only the Uruk-hai Lurtz had faced him in a confrontation. Sheyan did not believe that Saruman would be bold enough to keep Lurtz by his side. Lurtz did not look like a human at all. If he kept someone like Lurtz beside him, Saruman would have lost his reputation long ago.
The cost to teleport from Eriador to Isengard was truly astronomical. Sheyan estimated that they had used up gemstones worth at least tens of thousands of platinum coins, if not more. When the four of them emerged from the transport formation and walked out of the hall, there were tax officers who registered their names and origins courteously. When the officers learned that they were merchants trading in Dwarven jewels, they were taxed an amount that was neither too high nor too low, and were then approved to descend the mountain into Isengard.
Looking at Isengard from above, the feeling it gave was one that was mysterious, grand and sad. However, near the city, although there were still a large number of monuments and ancient texts present to remind visitors of the ancient past of the place, the bustling streets and liveliness of the townsfolk gave this place an indescribable vitality.
The knights patrolling the streets all wore solemn faces while they slowly spurred their horses on. Needless to say, the knights were all tall and strong, but the more important thing was that the horses they rode were all pretty sturdy and muscular. The white breath spouting from their nostrils almost reached one meter in length. While they walked, the sturdy mass of muscles underneath their skin would make an elegant squirming motion, demonstrating a powerful explosiveness.
It can be seen that these patrolling knights had a good relationship with the merchants on the street. They greeted them from time to time. Many merchants even took out food to feed the horses. It was eye-opening to see the horses eat almost anything they were fed with, be it eggs, bread, cereal, hay, bacon….
Melody had spent her entire live in Rivendell before this. She had just experienced the gentle, warm and passionate Shire, then witnessed the cruel and harsh Eriador. Now that she reached the bustling but orderly Isengard, she could not help but be amazed.
As he enjoyed the city’s well-organized flow and observed Isengard’s vitality and order, Sheyan thought for a while and nodded. He did not do anything else but directly asked someone for the direction to the largest jewelry shop in Isengard.
*
“Uh, a total of about 4,000 strangers came to Isengard today. 67 strangers arrived through the teleport formation. Among those 67 individuals, there were three people who we need to pay special attention to. We will dispatch 6 groups to keep surveillance tomorrow.”
“Wait, why were there only three? I remember there was a group of people who were also quite suspicious. They are a group of four. Two of them seem to be battle-hardened warriors, and one should be a mage. The last one is the girl who look ordinary, but there’s a powerful natural force in the longbow that’s on her back. It may be a treasure of the Elves.”
“We have already investigated this group of people. They stated that their business in Isengard was to trade in jewelries and we have confirmed that was indeed the case. After they entered the city, they visited six jewellers and magical item stores. The gemstones they brought were also high in quality.”
“That doesn’t clear them of all suspicion. I suspect that their jewels were stolen from Eriador. The place is still in an uproar.”
“I know, but a jewel that this group of people brought had caught the attention of Lord Gansdore. It was supposedly a stone with a strange soul imbued in it. Since the chief wizard under Lord Saruman is watching them, there is no need for us to waste precious human resources on them.”
“You’re right, sir.”
The Lord Gansdore mentioned by the spies was currently walking into Orthanc Tower. He respectfully bowed outside the magical laboratory. He showed no reaction to the vague screaming voices occasionally escaping from within. He knew that if he wanted to maintain his position beside Lord Saruman, he must learn to forget things that he should not see nor hear.
Gansdore was not the most powerful of Saruman’s subordinates, but he was the most cautious, and the one with the tightest lips. These were the reasons why he could keep his position for a long time.
Gansdore waited for half an hour, but his expression remained respectful. Even the angle of his bow was consistent. After a while, the door of the laboratory opened. A silent attendant stood before him.
“The great Lord Saruman will have his afternoon tea in 10 minutes. You have 1 minute to talk to the lord. ”
Gansdore nodded, straightened his back, and walked into a room next to him.
After he opened the door of the room, what appeared in front of him was a corridor. The marble pillars on both sides of the corridor looked like soldiers standing guard. Purple ivy climbed up in every direction to cleverly form a garden. There was even a sun in the sky. The shadows of leaves on the ground were dyed in a blush of bloody red.
From time to time there were servants shuttling through the corridor. Many of them were half-orcs. They were all tall and had dark brown skin. They did not have the kind of unpleasant smell one would expect, but instead had their hair tied up with leather buckles, decorated with some white bone ornaments. The half-orcs all looked numb and expressionless.
At the end of the corridor was another door engraved with words of praises for the gods and the angels. Through the door was Saruman’s reception room. This was a comfortable space. The ground was laid with a dark brown shiny bearskin. Stepping on it gave a sensation similar to stepping on soft grass.
The air was filled with the savory aroma of pepper, cinnamon, licorice, and pods. They can effectively help the wizards clear their minds and and recover their magic power. The stained glass around the living room depicted the rise of the Rohan kingdom. The wall lamps were shaped like angels, showering a gentle glow on all sides.
This was the mysterious magic tower personally laid out by Saruman. In this tower, he could experience the comforts enjoyed by kings.
Gansdore knelt on the bear skin and was careful not to look around with his eyes. He constantly maintained an attitude of humility. After a few minutes, an unusually tall wizard with a flowing white beard and long white hair stepped into the room. He was dressed in a spotless white robe and his eyes were deep and sharp like an eagle’s. He sat on a luxurious sofa in the very middle of the room, took the mahogany pipe next to the sofa, and lit himself a full serving of tobacco. He took a deep puff and immersed himself in the rich aroma for quite a while before saying.
“Tell me why you have come.”
Gansdore simply took out a beautiful purse. The clanking of coins could be heard within. He then crouched on the ground and said.
“There are 3,000 platinum coins in this purse, my lord. This is a fee paid to me by a man claiming to be a jeweller. He only required me to do two things.”
“Oh,” said Saruman as he spewed a cloud of smoke. He closed his eyes and continued, “I appreciate your loyalty and honesty, but this topic bores me, so I’ll shorten the time for this meeting.”
Gansdore produced another pouch.
“This is the first thing that the person wanted me to bring you, my lord. He claimed that the jewels inside came from another world – yes, another world, not another country. I made sure to confirm that was what he meant.”
Saruman waved his hand and the bag fell off, exposing an egg-size, dark transparent crystal that swiveled slowly in front of his eyes. The crystal was so dark that it appeared eerie.
“Interesting. I hear the fragile soul crying in this crystal. This is indeed not a product of Middle Earth. However, the soul in this soul crystal is too weak. It does not interest me at all. You have fifteen seconds left.”
Gansdore nodded.
“That person said that if my lord is not interested in the first item, then please give this box to you. Regardless of what your reaction may be, the platinum coins in the purse are all mine.”
“Where’s the box?” asked Saruman impatiently.
Gansdore looked timidly at Saruman and offered a box. Obviously, he was not optimistic that this thing could move the heart of his lord.
After receiving the box, Saruman’s eyes flashed. He caressed the surface of the box with his fingers and wondered:
“The residual aura on this box, why…does it feel so familiar?”
Saruman slowly closed his eyes and traced his fingers across the surface of the box. The back of Saruman’s hand had a lot of wrinkles, but his palm had skin that was smooth and delicate. A series of intoxicating and crazy words escaped Saruman’s mouth.
“Ah, wait, such familiar dark aura, such frustrated howling and anger…. It’s like the feeling of that guy called Dwar! But how is he related to this box?”
Saruman immediately opened the box slowly – he seemed to be guarding against possible magical traps – and then he frowned. The box was empty!
This feeling made Saruman very uncomfortable. He felt like a child who saw his favorite candy, but after excitedly peeling off the wrapping paper with a load of expectation, he found that the inside contained a stone.
“What happened?”
Saruman’s words were perfectly calm. One could hear neither joy nor sorrows in his words. But Gansdore, who was familiar with his personality, immediately prostrated himself on the ground and stammered.
“My lord! The object inside this box looks very ordinary, but after the box came into my possession, a lot of strange things happening kept happening to me. I really… I really don’t dare to bring it here directly! In order to avoid any mishaps happening to you, I only dare to bring this box that was contaminated by its breath.”
Saruman asked curiously.
“A lot of weird things happening? Interesting. I’m getting more and more interested in this matter. Order someone to bring it in right away! No, you’ll take me to where it is!”
“Right away, my lord,” answered Gansdore in fear. He hurried back a few steps, then led Saruman out of the magic tower.
The two men arrived at Gansdore’s carriage and immediately saw a guard who had fallen dead on the ground. His eyes were wide open and there was a horrible wound on his throat. It looked as if someone had stabbed in using a red-hot knife.
The situation was also chaotic all around them. A tall horse that was ridden by a security officer had struggled free from its rein. Some of its skin was torn, directly exposing its bulging muscles and blood vessels. Its eyes were as ferocious as a hungry beast as it chewed on the palm of its dead master, spewing flesh and blood everywhere.
Saruman showed no concern for these sights at all. He strode into the carriage and could immediately felt a dense dark aura. At this time, Saruman suddenly moved his head to the side, because the strap he used to tie his hair had turned into a mottled, two-headed snake. The split tongues reaching out of its mouths were black in colour. Saruman pointed his finger at the snake, and it immediately dissolved into black smoke and drifted away.
“So it could infect all objects around it that contained any dark nature…” said Saruman with a bit of admiration. “Gansdore, you did well. You’ve brought me a great surprise. Where’s the fragment? Where did you put it?”
Gansdore awkwardly answered.
“I put away the new box containing the fragment in the carriage drawer, then told the guards to keep their eyes open and pay attention to any abnormality.”
At that moment, a guard ran over in horror and shouted.
“My lord, our horse went mad! It attacked Casey, and the skin of the demonic creature laid inside the carriage suddenly grabbed Sherr’s neck….”
“Shut your mouth! Just tell me where the box is!” snapped Gansdore sharply.
“During the chaos, a strange looking person boarded the carriage and reached into the drawer. We cut off one of his hands, but he opened the drawer with his other hand and grabbed the box. Before we cut off his other hand, he swallowed the box and then ran away!” Answered the guard in horror.
“Wow, good job, good effort!” remarked Gansdore sarcastically. “Put the city under a state of emergency and lock down the gates!”
“There’s no need for that,” remarked Saruman calmly. He held out his hand and released a “Detect Evil” spell. Instantly, the route that the Dunlending took to flee appeared in front of their eyes like it was drawn in ink.
“I want to see either the box or your severed head in ten minutes. Remember to clean the box.”
The iron-fisted and orderly rule of Saruman in Isengard showed its effectiveness. His will was implemented in five minutes.
The dripping wet [Armour Fragment of Dwar the Nazgul] was placed in front of Saruman. It was retrieved from the stomach of the unfortunate Dunlending, so it carried a stench no matter how it was washed.
“This fragment….it really does not disappoint me! Gansdore, you fool. The fragment was suppressed by powerful natural energy before this, so it could only keep accumulating energy inside. When it was handed over to you, the power of nature that suppressed it disappeared, and the power of darkness it accumulated erupted, thus causing all these chaos! This really is a perfect piece of metal, a perfect gift!”
“Um, my lord,” said Gansdore hesitantly.
Saruman impatiently snapped at him.
“What else do you want. Is the city not chaotic enough yet? Why are you still here? Calm the citizens down as quickly as possible.”
Gansdore braved himself and looked at Saruman’s face.
“Actually, your series of actions were completely predicted by that person….so forgive my impudence, but I have to pass on his words to you.”
“That person??” asked Saruman wildly.
“The gem trader, my lord. The original owner of this piece of fragment.” answered Gansdore boldly.
Saruman pondered for a while before enquiring.
“What else did he have to say?”
Gansdore answered in a mysterious tone.
“He said that he has something else that will make you feel even more tempted – and, if I pass on these words, he will pay me an extra two thousand platinum coins. If there is nothing else, then I will take my leave.”
Saruman’s slender eyes revealed a glimmer.
“This person is really interesting. Very well, go and tell him that because of the surprise he gave me today, I decided to give him a chance. Half an hour later, I will meet with him in the magic tower. I have already received a very nice gift today; I hope he can continue to surprise me.”
The work efficiency of Gansdore in implementing Saruman’s order was quite high. Sheyan and his team soon came to Saruman’s guest room.
Of course, for safety reasons, Sheyan did not bring Melody along. It’s difficult to say whether Melody’s disguise would be seen through by Saruman as the disguise of the Ring if Air wasn’t impregnable after all. Once she was seen through, the consequences would be disastrous!
Currently, there was only one hour or so left in the time limit of the mission. Shenyan believed that since Saruman was so concerned with the armour fragment of the Ringwraith, the [Elven Illusion Bone Crystal] they had should interest Saruman even more.
Even if they fell out with Saruman, with the huge temptation of the [Elven Illusion Bone Crystal], they should be able to delay for an hour. When the mission failed, they would naturally return to the realm. At most, they would suffer a bit of hardship.
They knew that Saruman would not immediately brandish his weapon against them even if they came to a disagreement. That was a behaviour for Lurtz the Uruk-hai. An old fox that had lived for thousands of years like Saruman would first consider ‘what benefit would I gain if I kill them….’
When the three stepped into Orthanc Tower, they did not notice any special changes – maybe Saurman was unwilling to allow them to see any special changes. An attendant led them into Saruman’s magic laboratory. They finally came face to face with the “evil hero”.
Sheyan was surprised to find that the layout seemed to be very familiar. It looked very similar to the interior of the rough mage tower in the orc city of Misty Mountains. The tall, majestic, burly and powerful wizard glanced at them, then calmly asked.
“I heard you wanted to meet me?”
Sheyan stepped out and said with a smile.
“My name is Seaman. I am a believer of the High God. There is a saying among my people – there are no eternal friends and enemies, only eternal profits. Under some special circumstances, we managed to obtain some objects on Middle Earth which are said to be quite precious and mysterious. My friend told me that the Gray Dwarves outside Angmar may be interested in these things, but their offer couldn’t satisfy me. So, we came to Isengard in search of a better price for these goods.”
“Ah, so you are believers of the High God,” Saruman nodded slightly, then gently said. “Please sit down. I must first thank you for gifting me with the armour fragment that was full of an evil and dark aura. You made a wise decision.”
Sheyan smiled.
“It seems that you still don’t understand what I mean. There is no difference between justice and evil for us believers of the High God. We gave the fragment to you because we believe that we will gain greater benefits from you. As for things such as light and darkness, righteousness and evil, they are all but an illusion. If one were to state it in a more direct term, victory is justice, and failure is evil, because history is always written by the victors.”
Saruman gently clapped and smiled.
“Your opinion is wonderful, Mr. Seaman.”
From the short conversation up to this moment, Sheyan found that Saruman’s reputation was well-deserved indeed. His voice and speech were extremely convincing, and his rhetoric was strong. People who were not determined enough would find their minds shaken when they hear him speak. In addition to that, his voice contained a sense of spring blessings. It was no wonder that Saruman could keep his identity so well-hidden after becoming Sauron’s secret ally, and only exposed himself when he imprisoned Gandalf.
Sheyan also felt at ease by now, because his guess was indeed not wrong – the one he was facing was an old sly fox – and it looked like he was also very greedy, so at least he wouldn’t do something ridiculous like instantly ordering his underlings to kill the three of them. That was to say, the worst case scenario for them was just to fail the main storyline mission.
Therefore, his confidence soared. He then added.
“The great Lord Saruman must know that the High God is known for His strictness and omnipotence, so if we can’t get a satisfactory price here, then our consequences will be quite severe….”
Saruman laughed and told them passionately.
“Of course I have enough wealth to satisfy you, but the point is, I still don’t know what you are selling.”
Sheyan smiled and said.
“I guess my lord must know of a shocking event that happened recently – the eight great Ringwraiths grouped up to attack the leaders of the Elven tribe.”
Saruman’s expression turned heavy.
“Yes, my friendship with the elves has lasted for thousands of years. This kind of despicable behavior has of course caused me serious concern.”
“The fight was fierce, and both parties suffered heavy losses. According to the intelligence we gathered, at least the Ringwraith Dwar was almost destroyed – the second gift I presented to you was proof of that. But the Elven tribe had also permanently lost an important figure.” said Sheyan gravely.
Saruman was moved.
“Who?”
Fang Senyan stared into his eyes and said very seriously:
“The Lord of Rivendell, the holder of the Ring of Air – Lord Elrond.”
“That’s impossible!” Saruman cracked the handle of his chair that he was grabbing. His white beard and white hair all fluttered up. At that moment, he exposed an overbearing aura akin to a lion looking down on all existences!
“As a believer of the High God, lying is a heavy sin,” said Sheyan indifferently. “More importantly, the merchandise I am offering this time has a lot to do with Lord Elrond.”
“How could Elrond fall? Was he not protected by the Ring of Air?” Saruman was still in disbelief.
“We don’t know the exact details either,” Sheyan immediately lied.
“The ones present on the scene at that time was another group of believers of the High God. The only thing I care about right now is how much the great Lord Saruman can pay us for the goods we bring.”
Saruman closed his eyes, apparently to digest the impact this news had caused him, and then very seriously said.
“I must first look at what you brought in.”
“The essence Mr. Elrond left behind after his death….three of them in total,” said Sheyan as he pulled out the crystal belonging to him from his private storage space.
When Saruman saw the crystal, he was visibly moved! He grabbed the [Elven Illusion Bone Crystal] from Sheyan’s hand, and closed his eyes while he stroked it. One can feel the powerful magic on Saruman’s fingers. Space seemed to be distorted around the crystal!
“An Illusion Bone Crystal! It really is an Illusion Bone Crystal! This is an Illusion Bone Crystal that recorded the life experiences of Elrond!! With a bit of time and luck, I can obtain Elrond’s power!”
After Sheyan saw Saruman’s reaction, he casually said.
“Mr. Saruman, because you haven’t paid for it yet nor have you shown any tendency to pay, please be careful when you inspect the goods….”
Saruman suddenly lifted his head. The look on his face at that moment was one of brutality mixed with ridicule. The voice he emitted was extremely cold.
“Lurtz! These three are your dinner! There are still such crystals on the other two, so search for them and hand them over to me before you do your thing.”
The door of the laboratory suddenly burst open, and the familiar face of the Uruk-hai Lurtz appeared in front of Sheyan. He licked his lips with his scarlet tongue and coldly told Sheyan.
“You weakling. We meet again. I could already sniff your unique smell the moment you walked into the Mage Tower. You can rest assured that my stomach will be the best grave you can find.”
Sheyan sighed.
“Mr. Saruman, you seem to have forgotten one thing.”
Saruman stared at him in disdain. At this time, Lurtz had already punched the face of Sheyan, flinging him away! But at that instant, the Illusion Bone Crystal in Saruman’s hand suddenly disappeared. Saruman was stunned for a moment, then he couldn’t help but release a painful roar!
Sheyan, who lay weakly against a wall, suddenly burst into laughter.
“Mr. Saruman, I am a believer of the High God! Maybe you can kill me, but the Elven Illusion Bone Crystal was stored inside my personal space bestowed by the High God! My soul is still connected to it, so trying to take it by force is a huge mistake. You’re this close to kissing Elrond’s Illusion Bone Crystal goodbye, but lucky for you, it’s still not too late to turn back!”
Saruman suddenly froze, but after five seconds he revealed a passionate smile and laughed.
“That was just a joke, my friends! How can you take it so seriously?”
Sheyan touched his swollen face, forced out a mouthful of blood, spat out a few teeth, and gnawed.
“This joke isn’t funny at all.”
Saruman raised his eyebrows and smiled.
“I apologise for the rude behaviour of my servant.”
As he said that, he pointed at Sheyan and applied a healing spell. Only then did Sheyan give him an insincere smile.
“Do you mind if I joke with your servant too?”
Saruman instantly breathed a sigh of relief and said happily.
“Feel free.”
Sheyan walked over and instantly kicked Lurtz’s groin! Lurtz’s face immediately turned green. His simple mind apparently hadn’t figured out what was going on. Then Sheyan followed up with a punch to his nose! Lurtz snarled wildly and was about to retaliate, but his action immediately halted when Saruman pointed at him. Saruman’s eyes were cold as he said.
“My esteemed guests are just joking with you. What do you think you’re doing?”
Sheyan unceremoniously knocked Lurtz down and gave him a hard beating. Although he did not cause any substantial harm to the tough body of the Uruk-hai, it was still extremely humiliating. Lurtz’s eyes turned blood red! He gritted his teeth so hard that they made a grating noise, but there was nothing he could do!
Sheyan exhaled a breath of satisfaction and smeared his soles on Mr. Lurtz’s face, then clapped his hands.
“My dear Mr. Saruman, I think we can go back to our original discussion now – how much can you pay for these goods? Of course, the price for that piece of Nazgul armour fragment must also be included.”
Saruman spread his arms and said.
“Money isn’t a problem. State your price. How much platinum coins do you want?”
Sheyan suddenly laughed.
“Mr. Saruman, we don’t lack platinum coins.”
“So it’s Mithril you want?” asked Saruman.
Sheyan continued to shake his head.
“Let me tell you about my personal wish. Mr. Saruman, I am ashamed to admit that I once encountered a note by accident. The note recorded your experience in producing Uruk-hais. I feel that this note had helped me a lot, but there are still a lot of things that I don’t understand, so I hope you can help me make great strides in this area…. As for confidentiality, you can rest assured. As you can see, I’ve been acquainted with Mr. Lurtz for a long time, but there had never been any bad rumours circulating about you.
Saruman’s face sank.
“I must first see what you learned!”
Sheyan then showed the “Rank 6 ability: Uruk-hai Genetic Mix (Damaged)” that had not been upgraded for a long time. After Saruman observed for a while, he exclaimed in slight surprise.
“You learned all this by yourself?”
Sheyan sighed.
“Mr. Saruman, have you ever taught me? Who else can teach me this knowledge besides yourself? If I didn’t figure things out myself, who else could I have relied on?”
Saruman apparently did not expect Sheyan to propose such a condition. He thought for a moment before replying.
“I can help you improve this ability, but your friends’ demands can’t be too high.”
It seemed that Sheyan would need to take a share from Reef’s and Franklin’s rewards to complete his request. However, the three were all in the same team now so they naturally have nothing to say to that. At that moment, Saruman called Gansdore over and asked him to fulfill the requests of both Reef and Franklin. He planned to waste no time in taking Sheyan to his orc laboratory.
At the same time that they reached a compromise with Saruman, the three of them received simultaneous notifications from the nightmare imprint.
[You have completed the main mission: Choice]
[You have chosen: Hidden faction, Saruman of Isengard]
[You received a reward of achievement points +2 ]
[You received a reward of utility points +10,000]
[You received a reward of potential points +5]
[You have triggered a hidden main storyline mission: Saruman’s Ambition/Isengard’s Hidden Dangers]
[You can choose either one of the main storyline missions to complete.]
