A translucent, dark figure appeared out of thin air.
"Nazgûl," Gandalf spoke the word with grim recognition.
Hiss!
The Nazgûl let out what seemed like a howl from hell, shrieking as it charged forward with supernatural speed. Gandalf quickly bent down to dodge, and Levi also rapidly activated evasion, his body moving like a phantom to the left side, avoiding the strike.
Boom!
Gandalf raised his staff, and the tip suddenly blazed with white light, repelling the Nazgûl. Levi didn't miss the opportunity, drawing his long sword and slashing forward, directly setting the Nazgûl ablaze.
Fire was exactly what the Nazgûl feared. This sword strike made the Nazgûl wail in pain, retreating several steps before immediately fleeing into the shadows to hide.
"Fortunately, both your sword and mine are weapons blessed by the elves. These Nazgûl—ordinary weapons cannot even touch them."
"Watch out!"
Ah...
A sigh suddenly came from behind Levi's ear, accompanied by a poisonous breath like black mist that made him shudder and feel as if he were falling into an abyss.
[Fear: 5s]
[Wither: 5s]
[Poison: 5s]
"Take courage!"
Zap! A flash of white light cleared all negative buffs from the status bar. Levi shivered and immediately came to his senses, swinging his sword backward in a slash.
However, the spirit had already vanished into the darkness, nowhere to be seen.
Gandalf's Ring of Fire flickered with light, and under that radiance, Levi felt warm all over with inexhaustible courage.
"What was that?" The two stood back-to-back on guard, Levi still shaken.
"Black Breath—the evil magic of the Nazgûl. Those touched by it immediately fall gravely ill, and if wounded by a Morgul-blade at that time without treatment, they may ultimately be dragged into shadow and transformed into wraith-like beings. Perhaps the barrow-wights are related to their dark arts," Gandalf explained quickly.
After experiencing two sneak attacks, both Gandalf and Levi entered maximum alert status, not overlooking any corner where an ambush might come from.
However, if anyone was most nervous, it had to be Levi. Since donning the netherite armor set, he hadn't felt threatened in a long time. Now it seemed that no matter how thick the armor, it could only defend against physical damage—he still couldn't handle magical damage and mental attacks well.
But specialization has its place, and now was the time for the wizard to take the stage.
"Get ready, Levi!"
"What?"
"Prepare to attack!"
After the warning, Gandalf suddenly planted his staff on the ground and chanted in another language: "Let all darkness be revealed here!"
As the words fell, a massive ring of light much denser than a detection spell burst from his body, sweeping across a large area of nearby buildings.
After releasing this spell, Gandalf's face visibly paled considerably—not because the spell consumed too much energy, but because he could see the situation around them clearly.
Nine transparent figures were expelled from the shadow realm. Having been warned by Gandalf beforehand, Levi immediately launched an attack on them, quickly landing two sword strikes on one Nazgûl, splitting its armor and igniting its cloak.
This sudden assault was very successful. The Nazgûl hit by Levi's combo directly lost the form it relied on for existence and dissipated into the air.
But this was only temporary. Nazgûl do not die—only their forms can be destroyed, and after some time they can reshape themselves and walk the earth again.
While Levi's sneak attack succeeded, Gandalf quickly followed up with a blast, repelling one Nazgûl, though he couldn't scatter its form and only forced it to retreat temporarily into the shadow realm.
The remaining seven Nazgûl also reacted—three surrounded Gandalf while four surrounded Levi.
Under the enhancement of Gandalf's Ring of Fire, the Nazgûl's Black Breath lost its effect. No matter how the four Nazgûl tried, they couldn't make Levi fall into fear or become poisoned again.
These Nazgûl were all former kings, the most powerful humans of past ages. Even though they had now lost self-consciousness and become servants of darkness, their combat instincts and knowledge remained. Forget four of them—even facing just one without ambush tactics would be more than enough to give Levi trouble.
Thanks to the high concentration provided by basic swordsmanship, Levi could barely manage one or two moves under the siege of these former kings.
However, Nazgûl were still Nazgûl—they had other means.
Just as Levi swung his sword again, a Nazgûl with particularly fierce and terrifying armor suddenly let out a howl that made one's brain go numb, causing Levi to lose focus for an instant.
Clang!
Already fighting with two fists against eight hands, plus suffering a mental attack, a flaw finally appeared. A Morgul-blade seized the opportunity and struck hard at Levi's armor, producing a crisp sound of blade deflection.
Just as Levi was celebrating that his armor was thick enough, suddenly the blade flashed and, with a squelch bypassed the armor, striking flesh directly and creating a wound.
[-3]
[Wither: 5s]
[Morgul Poison: (Infinite)]
The armor lost its effectiveness—only the Protection enchantment was still working, weakening most of the blade's impact and reducing the damage to a not-too-high level.
However, while it could block physical impact, it couldn't stop the curse of the Morgul-blade. A fragment of the weapon remained in the flesh, causing Levi to feel some abnormality in his chest area, his vision blurring.
Magical damage could ignore armor—only Protection enchantments could affect it.
"What is this thing!"
"Levi!"
In the emergency, Gandalf quickly repelled the three Nazgûl around him and rushed over to blast away the Nazgûl that had wounded Levi.
Swoosh!
Levi quickly turned and followed up with a sword strike, igniting the Nazgûl and forcing it to retreat into shadow.
"Run!"
Gandalf shouted, and Levi didn't linger in battle, immediately following Gandalf as they charged outward, drinking a mouthful of milk while running.
Fortunately, milk was still that invincible milk—the buff bar was directly cleared, and the abnormal feeling in his chest also disappeared.
"Where are you running, scum!"
Rumble!
A heavy hammer suddenly crashed down, and a pale figure appeared, followed closely by a large group of orcs. They surrounded them tightly, shrieking as they raised their weapons, showing no fear even when facing Levi.
Sauron's presence was like the countless lava flows in Mount Doom, filling the orcs' minds and suppressing their consciousness, allowing them to unite and dare to attack any enemy—unless the enemy brought them fear greater than Sauron's.
"Azog, what, healed up and got bolder too?"
Levi taunted, with significant effect, directly making Azog's chest heave with anger.
"You must die here today!"
The great hammer swung to his eyes in an instant. Levi activated evasion to dodge to one side and exchanged several sword strikes with Azog.
After these few strikes, Azog immediately sensed the difference—this human... had become stronger!
"Attack! Kill them!"
He immediately retreated several steps, putting his subordinates in front of him for protection and issuing a siege command.
This arrogant and conceited pale orc had finally learned—if subordinates could gang up on the enemy, why did he need to personally engage?
Orcs wearing some kind of standard full armor set poured in from all directions, tightly surrounding the two. The Nazgûl emerged from shadow, either standing among the orcs or on walls, enjoying this spectacle.
"We'll fight our way out."
Levi silently ate a golden apple and opened several potions to drink. At this moment, he could no longer afford to hold back any trump cards.
As bottle after bottle of potion was quickly consumed, a pile of buffs appeared in the status bar: Speed II, Strength II, Regeneration II—to deal with the current situation, what he'd just drunk were all Level II potions. Though they had short duration, their effects were powerful. At this moment, Levi felt he could punch several orcs flying even without using his sword.
"Levi, come here quickly!"
Just as Levi was about to show his skills, Gandalf suddenly called out and grabbed his cloak.
Thud!
With a flash of white light, the two directly disappeared from their original location, vanishing without a trace.
[Chapter Complete]
***
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