Chapter 11

The Lord of the Rings world was similar to many other fantasy worlds. The elves were graceful and fair. The dwarves loved mining. Of course, that wasn’t very specific and perhaps unfair to the dwarves. But they were a race that valued minerals and metals. Mining was their hobby.

Moria was the result of such hobby. The underground city spanned through the whole Caradhras mountains. According to Gandalf, they were to journey for five days and nights from one end to the other. This distance was uncommon in both this world and the real world. That was a mine through the mountain dug by people!

“You will soon see the warm welcomes of the dwarves. Haha.” Gimli walked at the front of the group. “With burning flame, refreshing beer, and slabs of roasted meat. This is my cousin Balin’s home, not a mere mine.”

Gandalf raised his staff. It emitted a soft white light that illuminated the mine.

“This isn’t a mine. It’s a tomb!” Boromir observed the surrounding. His voice was heavy.

Bones lay throughout the entrance. Most of them were remains of dwarves. Some seemed abnormal. They looked like remains of humanoid creatures. Tomb was a fitting description for this place.

“No! No!” Gimli sobbed. He ran toward the remains.

Legolas had kept his calm. He picked up an arrow from one of the bodies, examined it and yelled. “Orcs!” He threw the arrow away then drew his bow at the darkness.

The rest of the crew drew their weapons. Boromir shouted. “That’s why we should have gone through the Gap of Rohan instead. That is our only path to cross Caradhras safetly.”

Gungnir and Zheng met eyes. They both realized things were turning worse. In the movie, the door should had been collapsed by the beast which forced the Fellowship to head into the mine. However, the door was intact now. The beast was killed. The Fellowship could retreat as they liked and that would render their plans useless.

Gungnir immediately said. “The Gap of Rohan is too dangerous. We don’t have to fight an army on the plains in the mine. Furthermore, if Saruman finds us. He will definitely find us. We would have nowhere to run. The underground city is large enough that we might not be discovered by the orcs if we keep our noises down.”

Gandalf frowned. Zheng ran ahead. Nothing hindered the Nightmare’s speed and he quickly disappeared in the darkness. A minute later, the red burning flames came back. Zheng yelled. “There’s nothing inside. I didn’t see any orcs!”

The movie characters hesitated. Neos said. “Let the holder of the One Ring decide whether we will quietly go through Moria or slip through Saruman’s eyes. Frodo, make your choice.”

There was obviously a trap in his wording. He associated the underground city with calm, which described the current moment. However, there were hidden dangers under this silence. Then he described the Gap of Rohan as under Saruman’s eyes. It was close to Isengard but not as close as he described. Though their situation didn’t allow the others to think too deeply into his words.

Frodo looked over everyone then at the bodies on the ground. “We will go through the underground city. Everyone keep our noises down and there shouldn’t be danger. We can’t hide from Saruman’s magic.”

And so the Fellowship’s path was decided.

Gungnir and Zheng became suspicious. Why did Neos help them without a reason? Neos came over to the two and said in a low voice. “I can guess the deal between you two. As someone that knows it, I ought to take part. The mithril is expensive to exchange from God we our team must get part of the loot. Of course, we aren’t asking for much. A quarter is enough. You two split the remaining three quarters. How do you think?”

Zheng said. “Since you are joining the agreement, you will have to show your strength. We all have to spare no effort at critical moments and we must protect members from other teams.”

Neos smiled. “Of course. No one from our team will back off when the time comes. I will also join the fight if necessary.”

On the other side, the Fellowship began walking down the mine. The players followed closely behind.

Moria was extremely big. According to Gimli, the underground city was originally a cave. The dwarves found the cave then mined it through the mountains. They built their city inside. The mithirl in this city made dwarves thrilled. They used the metal to trade with the wizards, elves and humans for resources.

“The value of mithril doesn’t need to be said. It’s the currently best metal for magic. It’s light and tough. A hundred times more valuable than gold of the same weight. And the most famous metal of Moria.”

Gandalf was walking along the wall. His staff illuminated the wall. A silvery reflection showed the unrefined mithril.

“Ithildin is much rarer than mithril. The ratio is about one to a thousand. The whole of Middle Earth only produces enough ithildin to craft a plate every hundred years. It is the best metal that serves as a vessel of the mind. Wizards towers and the door of Durin that we just passed by require specific words to open. That is where you use ithildin to store a bit of the mind to act as authentication. Weapons that are crafted with slight amount of ithildin will have minor consciousness just like the One Ring. Only the first person whose blood come in contact with the weapon can use it. Other users will not be able to utilize the secrets of the weapon.” Gandalf explained and showed off his knowledge.

