Chapter 175: Allen in the Midst of the March

Time officially reached the New Day of the year 2946 of the Third Age, which is the first month in the Numenorean calendar.

Even though the coldest season of the year had passed, not all areas in the upper valley of the Anduin River had returned to a warm climate; the bitter cold that had raged for two full months was still wreaking havoc north of the Iris River, but it stopped just there.

Thousands of cavalrymen setting out from Wilderness Town truly stepped into the Wilderness after passing by this river that had once buried the High King of the Numenoreans.

Because the villagers of Ioviah had only repaired the road up to this point, beyond it lay plains sprouting with green and small groves of trees beginning to put forth new buds.

Unlike the endless Mirkwood in the distance, these groves were like jewels studded upon the Wilderness, and at this time of year, they were beginning to emit, bit by bit, the emerald radiance that belonged to them.

However, all of this could not compare to Lothlorien, where flowers bloomed in all four seasons; standing on the south bank of the Anduin River, Allen could barely see Caras Galadhon clearly with the monocular in his hand.

It was an ancient hill emitting a faint golden light, and what radiated this golden glow were the flowers of the Cerin Amroth; Amroth, the former Elf-king of Lothlorien, once lived in this place.

And closer to Allen was actually Caras Galadhon, where Lady Galadriel resided; it was on the west bank of the Anduin River, but Allen still restrained his curiosity and did not peer into this city of the Galadhrim.

Allen truly did not dare to gamble on whether Lady Galadriel, who possessed numerous abilities, could sense his observation, and besides, it was an impolite behavior; as for Cerin Amroth, it did not matter, for since the love story of Amroth and Nimrodel occurred, few Elves had lived there.

However, this did not stop Allen from popularizing knowledge of this land to the companions by his side; besides his two Attendants, Gale and Balin, the only others watching the scenery with him now were the Durin Dwarf Fili and the Sindar Elf Legolas.

As for Cress, Cress and Grim had gone off to communicate with the nearby animals, or to put it bluntly, to play, and they had also dumped the chores of leading the many cavalrymen to set up camp onto Malherbe.

But Malherbe was used to it, and there were a large number of officers among the cavalry who were familiar with such matters, so it could not be considered particularly troublesome.

"Pay attention, everyone. The Elves living here generally call themselves the Galadhrim because they all like to build treehouses called 'Talans' and live inside them; you can also call them Tree-folk. The lords ruling here are the Sindar royal Lord Celeborn and his wife, Galadriel, who is known as the 'Lady of the Golden Wood'."

Allen said this, turned his head to look at his companions who mostly had blank expressions, and continued: "I say this so you know that the Galadhrim, who like to live in trees, are extremely skilled at using bows and arrows and have keen hearing, so if there is no need, you must never step into this forest. Additionally, Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn have extremely high prestige among the Galadhrim and possess wisdom and power far exceeding ordinary people. If you accidentally enter Lothlorien and are discovered by the Galadhrim, do not resist and show them respect, especially to the two lords who rule here, understand?"

In fact, Allen hoped that this information would be as widespread as possible, because his territory was no longer far from here; with the development of the territory and the increasing population, Allen could not guarantee whether his subjects would accidentally wander in, so popularizing it to his subordinates in advance and then spreading it within the territory was always good.

Although the Elves would not shoot kind Humans who accidentally entered their territory, it did not mean they could tolerate Humans destroying their home, and what could Humans entering the forest at this time do? Surely not for the sake of afforestation.

It was widely rumored in Gondor, far to the south, that this place was extremely dangerous, and few Humans who entered this forest could walk out unscathed, which showed that many Southerners had suffered some bitterness here.

"I have always heard that this place was not abandoned, but I did not expect that so many of my kin lived here. I think if one is merely passing through rather than destroying their home, the Elves living here will still point out the way for lost travelers from the shadows."

Legolas looked at the forest before him, seemingly lost in memory.

