Chapter 18

The battlefield was still in a chaos. No one knew Zhao ZhuiKong appeared. No one knew YinKong met him. Everything happened according to plot. The Fellowship grew with the addition of the players. Yet, the Uruk’s number and strength also grew. It maintained a balance of the two sides just as how it was in the movie.

Zheng was charging back and forth inside the swarm of Uruks. At least two hundred died to his sword. The battle Qi could resist some of the damage from his light blade during slashes and charges, but he overpowered the Uruks in pure strength. Once his light blade barrier shattered, Zheng activated Explosion. More blood energy also channeled into the Nightmare.

Zheng killed a good number of Uruks in his normal mode. Now that he was in Explosion, his strength and speed increased by nearly ten times. Tiger’s Soul moved without resistance. The Uruks were cut in halves even with their battle Qi. The rate of casualties increased exponentially. By the time Zheng had his mind calmed down, the Uruks were scattering and running away as if they had seen a monster. Zheng felt fatigue in his arms and legs.

The battle wasn’t a one versus one after all. This battle was approaching the scale of war. The broken pieces of dead bodies on the ground evidenced he killed hundreds of Uruks. Not orcs but Uruks with battle Qi. Any one of them could rival ten human soldiers. So he was feeling a little fatigue.

“Phuu. Lan. Can you hear me? What’s the situation now? Give me the distribution map of the Uruks.” Zheng took a deep breath and said.

Lan quickly responded. She scanned the battlefield and sent the image to Zheng’s mind. There were still Uruks everywhere from the shore to the forest. And countless dead bodies of them. Zheng killed over three hundred Uruks. On the main road were three hundred more dead bodies. About five hundred surrounding the players and movie characters.

Zheng noticed YinKong coming down a slope. Something happened to her but there was no other person over at her direction. “Lan, what happened to YinKong? Why does she have such expression?” Zheng asked while he chased the Uruks.

Lan paused for a while then muttered. “The Ringwraiths were not the only ones that can avoid the psyche scan… Judging by her expression, she might have met that person…”

It was her personal matter after all. Zheng had doubts and was worried but he got his mind together. The mithril rings recovered his Qi and blood energy. He also meditated with his Chaotic Unity Qi on the Nightmare to recover his stamina. An Uruk appeared in front of him once more. It heard the clop of the horse then Tiger’s Soul crossed its arm and shoulder before it had the chance to turn around.

The rest of the Fellowship were surrounded by Uruks. The movie characters were a rather reliable force. Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli slain their share of the Uruks. They were capable in both long range and close combat. The players on the other hand were a mix of strong and weak. Richard was the strongest with his Berserker technique. He charged through the Uruks with his big axe. He suffered many minor wounds but at the same time his axe crushed through any Uruk along with their shields. Richard had activated Berserker.

ChengXiao was fighting with elven sword. You could tell he undergone systematic sword and combat training. Every attack he did took down an Uruk. After ten times or so, the Uruks realized this man wasn’t an easy target. They showed signs of avoiding ChengXiao. Gungnir though was rather stingy. He didn’t even use the regular version of Ice Age. His attacks consisted of throwing ice shards and defending with an shield. But that also meant he was having a rough time.

Aya was supposedly the only player with an AOE ability. She could summon poisonous bees. However, the bees were ineffective against the Uruks. They seemed immune to the poison. She had no close range combat ability so she ran along with the Hobbits.

Zheng came in on the flaming Nightmare and holding a red sword with style. He slashed through a dozen Uruks in a series of moves. Not one Uruk needed a second slash from him. As he was about to charge into a large group, Aragorn yelled. “Don’t worry about us, we are fine here! Go help Boromir. He’s protecting Merry. Hurry!”

At the same time, Zheng heard a clarion call coming from afar. Legolas yelled. “That’s the clarion from Gondor, hurry!” He fired several arrows at the Uruks next to Zheng and killed them.

Zheng replied. “Be careful! Back away when you can’t hold them! I will be back as soon as I helped Boromir!” He turned the Nightmare around and ran up a tree. The Nightmare ran to the top then leaped away and out of everyone’s sight.

Boromir was at his limit. He didn’t have to protect two Hobbits as in the movie because Pippin died. There was only Merry left. But he still had to protect an extra person, Aya. Both Merry and Aya could fight. So he was at a disadvantage. He couldn’t let any Uruk go past him. Though against the endless supply of Uruks, he wouldn’t be able to keep them away for much longer even without the two burdens.

“Run!” Boromir yelled with his lungs seeing more and more Uruks came to them. He slain an Uruk and turned around to run.

However, what he saw was the bitter smile of Aya. A hundred Uruks had surrounded them from behind. There was nowhere to run. Boromir was weaker than Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli to begin with. With the two deadweights, he couldn’t get away now even if he wanted to.

