Chapter 158 Endurance

This fierce battle throughout the night was a tremendous test of both sides' will and military strength, and both suffered very heavy losses. However, judging from the casualty figures, although the number of casualties on Sauron's side far exceeded those of the alliance, Sauron's side still had the advantage.

Why? Because the strength of the defenders was too far behind that of Sauron's side. Even with a loss ratio of ten to one, it was still too much for the alliance, which had only six thousand defenders, to bear. When the casualty rate of an army exceeds 40%, it will almost be completely destroyed, and the current defenders are quite close to this bottom line. If it weren't for the support of leaders like the Jazz, they might have already collapsed.

So, both sides are now competing in endurance, seeing who can last longer and who can endure more!

The crux of the matter now is who can break through the city first. Once a close-quarters combat battlefield is created, Sauron's advantage will be maximized. Seven layers of walls sound impressive, but once the first wall is breached and melee combat begins, the time to break the city will not be far off.

Time passed second by second. After only a short respite of less than an hour, the bloodshot-eyed Gothmog once again ordered an attack, targeting the gates of Minas Tirith! Although Grond the battering ram had been destroyed, it had struck the gates of Minas Tirith three times before its demise!

The power of these three strikes was astonishing, leaving terrifying scars on the gates of Minas Tirith. Three clear dents appeared before people's eyes, as if they had been bitten by the fangs of a giant wolf.

Each dent could accommodate at least five or six people lying down, and there were two deep cracks on the city gate, twisting in an X shape, so deep that one could see the scenery behind the gate in the deepest cracks.

Obviously, the gates of Minas Tirith, damaged to this extent, would not have much defensive power left. So, Gothmog, the crazed orc, began a frantic assault on the city gates at all costs.

However, under the desperate resistance of the defenders, even ordinary battering rams could not be transported to the city gates. There were simply too many corpses. Initially, the defenders poured burning oil to incinerate the corpses, but later they realized that these corpses forced the orcs to carry the battering rams forward, so they simply ignored them and allowed the corpses to become natural obstacles.

At this moment, at Fang Senyan's instruction, Sanzi, with a bitter face, was forced to drink the Grima Wormtongue potion and then suggested a very simple action to Gothmog:

That was to build a siege ramp by piling up earth.

Although the city gates of Minas Tirith were majestic, they were only twenty meters high. In the struggle for the city gate area, adding the human corpses falling from the city walls, the thousands of orc corpses, and the ruins of the Grond battering ram, the height had already been filled to more than ten meters.

The suggestion made by Sanzi at this time was based on the cruel foundation built by these corpses.

He demanded that the Ringwraiths continue to harass the incredibly dense enemy forces around the city gates. To avoid the Ringwraiths from being endangered, he required them to only swoop down and shriek, causing fear and confusion on the city walls. At the same time, he ordered the orc soldiers and Uruk-hai to rest, but instead ordered the orc laborers and slaves, who lacked combat power, to carry twenty catties of soil in wicker baskets to fill the area under the city gates. If the progress was smooth, then in less than an hour, the natural barrier would become a flat plain.

After this plan was proposed, although Gothmog did not express his opinion, it immediately received the support of the major orc generals.

Because Sanzi's proposal freed their soldiers from meaningless bloody charges. Although this also meant that the humble orc slaves and laborers had to risk their lives, this was not taken to heart.

The subsequent development was astonishing. Although the number of soldiers in the army was only two-thirds of what it had been, and the rest were exhausted, the orc slaves and orcs were fresh troops. Compared to the soldiers, they were still energetic and vigorous. The task to be done did not require any technical skills, that was to rush over, dump soil, and then run back.

Although the defenders on the city walls were doing their best to snipe, the effect was actually not good. Because of the defenders' numerical disadvantage, they could not rest, so they were already exhausted. In addition, the plot characters were shooting with bows and arrows. Even though the quality of human warriors in Middle-earth far exceeded that of Earthlings, a night of fierce fighting had exhausted their energy from repeatedly drawing and releasing their bows. At this time, their shooting was weak and exhausted.

More importantly, the fear-inducing cries of the seven Ringwraiths swooping down were extremely cunning. This behavior, which had no substantial lethality, greatly affected the accuracy and morale of the shooting.

Therefore, at ten o'clock in the morning, as the last basket of soil was dumped, the huge mound in front of the city wall, resembling a small mountain, had taken shape, level with the first wall of Minas Tirith, and had deeply buried the so-called iron wall of the Minas Tirith city gate!

The natural barrier had become a thoroughfare!!

With a swoop from the seven Ringwraiths, four elite trolls selected and equipped with huge chained iron hammers and full-body plate armor began to charge towards the filled passage. Behind them followed a large group of red-eyed Uruk-hai, howling madly, almost constipated with excitement!

The defenders, who were still trying to resist on the city walls, were already terrified. Before the elite trolls could even reach them, they were directly annihilated by a large number of javelins and hand axes violently thrown by the Uruk-hai behind them.

Looking down from above, one could see the black army, like a tide, pouring into the interior of the first layer of the Minas Tirith city wall. Although it was still possible to inflict damage on them from above using the six city walls, at this distance, catapults were difficult to use. The defenders were also exhausted, and their morale was also extremely low. As for the city gates of the remaining six walls, perhaps a single troll could break them on its own!

However, raging flames suddenly burst out!!

The orc army that had rushed into the first layer of the Minas Tirith city wall suddenly discovered that their surroundings seemed to have instantly become an ocean of flames! This was an act of tragic self-destruction!

The Jazz and others must have anticipated at night that the first layer of the city wall would be difficult to defend, so they had deliberately set up a death trap there, with the residential buildings serving as kindling.

This scorched-earth tactic was extremely vicious!

Everyone could only watch as the滔天 (tao tian) fire raged, black smoke billowed, as if to point directly to the sky! Fortunately, Jaks organized things effectively, so the contractors and the orc vanguard army that had rushed into the city retreated in time, and therefore only lost a small portion.

However, they could only wait for the fire to extinguish itself, and by the time they could fight again, it was already close to two o'clock in the afternoon.

A self-destructive, ferocious fire had bought the opposing alliance a full three hours!

Minas Tirith had a total of seven walls. Even though one had already been breached, there were still six more waiting for them to break! This meant that the enemy could set six fires! Each fire could buy them at least two hours, which was a considerable twelve hours.

More importantly, the opposing contractors could hold out for at least half an hour on each city wall. If calculated this way... it would only be a fantasy to break Minas Tirith before the Rohan cavalry arrived!

At this time, two messages, one good and one bad, came from the Anduin River.

Fang Senyan finally solved the mystery of why Skull, who had a secret agreement with him, had disappeared as if he had evaporated. It turned out that Noah Space C had also issued two special missions to snipe the two incoming reinforcements of Minas Tirith.

Among them, the first reinforcement was the Rohan cavalry. However, this reinforcement had failed. On the contrary, the reinforcements sent by the alliance would accelerate their arrival and reach the battlefield at three o'clock this afternoon.

However, Skull was in the team that was sniping the protagonist Aragorn's team!

At this time, the protagonist Aragorn had obtained the reforged Holy Sword, Andúril, from the Elven King Elrond, which symbolized the rights of the human emperor! He was currently traveling through the Paths of the Dead with the Elven Prince Legolas and the Dwarf Warrior Gimli to the Land of the Dead, where the mountain men lived, to summon them for his war.

Skull displayed great skill in this sniping team. Although the entire team suffered heavy casualties, even the most pessimistic estimate could at least delay the time it would take for Aragorn to lead the army of the dead to arrive by twelve to twenty-four hours.

These extra twelve hours could very well be the deciding factor!

After hearing this news, Fang Senyan pondered for a while, took a deep breath, and said:

"This afternoon will be a bloody battle."

