Chapter 3

The infighting between the three teams ended peacefully due to their alliance. Zheng used the energy storage rune words to exchange after discussing with his team. In the end, team China gained another set of rune word combination and an all new use with formation.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have the material to try the effect of this formation.” Zheng said.

His Explosion and Destruction were extremely powerful. No one could come out intact from his attacks in Destruction as of yet but these two abilities had fatal flaws. They consumed huge quantity of his Qi and blood energy and put great strain on his body.

“The Chaotic Unity Qi’s attribute is being neutral. It has one of the highest regeneration rate among all the Qi and can regenerate all my Qi in under ten hours. Blood energy takes a little longer. However, if this formation can really increase their regeneration rate tens of times higher, then I will only need under an hour to recover after using Destruction. That will overcome the biggest restriction of my abilities.” Zheng said excitedly.

They were on team China’s camping area, not far away from Frodo’s house. The other two teams also settled down on a flat area. Zheng handed two documents to Xuan for him to verify their integrity.

“They are real. The duration of this formation is based on the quality of the energy stones used. Rank C energy stones of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth will give a duration of three days and nights. Rank D energy stones only gives five hours but costs five rank D rewards. We should try to find replacements for the stones. It’s too lavish to exchange stones with ranked rewards.” Xuan calmly said and killed Zheng’s excitement.

Zheng opened his mouth but couldn’t utter a word. In the end, he smiled bitterly. They didn’t have so many ranked rewards to exchange the stones, and even if they did, that would be too wasteful.

“Oh right!” Zheng suddenly remembered and said with excitement. “Didn’t the team Northern Ice Land leader said the serpent gave them a rank C energy stone? That means many monsters in this world have cores or something. We need to slaughter as many as we can in the remaining plot!”

Gandalf returned to Hobbiton by evening of the same day. He rushed into Frodo’s house. Frodo also left the hotel and returned to his house in a wobbling fashion shortly after. The three teams knew Gandalf would learn the true identity of the ring soon. The plot was about to begin.

The newbies didn’t look concerned. The veterans though became serious. Experience taught them the beginning of a movie tend to be peaceful but the more peaceful it was, the more danger was to come. The Lord of the Rings was a fifteen people difficulty, enough to kill the majority of players.

The conversation between Gandalf and Frodo lasted very long. They examined the ring, packed their clothes, and caught Samwise Gamgee eavesdropping on them. Two hours later, the three characters came out of Frodo’s house.

Gandalf immediately walked toward Zheng’s group. There was no bag of coins this time. This old wizard was a lot taller than Zheng. He seemed like six feet.

“I apologize that I may have another task to ask of you. I hope you can escort these two boys to The Prancing Pony in Bree. They might get attacked on the journey. I need you to protect their safety. I will wait for you at the inn as well as give you the pay there. Rest assure that you will definitely feel contented with the pay.” Gandalf took off his hat and said with a serious expression.

Gungnir shrugged, letting Zheng do the talking. Neos kept eating chocolate. Zheng replied. “We accept this task. We will keep them safe until they reach The Prancing Pony. Don’t worry.”

Gandalf took a good look at Zheng then at the people behind. Several seconds later, he walked back to the two Hobbits and said something. The two Hobbits looked over at the players and Gandalf got on a horse then left.

“Gandalf told us he’s going to look for the white wizard and explain the situation concerning the One Ring. However, he will be waiting for us in The Prancing Pony.” Frodo said.

The way outside Hobbiton was a field of green and lush forests. Many newbies exclaimed at the scenery. It was difficult to find such beautiful sceneries on Earth while they were everywhere in this world.

The Hobbits were small but they were not slow in the forest paths. Their feet looked bigger than a normal person. The newbies in contrast started crying after two hours. Their stamina was worse than the Hobbits.

None of the teams were familiar with the way. Luckily Frodo and Sam were locals. Six hours later, they came to an open area with lots of arms.

