Chapter 232: Accident

Mithril, under the forging of Dwarves, stretches like copper, yet the finished product is harder than steel and lighter in weight; once polished, it can last for a thousand years without losing its luster.

Humans call it True Silver, Dwarves call it Moria Silver, and the Elves named this special metal Mithril, using it to craft one exquisite work after another.

It is said that Nenya, the "Ring of Water" among the Three Rings of the Elves, was made of Mithril.

In the past, when Moria was still brilliant with light, the price of Mithril was comparable to ten times its weight in gold. And after Durin's Folk were forced to abandon Moria, this metal had no source, becoming a priceless treasure in Middle-earth.

Even the Dwarves who recaptured the Lonely Mountain do not have much stock; it can be said that every bit used is a bit less.

Therefore, even Dain, who hails from the royal house of Durin, showed a look of shock on his face when he saw the shelves in the stone chamber filled with Mithril Ingots.

Born in the Iron Hills, he had never seen such a scene; this feeling, Allen understood very well.

The first time he saw the Dwarf treasure in Sereir Hall, Allen had the same experience; the feeling of being overwhelmed by wealth was still fresh in his memory.

Meanwhile, Oin and Ori were wandering around the finished goods area with excitement, searching for items suitable for themselves.

Those finished works were mostly exquisitely forged Mithril armor, and all of them were in the style of the Dwarves.

Allen guessed that it must have been because of the sudden attack by the Balrog that the Dwarves had to abandon this area immediately, leaving these armors here in extreme desperation.

Therefore, only today did Oin and Ori have the opportunity to choose slowly.

They were seen helping each other, first slowly putting on a piece of bright and magnificent chainmail each.

Then, each of them put on a shiny, square-shaped helmet.

Both of them moved with extreme caution, avoiding any sound louder than their footsteps while putting on the armor.

After that, the two turned their eyes in unison to the armor rack against the wall, where several sets of gleaming plate armor were waiting for them to choose.

Dain, having regained his composure, soon joined the ranks of those choosing equipment; even Dain, noble King of the Iron Hills, did not have a set of Mithril armor of his own.

Now that he had finally encountered such an opportunity, it was better to seize the time to pick a set for himself.

Moreover, leaving these priceless treasures here would only benefit the Orcish occupying this place one day in the future.

Dain felt that whatever could be taken should naturally be taken away entirely.

As for Allen and his Elf subordinates, they did not have much interest in the armor; after all, those were Dwarf styles, and Humans and Elves could not wear them.

Especially those helmets and plate armors that took up a lot of space; Allen felt that moving them was too troublesome and not cost-effective, so he gave up the plan to take them.

However, Allen did not let go of the remaining few sets of chainmail and tucked them away; this stuff didn't take up much room.

His main goal for this trip was the Mithril Ingots placed on the shelves.

Allen felt that this was the most space-saving and convenient wealth to transport.

And to prevent the metal ingots from colliding and making too much noise during the transport process,

Allen, who had already scouted once in advance, had prepared properly cut velvet and fifteen wooden boxes.

He had the Noldor Ranger who followed him use the soft-textured velvet to properly wrap each Mithril Ingot, and finally stack them neatly in the boxes.

This way, when leaving here later, the risk could be minimized.

As for himself, he was constantly monitoring the sleeping Balrog to avoid a sudden attack while everyone was busy.

For this looting, Allen brought thirty-six Noldor Ranger to serve as the main force for moving the Mithril.

As for the three Dwarves, Allen had specifically called them over after seeing the Dwarf-style Mithril armor, and urged them that it would be best to pick a set for Thorin as well.

In addition, Allen also called over Holimion and five Twilight Knight using Sapphire Rune Bow to be ready for battle.

The remaining Twilight Knight and Girl Rangers were arranged by Allen to the west side of Khazad-dum Bridge to guard the retreat of the group.

According to his plan, after getting enough Mithril for future use this time, he would let the others leave first.

He and Holimion would stay behind to lure the Balrog out, and after reaching Khazad-dum Bridge to rendezvous with the others, they would have a go at this ancient demon on the east side of the bridge.