These words reminded Zheng. The property of recognizing an owner was similar to the weapons that he obtained in Starship Troopers. YinKong and Heng couldn’t utilize the full potential of the weapons because they were not the original owners. Was there a way to remove this property?

Zheng asked. “Any way to remove this property? I mean removing the previous owner and have the weapon bound to a new owner.”

Gandalf glanced at him. “It is possible but it depends on the strength of the minds of the two individuals. The One Ring is only an powerful artifact without Sauron’s energy. If there’s a way to remove it from the ring, it will no longer be evil and the elves will not have to leave Middle Earth for their lost of the rings. However, Sauron’s mind is too powerful. Not even god can remove the evil, cruelness, and bloodshed from the ring. We can only destroy it. Is this what you want to do?”

Zheng said. “No. I have several weapons found in ruins that are already bounded to an owner. The residual energy prevents my comrades from utilizing the weapons. I wish you would help us remove the bounds on the weapons if possible.”

Gandalf nodded. “That’s fine. I will help you after we are out of this city. That’s only if the other person’s mind isn’t too powerful or it would require the aid of energy stones and valuable minerals. If it still isn’t enough, there’s nothing I can do.”

No matter the result, hope was always a good thing to have. These two weapons were at least A tier. YinKong and Heng would gain a substantial increase in power if the weapons could be released from their bounds, which exceeded every reward they had obtained in this world so far.

Zheng was feeling excited as he patrolled the mine. The mine was extremely spacious. Despite its name, it had a height of over ten meters. One could rode an elephant here, not just horses. The elephant just had to ignore gravity.

The first day of journey inside the mine was peaceful. According to Gimli, they were still outside the residential area of Moria. The underground city was so big that they might not run into the orcs. The group let down their guard slightly seeing the peacefulness of the first day. They were not as suspicious to every little thing. Then they set up camps on a flat area, lighted the fire and cooked their meals. After all was set, the group finally got the opportunity to rest.

“So that means you elves have the same Explosive Shot technique? Oh, you guys call it Double Bladed Shot. Strange name.” Heng got along with Legolas because they both used bows and both could use the Explosive Shot technique. Heng was also a kind-hearted person. They exchanged tips about their techniques.

“This technique harms both the enemies and you. I can only use twenty shots at most even with constant regeneration from my life force. My arms will become swollen that prevents me from drawing the bow. If it’s the Triple Bladed Shot, I can only use it three times.” Legolas smiled. The elves were such a fair race that the girls blushed at his smile.

Heng looked at his silver bow. “Triple Bladed Shot? If three arrows are already so difficult, what kind of technique is the nine arrow shot that can pierce through the sun?”

On the other side, Zheng and YinKong were sparring with Aragorn and Boromir. The characters were surprisingly strong due to the altered difficulty. Aragorn and Boromir could use Battle Qi. Zheng had seen this ability when he fought team Devil. It didn’t last as long as Qi nor did it had the healing property, but it had a much higher burst potential.

Zheng wasn’t a match for Aragorn if he wasn’t in Explosion. Explosion would push his strength above Aragorn by quite a bit. And Destruction would allow him to one shot Aragorn. Of course, since this was simply a spar, neither side used their strongest moves. Zheng couldn’t be sure this was Aragorn’s limit.

Boromir on the other hand was crying from the spar. It wasn’t that YinKong was too strong. She couldn’t beat Boromir in a face to face fight without using her self created technique. The invisible property of Excalibur plus was such a great addition to her assassination techniques. Zheng wouldn’t fight her so easily. Boromir underestimated her for being a little girl and fell to a disadvantaged position. He couldn’t make a come back unless he were to fight a life and death battle.

The four of them stopped sparring before long. Boromir’s clothes were in strips. The knight attire turned to that of a homeless. YinKong nodded at Zheng without saying a word then headed to the bonfire. Zheng gave a rather awkward smile at Boromir and said. “Sorry, she’s just like this. She always makes the situation awkward. Haha. Don’t overthink it. She’s not a match if you two were in a battle for life.”

Boromir stared at YinKong. After Zheng’s words, he smiled but then turned back to staring at her. Zheng had a bad feeling about this.

The group entered a cycle of eat, walk, and rest. Four days passed before they realized it. Gandalf got lost on t he way but they came back to their path. The group finally arrived at the gate of Moria. A magnificent palace with pillars five meters in diameters standing on both sides. The pillars weree carved with symbols and pictures. There were hundreds of these pillars.

The group walked through the palace. As they passed by a small room, Gimli rushed inside. The rest of the group followed after. Once inside the room, they saw a shaft of sunlight shone down through the ceiling onto a crypt. Gimli wailed on the crypt.

