Kaen Eowenríel did not flinch before the onrushing tentacle. He simply walked forward at an unhurried pace, as if strolling through a quiet garden.
A single flash of sword light gleamed. None of the warriors watching from afar could see how he moved. They only saw the tentacle freeze in midair, then shatter into several pieces that thudded onto the ground.
EXP +10.
"Hm?"
Kaen started slightly. He frowned at the twitching chunks of flesh on the shore, then lifted his gaze sharply toward the lake.
Could it be that the Watcher in the Water was not a single being at all? Was each tentacle its own separate creature?
Splash, splash, splash.
Before he could think further, more than a dozen tentacles burst from the surface of the lake at once and whipped toward him, striking with terrible speed.
Andric and the others felt their hearts leap into their throats at the sight.
"My lord!"
Reger's first instinct was to rush in and shield Kaen from the storm of attacks.
Yet before he could move, what happened next made every watching soldier suck in a sharp breath.
Kaen's figure remained calm and poised. With light, sure steps he slipped between the lashing limbs, turning and twisting past them. The two swords in his hands became elegant blades of death, and as he spun once in midair, all the tentacles around him were severed in an instant.
EXP +10.
EXP +10.
EXP +10.
No matter from what angle the tentacles struck, Kaen calmly cut them down. Attacks of this level held no threat at all for him now.
It seemed the sheer strength of Kaen's presence had at last stirred true fear in the Watcher in the Water.
By the time he reached the very edge of the shore, the lake lay still. No more tentacles rose against him.
Kaen's eyes narrowed.
"Spear," he called.
Reger hurried forward at once and placed a golden spear in his hand.
Kaen weighed it slightly, then closed his eyes. His spirit reached outward, flowing down into the depths of Mirrormere.
As his will sank into the water, he heard the murmur of currents, and a faint sound like quiet weeping. It seemed to come from some hidden place, and yet also from the whole of the lake's bed at once.
Just when he could not tell where the enemy lay, he heard another voice, very soft yet filled with majesty.
"Vortex."
Only that single word, yet it made him open his eyes at once and draw his mind back to the waking world.
A light wind brushed his face. The mist above the lake drew back, and Mirrormere reflected the whole sky of stars overhead, like a crown of lights set upon the night, The crown of Durin.
Then there came a low rushing of water. Kaen's gaze locked at once upon a single patch of the lake.
There the water had begun to turn, slowly spiraling. A whirlpool was forming, small but keen and bright to his sight.
Seeing this, Kaen began to speak an incantation under his breath. The natural elements rushed to him in an instant and he poured that gathered power into the golden spear.
"You shall be the Spear of Judgment. A ward to the faithful, and a terror to the dark. So long as you are not broken, then the dark shall break before you, and you shall pierce every fell thing."
As his words ended, the golden spear blazed with brilliant light.
Kaen hurled it straight up into the sky. It flew from his hand like a shaft of pure gold and vanished into the night above.
Under the stunned gaze of all who watched, the darkness over the Dimrill Gate was suddenly split by radiance.
A single beam of golden light tore through the night like a falling star.
In less than the blink of an eye, the spear plunged down and struck the heart of the whirlpool in the lake.
Hum.
A shockwave rolled up from the bottom of Mirrormere. The silt of ages was blasted from the lakebed, and the water turned cloudy and murky. Many felt the ground tremble beneath their feet.
Splash.
A storm of water rose into the sky. From the depths, myriads of pale green tentacles, each a hundred meters long or more, burst upward in a writhing mass.
The golden spear stood in the midst of the water and shone with a fierce light, illuminating the creature beneath the surface.
At last the so called Watcher in the Water revealed its true form.
Gasps broke from every throat. Eyes widened. None could believe what they were seeing.
Even Kaen was greatly astonished.
The monster's body was like a vast carpet of dark green flesh, spread over almost half the lakebed. From its broad surface sprouted countless clustered tentacles.
The corpses of the warriors dragged into the water were plastered across that great green shroud, their bodies already corroding and dissolving into it.
"So that is how it is," Kaen murmured.
The Watcher in the Water was not a single ordinary creature at all. It was a vast symbiotic thing.
The tentacles dragged prey into the depths, and the green mass devoured and digested them, feeding strength back into the limbs that served it.
"Wooo… wooo…"
That low sobbing cry rose again, but now it carried a power that clawed at the mind, stirring terror in the hearts of those who heard it.
Around the spear dark green blood welled up and spread over the surface of the lake. Wherever it flowed the fish and small creatures of the water rolled belly up and floated to the top, dead beyond any hope.
The tentacles writhing above the surface flailed in a frenzy, as though they could feel their life-force slipping away.
Then, little by little, their movements weakened. At last they hung limp across the water, motionless.
EXP +150.
Level: 6 (527 / 700).
The experience gained from slaying the Watcher was greater than Kaen had expected.
Yet before he could take any satisfaction from that, he saw a new horror. From the vast corpse of the Watcher a foul power began to seep out, turning into a dark green vapor that drifted over the lake.
Kaen stretched out his hand. His lips moved in the words of a holy white spell. Pure light sprang from his palm and spread, covering the whole of Mirrormere.
The evil power dissolved swiftly before it, and under that same light the body of the Watcher itself began to fade. The water that had been defiled cleared once more, and the stained reflection of the world in the lake was cleansed.
Kaen reached out, and all the fallen bodies were lifted from the water, borne to the shore and laid gently upon the ground.
The golden spear leapt from the lake into his hand. It was no common weapon now. It bore both his power and the power of Ulmo, Lord of Waters, and was worthy to be counted among wondrous arms.
Kaen handed it to Reger and said, "From this day you are the second Commander of the King's Guard. This, my sharpest spear of judgment, bears my authority and my will."
Reger accepted the spear with great solemnity and dropped to one knee, his eyes unwavering. "I will not fail the grace of my lord."
"Rise," Kaen said.
Then he turned his gaze toward the Dimrill Gate. "How long have the Dwarves been inside?"
By now the sky was growing pale. Golden dawnlight touched the peaks of the mountains.
"Two hours," Andric answered.
Kaen frowned slightly in thought, then gave his orders. "Reger, take the regiment of the King's Guard. Andric, take three thousand of the heavy infantry. You will come with me into Moria.
"Yenagath, send riders to Taurëmírë and summon ten thousand Elven warriors. They will hold Dimrill Dale No creature is to pass in or out.
"And build a temporary strongpoint at the Dimrill Gate. The war for Moria will not be ended in one or two months. We will need vast supplies."
"Yes, my lord."
They set about their tasks at once.
When day was fully come and the light lay bright on the mountains, Kaen led four thousand warriors into Moria, bearing with them casks of the Sacred Tree's blue dew that he had gathered in Lothlórien.
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