Chapter 12

As Gandalf began running after the shout, a voice appeared in the players’ minds.

“Balrog, a creature that naturally absorbs energy floating in the universe. Reproductive cycle of 100 years. Birth through embryogenesis. One fetus per cycle. Female Balrogs consume food amounting to five times their weight daily. Favors consuming humans. Releases gas poisonous to humans. They are therefore the biggest nemesis and enemies of humans. Balrogs were wiped to extinction in the end. Killing this non-poisonous Balrog with 30% of its power rewards 8000 points and a rank A reward. Deduct 3000 points off each person if it escapes.”

God’s notification this time was puzzling. They had encountered monsters and bosses in previous movies but God never gave such hints. It even told them the origin of this Balrog. Judging by its words, this wasn’t the Balrog of the Lord of the Rings world. It was a creature than the saints fought prior to developing God. It used to be an enemy to humans on Earth.

“What does it mean by non-poisonous Balrog with 30% its power?” Richard asked in confusion.

Neos snapped a piece of chocolate and said. “It means that this Balrog fought the Saints who were unlocked at the fifth stage. We are fighting one without poisonous gases and only has 30% its peak strength. God wants us to kill it!”

A veteran from team Northern Ice Land said. “No poisonous gas and only 30% of its original strength. That means this Balrog is pretty much a piece of cake. Huh.”

“Yeah. You can go ahead and give it the killing the blow.” Neos sneered. He finished the chocolate bar on hand then turned around and run. The place they were standing in had gotten hotter.

The Balrog was heinous. Fire followed its hands and feet. It turned an 100 square meter area into an ocean of fire. The orcs were screaming as they burned into charcoal. The fire gradually changed from red to blue. Anyone slightly knowledgeable knew what it meant. A fire couldn’t normally obtain such color without reaching a thousand degree. The players were afraid none of them could withstand the temperature.

“Fuck. Isn’t this a little too powerful? And it’s only at 30% power without poisonous gas? What is the original Balrog like?”

Everyone thought to themselves. The thousands of orcs behind them were either burned to charcoal or eaten by the Balrog. The impression of this horrendous monster definitely scared the group. No one dared to run up to kill it. Gungnir and Zheng were confident in killing the Balrog with their self created abilities for that rank A reward but considering the collapse of the bridge that was about to come, they quickly ran ahead. It would be difficult to cross the area without the bridge. The fire was falling further and further behind them.

“That was too damn scary. Did such creatures really existed in ancient Earth? And our ancestors actually defeated them? Unbelievable.” Zheng murmured. The feeling the Balrog gave him was immersive. He pondered and didn’t think he could defeat it for certain even if he were to use Destruction. And so the next question should be to find the storage room. A bird in hand was better than ten in the forest. Getting the ores and minerals first was better than being greedy about this rank A reward. So he charged ahead with the Nightmare. He moved pass the rest of the group and headed down the bridge. He was the only one who didn’t have to worry about the bridge collapsing.

Before long, the view in front became clearer and brighter. Zheng was at the front and saw a huge broken bridge. A smaller stone bridge to the side could still allow people through. However, its appearance was old and worn. He didn’t pay much attention to this. With a pull of the lead rope, the Nightmare ran toward the bottom of the bridge. He knew that the third cave to the left under the bridge was the storage room when he saw the map.

Right as the Nightmare took a few steps, an arrow shot toward him. The arrow was neither powerful nor fast. He easily blocked it with Tiger’s Soul. He raised he head to see dozens of orc archers lined up by the wall.

In the original movie, these orc archers presented a lot of difficulty to the main characters. But the wall was so far away that if Zheng were to go over and kill them before obtaining his ores, the rest of the group might get killed by the Balrog. He hesitated for a brief moment. Then he jumped up from the horse and entered Instant Destruction. Several Rankyoku struck the orcs like a gale. They were cut to two pieces before they could react. The one or two that managed to escape wouldn’t present any difficulty for the rest of the group. They had Heng and Legolas after all. Zheng fell back to the Nightmare then headed toward the storage room again.

Thanks to the anti-gravity property of the Nightmare, he didn’t have to move using Instant Destruction along the broken bridge. The fight against the Balrog was coming soon. He couldn’t waste his energy like that. So the Nightmare was such a top tier item. Unfortunately, there was only one. Zheng sighed.

He soon entered a dark room. The flame from the Nightmare’s eyes and hooves illuminated it and revealed the metal and bronze bars. There was also a single silver bar placed in the center of the room. Its size was bigger than the normal metal and bronze bars. Next to the silver bar was a glass bottle containing a sand like metal. It was at most several ounces.

Without hesitation, Zheng grabbed the silver bar and glass bottle at once then put them in the Na ring. He looked around to confirm there was no other special metal bars before having the Nightmare leave the room.

