"To think that the [Troll Slayer] who recently came to the forest is actually a friend of Tom and Gandalf..."
Hearing that the young man before him was an "acquaintance," Radagast smiled and continued, "I am Radagast the Brown Wizard. Thank you for helping Rhosgobel repel the attack of the dark creatures."
The dark clouds dispersed, and sunlight shone on Rhosgobel once again. The small animals that had been scared away by the dark monsters earlier also returned to the side of the cabin.
Clearly, Rhosgobel had withstood this probing attack by the dark forces.
"Troll Slayer? What a strange title..." Mike shook his head and said with a smile, "My name is Mike, Mike. Strictly speaking, I am a traveler."
[Demigod Body (Trait)]... [Source of magic (Trait)]... [Nature Affinity (Skill)]... [Animal Affinity (Skill)]... [Nature magic (Skill)]...
[Wizard Energy + 8,000,000]...
At the same time, Mike also obtained many light orbs from Radagast the Brown Wizard.
Judging by the traits of the various light orbs, the abilities of this Brown Wizard were not much inferior to those of Tom in the Black Forest.
Meanwhile, after so many days, Mike's own mythic level had finally broken through to level nine.
One more level up, and he would be able to experience another leap in his life level.
"Hello, Mike. Do you know the origin of these dark creatures?" Radagast noticed at this moment the two curled-up Giant Spider corpses in front of Mike.
Even though they were dead, these Giant Spiders, which were larger than elephants, still made one's skin crawl.
Unsurprisingly, they were the very monsters that had attacked the cabin earlier.
"I came from the direction of the forest, and I haven't seen this kind of Giant Spider before. They must have come from the Misty Mountains..." Mike stopped fiddling with the spider corpses.
Apart from being huge and having a slightly denser dark energy, these spiders didn't have much research value.
On the contrary, Mike had heard that the meat of these spiders was as delicious as crab. However, the terrible appearance of the spiders made him ultimately decide not to try it.
Next, Radagast also stepped forward to examine the corpses of the Giant Spiders, and when he looked up, he saw Mike still standing to the side.
"Sorry, you helped me solve a major problem, and I haven't thanked you yet. Please come inside for a cup of tea—" Finding nothing more, Radagast invited Mike into the cabin.
He then took out various herbs and brewed a cup of strangely colored medicinal tea for Mike.
Its effects were powerful and could help regulate physical discomfort, but because the taste was just too strange, Mike didn't like it very much.
"Can you describe in detail what it felt like to fight those Giant Spiders?" Opposite him, Radagast took a sip of the tea he had brewed, and after his expression relaxed, he brought up the topic.
The resurgence of dark power had become an inevitable trend, and the Brown Wizard could not guarantee whether Rhosgobel could withstand the next invasion of such Giant Spiders.
So before that, he wanted to learn as much as possible about the opponents.
"The strength of a single Giant Spider should not be stronger than an Troll, but this kind of spider is clearly a pack animal..." With Mike's current strength, both Trolls and Giant Spiders were things he could solve in a few moves, but he still analyzed cautiously: "If it's a pack of Giant Spiders, their destructive power will definitely be more terrifying than Trolls."
Moreover, compared to the slow-growing Trolls, the reproductive ability and growth rate of the Giant Spiders were clearly stronger.
"This is troublesome." Thinking about the possibility of a pack of Giant Spiders with strength comparable to Trolls attacking Rhosgobel made Radagast's scalp tingle. "No, I cannot sit and wait for death. I must find out their source and find a way to solve it before the next attack of the dark forces..."
Having made his next decision, Radagast looked at Mike and said, "I plan to go to the Rhudaur Ruins near the Misty Mountains to take a look. Perhaps the answers I want are there. Do you want to come with me?"
There is strength in numbers, and the Brown Wizard could feel that the young man before him was not simple.
Furthermore, the Rhudaur Ruins were the closest dark lair to Rhosgobel, where the Witch-king of Angmar, a holder of the nine human rings, was buried.
It was also a stronghold of the Dark Lord Sauron.
"Go to the Rhudaur Ruins? That happens to be on the way, as I was planning to wander around the Northern Highlands anyway." If Mike remembered correctly, the Rhudaur Ruins were on the edge of the Northern Highlands.
