With Luke's Bubblehead Charm, the poisonous gas in the surrounding air could no longer affect the elven warriors.
Freed from worry, the elven army once again displayed their formidable combat power. They advanced rapidly southward, killing every giant spider in their path. The rest fled south in a panic.
The army pushed forward without pause, quickly reclaiming half of Mirkwood.
But soon, everyone sensed something was wrong.
There were no more giant spiders ahead—not even in their lairs.
It was as if the spiders had abandoned this place entirely.
Dozens of miles further south, it was still the same.
In the spider nests, apart from a few half-eaten animal corpses, there were even unhatched spider eggs left behind.
It seemed they had fled in haste, and not long ago.
However, no one looked pleased—rather, their expressions grew grave and serious.
The giant spiders were cunning; if they were absent from their lairs in such an unusual way, there was only one possibility: they had all moved south.
Gathered together, their numbers would surely be immense, and what lay ahead was bound to be a difficult battle.
Luke stopped the elves from destroying the spider eggs, instead collecting the black-pearl-like eggs.
Some he froze for use as potion ingredients; some he kept for hatching as a future potion source—and as reserve food for the basilisk Herpo.
The army continued south with heightened vigilance.
Suddenly, there was a commotion in the forest.
The elven warriors quickly drew and loosed arrows, but the incoming figure blocked them with ease.
From afar, a wooden sleigh pulled by a giant rabbit rushed forward and skidded to a halt in front of the elven ranks.
"Radagast! Why is it you?" Luke stepped forward in surprise to greet him.
It was indeed Radagast the Brown. He looked slightly mad, but when he saw Luke, his eyes lit up.
"Ah, it's you, Luke! What are you doing here?"
"King Thranduil is hunting the giant spiders in the forest. I came to lend a hand," Luke explained, then asked in return, "But Radagast, what brings you here? Has something happened?"
"Me? Oh, right—I nearly forgot!" Radagast startled, slapped his forehead, as if suddenly recalling, and said at once, "I'm here to warn you! To warn the elves!"
"What warning do you have for us?" Thranduil asked, frowning.
As fellow inhabitants of Mirkwood, Thranduil naturally knew of the Brown Wizard, though they had little direct contact.
Spotting Thranduil, Radagast seemed to have found his target. "All the spiders are gathering in the south! There are thousands upon thousands, packed so densely that every animal in the forest is terrified—so am I!
These spawn of Ungoliant are preparing to attack, led by their spider queen, who means to wipe the elves out entirely. You must be ready—"
"Wait—what spider queen?" Thranduil seized on the key point.
"Spider queen? Ah yes, the spider queen! Her name is Senatha, the largest giant spider in the entire forest! She's the leader of them all!" Radagast replied in his scattered way.
At the mention of the spider queen, his expression grew especially agitated, even fearful: "She's bigger than my house! And she's a servant of the Dark Lord! She's the one who has summoned all the spiders to prepare for the attack!"
Hearing this, Thranduil's face grew stern.
Luke was equally astonished.
He hadn't expected such a creature as a spider queen to exist in Mirkwood—much less one connected to Sauron.
Learning the spiders were massing, Thranduil didn't hesitate. He immediately led his army south, vowing to drive every spider from Mirkwood. Radagast joined them.
With Radagast guiding the way, they pressed straight toward the queen's lair without stopping.
The lair lay at the southern end of Mirkwood, not far from Dol Guldur.
Here the trees grew taller and denser, the sky blotted out entirely by layer upon layer of webs and leaves so that no light could penetrate. It was so dim the ground could not be seen clearly.
Because the giant spiders had lived and bred here for thousands of years, the whole forest was shrouded in webs. Only special web tunnels for the spiders to travel through formed a vast spider kingdom. Other creatures could barely move here—and often became spider food.
When Luke and the elven army entered the valley, they saw before them the endless "Spider Fortress."
Such a kingdom could not be destroyed by simple brute force.
Seeing the web-walls like copper and iron, Thranduil's brow furrowed, his expression grim.