A 2.5 meter tall Uruk walked out of the group. It was muscular and radiated brighter battle Qi than the rest of the Uruks. It was probably an elite Uruk.

The Uruk stared at Boromir coldly. It brought out an elven longbow. Shockingly, it placed two arrows on the bow and aimed at Boromir. This Uruk could use Explosive shot.

The two arrows came into contact. The first arrow penetrated Boromir’s left chest then went through Aya’s leg. Both of them fell to the ground.

Zheng arrived to see this scene. The rest of the Uruks were swarming on to Boromir who was laying on the ground. The Nightmare jumped down from the top of a tree and stepped a Uruk into the ground. Zheng channeled Qi into Tiger’s Soul. He slashed horizontally, cutting the dozens of Uruks around Boromir in halves.

Zheng took out a Charm of the Three Pures Ones and a Freezing Pill. He threw it behind to Aya without daring to turn his head away. “Attach the charm to him! Don’t let him die. When he is about to die, feed him the pill! Take care of yourself!” He pulled the lead rope and the Nightmare charged toward the elite Uruk.

The Uruk had drew the bow to a crescent moon with two arrows aimed at Zheng’s heart.

Zheng’s expression paled with shock seeing that the arrows were aimed at his heart. He did not fear normal arrows but the Explosive shot was an exception. Long-term cooperation with Heng had taught him the power of this technique. The light blade barrier was still enveloping his body but he had no faith of it defending this shot. He held out Tiger’s Soul in front.

The Uruk leader let go of the arrows. The first arrow reached a speed invisible to the bare eyes after an impact. Dong! A great force passed to him from Tiger’s Soul. He felt as if the webbing between his thumb and index finger was tearing apart. The force transferred to the Nightmare and pushed it back a step to buffer.

Zheng quickly looked down at this sword. The arrow penetrated the light blade and stopped at his barrier. It took two layers of protection to stop the arrow and one of the layer shattered. The technique was more powerful than he expected.

“Good thing it’s only a two arrow shot. If it’s three arrows…” The only person Zheng was aware of that could use the three arrow shot was Heng and Legolas if he were to include the movie characters. So Zheng wasn’t so worried about it. Boromir was more worrying to him due to his fatal injuries and there were two people without any combat power.

The Uruks surrounded him after he blocked the shot. These Uruks were same as the ones he killed, muscular and had minor amount of battle Qi. It was troublesome fighting these Uruks. He couldn’t slash away dozens as he would against other monsters. A hundred of the Uruks outside the circle surrounding him couldn’t get to him. They instead headed to where Merry and the other two people were at.

“Fuck. What is this battle Qi and it can defend against the light blade.” Zheng yelled with irritation. He had decided to upgrade Tiger’s Soul once this world was over. The light blade alone wasn’t able to take on the movie worlds anymore.

Boromir had a hole the size of a saucer dish on his chest. He was manly enough that he stood up, trembling, as the Uruks struck at the three people. A blade hacked at his head. He radiated with battle Qi brighter than it ever was. His heavy sword cut through the Uruk’s upper body before the blade hit him.

“Run! Take the Hobbit away!” Boromir yelled then vomited blood.

Aya only got to attach the charm on his back before Boromir charged into the swarm of Uruks. Aya’s leg was torn so she could only say to Merry. “Run, don’t let them catch you!” She summoned another swarm of bees but she knew how ineffective they were.

The burst of energy Boromir had didn’t last long. The Uruk leader readied his arrow at Zheng since Zheng had killed over a hundred Uruks in under a minute. However, seeing that the only thing standing between the rest of the Uruks and Merry was Boromir, it paused for a moment then aimed the arrows at him.

Boromir looked like a tragic character. Blood was spilling out of his mouth as he shouted. The recovery from the charm though did stopped his bleeding. He was able to slay many Uruks in the meantime. Just then, a huge force struck him on his right chest and sent him flying ten meters. An arrow nailed him onto a tree.

“Boromir!” Merry had ran some distance by this time. He couldn’t contain himself as he saw the terrible sight of Boromir and cried. Merry brought up his courage. He held onto a short sword and charged at an Uruk. Yet, how could he be a match to the Uruks? The Uruk seized him onto its shoulder at the encounter. A group of Uruks then followed this Uruk away, leaving behind three hundred Uruks to stop Zheng. The ground was covered with pieces of dead bodies.

Zheng was focused on killing the Uruks around him. Suddenly, there was a rattling sound. A part of his light blade barrier shattered. An arrow pierced into the back of his shoulder. Fortunately, he was fighting with Qi and the arrow’s force lessened after it passed through the barrier. The arrow pierced into his muscle then stopped there.