[Selection deadline: 24 hours]
[In the meantime, you can try to enquire about relevant mission content from relevant plot characters]
After hearing this notification, both Reef and Franklin expressed their joy, especially Franklin who sang praises in the party channel.
“Boss, how did you even think of this?”
Sheyan smiled wryly.
“I was just clutching at straws to be honest. The idea was from the name of the main mission, Choice. It’s obvious that this main mission was to let us choose either the Middle Earth side or Sauron’s side. After all, the War of the Ring would happen soon. Since we couldn’t join Sauron’s side, why not try Sauron’s ally instead?”
Reef suddenly said.
“If that’s the case, then the hidden main storyline mission on the side of the forces of Light could be to join the forces of Rohan, or even the Army of the Dead of the Men of the Mountains.”
Sheyan nodded.
“That’s highly probable.”
Reef suddenly looked towards Franklin and said.
“If Moyi, Shuren, and Yerna are still alive, then this intelligence is worth at least 30,000 utility points.”
Franklin thought for a while before replying.
“I can try to contact them.”
While the three were communicating in the party channel, Sheyan was brought by Saruman to his biochemical laboratory.
Sheyan very clearly remembered that when they were brought to the previous room, they should have only reached the second floor of the Orthanc Tower. Now, when Saruman led him to the biochemical laboratory, he felt that he had climbed one floor at most. However, after taking a turn at a corridor, he actually saw the radiance of the setting sun and looked down upon the grand view of plains and rivers! At that moment, Sheyan was shocked to find that he had already reached the top of the Orthanc Tower, hundreds of meters high!
This magical experience was really worthy of such a powerful relic magic tower! One’s senses and perceptions were thoroughly disorganized without one knowing it, thus distorting the distance in space and time!
The environment in the biochemical laboratory was not as bad as Sheyan imagined. It could barely count as “tidy”. Of course, the smell in the air was certainly not that pleasant. Looking at the large piles of cut plants with their fiber tissues dissected out, as well as a variety of brewing utensils, Sheyan suddenly had a sense of traveling back in time to the kitchen of large restaurants in the real world.
Saruman stood before a test bench with his white robe fluttering in the wind. He asked with a malicious expression.
“Are you sure you want to receive my teaching?”
At the same time, the nightmare imprint showed a notification:
[You are about to receive Saruman’s teachings. Your action will cost a total of 6,000 Fate points. Since your own Fate points are insufficient, the remaining Fate points will be evenly deducted from the rest of your party members.]
Sheyan was a little surprised and immediately inquired.
“So what use are the [Armour Fragment of Dwar the Nazgul] and the [Elven Illusion Bone Crystal] that I brought?”
The nightmare imprint’s reply was: [They were proofs of your ability. You can use this kind of items to grab the attention of storyline characters and gain more valuable services from them.]
Sheyan immediately understood the meaning of the nightmare imprint. The two objects could not be used as trade goods. They were symbols of status. Only Fate points could be used as trade goods. It was similar to the cafeteria of a large company. If you did not have a work permit of the company, then there was no way to enjoy the discount and the extra dishes they offer….
After Sheyan reconfirmed once again, he was asked by Saruman to mix a few bottles of potions. Thanks to his previous “work experience” in the magic tower of Orc City, Sheyan mixed a few bottles without much difficulty. Not only that, he also made some mantis gene-mixes that he developed himself.
“Oh? So you can actually try to use insects?”
While he observed Sheyan’s actions, Saruman’s eyes were glimmering. To tell the truth, there was no lack of magic assistants around him. However, most of them were only people who follow the instructions. Very few of them could provide him with new ideas.
Saruman mused for a moment and suddenly waved at a half-orc who very respectful walked over. Sheyan glanced at the half-orc and was instantly stunned. There was a thick layer of grey scales on the cheeks of this half-orc, and all the skin he exposed was stiff and dead, with spots of back and grey. His skin cracked as if it was a riverbed exposed to a fierce sun for seven days, and flakes scattered as he walked.
“He’s an example of someone who pursued a higher mixing technique but met with an accident. Are you sure you still want to learn?”
Said Saruman as he looked at Sheyan.
Sheyan thought, as long as he wasn’t instantly killed on the spot, so what if he was disfigured? As long as he had a breath remaining, when he returned to the nightmare realm, he would be as good as new. What’s there to hesitate about? He immediately agreed.
Saruman said slowly.
“I can teach you the highest rank of mixing skills. If anything unexpected happens, then you can only blame it on luck. One more thing, the negotiation chips you put on the table so far are frankly not enough. Thus, I have a condition.”
Sheyan hesitated.
“Let me hear the condition first.”
Saruman said.
“Not far from Isengard is the huge Fangorn Forest where the powerful Ents and their leader, Treebeard, live! My relationship with them is currently very good, but sooner or later we will fall out with each other. I happen to know that the leader of the Ents, Treebeard will bear Golden Fruits two days later, and the fruits will take seven days to reach maturity. If the Golden Fruits are taken from him, he will fall into a prolonged weakened state. So when the time comes, even if he wanted to interfere in my business, he wouldn’t have the strength.”
Sheyan’s eyes flashed.
“You want me and my companions to do it?”
Saruman said.
“That’s right. I can’t let those under my command perform this task, because I currently still maintain a good relationship with Treebeard on the surface. My half-orc legion is not yet ready, not to mention that they are also incompatible with forests. The only fate awaiting them will be annihilation. But if it was you guys, no matter whether you succeed or fail, you would not be traced back to me.”
Sheyan’s expression was incomparably ugly as he said.
“But my lord, the strength of the Ents led by Treebeard is far beyond Isengard’s!”
Other people might not know this, but Sheyan did – it could be argued that Saruman’s ambition was destroyed by the interference of Treebeard during the War of the Ring. When Saruman tried to use the Orc army to sweep through the entire Rohan kingdom, it was Treebeard who single-handedly stopped Saruman and ironically confined him inside the tower of Orthanc. From this, one could imagine Treebeard’s formidable strength!
Saruman said emotionlessly.
“I’m not asking you to defeat his army. I just wanted you to take away his Golden Fruits. More importantly, you should have a way to get help from a friend with a strong power of nature. Thus, most obstacles and traps of the Ents in Fangorn Forest would pose no problem for you.”
When Sheyan heard Saruman say this, his heart jolted but he still forced a smile.
“I….”
Saruman’s deep eyes seemed to penetrate into Sheyan’s heart.
“The [Armour Fragment of Dwar the Nazgul] that you brought contained at least a third of Dwar’s soul imprint. To suppress the aura of darkness on it required an immense natural power. Even I can’t do it! Do you still want to try to hide things from me?”
Sheyan pondered for a moment, then squinted his eyes as he said.
“Then….Mr. Saruman, for such a dangerous mission, you must first upgrade my mixing skill!”
Saruman thought for a moment before replying.
“Very well!”
An hour later, Sheyan sat in the reception room at the bottom of the tower of Orthanc, beaming with satisfaction. His mixing ability now looked entirely different! With Saruman’s personal guidance, this seemingly incomplete ability had undergone tremendous changes!
[You obtained Saruman’s personal guidance]
[Your rank 6 ability : Uruk-Hai Gene Mix (Damaged) is promoted to the rank 7 ability : Black Artmix Technique (lvl max)]
[You can skillfully combine together all kinds materials from wild beasts and insects to make powerful potions]
[The retention period of the potions you produce is increased to one year]
[After drinking the gene-mix potion you produce, the user will gain +8 points in all attributes. In addition, the ‘Uruk-hai Gene’ may be triggered when the user attacks the enemy, increasing the user’s attack speed and movement speed by 5% for ten seconds. The effect of the gene-mix potion lasts for 6 hours.]
[Throwing a gene-mix on the ground will create a beneficial gene cloud. Your allies who step into the gene cloud will gain +6 points in all attributes for a duration of 6 hours. In the gene cloud, you allies will have their movement speed increased by 15%, and their dodge rate increased by 10%. The gene cloud covers an area of 50 square meters for a duration of five minutes.]
[Throwing a curse-mix on the ground will create a powerful shockwave. Enemies hit by the shockwave will be stunned for three seconds. This effect has Authoritative precedence.]
(T/N note: {Ability effect precedence} : No precedence < slight precedence < Authoritative (Crushing damage belongs to this category) < Domain precedence < Domain authority)
[At the same time, the curse mix will generate a curse cloud covering 100 square meters. Enemies who touch the cloud will have all attributes decreased by 6 points (this effect may lead to the enemy failing to meet the equipping requirement of certain equipments, thus rendering the equipment obsolete). The movement speed of enemies inside the curse cloud will drop by 40%.”]
[When an enemy in the curse cloud receives an attack, there is a chance of triggering ‘Saruman’s Gaze’. Saruman’s phantom will materialise to inflict 50% additional damage on the enemy, and stun the enemy for 1 second.”]
These abilities were indeed quite strong, but they were all merely enhanced versions of Sheyan’s previous abilities. Saruman’s personal guidance wasn’t that simple. The ultimate ability, Grow, which surfaced after the Black Artmix Technique reached max level, was the real cream of the crop!
[Black Artmix Technique lvl max Ultimate Ability: Grow]
[You are no longer satisfied with limiting your art of mixing to just buffing your allies and weakening your enemies. Under Saruman’s guidance, you began to try to create unique lifeforms with your mixing technique!]
[You can extract the essences of living creatures and turn them into potions (ie. the fox gene-mix, bear gene-mix, mantis gene-mix, etc. from before), then combine them with orc genes, plant them in soil, and use black magic to hasten their growth and make them blend with the local environment to form new creatures for you to enslave.]
[The biological blueprint for the creatures produced with ‘Grow’ is based on half-orcs. The specific ability of a creature is determined by the potion you provided (for example, if you would like to grow a mage then bury a fox gene-mix; if you would like to grow a warrior then bury a bear gene-mix; if you would like to grow an assassin then bury a mantis gene-mix….if you bury randomly then the result will also be random).]
[Each time you use the ‘Grow’ ability, you can use up to four bottles of mixes at one time. Normally, when you plant two bottles of mixes, two Grown Creatures that are modeled after ordinary Uruk-hais will hatch. When you plant four bottles of mixes, an elite Grown Creature that is modeled after elite Uruk-hais will hatch.]
[You can have at most one elite Grown Creature or two ordinary Grown Creatures. If you grow any more during this period, they will be obsolete.]
[The lifespan of a Grown Creature is seven days. You cannot bring the creature back to your original world.]
[Each time you use ‘Grow’, it will cost 33% of your maximum MP.]
Sheyan browsed through this series of explanations, and then his eyes stayed on the last reminder.
[The Black Artmix Technique lvl max you currently received is only temporary. If you fail to complete Saruman’s request, then your Black Artmix Technique lvl max will drop to lvl 6, and the Grow ability will be taken away.]
[Reminder (additional reminder due to your major rank): Saruman is still not too sure of you, so he actually held back when he taught you. Your Black Artmix Technique lvl max still has something missing. If you complete Saruman’s mission, this ability of yours should have further room for improvement.]
*******************At this time, Reef and Franklin both walked down from above. Based on their excitement, they should have gained significant hauls too. Sheyan’s inquiry revealed that Franklin’s first enhancement was in his ‘Mirror Image’. The abilities of the copies created remained the same, but the maximum number of copies he could create was increased from 1 to 2!
Secondly, his Evocation-school spell, ‘Magic Ray’ had been enhanced and turned into ‘Cold Ray’. When it hit an enemy, it would first slow the enemy down, then it would refract to nearby enemies for up to three times. The damage would be halved for each refraction.
Reef directly displayed to Sheyan the description for his most commonly used ability, ‘Cardiac Shattering Roar’. It didn’t seem like there were any major changes, but at the end of the description, there was an additional line:
[This ability has precedence.]
It was this line that caused Reef to be on cloud nine.
Reef’s ‘Cardiac Shattering Roar’ was actually pretty insane.
An AoE attack with very decent damage, plus some very nasty negative effects. The most important thing was that the ability cost nothing to use, and the cooldown time wasn’t too long either.
The only weakness of ‘Cardiac Shattering Roar’ was that it has no precedence, so the chance of it being resisted was high! Reef had always agonised over this matter, but there was no chance of him forgetting this ability to learn others.
Now, the ability had been strengthened. Although the precedence obtained was only the most basic one, in some difficult worlds, the odds of the ability being resisted at key moments should still be reduced by at least 50%! How could Reef not be happy?
As they further communicated, Sheyan found out that when he triggered the hidden mission with Saruman, Reef and Franklin had also received notifications because they were in the same party.
Thus, the rewards they could choose from were immediately improved again. Reef saw this reward at first glance and chose it without hesitation. Of course, if the mission failed, this exciting reward would probably be withdrawn too.
The trio was about to leave the tower of Orthanc when they saw a figure pop out and disappear in a flash not far from where they were. Although Sheyan only took a quick glance, he could clearly recognise the figure to be Lurtz in disguise.
Lurtz definitely bore ill-intentions in tailing them.
Lurtz’s appearance reminded Sheyan of Saruman’s previous action of turning hostile without any warning. He thought about it for a bit, and decided to go back to Saruman again.
Saruman was currently immersed in his study of the Elven Illusion Magic Crystal. He initially didn’t want to see Sheyan, but Sheyan repeatedly insisted, so he could only reluctantly return to the reception room with a dark expression.
“Seaman! Have you brought back Treebeard’s Golden Fruits already?”
“Not yet, my lord,” said Sheyan in a calm demeanor.
“How dare you waste my precious time!” Saruman was starting to lose his temper. Both sides knew where the other stood by now, so they showed no pretense and revealed their true nature.
Sheyan shrugged and said regrettably.
“I have just received the latest information from the other believers of the High God. It includes the details of that particular battle. Considering the generosity and kindness you have shown us, I originally wanted to tell you this information for free, but it appears that there was an error in my judgement. My lord does not seem interested in this information at all. Then let me apologise while I tremble in fear.
“Wait ,” Saruman asked suspiciously. “That particular battle? Are you talking about….”
“The battle where Elrond, the Lord of Rivendell, fell…. Please forgive my impudence, and allow me to retire,” Sheyan pressed his hand to his chest and looked deeply embarrassed.
Saruman looked deep into Sheyan’s eyes, then sat down on his chair and said in a chilling tone.
“Do not play these tricks with me. Speak! Don’t leave out a word!”
Senyan thus spoke, starting from the festival at Rivendell to the series of events afterwards. He clearly described the scheming and intrigues during the ceremony, and finally ended his story with how the Golden Tree summoned by Elrond meet with an avalanche.
Saruman immediately knew that what Sheyan told him was definitely not fabricated, because if it was, it would be impossible for each detail to correspond to one another so perfectly. He had also obtained some information before, and it reasonably matched with Sheyan’s story. He pondered for a while before saying.
“And?”
Sheyan smiled.
“That’s all the information I have so far, but give me some time and I might just be able to get more comprehensive information from other believers of the High God. I did hear that they’ve been tracing the whereabouts of Vilya, The Ring of Air…..”
Upon hearing the words “Vilya, The Ring of Air”, Saruman was no longer able to keep himself calm. He took a deep breath, then stared at Sheyan with his eagle-like eyes and said the following words.
“What do you want?”
Sheyan smiled.
“I don’t want anything, my lord. I don’t really have relevant information now; otherwise I’m sure I would name a good price. The reason I wish to talk to you this time was to let you understand that if you keep us believers of the High God alive, we can do things for you that you might find inconvenient to do yourself. We can also find out a lot of private information that is not publicly known, and can also bring you a lot of rare special products….”
“But if we die, especially if we die an unnatural death in Isengard, then the only benefit to you is to save on the cost of food for Mr.Lurtz for two, three days at most. My lord, you are a smart person. I’m sure you understand this.”
Saruman stood up, his voice emotionless as he said.
“I understand. If you obtain any information about Vilya, the Ring of Air anytime, anywhere, you can come straight to me. I will definitely pay you a good price. Go!”
Not even a minute after Sheyan left, Saruman’s roar reverberated throughout the tower of Orthanc.
“I want to see that retard, Lurtz in front of me in one minute. How dare he place his personal vendetta above my interests?!”
********************After solving the threat that may come from Saruman and Lurtz, the trio rejoined Melody.
To tell the truth, Sheyan felt a bit uneasy with this mission of stealing the Golden Fruits of Treebeard, because they required the help of Melody. He believed that the naive Melody would not refuse him, but the relationship between the Elves and the Ents had always been very good, just like when Sindalor, the old Sacred Oak, provided help for Melody before this. To be honest, Sheyan was a bit worried that this would hurt Melody.
However, after he explained the matter, Melody did not seem to care about this. In her eyes, old Sindalor was old Sindalor while Treebeard was Treebeard. The two had no relations to each other at all.
In the end, Melody glared at Sheyan with those large, clear eyes of hers and asked a rhetorical question that left Sheyan speechless.
“You are a believer of the High God, and Mr. Reef is also a believer of the High God. Does that mean that I will fall in love with Mr. Reef because I fell in love with you?”
(Reef was also left speechless: Hey, why do you use me as an example? What’s wrong with falling in love with me….)
Melody used the powerful ability of Sire Vilya to quietly contact Dawn City. Naturally, she asked old Sindalor about Treebeard. What was strange was that, when old Sindalor heard the word Treebeard, he remained silent no matter what Melody asked.
But after a while, she suddenly beckoned Sheyan over and told him that Mr. Ferrell, the nephew of old Sindalor, had something to ask him.
Sheyan only needed to have Melody in his embrace and to press his finger on to the disguised Ring of Air to communicate with Ferrell. The battle Ent asked oddly.
“Why did you suddenly ask about Treebeard? That’s a taboo topic for Uncle Sindalor.”
Sheyan curiously asked.
“Why’s that?”
Ferrell looked to be in a little dilemma.
“If uncle knew that I revealed his secret, my fate will be dire…. ok, ok, don’t be angry Lady Melody. I’ll tell you honestly. Uh, I must start from the very beginning.”
Mr. Ferrell kept his voice down and told them.
“Treebeard is one of the three surviving primary Ents, the other two being Foliage and Treebark. Treebeard is the leader of the Ents and also the Lord of Fangorn Forest. In his long life, he visited the forests of many places, including the Beleriand Forest which later descended into the sea. Sometime during his long years of traveling, he met a very elegant and beautiful lady. Her name was Fimbrethil….”
Melody chimed in at this moment.
“Sire Vilya is not yet able to support such exchanges for a prolonged period of time. Please be concise. This may be quite rude, but what does it have to do with Grandpa Sindalor?”
Mr. Ferrell sighed and presented the whole truth with one concise statement.
“Aunt Fimbrethil was uncle’s first love.”
“……”
“……”
They were all left speechless. Who could have imagined something so strange to have happened between the two Ents. A love affair!
Mr. Ferrell then added
“Afterwards, Aunt Fimbrethil and Treebeard got into a fight. She ran alone to the end of the Anduin River to plant her saplings. However, Sauron’s evil flames encroached upon the area. Aunt Fimbrethil disappeared from then on.”
“So that’s how it is,” murmured Sheyan. “Can give us any advice, Mr. Ferrell? We received intelligence that Treebeard will bear Golden Fruits soon. Our objective is to obtain the fruit.”
Ferrell was stumped for a short while. Then, he asked in a shocked tone.
“Treebeard is bearing Golden Fruits?? That’s impossible!”
According to Ferrell, bearing Golden Fruits was a sign of change for the Ents. It was a sort of hurdle that they must overcome. During the process of enhancing their purest form of power, they will condense it into Golden Fruits. Under normal circumstances, the produced Golden Fruits will be reabsorbed back by the Ents.
There is also another situation where some very powerful Ents suffered fatal injuries. They will use their final essence to bear Golden Fruits, which would function as a continuation of their lives. It must be noted that the seed of the golden tree used by Elrond belonged to this category, and its quality was far from being comparable to the Golden Fruits in the first category.
When Ferrell heard that Sheyan was going after the Golden Fruits, he was incomparably excited and very firmly requested to join them! Even a blind man could see that he coveted the Golden Fruits…. However, it must be noted that Ferrell was a very rare existence among the Ents. He had previously demonstrated his ability of leaving his real body in spiritual form and directly occupying an ordinary tree to turn it into an Ent.
The benefits of his ability were obvious. Even if the occupied tree was destroyed, he would only suffer heavy injury in spirit. However, the drawbacks were also very direct – Ferrell’s battle strength would normally be weaker than other Ents his age.
Since Ferrell volunteered himself, Sheyan his companions certainly wouldn’t say no to this strong reinforcement. As long as Ferrell was willing to sacrifice a little spiritual power, then he would be able to traverse through forests in spiritual form at an incredible speed (similar to the Wood Release in Naruto). Therefore, Sheyan only needed to wait for less than 20 hours for him to arrive.
While waiting for Ferrell, the party still had something else to take care of. The hidden main storyline mission required them to choose between “Saruman’s Ambition/Isengard’s Hidden Dangers”.
After some investigation, they found that Saruman’s Ambition should be linked to the plotline of the Rohan kingdom. If they chose this route, they would have to go to Edoras, the capital of the Rohan, and join forces with another one of Saruman’s subordinate, Gríma Wormtongue. They would assassinate his political enemies and remove the obstacles for Saruman to rule over Rohan.
The explanation of Isengard’s Hidden Dangers listed out several major forces around Isengard that may be threatening the city. Sheyan’s party would have to weaken them. These forces include the water monsters of the Isen River, the Kasamo bandits of Dunland, and the Ents of Fangorn Forest.
Since this was the case, Sheyan’s party decisively chose the hidden main storyline mission: Isengard’s Hidden Dangers. They immediately received notifications from their respective nightmare imprint.
[You have chosen the hidden main storyline mission: Isengard’s Hidden Dangers]
[Difficulty: Unable to provide an evaluation]
[Time limit for completion: 20 days]
[Mission summary: Since you have chosen the hidden faction of Saruman, then you should provide some service for this faction.]
[Mission objective: Within twenty days, weaken the forces that could pose a threat to Isengard and obtain one of the following items: black dorsal fin of water monster / Dunlending golden tooth / shattered Ent heart]
[Mission reminder: The drop rates of the mission items are not that high. You must hurry.]
[If you fail the main storyline mission, you will be immediately sent back to the nightmare realm and 100,000 utility points will be deducted.]
***********[You have acquired the hidden branch mission: Saruman’s Request]
[Difficulty: Unable to provide an evaluation]
[Time limit for completion: 9 days]
[Mission summary: Retrieve Treebeard’s Golden Fruits before they fully mature, thus weakening Treebeard.]
[Mission objective: Retrieve the Golden Fruits]
[Mission reminder: Although the Ents love peace and are mild in nature, once they find out your objective, they will most likely turn more ferocious than Ringwraiths.]
[If you fail the branch mission, parts of the relevant abilities that you gained will be taken away.]
*********Fourteen hours later, Sheyan met with Mr. Ferrell on the scenic Isen River Dam. Melody had long identified a large black maple tree for him to possess. The trunk of the maple tree was upright and strong as if it was carved out of steel, looking full of vitality. Even its branches and leaves displayed a proud persistence.
