Chapter 204: Provocation

Watching the enemies bustling about outside the Black Gate, Sauron did not pay much attention to those ants.

Although his power had not recovered much, and the army he commanded did not possess an overwhelming advantage.

For instance, his servants were ten times the number of the enemy troops outside the gate.

However, that high wall used to defend Mordor possessed Dark Magic itself, and its defensive capabilities could be called terrifying.

Even powerful catapults could not cause it much damage, and Sauron had deployed heavy troops both atop and behind the high wall.

To guard against the enemy climbing up via siege ladders.

Cunning by nature, he had even laid ambushes in the shadows of the Ash Mountains.

In his view, those ragtag armies outside the gate could not possibly breach the Morannon, even if their numbers were doubled.

Therefore, the Lord of Mordor cared nothing for those provocateurs outside the gate.

In fact, under Sauron's rule, this towering and long black wall had, in truth, only fallen once.

That was during the time of the Last Alliance.

Sauron suffered a shameful defeat at the Battle of Dagorlad, and his minions, when faced with Gil-galad's spear Aeglos and Elendil's sword Narsil, all fled in terror.

Filled with fear, they lacked the strength to resist the alliance of Elves and Humans head-on.

Thus, Sauron at that time simply abandoned the defense of the Black Gate and locked himself in his final fortress, Barad-dur.

And this was the only time it had fallen.

The other time would be the Second Age, when Sauron felt deep shame at having to grovel.

It was only because he submitted to the Numenoreans, whom he hated and envied.

At that time, Ar-Pharazon, as King, possessed power that was simply too great; Sauron could not contend with him at all.

To a certain extent, the Black Gate had not fallen at all back then; Sauron had obediently walked out of Mordor, knelt on the ground, and sung of his conquest.

Of course, due to the stupidity and pride of Ar-Pharazon, coupled with Sauron's glib tongue and deceit, he eventually succeeded in sending Numenor, the Land of the Star, which was at its peak, into the abyss.

But that is another story.

Moreover, the calamity of the Numenoreans did not reduce Sauron's hatred for them.

Because the Dark Lord lost his fair form in that catastrophe, and only his soul managed to escape.

This greatly damaged his strength, and he could no longer rely on a handsome appearance to bewitch those wary Free Peoples.

When the sun in the sky reached its highest point of the day, the more than twenty thousand soldiers of Humans and Elves finally set their formation.

Looking at the motionless Black Gate, Allen knew that Sauron must have turned cowardly.

If he truly intended to launch a decisive battle, the treacherous Dark Lord would have already launched a surprise attack while he was deploying his troops.

Such a reaction was naturally not a bad thing; it showed that Allen's guess was correct: Mordor, facing the allied forces of Humans and Elves, did not possess overwhelming power at this moment.

According to Allen's original plan, they could withdraw after besieging it for ten days or half a month.

But after completing all the preparations, Saruman suddenly proposed a suggestion.

That was to go before the Black Gate and clamor, to bolster the prestige of their siege and inspire the soldiers' morale.

At the same time, it could also strike at the confidence of Sauron's minions in their evil deeds.

Saruman naturally had his own motives; on one hand, it was because not long ago, when the White Wizard used the Palantir, he had suffered a great loss at Sauron's hands.

He naturally could not rest easy without avenging this grudge.

On the other hand, Sauron was holed up behind the Black Gate and dared not respond to the battle, which meant the situation was excellent.

And Saruman, who always wanted to surpass Gandalf in every aspect, felt that if he could berate Sauron under the gaze of tens of thousands of people while Sauron dared not make a sound, his own reputation would surely resound throughout all of Middle-earth.

Hearing Saruman's suggestion, Allen stated bluntly that if they clamored before the Black Gate, there was a high probability that Sauron would send troops to engage.

This carried a certain amount of risk.

Gandalf neither approved nor opposed this proposal; he did not wish to have any conflict with Saruman, as internal strife was the most undesirable behavior when shouldering such a heavy responsibility.

Moreover, in the current situation, there was no harm in clamoring a bit.

And to Allen's surprise, Ecthelion, who had been hesitant about attacking the Black Gate, now agreed to this course of action.

There were two reasons: Sauron's current actions had indeed given Ecthelion, who had just become Steward, a great deal of confidence.

The second point was that when defending Osgiliath, Saruman had helped Gondor significantly, and Ecthelion could not raise an objection at this time.

That would cause Gondor to lose the friendship of the White Wizard.

Conversely, Lindir, who was to the side, seemed to want to say something, but seeing the calm yet burning gaze of Saruman, he did not voice his thoughts.

The Elf did not want to create extra complications.

Sengel, standing by, also expressed his agreement; his allies had chosen to consent, and the courageous Rohirrim were also without fear.

With this, Saruman's proposal was officially passed.

The entire team going to "negotiate" before the Black Gate had Saruman serving as the primary envoy.

Regardless of anything else, the White Wizard was the leader of the White Council, and his status among the group even exceeded that of Gandalf.

Furthermore, Gandalf would not compete with his "superior" for any opportunity to show his face.

Also accompanying them were Allen and Lindir, the Steward of Gondor Ecthelion, the King of Rohan Sengel, and the many personal guards following behind them.

The party rode to within earshot of the Morannon, attracting the attention of the garrison.

In fact, that burning Eye of Sauron atop Barad-dur had been staring at this group approaching the Black Gate the entire time.

"Sauron, do not hide behind this evil and despicable high wall as if you were an innocent! Where is the arrogance you had when you plotted against the Lonely Mountain? Where is the insolence you had when you attacked Gondor? Why, when we have arrived at the gates of Mordor, do you shrink into this hard shell like a turtle? Either follow your groveling before the Numenoreans thousands of years ago and obediently walk out of the high wall to accept judgment, or roll far away and never return here. It would be best to go find your master, that poor wretch bound in the Void."

Saruman's voice, imbued with Magic, crossed the dark and towering Morannon like a peal of thunder, rushing toward the even more evil and desolate land.

Moreover, he said it three times.

Whether it was the guards stationed atop the high wall, the Orcish armies gathered behind the Black Gate, or even the Easterlings hiding behind the high towers, all felt a sense of doubt under Saruman's voice.

At this moment, the Dark Lord, Lord of the Earth, and King of Men they had always believed in seemed to have become hollow.

That Great Emperor Sauron hidden in the Tower of Barad-dur did not seem as powerful as they had imagined.

The Easterlings hidden in the Ash Mountains have already begun to wonder why they traveled thousands of miles to come here and participate in this conflict that has little to do with them.

And the Snaga gathered in the Wudun valley have become even more chaotic, leaving some Uruk tasked with maintaining order scrambling in confusion.

This is the power belonging to Saruman; the White Wizard's voice, while bewitching the masses, can also make other voices lose all persuasiveness.

If anyone refutes his commands and pleas, those who are bewitched will even attack the person who refuted him, just like the Snaga currently brawling with the Uruk.

Only those with firm minds and strong wills can shake off Saruman's bewitchment.

And a voice filled with magic becomes even more powerful when used in the cause of opposing evil.

Because there are not many beings with firm minds among the races that can submit to dark powers.

If their wills were truly strong, they should be standing outside the Black Gate right now, rather than gathering in Mordor, where evil is everywhere.

This scene was naturally seen clearly by the Great Eye within the Iron Crown; a cruel gaze filled with rage stared at Saruman, fixedly watching this ant that had luckily escaped from his trap.

The words polished by Allen caused immense damage to Sauron.

Regardless of the outcome, the groveling before Ar-Pharazon will forever be a scar that the Dark Lord cannot uncover.

Sauron, who has always styled himself as the King of Humans and the Lord of the Earth, is naturally unwilling to let others bring up the fact that he once voluntarily submitted.

That is a blow to his prestige and would cause an extremely intense sense of humiliation in the heart of the Dark Lord.

Otherwise, Sauron would not have been the first to attack this fleeing group of Numenoreans after Elendil arrived in Middle-earth.

Moreover, since the Third Age, he has been hounding the descendants of the Numenoreans, tormenting them until now.

No matter from which angle one looks at it, the Elf should be Sauron's greatest threat, and the two sides have been fighting for who knows how many ages.

