Zheng couldn’t fully defend such a situation. The city was simply too big to defend even though its sides stood against the mountain. It was different from the rectangular shapes the cities in ancient China had where only the front would get attacked and it was different from the small fortress that was Helm’s Deep. This was a true city with over ten floors in height and spanned hundreds of meters across. How could he take care of every place by himself?
(If I unlocked the fourth stage, I can simply charged into the orc army…) Zheng and Gandalf stood in a middle level and looked down at the battlefield. They could get a clear view at any change happening below. Multiple times, Zheng wanted to assist when large boulders flew at the wall but Gandalf stopped him.
“Hold. The Ringwraith has come… The final Ringwraith possesses immense power. I don’t know why Sauron isn’t here but the Ringwraith alone will bring about heavy casualties. You are our strongest fighter in close combat. You must stop the Ringwraith.” Gandalf said in a serious tone.
(It’s not on the Ringwraith. Three people are watching from the mountain. Two men and a woman. One of them is probably Luo YingLong. Don’t recognize the other two but they should be members of team Celestial. How arrogant. They don’t care that our psyche force user would detect them, or is it because they are strong enough to disregard my fourth stage?) Zheng didn’t want to enter the fourth stage to avoid losing his true self. However, the fourth stage was also is pride. It put him within the top of the ladder in this realm. His strength could at least enter him into top five.
Yet, was this enough to rival the final Ringwraith and the three people from team Celestial?
Boulders were raining down in decreasing intervals. Many troops died on the wall. Cracks and chips appeared on the wall. Despite that, the orcs still couldn’t break through due to its height.
“We have only three thousand troops left. The local forces in the city are still scattered. Denethor is a fool. He doesn’t know what he’s facing!” Gandalf cursed.
Zheng shrugged with a bitter smile on his face. This city was going to fall if things proceed at the same direction. He noticed troops from both sides with a higher rank could use battle Qi. There were also few that could use Explosive Shot. When had this powerful technique become so cheap to obtain? The numbers that could use the technique were few but they were mostly in the orc army. Even with a only a hundred Explosive Shots, Zheng wouldn’t dare to take them head on.
“We can’t wait and watch here! Gandalf, I am heading down to help the defense. We don’t know when the Rohan riders will come. The city can’t fall until then!”
He had no time to worry about the three people from team Celestial. He gave Lan a few advices and urged Gandalf to protect her. Then he mounted the Nightmare and ran down to the wall.
The city was built leaning on the mountain. The roads spiraled upward inside the city. It would take quite a bit of time to move through but the anti-gravity attribute of the Nightmare made the run swift. Zheng was standing on the city wall within just ten seconds.
Tat. Tat. Tat. As soon as he arrived, numerous arrows hit his body. Zheng didn’t hesitate as he gave the lead rope a pull. The nightmare leaped off the wall and with a thump, it smashed onto the half orcs and orcs below.
Zheng was well aware of the immense power of the Explosive Shot. It was beyond the defensive capacity of his light blade barrier. So instead of trying to defend or dodge them, he chose to charge right into the enemies. Attacks with normal battle Qi couldn’t penetrate his barrier and they wouldn’t be able to hit him with Explosive Shot in such a chaotic situation. It was like a tiger ran into a flock of sheep!
He slashed across as soon as the Nightmare landed, cutting all orcs and half orcs within a ten meter radius in front of him to halves. The light blade from Tiger’s Soul wasn’t a joke. Any half orc and orc without protection from battle Qi didn’t avoid getting slashed.
(These half orcs and orcs are quite a bit weaker than the Uruk-hai. A much lower portion of them can use battle Qi and Explosive Shot. Some of them are even physically weaker than human troops. The only thing scary about them is their number. A hundred thousand… I don’t even know how long it will take to kill them if they just stand there and wait for me to come.) Various thoughts crossed his mind but they did not slow him down from charging ahead. He didn’t know how many half orcs and orcs he killed. Even the trolls fall at one slash from the light blade. They had great strength but lacked battle Qi. Zheng charged left and right within the army. The orc army near the city wall seemed to be losing their formation.
The three people on the mountain showed signs of interfering seeing this scene but Luo YingLong stopped the other two. He was extremely cool headed unlike how he should have been. He stared at Zheng and said. “It’s still too early. His strength is unfathomable. Even if he’s not as strong as the demon, he’s still the original. Let him spend more energy. The Ringwraith is also going to come. We will finish him off after they wear each other out!”
