Chapter 036: The Golden Forest

When it was all over, Wang Bo stood up.

He looked around and found that, aside from the members of the Fellowship of the Ring, all the orcs were dead, utterly dead, not a single one left.

Wang Bo didn't even see the bodies of the orcs, only a thick layer of black ash on the ground.

Clearly, this group of orcs had all perished in the thunderous halo just now, their bodies burned to ashes by the lightning and scattered on the ground.

Such power was astonishing. But what was even more worth complaining about was that after these orcs died, their bodies didn't disappear but turned to ashes—too realistic.

Wang Bo once again marveled at how exaggerated the game was, while Gandalf expressed his thanks to Lady Gimil.

If not for her display of power just now, it was obvious that this group would have suffered casualties.

But in fact, the Fellowship of the Ring had already suffered casualties.

Just now, several players who couldn't dodge in time were caught by the lightning and turned to dust like the orcs present.

Among them was naturally the player who wielded the flame longsword; now that sword lay quietly on the ground, waiting for someone to pick it up.

But no player moved; everyone turned their gaze to Lady Gimil.

After all, her attack just now had been too powerful.

The players were afraid that picking up the sword rashly might cause a misunderstanding.

Wang Bo walked over, picked up the flame longsword, and casually tossed it into his inventory, putting an end to the matter.

Then, after resting for a while, the group continued crossing Moria.

According to the original plot, they would soon encounter the Balrog, which would block the Fellowship's path, and only after Gandalf was sacrificed would they successfully cross Moria.

But now, with Lady Gimil, Gandalf naturally wouldn't be sacrificed.

That was how it should have been.

But Wang Bo didn't expect that to forcibly twist the plot back, shortly after they advanced, they were forcibly forced into a game cutscene state.

In the game cutscene, the players were just helpless bystanders.

They clearly saw Gandalf and the Balrog facing off on the bridge.

The two sides fought fiercely on the bridge, until finally, Gandalf raised his staff, shouting as he struck the bridge beneath his feet, the staff shattering to dust in his hand.

A dazzling white flame shot up, the bridge made a cracking sound and shattered beneath the Balrog's feet; the entire rock slab it stood on fell into the abyss, while the other part hung precariously in the air like a stone tongue.

The Balrog let out an earth-shaking roar and fell, its shadow disappearing into the abyss. But just before it fell, its whip of nine tails lashed out and wrapped around the wizard's knees.

He staggered, vainly trying to grab the rock, and thus fell into the abyss.

“You fools, run!” he shouted with his last ounce of strength.

The flames vanished, and the entire hall fell into darkness. The members of the Fellowship stood frozen in terror, watching their leader fall into the abyss.

Just then, Aragorn's sharp cry startled them awake.

“Come! I will lead you!” he shouted. “This was his last wish. Follow me!”

Aragorn led the group onward.

A blinding light appeared ahead; a huge ventilation shaft channeled light from outside, and they ran faster.

Then, they came to a room brightly lit by eastern windows; they raced through it, rushed through a broken door, and arrived at a porch filled with dazzling light.

A group of orcs hid behind the doorposts guarding the gate, but the gate itself had already fallen to the ground.

Aragorn's fury had nowhere to go; in a flash, he cut off the guard captain's head, and the other orcs, seeing the situation was unfavorable, fled.

The Fellowship paid no heed to these creatures, simply running out of the ancient gate, down the old steps, and away from the land of Moria.

At last, in despair, they came to a sunlit valley, feeling the breeze on their faces.

Then, the forced cutscene ended.

The players looked at each other in dismay. Just when they thought they were about to change the plot, a sudden plot kill had directly offed Gandalf, leaving the players with faces uglier than one another.

After a long while, one player said, “Maybe we should look on the bright side. If Gandalf the Grey hadn't died, where would Gandalf the White come from? Perhaps it's precisely to make Gandalf the White appear that this plot kill was arranged.”

The other players exchanged glances and finally accepted this answer.

For now, that was all they could do.

The players regrouped, and the NPCs, encouraged by Aragorn, also pulled themselves together.

The group continued their journey, and before long, they saw Lothlórien.

This was a forest in Middle-earth, meaning “Dreamflower,” inhabited by Noldor, Sindar, and Nandor elves. Galadriel and Celeborn were the rulers of Lothlórien. The only place whose beauty could rival Lothlórien was the gardens of Lórien in Valinor.

It was renowned as the Golden Forest, the Valley of Gold.

This was not because it was rich in gold, but because of its scenery; here, even in autumn, the leaves merely turned golden and did not fall.

Only in spring, when new leaves grew, would the old leaves fall, leaving the branches covered with golden flowers, and the forest floor a sea of gold. Since the tree trunks were all gray-white, at that time it formed a magnificent scene of golden canopy and silver pillars.

For this reason, it was called the Golden Forest.

Unfortunately, when the group arrived at the Golden Forest, it was winter.

In the night, the towering ancient trees looked very serene, like rows of high walls drawing the stream into the forest. Under the faint starlight, the outlines of the trees were gray, and their leaves faintly glowed gold.

When the breeze passed through the leaves here, the sound was like beautiful music, earning it the nickname “the Singing Golden Valley.”

Even the traveling group, upon hearing this beautiful music, couldn't help but relax, as if shedding all their fatigue.

Asuna took the opportunity to approach Wang Bo and whispered, “Does the real-world Lothlórien also have such beautiful music?”

“I don't know,” Wang Bo shook his head. “Actually, when I was in Middle-earth, I visited very few places. Most of the time I stayed in the Lonely Mountain, so I never really went to Lothlórien.”

So Wang Bo truly didn't know what kind of beautiful songs the real Golden Forest would produce.

But he had already decided that when he had time, he would go to the Golden Forest in Middle-earth and take a look, to see what the real Golden Forest was like—was it even more beautiful than in the game?