Mr. Ferrell infiltrated the tree at once. It took him a while to expel the original will of the tree. He shook his new body to let his magic power grow a pair of feet from the roots, and became a large battle Ent.
This time, Mr. Ferrell’s battle Ent had a black vine around his neck that looked like a black scarf. Against the enemy, it was a very deadly weapon. Mr. Ferrell could skillfully use this vine to entangle his opponent and then stab in with his sharp, poisonous branches.
With Mr. Ferrell in the lead, they dexterously travelled through the forest that no human had ever walked on before. The Ents were known as the lords of the forest, and it wasn’t merely a saying. They met with no obstacles along the way; no ferocious beasts, no crazy insects, no poisonous vines…. all of them did not appear in the group’s path. After travelling for about five or six hours, the strange group climbed up a ridge. Mr. Ferrell caught a gust wind with his arm and took a deep sniff.
“Let us rest here. There may be a heavy rain soon. Fangorn Forest in right in front of us; it’s not a good idea to enter Fangorn Forest in the dark with wind and rain – especially for us who bear not-so-pure intentions.”
Senyan’s group purchased all sorts of things in Isengard, including some camping tents which were quickly raised. It’s worth mentioning that they also obtained five powerful magic arrows from Gansdore.
These five magic arrows mixed with some pyrite iron. The curved carvings on the arrows may seem useless, but if spiritual power was imbued into them, a flow of magic power as hot as magma could be felt. Those who observed the arrows would find their bodies filled with an indescribable heat. When an arrow hit the target, a very violent explosion will occur, and the enemy would be ignited into a blazing fireball.
Obviously, these five magic arrows would be a considerable threat to the Ents who fear fire.
After they settled the issues of camping, the sky had turned dark. Sheyan looked over at the green waves of forest in the distance and could not help muttering to himself.
“So this is the Fangorn Forest of the Ents? It doesn’t look like anything special.”
Mr. Ferrell walked to his side with heavy steps, and spoke in a low muffled voice.
“You couldn’t be more wrong! Take a look at the forest over there, then look at Fangorn Forest. Look carefully!”
Sheyan looked carefully for quite some time according to Mr. Ferrell’s instructions. He suddenly exclaimed.
“There does seem to be some difference. Why does the forest on the other side seem a little abnormal? It looks sparse and the trees look smaller.”
Mr. Ferrell said.
“It’s not that the forest on the other side seem sparse and shorter. In fact, that forest is the normal one. It’s the trees in Fangorn Forest that are abnormal. Because they are cared for by the Ents, each tree can thrive and grow stronger. When an ordinary person step foot into Fangorn Forest, every tree will monitor their actions. Each tree will laugh at them, hinder them, and report this person’s situation to the Ents!”
“This has become really tricky,” mumbled Sheyan to himself. “But that must mean the Ents attach great importance to these trees, right?”
“Of course,” said Mr. Ferrell. “They treat the trees as their own children.”
Sheyan’s mouth suddenly showed a touch of evil smile.
“This is the second piece of good news I have heard. If that’s the case, then this matter has become much easier to handle.”
Reef also breathed a sigh of relief.
“Creatures like Ents stay rooted to the earth and grow in the rain. They have no greed, thus they have no weaknesses. But if there is something that they care about, then we will be able to find a weakness.”
Mr. Ferrell suddenly said.
“Most of the Ents in Fangorn Forest are peaceful, but if you make them angry, some of the Ents and wild Ents can be very vicious. You must be mentally prepared.”
Sheyan raised his eyebrows.
“Wild Ents?”
Melody walked over at that moment and told them.
“Currently, among the Ents, almost all of them follow the ideology of Treebeard. The entire tribal community is also very strong. However, there are always some Ents who have differing ideas so they stay outside the tribe. For the Ents, Fangorn Forest is a place that has a very suitable living condition, so even though these Ents have different ideologies, they still stayed here. They do not obey the orders of Treebeard and act on their own, so they are called wild Ents.”
Franklin took a glance at Mr. Ferrell and was about to say something, but he stopped himself.
When Mr. Ferrell saw that, he revealed a bitter smile and told them in that low muffled tone of his.
“Yes, my uncle and I are both wild Ents. My uncle’s goal is simple – to surpass Treebeard.”
“Is becoming the Sacred Mother Tree of a tribe more suitable for growth, or is staying in Fangorn Forest?” Sheyan suddenly asked a very sharp question.
“This is where the opinions of many Ents differ with Treebeard. In truth, the fastest growth for Ents is of course achieved by become a Sacred Mother Tree, who occupies all the aura of a place alone and is always worshipped and cared for by people. We can find examples of this in history – this was how the World Tree, Teldrassil, was born. But Treebeard’s ideology is that Ents should have a way of life that transcends other races.”
Said Mr. Ferrell coldly.
After Sheyan listened to Mr. Ferrell, he pondered and said.
“Since there exists some disagreement within the Ent community, we will spend a few days to collect information about the current situation inside Fangorn Forest. I already have a basic plan in mind. Anyway, Fangorn Forest must get chaotic. Only then can we fish in troubled water.”
Early the next morning , the group set off again. Under the lead of Mr. Ferrell, they first went to the west side of Fangorn Forest because Mr. Ferrell learned from the information transmitted by the wind and the trees that this is the area where other living creatures, including wild Ents, were relatively active in. Being suspicious people themselves, the chance of them being found out in this area is low.
Fangorn Forest looked completely different from up close than it did from far. When they entered the forest, the chirping of wild pigeons was always in their ears. Everything in the forest was orderly; even the vines grew in an orderly fashion as if they were women’s arms tenderly wrapping around the trees.
Every huge tree seemed to be a courteous gentleman, maintaining a perfect distance from the other trees; this distance allowed the trees to reasonably draw nutrients from the ground and share the sunshine without malicious competition.
When the wind blows, the leaves of the big trees would sway, and it seemed like the gaps between the leaves would form strange eyes that watch over their every move.
In this forest, Mr. Ferrell walked with a vigorous gait with Sheyan and the rest on his strong wooden shoulders. Their bodies exuded a faint green glow. This was a spell casted by Melody called ‘Natural Breathing’, which allowed them to fully blend into nature and keep them from being discovered.
Mr. Ferrell suddenly stopped and pointed to a curvy rattan on the ground, earnestly saying:
“This is a trap set by a wild Ent. Seems like they’re dealing with an enemy.”
As if to prove his point, Mr. Ferrell stepped on the trap and the a green light flashed. Many sharp spikes with barbs suddenly grew out from the rattan. The rattan wrapped around Mr. Ferrell’s stout tree legs like a snake and left some deep marks. If it was an ordinary human that was trapped in the rattan, then no doubt large lumps of fleshes would have been teared away.
At that moment, the leaves around them buzzed. The wind had brought them information from afar. The faint smell of burnt firewood floated into everyone’s nostrils, followed by the smell of burnt meat.
In a heartbeat, Mr. Ferrell strode forward in the direction of the odor. He took large steps but he was very careful, not even touching the branches and leaves next to him – or rather, the other plants were actively avoiding Mr. Ferrell.
They soon heard a shrill howling noise in the distance. The voice was full of pain but they could not hear what the victim was saying. After they passed through a brook, Mr. Ferrell slowed down his pace. Through the gaps between the trees, they could see a chaotic situation on a clearing in the forest.
There were tents, fire pits, overturned pots, distorted weapons, and lumps of flesh and blood that were flattened into crepes. It wasn’t hard to deduce what happened. A small team entered Fangorn Forest and stayed overnight, then suffered a surprise attack while trying to cook a pot of porridge in the morning. Unfortunately, they were defeated.
The one who defeated them was an Ent.
Mr. Ferrell stared at this Ent, and said in a deep voice.
“I didn’t expect Grubb to be a Blood Ent already.”
Only after Mr. Ferrell pointed it out did Sheyan and the rest noticed that among the leaves on top of the head of the Ent called Grubb, 3 had already been stained with red, indicating that he had killed at least three hundred beings who were not of the Ent race! His hands were truly stained with blood!
Grubb is burly and strong with visible thorns on his wooden arms. At this time, Grubb was facing the other side. A surviving dwarf and a surviving human were tied up with solid vines and were put to grill on a campfire.
The cooked meat that Sheyan’s party smelled before came from this. In fact, Sheyan felt that they smelled no different from the smell of barbecue. The tongue of the flame slowly baked the bodies of the two victims. They look at least half-cooked by now; even their screams were beginning to fade. In contrast, Grubb’s deep roar got louder.
“You foolish, greedy vermin! I’ve already warned you many times to stay away from the sacred forest of Fangorn, but you have never taken my warnings to heart! Now, enjoy the flame. Your souls and your sins shall be purified in the vicious fire!”
Sheyan whispered his enquiry to Mr. Ferrell.
“It seems that this gentleman is your acquaintance?”
Mr. Ferrell bitterly replied.
“It was him who forcefully escorted uncle and I out from the outskirts of Fangorn Forest and warned us not to step foot into Fangorn Forest ever again! He is the youngest grandchild of Treebeard.”
“Then why did he attack these travelers?” wondered Franklin.
It was Sheyan who answered.
“Look at that tent.”
The tent of these travelers were currently scattered on the ground, revealing a few pieces of fresh wood inside. Sheyan took a deep breath and said.
“Saruman truly is ambitious. He wants to build a giant dam on the Isen River next to Isengard! This would kill three birds with one stone. Firstly, the natural stronghold that is the crossing of the Isen River would become even more dangerous. Once the enemy broke through Isengard’s line of defense and cross the river, Saruman could release the water in the dam and sweep the enemies away! It would be an extremely vicious killing move!”
“Secondly, after the construction of the giant dam, the rise in water level near Isengard will make some easily accessible places inaccessible. Saruman’s half-orc army would have a good hiding place! More importantly, the rise in water level in the upper reaches after the construction of the giant dam will effectively prevent Rohan’s army from driving straight into Isengard!”
“Therefore, Saruman must build that dam. However, the construction of a dam requires the use of a large amount of high-quality wood that is strong, lightweight, and resistant to water corrosion. Only the trees in Fangorn Forest that were cared for by the Ents meet the requirements, so although Saruman appears to have a good relationship with Treebeard on the surface, he is secretly purchasing the wood of Fangorn Forest at a high price in Isengard….”
“These poor people should adventurers tempted by Saruman’s high rewards.”
Faced with this tragic scene, Melody was shocked speechless. She was originally stroking the green and pleasant leaves of a tree but she immediately turned stiff at the sight. Only after a long time did she say.
“Just for cutting down a few trees….how can Mr. Grubb be so cruel?”
Sheyan sighed and explained to her.
“For us, trees are just trees. Yes, they are a very important part of life, but perhaps for Grubb and his tribe, the trees are their children and loved ones. They care for nature because of love, but they also become cruel because of love. A total of 300 people lost their lives to his hands, but perhaps in the eyes of some of the more radical Ents, he is a hero.”
Mr. Ferrell remained silent. Sheyan instead said.
“Let’s go. Those two are already beyond saving. Now isn’t the best time to fight with Grubb. Our objective is to scout, and to obtain the Golden Fruits. We’re not here to be saviours.”
No one objected Sheyan’s words. They began to withdraw slowly without drawing the slightest attention to themselves. After Grubb killed the two adventurers, put out the fire, and buried the tents, he walked a few times around the camp. Suddenly, the vines attached to his body shook a few times. The delicate tendrils pointed towards a direction.
It was the place where Sheyan’s group had stopped before!
As Grubb slowly walked over, the tendrils crept up like snakes and finally pointed towards a slightly wilted young leaf that was touched by Melody before. When she saw the Dwarf and the human being roasted alive, she was so shocked that she accidentally broke the young leaf.
Such a small trace that they forgot to hide, was detected by Grubb!
Grubb buried his head and rubbed the leaf with his rough bark face, then slowly murmured emotionlessly.
“Another…group of vermin…trying to…run away.”
He stretched out his finger, and on the rough fingertip covered in moss, a small, white flower slowly bloomed.
Immediately afterwards, a Koschevnikov’s bee that was commonly seen in this forest flew over. The black-and-white-striped bee perched on the flower at the tip of Grubb’s finger, sucked on the honey, then flew up with a buzz and hovered in the air.
Grubb said in a low muffled tone.
“Remember…the scent…of the enemy…then go to Mudbeard. The group…is escaping quickly. Only…the Leaping Ents…can catch up to them! I will rush over…to help…soon.”
The bee swooped into the air and sniffed on the leaf, then flew away!
The forest turned quiet again.
After that, Grubb walked over to the clearing. The gap between his legs began to close, and then his roots quickly implanted themselves into the ground. He lifted his hands up high and closed his eyes. At this moment, looked no different to an ordinary tree. With the nourishment of the earth, the scars on the surface of Grubb’s body began to slowly heal, and the barks that were destroyed during the fight also slowly grew.
Sheyan’s group continued their progression in the forest. The furthered they travelled, the more they were shocked. At the side of Fangorn Forest that was near Isengard, the signs of deforestation began to gradually become more serious, and naturally, the conflicts also grew more fierce.
Under Saruman’s request, the core of the dam had to be built with tough tree hearts with enough spiritual energy in them, so that magic can be used to control the dam’s opening and closing. Therefore, a lot of trees were actually chopped down in vain. They were abandoned once the adventurers found that the core of the trees lacked enough spiritual energy.
This behavior undoubtedly further angered the Ents.
Some traces of small-scale battles could be easily wiped out, but it’s hard to erase the traces of some large-scale battles. For example, fights involving more than 50 people including mages and heavily-armoured guards.
Sheyan stood in front of a completely deformed set of armour. No doubt, the armour wasn’t empty. But the armor had been distorted to such a state that it looked like a lump of dough, and dark purple blood dripped out of it. One can imagine the fate of person inside.
Meanwhile, Franklin stood next to a large hole. Not one blade of grass grew around the hole. The upturned soil was scattered messily around the area. The surface looked burnt, and even the plants close to the hole appeared as if they were afraid of something.
“This is the residual left behind by magical obsession. A strong mage self-destructed here.”
Melody picked up a piece of wood and carefully inspected it. It looked like a piece of wooden board at first, but if one observed carefully, the “wooden board” was actually a piece torn from an Ent’s chest. It was similar to a human’s ribs which protected the heart.
Despite the strong vitality of the Ents, such damage was surely fatal. Obviously, under the tenacious resistance of this particular group, the Ents also suffered some casualties.
But the most unbelievable sight only appeared two minutes later. Reef passed under a big tree that had been broken in half. He accidentally kicked something, so he looked down to see what it was. Then, his expression abruptly changed. He dug up the soil beneath his feet to reveal some “fertilizers” buried by the Ents.
It was the corpse of a woman, her body stacked with two young children who looked no more than five or six years old! The heads of the two children were strangely deformed. One head was trampled flat, while the other was rotated 360 degrees! The large heads contrasted with their tiny bodies to present a sad sight!
An incomprehensible anger flared up in everyone’s hearts. Sheyan’s mouth twitched a few times uncontrollably.
Wars were cruel, but to use the bodies of women and children as fertilizers was too much for them to accept. Although this behaviour was considered justifiable on the Ents’ side, but…it still left a bad taste in their mouths. Melody’s eyes were full of tears.
However, at this moment, Mr. Ferrell suddenly fell to the ground on one knee. His palm pressed onto the wet soil while the vines around his neck pierced into the ground. He cocked his head in confusion.
“That’s odd. Although I couldn’t sense anything wrong, why do I suddenly feel uneasy?”
Franklin, after hearing Mr. Ferrell’s words, thought for a moment, and immediately cast a Rank 3 Arcane spell – the ‘Eye of Stig’.
The Rank 3 Arcane spell essentially summoned a Magic Eye. The magic eyeball could not fight, but it would reveal all hostile creatures.
The front of the ‘Eye of Stig’ looked like a strange eyeball with a white pupil and black sclera, but the back contained a dense group of tentacle-like flagellums. The flagellums are scarlet in colour and could absorb the energy from alternate dimensions for their own use.
After blinking a couple of times, it suddenly looked west and projected out an image.
A lump of blurry glowing light could be seen moving at a high speed through the forest. After a certain distance, it stopped. The light was actually wrapped around a rather small, relatively speaking, Ent . His whole body was covered with black mottled traces as if he was previously burnt. His motion had a certain softness to it; even his arms were woven from some dry, soft branches.
More importantly, there were five red leaves on his head! One leaf corresponds to a hundred people, so the number of foreign races that died by his hands had exceeded 500!
“He’s someone from the Leaping Ent race!” said Mr. Ferrell. “They are the fastest among the Ents because they are born with incredible dimensional ability!”
After listening to Mr. Ferrell’s explanation, Sheyan immediately understood how this guy could kill so many people. Obviously, the ability of the Leaping Ents would be amazing in hunting people down! As the ‘Eye of Stig’ disappeared into thin air with a shrill laugh, Sheyan immediately asked Franklin.
“How long before that guy arrives?”
Franklin replied.
“The ‘Eye of Stig’ has a maximum scanning radius of two kilometers. Based on the Ent’s movement speed, it should only take him dozens of seconds.”
Sheyan nodded.
“Looks like we’re his target so we can’t avoid him. If we’re going to fight, then let’s make it a quick battle. After all, this is Fangorn Forest, the territory of the Ents. Dragging the fight on is unfavorable for us.”
As soon as Sheyan finished speaking, a crashing sound resounded from the forest close to them. The Leaping Ent called Mudbeard emerged from the trees. His eyes instantly fell on Ferrell, making him grind his teeth!
“Look what I found? A pathetic Ent willing to join with the tree slaughterers! But wait! Why do you smell so weird? Why does your trunk show signs of withering?”
Ferrell turned and took a few steps to stand proudly in front of Mudbeard. He calmly said.
“Because this isn’t my real body, you frog in a well.”
Mudbeard was stunned.
“Nonsense! That’s…. that’s impossible!”
Ferrell laughed so hard that his branches shook.
“Nothing is impossible for the noble Sacred Oak family! The path I’ve embarked on is the sacred path that the great World Tree Teldrassil once walked upon! Races aren’t important for friends, only strength is eternal!”
Mudbeard immediately understood. He gnashed his teeth and said.
“I understand now. You cursed wild Ent, you damn foreigner! You and the tree slaughterers all deserve death!”
As Mudbeard spoke, he acted as if he was going to pounce at Ferrell, but it was just a feint. When he leaned forward, his left arm suddenly split into three thick vines that stretched rapidly. The vines hurtled towards the bow-carrying Melody and staff-wielding Franklin!
The Ent was an extremely experienced fighter. He immediately identified the two as the weakest in the group. His purpose in doing this was to try to test their strength and, if he could, eliminate the archer and mage to make the ensuing fight easier. He was confident that he could turn these people into fertilizers!
Facing Mudbeard’s attacks, Franklin immediately chanted a spell while Melody readied her bow with a cold look. They didn’t seem to view Mudbeard’s attack as too much of a danger. As the thick vines slithered over like agile snakes, Sheyan and Reef stepped in from the side to shield the other two.
Senyan slammed his blade on a vine but found that most of impact was absorbed. His strike only left a trail of white mark on the vine.
Meanwhile, Reef was bound by the vine together with his shield. The vine tried to throw Reef aside with a twist, but Reef roared angrily and anchored his claw to the ground. He became as immovable as an ancient rock; even Mudbeard couldn’t remove him!
Melody’s longbow displayed a sudden flash of light!
Mudbeard didn’t even have the time to turn his head before a long arrow was nailed to his right chest. The long arrow looked dark and heavy, but if one were to look closely, one would find the surface of the arrow shaft covered in strange runes. It shined with a touch of breathtaking red-hot glow!
The next moment, the long arrow exploded!
In the sunny forests, a sudden large flame burst forth accompanied by the scattering of burning wooden chunks!
There was a basin-sized deep hole where Mudbeard had been shot. The hole penetrated almost all the way to the back of the Ent. Blazing flames ravaged near the pit and rapidly spread onto the whole body. Mudbeard issued a sorrowful cry.
At the same time, Franklin shot a perfectly accurate ‘Cold Ray’. The calculative mage was certainly not kind enough to try to put out the fire on the Ent, but aimed the most vulnerable part of Mudbeard’s foot instead. Mudbeard’s foot immediately froze into ice. The ‘Cold Ray’ refracted to the trees at the side and disappeared.
Mudbeard’s vines released Sheyan and Reef. He realised that the team in front of him was definitely not something he could handle alone. As he was about to activate the unique ability of the Leaping Ents, Mr. Ferrell, who had not lifted his hands so far, pounced.
In the raging fire, Mudbeard the Leaping Ent only had half of his body remaining, so his response was naturally somewhat slower. Mr. Ferrell pounced precisely during the moment when Mudbeard was just about to make a quantum leap. Mr. Ferrell’s strong and tough branches clung onto Mudbeard’s body and forcefully interrupted his ability.
Two huge bodies collided with each other. Their momentum carried them to the ground amidst scattering pieces of broken wood. The flaming bodies then crashed into a tree beside them, breaking it in half.
Mudbeard the Leaping Ent roared and resisted with no care for the burning flames on his body while Mr. Ferrell focused on defending and keeping Mudbeard tied down. Sheyan and Reef rushed forward and unleashed a mad flurry of strikes on Mudbeard’s leg. After the leg was frozen by Franklin, it became hard and brittle, and had lost its strong elasticity.
At the same time, Franklin waved his staff and aimed his ‘Cold Ray’ towards the joints of Mudbeard that were not in flames. When they were launching their attacks, the ferocious howls of the Uruk-hais could be heard from time to time. The sound signified the frequent triggering of the effect of Sheyan’s gene-mix.
Amidst their endless attacks, the resistance of Mudbeard gradually grew weaker, and he finally became completely rigid. The flame on his body was like a roaring beast, pouncing on him with full power and spitting out long flaming tongues to greedily devour its wooden food.
The power of the flame arrow was beyond everyone’s imagination. Obviously, the five flame arrows they brought were definitely no ordinary items. The fire that the arrow created was frighteningly persistent and fierce. They might actually have been personally made by Saruman himself.
When the dead Ent burned, the yellow-brown smoke that escaped grew thicker. Both Sheyan and Reef coughed while they retreated. The body of Mudbeard issued some exploding sounds amidst the flames. A large number of light spots flew out from the smoke and gathered together as if they were planning to move into the forest.
At that moment, the necklace on Sheyan’s neck heated up and he immediately received notifications from the nightmare imprint.
[A soul power that can be devoured is detected. Would you like to proceed with the plundering?]
To unlock the last attribute of Sheyan’s dark gold necklace, he must plunder three powerful souls as offerings under the effect of the necklace’s active ability. Sheyan had been wondering how he could plunder souls. He had no clue at all before this. It turned out that the necklace would choose the right time itself. Of course Sheyan wouldn’t pass up the chance.
