Chapter 185 185: 185 Lord of the rings 17

Gandalf must have seen them pouring oil at the gate too, because he was on the wall above the gate, ordering his soldiers to shoot and stop the Orcs carrying oil barrels. But with the Orcs using shields and being heavily armored, normal arrows were insufficient to stop them.

I put my bow back into my inventory and went down below. My concept was supposed to be a dragon who uses magic, but I had a reason for using a bow. It was because, combined with a dragon's personality, I hadn't participated much in the original story. So I had tried to help quietly with a bow, but at Helm's Deep and again this time, I got so into it and shot so enthusiastically that I ended up playing a major role. I suspect everyone might have noticed by now.

'I think I failed at maintaining my concept because I was enjoying myself too much.'

If I have to keep up a concept in the next creative work, I'll need to be more careful.

Anyway, when I went down, I saw Gandalf on the wall above the gate.

"Gandalf, why aren't you using magic? Have you truly converted to being a staff-wielding martial artist?"

"Huh, really… I'm busy, so don't disturb me."

Gandalf, taking my words as a joke, looked exasperated. I said to him, "Step aside for a moment."

I pushed Gandalf aside briefly and looked down at the gate. Below, Orcs were still bringing barrels and diligently pouring oil. So I reached out my hand and used my [Freezing] ability to instantly freeze the area in front of the gate into a thick block of ice.

Crack!!!

The area in front of the gate froze so quickly that even the Orcs down there died instantly, frozen in place in the middle of their movements, not even realizing what had killed them. I expected the people around to cheer, but instead of cheering, they were all staring with their mouths wide open in shock at the sudden block of ice.

"Huh… If you had magic like this, why didn't you use it sooner?"

Gandalf also seemed quite surprised. He mistook the [Freezing] ability from the My Hero Academia world for magic. Of course, such a thing was also possible with magic.

"For someone who received great power and isn't using it, you've got a lot of nerve. You can do it too."

"Me? Are you saying I can do it too?"

Gandalf asked me repeatedly, as if unable to believe it.

"Really. Saruman, who gave you the power, would be sad to hear that."

Certainly, with Gandalf's current level, he could do this much with magic as well. That's how significant the power Saruman had passed on to Gandalf was. But perhaps because he hadn't received the power long ago, he didn't seem to have a grasp of how much power he had received.

Just then. As if they could no longer hold back, the Balrogs were seen shaking the ground as they ran toward the walls of Minas Tirith.

Kworrr~~~!!

Thud thud thud~!

"Kaak!" "Help!" "Kyeek!"

As the Balrogs ran, they paid no attention to anything beneath them. Because of that, the Orcs who had been in formation began to be trampled or kicked by the massive Balrogs, dying horribly.

"Wow~ The Orcs are getting slaughtered?"

As I admired the sight, Gandalf said urgently, "This is no time for that! Don't you see the Balrogs are coming?!"

"I see them just fine. Anyway, I'll handle the Balrogs."

After saying that, I leaped down from the wall. Then I immediately transformed into my dragon form. Some of the soldiers watching from behind were so shocked they screamed. It wasn't just the people on the wall. The Orcs in front also began wetting themselves and retreating backward step by step.

The atmosphere was ripe, so I let out a threatening roar.

"Kraaahhh~~!!!"

Then I immediately breathed on the Orc formation.

Kwaaaahhhh~~!!!

When the immense flame breath covered the Orc formation, the Orcs didn't even have time to scream—they turned to ash and vanished. With this single breath, it seemed at least one tenth of the Orc army had disappeared. Of course, I could have eliminated more if I had breathed more strongly, but this much cleanup seemed sufficient for fighting the Balrogs.

'Now the stage is set.'

Whether they realized it, the Balrogs were approaching the empty clearing I had made. There were six of them total—Sauron didn't seem to have mobilized all the Balrogs. But not only Balrogs—in the air, four dragons were also slowly flying in. Apparently, Sauron thought this many would be enough to catch me.

'You're making a mistake, bastard.'

