Chapter 233: Stop, Run, Stop

Darkness retreated rapidly with the arrival of the flames, yet what followed was not light, but a pair of massive wings that seemed to be formed from shadow and thick smoke, spreading out in the air as if riding the wind.

As that black form stood firm on the edge of the cliff, a soul-shaking roar rang out immediately, echoing continuously through the originally silent Third Valley; even the seemingly indestructible, smooth floor beneath everyone's feet seemed to tremble from the sound waves.

The flaming maw spat out rolling heat waves, blowing toward the six Rune Arrows shot by the Sapphire Rune Bow.

Immediately, points of blue radiance flared brightly in their high-speed flight, yet they vanished like meteors before that massive figure, leaving not even a trace behind.

The Balrog sensed an extremely repulsive aura from that blue light; this form did not like that bone-chilling sensation.

While letting out a roar, the Balrog also quickly blocked its chest with its thick, pitch-black arms that were erupting with raging flames.

A forked lightning bolt flashing with blinding radiance drilled into the Balrog's pitch-black arms in an instant, and wisps of electric light began to travel rapidly across the Balrog's massive body, emitting a glow sufficient to illuminate the entire cavern.

This was the light that dispelled the darkness, and the Balrog's movements also became sluggish amidst the flashing electric light.

This Chain Lightning, cast by Allen and capable of crushing dozens of people in an instant, did indeed force this massive demon into a state of paralysis; however, the flames on its body continued to rise, and its ferocious and terrifying face did not show the slightest change in expression.

It was clear that this attack had not caused any significant damage to this Balrog.

The second attack cast by Allen struck the Balrog's still-open maw at this moment; under the impact of the lightning, the Balrog quickly closed its mouth, assumed a backward-leaning posture, and even its right foot involuntarily took a step backward.

At this time, Allen finally managed to spare a tiny bit of time, turned his head, and shouted loudly to the Twilight Knights behind him: "Move out, that is an order!

"

The Twilight Knights, who had been shocked into a state of terror by the Balrog's aura, quickly recovered at the sound of Allen's shout, then picked up the Sapphire Rune Bows dropped on the ground and ran toward the passage leading to the Second Hall.

Allen understood very well in his heart that this was not the place for a battle, nor was it a good time to hinder the Balrog's progress, because there were thousands of enemies on the upper levels; if his group were blocked in the Second Hall by the combination of the Balrog and the Orcish, there would be no way to run at all.

In that case, his subordinates would only become a burden if they stayed here, and even he himself should take advantage of the Balrog's paralysis to leave quickly; relying on Chain Lightning alone could not kill the monster before him.

Yet, while the logic was sound, as Allen looked at the huge and terrifying Shadow before him, a towering rage ignited in his heart; he did not want to be scared away in such a cowardly manner by the monster before him—would that not make him inferior to even an ordinary Numenorean?

Seeing Allen with a face full of fury, his entire body instantly lit up with an extremely dense white light, and his slender frame moved like lightning as he ran, charging toward the Balrog, which was still in a state of paralysis.

Then, at the moment he reached the front of the Shadow, he leaped into the air and thrust the Noldorin Rune Sword, which was also flashing with bright light, heavily into the Balrog's pitch-black, fire-spewing abdomen.

The sensation of extreme pain caused the Balrog to immediately shake off the paralysis brought by the lightning, and it swiped a palm at the ant still hanging onto its body.

Subsequently, Allen was knocked flying more than a dozen meters by the Balrog at a speed faster than he had approached; fortunately, upon sensing the intense wind pressure, Allen released his right hand in time and then braced the Noldor Enchanted Shield tightly, blocking this rapid strike aimed at him.

Thus, apart from suffering minor injuries while rolling on the floor, Allen's body did not sustain too much of a blow; however, the enraged Balrog drew a fire-red long blade, burning all over and several meters long, directly from the air and slashed at Allen, who had just steadied himself, with lightning speed.

Facing such an unavoidable and terrifying strike, Allen had no choice but to hold his shield high and then frantically channel the Qi within his body into the shield; after receiving a massive supply of energy, the Noldor Enchanted Shield, amidst the flashing white light, actually manifested a silver-white energy circular shield, meeting the rapidly descending fire-red blade head-on.

Following a flash of dazzling light, there was a sound like a thunderclap; amidst the splashing sparks, Allen was knocked flying again, and the silver-glowing Noldor Enchanted Shield on his left arm shattered into pieces of scrap metal after a mournful cry, no longer able to provide protection to its master.