“Fuck! I’m a tiger not domesticated cat!” He glanced at Boromir on the tree. Aya on the other hand was carried on the shoulder of an Uruk. Merry was going out of his sight. A rage built up within Zheng. The Uruk leader shooting him added to the fire of his rage.

Zheng had the Nightmare ran to a tree and leaped onto its trunk. He stood up on the horse’s back then jumped down. Multiple swords were awaiting him below. The Uruks had much stronger strength than normal people but their speed was slightly below normal people’s. It was nowhere near Zheng’s speed in the second stage of the unlocked mode. He kicked through the opening of the swords and bashed an Uruk’s head. The force pushed him back up to mid air.

The Uruk leader fired its second Explosive Shot. As Zheng noticed the two arrows, he immediately entered Instant Destruction. The arrow would reach a force and speed beyond that of bullets once they come to impact. He wouldn’t be able to dodge at that point. Zheng used Geppo while he was still in the air to change his direction.

The arrows caused a mini explosion then an arrow with incredible speed missed him by a few meters. It blasted a hole on the trunk of a tree.

Without a moment of delay, Zheng used Soru in Instant Destruction as soon as he landed on the ground. He flashed to the Uruk leader. It was dropping its longbow and reaching for a sword. Zheng grabbed the leader’s arm and leg. He gave a roar then tore the Uruk leader in two. Blood, flesh and organs splattered his body. Yet, the Uruk leader was still alive and wailing. Zheng stepped on its body and finished it off.

The rest of the Uruks were about to charge at him but he ran into the swarm instead. He focused all his energy on Explosion and didn’t use the light blade barrier. Flesh and blood flew all over the battlefield.

By the time the other members of the Fellowship arrived, all that was left was a ground filled with broken bodies and flesh and Zheng stood in the middle like a demon. Blood covered his whole body. No one dared to move closer to him.

The movie characters were dazzled to see Zheng in this appearance. They knew he was strong but he gave off a rather benign feeling, nothing like the demonish feeling he was now giving off. Zheng retrieved the slaughtering aura he gave off. The others finally recovered from their shock then they scanned the battlefield. The movie characters cried when they saw Boromir nailed on a tree.

Zheng said to Richard. “The Uruk captured Aya and ran at this direction. Go chase after them. I will see if ChengXiao can save Boromir. The supplies we exchanged coupled with his medical expertise might be able to do it.”

Richard paused for a moment then ran after the Uruks with his axe. He seemed very worried. Zheng then said to Lan via Soul Link. “How’s it over there? Are there a lot of Uruks?”

Lan replied. “We’re fine. Heng and Xuan are strong fighters. Oh and Neos chased after Aya. Is he going to be alright? He’s an intelligence type leader.”

Zheng thought for a bit. “Let him go. He has his plans if he decided to chase. Xuan, this is a turning point in the plot. The movie characters will split into three paths. You have to hurry up and make your plans. I am going to speak with ChengXiao.”

“Yes, I can save him if we act in time. But I am missing some important surgical tools.” ChengXiao said.

Behind him was an ice statue. The Freezing Pill froze its user to ice after a fatal injury. He would remain frozen until someone releases him. However, he would die soon afterward if that happened.

ChengXiao pointed at the statue. “Gungnir has confirmed this frozen status is an ice attribute energy. Zheng’s Qi or anyone else’s battle Qi can remove the buff. To protect his life, you will have to carefully defrost his wound while keeping the rest of the body frozen. Looking at his injuries, the injuries on his lungs are most severe and next are his arteries. Luckily his heart is fine but the damage on the arteries are still fatal. I brought artificial lungs and blood vessels but…”

“But what?” Aragorn’s emotion was in an upheaval. He thought Boromir couldn’t live but the players gave him hope. He couldn’t contain himself and grabbed ChengXiao by the shirt collar.

ChengXiao held out his hands and said. “I do have all the necessary medical tools. The artificial lungs can work for a hundred years by consuming bio-energy. Artificial blood vessels have the same structure as regular blood vessels, so the transplant is easy. Yet, there’s something we couldn’t bring in large quantity, blood. Blood expires too easily. He has already lost so much blood and will lose more in the surgery. Furthermore, to prevent his body from rejecting the transplants, I will have to use a Gu that consumes even more blood. It’s not possible to proceed with the surgery without enough blood supply. Otherwise, he will not last through the surgery.”

“Blood?” Gimli yelled. “Take my blood. My blood is boiling. I will not frown no matter how much you take!”

Zheng shouted. “Calm down! Aragorn, we are comrades so we won’t let anyone die so easily. The Freezing Pill has an extremely long duration. There’s no need to panic and do the surgery now. I say we go to Rohan first. There will be a safe and clean place for the surgery. You don’t know about blood but humans have different types of blood. We need a large number of donors for blood then choose the ones that are the same type as Boromir’s.”

