Arthur put down his staff and shrugged, watching Shelob, the giant spider, spray green blood and flee in a panic without looking back.
You told me not to use the Divine Corpse-Transformed Sword, so why did you run?
But… this big spider is really fast.
Arthur sighed, watching Shelob disappear in just a few seconds, then patted Torrent's back and rode towards the spider leg where Shelob was struck down by Azur Comet .
Although Shelob successfully escaped, she was still severely injured by Arthur.
If she hadn't reacted quickly and dodged in time, it wouldn't have been just a small part of her entire left body evaporated by Azur Comet , but even that ugly and ferocious spider head would have disappeared.
After all, Arthur had intended to kill her from the start, otherwise he wouldn't have directly used a sorcery of Azur Comet 's caliber.
However, Arthur felt that even if Shelob escaped, her injuries probably wouldn't allow this large spider to run too far, and he would have plenty of time to find her after dealing with the orcs in front of him.
He dismounted, picked up Shelob's spider leg as a trophy, and put it into his spatial backpack.
Although he didn't know what these spider legs were for, Arthur felt that the body of an evil god's offspring should always have some value, even if only for commemorate.
Perhaps if he gave these spider legs to Thorin's dwarves, they might be able to forge some strange equipment or weapons.
After Arthur put away the spider leg, Melina reminded him, "Arthur, more orcs are closing in."
He nodded, quickly mounted his horse, and rode to where Black Hand had died.
The body of the black-armored wizard who had pledged allegiance to Sauron had been completely burned away by the golden ripples of the Divine Corpse-Transformed Sword, leaving only charred and twisted armor on the barren land, with Black Hand's equally dull and broken sword beside it.
What a pity.
Arthur sighed, looking at the black armor and accessories that had completely lost their use.
Although he didn't know what mission Black Hand had to complete according to Shelob, he was a dead man now, so there was no need to dwell on it.
If worst came to worst, he could tell Gandalf what had happened here and let the old wizard, who had lived so long in Middle-earth, ponder what Black Hand's "mission" in Shelob's words truly was.
He also dismounted, placing Black Hand's gauntlet and broken sword into his spatial backpack as a memento of defeating this rather special enemy.
Arthur then checked his soul collector; the first soul collector had only gathered one-third of its soul capacity and was far from full.
But he wasn't worried, because just as Melina reminded him, more orcs were already very close; Arthur could already hear the sound of their running footsteps and panting, as well as the noise of their iron plates scraping against each other.
Melina, using the cerulean glow of the Starlight Glintstone Magic, looked at the shadowy figures of orcs further in the distance and frowned slightly: "Arthur, we've made too much noise, and too many enemies are coming."
Arthur brought the Cerulean Tear Flask to his lips to replenish the magic he had consumed using the Divine Corpse-Transformed Sword and Azur Comet , saying, "Yes, I know. Let's collect some more souls before these orcs surround us, then we'll return to the Black Gate."
As he spoke, he once again raised the Divine Corpse-Transformed Sword towards the charging orc horde and swung it directly.
However, this time the Erdtree's flame wave was split in half by another, more somber and dim orange-red flame, revealing a pale-skinned wizard also clad in black armor, with eyes that seemed to burn like Black Hand's.
If it weren't for the fact that the other party's appearance was clearly different from Black Hand's, and he was holding a two-handed warhammer that made Arthur feel a sense of danger, Arthur would have almost thought Black Hand had some special resurrection method.
He then noticed that this wizard, whose armor style was consistent with Black Hand's, once again swung the warhammer with both hands, sending out orange-red flame waves to the left and right, further dividing the golden flame waves.
Although the remaining golden flame waves reached the charging orc horde, their killing effect was far less effective than when he fought Black Hand earlier.
This weapon is truly not simple. Is he the "warhammer" Black Hand mentioned earlier?
Arthur frowned, staring intently at the two-handed warhammer opposite him, which he found somewhat troubling.
He had a premonition that even if his own weapon, reinforced to the extreme, clashed with this warhammer, it wouldn't be destroyed like the weapons of the enemies he had encountered before.
As Arthur thought this, the Divine Corpse-Transformed Sword in his hand had already switched back to a staff, and he simultaneously drank the blessing from the Cerulean Tear Flask again, fully replenishing his magic.
He looked at the almost empty Cerulean Tear Flask and sighed, realizing he was using Glintstone Magic more and more often. Next time, he should prepare more elixirs specifically for high-consumption Glintstone Magic and adjust the allocation of Red and Cerulean Tears.
Because when Arthur was in The Lands Between, he mostly relied on his brute strength to clash with enemies, and Glintstone Magic and Prayers were mostly used to apply buffs to himself, just enough to get by.
Melina, behind Arthur, also looked at the wizard with a serious expression, or more accurately, at the two-handed warhammer, and warned, "That warhammer is very dangerous."
It was clear that she, like Arthur, felt that the wizard posed no threat whatsoever; the only threat was the weapon he carried.
"wizard, my master wishes to see you."
The wizard holding the two-handed warhammer said only this one sentence when he saw Arthur.
Wishes to see me? Tell that to my Glintstone Magic.
Arthur rolled his eyes inwardly, his actions not stopping as he prepared to unleash Azur Comet on him again.
What Arthur didn't expect was that just as the cerulean magical torrent of Azur Comet shot towards this wizard, he had already quickly drawn a dagger from his waist before Arthur even cast the spell, then unhesitatingly slashed it across his own neck.
?
After a brief shock, a sense of vigilance surged in Arthur's heart, and he increased his magic output, directing Azur Comet towards the wizard's freshly deceased body on the ground.
He wasn't stupid.
The opponent said his master wished to see him, then slit his own throat; this abstract behavior, unless it was to summon his master, Arthur couldn't think of a second explanation.
Indeed, before the wizard's body even fell, a giant eye seemingly made of flame appeared behind him, followed by a black-armored iron giant, about four meters tall, who effortlessly gripped the two-handed warhammer from the wizard's hand and swung it into the torrent of Azur Comet .
Or rather, it was never a two-handed warhammer to begin with, but rather this iron giant's one-handed hammer.
An even more intense orange-red flame than before formed a wall of fire; although it couldn't make the magical torrent disappear, Azur Comet could no longer advance further.
...
Arthur's expression became solemn; he no longer wasted magic, quickly stopped casting, and drank all the liquid in the Cerulean Tear Flask to quickly replenish his magic. In his hands appeared the weapons he was more skilled with—a greatsword and a shield.
He asked the giant wearing the black, grotesque armor, "Sauron?"
The black iron giant did not answer, but the subsequent roar of a fierce beast from the sky, and the Ringwraiths who dismounted from the beast's back after it landed on the ground and respectfully stood behind this giant, had already unequivocally revealed the giant's true identity to Arthur.
The Dark Lord Sauron.