chsdbacks Chapter 230 Horcrux
Chapter 230 Horcrux
Chapter 230 Horcrux
Eisengard, thousands of miles away.
With a spatial fluctuation, Dui, Romisdanu, Moreda, and a white bison appeared out of thin air outside Osankta.
Seeing the familiar surroundings, Dui finally breathed a sigh of relief.
We've finally escaped safely!
Looking at the power ring in his hand, it had become much dimmer, and the magic power stored inside had been completely exhausted.
That was the magic power he had stored up for more than half a year, which was equivalent to the total magic power of several hundred of him. Now, it was all exhausted by a few attacks from Sauron!
Dui felt a pang of heartache, after all, this was the magic he had accumulated bit by bit, and now it was all gone in one fell swoop, and he would have to slowly accumulate it all over again. Moreover, most of the light of Eyarendil in his hand had been consumed, and it had become very dim.
However, it was fortunate that they managed to escape from Sauron's clutches and rescue the two blue-robed wizards.
He then looked toward the two blue-robed wizards.
"Romisdanu, Morida the Wizard, are you alright?"
Exhausted, Romisdanu nodded slightly, a weary smile on his face: "I'm fine. Thanks to you, we were able to escape."
It seems my hunch was right all along; you're our savior.
With Sauron's spirit no longer eroding him, Moreda finally recovered. His eyes, no longer crazed, became clear, but he was so weak that he no longer had the strength to speak.
Even now, because Sauron's corruption of his mind has already taken effect, he is still using most of his will to suppress the evil will that Sauron left in his body, so as to avoid falling into darkness completely.
Seeing his friend in this state, Romisdanus was filled with worry.
Sauron imprisoned Moredar and used this as a pretext to lure Romisdanu into a trap. His aim was not to kill them, but to corrupt and degrade them, turning them into loyal followers of Saruman.
However, the Moredar are essentially demigod-level Maiar, with extremely strong and unyielding mental wills. Even if Sauron wanted to corrupt their minds, it would not be easy for him.
Therefore, he was imprisoned in the tower of Minas Harad Fortress, where he was tortured and tormented daily to weaken his will and exhaust his soul.
Only when the mind's defenses are weak will they take advantage of the situation, using evil power to corrupt and distort the mind, ultimately turning Morida into an evil sorcerer under their control.
It is truly remarkable that Moreda, who was imprisoned and tortured by Sauron in Minas Harad for many years, has managed to remain so until now without being completely corrupted and degenerate.
But Romisdanu couldn't think of a way to free Moreda from Solon's influence.
Seeing Romisdanu's worried expression, Dui suggested, "Perhaps we can take the wizard Moreda to the Valley of the Dead. Lord Elrond, the lord of the Valley of the Dead, is the best physician in Middle-earth. He might be able to solve Moreda's problem."
Upon hearing Dui's words, Romisdanu's eyes lit up.
"Then I'll have to trouble you, Duir, to make the introduction!"
The two blue-robed wizards had only met Elrond once on their journey to the East and were not familiar with him, so they had to ask Dui for help.
Dui nodded and said with a smile, "No need to be so polite. Lord Elrond is a compassionate lord. It was on his advice that I went to the Far East to find you. He highly praises your achievements in the East and will surely welcome you."
He then led Romisdanus and Moridae into the Tower of Osank, preparing to travel through the fireplace to the Valley.
As soon as Romisdanus entered the gate, he was amazed by the enormous space inside.
But he was immediately drawn to a giant wolf that was many times larger than his mount, the Alavu bison.
The fact that it had three heads, in particular, greatly surprised Romisdanus.
The three-headed wolf smelled a strange and powerful scent, and instantly all three heads woke up, becoming ferocious, baring its teeth, and brewing flames in its throat, preparing to attack.
"Quiet!" Dui snapped. "Cerberus, this is a guest. Show some manners!"
Upon hearing this, the three-headed wolf abandoned its aggressive attitude, wagged its tail, stuck out its tongue, and whimpered as it fawned over Dui.
Dui patted the three heads helplessly. "Alright, I know. I have urgent business to attend to now. I'll play with you guys later."
Seeing this, the three-headed wolf stopped bothering Dui and obediently continued guarding the gate.
Upon seeing this, Romisdanu was surprised but also showed a hint of fondness. "Is this your pet?"
Dui nodded, somewhat apologetically, "Yes, his name is Cerberus, a three-headed hybrid dog. He's just over a year old and still a minor, so he's a bit immature."
Romisdanu didn't care about the three-headed wolf's earlier attempt to attack him. Instead, he looked at it with admiration and exclaimed, "It's only a little over a year old and it already has such strength. If it's properly trained, it might become another divine dog like Juan in the future."
Dui shook his head, not taking Romisdanu's praise to heart. Juan the Divine Dog was a true divine beast, having not only killed the oldest and most terrifying demon wolf, Zagreb, but even Sauron had suffered at Juan's hands.
When the elven princess Lúthien rescued her lover Beren, Sauron personally transformed into the largest wolf in history to fight. Juan was still not subdued. After Lúthien used magic to confuse Sauron, she took the opportunity to bite Sauron's throat. No matter how Sauron transformed or used his magic, he could not break free. In the end, he was forced to abandon the island of demons and escape as a vampire.
They had just escaped from Soren, who had been defeated by Juan the Dog.
With such a disparity in strength, Dui couldn't even imagine how powerful Juan the dog was.
Getting back to the main point, Dui didn't linger in Osanktado, but instead took Romisdanu and the weakened Morida directly to the fireplace and teleported them to the valley.
Upon seeing Dui return, Elrond asked, "Was the trip successful?"
