Chapter 9

The three teams finally began their journey to Mordor. However, there was a mini episode concerning what to do with the newbies.

The mission requested all five teams to meet at Mordor. So inevitably they had the falsified sense that everyone in the teams must enter Mordor but was or was it that only one person from each team was required? As a result, the veterans were forced to carry the dead weights on the journey. Otherwise, they could have just throw the newbies into one of the many unknown villages in this massive world and the other teams wouldn’t be able to attack them.

However, as of now, they had to worry about the safety of the newbies. Following the plot, they would cross Moria. The underground city had been taken by the orcs. All dwarves were killed in the battle. There was also a Balrog sleeping in the city. Balrogs were ancient corrupted spirits.

Due to all these reasons, Moria was considered a place of death. The veterans were fine with it since they had to protect the movie characters and the more dangerous the situation was, the more rewards that were to come. They had to enter this underground city. The same thing could not be said for the newbies. The newbies only had a slimmer of chance to live through the city. A normal orc could kill all of them.

“The Ringwraith only chases the wielder of the One Ring. Saruman only attacks the group carrying the One Ring. Which means that if we were to split up from the Fellowship, we can be in a safe position. Of course, that’s on the premise that we don’t encounter another team. However, this world is so large that it isn’t difficult avoiding other teams. We still hope you can give us a few veterans in case we run into patrolling orcs.” Haotian represented the majority of newbies among the three teams and said.

These words gave the leaders some ideas. After a discussion, team Northern Ice Land gave them a veteran, team Africa gave Marnie and Rose, and team China gave Zero, WangXia, Kampa, and Gando. That wasn’t to say team China was much stronger but these four people relied on sci-fi weapons. They wouldn’t be of much use in this world aside from team battles. Sending them to the newbies’ group could help in case they met the other two teams.

The three teams split into two groups on the first day they left Rivendell. The stronger veterans went with the Fellowship toward Caradhras. The other group would go around to Rohan and wait there for the veterans.

And so, the veterans’ group was reduced to fourteen. Four people from team Northern Ice Land, four from team Africa, and six people from team China. These fourteen veterans had all been through many movies. Now that they didn’t have members pulling their legs, they could go all out in fights.

“Why am I feeling ominous that Haotian was the one who came up with the idea to split?” Zheng looked to Xuan. He was certain Xuan planned something behind him.

Xuan turned his head around and said. “Illusion.”

“Fine, illusion. I hope it’s really an illusion or you will be scheming against me again.”

Switching away from Zheng, the group had gradually reached Caradhras. They picked up their pace after splitting up with the newbies. On the third day, they reached the highlands.

The time was noon. The Hobbits were preparing food and the rest were either training or analyzing their route on the map. Just then, a flock of crows appear on the horizon.

The first person to notice the crows was Legolas. He was standing on a highpoint with Zheng and looking out. They immediately alerted the rest of the group. Everyone hid in the bushes or inside crevices. Those who watched the movie knew the crows had discovered them. In the end, Gandalf would be forced to cross Caradhras and walk into Saruman’s magic, which would push the Fellowship into the underground city.

Gungnir and Zheng hid in the same underground cave. The cave was large enough to fit the skeleton horse. Gungnir glanced at the mount with envy. Though he knew he wouldn’t be able to use it even if he were to obtain one. He said in a low voice. “Do you have any advice to the journey in the underground city?”

Zheng was confused. “Eh? What advice?”

Gungnir coughed. “The information we obtained from team Africa is that saving Gandalf rewards a stone that cancels out getting erased due to negative points three times. We are going to obtain the stones at all cost. What about the other items? Powerful monsters in this world have gems and crystals which are the energy stones you can exchange from God. The octopus the Fellowship encounters before entering the underground city should have at least a C or CC energy stone. Not to mention the Balrog which definitely has a fire energy stone. It might be B or BB tier.”

Seeing that Zheng was pondering, Gungnir added. “I think you know of the importance of the magical knowledge hidden inside the worlds as we delve deeper into this realm. As we unravel more of the knowledge, the energy stones and certain minerals become even more important. You need energy stones for magical circles, mithril for rune words. So why would you pass up the ones you can obtain without spending points and rewards? I heard the dwarf Gimli said the tunnel produces mithril and a mineral called Adamant. I don’t know what this mineral is used for but nothing can go wrong with collecting it.”

