The Ultimate Evolution

Ten of the twenty-five heavy trebuchets were churned out by the craftsmen of Mordor through an entire afternoon of labour; they had just been hidden away. Together with the trebuchets that remained from the previous battle and the trebuchets redeemed by the contestants, they made up a total of twenty-five heavy trebuchets. The trebuchets were quietly transported to the front line and assembled under the cover of the night!

At this time, the city of Minas Tirith was in complete chaos due to the appearance of Grond and the nine Ringwraiths, so much so that no one had yet noticed the abnormality on this side.

Following a command, the arms of all twenty-five heavy trebuchets sprang up at the same time, hurling their flaming boulders at the City Wall of Minas Tirith. The combined power of twenty-five heavy trebuchets was absolutely not to be scoffed at. They were no doubt the third route of the offensive plan!

“In that case, the fourth attack method should be….” Sheyan already had an idea of what it would be by now. With his strategic mind, there was no way he could not see what the newly formed alliance think tank had in store. When he saw the figures that were gathering in the dark, he already realised that the third and fourth attacking routes were likely linked to each other.

That’s right, they were the only units that could threaten the City Wall of Minas Tirith, the Orc arsonists!

The trebuchets were not cannons; they had to be inspected for damage after every 5 or 6 rounds of attack, and their slings also had to be replaced, or the trebuchets would be damaged too quickly. During this time, there would be a 10-20 minute period of ceasefire.

The Orc arsonists only had a range of 30 metres, so they had to move to the bottom of the wall to launch an effective attack. They would take advantage of this period of ceasefire to quietly sneak to the bottom of the City Wall, after which they would carry out a continuous bombardment, spreading fire, poisonous smoke and unbearable stench across the battlefield!

All four of the attack routes were closely linked to and complemented each other. Sheyan could even tell that the route which seemed to be the most powerful, Grond the battering ram, was only a feint. The real killer move was the bombardment of the weak spot of the wall according to the intelligence the Blu-ray Party received.

Why was Grond’s attack on the Great Gate only a feint? Because not only had the battering ram made an appearance in the movie, it had also left a deep impression on everyone. Knight and his allies had already made a thorough study of the terrains and geological conditions around Minas Tirith before they even knew which battlefield it was going to be. Considering the extent they went through, there was simply no way they did not have a method to deal with Grond prepared.

***

“Are there any flaws in my plan?” Half lying on the bed, Sheyan asked with his eyes closed.

At the moment, the only one keeping him company was Old Charlie, the ruthless old butler. He usually followed Sheyan around like a shadow with little presence, but whenever Sheyan needed him, he would always perform an excellent job.

Upon hearing Sheyan’s question, Old Charlie pondered quietly for a moment before he replied, “It’s almost flawless, but the risk is too high!”

“Risks and rewards go hand in hand,” answered Sheyan tersely.

At the moment, a fierce battle was being fought between the top and bottom of the City Wall, but Sheyan had opted to stay alone in the tent, going over his plan again and again in his mind. Only until he determined that there were no major flaws did he fall asleep on the simple bed.

This was not Sheyan being lazy; it was just that, if things were really going to develop in the way he anticipated, then he must take this opportunity to get a good rest, lest he no longer had the chance to do so.

A sliver of energy saved now was a small additional chance for victory.

The ferocity of tonight’s battle went far beyond Sheyan’s expectations. Except for him, the rest of the party had all joined the fight!

After Grond had reached the City Wall, the city defenders naturally could not just do nothing in response. They gathered a large number of soldiers on the section of the wall around the Great Gate and rained down stones and arrows on the battering ram. There were so many soldiers on that section of the wall that it felt like they could drown someone if all of them just spit down the wall.

Under such circumstances, Zi’s Force, Aldaris’ Psionic Storm, and Kulutego’s mighty stone throw were all highly destructive. Reef, meanwhile, was responsible for their safety.

Ronnie, whose strength had greatly increased, charged forward alone. For him who was already a Temperer, the City Wall of Minas Tirith, albeit nearly 20 metres high, was no longer an unscalable obstacle. With a sprint and a stab of his short blade into the City Wall for support, he was able to easily climb up the wall.

The contestants of the defending alliance were generally an order lower than those on Sauron’s side, but they had the absolute advantage in numbers. Therefore, Ronnie did not plan to stay long on the wall. The moment he got up there, he immediately created clones of himself with ‘Phantom Ghost Flash’!