If they didn't take this chance to wipe out the spiders completely, this campaign would be a failure.
Once the spiders multiplied again, they would inevitably spread north, shrinking the elves' territory and threatening the Woodland Realm's safety.
But to attack now, the countless webs ahead were a massive obstacle, incredibly hard to destroy.
"Father, let me lead a small team through those spider tunnels to flush them out," Legolas said firmly.
Thranduil shook his head. "No. We don't know how many spiders are inside, let alone the queen. Going in would be walking into a trap!"
"But if we let them remain, Mirkwood will never know peace. Before long, they'll multiply and head north again, threatening us!" Legolas argued.
"And now, with the magic Luke taught me, I have the means to protect myself."
But no matter how Legolas pleaded, Thranduil would not let him take the risk.
Seeing their dispute, Luke spoke: "Your Majesty Thranduil, since the webs can't be broken through, what about using fire?"
Both Thranduil and Legolas looked at him in surprise.
Thranduil shook his head. "I've considered that, but once fire is set, if anything goes wrong the whole forest could be affected. Not only would the creatures here suffer, but we ourselves would be left homeless."
"But if your army clears a firebreak in the forest, then burns only the southern end, the fire shouldn't spread north," Luke suggested.
But he had underestimated the elves' love for nature. The elves of Mirkwood were closely tied to the forest, relying on it for survival—it was their home and refuge. They rarely cut down trees, let alone burn vast swathes to destroy the spiders.
Radagast, as a Maia of Yavanna, loved plants even more than the elves did, so he opposed the idea fiercely. He had even abandoned his mission in Middle-earth to live among the forest's flora and fauna—he could not bear to see the trees harmed.
Seeing this, Luke regretfully abandoned the suggestion.
Otherwise, a single fire would have been a simple, effective way to send the spiders to their doom—and he was confident he could control the blaze to prevent its spread.
Since fire was out of the question, Luke offered another, slightly more troublesome idea.
"Your Majesty Thranduil, I have another way to drive the spiders out. It's a little risky, but would you be willing to try?"
"What way?" Thranduil asked, knowing Luke wouldn't suggest something without purpose.
Luke took a leather case from his dimensional bag.
"What's in there?" Thranduil frowned, sensing from it a dangerous black-magic creature unlike anything he had seen before—something that made him feel his life was threatened.
"It's a creature I bred, called a basilisk," Luke explained. "Its eyes are dangerous—any living thing that looks directly into them will die instantly. Even looking through a mirror will cause petrification."
"Such a creature exists?!" Thranduil was shocked. From the description alone, he could tell how deadly it was. Legolas, Arwen, and the others were also startled—they had never heard Luke mention keeping such a creature.
"So, if you're willing, I can release the basilisk into the spider lair to drive them out. But first, everyone must be warned not to look into its eyes. I can't guarantee anyone's safety otherwise!" Luke said seriously.
Thranduil hesitated, but ultimately agreed.
He immediately ordered everyone not to look at the basilisk, explaining its dangers.
Once everyone was ready, Luke opened the leather case and stepped back.
The next second, a massive serpent's head crowned with a single blood-red feather emerged from the dimensional space.
All the elves except Luke, including Thranduil, closed their eyes immediately.
Even with eyes shut, elves could still sense their surroundings through their heightened perception. A powerful, ancient elf like Thranduil could use spiritual senses nearly as well as sight.
In their perception, a ten-meter-long, trunk-thick green serpent slithered out of the case, radiating powerful black magic.
Luke didn't close his eyes—having signed a "blood oath" with the basilisk Herpo, the creature could not harm him in any way. It even closed its eyes voluntarily when facing him.
The basilisk had grown quickly, especially after devouring two giant spiders from the tower, nearly reaching its adult size.
Like other snakes, it could navigate with tongue, smell, and heat sensing even with eyes closed. Now it was excited, sensing the air with its forked tongue, thumping its tail against the ground.
"Master, I smell food! Delicious food!" (Parseltongue)
Luke patted its head.
"Then go find your food—use your eyes to kill them and drive them out!" (Parseltongue)