Once the ability was activated, he immediately saw a dark golden ray shooting out from the necklace to cover the spots of light that scattered out from Mudbeard’s body. However, those light spots quickly gathered to form a strange symbol and struggled with all their might while trying their best to fly deep into the forest.
Sheyan yelled and suddenly threw a bottle curse-mix on the ground. The shockwave produced by his curse-mix nowadays was not the same as before; it even looked a bit like nuclear explosion. First, a mushroom cloud of smoke would burst forth. When the smoke appeared, it would exert a strong attraction force on the surrounding creatures. Then, the terrifying shockwave would rapidly spread in all directions!
The shockwave could actually cause damage when it hit the symbols formed by the light spots. Even Saruman’s phantom appeared (from triggering ‘Saruman’s Gaze’). It lifted its staff to summon a ray of lightning to strike at Mudbeard’s soul spots!
“A stunning effect with authoritative precedence is indeed not the same!” Sheyan couldn’t help but think proudly.
After it was attacked, the mysterious symbol finally dispersed back into spots of soul lights. They were completely absorbed by Sheyan’s dark gold necklace.
However, Mudbeard did not drop a key when he died. The flames burning Mudbeard’s body kept raging higher. Mr. Ferrell sensed that several Ents were quickly approaching, so after they made an effort to hide their traces and smell, the group disappeared into the forest again.
Less than five minutes after they left, the tall and burly Grubb strode into the location of the fight. He immediately saw the remains of Mudbeard burning in flame, which stunned him.
The fire assaulted him. Green smoke began to appear on the Grubb’s bark. Although intense heat kept being transmitted over through the air and the earth, Grubb did not have the slightest intention of avoiding it. Ping pong-sized tears rushed out from his brown eyes and his low muffled voice reverberated in his chest, making him look especially sad!
“This is my fault, Mudbeard! I shouldn’t have asked you to trail that group of people. I shouldn’t have stopped to heal myself!”
The Ent’s cry was solid, but it contained strong sadness, questioning, and guilt!
At that moment, a long-branched Ent jumped out from the trees and yanked Grubb away from the fire. He stepped on the sporadic fire on Grubb’s body to put it out.
“Grubb, this isn’t your fault. It’s all the fault of the tree slaughterers! We have always live peacefully in Fangorn Forest. Why do they have to come kill our friends take away our children?”
A thorny Ent who had just arrived also chimed in seriously.
“That’s right. Mudbeard wasn’t the first to fall in our battle against these damn tree slaughterers, nor will he be the last. The only thing we can do is to use more brutal means to treat those despicable tree slaughterers! Grubb, you should hurry to where the old ancestor is to soothe Mudbeard’s soul, then find a good sapling for him to hibernate in. After a few hundred years, we can see him again.”
Grubb’s tears rushed down his face with unprecedented grief.
“I can’t sense Mudbeard’s soul!!!! And I know that his soul has disappeared from within Fangorn Forest! The enemies he faced were so powerful that they could even plunder his soul. It was my fault! I was the one who asked him to fight with these enemies!”
More and more Ents appeared to join in the discussion.
Currently, the war with the tree killers in the forest of Fangorn had lasted for nearly four to five years, but the deaths of Ents were rare. In most cases, the Ents that were killed were battle Ents on the frontline.
The Leaping Ents, who ranked first in speed among the Ents, had never suffered any casualty. Not to mention that, this time, even the Ent’s soul was drawn and completely disappeared. The situation was very weird.
But very soon, a stout, Thorny Ent whipped the ground with his branches and shouted.
“Look what I found! Footprints! The unique footprints of us Ents! This Ent was standing on the opposite side of Mudbeard. Look here, he started to build up force in this position, and then he rushed over to launch a surprise attack, fiercely throwing Mudbeard to the ground. They wrestled in this spot, while those damn tree slaughterers joined in the attack. Our worst fear has finally come true. The wild Ents and tree slaughterers have joined forces!”
The discovery of this Thorny Ent immediately attracted the other Ents’ attention, and they agreed with his conclusion – because it was the truth! However, confirming this matter was one thing, deciding what they should do was another. The simple-minded Ents put forth a lot of proposals, but none of them were accepted. This matter may seem simple, but it was actually fairly complicated. If it was not handled properly, it might even shake the foundation of the entire Fangorn Forest.
There were quite a number of wild Ents in Fangorn Forest. With only one set of footprints, it was naturally difficult to find the murderer.
The relationship between the wild Ents and the Ents of the Treebeard tribe were originally tense to begin with. That wouldn’t pose a problem normally, but now, if the wild Ents were pressured too hard, most of them might join forces with the tree slaughterers. That would not be worth it at all!
“Can’t we track them?” an Ent suddenly raised the question. “Grubb, didn’t you manage to track the group before?”
Grubb shook his head slowly.
“That was because the other party was not prepared. This time, they used a very advanced nature spell to blend into the forest, and there is a very powerful Ent accompanying them. There’s nothing I can do.”
The events that followed totally caught the Ents by surprise.
In the afternoon, another Thorny Ent was killed. The Thorny Ent was murdered while he was attacking another logging camp. In the camp, there were Hobbits, Dwarves, humans, and the Spimi people from the north.
Most of the members of the camp were here under the temptation of money, but the Spimi was here purely for revenge!
His younger brother had managed to bring back two trees from here before. His luck bagged him a lot of money. He then spent all his money on treating his elder brother’s illness. After the money was used up, the younger brother could only take the risk of coming back here.
The younger brother was unfortunately not favoured by lady luck the second time. He was turned into fertilizer by the Ents half a year ago. After the elder brother heard about this, he stopped his treatment and came here. His crazy and suicidal attacks heavily wounded the Ent. Then…someone took advantage of the situation to finish the Ent.
Currently, the proportion of adventurers who flocked to the forest of Fangorn for the purpose of revenge had gradually reached almost 20%. This percentage would only increase with time. It was probably another reason why Saruman paid lucrative prices for the wood of the trees of Fangorn Forest – to let the greedy adventurers gradually weaken the strength of the Treebeard tribe.
There was no doubt that after killing the Thorny Ent, the people in the camp had immediately withdrawn. The angry Ents gave chase, but during the course of the chase, another Leaping Ent suffered an ambush. Although he was not dead, he was gravely wounded. It would take decades for him to heal.
He at least provided very clear information on his assaulters. Among those who attacked him, there was indeed a wild Ent. The wild Ent should be from the type of trees with large trunks, and his characteristics were described in details. The injured Ent also informed them that there was an archer and a mage among the group of assaulters.
The following morning, the Ents of Fangorn Forest devoutly prayed to nature, hoping that the forest would protect them and for yesterday’s nightmare to pass. They would rather temporarily give up on the tree slaughterers and instead lay out an elaborate trap to lure the wicked team who kept ambushing them from the shadows out.
However, as if that team was aware of the Ents’ intention, they completely disappeared from their radar.
The Ents’ patience was slowly worn down because they know that with every passing minute, there were trees being chopped down by the greedy tree slaughterers.
The Ents persisted until noon, only to find some dark smoke suddenly rising from the distance. The smoke contained a faint, indescribable smell. For humans and the humanoid races, it smelled no different from burning wood, but the Ents could clearly tell that it was the smell of the corpse of their kind being burned!
They rushed over and witnessed a tragic scene. Two Ents had been killed. One of them was even burnt. No traces were left of the murderers. What made these Ents heave a sigh of relief was that the two who died were not their companions, but two wild Ents instead.
The Thorny Ent called Thickthorn, who was the first to arrive at the scene, began to examine the bodies of the dead wild Ents. For some reason, it was very hard to identify the cause of death of the wild Ents. Thickthorn had laid in ambush for the whole morning, so he was understandably feeling impatient. To make his investigation more convenient, he rudely and violently pried open the chests of the dead Ents to check for arrows.
Because the Ents of the Treebeard tribe had always maintained a contemptuous attitude toward the wild Ents, – more importantly, because there was also a wild Ent in the mysterious group who ambushed them – when Thickthorn examined the bodies, he was very disrespectful and very rude.
Grubb, the direct descendant of Treebeard, was also on scene. Thickthorn’s action didn’t sit right with him. He was about to say something, but recalled that Thickthorn’s friend was gravely hurt yesterday due to a wild Ent. He could understand Thickthorn’s feelings so, in the end, he decided to keep quiet.
Grubb took the feelings of his own tribesmate into consideration, but forgot one very important thing: he did not consider the feeling of the wild Ents! Not all wild Ents kept to themselves. All of them felt a connection with each other to begin with because they shared the same fate of being expelled by the Treebeard tribe due to differences in ideology.
Therefore, when the wild Ents who also detected the smell arrived at the scene, what they saw was the Treebeard Ents who had always acted all “high and mighty” surrounding their own kind, while the dead Ents had their chests torn open into pieces!
One could imagine how the wild Ents felt! Their emotions surged as anger ignited within them. They began sending signals to inform their friends and loved ones.
Seeing this, Grubb stepped up and tried his best to explain the behaviour and motive of his tribesmate. He almost succeeded in quelling the anger of the wild Ents when a little shrub Ent suddenly stepped out and roared angrily.
“Murderers!!”
As he yelled, he rushed towards Thickthorn who had the worst temper!
Thickthorn, being the one who inspected the corpses, received the most hatred. He was already feeling frustrated to begin with, and now he even had his face repeatedly slammed by the vines of the little shrub Ent. He immediately broke out in fury and gave the little Ent a good spanking!
After he was done with the spanking, he saw the shrub Ent lying awkwardly on the ground. The shrub Ent was dead!!!!
A fuse had been lit. The spectating wild Ents could bear it no longer. They rushed in raging, madly howling. A great conflict that had been brewing for a long time had finally erupted. Internal conflict between the Ents was no longer avoidable!
With conflict came casualties and hatred.
Blood and anger began to flow in the deep cracks between the wild Ents and the Ents of the Treebeard tribe!
Usually, Treebeard could step out and rely on his high prestige to quell the bloody disputes. But right now, Treebeard was undergoing the critical stage of guarding his Golden Fruits. Therefore, the turmoil further deteriorated, and the conflict spread rapidly throughout the whole Fangorn Forest.
The forest, which was not peaceful to begin with, became a place where three different forces attacked each other. It was a complete mess!
Needless to say, this was a show directed by Sheyan.
The little shrub Ent who played the role of a fuse in the conflict was naturally Mr. Ferrell’s masterpiece. If he did not care about fighting ability, he could choose a different tree every day to latch on to, thus turning it into an Ent.
The real cause of death for the Ent that was killed was Mr. Ferrell’s spirit leaving the body. It had nothing to do with the violent yet unfortunate Thickthorn.
On the morning of the fourth day, Sheyan stood in a camping ground and gazed into the Forest of Fangorn not far away. The sun shined on his face which showed a look of indifference. Reef walked over to his side and said worryingly.
“Boss, the Forest of Fangorn is in a complete mess right now, but…. I still think your plan is too risky.”
Faced with Reef’s questioning, Sheyan shook his head slightly and said.
“As the saying goes- nothing ventured, nothing gained. I’ve devised many plans for our mission, but this is a matter that even someone like Saruman finds difficult. Do you expect it to be easy for us? The more I think about it, the more I feel that those schemes that I devised have very low chances of success. Even if we do succeed by luck, I’m afraid that half of us would be dead! That’s not the result I want.”
“I feel that this is the only reliable plan. If I don’t take this risk, then we might not even be able to meet Treebeard. But if we execute according to my current plan, even if we don’t obtain the Golden Fruits, at least we will know his location!”
“What’s more important is that with my plan, at most, I will be the only casualty. I will only be weakened if we use the Unmodeled Amniotank. We can preserve most of the strength in the team. After Zi joins us, we can still survive in the realm. We won’t lose everything like the Illume Union.”
Reef hastily said.
“But boss, you….”
Sheyan answered with a smile.
“Have some confidence in me. Ask Melody to come here.”
Melody came over and silently blessed him with a variety of divine arts. Sheyan’s body was fully covered in a thick natural aura, looking extremely pure and full of vitality.
Suddenly, Melody embraced Sheyan from behind. She hugged Sheyan so tight that the two lumps of softness on her chest made his heart beat wildly. The Elven girl cried.
“I don’t want you to go. It’s too dangerous!”
Sheyan let her hold him while he told her with a smile.
“Foolish girl. There are things a man must do no matter how dangerous they are…. because the High God is a cruel bastard.”
Melody moved in front of Sheyan and looked at him with teary eyes. Her expression would make any man heartbroken.
“If anything were to happen to you, then… what about me?”
Sheyan smiled.
“Nothing will happen to me. I know that you’re not that happy with the things we’ve done in Fangorn Forest. I’ve made things difficult for you.”
Melody sobbed and replied.
“Don’t say that. As long as you’re happy, I’m happy. Back when I was a nobody, you saved me from the hands of the Uruk-hai and asked for nothing in return. Now, what I’m most looking forward to is not to be the queen of Dawn City, but to go to your world and live with you.”
The two embraced each other for a while under the sun…. After a long time, Sheyan turned his head to look at the large pile of kerosene in the distance. This was something that Reef and Franklin brought from Isengard overnight. Sheyan grabbed the slender waist of Melody and gave her a deep kiss.
“I have to go. There are still a lot of holes in my plan. I still have to do a lot of things to reduce the risk of this operation as much as possible. Wish me luck.”
The turmoil in the forest of Fangorn continued. As the number of casualties piled up, the place became more fiercely enveloped in hatred. The situation would only get worse.
More crucially, Saruman actually raised the purchasing price of the timbers again. This piece of good news undoubtedly drove the adventurers into a frenzy. As the conflict between the wild Ents and the Ents of the Treebeard tribe rapidly spread, more and more adventurers managed to successfully cut down quality woods from Fangorn Forest and obtained a fortune.
The news spread like a plague. People have always been willing to die for money. Adventurers continuously streamed into Isengard through the teleport formation despite the high teleportation fee. It even stimulated Isengard’s business and made it bustling.
On the sixth day, Sheyan’s arrangements were all in place. He had adjusted his condition to its peak. At noon, a total of 11 different fires burst out in Fangorn Forest!!
Kerosene was buried beforehand in all the places where the fires broke out. Once those places caught fire, it was hard to extinguish them. Eleven different fires swelled and spread rapidly. Eleven trails of smoke appeared like huge exclamation marks across the blue sky!
There was no doubt that forests fear fire the most, and it stood to reason that the Treebeard tribe Ents who witnessed this should immediately go all out to save the fire. They must extinguish the flame before it could grow into a disaster.
However, the conflict between the Treebeard tribe and the wild Ents had stretched their manpower thin. The sudden influx of adventurers also caused them a lot of problems. Most of the Ents actually ignored the threat and continued to fight, driven by hatred as they were. Only Grubb, being the grandchild of Treebeard, could see further. He worriedly addressed his tribemates who were immersed in vengeance and angrily roared.
“We can settle our accounts with the wild Ents any time, but if we let the fire spread, the whole Fangorn Forest will end in catastrophe! What the hell are you guys thinking?”
Grubb’s angry howling shook some of his tribemates awake, but it was all Grubb could do. His control over the more radical Ents in his tribe had dropped sharply these days. He could only mobilise one-third the amount of Ents compared to usual.
“Everything will be fine once Lord Treebeard comes out from his seclusion.”
That was the only thought that sustained Grubb’s will to persist.
After all, there was less than 30 hours left before the Golden Fruits fully matured. After being purified by the forces of the nature, the strong pure power would be absorbed back by Treebeard. He would be able to break through and become a formidable existence on the same level as the World Tree, Teldrassil.
With this thought keeping him going, Grubb made every effort to rush to the nearest fire scene. However, when he arrived at the scene, he was surprised to find the fire already under control. He move closer and was even more shocked.
The one who was saving the trees that the Ents treated as their family, was a human!
****
Sheyan felt the arrival of the Ent from the slight turbulence on the ground.
But he didn’t expect the Ent who came to be Grubb! As one of the leading figures among the Ents in the forest of Fangorn, this guy was a rare Ent with brains. At the same time, he also carried the identity of a direct descendent of Treebeard.
The situation carried both advantages and disadvantages for Sheyan. The downside was that was that it would be a lot harder to deceive Grubb, but if Sheyan manage to do it, then Grubb’s bloodline would be very helpful for the next step in Sheyan’s plan.
As the burly, strong and vicious Ent walked out of the jungle, Sheyan turned around and exclaimed in surprise.
“Hey, big guy, if you don’t want this forest to turn into an oven, then come help!”
While Sheyan spoke, he secretly activated a temporary spell. With a wave of his sleeve, a pale green torrent of light fell on the flames in front of him and immediately suppressed the fire. Grubb grabbed a huge tree and slammed on the fire to put it out, but kept some distance between himself and Sheyan. He asked warily.
“Who…are you? Why is…a human…here?”
Sheyan naturally answered.
“I’m a messenger of Lord Elrond, the Lord of Rivendell, Twilight Elf, and the holder of Vilya, the Ring of Air. I came to Fangorn Forest to ask for help from Lord Treebeard!”
Grubb watched Sheyan closely, but Sheyan’s body was enveloped in a thick aura of nature – a disguise elaborately produced by the collaboration of Melody and the Ring of Air, both strong entities. Obviously, Grubb did not have enough wisdom to detect any flaws in the disguise.
More importantly, not many people knew of Elrond’s fate. It was an era without mobile phones or internet connection. That was why Sheyan could bluff his way through.
“Human…I…cannot trust you…so easily,” Grubb let his guard down slightly and approached Sheyan, but still showed a strong distrust.
Sheyan smiled and took out an item that originally belonged to Elrond – the Evergreen Leaf of the Sacred Oak. This item was picked from Teldrassil and it was an inheritance from Elrond’s mother. It would serve as a nice token of identification.
More importantly, for all the Ents, Teldrassil could be considered a totem, an idol, a figure to be admired. Even though the Treebeard tribe walked a different path, they were also full of awe and admiration for him. .
This argument might be difficult to understand and may seem outrageous, but it could be explained with a very simple analogy – Confucian scholars in ancient China studied the Four Books and Five Classics, but it did not prevent them from reading the Book of Dao and worshipping Laozi.
(T/N note 1: Four Books and Five Classics – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Books_and_Five_Classics)
(T/N note 2: the Book of Dao – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tao_Te_Ching)
Ents were extremely sensitive to the leaves of the World Tree. They would feel a praise and trembling directly from the soul!
Grubb knew at first glance that the leaf Sheyan brought was definitely real. More importantly, after he sensed the aura on that leaf, he actually gained a lot of inspiration. It was as if he was groping blindly before this, only to find the way ahead getting narrower.
Yet now, he was shown that not only can he take different approaches, he could do it easily, naturally. How could it not move Grubb’s heart?
Senyan smiled and clasped his hands together as he stored the leaf back in his personal space. Not even the slightest bit of aura leaked out. This was just an ability given to all contestants, but it made Grubb feel awe amidst his reluctance to see the leaf go.
By now, Grubb had pretty much accepted Sheyan’s identity. He was about to speak when he saw a flash of light in the distance among the branches. Simultaneously, he also sensed a strong fluctuation of magic power. Grubb’s alertness rose back to the extreme and he roared.
“How dare you lie to me!”
Sheyan, who was extinguishing the fire, turned around confused.
“What?”
A cold ray of light shot straight out among the leaves. Grubb immediately discovered that this spell was not directed at himself, but was at the messenger in front of him! He immediately regretted his earlier action. However, this messenger also seemed to be quite strong. After receiving the enemy’s attack, he merely shivered for a short while before smashing the frozen surface on his body and counter-attacking with a shout.
Grubb naturally rushed over to help him, but at that moment, Grubb saw the messenger turn back, spread open his arms and pounced on him!
He became extremely wary. He could not help but instinctively retaliate with a fist!
Even though the messenger directly took his fist and spat out blood, he persistently clung to Grubb’s waist and pushed the three-metres tall Ent down to the ground. The next second, a steel arrow flew over right above Grubb’s face. The shine on the steel arrow was very striking. When Grubb looked at it, he instinctively felt an extreme danger.
The steel arrow bored into a tree after it missed its target and immediately exploded. A huge fire spread out over an area of more than ten square metres. The sight gave Grubb chills and caused the rough bark on his body to tremble. He knew that was a powerful enchanted arrow. If he had been shot by this arrow, even if he could escape death, the consequences would be dire!
He was feeling terribly guilty towards Sheyan. He climbed back up with a roar and prepared to charge towards the one who shot the arrow. It wasn’t in the habit of the Ents to take things lying down.
He did not expect that the hidden enemy could once again shoot a similar enchanted arrow at an astonishing speed. Grubb knew he couldn’t avoid the arrow. He could only grit his teeth and try to block the arrow with his two thick arms. But right at that moment, the messenger leapt up and, with his body enveloped in an extremely dense power of nature, caught the arrow!
Grubb was pleasantly surprised, but the messenger unexpectedly turned around and laughed bitterly as he said.
“Just my luck. I triggered it after all….”
Immediately after that, the arrow exploded once again. A blazing flame erupted in front of Grubb, trying to devour everything it touched!
“No!”
Our dear Mr. Grubb, full of feelings of gratitude and guilt, roared in that low tone of his.
When Melody, who shot the arrows, and Franklin saw this, they looked at each other and nodded slightly. Franklin created a mirror image of Melody to mislead the enemy, and the two quietly left.
“Wow, so refreshing.”
That was Sheyan’s first thought when he regained consciousness.
The power of that enchanted arrow was not enough to heavily injure Sheyan. However, he still fell unconscious. The nightmare imprint could provide this kind of self-harming services at a price.
Sheyan was willing to pay the fee because he believed that his performance had to be flawless. Many meticulously prepared plans ultimately failed due to flaws in the details.
He soon realised that he was lying in a large groove on a rock. The groove looked similar to a large bathtub. A water-like liquid constantly flowed in it, but unlike water, the liquid had a beautiful colour akin to mercury. Its surface would occasionally shine with 5-coloured rainbows.
Sheyan also discovered that the Stairway of the Sun in his body seemed unusually active. It had spread its roots along his blood vessels to get as close to the surface of his skin as possible in order to better absorb the liquid.
“Mr. Messenger, are you awake? How are you feeling right now?” asked Grubb who was sitting on a rock to the side upon seeing Sheyan move.
Sheyan looked at the surrounding environment. The place he was in seemed like a canyon. Trees that tower above the clouds abound, but the sunlight of the evening could still scattered through the gaps between branches and leaves, so the environment did not appear too dark nor too damp. Flowers and green grass grouped together orderly and there is a sense of vitality.
“Ouch, I feel as if my head was smashed by a hammer. It’s still ringing inside,” Sheyan covered his head with a painful expression. “Freaking hell. But that doesn’t matter. Is the fire extinguished?”
Seeing Sheyan’s concern for the forest right after he woke up, the only trace of suspicion left in Grubb dissipated.
