Chapter 234: Returning Home

When the thunderclouds with silver electricity wandering through them began to condense within the cavern, a feeling of heart-stopping terror surged into the heart of the Balrog.

If it could be said that humans could barely manage to wield lightning with the help of some Magic equipment, then summoning rain out of thin air, an extremely complex natural phenomenon, was a great power that ordinary Humans could not grasp.

Especially in a cavern where the air was this dry.

This was the authority of the Valar Ulmo; as one of the strongest among the Ainur, he governed the flow of all waters, the rise and fall of tides, the course of all rivers, and the evaporation and condensation of every drop of rain and dew upon every piece of land under heaven.

It had never been heard that the Lord of Waters would share the authority of rainfall with others.

Therefore, the moment the dark clouds were seen, the thought of fleeing immediately welled up in the heart of this demon who had survived since the ancient era; he did not possess a brave and fearless temperament to begin with, otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to have survived after the War of Wrath where Morgoth lost everything.

It was just that the rain, shimmering with wisps of blue light, came too fast; before the vast, flaming Shadow could make any move, the heavy rain poured down upon him as if from a bucket.

In an instant, the icy chill brought by the rain gripped the Balrog's form like a giant hand of frost; his power, his flames, and the darkest core within this form of his vanished into nothingness amidst the splashing water, leaving behind only endless exhaustion and weakness.

Today, thousands of years later, the fear of the Valar once again occupied the heart of this demon; a whimpering sound like a plea for mercy rang out softly at this moment, and the huge Shadow, under the pressure of the rain, even knelt upon the narrow arched bridge, no longer possessing the peerless might he had before.

"Fire!"

"

After concentrating all his power into one point, the effect displayed by this heavy rain far exceeded Allen's expectations; in his view, the phrase "restrain any form of dark power to a certain extent" was clearly an overly humble description.

But Allen also knew that if he wanted to maintain the effect of this heavy rain, which had drained all his power, the rolling dark clouds would likely not be able to persist for even a minute.

Therefore, ordering his subordinates to fire arrows to cause damage to the Balrog was the only command Allen could give at this time.

As for rushing onto the arched bridge to attack the weakened Balrog with the Flame-shaped Sword in his hand, after carefully discerning the situation, Allen decisively abandoned this idea, because he did not discover his Noldor Rune Longsword on the Balrog's abdomen.

Thus, Allen felt that ordinary weapons created in a general fashion would likely find it difficult to cause any effective damage to the demon before him.

Even the Noldorin Rune Sword in Allen's hand, although it possessed a certain amount of Magic power, only increased the sharpness and toughness of the weapon and did not possess the power to restrain darkness; if he truly wanted to retake Moria in the future, he would likely need to make more preparations.

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As time passed, the dark clouds that were pouring down the torrential rain, just as Allen had sensed, gradually disappeared after maintaining their effect for only one minute.

And what could be done in one minute?

If it were an ordinary web novel author, he probably wouldn't even be able to write twenty words, but the Noldor Elves who heard the command used the Composite Bows in their hands to fire hundreds of Rune Arrows in rapid succession, some of which carried intense frost energy.

With "swish," "swish," and "swish" sounds, a large number of arrows pierced through the raindrops and nailed themselves into the Balrog's body, and under the influence of the frost energy, faint white mist vanished in the rain in an instant, condensing layer after layer of white frost on the surface of the pitch-black body.

Soon, the white frost, aided by the rainwater, froze into thick, solid ice, and by the time the heavy rain ended, the Balrog, covered in arrows, had become a lifelike ice sculpture.

"Go!"

"

Allen did not know how much damage this round of attacks had actually caused the Balrog, but he knew this was the best time to leave, because the Balrog, frozen into an ice sculpture, was motionless and had also "thoughtfully" blocked the swarming Orcish behind him.

Ignoring Dain's look of extreme shock, Allen led everyone to quickly climb the wide stairs leading to the First Hall and rushed directly toward the gate where moonlight could be faintly seen.