Now that he obtained the rare metals, he focused all his attention at the Balrog. The feeling it gave off was overwhelming. He might not be able to take it down even with Destruction. The Balrogs were nemesis of humans in the past after all. Its power wasn’t what they could rival at the moment despite being lowered by God. He considered following the plot and escape with the Fellowship. It would cost 3000 points from every person but they would earn thousands of points by the end of the movie anyway. They should stop if they wanted to keep their lives safe.

“But that’s a rank A reward and 8000 points. If I want to grow stronger, I have to walk on the border of life and death. I have to keep growing. Points and rewards are a necessity to this path.” Yet Zheng felt he couldn’t simply resign himself to defeat. His enemy was his clone, a devil. How could there be any chance of defeating someone so much stronger if he didn’t put his life on the line?

“Fuck it! Let the rest of the team keep going. I have to give it a try. With the light blade barrier, I think I can at least escape if I fail to kill the Balrog.” Zheng made his decision. He urged the Nightmare to charge ahead.

The rest of the group had crossed the bridge by this time. The bridge didn’t collapse as vigorously as it did in the movie. The addition of the players might have changed this part. Everyone crossed it safely. The group then rushed toward the other end of the passageway. The way was safe despite the few orc archers on the cliff. Hong and Legolas took care of them. There was no casualty at the end of their run.

After the group crossed the bridge, they entered a large hall. They only had to go through this wall to exit Moria. However, they felt the temperature raised as soon as they stepped into the hall. It was like the whole place was on fire. The heat curled their hair. Everyone sprinted as fast as they could. Ten meters later, they heard a violent roar coming from behind. A blue fire struck out through the wall. The wall exploded due to the extreme heat.

Behind the wall was the Balrog holding a large sword formed by blue fire. It continued roaring. Heatwaves and blue fire were coming through its mouth. The fire on the Balrog was turning more and more intense.

Gandalf said as he was running. “This is a mature Balrog. That’s why the fire is blue. At least it isn’t an aged Balrog or the fire would have turned white. At that time no one could go near it alive. Your body will ignite upon coming close to 100 meters of it. This is the Balrog, a demon of the ancient world. I never expect to see one in Moria.”

The rest of the group was running for their lives and no one paid much attention to what he had said. The players still had a little comfort because in the original plot, Gandalf was the only one who fell into the chasm. They only had to cross the stone bridge to reach safety.

Unexpectedly, the Balrog roared again. It jumped. Its devilish wings flapped and before everyone realized, it in landed ten meters in front of them. Then a wave of fire struck toward them. The stone bridge was on the Balrog’s back.

“Fuck it! I am going to die here if I don’t risk it!” Gungnir was someone that could let go of things. When he realized the circumstance had come to a life deciding choice, he crushed the three rank C energy stones in his hand without a moment of hesitation. That was a rank B reward. A white freezing air rose from his arm. The air flowed from his arm to his body and enclosed his whole body in ice.

On the other hand, Heng and Legolas initiated the first wave of attacks. Both of them used Explosive shot. Two accelerated arrows flew through with invisible speed and penetrated the Balrog’s body instantly. Heng was using +3 enchanted arrows and Legolas’s arrow was glowing green. The final Ringwraith might not be able to take this attack too, not to mention the Balrog.

The arrows opened up two large holes on the Balrog’s body. It wailed but as a more intense fire burned on its body, the holes were closing by themselves. It seemed like the fire turned into part of its body. This miraculous healing ability surprised the two archers.

Gandalf shouted. “It’s no use. The Balrog is the spirit of fire before it corrupted. Fire is its life. Normal earthly weapons can’t kill it. Only ice attribute weapons are able to harm it but they still won’t be able to kill the Balrog. The only exception is on the peak of the snowy mountain. You have to exhaust all its fire!”

Gandalf showed off his knowledge again. But the Balrog spew a pillar of fire and cut him off. He quickly raised his staff. A faded barrier blocked the fire on its outside. The temperature around however kept increasing. Gandalf was suffering untold misery in the center of it. Yet, he couldn’t step away or else those behind him would be burned to ashes.

A veteran player behind Gandalf also brought out a small and exquisite staff. This young man looked rather soft and gentle. He was also rather quiet in the previous days. He chanted his spell facing at the fire. A few seconds later, the staff sprayed a small cloud of icy mist. Everyone immediately felt the temperature decreased and let out a sigh of relief.

“My apologizes. The leader took all my ice energy stones so I can’t use any magic level 3 and higher. This ice beam is the only magic I can use to lower the temperature.” He said coyly. Then he repeated the magic a few more times.

Gandalf chanted at the same time. “I am the servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the Flame of Anor. The dark fire will not avail you! Flame of Udûn!” After the chant, a circle of silver ember conjured outside his barrier. The ember began to absorb the Balrog’s blue fire. Gandalf’s expression eased a little bit.

