While the expedition entered Mirkwood.
In the fortress of Dol Guldur, a dark shadow appeared from the high tower, overlooking this land filled with shadows.
"Azog..."
A fearsome voice echoed in the pale orc's mind. Azog suddenly opened his eyes, gasping heavily. He immediately felt his chest twice and discovered that the massive gash from his shoulder to his waist had completely healed, leaving only a long scar showing that he had indeed been injured.
He raised his head, looking up at the dark shadow on the high tower that called his name.
Instinctively, Azog felt anger, but upon closer inspection, he found that it wasn't the person he hated.
That was... the Dark Lord, Sauron.
"Azog, you will lead the army and prepare for war."
"What about the dwarf?" Ignoring his healed wound, Azog questioned Sauron with barely contained fury.
"You promised me his death!"
If any other orc dared to talk back like this, they might die on the spot. However, Azog and Sauron had more of a cooperative relationship. He had the qualifications to make demands.
Obviously, Sauron had made some kind of promise, but at this moment he didn't respond to this question, only forcibly ordering Azog to lead the army.
Azog was immediately so angry his chest heaved continuously, the situation left him no choice. No matter how angry he was, he had to follow orders. Reluctantly, he called his son Bolg and had Bolg lead a team to continue targeting the dwarves.
As Azog's son, Bolg had inherited Azog's physique well. He was equally tall and strong.
"That human. If you see him, I allow you to temporarily retreat. But if you can kill him, the leader's position will be yours."
Azog made his promise angrily. Soon, Bolg set out with a group of orcs.
In the dense forest.
The dwarves were drowsy, complaining about this dark forest that seemed to drain their very energy.
Although the environment was dim with no sky visible overhead, the group's progress was still relatively smooth. They encountered no dangers along the way and soon reached a broken bridge.
"Don't touch it."
Levi warned the dwarf who was trying to reach out and touch the river. However, he himself tried using a bucket to collect some river water, but there was nothing unusual. It was just ordinary water. Obviously, the magic in this river couldn't be taken away and only worked within Mirkwood.
Following Levi, Thorin also loudly reminded them: "Didn't you hear what Gandalf said before we entered? This forest is shrouded in some kind of dark magic, and curses flow in the river water."
"There are vines over there. We can swing across. It's best to let the lighter ones go first..."
"No, I don't think that's necessary." Levi interrupted Thorin's words, saying: "We can build a path across."
As he spoke, Levi pulled out stones and began placing them across from the broken bridge to the other side. To prevent some of the wider dwarves from falling, he thoughtfully made the path several blocks wide.
"Amazing." Old Balin couldn't help but marvel, and his drowsiness was greatly dispelled by Levi's operation.
"Fortunately, honestly, I didn't want to use those vines. I don't think they could necessarily support everyone's weight, especially Bombur's."
Bofur chimed in, making Bombur purse his lips unhappily.
"Such amazing magic, to make stones grow on a wooden bridge."
Kili stood on the newly built stone path, stomping his feet several times, finding it very solid.
Fili added: "Anyone who hangs around with Gandalf. How many of them could be normal? Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to disparage..."
Realizing his words were ambiguous, he quickly explained to Levi.
"It's fine, I understand." Levi patted Fili's shoulder, indicating he didn't need to worry about such a small matter.
Unknowingly, the dwarves had begun treating Levi as the same kind of existence as Gandalf. Specifically, as someone who naturally held a leadership position, like a wizard.
At the same time, everyone gradually became accustomed to the various magical tricks Levi would occasionally produce. Conjuring food and blocks from thin air had become commonplace. Didn't Gandalf also call lightning and fire and blow away a bunch of goblins with one blast? In terms of magical display, that old man's was much more impressive than Levi's. He just didn't use it much.
Speaking of attitudes toward Levi, even Thorin was the same as the others.
He would scold companions who made mistakes and lecture Bilbo when he wanted to go home, but he never directed his bad temper at Levi, just as he never lost his temper with Gandalf.
As the dwarves had said when discussing Gandalf: "He's a wizard. He does what he wants. Who are you to control him?"
They had the same attitude toward Levi, except that unlike Gandalf, Levi had signed a contract and had obligations and responsibilities to help them.
On the bridge, looking at Levi's back, Thorin nodded, feeling this person was worth hiring. He was definitely worth the compensation. Not only was he powerful, but he also knew some magic like Gandalf. Given the opportunity, he should get to know him better.