It was currently night, and following a huge roar, the humiliated Balrog finally broke free from the solid ice; flames once again covered that pitch-black body, but this time he did not immediately pursue in person, instead driving all the Orcish of Moria to chase out of the cavern to kill the group of enemies who dared to offend him.

Bursts of clamor rose up again; just as Allen and his subordinates were jumping and running down those broken, massive steps, endless Orcish also rushed out from the gate of Moria, chasing after them with shouts and cries.

Just like that, this expedition of Allen's came to an end; they ran out of the dark and deep Moria amidst the pursuit of the Orcish and returned once again under the starry firmament.

And from some unknown time, a white mist began to permeate the valley behind Allen; the shouting voices of the Orcish began to circle within the mist, losing any chance of catching up to them, and a flash of fire appeared at the gate of Moria at this moment, then, after a sway, the firelight retreated back into the darkness.

Even though they were temporarily out of danger, Allen did not give the order to rest; the group followed the road they were somewhat familiar with and returned all the way to the edge of the Golden Wood.

Finally, on the morning of the next day, after seeing Haldir waving on the Talans, Allen breathed a deep sigh of relief; this was already the area protected by the Lady, and entering the forest meant they were safe.

Ever since Allen and his party left, Haldir had been keeping an eye on the situation in the Dimrill Dale; the extremely sharp eyes of the Elf allowed him to vaguely see the situation at the gate of Moria, yet the time Allen was away had been very peaceful.

Until more than half a day ago, when firelight and clamor began to emerge from the darkness, Haldir knew that a change was about to happen, and the large number of Orcish pouring out from the gate made him gather the surrounding clansmen.

It was just that the suddenly appearing white mist greatly delayed the speed of the Orcish pursuit, and in order to avoid the sunlight, they had to return to Moria in a sorry state; as for how the Balrog would treat these Orcish who returned without success, that was unknown.

The sunless life in the cavern made Allen decide to rest well at Haldir's place for several days; incidentally, he also gave some small trinkets made of Mithril to the Galadhrim here as a reward for their guiding.

In any case, they were just some ornaments made of Mithril; Allen had obtained a lot in the Sixteenth Hall of Moria, so giving away a few pieces was nothing, though he did give the exquisite Mithril letter opener to Haldir.

Most Elves had no resistance to ornaments that shimmered with silver light, not to mention that this was made of the precious Mithril; for Allen's generosity, the Galadhrim expressed their thanks solemnly.

After dispelling the effects that the battle and darkness had on his body, Allen selected a Mithril Headband inlaid with a White Gem and a Necklace hung with various gems from the many ornaments; these were gifts prepared for Lady Galadriel.

As for the gift for Lord Celeborn, it was a piece of Chainmail made of Mithril; it might not be as precious or beautiful as the one Bilbo Baggins had, but after a little modification, it could also provide powerful protection to the wearer.

Of course, these were just gifts; for the help Lothlorien provided him during this adventure, Allen took out two boxes of Mithril Ingot as thanks.

That white mist which blocked the Orcish and frightened away the Balrog could appear in the Dimrill Dale at such an appropriate time; this, of course, could not be a coincidence.

On this point, Allen was well aware.

When the Balrog appeared at the gate of Moria, his heart was extremely heavy; regardless of whether that flaming demon was injured or not, Allen no longer had the strength to fight; his current power was such that not to mention casting Quiet Rain, he couldn't even cast Chain Lightning.

If not for the Lady's assistance, whether this group of theirs could have left the Dimrill Dale unscathed was an unknown.

Whether in winter or summer, the scenery of Caras Galadhon was always beautiful; at this time, the golden flowers of Cerin Amroth were in full bloom among the branches, and as a breeze blew by, it was as if golden waves were being stirred up within the forest.