Dui shook his head: "Hildorien's location has been determined, but we won't be able to find it until New Year's Day. And there was a slight mishap along the way."
Dui recounted everything that had happened in the Far East.
Upon hearing what Dui said, Elrond frowned slightly, then shook his head and said disapprovingly, "Your trip was somewhat risky. Sauron's power is immense. If you hadn't escaped in time, you would probably have already fallen into his clutches, and your fate would be unknown."
Dui nodded in apology. If he hadn't signed in at the last minute to get the key, he probably would have been Sauron's prisoner, or even corrupted by his spirit and turned into a puppet.
Perhaps because things had gone too smoothly for him, he had let his guard down.
They hadn't expected Sauron to show up in person, which almost put them in a desperate situation.
After they finished their conversation, Dui and Elrond went to the infirmary to see the two blue-robed wizards.
Elrond expressed his respect for the two blue-robed wizards' deeds in restraining Sauron in the East and said he would do his best to heal them.
Romisdanus was alright; he was just exhausted and not too deeply affected by Sauron's evil power. He would recover after some rest.
But Elrond frowned at Moreda as well.
"The wizard Moreda has suffered greatly and is already exhausted, both physically and mentally. He will probably need a long period of rest and recuperation."
But the most troublesome thing is that a part of his mind has been corrupted by Sauron's evil, and his pure soul has been stained with dark spots. If it weren't for his extremely strong will, he would probably have already fallen into darkness! Elrond said with a solemn expression.
Upon hearing Elrond's words, Dui's expression turned serious; he hadn't expected Moreda's situation to be so grave.
Romisdanu was even more worried and asked nervously, "Lord Elrond, do you have a way to cure Moreda?"
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Elrond shook his head apologetically: "I'm sorry, I can't eradicate the corruption of the soul either. Perhaps only in the blessed land of Valinor can Moredar be healed."
Romisdanus was disappointed upon hearing this. Returning to Valinor was no easy task. Their mission was not yet complete, and without the Valar's permission...
They can't go back at all.
But Elrond added, "I can try to seal the corrupted parts to stop Sauron's evil power from continuing to affect the Moredar wizards, but that's only a temporary fix. If it can't be completely purified and eradicated, there's always the risk of corruption."
Upon hearing Elrond's words, Dui breathed a sigh of relief and silently complained about the way the sentence was punctuated.
Romistanu, however, regained hope and hurriedly begged him to seal Moridae.
Since Elrond brought it up, he naturally intended to take action.
He first treated Moreda's physical wounds and restored her vitality. Then, with the help of the power of the Ring of Qi, Vya, he sealed the corrupted part of Moreda's spirit, cutting off Sauron's evil power from further influencing Moreda.
Elrond, as expected of the best physician in Middle-earth, quickly healed Moredar, who was originally extremely weak, and at the same time, he finally restored Moredar to full consciousness.
"Thank you, Lord Elrond. If it weren't for your help, I would probably have fallen into darkness and never been saved!" Moreda first expressed her gratitude to Elrond and gave him a solemn bow.
Elrond accepted his thanks with a smile and then instructed him:
"Although I sealed the corrupted part of your body, Sauron's influence on you still exists. The closer you are to him, the deeper the influence will be, and the weaker the seal will become."
Furthermore, when they sealed you, a portion of your power was also sealed away, so you need to be mentally prepared.
Morida, however, was very optimistic, saying with a smile, "This is much better than I expected."
Moreda then formally and sincerely expressed his gratitude to Dui for traveling a long distance with Romistanu to rescue him.
"Although Romisdanus has already presented you with the horn of victory, it is not enough to express my gratitude!" Moreda said to Dui with a sincere expression.
"You not only saved me, but you also saved Romisdanu. I can't imagine how desperate and terrifying it would have been if we hadn't fallen into Sauron's clutches, been corrupted by him, lost ourselves, and ultimately forgot our mission!"
Moreda then said that he had a golden bow in his collection and planned to give it to Dui as a thank-you gift when he returned to the Far East.
Legend has it that this golden bow was crafted by a Noldor elf craftsman in Valinor, modeled after the bow of Oromie, the god of the hunt. It is said to be unerring, capable of hitting its target precisely no matter how far away or how cleverly hidden it may be.
Upon hearing this, Dui also became very curious about the bow and arrow. At Morida's insistence, he accepted the gift, which he hadn't even met yet.
While the two blue-robed wizards were recuperating in the valley, Dui returned to Wind and Cloud Peak.
He arrived at the crypt and found Smaug, a dragon who had half his body buried in a mountain of treasure.
Smaug was already awake when Dui entered, and said warmly, "Master, you're back!"
Then, without making a sound, he shoved the treasure behind him, fearing that Dui would come asking for more money.
Dui ignored his gestures and simply said, "Give me that thing!"
Upon hearing this, Smaug opened his mouth and spat out a round black crystal.
It was none other than Dui's True Knowledge Crystal.
Dui used a cleansing spell, somewhat disgusted, to remove the saliva from the crystal before catching it.
This True Knowledge Crystal was different from the others, faintly emanating an aura of dark magic.
Moreover, inside the crystal, a cloud of black mist was surging, revealing Dui's face.
This was Dui's last resort to save his life—a Horcrux.
Before heading to the Far East, he secretly split off a piece of his soul and used the True Knowledge Crystal as a container to create his first Horcrux.
The True Knowledge Crystal is extremely hard; even the Divine Spear Egros or the Flaming Sword cannot destroy it, which is why Dui chose it as his first choice for a Horcrux.
In exchange for killing an orc, Dui created the Horcrux of Knowledge and then entrusted it to Smaug for safekeeping.
If he encounters any life-or-death crisis, he can be resurrected using this Horcrux.
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