Seeing that the villagers' expressions were no longer as numb as before, Mike nodded kindly in response, then turned to the old village chief and asked, "The Dark Forest is no longer safe. Why didn't you evacuate earlier?"
"We did select strong villagers before to form scout teams to find a way out, but those people never returned..." The old village chief sighed helplessly.
It wasn't that they didn't want to leave; it was that the resurgence of the Shadow was too sudden, trapping the people in this medium-sized village deep within the Dark Forest.
For Mike, Goblins and Orcs were things he could deal with effortlessly, but for ordinary villagers, encountering them was nothing short of a disaster.
The people of this village had survived until now by holding their ground, only to encounter an Troll that was beyond human power to defeat.
If Mike had arrived a few days later, they might have already become the Troll's food.
"How about this: gather everyone in the village quickly. While it's still daylight, I will escort you all to the outskirts of the Dark Forest." Mike thought for a moment and decided to offer the villagers some help.
"Thank you so much! You're the village's great benefactor..." Upon hearing this, the old village chief was so moved that he was about to kneel before Mike.
To the people of this village, Mike's small gesture was equivalent to giving them a second life.
"There's no need for thanks." Mike supported the old village chief, then used his divine power to lift the other villagers who were also preparing to kneel, saying, "Time is tight, everyone go back and pack your things."
The villagers could see that Mike was not someone who liked formalities, so they kept their gratitude in their hearts and went back to pack their belongings.
More than half an hour later, having discarded most of their bulky daily necessities, the villagers gathered in the center of the village with dry rations and essential valuables.
"I'll say this first: whether we encounter an Troll or a band of Orcs, I have the ability to protect you..." As Mike said this, he casually snapped a large tree to demonstrate his power, giving the villagers some peace of mind in advance, then continued, "So, in case of an emergency, do not panic, to avoid making the situation worse..."
In the current situation, having a powerful person establish authority could make many things simpler.
Subsequently, under Mike's leadership, the villagers quickly formed an orderly migration party.
The women, children, and the elderly were consciously protected in the middle by the villagers.
It was evident that after experiencing hardship, the people of this village had become more united.
However, such a group was destined to be slow. Even though the villagers wanted to get out of the Dark Forest quickly, they only covered a quarter of the distance in an entire day.
At dusk, they encountered a squad of a dozen Orcs.
Even though Mike had given his assurance beforehand, when they encountered the Orcs, fear inevitably spread among the crowd.
However, before the crowd could panic, Mike stepped forward and easily dealt with all the Orcs in a few moments.
Even dark creatures would die if killed.
Witnessing this again with their own eyes deepened the villagers' conviction in Mike.
"Alright, let's camp here for the night. We will continue our journey tomorrow during the day..." Having solved the trouble, Mike noticed that many of the villagers looked weary.
So he found a relatively flat area for everyone to rest.
After a night's rest, the villagers, having recovered some of their energy, moved much faster on the second day.
Furthermore, when they encountered dark creatures again, they were much calmer than before.
Just like that, walking and stopping, the large group finally arrived at the outskirts of the Dark Forest on the morning of the fourth day, and luckily, they happened to run into a Ranger squad.
After negotiation, Mike hired the Ranger squad with ten gold coins, asking them to escort the villagers out of the valley.
Then, he privately found the old village chief and gave him a bag of gold coins to ensure that no matter where these villagers went, they would have startup funds to settle down again.
Afterward, having sent off the profusely grateful old village chief and the villagers, Mike took a different path and re-entered the depths of the Dark Forest.
This time, he did not control his speed, his figure shuttling rapidly through the depths of the Dark Forest. Any dark creatures he encountered were thoroughly eliminated by him.
During this time, he specifically tracked the Troll's trails. As time passed, all the dark creatures in the Dark Forest knew that a ruthless person had come to the forest.
More than half a month passed. Under Mike's slaughter, the black mist in the Dark Forest had dissipated somewhat.
"It is time to move on." After eliminating another Troll and seizing its treasure, Mike headed toward the junction of the valley and the Misty Mountains.
The Misty Mountains start from the Northern Highlands and stretch across almost the entire Middle-earth continent, the continuous mountain range dividing the Middle-earth continent into two from left to right.
And Rhosgobel, located in the north of the mountain range, is one of the rare gaps that can directly traverse the Middle-earth continent from east to west.
This is also one of the points where dark creatures invade from Mordor in the east to the west.
The Brown Wizard Radagast, who is also a Maia, has lived in Rhosgobel for many years, fighting against the Shadow to protect the peace west of the Misty Mountains.
However, as the Shadow grows stronger day by day, Radagast has gradually begun to feel overwhelmed.
One day, as he walked out of his small wooden hut, preparing to patrol the Dark Forest, he suddenly discovered that the small animals that had come to take refuge near his hut were beginning to die one after another.
A large number of birds, infected by the dark energy, fell to the ground; a few fawns in a herd of deer lay on the ground struggling, and before long, they stopped breathing.
Radagast, who is close to nature, has abilities very similar to Tom in the Old Forest, and can create a protective "barrier" around where he lives.
Now, the situation of small animals dying by his side proved that the Shadow around Rhosgobel had already exceeded the power of the Brown Wizard.
"What to do... what to do..." Watching the small animals die one after another, Radagast was filled with grief. Pacing back and forth uneasily, he pondered ways to cope with the Shadow.
At this moment, a cheerful little hedgehog ran out of the small wooden hut, but after taking only two steps, it also collapsed to the ground.
"No... Sebastian... what's wrong with you... Sebastian..." Seeing this, Radagast ran over in a panic and picked up the little hedgehog.
This hedgehog, named Sebastian, was among the first batch of animals to come to Rhosgobel for refuge and could be considered an "old friend" of the Brown Wizard.
"Hold on, Sebastian, you'll be fine..." Watching the little hedgehog in his hands growing weaker, Radagast rushed back into the small wooden hut with a chaotic mind.
He now had only one thought, and that was to save his friend.
However, despite the application of herbs and magic, the little hedgehog Sebastian showed no signs of improvement, and even its breathing had become barely audible.
Meanwhile, outside the house came the terrified cries and sounds of other small animals fleeing.
Immediately after, two unidentified giant monsters climbed onto the window of the small wooden hut, completely blocking out the sunlight inside.
"This is... a warning from the Shadow to me..." In his panic, Radagast realized that this disaster was a test from the dark "Lord" against him.
If he could not resist it, then more dark creatures would pass through Rhosgobel and head to the Dark Forest in the west, Bree, and even the Shire and other places.
Just as the Brown Wizard took out his blue crystal, preparing to use all his power to drive the dark energy out of Sebastian's body, he suddenly saw a flash of white light outside the window.
Accompanied by the screams of the unknown monsters, sunlight shone into the small wooden hut once again.
"The Shadow has been repelled???" Radagast was startled, but his dying hedgehog friend in front of him left him with no energy to investigate the situation outside for the moment.
A few minutes later, having gathered all his magical power, Radagast finally managed to extract the dark energy from the hedgehog's body with the help of the blue crystal, allowing Sebastian to survive.
Only then did he have the time to drag his exhausted body outside, wanting to see the specific situation outside. Who exactly had repelled the monsters?
"Hello, Radagast. I've heard of you from Tom and Gandalf." Outside, Mike, who was fiddling with the corpse of a Giant Spider, greeted the Brown Wizard as he came out.