Chapter 039: The Test

But everyone knew that Boromir would not succeed; instead, he would only spur Frodo to go alone.

So no one paid attention, and no one tried to stop him.

Everyone was waiting for the test an hour later, and no one knew how it would unfold.

Time ticked by. After an hour, the horns of the orcs sounded from afar. At that moment, players who had chosen the Mordor route received a notification.

"Protect Frodo from being killed by the orcs."

Upon hearing the orc horns, Aragorn leaped up and rushed anxiously in the direction Frodo had gone.

The players, naturally not to be outdone, charged forward as well.

As he ran, Aragorn directed the players. Pointing to a group, he said, "You go find Frodo from this side; the rest of you follow me."

Interestingly, those he sent to find Frodo were all players who had chosen the Mordor route.

Meanwhile, the players who followed him were those who had chosen the Gondor route.

In truth, this was not Aragorn's choice but the system's division.

After all, it was not Aragorn's group being tested, but the players who had chosen the Mordor route. Without hesitation, the players charged in the direction Aragorn had indicated.

After about five minutes of advance, the players soon spotted Frodo fleeing, with a group of charging orcs behind him.

Knowing this was the test, the players rushed forward without a second thought.

However, as soon as the two sides clashed, Wang Bo realized that these orc NPCs pursuing Frodo were far stronger than the orcs of Moria.

Both in strength and speed, they far surpassed the orcs of Moria.

This shocked Wang Bo greatly, and he felt that the test was even more stringent than he had imagined.

At first, the players had not taken the orcs seriously at all, but by the time they realized how formidable these orcs were, it was too late. Many players suffered heavy losses.

Some players even died on the spot, losing their characters.

The swarming orcs were extremely powerful, and what was even more alarming was that they were not a disorganized rabble; their attacks were highly coordinated.

First came covering fire, then close combat. They fought in squads of five, advancing and retreating with clear tactics.

These were not undisciplined orcs but orcs that had undergone rigorous training. Such orcs were even more terrifying, putting immense pressure on the players.

Many players could not withstand a few rounds before being killed by the orcs.

Wang Bo's side also suffered casualties. Ada Wong was the first to die, withdrawing from the quest.

Then, Wang Bo and Malthael were also surrounded.

Even Wang Bo himself nearly got killed.

At that time, Wang Bo was besieged by a dozen orcs, with another group of orcs outside shooting arrows at him nonstop. No matter how fast Wang Bo was, he couldn't hold out.

After all, unlike Lady Gremory, he couldn't cheat.

Wang Bo's health was dropping rapidly. If this continued, he would be killed by the orcs in just a few minutes.

In fact, that was how Malthael died.

Fortunately, Caroline reacted quickly and risked her life to take down the orc archers. With Malthael constantly covering him, Wang Bo was finally rescued. However, Malthael did not escape this calamity; while covering Wang Bo, he was killed, becoming the second to exit after Ada Wong.

When Wang Bo had killed all the nearby orcs, he surveyed the field and saw that more than half of the players on Frodo's side were dead.

The only ones left were Wang Bo, Caroline, Asuna, Yui Ikari, Lady Gremory, and the mage player.

Even Dr. Brave Stone had died in this attack.

Fortunately, after this round of fighting, the players had finally wiped out the orcs and protected Frodo.

After the battle ended, Aragorn hurried over with the remaining players, looking at the bodies strewn about and blaming himself bitterly.

Wang Bo, of course, wouldn't say much to an NPC, so he ignored Aragorn.

After this incident, Frodo decided to split the Fellowship of the Ring into two groups: he would travel with Wang Bo's group to continue on to Mordor to destroy the Ring.

Aragorn's group would head to Gondor to join the battle.

After a brief discussion, the two parties quickly parted ways.

Wang Bo escorted Frodo onward to Mount Doom. In the story, Frodo had intended to go alone, but later his friend Sam caught up, and they traveled together.

But now, Frodo's friend Sam hadn't caught up, because not long ago, he and several other hobbits had gone missing.

This worried Frodo greatly.

Still, Aragorn promised he would find the hobbits, so Frodo trusted him and continued on.

Wang Bo had originally thought they would escort Frodo all the way to Mount Doom to destroy the Ring.

But unexpectedly, something happened in between that drastically changed the storyline.

On the seventh day after the two groups separated.

Wang Bo's group had already entered the territory of Mordor.

That day, after evading a patrol, they continued onward. In the evening, after dinner, Frodo suddenly felt a stomachache and needed to use the bathroom.

Wang Bo once again marveled at the game's realism and nodded.

At that moment, the mage player stood up and said to the group, "You rest here; I'll go protect Frodo."

Undoubtedly, he was farming Frodo's好感 (affection).

In fact, this wasn't the first time he'd done so, and no one paid it much mind.

After the two disappeared into the woods, a few minutes later, Wang Bo suddenly received a game notification.

"Frodo is dead. Mission failed."

Huh????

Wang Bo was dumbfounded. He quickly stood up and, along with the equally shocked group, rushed to the woods, only to find Frodo's corpse and a look of terror.

As for the mage player, he was nowhere to be seen.

At the same time, the Ring that had been on Frodo was also missing.

But the next second, an ice spike suddenly appeared out of nowhere, piercing Lady Gremory's chest, instantly emptying her health bar and killing her.

Although Lady Gremory liked to cheat, that didn't mean she was always cheating—after all, most of her energy was spent researching the Dimensional Gate; playing games was just a pastime.

Not in combat mode, Lady Gremory wouldn't cheat. So it wasn't impossible for her to be ambushed.

But precisely because of this, Wang Bo immediately snapped to attention and identified the culprit!