By the time Arthur reached Nepheli Loux and Gandalf, their battle with the orcs was nearing its end.
The two remaining orcs tried to flee but were caught by Nepheli Loux. Just as they attempted to raise their iron swords in resistance, Nepheli Loux's war axe, imbued with storm and thunder, swung down.
Unlike the orcs on Arthur' side who "collapsed into sleep," this battlefield was littered with orc dismembered limbs.
The wounds on the Wargs' bodies were mostly perforations through their jaws or abdomens, caused by cuckoo glintstone magic buried in the ground.
Nepheli Loux chopped off the head of the last unconscious orc lying on the ground, ensuring it wouldn't reanimate, then sheathed her war axe and approached Arthur.
Arthur offered a concerned greeting to Gandalf and Nepheli Loux: "Are you injured?"
When he asked this question, he looked at Gandalf. Arthur was more worried about the seemingly older Gandalf than the brave and skilled Nepheli Loux.
After all, he knew Nepheli Loux's strength; it would be quite fantastical for these orcs to harm her.
However, before Gandalf could speak, Nepheli Loux interjected, "I don't think you need to worry about his injuries. Of the bodies lying on the ground now, excluding those taken out by cuckoo glintstone and thunderbolt, he alone, with his staff and sword, took down half of the remaining orcs."
Arthur breathed a sigh of relief internally: "It's good that you're both alright."
Then Nepheli Loux looked at Gandalf, her crimson eyes filled with an expression she didn't know how to convey. After much hesitation, she said with a hint of apology, "The breeze stirred by your weapon told me you are undoubtedly an excellent warrior. Although it's my first time seeing a sorcerer wield a staff to knock off an enemy's head, I did underestimate your strength before."
Gandalf let out a gentle laugh, showing no signs of fatigue from the intense battle he had just experienced.
He said, "You don't need to apologize to me, Nepheli Loux. Compared to me, you are a truly great warrior. I saw how, during the battle just now, you were constantly paying attention to my situation, ready to help me if I encountered danger."
Then Gandalf pondered for a moment, showing a curious expression to Arthur: "Those clay pots you gave me, their power truly exceeded my imagination. If those human kingdoms had such clay pots when fighting the orc armies, it would be wonderful. It would greatly reduce their casualties and unnecessary losses."
As a wise wizard, Gandalf immediately envisioned the thunderbolt's application on the front lines of the orc battlefield.
However, he felt it would be inappropriate to directly ask for the thunderbolt's crafting recipe, believing it might be the other party's secret.
Arthur was not someone with low emotional intelligence; he understood the implied meaning in Gandalf's words. He simply shrugged and said, "The crafting of thunderbolt doesn't require very complex techniques; on the contrary, it might be simpler than you think."
Then he looked at Gandalf's somewhat expectant gaze and continued, "However, the raw materials for crafting thunderbolt are only found in my homeland, and I'm not sure if there are any suitable substitutes in this world. It's made from a ritual-performed cracked pot, two mushrooms, a lightning flower, and crushed stone."
Gandalf pondered for a moment and said, "It sounds like the two most crucial points are the ritual-performed cracked pot and the lightning flower? Conversely, mushrooms and crushed stone are relatively common. Let me think, are there any plants in Middle-earth that can generate lightning, and a substitute for items that have undergone magical rituals…?"
But to Gandalf's surprise, Arthur said to him with a tone of astonishment, "Mushrooms are indeed quite common in The Lands Between, but 'crushed stone' is a rare item! It's a sharp stone found only in places attacked by Ancient Dragon, said to be fragments of dragon scales that fell from Ancient Dragon rock bodies. For the thunderbolt to have such great power, this crushed stone, containing a faint Ancient Dragon power, is the most crucial ingredient."
Gandalf's expression froze, the apple muscles on his cheeks twitched a few times, and he said with wide eyes, belatedly realizing, "Wait, so you used a precious item made from dragon scales to eliminate these common orcs?"
Nepheli Loux, who had been listening to their conversation, spoke up in her neutral voice after hearing Gandalf's surprised words: "Arthur is a pragmatist. As long as it can quickly eliminate enemies, he doesn't care how precious the consumables are."