“The fire fortunately did not spread. However, I couldn’t catch those damn ambushers! I would have hung them to death on trees! They’re not even qualified to become fertilizers!”
Sheyan heaved a sigh of relief, but he heard Grubb said worryingly.
“Although the fire was extinguished in our location, but in the end, there were still three places where the fire could not be controlled. The fire is already raging and sweeping through the northwest area of Fangorn Forest. If we can’t contain it to the south side of the Stream of Leaf, then the whole Fangorn Forest may be destroyed! Honorable messenger, since you are awake now, then allow me to leave. Besides the Ents that are too old to move, everyone in my tribe has gone over to extinguish the fire. I have to do my part to protect Fangorn Forest too!”
Sheyan appeared stunned for a moment before he muttered.
“Is the fire that fierce?? When I first saw it, I thought it was just an accidental forest fire. How long was I out for?”
“Three hours, my friend. I have to go. It’s now the most critical time for Lord Treebeard. He won’t be able to meet with you until tomorrow, at the very earliest. You should stay here to recover. Your injuries are not that light.”
Grubb eagerly took big steps to leave. Sheyan could see that he was indeed very anxious. What’s more important was that he completely trusted Sheyan and left Sheyan alone in the base of the Treebeard tribe. But, well, it might be because the Ents possessed nothing valuable at all – they didn’t have the habit of collecting sparkling things.
As for the Golden Fruits, well, Grubb did not take that into consideration at all. To him, Treebeard was his God, an omnipotent existence!
Senyan closed his eyes and calmly recalled his meticulous plan. It appeared that the first half of the plan was undoubtedly very successful. He had cleverly infiltrated the core base of the Treebeard tribe, and the fire had drawn away almost every Ent who could still move.
Everything was playing out according to his script. It was perfection.
“Then for the next step….” Sheyan, who was lying on the stone slab, closed his eyes and began to improvise on his previous plan. When he was devising the second half of his plan before this, the amount of information he had was really pitiful! There were a lot of holes in his scheme. He had to make use of this period of healing to gradually perfect his plan.
At this time, the ground slightly shook. Sheyan opened his eyes and saw a familiar-looking Ent appearing from behind a big tree. He was a Leaping Ent who was so gravely injured that he looked to be on his last legs.
The reason Sheyan felt the Ent was familiar was because the Ent’s injury was caused under his order. The only reason this guy was still alive was because Sheyan wanted to use him to pass on the following message to the Treebeard tribe:
The one who attacked him was an archer, a mage, and a wild Ent of the larger trees variety.
The Leaping Ent called Ironthorn limped over slowly. When he saw Sheyan he immediately exclaimed in a weird tone.
“Oh my God, Grubb’s brain must be filled with fungus, hedgehog mushrooms and moss! He let a disgusting human soak in our precious earth liquid!”
Sheyan calmly retorted.
“Not all humans do bad things, sir. I have to say that your view is too prejudiced.”
Truthfully, even among the Treebeard tribe, opinions on humans differ. Some think that there are both good and bad humans (just like how some Vietnamese would want to kill American soldiers but they will welcome American investors with open arms), while some of them absolutely refuse to interact with humans. Obviously, Ironthorn belonged to the latter category.
“I dislike humans, and I dislike humans who babble even more. If it wasn’t for Grubb, I would have turned you into a fertilizer right here, right now!”
Mr. Ironthorn waved his uninjured arm furiously, but his action pulled on his wound, causing him to grit his teeth in pain for quite a while.
Sheyan couldn’t be bothered with him, but he suddenly recalled something and asked.
“What’s an earth liquid?”
Ironthorn openly ridiculed Sheyan’s ignorance before satisfying his curiosity. In the world of the Lord of the Rings, earth liquid was something akin to magma. In Middle Earth, some places below the earth’s crust have low temperature, and would produce earth liquid. This is a rare and unique medicine. It contained a great amount of spiritual energy and had wonderful effects on plants.
The reason why Treebeard settled here in Fangorn Forest was because there was a natural earth liquid pool deep in the valley of Fangorn Forest. Every year, earth liquid would surface from time to time. This substance was very helpful for the cultivation of the Ents. This was also the reason why Treebeard believed that the path he took could ultimately surpass Teldrassil.
Sheyan was still thinking of ways to shake Ironthron off when Ironthorn suddenly pointed at Sheyan in horror like he had just saw a ghost and yelled.
“You….You! You!”
Even though he was a severely wounded Ent, Ironthorn was still an Ent who had lived for almost a thousand years. What kind of things hadn’t he seen? What kind of strange things hadn’t he experienced?
Yet, right now, he was acting like a human child and screaming like a woman!!!
What exactly did this guy see to make him so scared, and what happened to Sheyan’s body?
Sheyan was currently lying in the depression on the big stone. His whole body was immersed in the precious earth liquid. For humans, this substance could merely play the role of treating burns, acting as an antibiotic, and providing nutrients. All in all, not that useful, but for elemental creatures like the Ents, it was extremely beneficial.
(ED: Seems pretty useful to me…..)
The volume of the pulsating, precious earth liquid was shrinking by the seconds right under Ironthorn’s nose! More than half of it was absorbed in such a short period, as if there was an invisible big mouth desperately swallowing the liquid!
From the looks of it, the rapid decline in water level showed no signs of stopping. The earth liquid was going to be sucked dry!
It must be noted that even though the earth liquid was something extremely beneficial to the Ents, it was also a terrible thing to take in too much at a time. Just like how the 100-year ginseng was a beneficial supplement, but if you take two whole pounds at once, you’re going to have a bad time.
Normally, the Ents wouldn’t dare to drink this stuff directly. They could only absorb the earth liquid slowly with their roots. If they were to drink a few mouthfuls, it would cause them to take root on the ground, lose their own will, and transform into a towering tree.Ironthorn would need at least a couple of years to fully consume the amount of earth liquid that Sheyan was soaking in.
But this shocking feat was happening right in front of his eyes. This human completely absorbed the earth liquid in less than 20 seconds!
What was even more amazing was that the human himself appeared to be at a loss and had no idea what’s happening.
Suddenly, a great fear overwhelmed Ironthron. The fear was very tyrannical, as if it was a rude and barbaric man ripping off his psychological defense and stuffing himself into Ironthron’s heart!
The instinctive reaction of Ironthorn was to flee, but he soon realised that his broken body was no longer under his control!
The next moment, Ironthorn and Sheyan were frightened/surprised to see five extremely long and dark tendrils protruding out from Sheyan’s fingertips. The tendrils looked like the roots of plants, but they also possessed the dexterity of animal tentacles. The wriggled like snakes in the air and leaped fiercely across a distance of five or six meters to lightly wrapped themselves around Ironthorn’s neck, then stabbed into him without much effort!
Ironthorn immediately turned stiff as life deserted his body at an incredible speed. The gigantic, heavy body of the Ent crashed into the ground and collapsed into a pile of decaying wooden chunks. It seemed like they would be covered in moss in a few days, then assimilate back to the earth.
Sheyan was also shocked to see this. The black tendrils quickly retracted, and then retreated into his own body. There was no notification in the battle record. If it wasn’t for the disappearance of the earth liquid in the rock and the corpse of Ironthorn in front of him, Sheyan would really think that nothing had happened.
But when Sheyan looked inside his body, he found that the solar ‘Stairway of the Sun’ had turned pure black, and all its tendrils had shrunk back. It had completely fallen into a dormant state. The ‘Pestilence Monarch’ ability had also greyed out, which indicated that it can’t be used.
Elemental creatures like Ents were immune to diseases anyway, so for Sheyan this ability wasn’t important right now. This ability was not a part of his plan.
There was a saying that plans could never keep up with changes. Sheyan was originally still thinking of looking for a way to meet Treebeard first, then improvise from there.
But he had become the biggest suspect in the death of Ironthorn. If he was discovered by any Ent, there was no doubt that his “one day tour of the Treebeard tribe” would come to an abrupt end.
Sheyan had no way back now and could only venture into the depths of the valley. He came prepared. He tore a magic scroll and buffed himself with a Rank 2 divine art – ‘Aura of Nature’ – which allowed one to completely blend into nature. He gritted his teeth and quickly sneaked into the depths of the valley.
The further he traveled into the valley, the more lush the vegetation became. Even the flowers that should not bloom at this time were in full bloom. The soil on the ground was quite moist. When he stepped on it, he would quietly sink halfway down. The moisture in the dirt did not seem to be water, but fertile oil.
If there was aerial photography in this era, then an aerial photograph of the forest of Fangorn would reveal that the vegetation of this forest was far more lush than that of the surrounding forests. The central area of the forest of Fangorn was even more full of vitality, as if a mountain suddenly rose up in the center of the forest! In reality, the mountain did not exist. It was entirely composed of thriving vegetation!
The valley gradually sloped downwards. Sheyan continued to travel for a kilometer or so along a road that was formed from being stepped on by the Ents. Even though he called it a road, it was actually just a path that was not blocked by tall trees.
He could see that the Ents had not visited Treebeard for a long time. The road had grown full of bushes and shrubs and they showed no sign of being trampled on. The height of these obstacles only reached the shin of the Ents and would not impede their movement at all. For Sheyan, however, they reached his waist and severely affected his speed.
The road finally came to an end. Sheyan found himself in front of a small basin-shaped valley. The road entering the valley inclined downwards, so the upper edge of the basin was actually level with the ground.
Unlike the exuberant vitality outside, the valley was totally devoid of vegetation. Huge roots meandered all over the place. Even the brown rocks in the walls on the edge of the basin were teeming with roots. It gave the illusion of the roots plundering the earth.
After Sheyan saw such a sight, his heart was filled with a deep awe!
His gaze moved up following the massive roots and finally met their source – an impressive ancient tree that was low but huge.
The trunk of the ancient tree was only five or six meters tall at most, but it was inflated like an oversized wine barrel. The diameter of its chest was at least twenty, maybe even thirty meters. At first glance, it looked a bit similar to the baobab trees on the grasslands of Africa in the real world.
The ancient tree had only branches with no leaves. Its branches were matte green in colour, with formed a sharp contrast with its ancient tree bark.
This tree was the only thing occupying the entire basin!
A stout ancient tree that was hard to describe with words!
In the direction facing Sheyan, there was a huge depression in the trunk in the shape of the “天” character. An Ent rested steadfastly against the depression.
The form of this Ent was no different from most other Ents – burly, strong, gigantic and rough!
The only difference he had with other Ents was that the branches and leaves on his heads had become grey, and aerial roots had grown on his hands and feet. The aerial roots looked like horse manes that swayed in the wind.
A meter in front of this Ent were seven seeds that floated in the air. Each seed was about the size of a ping pong ball. The surface of the seeds had some very mysterious patterns. At first glance they seemed like a golden walnuts. The golden light they exuded looked just like smelted gold, hot and flowing.
Obviously, this was Treebeard!
And those were the Golden Fruits Saruman so desired!!
Sheyan fell into a dilemma.
It’s no wonder that even someone as strong as Saruman found it difficult to procure the Golden Fruits.
In the wide basin, with the exception of bare rocks, there were only the terrifying roots. Which means that if he wanted to get the Golden Fruits, he had to go through a distance of 50 meters. Even if he did obtain the fruits in one piece, there was no doubt that he would be facing ferocious attacks from Treebeard and the ancient tree that was his true body. Sheyan did not think that those thick roots scattered throughout the basin were there for decoration.
“What should I do?” Sheyan’s first thought was to attack with fire. But what was there in the basin that could be burned? Not to mention that as soon as a fire broke out here, the Ents would definitely rush here immediately. Even if he had the Golden Fruits, he won’t be able to escape.
“Can I try persuading him?” thought Senyan, but he immediately rejected this unrealistic idea.
He overclocked his brain and thought of a dozen plans, but he ended up rejecting all of them.
Sheyan, who was crouching in the grass, suddenly felt something was wrong. He looked carefully and discovered two black tendrils on the tips of his right middle finger and index finger. The tendrils kept getting longer, and then snaked forward!
The ‘Stairway of the Sun’ that was originally lying dormant in Sheyan’s body had woken up without Sheyan knowing it. It frantically shifted the energy in Sheyan’s body and sucked them all onto the two black tendrils!
The two tendrils did not extend towards the same direction. One of them slowly sneaked in the ground to subtly move among the rocks towards the nearest thick root. It silently plunged into the root, then stayed motionless.
The other black tendril continued to extend like a blood vessel, then slowly but firmly slithered towards the floating Golden Fruits.
Sheyan had no way to stop the action of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’! To be honest, even if he could, he wouldn’t, because he could think of no better way.
So he could only wait and see!
Suddenly, Sheyan felt a burst of giddiness as his vision rippled. The basin remained the same and so did everything else, but the black tendril that had tried to snake to the Golden Fruits had disappeared.
He blinked a few times in shock, but then found that the black tendril still existed and had continued to grow stubbornly towards the Golden Fruits! It displayed the bravery of a suicide fighter!
“What….is going on?” Sheyan shook his head, but when he looked again, the tendril was once again gone. The alternating illusion and reality caused a bold assumption to form in his mind. After all, Sheyan had always been a sharp one.
“Perhaps the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ is slowly releasing a hallucinogenic substance after stabbing into the root? The hallucinogenic substance is absorbed by the mother tree that Treebeard is perching on, then transmitted over to Treebeard, causing Treebeard to hallucinate?”
As soon as this thought formed, Sheyan immediately felt that his guess was probably correct.
Treebeard’s strength was certainly far inferior compared to Sauron’s. He should be in the same league with Legolas, Gandalf, and Saruman in the Lord of the Rings world. Of course, even though they’re in the same league, there were still differences in strength between them. For example, among the first-rate generals in the Three Kingdoms, Zhao Zilong was clearly stronger than Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan.
Treebeard’s strength should belong to the peak among this tier.
While the ‘Stairway of the Sun’, being the ultimate creature of the hidden world, should be no weaker than Treebeard.
More importantly, Treebeard was currently “in labour” while bearing the Golden Fruits, so his strength was significantly reduced. Also, the attack by the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ was a sneak attack. With all these factors combined, it was highly probable for the illusion produced by the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ to deceive Treebeard.
Sheyan didn’t even dare to breathe. His eyes stayed fixed to the progress of the black tendril. Drops of sweat slipped off his forehead and his hair, dripping on to the soil beneath him.
He watched as the black tendrils grew tenaciously and finally arrived in front of the Golden Fruits. They did not rush in, but instead explored tentatively around the area.
Sheyan felt weak all over. He took a deep breath and immediately activated ‘Gloryheal’. He was afraid that the leaf of the World Tree might alarm Treebeard or he would have used the Rejuvenation spell on it too.
After recovering some energy, Sheyan’s vision suddenly turned blurry once again. He could see a layer of turbulent darkness enveloping the Golden Fruits. The darkness had a boundless depth to it, and it seemed that when he laid eyes on it, there was a painful feeling of grinding and scraping.
Under the contrast of the dark background, it could be seen that despite the golden light on the surface of the Golden Fruits shining radiantly, there were still some green patterns which indicated that the fruits had yet to fully mature. Obviously, the tendril extended from the Stairway of the Sun was wary of the hidden darkness and dare not dive into it. Treebeard seemed to be using this darkness to train the essence of his power to make it purer!
“Since he’s using this darkness to train his strength rather than to destroy, it’s likely that the burst power of the darkness will not be very strong. It was meant to grind his essence bit by bit,” such thought flashed in Sheyan’s mind.
“I still have an ‘Honorary Recovery Dosage’ left. I have enough HP. The ‘Stairway of the Sun’ can risk it!”
As if it sensed Sheyan’s thought, the black tendril stopped probing around in the air. It fiercely pierced into the turbulent darkness like a sharp needle.
As soon as it penetrated the darkness, Sheyan immediately felt an immense pain, as if every cell in his body was being crushed. His vision turned dark and his mouth bled as he bit into himself.
The black tendril of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ penetrated into a Golden Fruit. The power in the fruit, which looked like smelted gold, found a channel to vent out from and rushed into the tendril.
Treebeard inexplicably remained motionless despite all this happening. He was apparently still being deceived by the illusion created by the ‘Stairway of the Sun’.
They had passed the phase that worried Sheyan the most. The worst outcome would have been Treebeard detecting his presence when the tendril pierced the Golden Fruit, then flattened him with a laugh….
When the Stairway of the Sun began to absorb the power of the Golden Fruit, it no longer consumed the vitality of Sheyan. The colour of its body shifted constantly. It sometimes turned into the common green shades of plant, and sometimes into a strange black colour.
A thought crossed Sheyan’s mind. The venom of the nemesis of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’, the Ouroboros was coincidentally also this shade of black. The ‘Stairway of the Sun’ in his body happened to have been poisoned by the venom of the Ouroboros. Would something unexpected happen? Was the soul of the Ouroboros going to transmigrate here and be reborn?
Very soon, the energy of a Golden Fruit was completely absorbed. However, it seemed like the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ was not yet satisfied. It penetrated into another Golden Fruit.
Sheyan waited patiently. To be fair, the absorption rate of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ was already quite fast. It took less than 20 seconds to suck a Golden Fruit dry, but the short waiting period felt as long 20 years to Sheyan!
After absorbing the power of four Golden Fruits, the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ finally looked like it was done feasting. Sheyan hadn’t forgotten that he had to bring a Golden Fruit back to complete his mission. Furthermore, there was no doubt that this Treebeard fella would be his mortal enemy from now on. Weakening him was definitely not a bad idea. He tried to order the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ to plunder the three remaining Golden Fruits.
The tendril of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ lightly wrapped up the three remaining Golden Fruits like a rope wrapping up three eggs, and slowly retracted back. Sheyan felt something wrong at this time, but he couldn’t tell what it was. He felt that something had changed, but he didn’t have the time to think too much about it. After all, his pressure was at its greatest at this moment. The Golden Fruit had yet to reach his personal space. Although Treebeard was still resting with his eyes closed, who knew if he would suddenly wake up?
Fortunately, nothing overly dramatic happened at the last moment. Sheyan managed to lay his hands on the Gold Fruits. on He really wanted to absorb one like the ‘Stairway of the Sun’n did, but no matter how he fiddled with it, it remained a mere quest item….That was to be expected. If Sheyan could get rid of Treebeard, then he should be qualified to consume the Golden Fruit.
Looking at the two black tendrils of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ slowly retracting into his own body Sheyan felt quite strange.
Everyone made mistakes. Sheyan suddenly realised something important. He urgently inquired.
“If the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ stops injecting hallucinogenic substances into the root, how long will the illusion last?”
The reply soon came back.
[3 minutes.]
Sheyan froze, but only for two or three seconds. He screamed in his heart and used all his abilities and medicines that can increase his movement speed. He carefully crawled backwards for a few dozen metres, then ran for his life.
Before Sheyan could even reach the place where he killed Ironthorn, he already felt a terrifying pressure behind him!
That pressure was akin to an exploding nuclear bomb. It was filled with an endless anger. When the anger was directed towards Sheyan, it was so strong that it made him stumble!
What kind of concept was that?
Senyan realised that he may have underestimated the monster called Treebeard. If it wasn’t for the Stairway of the Sun in his own body being an even crazier monster, there was no way Treebeard could be deceived by an illusion.
Although the Golden Fruits had already been thrown into Sheyan’s personal space, it still took no time for Treebeard’s anger to lock onto Sheyan!
It wasn’t because Treebeard’s perceptive sense was so strong that it could cross dimensions, but because the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ had absorbed the energy of four Golden Fruits….It was caught with its hands in the cookie jar!
The only hope for Sheyan now was to bet on Treebeard not being a Leaping Ent…. As long as he wasn’t, it didn’t matter how strong he was, he would still be an Ent. A king among beggars would still be a beggar. Slow movement and fear of fire would still be his inherent weaknesses.
Sheyan bet correctly. The Leaping Ents were a new species of Ents. Similar to parkour, you can’t expect a 70 year-old man to practice this sport.
However, Sheyan still underestimated the strength of Treebeard. It must be noted that this is the forest of Fangorn, the lair that had been controlled by Treebeard for thousands of years. It was a place that even someone as mighty as Sauron couldn’t lay hands on!
Almost as soon as Treebeard locked on to Sheyan, several trees in front of Sheyan roared and pulled out their roots from the ground. These trees did not have the “talent” to become Ents, but under Treebeard’s will, they were temporarily given life. The only purpose of their lives was to shred this human into pieces!!
With the birth of the Ents, Treebeard’s overwhelming anger was once again directed towards Sheyan.
Although Sheyan had already experienced its impact before, he still couldn’t control his body under the immense willpower behind the anger. He felt like a person who encountered a powerful wave while swimming in the sea. He could only leave it to fate and let his body drift into the depth of the sea.
He immediately lost his balance and was blown away. The Ents next to him swooped in. Their thick arms that were woven from tough branches smashed fiercely towards Sheyan, totally covering up the sun!
Just hearing the bumping sound the branches made when they hit the ground could send fear into one’s heart!
These Ents had no wisdom because they were only temporarily given life, but they were not afraid of death. Every attack was launched with full force. It was precisely this that made them terrifying opponents. They simply do not care if they suffer any harm themselves.
In order to hit Sheyan as quickly as possible, an Ent who was far away in the distance actually ripped off his left arm and violently threw it at Sheyan with his right.
Such crazy attacks were testament to the extreme hatred Treebeard bore towards Sheyan.
Sheyan fell to the ground as he received brutal attacks from all sides. In the blink of an eye, he was already bruising and bleeding all over. He grabbed his head with his hand and curled his body. He knew that if things continued this way, he would be beaten to death, so he showed no hesitation in smashing a bottle of curse-mix to the ground. A shockwave rippled outwards and stunned the Ents in place.
Sheyan flipped up. Some blood seeped out from the cracks between his fingers that were covering his mouth. He stumbled forward and subtly adjusted his direction.
The moment the Ents recovered, they immediately continued their assault on Sheyan as they roared out some indistinguishable words. Two of the Ents swung their long arms and struck Sheyan’s back. The other three simply tore off their limbs and violently threw them at Sheyan.
Sheyan was once again assaulted by the joint attack from five Ents!
The explosive force of the simultaneous attacks caused Sheyan to spit out a burst of blood from his mouth. Fortunately, Sheyan had taken the ‘Honorary Recovery Dosage’, otherwise he would have inevitably entered a state of near death.
The moment he was heavily damaged, Sheyan bellowed loudly like an injured beast. This was all in his plan!
Following the momentum from the hits he took, he flew forward for nearly two hundred meters in an instant. Right when he was about to fall, he seized on a vine from a tree next to him and swung for 20 more meters. He rolled to soften his fall, then disappeared into the dense forest.
With such a long distance between them, the five giant summoned Ents were left in their place. Sheyan seemed to have gotten rid of Treebeard’s pursuit. He continued to rush along the road, when an indescribable hurricane suddenly blew through the forest of Fangorn. The cries of the branches and leaves transformed into Treebeard’s angry roar.