At this time, the various equipment that could be exchanged in the Dark Origin Hall had been refreshed. There were as many as three legendary equipment!

The first legendary equipment was a ring.

The origin of this ring was also very famous. After Sauron forged the One Ring, he also created the Nine Rings of Men and the Three Rings of Elves. These rings were subtly influenced and tempted by the One Ring, and Sauron gave them to other races separately.

These rings possessed a power that could intoxicate even kings and heroes, and few could resist this temptation. The humans who accepted the Nine Rings of Men were all famous heroes and powerful emperors in Middle-earth. However, these nine humans succumbed to the power of the rings and were corrupted by the One Ring, which was the origin of the Ringwraiths.

During the battle of Minas Tirith, two Ringwraiths fell. Because Gandalf played a decisive role in killing them, the drop rate of the Ringwraiths was not good, and the two legendary human rings they wore were taken back by Sauron.

The legendary ring that could be exchanged at this time was once held by the fallen Ringwraith: the Silent Adûnaphel!

Its name was: Ring of Valor!

In order to induce the human kings to wear the Nine Rings of Men, Sauron not only endowed the rings with great power, but also named the nine rings according to the nine virtues of mankind, which were humility, honor, sacrifice, valor, mercy, nobility, honesty, spirit, and justice.

The kings who wore the Nine Rings initially indulged in this power, and also strictly regulated their behavior according to the names of the rings. However, the problem lay in this point. After wearing the Nine Rings of Men, what was required was the absolute execution of virtue!

For example, after wearing the Ring of Honesty, one would be unable to lie under the magic of the ring, and even refusing to answer would be impossible. This sounded like nothing, but as the saying goes, too much is as bad as too little. After excessively harsh demands, there would often be a process of rebound.

Once, a king was rudely ridiculed and questioned by an enemy on the battlefield about how many women he could do every night... The king was already in his fifties at the time, and his strength was failing. There was no Viagra or anything like that at that time. Under the magic of the ring, he could only be honest... Okay, from then on, he was ridiculed as an impotent king, and his temperament changed greatly. After accumulating resentment, he gradually fell into darkness.

Therefore, the behavior of a person who wears the Ring of Valor tends to be sinister and vicious, like a venomous snake hiding in the dark, and has nothing to do with valor.

In addition to strengthening all the wearer's attributes:

Its first attribute is Obscurity.

When the person holding this ring is not exposed to sunlight, they will gain a 33% absolute evasion bonus (including evasion of magic and physical attacks). And nullifies all of the attacker's hit rate bonuses.

In sunlight, the absolute evasion bonus disappears, but the Obscurity power that nullifies all the attacker's hit rate bonuses still exists.

Its second attribute is Immersion.

When the person holding this ring is not exposed to sunlight, they will gain a special effect of an additional 100% increase in range when using ranged weapons. This effect disappears under sunlight.

When the person holding this ring is not exposed to sunlight, when using melee weapons, they will gain the special ability of area attacks. Dark attacks will be attached to your attacks, and will also deal damage to enemies near your target, with the damage value being 50% of your attack damage.

Its third attribute is the active ability: Wrath of Nazgûl. The description is very simple. After executing this option, you will become a loyal servant of the Dark Lord Sauron, and transform into a Nazgûl walking between the world and the underworld.

Only the wearer can see its detailed attributes.

The second legendary equipment is a weapon.

The origin of this weapon is even more bizarre.

In the movie plot, when the immensely powerful Witch-king of Angmar was about to kill Éowyn, Merry stabbed the Witch-king's knee ligament with a peerlessly sharp legendary sword, causing the Witch-king to fall to the ground. Éowyn took the opportunity to stab between the Witch-king's crown and cloak, destroying the Witch-king, and also fulfilling the oath that no man could destroy the Witch-king of Angmar. But the blade of Merry's sword also melted away because of this.

The weapon used to exchange for contractors is the sister weapon of Merry's peerlessly sharp legendary sword!