Aragorn took a deep breath. He nodded. “I’m sorry. I was too emotional… He’s a true warrior. He fought for the people of Gondor, the freedom of Gondor. They are waiting for him in the White City but he may not return.”

Zheng slapped Aragorn’s shoulder. “No! He will live. We will all live!”

Still, when the rest of the movie characters saw Boromir frozen in ice, their expressions were terrible. At the same time, the scan images from Lan showed that team Northern Ice Land had followed Frodo and Sam. Their group of five were heading toward Mordor. While team Africa chased after the Uruks due to Aya being captured. Zheng could no longer see Richard from where he was standing.

Zheng looked over the ruined battlefield then turned to Xuan. “What should we do now? The other two teams have chosen their paths.”

Xuan nodded. “Yes. It seems that they have made their decisions way before this event. Team Northern Iceland have less team members but their leader is strong. So following Frodo is the best choice for them. This path has the least people in the original movie but also the most dangerous. Gungnir is probably planning to kill more monsters on the road for points.

Team Africa also chose a path appropriate for their team. They are the weakest of the three teams. In the movie, the road Merry and Pippin travels is the least dangerous and goes through multiple forces, the Ents, Rohan, Gondor… Neos will definitely choose this path. He wants to obtain the influences of this world.

We are the last of the three teams.” Xuan muttered. “We are the strongest even without Haotian and the Nemesis. So the head on clash of the war is left to us. I have an interesting idea.”

(Another interesting idea… I don’t know if I want to hear him say this or not.)

Zheng gave in and said. “So tell me what is it you think is interesting.”

Xuan waved his hand. “I won’t tell you that easily. Wait for the time to come. I also need to test it. If the conjecture stands, we can take down the follow battles against Mordor without much effort!”

As they spoke, ChengXiao bandaged everyone up. Heng and Legolas were cleaning up the field. The movie characters learned that Frodo, Sam and the three people from team Northern Ice Land left and Merry and Aya were captured. Aragorn immediately decided to rescue the captives when he heard one of them was a woman.

“The Uruks are different from Orcs but both were sexually promiscuous. Women will suffer miserably in their hands. We have to rescue them before the Uruks stop or return to Isengard.” Aragorn said with determination.

The group quickly ate their biscuits under Aragorn’s request. The three movie characters then followed the traces left by the Uruks. Since Boromir was frozen, Zheng had to get off his mount and tied the statue on the horse. He grabbed the rope to the horse and advanced with the others on feet.

And so team China following the movie characters also chased after the Uruks. Dead bodies of Uruks lay on the ground throughout the road. They were dying in groups of tens. Their bodies seemed to be shattered by a large weapon. It was the strength of Berserker. A few days past tracing after the Uruks.

“Please, you psychopath! I don’t want to fucking die with you. Get away from me!”

A young man with black hair standing on a sword yelled. He was wearing thin strips of cloth. His clothe looked like it was cut by a dagger or something sharp. His hair was a mess. His face had several small cuts.

A man with long hair stood on top of a tree underneath him. His clothe looked better but it was also filled with marks of cuts. There was burning on his face and hair.

The man with long hair smiled. “I can’t let you. The story has just begun. If you caught up to them now, the story can’t go on anymore. Listen and be a good boy. Watch they ripen the little apple with their blood, friendship, sacrifices, and courage. Don’t you feel such a beautiful scene makes you want to crush it? Let them build up their friendship and as they are about to return, kill off all the movie characters. Oh such taste. Even just imagining it…”

The young man with black hair expressed disgust and shouted. “Zhao ZhuiKong you fucking psychopath! Don’t treat everyone the same as you. I don’t have such disgusting hobby. We are not team Devil. We don’t kill everyone in the other teams. I am only going to verify the people in those teams. You really think I am scared to fight you? I didn’t lose even when I fought your clone!”

“If you want to fight then…” ZhuiKong nodded with a smile. “The harvesting season isn’t here yet. It’s not a bad idea to treat my boredom with a fight. XiuZhen (Cultivation) and third stage look quite powerful. Want to give it a try?”

He swung his arm. An object flashed across and at the same time a golden light appeared surrounding the man with black hair. Yet, it still added a bloody mark to the man’s face. The wound was not deep but quite visible.

He was enraged and shouted. “I didn’t fucking provoke you! What gives you the reason to block me… or did you already confirmed there’s someone we want to kill in one of the teams?”

He threw eight little flags down. “Vanquishing formation!”

The flags grew as they traveled. They reached five meters by the time they landed on the ground. The flags surrounded the tree ZhuiKong was standing on, each flag radiated a different color.

ZhuiKong stopped his smile. His gaze was cold. “Do you really want to die? Retrieve this thing or I won’t hold back anymore.”

“Cauldron of the Eight Trigrams!”