I first flew up to deal with the dragons, approaching them. If I were suddenly ambushed from the sky during battle, it would be extremely troublesome. Then one dragon said to me, "It's not too late even now. Join our side."

"Ridiculous."

"You deserter who didn't even participate in the war—are you truly going to betray the Father (Glaurung)?"

These dragons hadn't seen me during the War of Wrath, so they seemed to mistakenly think I had gone into hiding somewhere.

"That's not a story worth hearing from losers."

"You bastard!"

With those words, the battle began. All four were similar in size to me—none of them seemed to be Smaug's equal. They first breathed at me. I shot straight up into the sky to dodge and breathed back at them. My breath was definitely wider in range and more powerful than theirs, so one dragon that couldn't dodge got its wings set on fire and crashed downward.

Without giving them a moment's rest, I flew quickly and approached another one, tearing it from chest to neck with claws reinforced with [Busoshoku Haki]. It was completely different from when I fought Smaug before. Back then, my body wasn't familiar, so I couldn't deal proper damage, but now I could definitely put force behind my strikes and hit effectively.

"Kraaah!!!"

The severely wounded dragon, gushing blood from its chest and unable to fly properly, began to fall. I grabbed its neck and descended straight down, slamming it hard onto the ground.

Thud!!

Crunch!

After killing one like that, the Balrogs, who had been waiting for me to land, whipped their flame whips and began binding my body. The Balrogs were certainly large, but in terms of sheer size, they were smaller than dragons. However, the flame whips were a unique ability of the Balrogs, and their length could change freely, so regardless of body size, they could bind me well.

I quickly pulled on one of those whips, dragging a Balrog toward me, then bit its neck and applied pressure.

Crack!

The Balrog died without even a scream. I immediately put the corpse into my inventory. To turn it into a Shadow Soldier later.

'Balrogs are precious. They'll work hard for me later.'

While I was doing that, the two dragons that had been in the sky began breathing on me. I used my [Freezing] ability to create an enormous ice wall and blocked their breath. Truthfully, I wouldn't have taken much damage even if it hit me. Because I also have the [Flaming Fruit] ability and my [Fire Resistance] is SSS rank, so most flames can't damage me.

'Still, I'll block it. It feels bad to get hit.'

When I blocked their breath with [Freezing], this time the dragon whose wings had burned from my breath charged at me, trying to engage in close combat. It must have thought it had a chance because I was still bound by many Balrogs.

This one lunged to bite my neck, but I ducked my head slightly to avoid it, then cast several spells I had practiced with Arwen before—blades of wind—and launched them at the creature.

Shwish shwish shwak-!!

"Kruuk!!"

As expected, the dragons' skin was hard, so I didn't deal great damage, but I did carve large scars on its scales and forced it to retreat.

"You bastard! You can use magic too?"

When I used magic one after another, the dragon that had been attacking me seemed somewhat flustered.

"I'm different from your kind that just slept."

I exerted my strength and slowly began to move. The Balrogs holding me with their whips slowly began to be dragged toward me. Balrogs normally don't have facial expressions, so I couldn't read their emotions from their appearance, but I could intuitively feel they were panicking.

Kyeeek~!!

Just then, eagles suddenly flew in from the sky and began engaging the two dragons flying there. Perhaps Gandalf, sensing I was in a crisis, had urgently called the eagles.

The eagles were about the same size as the fell beasts the Nazgûl rode, so they were much smaller than the dragons, but they had numbers on their side. Moreover, they struck and retreated very quickly. The dragons looked very flustered.

'I didn't need the help, but thank you anyway.'

I immediately breathed straight at the dragon in front of me.

Kwaaaahhhh~~!!!

The one in front tried to dodge the breath somehow, but since its wings were already burned, it couldn't escape my wide-range breath and took it directly.

"Kraaahhhh!!!"

Being dragons, they had fire resistance, so it didn't die immediately and held on for a bit. But that only made it more painful.

Sizzle

Thump!

Unable to hold out, the creature eventually collapsed, its entire body burned while emitting smoke, and died.

After that, I grabbed the flame whips again to catch the Balrogs, but to avoid being caught the same way, they just let go of their whips. One of the whips binding me simply vanished. So I pulled on another, but that one also just released its whip.

'What are these bastards doing?'

Just then, one eagle fell from the sky with a large wound. I looked up and saw that the Nazgûl had joined the dragons, and they were picking off the eagles one by one. The Balrogs seemed to be trying to block my movement and deal with the eagles first.

"Unbelievable. Do you think I'm only being held by you because I'm weak?"

I quickly spun my body, snapping all the whips wrapped around me. Then I flew quickly, snatched a Balrog's head, and slammed it straight into the ground. When the Balrogs around drew their flaming swords and tried to strike down at me, I swung my tail and smacked three of them away at once.

Whap-thud!!

"Kaak!!"

Then, while pinning the one I had slammed into the ground with my foot, I bit its shoulder and tore it off. This one also died as its flames went out. Of course, I didn't forget to put this corpse into my inventory too.

I immediately flew to the next Balrog and bit its head off.

Crunch!

With two killed in an instant, the remaining Balrogs began to slowly back away, then fled. I left them alone for now. Because the eagles were in dire straits. I couldn't just abandon the creatures that had come to help.

I shot straight into the sky, and with my claws, I slashed a long gash into the wing of a dragon that had let its guard down. That one could no longer fly and fell to the ground. Then I flew to the last dragon. Realizing it was the only one left, it tried to flee in a hurry.

"Where do you think you're going!"

Not letting it escape, I flew faster, bit its tail, quickly spun it around, and threw it into the Orc formation, then unleashed a powerful breath.

Kwaaaahhhh~!!!

"Kraaahhh!!!"

That one also couldn't endure and eventually died. The nearby Orcs were collateral damage. Then I checked on the eagles. The Nazgûl were already gone. I slowly flew over to finish off the last dragon that had crashed to the ground.

"Ugh… Please spare me. There are few of our kind left. Do you intend to kill all our kin by your own hand?"

This one groveled and begged for its life.

"Unbelievable. You're the ones who first joined hands with Sauron to kill our kin!"

"You're the one who betrayed us first! Abandoning us and taking the side of inferior humans—as a dragon, that is unforgivable!"

I wanted to say I wasn't really a dragon, but with so many listeners, I didn't.

"Whose side I take is my own business. Just die quietly."

"Damn you!!!"

As a final desperate act, the creature breathed on me. But I blocked the breath with my magical barrier, slowly approached, bit its neck, and snapped it.

Ding~!

You have acquired abilities: [(C) Dragon Skin], [(A) Fire Resistance], [(A) Dragon Breath].

The [(C) Dragon Skin] ability is absorbed into the [(A) Dragon Skin] ability and upgrades to [(S) Dragon Skin].

The [(A) Dragon Breath] ability is absorbed into the [(SS) Dragon Breath] ability and upgrades to [(SSS) Dragon Breath].

[(SSS) Dragon Breath]

Allows the use of dragon breath of various elemental attributes.

Having killed four dragons, my [Dragon Skin] and [Dragon Breath] abilities each rose another rank. Reading the description of the [Dragon Breath] ability, I could now breathe not only flame breath but also breath of various elemental attributes. [Dragon Skin] had the same description as before, so I skipped it.

'Nice.'

It was a bit disappointing that I couldn't catch all the Balrogs, but I could catch them later, and I gained a lot, so it wasn't a loss.

First, I checked on the eagles that had fallen to the ground. Three had fallen. One was dead, and two were badly injured but still alive. So I moved them to the top level of Minas Tirith, returned to my human form, and used a heal spell to treat them. Gandalf also came up to the top level.

"You—are you hurt anywhere?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Thank goodness."

Gandalf was relieved that I had returned safely.

"My role ends here."

"Yes, thank you."

Gandalf thanked me, then went to the eagles and expressed his gratitude to them as well.

After that, the war entered a brief lull. The Orcs had lost nearly a quarter of their force in the recent battle, significantly weakening their power. So they seemed to have retreated to near Osgiliath to reorganize. Because of that, Minas Tirith could also rest for a while.