Arthur also nodded in agreement with Nepheli Loux's assessment of him. He said to Gandalf, who showed a look of regret, "If an item is gone, you can always find materials to craft it again, but if a person is gone, they're truly gone. The fact that you and Nepheli Loux were able to eliminate this group of night-raiding orcs unscathed in such a short time shows that the thunderbolt achieved its purpose."
Gandalf looked at Arthur and sighed, "If only the kings of those human kingdoms could be as open-minded as you, my work of lobbying in Middle-earth would be much easier."
Although Arthur was unsure of the intricacies between the human kings Gandalf mentioned, he decided to ignore it and instead continued from Gandalf's earlier point about reducing casualties: "Gandalf, although thunderbolt is relatively difficult to craft, if you only want to achieve a similar effect, you don't necessarily have to use an item that requires a ritual-performed cracked pot to craft. Simple gunpowder would suffice. Place gunpowder and a large crossbow into a metal pot, and use the explosion to launch the large crossbow."
Gandalf immediately shook his head after hearing this: "I'm very sorry, sir Arthur, but I'm afraid that method won't work, because I haven't heard of 'gunpowder' before, at least not yet. Do you know how to make it?"
Arthur was momentarily speechless.
He knew how to craft a flame pot, but like the thunderbolt, a flame pot also required a ritual-performed cracked pot, and Arthur didn't know how to craft a cracked pot either.
As for gunpowder, Arthur's knowledge of it was the same as with the cracked pot: he knew how to use it, but he had no idea what the raw materials were or how to craft it.
And Gandalf, apparently, did not connect the theatrical fireworks he set off in Hobbiton with gunpowder.
Because the difference in power between the two was too great.
Gandalf saw that Arthur did not reply immediately and understood that the other party did not know, so he said, "However, you have given me an idea. I will follow your idea to find a substitute, sir Arthur."
"While I don't want to interrupt your conversation, it's getting late now. We still need to gather and dispose of these orc and warg bodies, and clear the battlefield, lest these corpses attract more wild beasts or spread disease. And when we sleep tonight, I don't want the wind to be filled with the stench of their blood." Nepheli Loux's voice then interjected into Arthur and Gandalf's conversation.
She saw Rogier approaching from the eastern battlefield she was responsible for before she spoke out to remind the two of them.
Arthur replied weakly, "You're right, we need to clean up the battlefield..."
At this moment, he deeply missed the time in The Lands Between where he only had to kill and not bury.
Gandalf walked over, leaning on his staff, and handed the Ritual Straight Sword he held in his other hand back to Arthur: "This sword is very sharp and handy. Thank you very much for lending me your weapon, sir Arthur."
However, Arthur waved his hand, and instead took out another Ritual Straight Sword from his spatial backpack, pushing it to Gandalf as well: "Since you find it handy, I'll give you the matching one too. Don't refuse, I have many Ritual Straight Swords, and I don't use them often myself. Since it has met someone who likes to use it, consider it a gift."
Gandalf could only accept after hearing Arthur say that.
As he fastened the Ritual Straight Sword to the waist of his gray robe, he said, "You don't have to worry about the warg corpses; these evil creatures will naturally disappear after death. However, the orc corpses must be cleaned up. I'll lend a hand too."
Rogier happened to walk closer at this moment, his expression somewhat strange as he said, "That's exactly what I wanted to say. The corpses of these orcs and wargs you mentioned, they seem to be absorbed by the Erdtree..."
Hmm, the phenomenon of returning to the tree?
Arthur immediately looked up, meeting Rogier's strange gaze.
Evidently, the two who had explored the Deathblight phenomenon together had thought of the same thing.
Gandalf's puzzled voice came, "Absorbed by the Erdtree, what does that mean..."
Then, before he could finish his question, he suddenly stopped speaking.
Because he saw the answer with his own eyes, without needing an explanation from Arthur or Rogier.
On the grassy ground not far away lay the corpses of the orcs and wargs he had killed a few minutes ago, their bodies enveloped by the brilliant golden light emanating from the miraculous Erdtree.
But the sharp-eyed Gandalf quickly noticed that the corpses were not just enveloped by the golden light, but were being assimilated within that golden radiance. The lifeless flesh of the orcs and wargs was slowly turning into translucent golden particles, attracted towards the Erdtree in the night sky.