The rest of the group behind him let out a sigh of relief. But Gandalf shouted. “It’s too early to let your guard down! The ember can only stop it for ten seconds. This Balrog is too powerful. It isn’t a creature we can rival. It’s a foe of the gods. I know you are strong, Zheng and your comrades. Use whatever you have or there won’t be any chances left to use them!”

YinKong rushed to Gandalf’s back. She entered The Shining at once. Her body turned blurry and her arms moved in a flurry while holding the invisible Excalibur in her hands.

The light up to two meters in front of her bended along with the sound of strong wind blowing. That was due to a disruption to the balance of air density. The bending of light passed by Gandalf’s barrier and struck right at the center of the Balrog’s chest.

The Balrog bellowed. Its chest and the fire around there began disintegrating inch by inch as the bending light hit it. It was as though countless tiny blades sliced its body. Seconds later, the bending light penetrated the Balrog’s body, taking half its chest along. Fire were spewing from the edge of the hole.

Legolas and Heng looked at each other. Legolas placed three arrows on his bow. Heng’s body formed an arc as he drew the bow to a full moon. The aura he gave off surpassed that of the Balrog’s at this moment. Everyone stared at him with shock. Heng was using his Charged Shot that could only be used once every fight.

Legolas fired his three arrow Explosive shot first. The arrows hit the tail of the one in front with a blast sequentially. The first arrow accelerated to an unbelievable speed. Pah! It hit the side of the Balrog’s chest, right next to the hole. Just then, Heng released his Charged Shot. This arrow flew even faster than the Explosive Shot. Heng released it late but the arrow hit the other side of the Balrog’s chest at the same time. Their cooperation was so perfect. The two arrows blasted both sides of the Balrog’s chest. There was nothing holding his upper body anymore aside from the fire bursting out. The three of them split the Balrog in halves.

The group saw the damage clearly. The Balrog wailed more violently with the separation of his chest. Fire spewed out from the rest of his body like it was worth pennies. Seeing that the Balrog seemed about to die, the group cheered out loud.

Yet Gandalf yelled. “No! The Balrog is getting into a frenzy. This wound won’t kill it before exhausting all its fire!”

As he expected. The around on its body burned at an increasingly intense rate. It was the fire that held his body in place. At the rate that it’s healing, it looked like the hole on the chest was going to be recovered.

Heng had collapsed on the ground due to exhaustion. YinKong’s arms were shaking. And Legolas hid his arm on the back. There was no way they could perform the same cooperation again.

“Thank you for delaying it for so long. Haha! Now look at my performance!” An arrogant voice suddenly said. And at the same time, everyone felt the decrease in temperature. Gungnir broke out of the ice when they weren’t looking. His lower body became a cloud of icy mist and floated in the air. The rest of his body was translucent as crystal. It seemed like the body was carved out of ice.

Gungnir laughed. “The authentic version of Ice Age. Leave it up to me! This attack is immensely powerful but it takes too long to prepare and absorb the huge amount of energy. Haha.” His body whirled and floated him out of Gandalf’s barrier.

The authentic version of Ice Age consumed three rank C energy stones. So if it wasn’t strong enough, those ranked rewards would be so not worth it. Gungnir whirled into a blizzard as he exited the barrier. The temperature in the hall rapidly decreased in just several seconds. A layer of ice formed on the floor and stone pillars. The ice also protected the group inside. It began spreading and in ten seconds, the whole hall that was thousands of meters in area turned into a hall of ice. The only place the ice didn’t reach was within eight meters of the Balrog.

Zheng thought to himself as he saw the scene. The self created ability was indeed powerful. Gungnir’s whole body had turned into ice so it wasn’t a lie when he said he could challenge team Celestial by himself. Zheng exclaimed then felt that he was too over himself when he thought he could take on anyone with Explosion and Destruction. The self created abilities from other teams were all impressive. The difference between self created abilities and exchanged ones were huge. What you could use at 100% potential was the real deal.

Though Gungnir was aware of his fatal flaws. The authentic version of Ice Age required too much preparation in consumables and time. Its duration was short. That was why he created the simple version that used a single energy stone. The power was many times lower but it didn’t require any time for preparation and would last longer. But he was an arrow on a drawn bow right now so he had to use the authentic version and finish the fight in under a minute.

The Balrog’s power exceeded his expectation. His ice forced the fire back to the Balrog but he also couldn’t advance any further. If this persisted, he would be dead after a minute. There was no way to enter the barrier again as it only allowed things to leave. Gungnir clenched his teeth and held his position. As soon as he saw Zheng coming back on the Nightmare, he immediately yelled with excitement. “Hurry up and slice it to pieces. I can extinguish the fire after it gets weakened!”

Zheng rode the Nightmare over and gave him a confirmation. He channeled Qi to Tiger’s Soul then enveloped himself in the light blade. Then he extended another light blade from the sword. The Nightmare leaped. He slashed the sword at the Balrog’s head.