Everywhere his clones passed through, there would be a grim, straight ray of light!! Eleven rays of bright light scattered in different directions, penetrating through everything in their paths! From above, it would bizarrely look like a monstrous flower blooming! With the Blood Weapon in Ronnie’s hand, cries of agony rose everywhere, and rivers of blood flowed!

Relying on their formidable individual strength, the amount of Party Ace’s contribution points rose rapidly. Reef was actually the most relaxed among them as he did not have to charge into the frontline. He only had to protect the other members from long-range attacks and use ‘Holy Grasp’ in more critical times, so he had the lightest load. It was precisely because Sheyan knew that he would not have much to do even if he came that he decided to stay in the camp and get some rest.

***

The originally beautiful white city had turned smudgy thanks to all the smoke and fire. Blood pooled up into a lake around the Great Gate. Corpses piled up several meters high, almost half as high as the City Wall. Parts of the wall had been set ablaze. Ordinary humans went mad everywhere due to the Ringwraiths’ cries of terror….

And yet, when dawn came, Minas Tirith…was still yet to be breached!!

This battle had been unbelievably intense for both sides. Party Ace had not suffered any casualties, but that was all thanks to their powerful party skills and, of course, Reef’s timely rescue with ‘Holy Grasp’. The casualty rate among the rest of the contestants was more than a third, for both sides.

There were also casualties among the famous storyline characters from both Minas Tirith and Sauron’s side. Even powerful heroes were not exempt from the scythe of the Grim Reaper.

First of all, the battering ram Grond had been destroyed. The so-called unstoppable siege weapon was first attacked by a group of mages with ‘Blizzard’, and then suffered the wrath of ‘Meteor Shower’. The enemy cleverly made use of the principle of thermal expansion and contraction to destroy the notoriously powerful legendary battering ram!

Even more amazing was the fact that Knight actually had a specific plan to deal with the Ringwraiths too. With Gandalf’s help, two of the powerful Ringwraiths had actually fallen!

Then, of the 25 heavy trebuchets that attacked the city, only two were still able to operate normally. A majority had been completely damaged because they had far exceeded their durability from intense use, while a few had been destroyed by the enemy. In any case, they were no longer functional all the same. Most importantly, this should be the last batch of siege weapons available in the near future as the dark side’s resources in siege weapon manufacturing had been completely exhausted, and would require a few days to replenish. However, what the dark side lacked most now was time!

A majority of the Orc arsonists, the only units that were able to attack the City Wall, albeit barely, had sacrificed themselves in the battle. It was almost impossible for them to form a large enough squad to be a threat anymore.

A four-pronged offence, but all of them ended up in frustration! All four routes of attack had smashed head-first into a stone wall, ending up bruised and bloody!

Of course, there were two sides to everything. The attacking side has suffered such heavy losses, so how could the defending side not pay a heavy price as well?

Gandalf had been severely injured. He was still conscious, but he could no longer fight in the next three days. Now that Denethor II, the Steward of Gondor, had fallen into madness, Gandalf could only take up the role of the defending side’s spiritual leader.

The Captain of the Citadel Guards, Beregond, son of Baranor, had died in battle. Perhaps his name was not very well known, but those who took part in attacking him received an average of 1300 contribution points after his death, as well as a Sauron badge each. His unusual status was evident from this point alone. After his death, the morale of the guards immediately plummeted by around 30%.

(https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Beregond_(Captain))

In addition, a small party had hit the jackpot, in that a boulder launched from the heavy trebuchet they traded for after selling everything in their possession had struck a member of the Fellowship of the Ring – Pippin, son of Paladin. The Hobbit died on the spot, likely without leaving behind a complete corpse. No one knew specifically what spoils the party had gained, but they were now unanimously recognised as the ones closest to the legendary equipment.

Besides that, to drive away the Ringwraiths and their Fellbeasts, and to kill them, were two very different things. Therefore, under the extremely unfavourable condition of nighttime combat, 13 of the 23 redeemed Great Eagles had died, and 7 had ended up seriously injured. The remaining Great Eagles refused to take any more orders because such a horrifying casualty rate was a direct result of the humans insisting on them fighting under the extremely unfavourable condition.

That is to say, the city had lost effective means of restriction against the seven remaining Ringwraiths. However, the arrogant Ringwraiths were also much more cautious after the death of two of their companions. They were no longer as reckless as before.

As the first rays of dawn shone upon the land, the Orc army retreated like the tide, leaving behind only the corpses, the thick smoke, and the hungry crows which flocked to the battlefield to feed. For a time, a strange quiet descended upon the battlefield. Like severely injured beasts, both sides growled at each other hatefully while licking their wounds.