Zheng had been paying attention to these three people. Lan monitored everything around them with psyche scan the whole time. He would know if anything unusual appeared. That was why he didn’t worry too much charging around in the battlefield. He was trying to buy as much time as he could.
Before the orc army near the wall broke apart, a screeching sound came through from above the clouds. The sound pierced into the depth of their souls. The pain felt like a blade dragging on their ears. The majority of troops on the wall covered their ears with their hands and many began to run. The arrows raining down from the wall stopped. The orc army also found their strength. It was like the screeching sound had no effect on them.
“The Ringwraith! It’s the Ringwraith!”
The troops cried. Zheng saw it through psyche scan. A warrior in black heavy armor sat on a dragon-like creature that was meters long. This was a dragon with two wings from western fantasies. Though it was smaller than the fire breathing dragon they faced in the previous world. In just the blink of an eye, the dragon flew through the clouds and came straight to the city.
Events began to deviate from the movie plot from this point. Gandalf’s chanting echoed throughout the city. And with his voice, a translucent barrier appeared in front of the dragon. Thump! The dragon smashed into the barrier then it began to fall.
Zheng stared with his eyes and mouth wide open. This scene was not a part of the movie. Gandalf was more of a staff wielding warrior than he was a wizard in the movie. He never showed any powerful magic. Zheng never expected him to drop the Ringwraith in just one hit.
While Zheng was thinking, the wall where the dragon fell onto exploded. A group of troops were sent flying outward. There was no chance of them making it back alive. At the center, the Ringwraith stood up, intact. It carried a longsword with a dark glow in one hand and a morning star on the other. It smashed the morning star at a nearby house. The house and the one next to it shattered. Pulverized lime flew in the air. The whole area collapsed.
(That power is terrifying!) Zheng’s heart clenched. He had the Nightmare charge back to the wall without a second of thinking. The Ringwraith’s strength wasn’t at the level of Destruction but it was not far away. If he didn’t stop the Ringwraith, it would destroy the whole city before the orc army broke through the gate.
“Lan! Those people from team Celestial will attack soon! Don’t leave Gandalf! I can’t attend to your safety anymore!” Zheng said to Lan via Soul Link. The Nightmare ran up along the wall. He was less than a hundred meters away from the Ringwraith.
Seeing your enemies would always evoke anger. The Ringwraiths originally had nine and now they all died but one. This Ringwraith gained strength as a result. However, the hatred was burned into its heart.
The nine Ringwraiths were once kings who sought the rings for mortal men. Sauronn turned them into beings neither alive nor dead, stripped of freedom and sunk into darkness. Anyhow, they had eight others in similar states who accompanied them. No man could endure such pain and loneliness by himself no matter how evil they became. Thus, the final Ringwraith hated Zheng and his group.
It roared at the sight of Zheng and his Nightmare. The screeching sound was piercing to Zheng’s ears. The Ringwraith leaped at him. Its speed and strength were equally immense. The ground cracked at its leap. In under a second, the Ringwraith had crossed nearly the hundred meters between them. Its morning star smashed toward Zheng and the Nightmare.
Zheng felt a sense of pressure approaching from the front. It was almost suffocating. He immediately pulled Tiger’s Soul up to block in a shock. Plus, there was still a layer of light blade barrier covering him. The morning star struck through the two layers of light blade and they shattered like glass. But they also slowed down its speed. Zheng and the Nightmare was knocked back ten meters.
The knock back pushed Zheng down the wall. Underneath was the lowest level of the city. Human troops were defending the wall. If the Ringwraith were to enter this area, the wall would fall in just a hit from its morning star. Zheng abandoned his Nightmare before they landed. He jumped off from the mount and headed back onto the wall.
He jumped along the wall using the movement technique and brought himself up the dozens of meters high wall. By the time the Nightmare fell to the ground, he reached the second level of the city, where the Nightmare was looking to jump down. It roared again upon seeing Zheng, the sound piercing his ears, then leaped at him.
(Man, it can use tactics to distract people before it attacks?) Zheng wouldn’t let his guards down. He instantly entered the second stage of the unlocked mode and activated Explosion, increasing his speed and strength by multiple folds. The Ringwraith’s sword struck at him. He dodged to the side while countering with Tiger’s Soul.