Gandalf observed for a moment and understood that what was turning into golden particles were not the bodies of the orcs and wargs, but their evil souls.
However, these evil souls, under the shroud of the golden light, had their dark side removed.
The rate at which the corpses dissipated was not fast, but not slow either. The first orc and warg corpses were already completely transformed into golden particles and absorbed by the Erdtree.
Arthur took off his Blaidd, the Half-Wolf helmet and, after carefully observing the golden particles being drawn to the Erdtree, immediately strode to the Erdtree, reached out and touched its hard but warm trunk, immersing his consciousness within it.
The night was inky, with stars dotting the deep sky.
Streams of brilliant golden particles quietly rose from the corpses of the orcs and wargs, floating lightly in the night wind, intertwining and swirling in the air, forming golden currents, like a fragmented starlit river.
Then, these 'starlit rivers' slowly and gracefully converged towards a colossal Erdtree in the distance, making its radiance even more brilliant.
This scene was imprinted in Gandalf's blue eyes, leaving him with an indelible golden memory.
"I don't know how to describe this scene, but it's definitely the most magical sight I've ever seen," Gandalf murmured, his beard twitching, looking at the completely vanished orc and warg corpses on the ground.
And just then, the Erdtree not only grew several centimeters taller at a visible rate, but also shed a large amount of Grace from its branches, enveloping the surrounding architectural ruins within a radius of about forty meters.
When the golden light of the Grace dissipated, the architectural ruins that appeared before Gandalf's eyes had completely transformed into an unfamiliar sight.
Around the Erdtree, four or five new and spacious guard posts were orderly arranged on its sides, and the original muddy ground with weeds had become a stone road paved with flagstones, convenient for carriage transport.
Beside the stone road, near the guard posts, three semi-open large tents were scattered, each with a burning bonfire and a firmly planted military flag in the earth.
The flags were made of deep yellow cloth, embroidered with patterns of a lion and a great tree.
The tent fabric was also deep yellow, and inside were stacked cut firewood, well-sealed wooden barrels, and weapon racks gleaming with a cold light.
The weapon racks were empty, as the weapons were held in the hands of their respective owners.
Twelve soldiers, wearing helmets made of iron and chainmail, clad in cylindrical outer armor depicting the Erdtree of a distant past and the symbol of the Golden Lineage, the "Vizier Beast," and wielding weapons ranging from one-handed swords and war picks to two-handed greatswords, led by a tall and robust knight, knelt on one knee and lowered their heads towards Arthur, who was still caressing the Erdtree.
They remained silent, quietly waiting for Arthur to give them orders.
The architectural ruins previously enveloped by the Grace seemed to have been scrambled and then orderly reassembled by an unseen hand, transforming into an unfamiliar, well-built pass.
However, this unfamiliarity was for Gandalf; for Arthur' two comrades and friends, Rogier and Nepheli Loux, it was very familiar.
Because this was one of the passes that led into Stormveil Castle, which had been destroyed by time in The Lands Between, hence its very ordinary name, "Ruins of the Gatefront."
Rogier looked at the soldiers kneeling before Arthur and said, "Are those Godrick's Royal Army?"
Nepheli Loux nodded: "Judging by the emblems on their armor, it's them, but they don't look as terrifyingly mummified as they did in The Lands Between."
"What other surprises can you bring me, sir Arthur? This time it's conjuring a team of elite soldiers out of thin air, next time are you going to conjure a castle for me?" Gandalf muttered.
Rogier, hearing Gandalf's muttering, quipped, "Maybe not just a castle, perhaps he could even conjure an Ancient Dragon for you."
Gandalf closed his eyes: "My heart might not be able to take that."
Arthur' thoughts returned from the Erdtree, or more accurately, from the elden ring.
The absorption of the orc and warg souls and corpses was the doing of the elden ring.
But thanks to this, Arthur learned that the Erdtree could also accelerate its growth by absorbing souls of those who died nearby.
However, this might not be good for the orcs and wargs, as Arthur was already thinking about how to lure them over, kill them, and then continue to use their souls to grow the Erdtree.