"My own people passed through here a long time ago and lived in the forest opposite Lothlorien. There is a hill there called Amon Lanc, which has now been occupied by the enemy, and a fortress containing terror and evil stands on the hill, becoming a dwelling for the Great Enemy to hide. Even now, the evil there cannot be completely cleared, and the dark creatures it breeds have always been hiding in the forest, and there are signs of them becoming active again."

Saying this, Legolas turned his head back with a solemn expression and looked at the faint, shadowy Dol Guldur in Mirkwood. From a distance, it was still shrouded in darkness, like a gloomy and deep high wall; even the sunlight had no power to illuminate it thoroughly, not to mention that the sun had already set to the west of the Misty Mountains at this time.

Allen patted Legolas on the shoulder with some difficulty and said: "Rest assured, as long as we stand by each other's side and raise our unyielding swords against the enemy together, sooner or later the evil in the forest will be purified, and you will be able to return to your homeland."

As an ordinary Human, Allen's height was only between 1.8 and 1.9 meters, but Legolas's height was over two meters; this form of comfort was truly a bit difficult for Allen.

Hearing this, Legolas shook his head; he knew that even if the forest were purified, the Woodland Realm would not have enough of his kin living here.

Moreover, he could also feel that the light belonging to the Elves had been dimming; although slow, it had never stopped. Being able to clear the evil was enough; returning to his homeland was not strictly necessary.

"Everyone, can the beautiful scenery in the distance really soothe your rumbling stomachs?"

It was Malherbe who spoke as he walked over from not far away. When he reached Allen's side, he respectfully said to the King: "Your Majesty, it is time to eat."

Hearing this news, Allen nodded, preparing to announce the start of the meal, while Legolas shook his head with a smile, signaling to wait a moment.

The troops supporting Gondor, having traveled hundreds of kilometers from Wilderness Town, had been rushing on their journey, which could be described as traveling by starlight and sleeping in the open. Moreover, ever since crossing the Iris River, the road had become much harder to travel, and the large cavalry force could only be dispersed into small teams to march through the Wilderness and the jungle.

As for Allen, he led his own cavalry and Dwarf troops, always trying to keep to the banks of the Anduin River; after all, some riverbanks were very flat and relatively easy to walk on, and marching this way made it easier to obtain water.

Along the way, they basically relied on dry rations to survive. It had been a long time, and no matter how well-prepared or varied they were, there would eventually come a day when they would get tired of these dry rations, and the delicious Honey Cake was the first to be eaten up, as everyone liked this pastry.

After leading the troops to the opposite bank of the river from Lothlorien, Allen's team camped here, at least to rest for two days to let the tired soldiers recover their energy, and at the same time let the horses, which were starting to lose weight, replenish some nutrition to cope with the longer journey ahead.

As for Lindir, he had arrived here before this, but not too long before Allen. After the two exchanged brief pleasantries, Lindir led a small team of Elf cavalry into Lothlorien.

It was impossible for an army of such a large scale to enter the Golden Wood to rest, just as Allen had prepared a large camp near Wilderness Town to house the supporting Elves; it was impossible for everyone to enter the city to live.

Allen remained here to hold the fort to deal with any unexpected situations; after all, not far from here was Dol Guldur, the fortress where the Great Enemy had once hidden. Although the darkness had been dormant for a long time, it had not been destroyed.

At night, under the illumination of the moonlight, the many camps stationed on the banks of the Anduin River were bustling with noise.

Since it had been decided to have a good rest here, Legolas took advantage of the time before dark to send a small team of Elf cavalry to hunt two temperamental wild oxen in the nearby Wilderness, preparing to let Allen see the roasting skills of the Woodland Elves.

Allen, who had no objections to this, took out several barrels of Wine produced in Pendor from the supplies carried by the horses as if by magic; although the quantity was not large, it was enough for everyone to drink a small cup.

