Chapter 141: The Suddenly Erupting War

The Black Tower of Mordor, where evil lies hidden.

Ever since Sauron once again reigned over Mordor, Barad-dur, located at the end of the long slopes of the Ash Mountains, began its reconstruction under the orders of the Dark Lord; the one presiding over this work was none other than Sauron's lieutenant, the Mouth of Sauron.

This Black Numenorean, through inhumane oppression, drove the Snaga and captured Human slaves to build the Tower of Evil within two years; Sauron was very satisfied with the work of this subordinate, and from time to time, he would transform into a mass of black smoke to monitor the progress of the reconstruction in the skies above Barad-dur.

The only thing that puzzled the Mouth of Sauron was that his master had not appeared for a long time; about half a year ago, the Dark Lord, having transformed into a mass of black smoke, had let out a shrill, miserable scream in mid-air without any warning, and then plunged headlong into the yet-to-be-completed Tower of Barad-dur.

If it were not for the fact that the Mouth of Sauron could sense his master and watch him from the depths of his soul, and that those grim and terrifying Nazgul were also hovering and guarding near the Tower of Barad-dur, he would have thought that his own Dark Lord had met with an accident; after all, that scream had shaken every living creature within several miles of Barad-dur.

At this moment, the Mouth of Sauron, sensing that his master was still alive, was naturally still conscientiously carrying out his duties, and Sauron, who had been silent for half a year, finally opened his Great Eye at the top of the Tower of Barad-dur, though this Great Eye was merely a slit, marking that the master of Barad-dur had not yet fully recovered.

In fact, the moment Khamul broke free from control half a year ago, the Dark Lord had sensed the situation of his own servant; Ringwraiths can see each other's positions, let alone their master. In truth, Sauron could not only sense the situation of the Rings of Men, but as long as his strength recovered to a certain level, he could even sense the locations of the Seven Rings of the Dwarves; otherwise, his minions could not have accurately tracked Thrain II in the vast Rhovanion and safely recovered Thror's Ring.

In Sauron's view, since Khamul was still killed by Allen despite the enhancement of the Ring, then he was not worth pitying; if possible, he would rather have that newly risen Dragon Slayer as his subordinate. Therefore, after the war, he relied on his limited recovered strength to use the incantation left on Allen by the Morgul-blade, and then traversed the Unseen World, hoping to find Allen's soul and control it.

If an ordinary enemy were to suffer a Morgul-wound, they would soon be eroded by the injury and gradually fall into a ghost-like existence; but Allen was not an ordinary person after all. Bearing various powers, he never fell into a disadvantageous position in the struggle against the incantation, which greatly increased the difficulty for Sauron to accurately find Allen's soul through the Unseen World.

Just when Sauron had consumed a considerable amount of power and finally found Allen's soul, preparing to exert control, the Dark Lord was taught a lesson by the Simulator combined with the power left behind by Varda. This was what led to the Mouth of Sauron hearing that shrill scream from his master. But who was Sauron? Although he had suffered heavy damage, he still did not give up; he plunged into the Tower of Barad-dur and used the soul power remaining in the foundations of the Tower of Evil to launch a second wave of probing. However, by then, Allen's body had already won the struggle against the Morgul-wound, and his soul naturally broke free from the attraction of the Unseen World and returned to normal.

Falling short of success, Sauron had to fall into a slumber in resentment, and this sleep lasted for half a year; and even after waking up, his power was very weak, even less than when he was driven out of Dol Guldur by Lady Galadriel.

At this moment, if he wanted to accelerate the recovery of his power, then the construction of Dol Guldur was of vital importance.

At this time, the Mouth of Sauron also heard his master's voice in his mind, asking in an extremely impatient tone when Barad-dur could be completely finished.

In two years, under the direction of the Mouth of Sauron, the main body of Barad-dur had been mostly built, but the remaining details still required a large amount of manpower and material resources to complete. Human slaves had already been consumed in great numbers during this process, and completing the details required building materials containing power, which could only be obtained through trade or plunder with other forces; this was not something that could be finished in a short time.

Upon learning of this situation, Sauron did not blame his envoy; one could see from the name "Mouth of Sauron" how much the Dark Lord favored this Numenorean who had fallen into darkness.

Before long, the eight Ringwraiths who had been guarding near Barad-dur rode their own beasts and left. The directions they flew in were some towards the war camps where the Uruk were, and some towards Harad or Khand. The Mouth of Sauron watched this scene and immediately guessed his master's thoughts. He knew that the peace that Mordor and Gondor had barely maintained for a period of time had been broken at this moment, and the skirmishes that had been going on would become intense due to his master's needs.

In fact, Allen had long ago guessed this scene, but his conclusion was that after Sauron returned to Mordor, he would definitely not be able to endure the loneliness, and thus would take action against his greatest enemy in the south, the Kingdom of Gondor.