"That's great! There is no time to lose, let's set off now!" Radagast stood up, put on his hat, and then beckoned Mike to walk outside.
Coming outside, the Brown Wizard put his fingers to his lips and blew a series of whistles.
Before long, dense footsteps came from the jungle, and then a group of rabbits pulling a [Sled] appeared in front of the cabin.
"You just... almost bumped into me..."
"It was you... who were too slow..." "I feel... my ears are a bit itchy..." "Were there two monsters here earlier... it was so scary..."
These were all Rhosgobel rabbits raised by the Brown Wizard; their bodies were much larger than ordinary rabbits, and they looked cute.
However, Mike, who had the [Animal Affinity] trait, could "hear" that these rabbits were all "chatty."
"Good children..." Radagast stepped forward to stroke the ears of the two "arguing" rabbits, soothing their restless hearts. Then he invited Mike to sit on the [Sled] and commanded the rabbit team, "Target Rhudaur Ruins, set off—"
Instantly, the rabbits cheered. "Setting off... setting off..." "Run... run... run faster..."
Clearly, the IQ of these rabbits was not very high, but their running speed was very fast.
The specially made [Sled], pulled by the rabbits, traveled through the forest as smoothly as the wind, occasionally "leaping" directly over various obstacles in the mountains and forests.
This feeling of "skiing" on land was something Mike was experiencing for the first time, and it was unexpectedly fun.
"Hold tight to the handrails... We are not far from the Rhudaur Ruins... We will arrive soon..."
Radagast, sitting on the [Sled], seemed exceptionally excited. He held his hat with one hand and the handrail with the other, his beard blown into a mess by the wind speed.
At the same time, he did not forget to loudly urge Mike beside him.
"I feel great, perhaps we can speed up a bit more." Mike "heard" that the rabbits pulling the sled in front were not using their full strength.
"Did you hear that? Children. Our guest wishes for more speed!!!" The Brown Wizard laughed, making the rabbits accelerate again.
Afterwards, once the Rhosgobel rabbits let loose their speed, the [Sled] truly turned into a hurricane, crossing forests and valleys with afterimages.
"Danger... danger ahead..."
"Cannot go any further..."
A short half-day later, the Rhosgobel rabbits, with their extreme speed, brought the Brown Wizard and Mike to a huge tomb.
However, after approaching the cemetery, the rabbits refused to move forward anymore, and their "words" carried obvious uneasiness.
"Alright, children. You wait for me here." Radagast did not force the rabbits to continue forward, but instead soothed them again.
Then he invited Mike to walk towards the tomb of the Witch-king of Angmar together.
At the entrance of the cemetery stood two medieval stone carvings. The huge "hero" stone giants, set against the black mist, seemed as if they would "wake up" at any moment.
"It seems we found the right place." Radagast looked at the large amount of dark energy gathering above the tomb, his brow furrowing unconsciously, "It's just that I don't know to what extent the Dark Lord's forces have developed—"
After speaking, the Brown Wizard walked carefully into the cemetery, wanting to get to the bottom of it.
Just at this moment, a black mist figure suddenly formed in the air, a black short sword in its hand slashing down towards the wizard's head.
"Watch out—!" At the critical moment, under Mike's warning, Radagast raised his wand in time, blocking the deadly strike of the black shadow.
"Witch-king of Angmar... you have actually become a Ringwraith..." Looking up, the Brown Wizard saw the pale face under the black shadow's cloak.
Fortunately, this Ringwraith had just awakened, and its power was not yet enough to kill a wizard.
During the stalemate, Mike flew up, grabbed the short sword in the Ringwraith's hand, and what greeted the Ringwraith next was holy light plastered onto its face.
"It actually wasn't purified—" Although the Ringwraith was melted by the holy light, Mike could feel that the opponent had not "died."
"The power of the Ringwraith comes from the Ring of Power. As long as the corresponding Ring is not destroyed, the Ringwraith will not disappear..."
And the Rings of Power that Sauron gave to the nine human kings had long been taken back by him. To completely kill a Ringwraith, one needs to find the Dark Lord's true form.
Radagast, who had intended to explain the situation of the Ringwraith to Mike, turned his head and saw that the other party was actually still gripping the blade of that cursed sword; for a moment, he was so surprised he couldn't speak.