“I, Treebeard, the devout servant of Ilúvatar, the trekker of the land, the Shepherd of the Trees, the guardian of Fangorn Forest, command you; find that damn thief!”
The trees in the entire Fangorn Forest trembled and shook their leaves in anger. Sheyan saw the trees around him shake their branches, and a large amount of fresh fallen leaves blew over. They simultaneously issued a shrill cry.
“He’s here! He’s here!”
Sheyan knew he definitely couldn’t touch the fallen leaves, so he drastically changed his direction. But, well, he was in a forest after all. No matter how hard he dodged, there was no way he wouldn’t be touched by a fallen leaf.
He tried his best and escaped for more than ten meters before he was finally touched by a leaf. The giant tree where the leaf fell from immediately snapped in the middle and collapsed. While it was still falling, it was already withering. Then, it wilted, darkened, and turned into dust before it even landed.
At that moment, Treebeard shouted again.
“I see you, despicable thief, shameful sinner! Your soul shall be marked with an eternal imprint of shame, you shall always be the enemy of the forest!”
The trees all around Sheyan suddenly collapsed. At least one hundred of them all crumbled into ashes if they had been incinerated by flames. But from their bodies rose little green lights that congregated together to form a strange symbol. The symbol flew towards Sheyan’s face.
Sheyan certainly wouldn’t let it do as it liked. He frantically turned his head and rolled away, but the symbol also turned in the air. It ignored the blocks of Sheyan’s arms as it imprinted itself on Sheyan’s face.
Sheyan did not feel any pain, but half his face went completely numb.
Then something even more bizarre happened. The branches of all the walnut trees in Fangorn Forest twisted and extended simultaneously towards Sheyan’s current position! They even changed direction following the movement of Sheyan. It must be noted that Treebeard’s true body was also a walnut tree!
“My children, I bestow upon you the strength of life with my name of the Shepherd of the Trees. Wake up, wake up!”
Treebeard was currently still in the valley, but he had visibly turned older. More than half of the huge roots of the giant tree he inhabited had withered, and they could only occupy a quarter of the basin. Treebeard’s loud chanting made his aging appearance even more pronounced. Withering leaves fell from his branches.
When Treebeard’s chant was completed, 3 trees changed rapidly within 3 kilometers of Sheyan. Their barks began to peel off, their branches drawn, and mottled black spots appeared on their bodies. They had turned into Ents.
Treebeard started his next chant.
“The sweet rain in heaven, the wind in the air, please protect my people, please bestow them with the power and title of the Leaping Ents!”
What Treebeard summoned this time were unexpectedly descendants with the potential to become Leaping Ents! They were particularly capable in pursuit, and there were three of them against one of Sheyan. This time, Sheyan was in a real pinch!
Sheyan immediately knew that he was in trouble. As soon as he heard the words Leaping Ents, he knew that his only chance was to defeat the three of them separately before they could congregate! But unless Party Ace gathered and had the help of Melody, Sheyan had no such burst of power.
When he was still hesitating, a Leaping Ent broke through the dense forest and charged at Sheyan amidst a swift twirling of branches and leaves. The three Leaping Ents that appeared were also slaves forced into maturity by Treebeard, so they were also the kind that attacked without a care for their own wellbeing!
Sheyan felt the numbness on his face slowly spread. If it spread to the brain or the heart, it may just be life-threatening. He couldn’t concentrate on his fight, so he was kicked by Leaping Ent and was sent tumbling a few times. Before he could even stand up, he was already grabbed by his neck and was slammed to the ground. Then, the Ent lifted his giant knee which was wrapped in rugged bark, and rammed it towards Sheyan’s chest, hard.
“Sh*t…Am I going to die here? One Leaping Ent is already terrifying enough! Will I still have a chance to live when the other two arrive?”
During this critical moment, Sheyan felt the Stairway of the Sun in his body squirm. The Leaping Ent’s knee could threaten the true body of the Stairway of the Sun, so it instinctively protected itself!
The Stairway of the Sun extended a major tendril in a flash. The major tendril split itself at an unbelievable speed to cover the veins and nerves in Sheyan’s left hand. It instantly took over control of the arm, and then it extended the arm towards the Leaping Ent in front!
An indescribably strange black ball of light shot out from Sheyan’s left palm. The colour of the ball of light was exactly the same as the colour of the venom of the Ouroboros. Even more horrifying was the image of the Stairway of the Sun that appeared behind him. A tendril snaked over and entwined itself all around the body of the Leaping Ent!
After his face was hit by the strange black ball of light, the Leaping Ent emitted a shrill scream. He sounded as though his soul was trembling painfully. Sheyan took the opportunity to avoid his knee with a roll. He then took in large gulps of breaths.
When he looked back at the Leaping Ent, he noticed that there were purple-black spots on the surface of his body, and even the verdant foliage on his head had started decaying!
The part of his face that was eroded by the ball of light began to rot quickly, exposing the white core inside. Rotten pieces of bark kept falling as if there were a hundred invisible insects burrowing into him. The damage of this blow was truly terrifying. It was no weaker than an enchanted explosive arrow!
Even though the first hit was effective, Sheyan felt more and more flustered because the ‘Enemy of the Forest’ imprint on his face had crept deeper into him. The numbness felt more and more intense. If his brain was numbed too, then he would die!
Right at that moment, the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ once again trembled. It controlled Sheyan’s left hand and once again gathered the terrifying black ball of light. The black ball of light twisted into a snake and pressed towards the numb part of Sheyan’s face!
A sizzling noise was produced upon contact, almost as if a piece of raw meat was thrown into a frying pan. The horrible black ball of light turned into hundreds of tiny black electric currents and pierced deep into Sheyan’s skin like small daggers.
A large amount of pustules abruptly broke out on his numb face. They kept bursting open, turning half of Sheyan’s face into a piece of red boiling meat and even exposing the bone inside! The sight was appalling. Yellow pus gushes out with his blood, spreading a revolting stench.
What’s even more strange was that, following the invasion of the black electric currents, Sheyan could hear shrill screams filled with grievances emanating from his face. A horrifying illusion appeared in his vision, as if there was a hand tearing his face violently.
As the black electric currents brought the corrosion deeper into Sheyan’s skin, bits of green lights were forced out. The green lights were enshrouded by the black currents, and they were then exterminated in the air.
After the last bit of green light in Sheyan’s face was forced out, Treebeard, who was standing still in the central basin of the forest of Fangorn, trembled slightly. One of his eyes suddenly burst into little spots of green lights, but the green lights immediately turned black!
Treebeard screamed loudly. Amidst his scream, the towering trees around him pulled up their roots and strode towards him. They stretched out their branches and embraced Treebeard tightly. Slowly, a colossal Ent consisting of at least a hundred giant trees formed. His height was towering at over several hundred meters. His stature gave him a domineering presence, and one could feel a boundless anger in him! !
Sheyan wasn’t feeling that good himself. He looked like a devil. Half his face was undamaged, but the other half was a bloody mess of flesh and bone. However, he felt no pain. It seemed that all his nerves were paralyzed.
The continuous changes in the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ was a cause for concern for Sheyan. He recalled the strange feeling from before, so he immediately inquired about the ‘Pestilence Monarch’ ability. The result shocked him.
[The Stairway of the Sun in your body has gained enough energy to evolve. The plant form is in a deep sleep. The animal form has been activated. Your Pestilence Monarch ability is sealed. You gained a new ability: ‘Poison Monarch’!]
[After obtaining sufficient external energy, the animal form of the Stairway of the Sun has matured. This is a strange ability mutated from the combination of the animal form of the Stairway of the Sun + the poison of Ouroboros.]
[Ability grade: unknown]
[Because the Stairway of the Sun is still living symbiotically in your body, you still have most of the abilities of the previous Pestilence Monarch, except for the ability to infect the enemy with diseases. Therefore, when the Poison Monarch is in effect, you cannot activate the Pestilence Aura.]
[You gained a new ability: Beast of Corrosion]
[This is a very terrible ability. It will cultivate the toxins secreted from the Stairway of the Sun in your body with your own flesh and blood. After analyzing the weaknesses of the enemy, it will target those weaknesses in its attack, thus causing devastating damage to the enemy.]
[Total damage = (50 ~ 300) + (15% of the enemy’s maximum HP {this will not exceed 10,000 points}) + (2% of the user’s maximum HP)]
[No one is immune to the damage from the Beast of Corrosion. The attack will cause true damage.]
[Because the Beast of Corrosion ability targets the enemy’s weaknesses, the first time it attacks an enemy, explosive hit rate will increase by 50% and its power will invade the enemy’s body. But the enemy’s gene will adapt to this ability, so the next time the enemy was hit with the Beast of Corrosion, explosive hit rate will decrease by 20%.]
[Each time the enemy is attacked by the Beast of Corrosion, its power will invade the enemy’s body, causing terrifying negative effects. The negative effect inflicted is related to the enemy’s race.]
[There is normally no way to upgrade the Beast of Corrosion ability.]
[The power of the Beast of Corrosion is related to your Pestilence Monarch ability. The more types of diseases you control, the more powerful the Beast of Corrosion will be, and the more negative effects will be inflicted upon the enemy. It may also disable certain abilities of the enemy.]
[Every time you activate the Beast of Corrosion, you must first use your own HP to feed it. 80 ~ 800 points will be randomly deducted from your HP (This deduction ignores defense and may cause death. For Sheyan, the deducted HP will range from 40 ~ 760 points). The Beast of Corrosion needs time to analyze the composition of the enemy, so if the enemy is a storyline creature, there will be a cooldown time of 1 minute.] (The two Beast of Corrosions before were released by the Stairway of the Sun, not Sheyan.)
[All contestants are strengthened by the nightmare realm, so the process of analyzing the composition of a contestant will be extended to 10 minutes. Therefore, if you attack a contestant with the Beast of Corrosion, the cooldown will be 10 minutes.]
[All contestants are strengthened by the nightmare realm, so the current Beast of Corrosion is unable to analyze their weaknesses. The increase in explosive hit rate will not take effect on contestants.]
[Hint: The only weakness of the Beast of Corrosion is that it is a venomous creature of a strange lifeform. Its movement is slow, so it depends entirely on the user’s arm strength to throw it towards the enemy. Therefore, if the distance between the user and the enemy is too far away, then it would be easy for the enemy to dodge it.]
[Hint: Both the Beast of Corrosion and the Pestilence Monarch are derived from the Stairway of the Sun, so they have the same precedence.]
The series of notifications left a sinister smile on Sheyan’s face. Coupled with his current rotten face, it was quite a horrifying sight.
“Looks like I didn’t risk myself for nothing this time!”
Sheyan guessed that the ‘Beast of Corrosion’ ability should be refined and develop more skills as his ‘Pestilence Monarch’ ability obtained more types of diseases, akin to Zi’s ‘Force Collision – Wall’, ‘Force Needle Explosion’, etc. Although this damn ability was powerful, the cost to use it was also frightening. A deduction of 80 to 800 points of HP…. If he was unlucky, it could cost him his life! Most contestants right now probably didn’t even have 800 points of HP! Even with Sheyan’s insane amount of HP, he couldn’t afford to use it carelessly!
Sheyan recalled the ability of ‘Pestilence Monarch’. In a large-scale battle, the ‘Pestilence Aura’ was much more useful than the ‘Beast of Corrosion’. He hurriedly inquired, and the response he got was that the plant form of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ was asleep and was evolving. After the evolution was completed, it was possible to switch between the plant form and the animal form with his thought. Of course, he would probably have to pay a certain price.
While Sheyan was distracted, the struggling Leaping Ent emitted a muffled scream of pain, then smashed at Sheyan with his hand. Sheyan rolled away in time as the grasses and leaves on the ground were sent flying.
The Leaping Ent was in a terrible condition. His body had been fully breached by the terribly invasive ability of the ‘Beast of Corrosion’. A putrid gel-like substance dripped from his mouth and a ring of black mold appeared on his branches. When he took a step forward, the branches and leaves that made up his feet crumbled due to decay!
Sheyan fled without hesitation. He had been running away in the forest the whole time, so he didn’t know that Treebeard had turned into a wooden Transformer out of anger to chase him down and kill him. However, the pressure emitted by Treebeard was truly oppressive.
The Leaping Ent launched his quantum leap ability to chase after Sheyan, but he only ran for a few steps before he hit his head on a tree. He knocked the unfortunate tree down and also crashed into the ground himself. The Leaping Ent struggled madly with a loud roar. If Sheyan wanted to kill it, it would really take a lot of effort, but it’s a lot easier if Sheyan just wanted to run away.
There is another advantageous factor for Sheyan in his attempt to escape. The enemy wouldn’t be able to find him so easily because the ‘Enemy of the Forest’ imprint left by Treebeard on his face had almost been destroyed by the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ using the ‘Beast of Corrosion’. Even if there was some residue of the imprint left, but it should be much more difficult to detect. Besides, Treebeard was also a spent force right now; it was impossible for him to leave another ‘Enemy of the Forest’ imprint on Sheyan.
After running for about 500 meters, Sheyan glimpsed a silhouette flashed by in the wood on his side. Although he had acquired a powerful new ability, he was still frightened. A single ‘Beast of Corrosion’ definitely would not make up for the gigantic gap in strength between him and Treebeard! Therefore, although Sheyan was running forward at full speed, he immediately forced himself to the side. It proved an ingenious decision because from the direction of the silhouette flew a thick wooden javelin that scraped past Sheyan’s chest and lodged itself two meters deep into the ground!
Even though Sheyan escaped the lighting-fast javelin in time, the branches at the end of the wooden javelin still left some deep, bloody scratches on his chest and abdomen. If the scratches had gone any deeper, the front of his body would have been torn open.
Not only that, Sheyan did not feel any pain at all from the wounds, only an itch. He looked down and saw that a layer of green mold and some mycelium had grown over the wounds on his chest and abdomen. The moss was rapidly spreading into his body.
Fortunately, the black tendril of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ immediately slithered over to swiftly clean up the serious infection on Sheyan’s wounds.
After the javelin shot into the ground, it immediately took root, quickly sprouted, and then turned into a small Ent about a meter high. He instantly chased after Sheyan once he appeared. The Ent had the stature of a midget but had a very fierce appearance. His arms were covered with blue thorns.
Senyan’s eyes flashed as he pulled out ‘+7 West’. He slashed frantically around him as he ran. All along his path, trees crashed down to the ground. The midget Ent did not dodge quick enough and was crushed by a big tree. He screamed and glared at Sheyan but was helpless to do anything.
Because of this, the sight of the Ent hiding in the shadows, waiting to use javelins to ambush Sheyan was also obstructed. He was prepared to throw another wooden javelin at Sheyan, but he could only halt his actions and jumped around to dodge the falling trees.
Leaping Ents were not as sturdy as Battle Ents. To describe it in terms of human army, the Battle Ents would be the steel knights wearing heavy armour, while the Leaping Ents would be the agile assassins. If the Leaping Ent was hit by a falling tree, he would also be hurt.
The sight of the Leaping Ent chasing after Sheyan suddenly cleared because there were no more trees falling in front of him. He only saw the silent forest and the glorious sunset. Not even the slightest hint of his target could be seen.
While he was contemplating his next step, the trunk that had collapsed on the ground exploded and the wooden blocks slammed into his face. A figure popped out from behind him. It was Sheyan!
When one of the huge trees crashed down, Sheyan followed its trajectory and went to the ground with it. Under the cover of the collapsed tree trunk, he lay hidden, waiting in ambush. He had already waited in this spot quietly for 12.91 seconds for the Leaping Ent to arrive!
The Leaping Ent was covered in a camouflage pattern similar to the camouflage patterns on military uniforms. His legs were deformed and thick, and the Ent seemed to be formed from well-developed aerial roots and plank buttresses roots twisted together. As a result, it was bound to have more advantages in movement speed. Its bark was not very rugged. It was similar to the skin of mulberry, bamboo and the likes, with a smooth and sturdy texture.
Furthermore, one of its arms was made up entirely of javelin-like twigs, while the other arm looked no different from other Ents. One could imagine how convenient it was for him to shoot a javelin. He only needed to twist his arm. He could completely ignore the process of pulling the javelin back, holding it, and throwing it out.
Sheyan’s sudden appearance from behind the cover visibly caught the Leaping Ent off guard. He instinctively tried to distance himself from Sheyan by launching his quantum leap ability. He instantly turned blurry. At the same time, he thrusted his javelin arm towards the enemy. If Sheyan insisted on pouncing forward, he would hit the sharp javelins head first.
Sheyan had painstakingly laid down this ambush, so how could he simply let the Ent escape? There was a smirk on his face as a black glow lingered on his right hand. On the fingertips of all five fingers grew a flesh tendril while a black ball of light was forming rapidly on his hand.
Sheyan gave a shout of anger and the veins on his forehead bulged. His eyes were bloodshot. Then, he slam-dunked the ‘Beast of Corrosion’ light ball on the enemy like a basketball player!
As the ‘Beast of Corrosion’ left his hand, it rapidly changed in the air and turned into a giant black snake with horrifying fangs and scales. The snake bit into the Leaping Ent’s chest, then wrapped its body around the Leaping Ent.
The Leaping Ent screamed in pain and and tore the ‘Beast of Corrosion’ snake into pieces. However, in that short period of time, the ‘Beast of Corrosion’ had deeply infiltrated into the Ent and, like ink dripping into water, it quickly swept over his body!
The Leaping Ent was obviously in a great deal of pain as his agonizing roar shook the surrounding leaves. Galls appeared on his slick skin, then burst open. Black juices carrying a horrible stench flowed out from the galls. The surrounding skin also turned as rough as the skin of a toad. A swarm of flies appeared out of nowhere to surround him, torturing his nerves.
Sheyan had also sustained a heavy injury. He ran into the javelin thrusted by the Leaping Ent which almost completely penetrated into the wounds on his abdomen. Although the toxins on the wounds were restrained by the ‘Stairway of the Sun’, the javelin piercing into his abdomen sent him into bouts of dizziness.
Sheyan gritted his teeth and slashed down onto the Ent’s face. Pieces of barks flew as the Ent emitted a horrible cry. He held his face and stumbled back.
Sheyan was about to follow up with another attack when he felt a slight turmoil in the ground. He turned alert as he abruptly changed his course and escaped into the forest. While he ran and staggered forward as fast as he could, he wrapped a high class bandage around his abdomen. His HP gradually recovered.
The full name of the bandage was the ‘Spider Protein High-Energy Composite Stitching Bandage’. It was a product of the Starship Troopers world. It could speed up the healing of wounds, break down dead muscles or rotten flesh, and recover 1000 HP in 60 seconds. Of course, the user cannot be interrupted by an attack during this period.
The bandage could be considered fairly valuable. It could sell for at least 10,000 utility points in the nightmare realm. However, compared to Sheyan’s HP of more than 3,000, it only helped a little.
To use the ‘Beast of Corrosion’ ability, he had to be prepared for the worst possible scenario. What if he was deducted with 800 HP? If Sheyan wanted to quickly deal with the Leaping Ents pursuing him, the only way was to use the ‘Beast of Corrosion’ ability.
After he had recovered approximately 600 points of HP, Sheyan felt a pain in the back of his neck. The bandage’s recovery effect was immediately interrupted. He instantly slapped at the spot and felt a pain in his palm. When he retrieved his hand, he saw a mosquito with black legs and white belly lying on his palm. The mosquito was as big as a thumb and leaked out a ferocious intent.
“It was just a mosquito bite but it was judged as an attack,” Sheyan’s pupils contracted. “Could it be that the enemy is actually….”
At a place less than two hundred meters from Sheyan, a Leaping Ent who looked incomparably strange stood quietly among the trees. His legs were stout and he had no arms. Above his left and right shoulders were two tree nests shaped like saucepan lids.
Each of the saucepan lid nests was about 5, 6 square meters in size and about a meter deep. They contained a thick, gel-like substance that emitted an indescribable smell which had little effect on humans or other living creatures, but attracted all kinds of insects!
Treebeard, in his rage, chose three trees with the “potential” of becoming Leaping Ents from the forest near Sheyan, and granted them souls and abilities. The movement speed of this Leaping Ent was no less inferior than the other two. Then why was he the last to find Sheyan?
That’s because this Ent’s method of attacking is special. He must first attract enough insects to enslave in order to bring out his maximum power! He was like an aircraft carrier. An aircraft carrier did not possess any attacking strength by itself, but it would shake nations everywhere it went thanks to the lethality of the fighter jets it carried. (This is not an exaggeration. If America’s aircraft carrier appeared on the Yellow Sea or Bohai Gulf, China would definitely be on high alert.)
Once Sheyan was bitten by the mosquito, he was already on alert. However, the ferocity of the enemy’s attack still caught him by surprise. A black carpet of mosquitoes and flies swarmed over in the blink of an eye, covering up the entire sky!
Such an attack left goosebumps all over him. Sure, he possess the formidable ‘Stronghold’ innate ability so a mosquito’s attack would only forcefully deduct 1 point of HP. But look at the sky. The black cloud of insects must contain over tens of thousands in number. So what if each of them only caused 1 point of compulsory damage? So what if he was immune to diseases and poisons (Poison Monarch’s hidden passive ability)? The only thing Sheyan could do was run away!
Of course, one of the best ways to defend against this attack was to start a fire with a pile of grass to smoke the insects while covering his entire body with mud. The most effective way would be to spray them with a flamethrower! Or, he could directly deal with the Leaping Ent.
Among the methods that Sheyan could think of, the simplest was to burrow into the ground and cover himself up with soil like a mouse; quick and convenient. Although these poisonous insects were huge and ferocious, there was no way they could dig.
However, unless Sheyan had the ability to make tunnels and travel underground, he would only be digging his own grave, because once Treebeard arrived, all it would take was one stomp to kill Sheyan.
Sheyan’s only AoE attack was to throw a curse-mix. It would produce a shockwave that would damage and stun the surrounding enemies. The damage would be pretty significant too.
The problem is, the cooldown of this ability was thirty seconds. Not to mention that if he wanted to make a curse-mix now, Sheyan would have to exchange for materials from the nightmare realm. The price would be astronomical; each bottle of curse-mix would cost over 7000 utility points.
Sheyan also had the ‘Grow’ ability, but he did not dare to use the skill before he obtained the Golden Fruits because he did not have enough natural magic to cover the aura of the Grown Creatures. Now, he didn’t have the time to use the skill because he’s constantly on the run….
Sheyan still tried his luck with a curse-mix throw, but the poisonous insects seemed to be able to sense the danger. They took the initiative to fly upwards to avoid the shockwave. Although the shockwave formed by the curse-mix was an area of effect attack, it couldn’t reach a height of more than 2-3 meters. The result was that Sheyan used over 7000 utility points to strike down only less than 400 insects that couldn’t fly away in time.
“What bad luck…..” thought Sheyan while he gritted his teeth and ran. “Treebeard is so powerful. Even the summoned creatures from a divine art of his are already so formidable. If I meet him, won’t I die for sure?”