Gandalf walked over and read. “Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria.”

“He is dead.” Gandalf took off his hat. His voice sounded helpless. “It’s as I feared. There are no dwarves left in Moria.” He bent down and picked up a book.

The players observed the room. This seemed like a meeting room of the dwarves. There were documents scattered on the ground and maps hung on the walls.

Neos walked through the room. He seemed like he was walking casually but his eyes were examining the map of Moria hung on the wall. After a while, he waved at Zheng and Gungnir. “Take a look. The map labeled the storage room of the dwarves. There are a lot of ores but it also takes a lot of ores to refine into the final product. The dwarevs have many years of savings. So we are better off taking these refined metals and minerals instead of taking mining. We can exchange days to come back later if anyone wants to get mithril.”

Zheng and Gungnir looked at each other. They both nodded and agreed with Neos. Neos continued. “The location of the storage room is a bit strange. There might be casualties if we head there without a plan. The task lands on you, Zheng. The Nightmare is the only thing that can go there safely.”

Zheng asked. “You still haven’t told us where the room is located.”

“A room to the side of the Bridge of Khazad-dum, the bridge that collapsed during the escape in the movie. The record here shows there are one kilogram of mithirl and two ounces of ithildin. It will be up to you whether we can obtain these.” Neos said.

Mithril was light and had a low density. One kilogram would be the size of the shirt Frodo was wearing. His shirt was made of mithril mixed with other metals. A kilogram of pure mithril was over 30000 points from God. It was enough to craft dozens of energy storage rings.

“Fuck it. No risk no gain. Its like running on flat ground anyway with the Nightmare. The only worry is if the situation become worse than the plot. The powers of orcs and Balrog are also not known.” Zheng sighed.

Something would be worng if God were to let them get past Moria so safely. So the Balrog could be insanely powerful. However, if the Balrogu was so powerful, he wouldn’t abandon it for the metals. He wanted to kill it for the energy stone and rewards.

Gungnir could tell what Zheng was worrying. He bit his teeth and said. “If you go get the metals, we will only take a quarter. And we will protect your team members when you are not here. Another thing, Neos and I have no use for a fire energy stone. If we are the ones who killed the Balrog, the energy stone is yours. And if you killed it, you still get the energy stone. Deal?”

“Fine, then…” Zheng agreed but the decision was difficult. A bang brought their attention away before he could say anything else. One of the Hobbits accidentally made a corpse fell into the well. The crash echoed throughout halls. Everyone halted their voices. The echos faded after a long while but then drums were booming from all sides. They could faintly hear the growls of orcs.

“Orcs!” Legolas repeated. He brought up his bow and arrows. Aragorn and Boromir also readied their weapons. Boromir especially ran toward the gate. However, an arrow nearly scraped the skin of his nose as he reached the gate. One more inch forward and that nose would have been a goner.

Aragorn and Boromir quickly attempted to close the gate. A thought came to Zheng’s mind however and he yelled. “Wait. Let me out!” He jumped on the Nightmare then pulled the rope. The horse neighed as it stood on its two back legs then charged ahead.

Crimson flame was burning in its eyes and on its hooves. Zheng channeled Qi into Tiger’s Soul. The light blade bended at his will and covered him and the Nightmare’s whole body. As soon as they exited the gate, multiple arrows reached the light blade then shattered. Zheng didn’t pause despite seeing the humanoid monsters coming from all sides. He charged into them.

Nah! Nah! Nah! The first orc he charged into busted and all the orcs that came in contact with him all turned to pieces. The light blade might have changed its shape but its power remained. Charging with the Nightmare among a bunch of weak creatures was destructive. Anything that touched him was wounded and anything that he ran over died. He and the Nightmare tackled a path of flesh and blood.

The orcs’ strength was unusually strong. The major characters weren’t the only ones with increased power in this world. The orcs gained increased strength. Zheng estimated their strength was between three to five times that of a normal person. Their speed was perhaps slower than a normal person but the strength was a counter to his tackling. After the Nightmare ran through a few dozen orcs, it was forced to slow down.

“Good!” Zheng shouted. The nightmare leaped. Zheng could see a large number of orcs and several four meter high humanoid creatures charged into the room. He didn’t have the time to think further. The Nightmare leaped onto a pillar then ran along it. Zheng turned body to the orcs below.

“Go! Kill!” Qi entered Tiger’s Soul. The light blade extended up to twenty meters. The Nightmare charged down the pillar. Zheng placed Tiger’s Soul horizontally and the light blade extended to the side of the horse. Over a hundred orcs and the pillars on on the way were sliced in two as the Nightmare ran. It made a 180 degree turn and ran back. The orcs on the other side were then sliced in two. About a forty meter area around him were laid with corpses and all the orcs dead. The orcs further back were shocked. None dared to approach him.

