For three days and three nights, the name of the guerrilla warfare riders spread through the land of Rohan. All Uruk-hai that had ran into the riders were wiped. Thousands of Uruk-hai lost their lives on the Rohan land and gave birth to the name Hooves of Ghosts. The riders came and went without traces. They were as mysterious as ghosts.

Only forty riders were left at this point. However, these forty were the elites among elites. And because God enhanced the natives in this world, these riders possessed battle Qi and stronger bodies. Three days of battle unlocked the first genetic constraint for seven of them. Ten riders became able to use Explosive Shots. As the teacher, Heng cried unfair to such advancement. Though the riders gained massive combat strength.

The groups’ number continued to drop but their combat strength rose. They had killed over four thousand Uruk-hai. One rider began cutting the Uruk-hai’s ear after each kill. Soon, the rest of the riders followed this practice. Zheng then handed them bags to hang on the horses’ sides.

Non-stop battles consumed everyone’s body to its limit. The psyche scan no longer found any Uruk-hai raiding villages nor scouts. It appeared that the Uruk-hai feared this group of riders because they gathered to form an army of 15,000 and marched toward Helm’s Deep.

The riders were no longer able to ambush such an army. Furthermore, there was an increased number of Uruk-hai that could use Explosive Shot in the army. Xuan made the prompt decision to retreat the riders to Helm’s Deep. The movie characters though weren’t too satisfied with retreating. The power of the riders gave them more confidence than ever before. They felt as though they would never lose as long as their horses and bows were still in hands.

Aragorn and Legolas were awed by the tactic. Legolas muttered. “We elves have the best archery techniques. Our horse riding isn’t at the same level but we can probably suppress Mordor’s army behind their walls if we were to use the same tactic.”

Aragorn nodded in agreement. He exclaimed. “Gondor isn’t a nation of riders but we have a large enough population that it won’t be difficult to select a few thousand elite riders that can use bows.”

Zheng responded without paying much attention to them. He was thinking to himself at the moment. These forty riders were a strong force. They might not be too useful in a war but they could change the tide in team battles. The Explosive Shots alone could compensate for the lack of magical weapons, close range combat ability, and sustainability. The first wave of ten Explosive Shots would kill off most players. He wouldn’t be able to dodge ten shots without being in Destruction.

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

(We have to get our hands on these forty riders. The best case is to obtain their control from Theoden. This influence can be a threat to team East America and team Celestial in the upcoming encounters. Or in the least, the riders can reduce their team members in case they are hostile.) Zheng thought as he rode on the Nightmare. He didn’t really participate in the battles during these three days because it would consume too much mental stamina to fight without rests. After pondering, he slept on the Nightmare. Xuan took over his lead rope. It didn’t matter to Xuan if he got sleep or not anyway.

Time gradually passed. The group arrived at Helm’s Deep at dawn. Golden sunlight painted their background as they rode into Helm’s Deep.

This was a fortress built in the depth of a valley. The walls were made of solid rocks. There were no crevices among the rocks. The walls were over ten meters tall. This was an impenetrable fortress.

The riders brought out their spoils. The villagers, soldiers, everyone in the fortress cheered at the sight of countless Uruk-hai ears. There were simply too many ears that these riders didn’t get to cut off every Uruk-hai. The ears represented the group’s glory.

“Over four thousand Uruk-hai killed. Three hundred warg scouts, a thousand berserkers, and three thousand regular Uruk-hai!” One of the rider announced their achievement to the villagers. It was a mean to display their glory and to raise the people’s spirits.

Contrast to the confidence shown on the riders, people in the fortress were filled with gloom and unease. They appeared to fear the incoming army. Since there were only several hundreds of guards in the fortress. All the guards and villagers added up to less than a thousand. Yet, this was what they had to hold against over ten thousand Uruk-hai. The chances of them surviving were slim.

Zheng saw Theoden ran down the stairs, followed by Gimli, Eowyn, and two members of team China. Their expressions all showed surprised.

Zheng said. “King of Rohan, please allow these warriors to have a meal and a good sleep. The Uruk-hai are still far from us. They will come after night.”

Theoden said. “Welcome back, brave souls. The scouts have told us your deeds, Hooves of Ghosts. I am proud of you bringing fear to the Uruk-hai. Rests and prepare yourselves for the battle at night. Let the Uruk-hai know they are running up against a wall. A wall of steel!”

The riders cheered then headed into the fortress. Aragorn, Legolas and the players followed. They had stronger bodies but they also needed the rests. It wasn’t viable to take on the battle at their current state.

A few steps later, Lan frowned. She connected the group with Soul Link. “Zheng! There’s someone flying over. He’s fast. He will be here in a minute!”

The scan entered everyone’s minds. Team China looked up to see a black dot flying across the sky at incredible speed. In just a minute, the dot grew clearer to the eye. It was a black hair young man standing on a sword. He wore a casual attire but his image was clearly a cultivator of the Chinese legends. And his rank was high enough to allow him to control flying swords.

ChengXiao whistled and grabbed the person next to him. “Shit. Look. That’s a cultivator technique. Someone actually exchange those overpowered items. Those take tens of thousands of points and even S ranked rewards. These people are crazy. It’s scary they can afford those.”

Xuan shook his head. “It doesn’t necessarily come from exchanges. There are three methods to obtain cultivator’s manuals. One, he possess them before entering this realm. Two, he learned it from movies such as the Legend of Zu. Or he is actually a movie character brought into the team by the players. I wonder which type he belongs to.”

“It’s pointless discussing. He’s still an enemy.” YinKong gave a cold smiled as she unsheathed Excalibur.

Zheng and Heng recovered from the surprise. Heng drew his bow to a full moon and placed two arrows on it. Zheng got down from the Nightmare. It would hinder him from using Destruction because he might accidentally destroy it.

The young man on the sword was Luo YingLong from team Celestial. He had his pride being the second strongest person in the team, especially a team that consisted of three Caucasians, one black and two Chinese. He fought team Devil twice. During the first encounter, he joined the Zu Sect. On the second encounter, he lost to the demon from team Devil even after becoming a cultivator. And finally, he wasn’t able to kill Zhao ZuiKong with the cauldron he just crafted. His pride was on the verge of falling apart. He needed a victory to wipe away the shame.

(I have to defeat the unawakened demon to display the power of Xiuzhen. We will see if the saints’ method of unlocking the genetic constraint is more powerful or the Xiuzhen methods we Chinese created! The time of promise with ZuiKong hasn’t come yet but we can determine who’s stronger!) He howled as Helm’s Deep became clear in his sight.