The swarm of poisonous insects quickly caught up with him. Although Sheyan ran as hard as he could, the humid and complex jungle terrain severely limited his speed. On the other hand, the insects could move unhindered through the air. The distance between them naturally shortened.
Hearing the buzzing noise behind him, Sheyan chopped down a small tree next to him and picked up the tree to use as a fly swatter. His swatting temporarily dispersed the group of insects following closely behind him, so he took the chance to immediately turn and flee.
The insects regrouped and altered their approach. They continued to give chase at a height of about 20 meters. It was apparent that they would until they reach right on top of Sheyan before swarming down on him.
Seeing this, Sheyan couldn’t help but think that the Ents in the forest of Fangorn were truly powerful, and they each had their own specialties. This kind of bombardment tactic using poisonous insects was a great example of that. Perhaps only contestants who had large 3D area of effect attacks could deal with this problem.
But these contestants normally have low survivability or low movement speed. They wouldn’t get past the javelin Ent from before. Therefore, this should be a place meant for large groups to explore. Someone who came here by themselves would die 99% of the time.
While Sheyan was having such thoughts, he could already hear the the insects above him diving down like fighter jets. A wave of sharp pains assaulted the back of his head and his body. The frenzy attack of the insects had begun.
Senyan grunted as his face turned pale. A black aura lingered on his left hand. The terrifying ‘Beast of Corrosion’ appeared again and quickly exploded in the air. The poisonous liquid possessed its own consciousness and intelligence. It could make its own choice based on the situation it faced. It turned into a black giant jellyfish and wrapped all the horrible insects inside itself, then proceeded to completely decay them.
Sheyan didn’t even stop to scratch the itches on his back after his attack succeeded. He instantly continued running away with heavy breaths.
Although the ‘Beast of Corrosion’ was extremely powerful, it was also a double-edged sword. Sheyan didn’t dare to use the ability anymore after the last strike because his remaining HP had already dropped below 500 points. If he activated the ability again, he might be the one to die first.
Moreover, Sheyan knew all too well that killing these insects was nothing to be happy about because he knew these insects did not attack him out of their own initiative. The source of the problem had not been not solved. The next wave of attack was probably already on its way.
The peculiarly-shaped Leaping Ent was always following Sheyan at a constant distance of two hundred meters. This was a very dangerous distance on the plains, but in the jungle, one can’t even see something fifty meters away, so the Ent could be said to be quite cautious.
When the flock of horrible insects were exterminated, the Leaping Ent laughed out loud. His voice was husky, as if there were stones rubbing against each other, and it contained an unusual harshness. As he chased after Sheyan, the gels in the two giant nests above his shoulders boiled up. Their scent grew stronger as they keep attracting more poisonous bugs. He shook his shoulders and from the tree nest on his left shoulder, a large group of black and gold striped giant bees flew out to head towards Sheyan’s direction.
Each of the giant bees was as big as a fist. Not only do they have a dark purple poisonous sting on their buttocks, but also sharp mouthpieces. When they fly, instead of making buzzing noises, they sounded as if they were bullets whistling through the air. Wherever they passed, the leaves were all blown in a chaotic manner; broken pieces if leaves scattered everywhere! They were like a dark, evil wind that weaved between the leaves of the forest, bringing destruction.
They soon saw their target – a human running away in panic. They could detect a weak but pure trace of the ‘Enemy of the Forest’ on him. They might not be able to sense it from far away, but from this distance, he shined as bright as a light in darkness.
They learned their lesson this time. They first hovered in the air above the enemy’s head before diving down. Actually, the best tactic for them should be to attack in batches of one hundred at a time, but the Ent who controlled them did not care about such details. The insects living in his tree nests were endless. As long as they were still in the forest, he did not lack attacking methods!
However, right at the moment when the ferocious giant bees swooped down, the soil scattered and a stout figure rushed out to stand in front of Sheyan. He roared at the sky and an invisible shockwave spread out in all directions. The shield held by the figure also glowed brightly, ready to be unleashed anytime. That’s right, Reef had arrived with his ‘Cardiac Shattering Roar’!
The blistering wind caused the vicious giant bees to fall down. Some even exploded in the air, filling the sky with a yellow slurry.
It wasn’t their fault that their bodies were weak; it was just the way it was with this type of attack. Their numbers were staggering to begin with, and their attacks even carried a certain amount of poison. If the insects also had high defence and HP, then would anyone have a chance against them? This type of Ents would be enough to scare away the Elves and humans anywhere they went, and they may even dominate Middle Earth.
The Leaping Ent could sense that the assassination squad he sent out had been wiped out once again. He grinned and shook his shoulders again. This time, palm-sized moths flew out from the tree nests. The pattern on their wings look like ghost eyes that would blink when the wings flapped. It was a horrifying sight.
The moth do not carry any sharp or poisonous weapons, but their fat bellies contained a terrible destructive power. They’re like a combination of the Zerg’s scourges and banelings. When they were hunted by birds, they would spray a poisonous gas to scare the enemies away. If they got desperate, they would self-destruct to hurt the enemies.
It could be seen that the Ent had a very sharp tactical mind. After the first two batches of insects that he dispatched were annihilated, he immediately determined that the enemy’s MO was to wait for the insects to gather before launching a devastating attack. Therefore, this time he dispatched the ghost-eye moths. As long as they got close, they would pose a dangerous threat regardless of whether they were killed!
However, right when the ghost-eye moths were released, a violent fluctuation of magic could be felt to the west of the Leaping Ent. The Ent turned around to find a human vigorously waving his staff while chanting a spell. The Ent was prepared to dodge but a large black cobweb at least 20 square meters in size appeared out of nowhere and fell on him.
Rank 2 Arcane art – ‘Web’ !
As soon as the cobweb appeared, it directly trapped and stuck onto the ghost-eye moths that had not yet flown away. Although the moths blew themselves up, it was in vain. It was akin to using fists to fight mud. One would only splash oneself with mud but wouldn’t make a hole in the mud.
A strong flame magic began to gather on the human’s staff. Ents were weak against fire so they were extremely sensitive to this kind of spells. The Ent immediately tried to use his quantum leap ability to escape. With this ability, he could easily free himself from the constraints of the cobweb.
The quantum leap ability of the Ents was, in actual fact, a nature-type spell. The Ents just turned this spell into a natural talent, just like the way fire elementals were born with fire resistance, but this can also be achieved with high-level Arcane arts.
When it came to nature-type spells, there was another race who were not at all inferior to the Ents!
A slender figure suddenly appeared next to the human mage! The Leaping Ent saw the slender figure quietly raise her hand towards him, an ordinary-looking ring on her finger shining dazzlingly bright!
This Leaping Ent stiffened amidst the brilliance, as he felt the power of nature in the surrounding disappearing in an instant! How could he leap, then? A fish that can perform all kinds of difficult moves like the Thomas salto in water would be useless without water.
The Ent was prepared to step elegantly into the void, but when the light shined, he immediately stiffened because he had nothing to use to make the leap. He fell to the ground and ate a mouthful of mud. The Ent had no hands to help it maintain balance so it’s extremely difficult for him to get up again.
The Leaping Ent felt a great sense of crisis. With his will, poisonous insects swarmed out from the two tree nests on his shoulders that were already extremely tilted by now. In that critical moment, Franklin completed the chant for the Rank 3 ‘Great Fireball’ spell. This was the most effective offensive spell in the early stages of the Evocation school of magic. In addition to that, Franklin had casted ‘Maximize Spell’ beforehand, which increased the power of the ‘Great Fireball’ significantly but also prolonged the casting time.
A huge fireball with a diameter of more than three meters was hurled towards the Ent with a heavy, low-pitched buzz. The edge of the fireball actually glowed white hot. One could imagine how high its temperature was. Let alone getting hit by it, even the leaves that were five meters away from the fireball wilted and fell down with burnt edges.
If leaves with moisture in them suffered such fate, imagine how fiercely the dry wings of the insects burned. If one were to observe the scene from afar, they would see a Leaping Ent who was trapped in a cobweb trying to escape with a quantum leap, but fell to the ground after failing miserably. But from the nests on his shoulders, two swarms of poisonous insects instantly flew out and gathered in the air like a dark cloud. Then, a huge fireball approached and the dark cloud dispersed, and fell like rain. After that…the fireball reached its target and a devastating explosion occurred!
The ‘Great Fireball’ was the most powerful spell before the appearance of high rank spells. Franklin had also applied ‘Maximize Spell’ to increase its power by 25%.
Besides that, targets trapped by the ‘Web’ spell would also take an extra 25% of fire damage.
Leaping Ents were the more fragile species among the Ents to begin with. In addition to that, they were also weak to fire. All these factors accumulated to result in a horrible ending for the Ent!
A loud boom reverberated!
The gigantic fireball erupted into a large mushroom cloud. An area dozens of meters around the Ent burned in a sea of blazing flames. Massive heat waves evaporated the moisture of the fertile soil to form a transparent glass-like material on the surface. Sheyan had to take 7 or 8 steps back from the heat while protecting his face with his hands.
Everyone thought that the dust had settled, but the Leaping Ent was still not dead! He jumped out of the flames as his whole body emitted crackling noises while he burned. He croaked and squeaked and screamed and rolled away on the ground.
He did not seem to have any other means of attacking besides using the insects. Therefore, the natural selection during his path of evolution should be primarily focused on features to increase his mobility, and secondarily, on strengthening his survivability. His bark kept secreting out a gel-like substance that would extinguish the fire wherever it flowed. His running speed was also really fast. It wouldn’t be long before he rushed out from the burning area.
But at that moment, the string of a bow lightly hummed. The Leaping Ent fell to the ground, then ran for a few more steps before he suddenly paused. His legs loosened into roots which deeply engraved themselves into the earth as he turned into a charred tree. Next, a seemingly vibrant green spot of light flew out from the tree, then scattered in the air, vanishing without a trace.
A silent arrow from Melody denied the Leaping Ent his last chance for survival. It also disrupted Treebeard’s subsequent follow-up move!
For ten minutes, Sheyan ran hard with Reef supporting him even though his lungs felt like they were stuffed with burning coals.
Although Sheyan had meticulously planned beforehand to let Party Ace’s members come pick him up, he could never have expected Treebeard to go berserk and transform into a giant Ent. Every step Treebeard took was equivalent to the distance they traveled in five minutes!
Fires still raged everywhere in the forest of Fangorn. In fact, the situation was so severe that almost half the forest was being threatened by fire. Thick smoke covered the sky. Despite that, the raging Treebeard kept his attention firmly on Sheyan.
In order to rescue Sheyan as fast as possible, Reef and co. penetrated deeply into the interior of the Fangorn Forest under the cover of natural spells. It had now become the deadliest place.
Sheyan’s only chance was to flee to Isen River next to the forest of Fangorn and get into the water. In the water, the huge size of Treebeard would become his biggest disadvantage.
Sheyan’s HP slowly recovered under Melody’s ‘Rejuvenation’ spell. After he recovered nearly 50% of his HP, he suddenly stopped and turned back to face the giant Ent that was chasing after them with large steps. He fiercely bared his teeth, his eyes fierce, as he said, “Stop running. We won’t make it. In the jungle, there’s no way we can outrun the Ent!”
Sheyan pulled Melody close and gave her a deep kiss, then he embraced Reef and Franklin. He gritted his teeth and said, “I have a way to buy us some time. If it doesn’t work, then we can only fight to the death!”
What happened next gave Treebeard a headache. Among the group of bugs he’s chasing, a single person separated from the team and ran in a different direction. The aura of the Golden Fruit was strong on the person.
The problem was, this little bug fled towards the north while the others fled towards the east.
Treebeard hesitated for a bit, then decided to chase after the little bug with the distinct aura of the Golden Fruit. After wasting some time, Treebeard managed to catch up to him. The Ent stepped on him but the guy simply burst like a bubble.
Because he’s merely an illusion.
Sheyan asked Franklin to produce an illusion of himself and let the illusion run away while carrying one Golden Fruit.
Because the Golden Fruit was not put into the personal space, Treebeard could naturally sense it more clearly. It caused him to make the wrong choice.
When Treebeard retrieved the Golden Fruit, he refused to wait until it fully matured. He immediately absorbed it, then further pulled in dozens of big trees to enlarge his body. He became even fiercer and his roar got louder as it rang through the sky.
Currently, there were two Golden Fruits remaining in Sheyan’s possession. Reef and Franklin, being contestants, could not absorb them, but Melody and Ferrell might be able to. This was especially true in the case of Mr. Ferrell. In fact, the Ent could sense the aura drifting from the Golden Fruit absorbed by Sheyan. He kept looking at Sheyan in envy.
Sheyan was already seeing red. Regardless of whether they could survive this, he had no intention of spitting out the things that had entered his hands! He threw one Golden Fruit to Mr. Ferrell, and another to Melody.
Mr. Ferrell swallowed the fruit without hesitation. He rubbed his belly in satisfaction. And that was it. The aura of the Golden Fruit completely disappeared in his stomach.
Senyan observed for a long time but found no changes in the Ent. He couldn’t help but ask Mr. Ferrell about it. Mr. Ferrell looked at him like he was looking at an idiot. “Mr. Protector, this is the strongest and purest power of Treebeard. How could I possibly consume it all right away? I naturally covered up its aura first.”
Melody held the fruit in her left hand. The glow from the Ring of Air was enough to hide the Golden Fruit. She also had to slowly grind away at the power in the fruit.
Sheyan looked towards the giant figure of Treebeard who was once again approaching them. He took a deep breath, then inexplicably rushed towards the giant Ent! While he was charging, Franklin waved his staff and once again created a vivid illusion of Sheyan. The illusion even copied the faint aura of the Golden Fruit on Sheyan’s body.
The two Sheyan were separated by a distance of about five hundred meters. They both made suicidal charges towards Treebeard like moths rushing to a flame!
Since the aura of the two remaining Golden Fruits had completely disappeared, Sheyan, who still had the aura of the Golden Fruit remaining on his body, naturally became Treebeard’s target.
The giant Ent looked down at him from a height of several hundred meters. His eyes were as big as train compartments and they were currently squinting in hatred like the eyes of a ferocious shark, ready to tear the enemy into pieces!
Sheyan and his doppelganger ran forward in an ‘8’ shaped path, constantly crossing each other and maintained a perpetually changing distance between themselves. The furious Treebeard did not care about this. For him, it was very easy to get rid of these two little bugs. The only thing he had to think about was whether he could kill both of them with one stomp….
It didn’t take long for both Sheyans to enter the attack range of Treebeard at the same time….they just happened to cross each other at this moment. Treebeard, of course, wished to end it fast. He lifted his enormous foot and stomped down.
The Treebeard right now was a giant surpassing a hundred meters in height. One stomp of his foot felt like a plummeting 30-storey tall building that collapsed after a plane crashed into it. The intimidating momentum was completely devastating for ordinary people. Most people would have been scared to death before they were even trampled on.
Treebeard had stomped down right at the instant when the two overlapped. However, when his feet were still hanging in the air, Sheyan kicked his doppelganger hard. Both of them flew out to the left and right!
Sheyan had planned this kick well beforehand, so they managed to barely avoid the enemy’s attack. Treebeard’s big feet that was woven together from countless roots stepped on an empty ground and made the earth tremble. Tons of soft and fertile soil was squeezed out from the ground, then fell like a muddy rain within a few kilometers!
The sole of Treebeard’s feet was planted deep into the ground. He wasn’t too bothered that he missed. For him, it was like stepping on ants. Even if the first step missed, he could just step a few more times. The life of the ant was already in the bag in his opinion.
Little did he know that, even if Sheyan was an ant, he’s an extremely poisonous iron ant!
Sheyan, who had been flying out towards the side, suddenly reached out and pulled hard on the top branch of a tree that he passed by. He exerted some strength and dug his fingers deep into the wood. The tree was quite flexible. Even with such a strong force acting on it, it did not break. Instead, it was bent into a crescent like a fully drawn bow, then launched Sheyan back.
This time, as Sheyan flew back like a missile, his eyes burned with determination. A ball of black flame appeared in his left hand. The black flame was pulled by the soaring wind into various strange shapes before it bombarded into the bridge of Treebeard’s foot!
Treebeard didn’t even feel the hit. After struggling for a bit against the mud trapping his foot, he finally managed to pull his foot out. Sheyan left his doppelganger to attack Treebeard’s feet while he himself immediately ran away with a pale face after striking with ‘Beast of Corrosion’.
Treebeard certainly wouldn’t let the chance pass by. He once again stomped down on Sheyan’s doppelganger, and even crushed it a few more times just for fun! His booming laugh echoed through the forest.
Sheyan had already fled a considerable distance away. Even if Treebeard was to stomp down again with his foot, Sheyan was already beyond his reach.
Therefore, Treebeard turned to another method. He kicked out at Sheyan like he was kicking a soccer ball. Treebeard could clearly sense the extent of Sheyan’s strength. He knew that this kick would kill the little ant for sure.
Little did Treebeard know that his series of actions were all within the scope of Sheyan’s predictions. In fact, it could be said that Sheyan baited him into performing them! This sounded very simple, but in reality, Sheyan had totally exhausted his brain power to make sure the plan worked. He was gambling with his life on the line!
Fortunately, he once again won the bet.
Sheyan was, of course, kicked hard. Right after he was kicked, blood spurted out of Reef’s eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. This was naturally the effect of ‘Life-link’. Reef’s HP plummeted by about half even with the blessing of the Twilight Elf!
That was how ferocious Treebeard’s giant form was!
Think about it. Treebeard spent the spiritual power accumulated over thousands of years to construct this giant Ent. It had no magic, no long-range attacks, no innate abilities, no divine arts; the only advantages it had were that it’s big, it’s mean, and it moved fast! So if its attack wasn’t strong, why would Treebeard bother using this divine art?
Sheyan was kicked over 400 meters away and entered into a near-death protected state. He crashed into and broke countless trees along his flight. Melody frantically rushed over and threw a ‘Rejuvenation’ spell at him from far away.
Then Mr. Ferrell, the Battle Ent, hurried over, carried Sheyan up, and fled.
Treebeard couldn’t believe that the ant actually survived his hit. He once again strode forward in fury. He did not notice that some very bad signs had shown up on the part of his wooden foot that was hit by Sheyan. Large clusters of dark spots appeared. Dense tree tumors swelled up and then burst, emitting indescribable stench as some red spiders drilled in and out! Big chunks of decaying wood pried away and fell down!
The rotten surface on his foot got bigger with every step he took. The ‘Beast of Corrosion’ was different from other poisons. It could be considered a living bizarre creature that would keep producing negative effects until its life was exhausted.
The life of the ‘Beast of Corrosion’ ran out when the rot reached Treebeard’s ankle. If Sheyan had collected a few more diseases, Treebeard’s whole foot might have been severed.
Even so, it was enough. The fragile ankle could no longer bear the terrifying weight of the collosal body. It snapped off with a crunch!
Although Treebeard could feel no pain currently, when the huge body lost its support, it would naturally stumble. Treebeard was obviously too confident in his sturdy body. His expression remained full of confidence right up to the moment his face came into contact with the ground. Only then did he find out that his ankle was rotten beyond recognition!
Sheyan and his companions were still very close to Treebeard, but they kept getting further and further away….
Treebeard snarled furiously. With one swipe of his hand, he tore up dozens of trees which he stuffed into the wound. He got back up and continued his pursuit with a limp.
However, he only took a few steps before he fell again. The giant trees that made up Treebeard’s body were all spiritual woods from the core region of Fangorn Forest.They only grew that big and that strong after absorbing earth liquid. Using ordinary trees to repair Treebeard’s body was as reliable as using a wire to replace a fuse!
As the earth shattering roar behind them gradually grew distant, Sheyan could finally heave a sigh of relief. His voice was hoarse as he said.
“Seems like we’ve finally lost the damn monster.”
Mr. Ferrell, who was carrying Sheyan, said grimly.
“Treebeard….Lord Treebeard had his Golden Fruits taken from him, then proceeded to perform 4 super-ranked divine arts under his fury. I’m afraid he will fall into a thousand-year sleep now.”
Franklin asked.
“Didn’t he absorb back a Golden Fruit?”
Mr. Ferrell replied.
“The Golden Fruit had not fully matured after all. Without that Golden Fruit, the price he pays will be worse than a thousand-year sleep. He might have turned into a tree.”
Sheyan suddenly had a bit of malicious intent.
“Don’t you have a Golden Fruit now, Mr. Ferrell? Why don’t you give it to Lord Treebeard? Maybe he won’t need to hibernate then.”
The Battle Ent immediately avoided the topic. For him and his Uncle Sindalor, Treebeard being weakened and falling into a thousand-year sleep was definitely great news. He was only pretending to lament Treebeard’s fate, but Sheyan instantly blew his cover.
Reef suddenly asked in a serious tone.
“Boss, what about Saruman’s mission? You don’t have a Golden Fruit anymore.”
Sheyan sneered and said.
“My mission was to plunder the Golden Fruits; I wasn’t asked to hand them over to Saruman. I’ll deal with it.”
Sheyan then told Melody and Ferrell.
“If you can, you should absorb the Golden Fruit as soon as possible. The stronger you are, the better it is for me.”
Melody was adamant not to absorb the power of the Golden Fruit. She wholeheartedly wanted to transport to Sheyan’s world as soon as possible to live together with him, so her plan was to offer the Golden Fruit to Sin’dorei. The divine power of the Sun God Sin’dorei could influence dimensional teleportation.
On the other hand, Mr. Ferrell would gladly abide by Sheyan’s request. The only reason he had not gone up against Treebeard himself before was because he was too weak. He would have been completely suppressed by Treebeard on a mental level. He might have even been controlled in turn. Not to mention that he had changed bodies a few times since entering Fangorn Forest, so his spiritual body was in a rather weak state and was in need of recuperation.
He peacefully absorbed the power of the Golden Fruit under the protection of everyone. However, after a considerable amount of effort, Sheyan discovered that the Golden Fruit had only shrunk by less than one-seventh! Mr. Ferrell already showed severe cases of vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, and other irreversible symptoms. In contrast, the Stairway of the Sun could gobble down four Golden Fruits in such a short time. It’s might was apparent.
Even after escaping Treebeard’s threat, Sheyan’s group still had a difficult time.
Because they were still being hunted by other Ents!
Although Treebeard couldn’t catch up with them, when the fire in Fangorn Forest was put under control, Sheyan’s group immediately became the primary target for the Ents to chase and intercept. However, since they had started running before the Ents reacted, and because the kings of speed among the Ents, the Leaping Ents, were almost fully destroyed, Sheyan and co. successfully escaped the hunt and reached Isen River.
Sheyan also laid out several sinister ambushes while they were escaping. With the strengthened Mr. Ferrell attracting firepower, they managed to kill a few pursuers. That way, they managed to collect enough [Shattered Ent Hearts] for the hidden main storyline mission, ‘Isengard’s Hidden Dangers’.