Zheng took a deep breath. It was fulfilling massacring like this but this tactic would be useless against more powerful creatures like the final Ringwraith. Running head to it would be like asking for death. Another flaw was it consumed Qi extremely fast. He used up 50% of his Qi in that run. He wouldn’t do it in an army without enough storage rings on back up. Only small scale battles like this one was doable.

While Zheng was catching his breath, he heard gunshots coming from the room. It was the sound of the Gauss pistols. Sci-fi weapons were nullified against creatures native to this world. Did that mean team Africa or team Northern Ice Land attacked his team while he was away?

He didn’t continue his fight and had the Nightmare charge back toward the room. Any orcs that couldn’t get out of his way on time was killed. It didn’t take him much effort to get back into the room. What awaited him was a troll swinging a stick at him before he got sight of the players and movie characters. The trolls were four meters tall. Their intelligence was low but their strength was superb. Judging by the sound of the swing, their strength was about twenty times that of a normal person, on par with Zheng in Explosion.

The panic was getting into Zheng. He gave the Nightmare more blood energy. Its speed increased a little more and it ran into the troll’s torso before the stick fell on Zheng. The troll broke into pieces with that tackle. Zheng also took an impact and almost fell off the horse.

Zheng shook his head to get it clear. He saw Xuan shooting at all directions with his Gauss pistols. Each of his shots would shoot down an orc leaping at him. There was a pile of corpses by his feet. After all the orcs were dead, he clapped his hands together. Two empty magazines dropped off then he slid the pistols back to his sleeves. The motion was so smooth as if he practiced it numerous times.

“Eh? Aren’t those the Gauss pistols?” Zheng was dumbfounded. He didn’t realize there were no more orcs coming into the room and all the orcs in this room were dead.

“You are correct. They are the Gauss pistols.” Xuan nodded apathetically. He crouched down to examine the orc corpses. After a while, he went over to check the troll corpse.

“That’s impossible! Don’t sci-fi weapons have no effect here?” Zheng yelled. The other veterans looked over. Both teams had their sci-fi weapon users. If the weapons could be used in this world, they would have a substantial increase in strength and other advantages. They could bring the characters over obstacles with their transportation tools.

Xuan nodded. “Correct. Sci-fi weapons are still ineffective. So I tested combining sci-fi weapons with magic. I had Elrond carved rune words on the bullets back in Rivendell. The bullets contain life forces and enabled their usage.”

“Now that you mentioned it.” Zheng remembered Xuan had a meeting with Haotian. Were they discussing this at the time? Furthermore, if Xuan could use the Gauss pistols this way, then the Gauss sniper rifle could become their trump card against the characters of this world.

Gandalf suddenly said. “Now’s not the time to talk. We have to hurry to Khazad-dum bridge. Everyone follow!”

Zheng was also aware of it. He nodded then ran ahead. Several arrows hit his light blade barrier. The barrier wavered as the arrows busted. It wasn’t that the arrows were powerful but his barrier was running out of time.

Zheng quickly backed into the room and dissipated the light blade. He recreated a new one before heading out again. Tiger’s Soul slashed ten orcs in front before they could react. The rest of the group then followed behind Zheng.

Endless orcs were coming out from all sides and climbing down the pillars. Their number was so huge. There were thousands just in this hall. The players groaned. There was nothing they could do other than keep running. Zheng stayed in front of the group. The mobility of the Nightmare allowed him to kill off any orcs than attempted to come near. He killed numerous orcs in just a hundred meter path. And now Xuan also recovered his combat strength. The gun-kata had no defense but its power was so advantageous in such crowded battles. Many orcs died to the bullets.

According to the movie, the Balrog’s roars would come by the time the Fellowship was surrounded by the orcs. The orcs then scattered. However, the roar signaling the wake of the Balrog came before they got surrounded by the orcs.

The orcs immediately stopped attacking the group as if they encountered the most horrifying thing in the world. All the orcs looked back. The path that they just came through was illuminated by a red light. Several streams of fire burst out before the orcs could scatter. The fire consumed an area spanning tens of meters. Inside the fire, a humanoid creature appeared. It opened its mouth and sprayed a beam of fire across. A thousand orcs vaporized to ashes without uttering a sound. The group could sense that terrifying heat despite being so far away.

“Balrog, demon from the ancient ages, a creature that rivals the gods! Run!” Gandalf shouted. He led the group toward the other side of the hall.

The Balrog was skill massacring the orcs as if it didn’t see the humans.