The Balrog, having unleashed such a strike, was also affected to a certain extent; in the collision of massive energy, its left foot stepped backward once more, but it did not expect to step directly over the cliff, and its massive form tilted backward uncontrollably.

Those wings wrapped in thick smoke and shadow flapped rapidly at this moment; amidst the rolling flames, the Balrog's form actually stabilized—that pair of wings actually had such a function.

At such a critical moment, Allen, lying on the ground, saw all of this and, without even having time to crawl up from the ground, directly released two lightning bolts without accumulated power, paralyzing the Balrog just as it was about to return to its original position.

Subsequently, that flaming figure fell back toward the abyss from which it had come; seeing this scene, the first thing that flashed through Allen's mind was not joy, but the image of Gandalf being entangled by the ankle by a whip flashing with firelight; he quickly rolled on the ground, narrowly dodging a fire-red whip shadow.

At the same time, an angry roar erupted from the abyss, followed by the sound of rolling rocks.

Allen knew that these alone could not kill the powerful Balrog, and this place was no longer a place to linger, so he moved his feet and chased rapidly after his subordinates who had left in advance.

Everyone was stumbling and running in the darkness, and the "thump-thump" sound of drums rang out at this moment.

This was naturally because the roar emitted by the Balrog had alarmed Black Face, who was celebrating in the upper levels of Moria; simple-minded as he was, he could not figure out what had provoked the deity here, but the quick-witted Fimbul thought at the first moment that someone had invaded Moria.

And thus, this confirmed why his subordinates and Black Face's subordinates had been attacked continuously in a short period of time, thereby triggering a conflict; this also indirectly led to his failure in competing for the position of leader, and hatred instantly turned the eyes of this Orcish red.

After surrendering, Fimbul immediately wanted to communicate this issue with Black Face, but Black Face, who had won a victory just a few days ago, was single-mindedly thinking only of reclaiming those two simple-minded and gluttonous fools, and was completely unwilling to listen to Fimbul's explanation.

Even after reclaiming all the Orcish, he had the horn-blowers sound a celebratory tune.

However, the roaring coming from the lower levels of Moria finally caught Black Face's attention; therefore, the horn calls and drum beats summoning soldiers to pursue the enemy rang out thoroughly in the empty mountain kingdom.

Moria, which was usually in dark silence, appeared unusually noisy at this moment; horn calls, war drums, and the shouting of Orcish on the march echoed continuously in the halls and passages.

Allen, who had exhausted all his strength to catch up with his subordinates, also slowed his pace to allow his physical energy some time to recover.

At this time, the group had already stepped onto the stairs leading to the Second Hall, and Ailong looked back quickly before entering the passage; the flickering firelight had already gradually become clear.

That Balrog, which had fallen into the abyss during the battle, had already climbed back up along the rock wall, and its pursuit speed was extremely fast, far exceeding Allen's previous estimation.

"Logically speaking, shouldn't this guy covered in smoke be unable to even outrun a Dwarf? How can it run so fast!"

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A very absurd thought suddenly appeared in Allen's mind, and then it was cast to the edge of Belegaer; the temperature of the air seemed to have risen once again at this moment.

Now, there was not much time left for him to let his imagination run wild.

In the darkness, besides the sound of heavy footsteps treading on the steps, there was only the sound of everyone's rapid panting; the group had pushed to their full limit to enter the Second Hall as quickly as possible, and the firelight representing the Balrog had already lit up the darkness in the passage, which meant the Balrog was not far from their position.

Before long, bursts of battle sounds came from the upper passage; it was clear that the Twilight Knights and Girl Rangers guarding the Second Hall were already locked in combat with the Orcish who had broken down from the upper levels.

The situation at this time was indeed so; under the call of the drums, an Orcish squad staying on the second level collided head-on with the Elf guarding the Khazad-dum Bridge in a very short time, and the battle was on the verge of breaking out.

But they, numbering in the hundreds, were quickly scattered after two volleys of arrows from the Elf, and then, in the depths of the Second Hall, they joined another, larger group of Orcish, swarming once again toward the Elf squad of less than twenty people.

Three volleys of arrows in a short time killed about one-fifth of the enemies, but amidst the urgent horn calls, these Orcish did not scatter; instead, they charged toward the Elf guarding the passage, shouting some unintelligible words in a chaotic manner.