At this moment, Allen had no idea that he had a part in the war between these two major forces arriving early. In fact, in the original trajectory, when the Steward of Gondor, Turgon, was regent of the Kingdom of Gondor, the border was actually quite peaceful, and nothing major happened. It was not until his son Ecthelion became Steward that full-scale fighting broke out between Gondor and Mordor.

And at this moment, due to Mordor's desire for slaves and wealth, important territories of Gondor, North Ithilien and South Ithilien, sent urgent requests for help to Minas Tirith. And because of Sauron's Magic, Mount Doom also emitted irritable sounds recently, and the smoke and dust it erupted formed a massive dark cloud in the sky. Even with the naked eye, one could tell that this thick, dark cloud contained incomparably evil power, and the sunlight that sheltered the people was also blocked by it. Especially in North Ithilien, due to the distance, the dark cloud arrived here earlier, which made the Orcish run rampant in this area even more unscrupulously.

For a time, the people of Gondor living here suffered huge casualties, and blood soaked the fertile land. Those Humans who were lucky enough not to die in the first round of attacks were also strung together by ropes under the lewd power of the Orcish, becoming strings of slaves transported to Mordor.

And those Gondorian nobles who had been fighting against the Orcish for years also threw away their armor and fled in the face of the terrifying screams of the Ringwraiths, having to abandon their family property and lead their own soldiers and subjects to hide in Cair Andros, barely resisting the attacks of the Orcish there.

At this time, Turgon, who was already over ninety years old, had to urgently summon all members of the Council of Gondor in such a critical situation to discuss how to deal with the large-scale invasion that might come from Mordor in the near future. The wise men serving the Gondorian royal family and the major powerful lords of the country either arrived in person or sent envoys who could represent them, arriving at Minas Tirith as quickly as possible.

After a short and intense discussion, the vast majority of the council members gave the decision to temporarily abandon Ithilien. Not only North Ithilien, which had already begun to be ravaged by the Orcish, but even South Ithilien was to be completely abandoned, because preparations for war take time, and mobilizing soldiers requires full preparation. Relying solely on the army of Minas Tirith, it was impossible to cross the Anduin River and maneuver with an enemy that had the advantage of terrain.

But if it was just for defense, the military strength of Minas Tirith was still relatively sufficient. They only needed to hold the west of Cair Andros and Osgiliath to protect the vast plains behind them and the capital of the Kingdom of Gondor. And Pelargir had always been an important port of the kingdom, and it had sufficient military strength to resist the enemy's attack in a short time.

In this way, it could allow the people living in Ithilien to hide in safe areas, and it could also buy some time for other lords of the Kingdom of Gondor to gather troops.

Forced by helplessness, the Steward of Gondor accepted the council's suggestion, and at the same time adopted another suggestion from the council, which was to light the beacons and send envoys to seek support from the Kingdom of Rohan, so that their ally could fulfill the alliance that had been maintained for hundreds of years in times of crisis.

Not to mention the Kingdom of Gondor, which was preparing for war, the heavy burden of delivering the letter naturally fell on Sengel, who had just been married not long ago. The Prince of Rohan, who had once fled the Golden Hall to escape his father, now, for the sake of the safety of the Kingdom of Gondor, even though he had ten thousand reluctances in his heart, still resolutely took on this mission and, accompanied by Cress and her party, embarked on the journey back to Edoras.

In fact, the state of Sengel's father, Fengel, was very bad at this time. Even though this King of Rohan was over seventy years old, he still ate and drank well, which naturally resulted in an abnormally obese body. Obesity also caused this old man to have a body full of illnesses. If Allen saw his friend's father, words such as hyperlipidemia, hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and so on would definitely flash through his mind. It should be known that these diseases were terminal illnesses in this era. If it were not for the excellent bloodline of Eorl, this old man might have gone to see his ancestors long ago.

Even though he could still eat and drink at the dining table, Fengel's mental state had already deteriorated to a certain degree. After every full meal, he would definitely feel sleepy and have to sleep in the bedroom, and after waking up, his brain would not feel clear, but would be muddled for a long time before he could return to a normal state. If anyone disturbed him at this time, they would definitely face the thunderous rage of the King of Rohan.

And when Sengel returned to the Golden Hall, his father had just entered a deep sleep because he had eaten a full meal. As the first and only heir to the throne, the Royal Guard guarding the Golden Hall naturally could not stop their own Prince from going home, but Sengel still did not enter his father's bedroom, but waited quietly in the hall for his father to wake up; this was the basic upbringing of a child.

After Fengel woke up, the guards notified their King immediately. Upon learning that his son had returned, Fengel's heart was extremely happy. In any case, Sengel was his only son, and the return of the wanderer naturally made him, as a father, overjoyed.