The sword in the hand of the Witch-king of Angmar was a true cursed sword. Anyone wounded by it would immediately turn to decay. Even the soul would be imprisoned by the magic sword. It was truly a magic sword in the truest sense of the word.
"Quick, quick, let it go, don't hurt yourself!" After the surprise, Radagast finally managed to say a complete sentence.
However, just at this moment, the black mist rolling over the Rhudaur Ruins suddenly condensed together, forming a huge Eye of Sauron burning with magic flames. In the slit pupil, which was like a viper's, a phantom of the armored Dark Lord Sauron was slowly walking forward.
"The Eye of the Dark Lord... Sauron is watching us... He has really resurrected..." Looking at the giant Eye of Sauron with monstrous magic flames, the Brown Wizard was again too shocked to speak. Of course, it was also possible he was just scared.
"Playing god and acting like a ghost!!!" Seeing someone acting so pretentious in front of him, Mike instantly erupted with holy power, flew into the high sky, and then drew the Flame Holy Sword, splitting the Eye of Sauron in two with a single strike.
Amidst the ear-piercing shrieks, the giant Eye of Sauron turned back into black mist and finally dissipated.
"Tch, it really was a 'projection'..." After despising the cowardly Dark Lord, Mike landed back on the ground and put away the Flame Holy Sword.
"You, you... you actually 'killed' the Dark Lord—!!" Radagast could be sure that in his past life, he had never been as surprised as he was today. That was the Dark Lord who was immortal and had forged twenty Rings of Power.
"The opponent was just a projection, or rather a clone; it wasn't as powerful as you thought." Mike shook his head noncommittally, instead feeling that the Brown Wizard's reaction was a bit too much.
"That is still amazing!" Radagast seemed to re-evaluate Mike, thinking to himself: No wonder he dared to grab the cursed sword with his bare hands; it turns out he is this strong.
"Do we still need to continue exploring this Rhudaur Ruins?" Here, Mike looked at the cemetery in front of him; after the Ringwraith Witch-king of Angmar and the Eye of Sauron disappeared, the dark power here seemed to have disappeared as well.
"No need. Although this trip didn't find traces of the Giant Spiders, it unexpectedly confirmed that the Dark Lord Sauron and his minions have resurrected." Radagast thought for a moment and said, "Next, I plan to contact other companions to discuss ways to deal with the dark forces."
Previously, everyone only knew that dark power was resurging, but now the Brown Wizard had confirmed that the Dark Lord had awakened. This news was a very important turning point for all races in Middle-earth.
If the invasion of dark creatures was just a disaster, then the resurrection of the Dark Lord could overturn the entire continent.
"Are you going to find Gandalf? Then it happens to be perfect for you to take these two swords to him. And this short sword is for the Hobbit by his side..." Mike took out the three ancient Elf swords he had obtained earlier.
Keeping these things was just a waste.
"Swords forged by the Elves, great craftsmanship..." Radagast originally wanted to praise the three excellent swords in front of him a bit more, but thinking of the Flame Holy Sword with immense power in Mike's hand earlier, he instantly felt that these three Elf swords were nothing special.
"I do plan to find Gandalf, and I might also go to see other wizards and the Elves. Are you not planning to go with me?" Radagast, who already regarded Mike as a "companion," asked the question he cared about after moving his gaze away from the Elf swords.
"No, as I said before, I will go wander around the Northern Highlands next." Mike smiled and declined the Brown Wizard's invitation this time.
"Alright then, I wish you a pleasant journey. But before that, there is one more thing I need to trouble you with." Radagast looked at Mike's empty hands.
"Are you looking for this?" Mike took out the cursed sword he had casually put into his private space earlier and handed it to the Brown Wizard.
"Yes, I need to prove to others that the Ringwraith and Sauron have resurrected; it is the evidence." Radagast took out a piece of thick leather and carefully wrapped the cursed sword to store it away.
The Dark Lord Sauron had only just resurrected, and it would take a long time to accumulate power. Similarly, uniting the forces of all races in Middle-earth to fight against the Dark Lord was also a task that would take a lot of time. This would be a protracted war...
After agreeing to meet next time, the Brown Wizard took the three Elf swords and the cursed sword, sat on the Rhosgobel rabbit [Sled], and quickly headed south towards the Misty Mountains.
As for Mike, after watching the other party leave, he also walked north towards the Misty Mountains.