Multiple clanks followed. The light blade from Tiger’s Soul couldn’t break through the dark sword and neither could the corrosive dark glow break his light blade. Their swords clashed together several times. Zheng was pushed back a few steps. His strength was no match for the Ringwraith in Explosion. His speed was also slower than the Ringwraith. The only advantage that kept him from getting killed was his reaction speed.
Seeing the sword wasn’t effective, the Ringwraith smashed its morning star at Zheng. The same immense pressure swept at him. He wouldn’t dare to take such force head on. The morning star smashed on the ground. Bang! A ten-meter radius of the wall cracked and rocks fell off.
Zheng heard cries from below. There weren’t many troops at this area to begin with and after this attack, barely any would remain. The Ringwraith was so destructive that if he couldn’t kill it, it would be a matter of time before the city was destroyed.
“All hope for man have lost. The end is nigh.” A voice came through from the Ringwraith’s armor. The hollowness sounded as though it came through from the underworld. The Ringwraith struck the morning star at Zheng again.
The situation had become critical. There was the Ringwraith destroying from inside the city, the orc army sieging from outside, and the three members of team Celestial waiting for the time to attack. For every second Zheng spent fighting the Ringwraith, their chance of defeat increased by a little. There was no other choice. He had to use his strongest force to kill the Ringwraith in the shortest amount of time!
The process of unlock the fourth stage was metaphysical. He couldn’t describe it in words. All the deficiencies that he had, from strength, to speed, to reaction, to calculation, would become corrected at the genetic level. At the same time, that killing desire hibernating deep in his genes would wake.
“Destruction! Fourth stage!” Zheng took two steps forward instead of dodging the incoming morning star. Tiger’s Soul intercepted it at the chain and caused the spiked head to change its direction. Zheng pressed the spiked head with his fingers then it smashed toward the Ringwraith. With a loud bang, the Ringwraith’s chest was struck a concave and it was knocked into a wall.
As soon as Zheng countered in this unusual manner in the fourth stage, Luo YingLong jumped. He cried. “The fourth stage!? Infinitesimal control? Impossible! Has he reached such a stage already?”
The other two members didn’t look good either. The Caucasian woman asked. “I don’t think we can take him with just the three of us.”
The black man nodded. Luo YingLong’s face looked blue but he nodded. “It will be fine. He hasn’t entered this stage for long and he has barely any self-created ability. It’s the best time to kill him before he grows. If he fully grasped this stage and exchanged an ability to suppress the killing desires, we won’t have a chance to kill him anymore. We have to kill him today!”
The black man hesitated. “Why isn’t SongTian here for such an important day? Or is there danger to this mission?”
Luo YingLong was feeling irritated. He yelled. “How can I know why he isn’t here? Maybe he ran into problem during his training or Adam gave him another mission. Fuck. I am here anyway. I am not at his stage but I am stronger than him. You guys just have to restrict him, I will be the main attacker!”
The man and woman met eyes then nodded. Luo YingLong jumped from the rock he was standing on. A sword appeared beneath his feet then he flew toward Minas Tirith at an extreme speed.
Zheng didn’t waste any time in Destruction after he knocked the Ringwraith into the wall. He charged at it. Tiger’s Soul had no light blade on. He hacked the sword right into the hole. The concave on the Ringwraith’s chest didn’t affect it in the least bit. It raised the sword and clashed with Tiger’s Soul. A cloud of black mist appeared on its other hand. Then it threw the mist at Zheng.
Zheng took a small step backward while his foot kicked the Ringwraith’s arm that was holding the sword. Pah! The strength from Destruction was so strong that the arm exploded. Without a moment of delay, Tiger’s Soul slashed toward the Ringwraith’s head.
A sense of danger struck his subconscious. Zheng leaped five meters to the left at the same time. A green condensed Qi shot through where he was standing and penetrated the Ringwraith’s helm. Who would have thought the final Ringwraith that terrified people of Middle Earth would get killed so easily?
The green Qi faded. Luo YingLong was standing on a sword. He didn’t look at the Ringwraith and smiled at Zheng. “You don’t mind me killing this right? The rewards are not bad as expected from the final Ringwraith. I don’t use them that much but it would be nice exchanging some materials. Zheng! Exit your fourth stage. I don’t want to fight a beast without his thoughts!
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