The battle ended quickly. When Ghost Brain's head was split in half, those Black Beasts who lost command could only mechanically execute their master's final order. That was to protect their master.
However, their master now remained only as a corpse. They did not understand revenge and had no anger; they just stood stupidly in place, becoming a black wall. Soon they suffered Luna's precise targeted killings.
Aedric had also thought about this carefully afterward. The one he had killed in the cave probably received orders to guard the warehouse and not let anyone approach. At that time, if he had not forced his way through but had thrown a torch into the warehouse from far away, these brainless things probably would not have fled either, but would have chosen to turn to ash together with the warehouse goods.
It is unknown how that sorcerer had created such things! Long, long ago, probably several thousand years back, Morgoth indeed had a complete method for breeding monsters. He had also bred powerful monsters like Glaurung and Ancalagon during the First Age, plus some oddly shaped war weapons.
Fire-drakes like Smaug could not even count as little brothers before these two. Afterward, Sauron learned this method. From then on, orc varieties multiplied greatly.
Great orcs like Azog and Uruk-hai from Mordor, plus improved troll breeds like the Olog-hai. Almost all were Sauron's masterpieces. Most praiseworthy should be the Nazgûl's mounts. Fell beasts.
Those hairless things with very nightmarish heads. Right, the ugly things that had their heads chopped off by Éowyn with three sword strikes. Also called hell-hawks by people.
Then, in the late Third Age, the proud White Wizard Saruman somehow obtained this breeding method. He developed Uruk-hai plus warg breeds unique to Isengard.
Perhaps this sorcerer had also gotten extremely lucky to obtain this method. Only his abilities were somewhat low—he could not match Sauron and Saruman even with flattery. The creatures he bred all had huge flaws.
He should have crossbred troll genes with Uruk-hai. So those Black Beasts were fearless of pain and immensely strong but lacked brains. What about the long-haired dogs?
Agile movement, silent, and full of long hair, but disliked fighting. Could not be crossbreeds of unknown creatures and Hobbits, right?
Thinking of this, Aedric shivered with a chill—this was too evil. