The Ultimate Evolution

No matter how amazing Sheyan was, it was impossible for him to guess everything the enemy had in mind, especially when enemy Realms could macro-control things from the background. There were simply countless possibilities.

Sheyan could not help but recall a particular person at this moment – the person he snatched Evil Sword Apophis from, the Saint of Darkness, Bind! He was someone who could move in and out of a world without leaving any traces. If there was someone like that currently hiding in the dark, patiently waiting for him to perform the last strike…it was truly a terrifying thought!

Of course, Sheyan had not detected any signs that someone was hiding in ambush, but the ominous feeling in his heart was urging him to give the war a speedy resolution. Fortunately, a majority of the thirty or forty dark side contestants remaining agreed that they should resolve the matter quickly!

Why? Because a majority of these people knew very well that even if there were legendary equipment among the loot, something so valuable would not fall to their hands. Their dividend would consist of a silver storyline equipment or a dark gold equipment, at most. Their real profit lay in the generous rewards from the Realm after the mission was completed.

For most people, to let their main mission bear such a huge risk for the sake of a silver storyline equipment which they may or may not get was obviously not worthwhile. The advantage of the Maritime Alliance and the Blue-ray Party was in their number of members, but in times like this, their cohesion was certainly incomparable with Party Ace.

Both Percival and Jax strongly advocated for them to wait out the 48 hours, but Sheyan shook his head. The contestants were currently divided in opinion. Even if such a proposal was forcefully enforced, there was zero possibility of it actually being carried out.

Why was that? Because to reach the Royal Mausoleum of the Kings of Gondor did not require passing through the Court of the Fountain. 48 hours was a long time. It would be way too easy for someone to go to the mausoleum for a sabotage operation. In fact, a person only needed to redeem a few Orc arsonists from the Source of Darkness hall to do the job and kill them off afterwards, and no one would know who the culprit was!

And so, driven by the will of the majority, the plan suggested by the Mouth of Sauron was approved. The Mouth of Sauron did not seem surprised that they had come to this decision. From this alone, Sheyan could tell that the reason the messenger chose to make such a suggestion in front of the crowd was probably because he could already see the hidden cracks among this seemingly unified group of people.

“This guy is not that simple,” That was the thought in Sheyan’s mind.

“The first step, like I said, is to destroy the tombs of the past kings!” said the Mouth of Sauron. With a stroke of his fingers, crisscrossing black lines appeared in the air, forming a model depicting the overall structure of the mausoleum.

“The royal family of Gondor has a tradition of cremating the remains of their members. Their ashes are kept in beautifully decorated obsidian caskets. The caskets must be obsidian in order to preserve their courageous spirits. So what you have to do is very simple. You must pour the ashes out of the obsidian caskets. You only have to make sure the ashes leave the caskets. The rest is up to you.”

“But be warned that you may encounter danger near the caskets of three particular kings. The first is the founder of the kingdom of Gondor. His casket is located at the highest place, illuminated by an ever-burning altar lamp. The second king, Bosten II, is said to have died under the hands of dark creatures, so even after his body is cremated, terrible power of darkness may still brew inside his obsidian casket. The third king is Isildur. He may have fallen for the One Ring’s temptation, but his luck and strength are undeniable. Yet, a person as powerful as he died from drowning after being hit by arrows. His soul must be full of resentment and discontent.”

The contestants took the Mouth of Sauron’s warning very seriously, so the first batch of people invading the Royal Mausoleum consisted of 20 Corsairs of Umbar. At the cost of three lives, they managed to discover two really vicious magic traps. The discovered magic traps were easily dismantled.

The next batch also consisted of Corsairs of Umbar. Because the seven corsairs who survived in the last batch had gained astonishing riches, the second batch of corsairs were all in high spirits. But they were obviously more unfortunate than the first batch, because five of them were killed in the operation. However, they managed to discover all three threats warned by the Mouth of Sauron.

Now that the threats had been identified, they no longer posed any danger for Sheyan and the contestants. The two sides were already mortal enemies anyway, so there was no need to show any mercy. In order to give the morale of those in the White Tower a heavy blow, after the dark side contestants destroyed the mausoleum, they set it on fire, as if to announce the funeral of the Kingdom of Gondor.

After the mausoleum was destroyed, the contestants discovered that the Knights of the Past Kings could no longer lower their speed. The knights had now lost one of their main skills.