But this happy mood only lasted for a few minutes. After walking out of the bedroom, the excited Fengel saw Mowen standing beside his son, and then, upon learning that this Gondorian woman was actually his son's wife, Fengel's mood instantly fell to the bottom.

His own son getting married without even notifying him as a father was not a result that an ordinary person could accept. However, Sengel's next words made Fengel even more angry; he flatly refused the request for help from Gondor. Fengel had his own reasons for this move; his eldest brother and second brother had sacrificed themselves in the war against the Haradrim precisely because they went to support Gondor. Because of this, he had always held a deep prejudice against Gondor, as well as a fear that he himself was unwilling to face squarely.

Seeing his father refuse to fulfill the oath that had been maintained for hundreds of years, Sengel naturally could not accept this result. Subsequently, the two had a fierce quarrel in the hall, and his wife Mowen quietly left the hall amidst the noise of the father and son, and closed the wooden door of the hall, isolating the voices of the father and son inside the hall.

As Sengel's wife, she did not want the two's quarrel to be seen or heard by others, as this would damage the dignity of the royal family.

"Stop talking nonsense! As long as I am King for one day, Rohan will not send a single man or horse to Gondor. If you want to fulfill the oath of our ancestors, that's fine; wait until I am dead, and as the King of Rohan, you can do whatever you want. But now, I said, NO!! If you cannot accept it, then you can leave!!"

Fengel loudly delivered his final decision on this argument. After speaking, he gasped for air, alleviating the bouts of dizziness brought to his brain by anger and hypoxia.

"You..."

Sengel bore the mission of Turgon and naturally could not go back dejectedly just because of a few words; this was simply not his character. At this moment, he had already prepared another set of words to persuade his father.

And it was at this moment that the old man, who was frowning and staring in front of him, suddenly slumped to the ground, the expression on his face twitching as if out of control, saliva dripping from the corners of his mouth, and he kept making unintelligible sounds.

This scene left Sengel briefly in a state of confusion. Subsequently, he squatted down and kept stroking his father's back, hoping to alleviate the pain of the old man in front of him, while shouting, "Someone, come quickly!"

The Royal Guard who had been guarding the door pushed open the door in front of them the moment they heard the call and came to their King's side. Then, under Sengel's instructions, several people moved the bulky Fengel onto the table together so that he could have a better environment to rest.

The doctor serving the royal family arrived at the Golden Hall under the summons of the Imperial Guard, and his diagnosis naturally cleared Sengel of suspicion; after all, when the King had the attack, he was the only one by his side, and it was hard not to make various guesses.

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Although a clear diagnosis was made, the doctor told Sengel that he could not cure the King's illness because Fengel was too old, and his body was also very unhealthy due to gluttony; he did not have enough ability to cure such an illness.

Sengel knew that his father's health was not good, but he also vaguely guessed that this quarrel must have been the trigger for all of this. In this regard, the guilt-ridden Sengel put down his prejudice against his father and served Fengel, who was paralyzed in bed, together with his wife, while not saying a word about supporting Gondor, so as not to stimulate the already seriously ill King of Rohan with such topics.

Although Fengel, who was plagued by illness, could not speak clearly, his ears and eyes were still good. The dedicated service of his son and daughter-in-law at the bedside restored peace to the heart of the King, who had originally been very fearful, and he began to think about a series of arrangements after his death. No matter how bad his character was, he was the King of the Kingdom of Rohan, and he possessed some basic common sense and political awareness.

Cress, who accompanied Sengel to Edoras, learned everything and felt that as Allen's envoy, she represented the attitude of the Kingdom of Rhovanion, and for whatever reason, she should go to visit the seriously ill King of Rohan. At the same time, Grim, who came with her, knew some Magic to help others, so after communicating with Sengel, she hoped to let Grim try, and she also recommended Allen's personal doctor, James, to Sengel.

Sengel, who had lived in Wilderness Town for a period of time, had naturally heard of James's great name in the tavern, but the panic for a moment made him forget this famous doctor who had a very good reputation in Wilderness Town.

Soon, Grim's Magic had a certain effect on Fengel. Although the King still could not control his body or speak clearly, the expression on his face was no longer so painful, and he was able to drink some clear porridge smoothly and then have a stable sleep.

Afterwards, under Sengel's gaze, Cress embarked on the road back to Wilderness Town. In addition to the original team, Sengel used his right as the sole heir to dispatch an Eored to escort them, and also hoped to successfully invite James to Edoras to diagnose his father's illness.

And at this moment, Allen, who had already returned to Wilderness Town for a period of time, naturally could not know so quickly that such a series of things had happened in Middle-earth. At this moment, besides arranging his own affairs, he was just waiting for Saruman to send the "Star of Earendil" he had promised.