Despite that, Sheyan was in no rush to complete the mission because the time limit for mission completion was an ample 20 days. Even knowing that completing the mission earlier would bring additional rewards, Sheyan didn’t care. What he lacked was time, not rewards.
But for the hidden branch mission, ‘Saruman’s Request’, he must hurry. The time limit of 9 days was fast approaching. More importantly, they had completed the request to plunder the Golden Fruits, but they had nothing to bring back to Saruman! The old man was a cruel and heartless one, not to mention extremely strong. It won’t be easy to fool him
However, seeing Sheyan’s confident expression, the rest of them didn’t want to bring his mood down. Sheyan asked them to wait outside Isengard while he meet with Saruman first. Sheyan didn’t feel anything towards Saruman at the moment because he had already found Saruman’s weaknesses, which were his greed and ambition!
Isengard was enveloped in a frenzied atmosphere.
A frenzied atmosphere motivated by money.
It was clear that the fires in the forest of Fangorn had stirred up the inhabitants and adventurers in Isengard. The fire would surely sweep through the forest. No one cares whether Fangorn Forest would remain after the fire – with 80 percent of Middle Earth covered in forests, who would care if there’s one less? The crucial point was that if the trees with spiritual energies in Fangorn Forest were burned down, it would lead to two things.
One, Saruman would definitely increase the purchase price of the spiritual woods.
Two, the area that the angered Ents had to protect would decrease. It would become even harder to obtain the woods in the future.
Which was why currently in Isengard there was a phenomenon of hoarding the woods of Fangorn Forest in order to maximize profits. Under the guidance of the official governing power of Isengard, intentionally or otherwise, the woods of Fangorn Forest had become synonymous with valuable luxury items. It was similar to the sky-high prices of Clivia, golden beavers, lilies and antiques during their waves of popularity in the 80’s and 90’s in the real world. The price of spiritual wood had far exceeded its actual value.
From this, one could see Saruman’s vicious intention. For example, in the real world, which item had a value that far exceeded its actual worth? Without a doubt, it’s banknotes! Banknotes were made of paper. The cost of making a hundred dollar bill was almost negligible, but its purchasing power was strong.
Saruman’s action of inflating the price of spiritual woods from Fangorn Forest created a situation so dangerous, it was akin to having a place in the real world where banknotes could be dug out. No doubt, after the price rose to a certain height, he could just sit back and watch as the Ents protecting the woods got flooded by an inexhaustible amount of humans who were blinded by greed.
In a timeline without Sheyan, the Treebeard that absorbed seven Golden Fruits was an invulnerable existence. The Fangorn Forest was as stable as Mt. Tai under his protection. But now, Treebeard had been severely weakened and had fallen into a deep sleep. There did not seem to be anything that could stop the adventurers from invading Fangorn Forest en masse and achieving the final victory.
Saruman had almost exhausted his wealth to achieve this, but it was completely worth it. He successfully swept away the biggest obstacle in his path to success. Although Saruman had not received any news from Sheyan yet, the magnificent fire in Fangorn Forest was clearly visible even from hundreds of miles away. The good news had caused Saruman to waste half an hour of his meditating time in the past two days because he couldn’t concentrate.
When Sheyan once again met with the most insidious and evil ruler in Isengard’s history, he was having dinner. The food he ate was not luxurious, but it was quite well-made.
The main dish was a half-done steak that seven teenage girls had tenderly massaged with their fingers for twelve hours before it was cooked.
(ED: This sounds so creepy for some reason..)
The bread for the side dish was baked with the fruit of a three-hundred-year-old bread tree.
(T/N note: Apparently that’s a thing in the LOTR world.)
The dip was a ruby-like chum salmon caviar.
His drink was an ordinary red wine with a touch of unicorn blood.
Saruman merely spared Sheyan a glance before he dug into the tender steak in front of him, as if the steak was far more important than Sheyan.
Sheyan smiled, unconcerned. He saw a piece of decoration made of armour beside him. He pushed down the armour and bluntly sat down. Then, he looked at Saruman with relish, as if he was the one enjoying the food.
With a person gazing at him like that, Saruman only persisted for a few minutes. He slammed the table, making various dishes fall to a ground, and shouted.
“Did I ask you to sit down?”
Sheyan merely shrugged his shoulders.
“You didn’t say I have to stand.”
With a wave of his hand, the dishes and table in front of Saruman vanished.
“Have you done what I asked?”
Sheyan smiled as he replied.
“Not only had I done it, I did it beautifully. Treebeard will not cause you any more problems – at least, he won’t for the next few hundred years. He has fallen into a deep slumber.”
Saruman’s raised his brow, but said emotionlessly.
“How would I know if you’re telling the truth? I can’t sense the aura of a Golden Fruit on you at all.”
“That’s because Golden Fruits do not exist in this world any longer,” Sheyan answered in a serious tone. “You task was too difficult, so I thought of a way to destroy those damn fruits. I brought this back as proof.”
Sheyan showed Saruman a bunch of wrinkled yellow things in his palm. They looked like bunched up old papers that were rubbed and put together.
Saruman frowned.
“What is this?”
Sheyan did not directly answer him. Instead, he shouted to a half-orc on the side.
“Bring me a basin of water!”
In the clear water, the thing slowly showed its true form. Saruman was stunned speechless. It was a Golden Fruit’s…. skin!!
After Sheyan’s ‘Stairway of the Sun’ had sucked dry a Golden Fruit, it left behind a thin layer of fruit skin. The skin was brought back by the tendril of the Stairway of the Sun. Sheyan now used it to complete his mission with Saruman.
Saruman was caught in a mixed feeling of shock, anger and regret. He asked.
“Why is there only the skin? Where’s the fruit?”
Sheyan pretended to be shocked as he replied.
“My lord! Do you expect me to be strong enough to snatch a Golden Fruit from Treebeard?! The few Leaping Ents he left in the central area of the forest was enough to kill me many times over. Anyway, I’ve proven that I’ve completed the mission. You’re not going to go back on your words, are you?”
Saruman remained silent for a moment, then walked away in anger. He threw a small notebook at Sheyan before he left. Sheyan read the notebook which showed a series of supplementary notes made by Saruman on his mixing technique. Finally, Sheyan got the notification from the nightmare imprint.
[You have completed the hidden branch mission: Saruman’s Request]
[Difficulty: Unknown]
[Time limit: 9 days]
[Mission summary: Retrieve Treebeard’s Golden Fruits before they fully mature, thus weakening Treebeard.]
[Mission objective: You have proven to Saruman that you managed to plunder a Golden Fruit]
[The following abilities are improved:]
[The buff of your gene-mix is increased from 8 attribute points.]
[The new increase will be 10% in all attributes. Furthermore, the increase in attribute will not be lower than 8 points.]
[Your Grown Creatures will gain an extra trait: Inheritance!]
[You can specify one base attribute of your Grown Creature to gain a bonus of 50% of your own attribute.]
(For example, the base attributes of an Uruk-hai grown by Sheyan were all 30 points. Sheyan could designate the physique of this Uruk-hai to receive the bonus. The bonus would be (Senyan’s current physique of 49 points/2) = 24.5 points.)
Seeing how hungry Saruman was for a Golden Fruit, Sheyan could not help but feel some regret. He guessed that if he could offer a Golden Fruit to Saruman, then there should be a follow-up mission, and the reward of the follow-up mission should be quite generous. Sheyan noticed that Saruman only offered the Golden Fruit mission after obtaining Elrond’s Illusion Bone Crystals. Maybe a Golden Fruit was required to activate the crystals! It’s hard to know which one’s the cause and which one’s the effect.
However, for Sheyan, the rewards he missed out on was not important anymore. The most important thing was the four Golden Fruits absorbed by the ‘Stairway of the Sun’, and the evolved ability ‘Poison Monarch : Beast of Corrosion’. It’s obvious that this ability was at least S-grade.
Saruman was a mage, so his rewards wouldn’t be better than an S-rank ability. No matter how Sheyan thought about it, he couldn’t think of a better possible reward than evolving the ‘Pestilence Monarch’. Besides, Saruman wasn’t a very reliable person. He would have no qualms with burning bridges after using them.
So after contemplating for a bit, Sheyan felt that he made the best choice. He knew that he was no longer of much use to Saruman, so as soon as he left the Tower of Orthanc, he wasted no time in meeting up with his team and leaving Isengard through the teleport formation.
That was no doubt a very sensible move. When the Uruk-hai, Lurtz received Saruman’s order to “teach them a lesson”, they’ve already long left.
Lurtz was so angry his blood veins almost popped. He was free to move within Isengard under Saruman’s protection and magic disguise, but if he chased after them through the teleport formation, his identity would be exposed for sure. It would be like a guy in kimono suddenly appearing in the midst of an anti-Japan protest. The result would be obvious. The Uruk-hai had never had a great reputation after all. He could only roar a few times to vent his anger.
What Lurtz didn’t know was that Reef and Franklin had only teleported away for a short while before returning to Isengard again. They would team up in the near future to complete their next mission.
Meanwhile, Sheyan teleported to the picturesque and warm Shire. The gentle lute sounds and adorable architectural styles had left a deep impression on him, not to mention the good stuff in the magic item stores here. Melody’s companionship was nice too.
However, these were all not the most important reason for him to come the Shire. The real reason was because there was a problem with the ‘Stairway of the Sun’.
After the ample energy from the Golden Fruits were absorbed by the ‘Stairway of the Sun’, it naturally evolved. The result of the evolution was that the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ changed from a peculiar half-plant, half-animal creature, into extreme forms. It could now interchange between a plant form and an animal form. This greatly enhanced Sheyan’s strength.
But everything in this world had two sides. Sheyan received a great benefit from the ‘Stairway of the Sun’, but he must also bear the consequences. He could already feel the signs of his body gradually unraveling.
The fundamental reason for this was hard to explain, but to put it simply, the soul of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ had dissolved. It was akin to being in a coma. It currently functioned as an organ in Sheyan’s body. The organ had now obtained enough nutrition, but without a soul guiding it, it could only grow instinctively. That became a major problem for Sheyan.
The only one who could help Sheyan was Melody. Lucky for him, Melody should be very willing to help. During their stay in the Shire, Melody used various valuable magical materials and a large amount of divine arts to slowly regulate Sheyan’s body.
She even tried to slowly implant a nurtured soul embryo into the ‘Stairway of the Sun’. The soul embryo was derived from the soul fragment of a deceased female Elven mage. She was also a Fanatic believer of Sin’dorei who was willing to sacrifice everything for him. It let the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ regain control of itself.
By the time the limit ended, Sheyan’s body had stabilised. He could interchange at will between the ‘Pestilence Monarch’ and the ‘Poison Monarch’. There was a price to pay, of course. Each time he changed from one to the other, he had to use 30% of his current HP.
The levels of all abilities under ‘Pestilence Monarch’ had also increased by 1.
More importantly, because the soul embryo in the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ had begun to sprout, an extra slot was unlocked for the rank 3 diseases of Sheyan’s ‘Pestilence Monarch’. It meant that he could get the 3rd disease without spending any utility points, achievement points or potential points. He only had to pass the test of the disease. In addition, the disease will get a level 2 bonus right away.
According to Melody, the soul embryo needed a large amount of soul energy after it sprouted, so if Sheyan could seize the souls of other strong creatures, he should take every opportunity to do so. The more the soul embryo grew, the more slots it would unlock, and the more benefits Sheyan would gain.
As the time limit of 20 days approaches, Sheyan reluctantly accepted a piece of ‘shattered Ent heart’ from Melody. Reef and Franklin had long completed this mission. There were also a series of follow-ups, but Sheyan was busy cultivating with Melody so he didn’t have the time to do them. He could only give up on them regretfully.
After the confirmation of handling over the mission item, he received these notifications:
[You have completed the hidden main storyline mission: Isengard’s Hidden Dangers]
[Difficulty: Unable to evaluate]
[Time limit: 20 days]
[Mission summary: Since you have chosen the hidden faction of Saruman, then you should provide some service for this faction.]
[Mission objective: You have obtained a piece of shattered Ent heart]
[You receive 10,000 utility points and 1 achievement point]
Sheyan knew that to obtain the perfect reward for this hidden main storyline mission, he must undoubtedly obtain all three of the mission items ‘black dorsal fin of water monster’, ‘Dunlending golden tooth’ and ‘shattered Ent heart’.
But a lot of times, knowing something and doing it were two different things! Sheyan’s body was about to unravel. How could he leave to collect more mission items?
The strict nightmare realm didn’t care about his situation. It dished out a strict punishment for his lackadaisical attitude. The mere reward of 10,000 utility points and 1 achievement point was proof of that.
The next thing that happened was also within Sheyan’s expectation. The realm was very dissatisfied with his performance, so it wished for Sheyan to scram from this world instead of enjoying his life here. He was ordered to return to the nightmare realm within an hour.
On the other hand, Reef and Franklin, with the reminder of the “recuperating” Sheyan, perfectly completed the mission. They were now at the last step. They estimated they would stay in this world for 2 or 3 more days. With the help of Melody and Mr. Ferrell, completing the mission should not be a problem. Their rewards should be pretty handsome.
Sheyan kissed the teary-eyed Melody and chose to return. A door made of light appeared behind him. Under normal circumstances, the contestant had to step into the door. But this time, it was the other way around. The door swallowed Sheyan like the mouth of a giant beast.
Sheyan floated in the universal dimension, then watched the playback of some familiar scenes. He took parts in some major events in this world, such as the death of Elrond, the change in Rivendell’s ruler, the capturing of the Balrog, the intrusion of the Ocean-freak of Moria, Treebeard falling into slumber, and Saruman obtaining the Illusion Bone Crystals of an Elf. All these caused great changes to the plot.
These events, of course, were not caused by Sheyan alone. Without the Stockholm Party injuring Elrond beforehand and without them assembling the Ringwraiths, there was no way Sheyan could do all this. He was merely following the flow; he didn’t expect things to get out of hand. Melody getting Vilya, the Ring of Air was her own initiative at grasping her opportunity.
The following messages appeared in the air:
[Setting: The world of the Lord of the Rings]
[Difficulty: A+ (Top tier existences such as Treebeard and the Ringwraiths were involved after all)]
[Pain limitation: 50%]
[Additional capabilities boost: 0%]
[Current setting exploration rate: 31.21%]
[Mission exploration rate: 7%]
[Mission completion score: D+ (You barely met the requirement to complete the hidden main storyline mission)]
[Reward analysis: You obtained 1 + 1 free attribute point(s) (+1 legend level bonus). You currently have 2 free attribute points. Please allocate them to your base attributes as soon as possible. Otherwise, idle free attribute points would still be factored into difficulty calculations. You have reached the attribute boundary; please take the Growth-Hunter test as soon as possible.]
[ Mission exploration rate / mission completion score reward: 17,000 + 1,814 utility points (Silver party leader reward), 10 potential points, 9 + 1 achievement points (+1 legend level bonus) ]
Sheyan was already mentally prepared to receive such a bad evaluation, but the extra ten achievement points should be due to the realm’s recognition of the dramatic changes he made in the plot. However, a notification he received afterwards made him speechless. The realm discovered that there was residue of the ‘Enemy of the Forest’ imprint on his body. Even though there was very little left, it was still discovered by the realm’s quarantine rules, and he must cleanse it. The important thing was that he must pay for the service!
Sheyan cursed non-stop as his wallet was put to the slaughter. After all that was done, his vision gradually blurred as he return to the nightmare realm.
Sheyan didn’t go to rest after he returned to the realm because he was already on a holiday in the Shire before he came back. He felt so fresh right now that he could immediately fight a battle of wits and brawns with anyone.
First, he contacted Mogensha….but there was no response. That could mean two things. Either he hadn’t completed his Growth-Hunter advancement mission, or he had completed it and had gone back to the real world. If he had died, the party should have been notified.
Next, Sheyan contacted Zi. No response there either.
Sheyan suddenly found himself having nothing to do. He had already enquired before; if he wanted to take the boundary test, he must apply within 3 days the next time he entered the nightmare realm.
So Sheyan contacted his crew in the Pirates of the Caribbean world. Those scoundrels on the Dingyuan were still loyal to their captain and were very respectful to him. Sheyan reminded them to be careful of Davy Jones. What Sheyan did with Paul must have made him feel very, very offended. Sheyan couldn’t rule out the possibility of Davy Jones venting his anger on Sheyan’s subordinates.
Sheyan contemplated for a bit and walked to the realm’s appraisal room. Something had been bugging him for quite a while now but he had no way of investigating it in the previous world. He took out an extremely ordinary nut (as in the one used with a bolt) from his personal space. Unlike how it looked, the description of the nut was not ordinary at all.
[This item marks the beginning of a magnificent mission. After using it, you will obtain a mission with an E difficulty rating, that has a Realm evaluation of a ‘Golden Side Mission’! What are you waiting for?]
That’s right, this was the object Drubal of Stockholm Party used to ransom for his life. The mysterious nut.
Sheyan placed the nut on a platform and asked the realm to appraise it.
It didn’t take long for the appraisal result to appear. There was only 1 line.
[Please enter the Terminator world to find out the origin of this nut.]
Sheyan was dumbfounded for a moment before he proceeded to the appointment room upstairs to exchange the 5 Tear Stones of the Balrog he got from Drubal for 15 achievement points. Next, he waited a while for Reef and Franklin but they showed no signs of returning anytime soon, so he returned to the real world.
In the real world, Sheyan checked on the ability of ‘Pestilence Monarch’. ‘Pestilence Monarch’ must obtain new diseases in the real world in order to strengthen itself, so the notifications only appeared now.
[Your Pestilence Monarch ability has evolved. Rank 3 disease slot unlocked.]
[Inputting environmental data. Commencing information sampling….]
[Information sampling completed. Data analysis was successful.]
[Hint: The host can choose one disease from the following list to undergo sampling infection, and thereby control an evolved infection form of bronchitis.]
[A. Emphysema]
[B. Common pneumonia]
[C. Tuberculosis]
[D. Asthma]
[Hint: the disease you choose to control will affect the subsequent branch in the skill tree ]
[The characteristics, infectiousness, and treatment difficulty of the disease you choose will reflect onto the effect shown by the modified A-virus. Please choose carefully!]
[There is no time limit for this choice. Please choose after careful consideration.]
Sheyan felt that enduring up to bronchitis was his limit the last time, but his HP had undergone tremendous growth now. He had the confidence to withstand the assault of a rank 3 disease.
Sheyan collected a large amount of information and felt that he understood these diseases better now. He speculated the development of these 4 branches to be as such:
Option A: The ultimate evolution for this option should be the pulmonary heart disease. It would cause suffering for the enemy’s heart and lungs.
Option B: The evolved form should be atypical pneumonia.
Option C: This should be a special case. Sheyan speculated that if he chose option C, the skill tree branch would end here. However, the rank 3 ability of tuberculosis should be capable of reaching a very high level. It would present a huge early advantage but may be weaker in later stages compared to the ultimate diseases of the other branches, but not by too much.
Option D: Sheyan personally consulted a doctor about this. The doctor contemplated for a long time before telling him that prolonged asthma may cause cancer.
Sheyan chose option B. He had a pretty good impression of atypical pneumonia so he had always been working towards this target. The current Sheyan may have some need for the ‘Pestilence Monarch’ ability, but it’s not like he couldn’t survive without it. That’s why Sheyan would be willing to sacrifice a bit of present strength in return for a stronger ability in the future.
Next on the agenda would be to activate the A-virus’ phagocytosis, replication, and improvement.
This is a powerful move with a cooldown time of 7 days. Moreover, even after activation, the desired genetic code might not be successfully replicated.
That’s because the realm gave a notification after Sheyan chose option B that only the pneumonia resulting from a pneumococcus infection of the lungs could be considered common pneumonia. Infections from other bacterias wouldn’t count! Sheyan originally planned to continuously catch colds while suppressing his defence and immunity until he caught pneumonia, but from the looks of it learning a rank 3 ability wasn’t that easy. The infection must be from a specific type of bacteria.
Only after checking the internet did he know there are various causes of infections for common pneumonia. The most common was of course pneumococcus, but other bacterias such as staphylococcus aureus, streptococcus A, klebsiella pneumoniae, haemophilus influenzae, pseudomonas aeruginosa, E. coli, P. aeruginosa, etc. could also cause common pneumonia.
This meant that even if Sheyan got lucky and caught pneumonia, if it wasn’t caused by pneumococcus, then he would have suffered in vain!
“What the hell!” moaned Sheyan. At first, he thought that with the growth in his strength, a mere rank 3 disease would only make him feel uncomfortable. Only now did he know it’s not that simple.
Fortunately, after meeting with Zi, he had gone back to Taiwan where he had some contacts. He thought for a bit before making some calls. In the end, he found an illegal clinic.
The illegal clinic had a convenient store front. The owner of the clinic was a doctor before this, but his license was revoked due to taking bribes. When the owner was short on cash, he would provide his services to the people from the underground world. The services include treating wounds that might bring troubles should they be treated at a hospital, such as knife wounds and gun wounds. He had no other bad reputation besides being a money-grubber. As long as one was willing to pay, one would generally leave satisfied.
Sheyan went to the clinic owner, then threw out a stack of cash and a large blade for him to choose. The owner could see that Sheyan was someone merciless, so of course he chose the cash. He passionately enquired Sheyan’s reason for coming here. Sheyan told him that his boss wanted to punish an underling who made fun of the boss’ coughing and illness. He wanted the owner to find a way to make the underling catch a severe cold too.
Thanks to the cash, the owner told Sheyan everything he wanted to know. Sheyan said that his boss was diagnosed with pneumonia from a pneumococcus infection, so he insisted that the underling must be infected with the same kind of illness….that’s a quirk of his.
The owner was a bit dumbfounded. It was the first time he met someone who asked for a specific disease. But, well, money talks. He immediately came up with an idea for Sheyan. Send him to live with people diagnosed with pneumococcal pneumonia in the hospital and let him stay hungry most of the time. That should increase his chances of getting infected.
The owner’s suggestion made Sheyan feel disheartened because he must go back to the hospital after all. The good thing was that his a lot stronger now so he felt that he didn’t need anyone’s help. He confidently walked down his path of getting infected.
With the special ability of Babu-Babusar, Sheyan reduced his immunity to zero. Following the illegal doctors advice, he first caught a cold, then let it became a pneumonia. Sheyan looked expectantly at the two fellow patients around him, hoping to share their joy. They were both being treated for pneumococcal pneumonia. Sheyan expended a lot of effort to get them into the same room.
After a while, Sheyan helplessly sneezed while he was standing next to the window. His initial excitement had subsided by now. He was not feeling much pressure because all signs indicated that things were coming along just as planned. He would first stand in the wind and catch a cold, then slowly advance it into a pneumonia. He had 7 days to do this anyway so he wouldn’t rush things. He would take his sweet time to make sure he got things just right.
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