But the naked hatred for the Numenoreans blinded the eyes of the Dark Lord.

The evil forces serving him have always targeted the human kingdoms led by the Numenoreans, while ignoring the Elves, whose power is increasingly waning.

Yet, Saruman's words caused such an ugly scar to spread across half of Mordor.

That terrifying Eye of Sauron was, at this moment, full of rage.

In Sauron's view, how much power do these dregs clamoring before the Black Gate even possess? How can they compare to the Numenoreans at their most prosperous period thousands of years ago!

Did they really think he had become so weak that anyone could humiliate him?

Furthermore, these fellows even mentioned the previous Dark Lord whom Sauron admired most in the depths of his heart, Morgoth.

This humiliation, even for the deep-scheming and vicious-minded Sauron, could not be accepted calmly.

If his burning gaze could cause harm to Saruman, then the White Wizard would surely have already turned to ash under this raging fury.

But Sauron has lost his treasure; without a physical form and with his power diminished, he simply cannot take action himself.

He could only emit an extremely shrill cry in a state of extreme rage.

The Dark Lord's voice emanated from the towering Barad-dur, instantly spreading throughout all of Mordor, completely eliminating the influence caused by Saruman.

The dark clouds in the sky also began to spread from the Black Gate toward Dagorlad, until they shrouded the troops of Humans and Elves.

The six Nazgul circling above the Teeth of Mordor also flew to a higher point in the sky after a series of shrill screams.

Under the cover of the dark clouds, the Ringwraiths searched for their prey with cruel and vicious gazes.

And their presence gradually lowered the morale that the human soldiers had finally managed to boost again.

Amidst a loud clanging sound, the originally tightly shut Black Gate opened from the center, and at the same time, a deafening horn blast drifted over the Wudun valley, making even the surrounding rocks tremble under this sound.

Accompanied by this was a series of thunderous drumbeats, with an extremely grand momentum.

Following the "boom," "boom," "boom" of the drums, an army of Orcish, like a black tide, surged out from the Black Gate.

Hundreds of large-bodied Troll were mixed in among the Orcish.

They included both the more powerful Olog-hai and the Mountain Troll that would turn into stone under sunlight.

These creatures of massive size, surrounded by countless Orcish, charged out while howling.

Seeing this scene, the many commanders who had been prepared immediately drove their horses back to their own positions.

The Orcish army charging from the Black Gate accelerated their pursuit under the urging of the drums, but their legs could not compare to the speed of horses after all, and they could only watch as that small detachment of enemy troops returned to their own battle formation.

With the return of the many commanders, the first to react was the Gondor battle formation facing the Orcish charge.

Ecthelion, with a serious face, looked at the charging enemy and quickly issued the order to hold the position.

With a battle formation, even if the enemy's numbers exceeded their own by several times, the warriors of Gondor could hold out for a very long time.

Before long, messengers carrying the Steward's orders began to shuttle through the battle formation.

And the lords who received the orders looked nervously ahead, leading their subordinates at every moment in preparation to meet the charge of the Orcish army.

Meanwhile, countless Orcish swarmed out from the caves on both sides of the Black Gate.

When they charged out of those dark caves while howling, they quickly converged with the Orcish unit from the Black Gate.

The war drums rumbled, evil fires rose, and as the evil Eye of Sauron from the Tower of Barad-dur swept across the entire battlefield, the general offensive of the Orcish began immediately.

At this moment, the legion formed by the evil minions was more than four or five times larger than the battle formation set up by the Gondor soldiers, charging mightily toward the Humans who had provoked their master.

Just at this moment, behind the distant high tower, a burst of dust rose up.

Thousands of Easterling soldiers riding Rhun Warhorse charged out directly from there; they had hidden there early on, waiting for Sauron's command.

At this time, the power belonging to Sauron was strong; that incomparably massive Orcish battle formation was charging toward the Humans hiding behind the mudflats.

The giant Eye of Sauron located at the top of the Tower of Barad-dur concentrated all his malice here; he wanted to watch his servants drown those trash who spoke wild words.

No, he wanted to keep that Wizard wearing a white robe, letting him suffer endless torture in the dungeons of Barad-dur.