These swords were obtained by Tom Bombadil from the tombs of the Barrow-downs, and then he distributed these weapons to the hobbits.

The swords were forged by the Dúnedain of Arthedain, and they were made to resist the Witch-king of Angmar. They were enchanted with spells against Sauron's servants. They can also be called long, broad daggers, with red and gold serpentine patterns, black scabbards and shimmering blades, and inlaid with glittering gemstones.

This weapon was originally worn by Pippin, a member of the Fellowship of the Ring. As a result, this unlucky child was hit by a stone thrown by a giant catapult exchanged by a contractor, and his bones were gone. Because the contractor who killed him was unlucky (being able to hit this hobbit gift package in the dark probably used up all his luck), he did not explode this weapon that Pippin carried with him.

Therefore, this lost, unowned item was accidentally discovered by an orc, who piously offered it to Lord Sauron.

Sauron unhesitatingly took it out to boost morale.

Sword of Western Royalty

Its first attribute is Exorcism. When it encounters creatures or environments that are detrimental to the owner, it will emit a soft light, and when the wielder attacks (not necessarily with the sword itself) dark creatures, there is a very high chance of instant kill. Even if it encounters creatures that are immune to instant kill, triggering this effect will still cause amazing damage.

Its second attribute is Tolerance.

When the wielder is attacked by malicious spells, it can absorb 70% of the damage from the spell attack, absorbing a maximum of three times, and then it will become saturated.

Its third attribute is Imprisonment.

Whenever this weapon kills an enemy, you can choose whether to imprison their soul into the sword body. Then, when you use this weapon to let that hungry soul devour enough souls, you can temporarily materialize its soul to help you fight.

For example, if you use this sword to kill the Predator Elder, you can imprison his soul. Then, after killing enough enemies to accumulate enough anger, you can summon him. If you like support, you can release the Predator Elder's soul, then kill Mist Song and imprison her soul... Of course, the stronger the soul, the more demanding the summoning requirements will be.

Only the wearer can see its detailed attributes.

The third legendary equipment is a shield.

The origin of this legendary equipment is somewhat strange. After the Grond battering ram was destroyed, it was ruined under the city gate. After successfully breaking through the first wall of Minas Tirith, the orc slaves and laborers dug out this thing and continued to worship it.

Why did this happen? Because the name Grond actually belonged to the ancient demon god Morgoth's exclusive weapon, the Grond Hammer! Moreover, Sauron was once Morgoth's subordinate. To put it figuratively, Sauron is Chan Ho Nam, and Grond is Chiang Tin-sheng. Sauron is Bao Zheng, and Grond is Di Renjie.

More importantly, no one knows that many failures actually occurred when this battering ram was forged. In the end, Sauron had no choice but to put in a fragment of the Grond Hammer, which had been destroyed, as the core. Only then was it successfully forged. To describe its power, the name of Grond was crowned on it, just like the naming method of the "Raptor" fighter jet, the "Bismarck" battleship, and the "Nimitz" aircraft carrier.

At this time, Sauron tried to repair the damaged

Grond battering ram, but it was in vain. However, he discovered that the fragment of the artifact that had been placed in it when the battering ram was forged had mutated. During the long years that it served as the core of the Grond battering ram, it had broken through countless royal capitals. It was covered with the blood of countless people and had imprisoned the vengeful spirits of seventeen kings. Finally, it became a legendary equipment on its own.

However, because this fragment of the Grond Hammer was actually located on the hammer handle and was mostly used for parrying and blocking, the fragment of this artifact, which was originally considered indestructible, turned into a strange shield!

Grond's Stubbornness!!

This is an indescribably bizarre shield. Its appearance is as if it was molten steel that was suddenly thrown into water, twisted and deformed. The reason why this happened was because in the War of Wrath at the end of the First Age, Morgoth was defeated by the divine power of the Valar.