At the back of the group, Bilbo looked at the blocks Levi had conjured from thin air and unconsciously touched the ring in his pocket.
Do I count as knowing an invisibility spell too?
The hobbit thought to himself.
"Don't waste time, let's hurry through the forest..." Thorin called out.
Not far after crossing the magic river, they could actually reach areas relatively close to where the woodland elves lived.
However, this stretch of road was fraught with danger, with shadows stirring within.
Levi looked at the spider webs in the trees, suppressing the urge to use shears or his sword to collect some silk. Those spiders relied on web vibrations to detect prey. If he really did that, he would very likely immediately attract a large group of spiders.
He didn't mind, but the other members of the expedition would be in trouble, especially since except for Levi, everyone was in a drowsy state and wasn't suitable for combat.
Hiss...
Some kind of low humming came from overhead.
Levi instinctively drew his sword and slashed upward. A huge spider corpse fell down, its surface burning with flames.
[Achievement/Title Unlocked: Spider Slayer]
Description: Kill one spider.
"What is this?" Thorin's eyes widened as he suddenly became alert.
"Spiders. Representatives of evil forces. They're corrupting this forest."
Levi explained, then asked: "Did any of you touch a web? These spiders determine prey locations based on web vibrations."
"Webs? No, I haven't even seen those things."
"No, I've stayed on the main road the whole time. Definitely didn't touch anything!"
"Me neither."
"No!"
The group of dwarves turned back and denied it repeatedly.
It certainly wasn't Bilbo either. He'd been following right beside Levi, who had been watching him closely.
"So this spider actively searched and launched an attack..."
Picking up the dropped string and spider eye, Levi suddenly wanted to actively seek out spiders. These were all materials. It would be a waste not to hunt more with his Looting III enchantment.
"Prepare for battle!"
While he was thinking, Thorin suddenly roared behind him, and everyone immediately grabbed their weapons.
Bilbo also drew his short sword and looked at it.
"Not orcs, that's..."
He looked up to see countless huge spiders crawling down from above the forest. Their numbers were sufficient to perfectly illustrate the phrase "blotting out the sky."
"Run!" Seeing the situation was really not something his small group could handle, Thorin directly shouted Gandalf's favorite line.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
Bombur, the largest and meatiest-looking, immediately became the spiders' primary target. He screamed while frantically hitting spider heads, bursting one with each strike.
Levi reacted with lightning speed. His blade carved through the surrounding spiders in swift, decisive strokes before he charged toward the expedition team. He moved like a whirlwind of steel, cutting down enemies as he ran. Each strike was lethal. No spider survived a single blow from his sword.
As the battle progressed, several stacks of spider eyes accumulated in his backpack. At this moment, countless spider corpses were piled behind the expedition, most burning with flames. From above, it looked as if someone had drawn a straight line of fire here.
Most spiders were blocked behind the expedition. Occasionally, scattered ones would jump down from above to attack, but they were quickly eliminated by the dwarves.
Squelch.
In his panic, even Bilbo pierced a spider's head. Before the spider died, whether it was his imagination or not, Bilbo seemed to hear it speaking.
The spider used an onomatopoeia to describe how it felt being stabbed by the short sword.
"Sting?"
"That's a good name. From now on, this sword will be called Sting."
Spiders died one after another. Just as this crisis seemed like it could be safely overcome, suddenly sounds of movement echoed through the jungle. Arrow after arrow came from various tricky angles, each precisely hitting a spider's vital point for an instant kill.
Following the arrows came a group of elves wearing dark green robes and armor. They moved agilely among tree branches, eliminating the remaining spiders with strike after strike.
However, they didn't put away their weapons but instead turned their bows around, aiming at the expedition.
"Don't think I won't act against you, dwarves. I would be quite happy to."
The young elf leading them drew his bow, arrow tip aimed at Thorin.
Although he'd never seen him before, Levi recognized him immediately.
That was the elven prince of the Woodland Realm: Legolas.
The woodland elves' tempers weren't as good as those of Rivendell. Compared to Rivendell, where they lived wasn't safe. They often had to fight and frequently traded with the humans of Dale. All this made their personalities more open and relatively hot-tempered compared to other elves.
Levi sheathed his sword and stepped forward.
"Don't move!" an elf warned.
Legolas immediately looked toward Levi, aiming his bow that way too. However, when he clearly saw the person's specific appearance, he lowered his bow and made a gesture for those behind him aiming at Levi to also lower their bows.
"Don't aim your bows at him. This is our honored guest."
[Chapter Complete]
***
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