***

The Mouth of Sauron was very satisfied that his proposal was accepted and executed so smoothly. He then told the contestants as he stared at the five Knights of the Past Kings, “Their power of illusion comes from the courtyard.”

“The courtyard?” His words surprised everyone.

“That’s right,” replied the Mouth of Sauron. “The courtyard is called the Court of the Fountain, right? Do you really think the fountain refers only to that tiny puddle in the middle?”

“The Court of the Fountain has two parts, the upper court and the lower court! The upper court is what we see now, as for the lower court…” The Mouth of Sauron started sketching with his fingers, drawing a 3D model.

The model showed that the lower court was filled with complex, crisscrossing ditches, like the intricate blood vessels of the human body. A large amount of water flowed in the ditches. Vivid signs of life could be seen from the surface of the water.

“The White Tree, the White Tower and the Knights of the Past Kings get sufficient energy from the water of the holy fountain that flows in this permanent magic array. The reason the palace of Minas Tirith is always clean, the reason the White Tower will send out light to guide lost travelers at night, and the 137 sets of Black Armours that defend the kingdom are not miracles. They’re made possible thanks to the power gained from this magic array. You may find it hard to understand, but I don’t expect you to understand. You only need to do as I say,” The Mouth of Sauron said condescendingly.

Reef stepped out and said coldly but politely, “You’re wrong, sir. In our world, even the most common of the common folk can enjoy the convenience and energy provided by the flow of water. We’ve even built dams in rivers longer than the Anduin to provide us with the power we desire!”

The Mouth of Sauron snorted. He obviously did not believe Reef. However, he was shocked to see that all the people around him did not seem surprised at all with that remark. Could this guy actually be telling the truth?

Fortunately, Jax came to his rescue in a timely manner. “Do we just need to destroy the ditches in the lower court, sir?” he asked.

“That’s one way of stopping the illusion ability of the Knights, but that will cause the power balance of the magic array to go out of control, which will result in a violent explosion. At least half the people on the courtyard will die!” replied the Mouth of Sauron coldly.

“We’re all looking forward to hearing the right solution,” said Jax with a shrug.

“First, you should evacuate everyone from this place and spread out, then go to the sixth wall. I know of a hidden door that leads to the inner part of Mount Mindolluin. There, the water from the holy fountain flows through the fragment of the Heart of the Mountain, gaining unique powers. You only need to take the fragment of the Heart of the Mountain away, and the powers contained in the holy fountain will slowly disappear. The magic array will thus slowly lose power. When the power balance is broken, it will no longer be strong enough to cause a devastating explosion.”

“Of course, there must be something powerful guarding the fragment of the Heart of the Mountain, but considering your strength, it is not something impossible for you to overcome.”

What happened next went exactly as what the Mouth of Sauron told them. Everything proceeded according to the plan. The protectors of the fragment of the Heart of the Mountain were two Granite Golems. These artificial creatures were strong, but bulky and slow, so they were easily restrained by using numbers. They were like cannons trying to shoot at mosquitoes.

When the fragment of the Heart of the Mountain was taken away, the Knights of the Past Kings slowly turned back into statues. The last flower on the withering White Tree also wilted, signifying the fall of the royal family of Gondor.

The path to the White Tower, originally as hard to cross as a chasm, had become a smooth road in such a short amount of time! A layer of gloom enshrouded the White Tower, as if to signify the end and the coming of death.

The dark side contestants gathered, their hearts filled with emotions. After so much hardship, so many life and death situations, it was finally time to taste the fruits of victory. What a hard won battle this was!

“What are you waiting for? Sauron, the Dark Lord, is longing for your offerings!” said the Mouth of Sauron. But suddenly, someone stepped out from the crowd and stared the Mouth of Sauron in the face.

“None of us will start attacking before we find out the answer to a particular question. The question is: who are you?”

The one who stepped out was Sheyan! The question he asked was a direct one.

Yes, the things that the Mouth of Sauron told them were all secrets of the Gondorian royal family, and highly confidential secrets at that. Sauron was not an omnipotent and omniscient god. He was basically just a really powerful dark creature. There was no way he was the one who told the messenger all those things.

The closer one is to victory, the more cautious one has to be. If Sheyan could not find out the truth behind this matter, how would he dare to rush towards victory?