Zheng interrupted him. “Why are you saying to me? I don’t suppose you think I can seize these items.”

“Not seize but obtain!” Gungnir said. “You and I are the strongest members among the three teams. We can sweep over this world even if we abandon all other veterans. I don’t know your limit but you are definitely stronger than you are showing since you fought two high level Ringwraiths and seized their horse. My self created ability, Ice Age, needs three ice energy stones to unseal its potential. I am confident I can fight a battle against team Celestial. I have six ice energy stones. I am planning to use Ice Age once in the city to kill the Balrog. Then we don’t have to leave the underground city so fast. We can stay until we obtained all the mithril and Adamant. How about a fifty fifty split?”

Zheng’s interest was aroused. The energy storage ring improved his effectiveness in fights by several folds. The additional fighting time allowed him to stop counting how much time he had left in Explosion. If he could get a few dozens of these rings, that meant he could stay in Explosion throughout a whole movie. What monster or human could harm him at that point? The most expensive material of the ring was Mithril when exchanging through God. It would totally be worth the effort if he could obtain a lot of Mithril.

“Well then, fifty fifty. As for the points, rewards and the fire energy stone from killing Balrog, whoever kills it gets them. You okay with that?” Zheng finally said after some silence.

Gungnir was overjoyed. “Of course, deal! Let us make a show in Moria!”

The two clapped their hands as a sign of forming the contract, although this contract had no credibility. But given that they both had intentions, they sides still decided to make a big show in Moria. They shouldn’t have to worry much given their powers.

The flock of crowd had disappeared beyond the horizon by now. Gandalf’s expression looked blue. He confirmed Saruman had gotten his eyes on them. The Fellowship was forced to change their path to climb through Caradhras. The snowy mountain was several thousand meters tall.

The players weren’t as nervous in comparison. Their sci-fi items were ineffective against the movie characters but they were still useful. If they fell into danger on the mountain, their transportation tools could get them back into safety. As such, the movie characters were the only ones who objected to the change. Under Gandalf’s insistence, the Fellowship began climbing the mountain in the end. They slowly entered the snowy area.

The knee high snow covered the mountain slope. The snow sipped into their shoes and pants as soon as they stepped on the slope. This didn’t stop despite tying up the bottom of their trousers like Aragorn did. To be honest, their armor and equipment weren’t suited for climbing a snowy mountain. It was fortunate that everyone here were much stronger than normal people. They could endure such cold for some time.

“I am envy of the Nightmare. It’s the best transportation tool in this environment of steep and icy slope.” Gungnir started joking Zheng after they formed an agreement.

Zheng seemed the most leisure among the group. The Nightmare prevented him from sinking into snow and no matter how steep the terrair was, nothing provided any obstacle to him. And so he leisurely patrolled around the group.

The others also looked at Zheng with envy which made him feel somewhat embarassed. So he had to keep himself running on the cliff.

“Hurry, guys! Come look at what I found!” Zheng suddenly yelled. Everyone looked at him nervously but they also gave him weird looks.

“Even though we want to go over but don’t you think that’s an impossible request?” Lan didn’t know whether she should laugh or feel mad.

Zheng was standing on another mountain. They would have to climb across several mountains to reach him. So the distance seemed close, no one else could go across.

Zheng realized this and yelled. “I found dead bodies here. Twelve of them. All frozen. Fortunately, the snow isn’t strong here and didn’t bury them.”

Gandalf replied. “They might be a group of herb gatherers. Snow lotuses grow on top of snowy mountains. Some wizards placed great bounties on this herb. However, due to the White Wolves, gatherers usually go in groups. These people probably died from a blizzard.”

Zheng’s face looked terrible. He had the Nightmare leap back to the group then said to the other players in a low voice. “They are wearing our clothes. The wounds are caused by blades!”

It took the veterans a few seconds to register what he just said. They all felt shocked. Similar clothes meant the identity of those people. Because the players either came from the real world or through God’s realm, they dressed differently than natives of this world. Their clothes alone could identify them.

“East America or team Celestial?” Gungnir frowned.

