Chapter 293 The Lost Fortress in the Depths of the World

The bat flew away from the shadows.

When the Balrog met his own destruction, the people of Dale were very happy, and the dwarves of Lonely Mountain were also very happy.

Levi, who got new materials and achieved new achievements, was even happier.

But some people far away in Mordor could not be happy.

The smiles moved away from their faces.

Whether it was Minas Morgul or the Dark Tower, there was silence at this moment. The Ringwraiths were silent, and the black shadows like vertical pupils in the flames were also lost in thought.

The situation escalated.

Originally, according to the results of previous observations, the Balrog should be able to tie with that person or even slightly better, but...

Who would have thought that he changed his equipment?

If I am not mistaken, his new equipment is mixed with some [Dragon] elements. It seems that he has studied something from the dragon, so that the Balrog is no longer his opponent.

This research result is really tempting.

As one of the powerful craftsmen who mastered the most advanced forging technology in Middle-earth, Sauron was quite curious.

It seems that the creations of Morgoth, the former master he served, have more potential to be developed.

However, the priority of this matter can be pushed back.

Soran recalled the feeling a few days ago.

When Levi read the black language on the box, his power followed the sound of the black language in the world and descended to the fire disaster spirit deep underground - the Balrog.

Yes, a Balrog was awakened and responded to his call.

But...

There was more than one who responded to his call.

In the deep underground of the snowy plain in the far north, there were many intermittent and noisy echoes that reached here. Those beings sensed the call of darkness, but because the distance was too far and they were blocked by some solid barrier, they could not break through.

This reminded Soran of some long-lost memories.

When Morgoth was attacked by the army of the Valar, he escaped with the Balrogs - from the many fortresses of the Iron Mountains in the far north that was crushed by the most powerful fire dragon in history, Ancalagon, and later sank to the bottom of the sea.

Could it be...

"Master."

At this time, the Witch King stepped forward and called out with his head down.

"The Balrog is dead."

He made such a brief report.

Evil whispers came from the flame shadow, and Sauron answered absent-mindedly: "I already know about this."

So the Ringwraiths stopped talking.

After a moment, as if thinking of something, the flame shadow issued an order again, conveying some information in the evil language he created.

The Ringwraiths looked at each other, their figures dissipated, and they all left the evil black tower.

The Witch King continued to sit in Minas Morgul, on the one hand, monitoring and confronting Gondor, and on the other hand, covering up certain things.

In 2963, three Ringwraiths set out secretly from Mordor. They walked out from the north of the Ash Mountains in Mordor, bypassed the territory of the Free Cities, passed through the Dongyi, and continued to travel north until they arrived at the northern wasteland of Frod, which was uninhabited and cold all year round and covered with heavy snow, further north than the Lonely Mountain and the Gray Mountains behind the Lonely Mountain.

This vast expanse of snow is a truly extremely cold land. Its formation is not due to any geographical reasons. The extreme cold above contains some malice, which is the remnant of Morgoth's power.

However, this extremely cold wasteland is not without vitality. There are still some humans living in the cape area to the west. They wear thick fur coats to prevent cold all year round and have a relatively primitive lifestyle.

For various reasons, they are also called "snowmen" in the records.

In Middle-earth, if you don't specifically check the books, few people know that there is such a nation.

In the past thousand years, only the wanderers have had a little intersection with them.

The most recent event was that the nomads redeemed the Ring of Barahir that Aragorn was wearing now from them.

Although it was called redemption, the process was actually very friendly. After all, this heirloom of the Isildur family, the Ring of Barahir, was once given to them by the King of Arthedain to thank the snow people for their help.

Of course, the target of the Ringwraiths was not these snow people. In fact, they did not necessarily know that there was such a tribe.

Although the snow people lived not far from Angmar, during the war, they were afraid of the Witch King and moved collectively to a place that the Witch King could not touch, escaping from his sight and successfully avoiding being affected by the war.

"Go north, enter the Northern Wasteland, continue north, to a deeper place that no one has set foot on for tens of thousands of years."

This was the order the Ringwraiths received.

When they crossed the Gray Mountains and climbed over a cold snowy mountain range to truly enter the isolated Northern Wasteland, the Ringwraiths had to change their way of action.

Because they misjudged the degree of coldness here, their horses were frozen to death.

Looking at the stiff black horses on the ground, the Ringwraiths were silent for a while.

These are not ordinary horses. Strictly speaking, they are also one of the "giant beasts" cultivated by Sauron. They are very resistant. Not only are they not affected by evil forces, but they can also grow bigger and stronger than ordinary horses with this power. Their faces are more ferocious, and flames are coming out of their eye sockets and nostrils when they breathe.

Normally, these evil black horses can run for a month or so on the snow-covered peaks of the Misty Mountains, but they froze to death in just a few days here.

It seems that the closer you get to the center of the Northern Wasteland, the more severe the cold invasion.

The heavy snow devours the bodies of the black horses.

The Ringwraiths continued to move forward in silence, walking deeper and deeper step by step.

Just a few horses, let them die, compared with the master's order, it's nothing.

The monotonous, boring, almost communicationless journey lasted for a long time, the Ringwraiths just moved along a certain route, constantly approaching a vague area.

They walked like this for several months.

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After crossing a snowy mountain again, a Ringwraith stopped moving, raised his hand, tried to move his fingers, but felt a little stiff and stuck.

As a spirit possessed by the armor, he should not have any consciousness.

But now this body is a little out of control.

This feeling of giving orders to the body but delaying the execution is very uncomfortable.

"Keep moving."

The Ringwraith who first noticed the abnormality of his body reminded his companions, and he also patted the armor, moved his fingers, and shook off the frost and snow covering it.

The other two Ringwraiths also reacted, and their bodies made crisp sounds.

It was really weird.

Ringwraiths are not human beings. Neither their spirits nor their armors have any temperature. The design of their armors should not be like this.

They always bring bone-chilling cold to others.

It's almost time...

The Ringwraith walking in front looked in a certain direction, and his premonition became stronger.

Another few months passed.

The Ringwraith in front suddenly stopped.

"The master wants us to explore this area."

He recalled the map of the entire Middle-earth.

It is estimated that this place is very close to the edge of the Middle-earth continent. If we continue to walk for a while, we will reach the seaside.

"Separate and find that place."

So the Ringwraiths separated and walked in different directions.

Because the goal of this so-called "exploration operation" was vague, they didn't know what they were looking for, and there was no specific direction and guidance. The Ringwraiths encountered many obstacles in the process of execution, and the operation was also quite difficult.

The three Ringwraiths wandered in the snow for several years.

Until one of the Ringwraiths called out to his companions.

In front of a broken mountain gap, he felt an extreme malice, a malice from ancient times, which could even make the Ringwraiths shudder.

After a long time, the three Ringwraiths gathered again and headed towards the gap in the mountain.

No one knew what they found in this cold wasteland in the extreme north of the continent, and no one knew what they experienced later.

What is certain is that their shells were lost, and their spirits traveled in the underworld for a long time before returning to Mordor.

When the three Ringwraiths appeared in Mordor again - perhaps affected by the unusual coldness of the northern wasteland, Sauron actually felt a chill from the three returning spirits.

"Master."

The leading Ringwraith reported: "We found a passage leading to the deepest part of the world in front of a broken mountain gap."

"There is a broken underground fortress under that passage."

"There are many things we are familiar with in it, but they are more evil than us."