“I… I can’t move anymore. Everyone let’s take a rest here.” A fatty from team Africa about twenty-four cried as he dropped down on the grass.

The others looked over to him. Over ten newbies started talking in low voices. Some even sat down like the fatty did.

Hawfor yelled. “Look at you being worse than the Hobbits. Lan even used power word endurance on you. Get the fuck up!”

Fatty took off his dress shoes. His socks were torn from friction and his feet were painted with blood. He cried. “I really can’t walk anymore. This is the first time I walked so much. I am not like you veterans that enhanced so many points. You are much stronger than a normal person. What about us? I don’t know about other people but I am only an editor in a news agency. I sit in an office everyday. I never walked so much in my life!”

The Hobbits came over. They were a kind race. Seeing fatty’s feet were wounded, Sam said. “We have indeed walked far. It will be the furthest I have gone away from home if we go past this farm field. It’s ok to break your skin. You will grow callus then you can walk further the next time. Frodo, see if you can find Green Star Grass around here.” Sam began searching the grass.

The group had to stop now that the Hobbits stopped. The veterans also felt tired from walking nearly six hours nonstop. Most of them found a place to sit down. The two Hobbits brought back a large pile of grass and the newbies went over to them.

Zheng breathed out then said to the other two leaders. “We will rest here then. Everyone looks a little tired.”

Gungnir nodded with a smile. Neos took out another piece of chocolate. He said as he unwrapped it. “Is this the farm furthest from Sam’s house? Then it will be safe here. Fine. Everyone rest for half an hour.”

The newbies cheered now that the leaders agreed to rest. Even some veterans went over to the Hobbits since the newbies said the grass had a cooling sensation and got rid of their pain and fatigue. The veterans were interested.

Zheng was looking for a place to sit down when he suddenly heard sound of horses from not far away. A chilling aura spread from the tall grass and a black horse walked out. A knight in black was sitting on the horse.

“Ringwraith! It’s a Ringwraith!”

The three people nearest to the grass were newbies. One from team Norther Ice Land and two from team Africa. They were smearing the Green Star Grass juices on their feet when the knight came out and cried. At the same time, a black shadow sliced across and a head flew upward.

The other two people were stunned as they saw a head flew off. Blood from the person’s neck sprayed outward and these two people screamed. They were a man and a woman. The woman displayed much more ferociously even though she seemed like a weak woman in her early twenties. She jumped up and stepped on the man’s leg. It wasn’t until after she had gone four meters was he able to get up. However, that was already too late. A dark shadow flew across from this back. The man was worse off than the person before. The shadow moved across his abdomen and cut him in halves. He couldn’t die off instantly and screamed in misery.

A chill struck everyone watching. The black knight’s attacks were sharp and swift. Only a small group of people could see the attacks. And that seemingly weak woman was so sinister at critical moments. Those two men were giving her favors just moments before and in the end, she used one of them as her shield.

The knight’s speed and strength was much stronger than that of the movies. Less than ten people out of the three teams could follow the path of his sword. It was a two handed sword emitting black mist. Any grass that came in touch with the mist withered. The two corpses also started to rot from their wounds. This sword had attributes of poison and corrosion.

The knight came out from the bush. He sat on a large, black horse. The horse’s eyes were giving off a mysterious red light.

“Is this a joke? How can a Ringwraith appear here? Shouldn’t we come in contact with the Ringwraiths after we meet the other two Hobbits?” A newbie from team Northern Ice Land couldn’t contain himself and cried.

The qualities of the newbies were displayed at this point when compared to the veterans’ composure. Only four newbies remained calm as they stared at the Ringwraith. The rest were panicking and shouting, hid behind the veterans, or simply fell down on the ground. The scene was a mess.

The Ringwraith charged at Frodo. His horse was unbelievably fast. It was four times faster than race horses in the real world. The speed made it seem like it transformed into a shadow. The Ringwraith raised his sword

Clank! An axe blocked the sword. Richard had stood in front of the Ringwraith with a red two handed axe in hand.