Neos shook his head. “It can’t be team Celestial. Even if all the leaders were to join team Celestial, they would only have ten or so people. There are twelve dead bodies here. If some of them are from team Celestial, then most are from team East America. However, it was almost impossible for two teams to randomly appear next to each other in such a large world. So I suspect that all twelve are members of team East America.”

“Why?” Most veterans asked.

“Why?” Neos had a sardonic smile. He brought out a piece of chocolate. “A lot of reasons. Like they didn’t like the newbies or they didn’t want other teams to get the points or an internal fight or the leader was a psychopath. There are too many reasons we can think of. But I’d rather it was due to an internal fight that caused them to kill each other.”

Xuan nodded. “That’s best for our interest. Examine the bodies again, Zheng. And bring four or five back. I need ones where the fatal wounds were different.”

Zheng nodded. In just a few minutes, he leaped back with four bodies. Gandalf and the other movie characters stopped after seeing Zheng brought back the dead bodies. Several of them also grouped up by the bodies.

“Cut. This is caused by a sharp rounded or exotic shaped blade. This wound is from a spear. The spear pierced through the chest. The four bodies are killed by two weapons.” Aragorn said after examining the bodies.

The veterans weren’t as knowledgeable with weapons as Aragorn who had undergone systematic training. Even Boromir came to a similar conclusion and confirmed the cause of deaths.

“Eight other bodies had the same wounds. There is only one exception. A girl’s head is gone and it’s no where to be found.” Zheng let out a deep breath.

Their expressions changed. Neos looked blue. He snapped a piece of chocolate and said. “This is unfortunate. We better hope we don’t get into battle against team East America. Or most of us will die. These deaths weren’t due to internal fight but the veterans killed all the newbies. They have many more newbies than every of our teams. I suspect that all twelve are newbies. Which means God rates a team with only three veterans stronger than any of our teams. So those three people are unfathomably strong.”

The three continued their path with unease. As they climbed up the mountain, the snow was getting thicker and thicker. They also encountered several herds of White Wolves. Maybe it was due to the number of people in the group or the White Wolves could sense their danger, they didn’t attack this group and avoided them from the distance.

The slope gradually increased and a blizzard was forming. Everyone kept themselves close to the cliff and advanced carefully. Zheng was the only one who wasn’t affected. However, the group had gotten slower and slower.

(Don’t know if we can climb over this mountain. I can actually carry two people against at a time. If we don’t go through Moria, will that change the plot and obtain large amount of points and rewards?)

Zheng looked at the blizzard then at the people below climbing ever so slowly. The snow had gotten to their waist by this point. The dwarves and Hobbits would be in danger if it got any higher.

Just then, a majestic and solemn voice sounded through the sky. It was the voice of an old man chanting a spell. The pronunciation was difficult to follow but it fellowed a certain melody.

“That’s Saruman!” Gandalf shouted. The chanting was getting clearer and clearer after the shout. It echoed through Caradhras like the voice of a god or giant.

The blizzard intensified as the chanting continued. The Nightmare hummed as though it feared the chanting. Gandalf immediately chanted a spell. Ten seconds later, he finished the spell first.

Gimli asked. “Did you win? That wizard isn’t a match for you right?”

“No. He’s the chief of wizards. He’s much more powerful than me. I hope my barrier can hold against his magic. I can only pray.” Gandalf said. He raised his staff and shouted. “Come to me, Zheng!”

Lightning struck less than a hundred meters near him and blasted the ground. Then the second, and third strikes of lightning came down like pouring rain. Zheng was scared and immediately jumped to Gandalf. When the lightnings struck the group, a translucent barrier blocked them off. Explosions happened on the barrier. It wavered but persisted.

Everyone gazed up. The lightnings had spanned over the whole mountain top. Each meter thick lightning was followed by thunderous explosions. They felt that their eyes were blinded in this shower of lightnings. Gandalf gave all he had to keep the barrier up. If the lightnings were concentrated on their area instead of spanning over the mountain top, they would all die here even with Gandalf protecting them.

With one last lightning strike, the hellous scenery came to an end. The people in the group finally dared to open their eyes. The road on the mountain had been buried by snow and rocks. The barrier only protected what was inside. There was no more road for them to climb up. The only path left was leading down the cliff.

The lightning cleansed an area with a diameter of several thousand meters.