However, all the beauty seemed to pale in comparison to that young woman in white walking on the green grass; she was Galadriel's granddaughter, Elrond's daughter, the Princess of Imladris and Lothlorien, "Evenstar" Arwen.

Of course, in Allen's view, this dignified and beautiful young woman would also be his student's wife, the Queen of Gondor, and an Elf who would fade away into a desolate land.

To Allen's gaze, Arwen responded from afar with a generous smile, but had no intention of coming forward to talk.

And Allen nodded with a calm expression, responding to Arwen's smile, then left this place under Haldir's lead.

"That is our Princess, the most beautiful Evenstar among our kin." Haldir, who usually had a serious expression, rarely revealed a trace of longing.

Allen smiled and responded: "I know, may her beauty always shine upon you all."

Hearing this, Haldir shook his head but did not say anything more; all the Elves knew they were about to face a decision, and the time left for them was not much.

As for where to go, Haldir had not yet thought through his own fate, so this topic was quickly terminated, and the group fell into silence.

And this did not last long, because Celeborn and his wife were already waiting for Allen on the hill; it was a flat lawn arranged beautifully, and a wooden table was prepared with some delicacies full of Elven style.

In fact, they were very curious about Allen's encounter in Moria, because not just anyone could escape from that powerful Balrog with their subordinates without paying any price.

But Allen did not have much desire to talk about this matter; even if it was a short time, he did not want to recall the moments of fighting the Balrog.

When facing that huge Shadow, the first emotion that welled up in Allen's heart was likewise fear; although his performance far exceeded that of a Twilight Knight who dropped their weapon in front of a strong enemy, that fear was genuine, a feeling he had not experienced in decades.

If one were to give an appropriate example, it would be like when he was young and watched The Ring, seeing Sadako crawl out of the TV for the first time; the fear that welled up in his heart when facing the Balrog was even several times stronger than that.

As for the sword thrust he drove into the Balrog's abdomen in a fit of extreme rage, it was less an attempt to battle a powerful foe and more an impulsive act born of hatred for his own inner cowardice.

Because regardless of the outcome, confronting the Balrog head-on was never a good decision; it would place him in extreme danger.

During these few days of rest, Allen repeatedly pondered the situation at the time and concluded that the correct course of action should have been to flee immediately, using lightning to paralyze the Balrog when it caught up, and then continuing to flee.

Simply using Chain Lightning without charging it actually consumed very little for Allen at the time, and the paralysis effect was not significantly different.

And when the group arrived at the Khazad-dum Bridge, he should have immediately used Quiet Rain to trap the Balrog, then left that dangerous place at once.

It was just that at that moment, Allen's reason had been swayed by his emotions, and everything he did was an impulsive decision; fortunately, the result was not too bad after all.

Facing the inquiries of Lady Galadriel, Allen naturally could not remain silent, so he briefly recounted the current situation in Moria and the struggle against the Balrog, though he did not detail his own abilities, merely saying that he had relied on abilities passed down through his family to trap the Balrog for a time, which allowed him to successfully escape Moria.

Although she could no longer see into the heart of the Human before her, Lady Galadriel also sensed in his words Allen's resistance toward that memory.

Therefore, even though she was very curious about how Allen had trapped the Balrog, the kind Lady changed the subject and spoke of some lighter topics.

For instance, the dark minions that were once active in Eriador had recently gone into hiding, and some merchants from Rohan and Gondor had passed by Lothlorien by boat in recent days.

After calming his emotions, Allen took out the Mithril Armor, Jewelry, and Mithril Ingot he had prepared.

Faced with such precious gifts, even the Lord and Lady of the Golden Wood displayed expressions of great surprise, but after brief consideration, they did not refuse this kindness; instead, they gifted Allen the methods for making Miruvor and Lembas in return for the Rune Magic and Mithril.

These two types of food with special powers were extremely difficult to make, but after a moment of thought, Allen felt that with Beorn's help, it was not impossible for him to accomplish.

And his journey ended at this moment; it was time to return to Fislate.