“Fuck! How are we going to survive this journey if you start panicking now? Aya! Poison any newbie who continues to cry and run with your bees!” Richard shouted. He blocked several more attacks with his axe and every time the two weapons met, he was forced a step backward.

Many veterans couldn’t react in time due to the speed of the Ringwraith, and Zheng’s group was rather far from the location. However, the veterans had been through bigger situations and life and deaths. So when Richard started fighting the Ringwraith, they quickly gathered each team’s newbies. Several veterans protected the Hobbits in the center.

After blocking several hits, Richard gave a shout and hacked back with his axe. The Ringwraith was skillful with his horse and with the speed of the horse, he had already moved the horse to the side when the axe came down. Boom! The axe blasted a half meter deep pit on the ground. At the same time, the Ringwraith’s sword was already moving toward Richard’s head.

Bang! Pah! Pah!

Zero’s Gauss sniper rifle, Heng’s silver bow, and the green bow from a girl from team Northern Ice Land fired at the same time at the dark sword. The bullet from the Gauss rifle traveled the fastest. A translucent barrier appeared around the Ringwraith as soon as rifle fired. The +3 enchanted arrow and a green arrow arrived almost instantly. The two arrows snapped the dark sword but the broken sword still slashed a long wound on Richard’s body. He quickly rolled out of the Ringwraith’s attack range. The man with dyed hair from team Northern Ice Land charged at the Ringwraith with a spear in hand. The spear looked translucent as though it was made of ice.

“Fuck, such heavy force!” Richard shouted.

That was when the others noticed even though his axe was intact but the web space between his thumb and index finger was torn. Richard was a berserker that that focused on raw strength. His body was tough even without entering Berserker. In order to cause such damage, the swings from the Ringwraith was as strong as Zheng in Explosion.

Zheng’s heart skipped a beat. He had a bad feeling yet he couldn’t know why. He shouted. “All psyche force users scan the area! Zero, your weapon is ineffective against movie characters, stay aware and protect everyone. Heng and the girl with a bow, shoot the horse. ChengXiao, treat the poison on Richard. Everyone else stay on guard. Don’t let the Ringwraith get away from the battlefield!”

Zheng couldn’t care about overreaching into the other teams’ authority at this moment. He subconsciously assigned tasks to everyone here. He drew out Tiger’s Soul and leaped at the Ringwraith.

The young man had started attacking the Ringwraith already. His spear was clearly a magical weapon, one rather high ranked. The spear stabbed toward the Ringwraith’s head but his movements were just so agile. The spear missed and hit the Ringwraith’s robe. The robe began freezing and in under a second, it exploded.

The young man laughed and was about to stab again. Yet the Ringwraith backed into the farm. The man laughed out. “So that’s all to the Ringwraiths? I wonder how many points they will reward. Haha. It will be great if there are also ranked rewards.” He charged up again.

The sense of danger growing more intense to Zheng. He didn’t warn the young man in time when mist started coming off the Ringwraith. The farm field around him withered and the dark sword recovered. By the time the young man was close, the horse turned from a black horse into a skeleton horse. The horse’s eyes were red as blood. Its hooves were burning in a crimson flame. Its bones were emitting black mist. The Ringwraith slowly fused with the horse.

“Be careful!” Zheng was still ten meters away from the young man and the Ringwraith. The spear stabbed forward. The Ringwraith pulled the lead rope and the skeleton horse leaped on top of the spear. It seemed as though the Ringwraith and skeleton horse had no weight. With a swift sound, the young man’s head flew upward.

“Explosion!” Zheng didn’t attack. The sense of danger peaked when the young man’s head flew off. He immediately backed away and entered the second stage. He even activated Explosion.

The Ringwraith didn’t go from him and pulled the lead rope again. The skeleton horse ran up a tree as though it defied gravity. It left a burnt trail behind. As it reached the top of the tree, it leaped toward Frodo.