The Vala punched the Iron Crown into a collar, burned the Grond Hammer with his endless anger, bound Morgoth with the Angainor chain, and judged his soul to be driven out of the Doors of Night and fall into the endless void, never to return.

The destroyed Grond Hammer exploded violently, but a fragment of the hammer handle was blasted away in the explosion and fell into the lava. The heat of the lava neutralized the Vala's anger, so that this fragment of the Grond Hammer, which would have been completely wiped out, was left behind.

Sauron discovered it when he forged the One Ring in Mount Doom.

Grond's Stubbornness's first attribute is Fury.

Whenever the wielder suffers any damage, they will be affected by the fury of Grond's Stubbornness, forcibly reducing the damage. The reduced damage value is (the wielder's stamina minus the attacker's stamina). If the wielder's stamina is lower than the attacker's stamina, then it will at least reduce 25 points of damage. (The way it calculates damage is equivalent to Fang Senyan's Death Sigh, but the priority cannot be compared with it).

The second attribute is Fountain of Pain.

Pain makes people degenerate, but pain can also inspire people!

Whenever the wielder suffers damage, Grond's Stubbornness will recall the moment it was damaged by the Valar's anger, so it will provide the wielder with additional protection. Each damage the wielder receives will provide them with an additional 3 points of defense and an additional 1 point/second of health regeneration, stacking up to 15 times! Duration is thirty minutes!

The third attribute is the active ability: Grond!!

This shield is a fragment of the ancient artifact Grond Hammer, so it still has the majesty to reproduce the terrifying power of the ancient giant hammer! The user spends 2,000 points of their own life to summon an illusion of the ancient artifact Grond to launch a terrifying bombardment on the area within a 30-meter radius.

This strike is accompanied by the terrifying effects of four extremely powerful destruction spells: "Apocalypse," "Break Barriers," "Area Force Field Deflection," and "Wave of Exhaustion," stirring up a bloody storm among the enemies!

At the same time, the total amount of damage you deal in this strike will form a powerful dark shield on your body to protect yourself. The dark shield's health is equal to the damage you dealt in this strike. The dark shield exists for one minute or until it is broken.

If a life falls in this strike, then the life value you consumed due to the awakening skill will be replenished.

Only the wearer can see its detailed attributes.

There is no denying that legendary equipment also has strengths and weaknesses, just like blacksmiths also have their own levels of skill.

Obviously, none of these three legendary equipment can be compared with the Gungnir that Fang Senyan had seen before.

However, the most powerful of these is Grond's Stubbornness. Not to mention the abnormal bonus that can be compared with Fang Senyan's talent, just the fact that it is the first piece of equipment that Fang Senyan has seen that can restore life is already unique. Moreover, this thing is, after all, a fragment of an ancient artifact, and it may even be possible to re-promote it to an artifact. This is like a bankrupt billionaire, his chance of becoming a billionaire again is much greater than that of an ordinary person.

In addition to this, there is the Ring of Valor of the Nine Rings of Men. Needless to say, for any ranged attacker, the additional 100% extension of range is an absolute artifact attribute. There is almost nothing more important than this. An inch longer is an inch stronger, and distance determines life and death! What's more, there is an active skill that can transform into a Ringwraith? It can't be bad.

The Sword of Western Royalty is the weakest weapon, but once this weapon imprisons a remarkable soul, then it may be able to turn the tables and jump to the first place! And it is very targeted and has miraculous effects on dark creatures. If used well, brushing monsters in certain specific worlds will be very easy.

The exchange price of these three legendary equipment is represented by贡献度 (gong xian du). According to the description after the query, to see the specific price, you must have at least half of the contribution value of the pricing! This threshold setting is quite strange, but it also shows that the price must be expensive.

At this time, there was only a little over an hour before the arrival of the Rohan cavalry. The contractors also stopped their futile offensives and instead began to rest and exchange the contribution value they had obtained after the fierce battle for targeted items. It should be known that fighting cavalry on this plain is already a very disadvantageous thing.