As for how to lure the Balrog out, that was too simple; just standing at the entrance of the Third Valley and saying some trash talk would probably be enough.

Something like a lackey of Morgoth.

A coward who ran away from the battlefield.

A fire-breathing crawler hiding in the depths of the earth all year round.

Allen estimated that there would be at least one sentence the Balrog would like, and it would definitely chase him with sparks and lightning all the way.

Moreover, Allen had also rigorously analyzed this Balrog hiding in Moria; he always felt that its speed did not seem as fast as the legends said.

Because when the Fellowship of the Ring escaped from Moria, this guy couldn't even outrun a Hobbit; this travel speed was far from comparable to when it saved Morgoth, so it probably couldn't fly.

Allen analyzed that the Fallen Maia he was about to face might have been injured during the War of Wrath.

The terrifying form he was currently using might have taken an arrow to the knee, so he had to run away from the army of Valinor, then hide under the dark mountains, trembling with fear day and night.

These creatures that would sleep for years at a time probably didn't know what the situation in Middle-earth was like now.

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They probably also didn't know that the Valar living in Valinor had already half-abandoned this land, which is why it stayed obediently in its hiding place.

Therefore, based on the current information, Allen felt that even if he couldn't win, running away would be no problem.

In fact, at the very beginning, Allen had also considered the method of driving wolves to chase tigers, referring to the Watcher in the Water entrenched at Durin's Door.

But the problem was that even though Allen knew many things about Middle-earth, he had never confirmed the camp of that giant octopus anywhere.

He was worried that once the fire and water met, they wouldn't fight each other, but would team up to deal with him; then there would truly be no way to even enter the water.

Therefore, this plan had to be abandoned; as for the Nameless Things living in Moria, Allen hadn't considered them at all.

Heaven knows what they actually are; in Gandalf's words, even describing them would dim the sunlight shining on the earth, and Allen didn't want to provoke them.

"Woo~ woo-woo~~"

Suddenly, a series of intermittent horn blasts drifted leisurely from the upper levels of Moria to Allen's location.

This sound did not seem to be blown in battle, because it lacked that solemn sense of gravity and the urgency to urge soldiers forward.

The tune of this horn blast gave a feeling of smugness, as if a guy with a bad brain had suddenly defeated an enemy and then made a scene to let all his underlings know he had won.

But this sound entering Allen's ears was no less than a thunderclap that shattered the world.

And under his gaze, the Balrog, which had been sleeping all along, opened its pair of fiery yellow eyes at the same time it heard the sound.

The huge shadow lying on the rock closed its eyes again shortly after waking, seemingly quite familiar with this clamor.

However, before Allen, who had just let out a sigh of relief, could soothe his pounding heart, those two yellow eyes opened once more.

Not only that, but the huge shadow that had been lying down quickly stood up.

Seeing this scene, Allen decisively terminated his ability and let out a low roar to the people behind him who were still busy.

"Run—!"

"

Afterward, Allen, leading Holimion and the Twilight Knights, took the lead and stepped onto the stairs leading away from the forge area.

It was time to execute the backup plan for emergencies.

Following Allen's order, those Noldor Rangers who were loading Mithril Ingots stopped their movements in an instant, nimbly shouldered the boxes beside them, and followed Allen's footsteps.

As for the three Dwarfs who had just finished picking their equipment, before they could react, they were grabbed by their arms by two Noldor Rangers and quickly taken out of the stone chamber where the finished products were stored.

During long-distance marches, the endurance of Dwarfs is worth praising, but in short-distance sprints, those short legs of the Dwarfs just couldn't keep up; even with the Noldor Rangers carrying them, it was faster than the Dwarfs running themselves.

Allen, who was the first to step onto the stairs, had only sprinted a third of the distance when the Balrog's angry roar rang out from the abyss to the right of the stairs.

Before long, the flames that pierced the darkness were clearly reflected in Allen's eyes, and they rushed upward quickly along the wall.

At this moment, one piece of good news and one piece of bad news were placed before Allen.