Now it was perfect: there was delicious Wine, roasted meat provided by the Woodland Elves, and various staple foods prepared by Malherbe. One after another, simple bonfire feasts were held in the camps of Humans, Elves, and Dwarves, large and small.

Even though he allowed most of his men to indulge a little tonight, Allen still maintained a certain level of vigilance. He arranged sentries to patrol around the camp and also had half of the sharp-eyed Noldor Rangers split into several small teams to hide in the surrounding small groves.

Once they discovered any unexpected situation, they would immediately blow the horns in their hands to signal the soldiers in the camp.

It was not just tonight that was special; after leaving Ioviah, Allen made such arrangements every night to avoid being attacked by the enemy in the middle of the night.

Because the Wilderness south of Ioviah was already outside Allen's sphere of influence, there were no patrols here, nor was anyone watching, and no one could guarantee whether this piece of the Wilderness was safe.

As for the bonfire feast tonight, he and his personal guards did not participate in it, but left after making an appearance. However, even Allen, in his busyness, forgot that Cress and Grim, who had gone out to play, had not shown up until now.

These two were also daring people, especially Cress. After receiving Allen's permission to "walk around and familiarize yourself with the terrain," she actually familiarized herself to the edge of Mirkwood while taking Grim, and not far away was the sorcery fortress.

By the time Grim, who had transformed into a bear, smelled the foul stench of the Warg, the sound of wolf howls was already not far from them. Soon, dozens of black figures darted out from the distant forest, closing in on their direction; those were the vicious minions of Sauron, the Wolf Riders.

Grim could be said to have a deep-seated hatred for the Orcish; even though these filthy creatures in front of him were not the Orcish of the Misty Mountains, the Wooden Shield they held bore a terrifying blood-red lidless eye.

And Cress was not a person who feared trouble. Her right hand directly drew the elite Curved Blade from her waist and then stabbed it into the ground, while her left hand also pulled several sharp Flying Daggers from her bosom.

With her excellent throwing skills, this thing was equally lethal to the Orcish wearing Leather Armor and exposing their heads, as well as to those snarling Wargs.

With the rapid charge of the Wolf Riders, the distance between the two sides was constantly closing. After locking onto the target, Grim stared with a pair of blood-red eyes and rushed up quickly. When his massive body landed, it exploded in the formation of the Wolf Riders like a muffled thunder.

Several Wolf Riders could not react in time and were directly knocked flying by the charging Giant Bear. Then, Grim bit onto a Warg rolling on the ground, using its body as an extension, and while taking big strides, he spun in place, instantly knocking several Wolf Riders around him to the ground.

Immediately after, he threw the Warg in his mouth, which smashed into two more Wolf Riders rushing from further away.

The few Wolf Riders who luckily ran past Grim waved their rust-covered Curved Blades in fear and rushed toward Cress, who was standing still.

When attacking Gondor, they had never seen such a fierce and violent creature.

And Cress, watching the Wolf Riders rushing toward her, did not panic, but muttered to herself in her mouth, "One," "two," "three," "four," "five."

As she kept chanting, the sharp Flying Daggers originally held in her left hand kept disappearing, thrown directly at the enemy by her right hand, which carried afterimages. Then, those Flying Daggers magically appeared in the fatal parts of the Orcish, such as their necks and faces.

Until all the Flying Daggers in her hand were thrown, Cress then pulled out the Curved Blade from the ground, then quickly took two steps to the right, dodging the pounce of a black Warg, and then swung her right arm, a silver-glinting blade striking the neck of the fierce wolf in front of her. While bringing up a trail of blood, she rolled forward directly, dodging the bite of another Warg.

At this time, of the five Wolf Riders, only three Wargs remained, and they rushed directly to the other side of Cress. Afterward, one person and three wolves began to bare their teeth and confront each other across a distance of a few meters.

And Grim, at this time, had already killed all the enemies in front of him.