The Elf, who were originally holding bows and arrows, were forced to draw their swords and shields to enter into close-quarters combat; being few in number, in order not to be defeated one by one by the numerous Orcish, they could only rely closely on each other, fighting with the large number of charging Orcish, and guarding the bridge behind the passage tightly.

This was Allen's order, and this time there was no instruction to retreat at any time, so until the order changed, they would guard this place forever, until death.

However, as time passed, the noise in the Second Hall gradually grew louder; more and more Orcish gathered here, among whom were some Uruk who were close in size to ordinary Humans and fully armed.

Upon seeing the scene of the battle, they revealed an unusually excited expression and approached the battle area with very fast steps.

Suddenly, all the advancing Orcish stopped their steps, and the Orcish who were besieging the Elf also abandoned their prey, looking in unison toward a passage on the southwest side of the Second Hall; firelight had already lit up in that passage.

Yet, the first to rush out of the passage was not the Balrog that had been chasing the prey, but Allen, who was sprinting rapidly while covered in dense white light; he brandished a 1.5-meter-long flame-shaped Greatsword and charged directly into the enemy with a momentum the Orcish could not match.

Filthy blood and shattered limbs flew up at this moment, and the wailing sounds made the surrounding Orcish stay away from the figure glowing with white light.

The Twilight Knights, brandishing their swords and shields, also charged up at this time, along with three Dwarf wearing full sets of Mithril armor; they held shields and war hammers mixed with Mithril in their hands, charging forward without hesitation toward the surrounded passage.

Following closely behind were the Noldor Ranger carrying more than a dozen boxes, as well as their clansmen holding swords and shields to protect them.

Soon, Allen arrived at the side of his subordinates amidst a sea of blood; the sight of every one of them being present made him breathe a sigh of relief, and the dark red firelight also illuminated the walls of the Second Hall at this moment.

A huge Shadow appeared among the Orcish; those disgusting scums had already squeezed into two parts in their trembling, leaving the widest road in the center for that huge black form.

Raging flames rose up in the Second Hall, and a suffocating heatwave blew toward the gathered Humans, Elves, and Dwarves; the Balrog's form, filled with power and terror, once again stunned everyone present.

"Cross the bridge quickly, run!"

Allen shouted, rousing his subordinates, and then the group rushed toward the narrow bridge, but Holimion and the five Twilight Knights equipped with the Sapphire Rune Bow remained behind; they had already faced the Balrog once and had fled in defeat under their lord's cover.

Yet this time, their performance far exceeded the last, and they even raised the Rune Bows in their hands to fire three waves of arrows at the approaching Balrog in a short span of time.

Facing the incoming specks of blue light, the Balrog impatiently waved its hand, scattering a great sheet of fire rain that incinerated all the blue light to nothing.

Taking advantage of this brief moment, Allen and his subordinates rushed into the passageway and, amidst the pursuit of the Balrog and the Orcish, stepped onto that narrow bridge.

Just as Allen ran to the center of the arched bridge, the Balrog's massive form also chased out of the passageway, and at some unknown moment, a long whip wreathed in firelight was already gripped in that huge black form's hand; after a shrill whistle that tore through the air, the fiery red shadow of the whip lashed toward Allen.

All the Balrog's rage at this moment could be said to stem from this ant constantly emitting white light, and its primary target for attack was naturally Allen.

"My Lord!"

"

Having already run to the opposite side of the bridge, Holimion threw the Enchanted Shield from his back toward the shadow of the whip, then immediately took out the Sapphire Rune Bow and fired at the Balrog on the other side of the cliff.

The shield and the whip shadow narrowly brushed past each other, and that firelight ultimately slammed down behind Allen; the Twilight Knight's throwing skill was not inferior to his archery, it was just that they did not have standard throwing weapons.

In this short amount of time, Allen strode to the other side of the arched bridge, while the Balrog followed in Allen's footsteps and also charged onto the Khazad-dum Bridge.

Allen looked at the relentless Balrog, then looked at his subordinates who were showing nervous expressions, gritted his teeth, and activated his final trump card, and the Qi in his body that had recovered more than half was drained in an instant.

It was as if in a split second, a dark cloud crackling with wisps of electricity expanded from Allen as the center, and a fine rain shimmering with specks of blue light fell from the dark cloud, then under Allen's mental control, a torrential downpour began above the Balrog's head.

This was precisely the ability Allen had most recently mastered, Quiet Rain.

Only, the scene before them had nothing to do with being quiet.