The good news was that this Balrog was indeed as Allen had guessed; it could not fly and had to rely on its four limbs to move within the cave.

And the bad news was that this black monster covered in fire, when using its hands and feet together, climbed at a very fast speed, far exceeding Allen's imagination.

Allen, in the midst of a high-speed dash, only glanced at the abyss below and, without stopping his figure in the slightest, rushed onto the platform opposite the forge area.

He then quickly moved away from the stairs and shouted the trash talk he had prepared toward the bottom.

"Morgoth's lackey."

"A coward who fled from the battlefield."

"A fire-breathing crawler hiding in the depths of the earth all year round."

Allen, who left the forge area at the first opportunity, was naturally not doing so to be the first to run when fleeing for his life.

He was doing it to attract the Balrog's attention, keep it away from that not-so-sturdy staircase, and buy time for his subordinates to escape.

After all, that staircase isolated in the air didn't look like it could withstand a single blow from the Balrog.

And as expected, as Allen's voice echoed continuously in the cave, the flames paused slightly before rushing rapidly toward his direction.

The surrounding temperature also rose rapidly as the black figure approached.

The Balrog currently climbing on the rock wall was not woken up by the sound of the Orcish horns.

Because this kind of meaningless noise had rung out in Moria every so often for the thousands of years since he drove away the Dwarfs.

At first, he would be furious at the interruption of his sleep and head to the upper levels to kill some pitch-black Orcish, who were also Morgoth's subordinates, to vent his anger and let these dregs know the consequences of disturbing him.

But as time passed, and because those Orcish didn't understand the Balrog's intentions at all, they never stopped the clamor after being killed.

Instead, because of the Balrog's powerful strength, they worshipped this black fire monster lurking in the depths like a god.

This was also correct; to a certain extent, the life level of this Balrog was no lower than that of the Orcish's Dark Lord, Sauron.

And after that, the Balrog didn't care about the occasionally sounding horns; if woken up, he would just turn over and continue sleeping. Anyway, those dregs never dared to enter the place where he resided.

However, today, the Balrog, waking from his slumber, felt dozens of different auras above his head.

In the Balrog's view, those auras were somewhat strange; most of them did not seem like rhythms existing in the Great Music, but they were not the creations of his master, Melkor.

They were more like the Firstborn children of Eru Ilúvatar, yet different.

As for the other four, the Balrog was very familiar with three of them; they were the creations of the Valar Aule. Not long ago, he had killed many of these noisy creatures and driven them out of the mountains.

As for the last one, it was a bit unclear, which was why he walked out of his cave, climbed up along the cliff, to see what was disturbing his sleep, and incidentally send them away from Arda.

Subsequently, the climbing Balrog heard the trash talk shouted by Allen, and within three sentences, he experienced the three emotions of confusion, fear, and anger in succession.

He was confused because, since the War of Wrath, he had never heard the Valarin used among the Ainur.

Fear, because he believed his hiding place had been discovered by the armies of the Valar, and the one shouting above was a Maia coming to hunt him down.

And anger, because after he understood the meaning of the words, he didn't feel the aura of his own kind nearby at all.

And that speaker, no matter how one looked at it, was just an ordinary Human.

The aura of power contained in his body was very weak, not even comparable to that old fellow who had been wandering around Moria earlier.

For such a weak existence to dare to use the language of the Ainur to humiliate him—this was something the Balrog, who had been lurking underground for many years, could not tolerate.

Most importantly, he could be certain that the other party did not belong to the army of the Valar, because there was no such weak existence among the Ainur.

Allen, of course, did not know how much hatred the Simulator's translation function had added for him at this moment.

When he saw that his subordinates had already carried the boxes away from the stairs, the heart Allen had been holding up relaxed by half.

Subsequently, he stared intently at the approaching Balrog, and as the black figure suddenly leaped onto the cliff, he unleashed two long-accumulated Chain Lightning strikes at it.

And faster than Allen's action were the Twilight Knights one hundred meters behind him, who shot six arrows filled with frost power at the Balrog.

At this moment, the Balrog had just steadied his figure on the edge of the cliff.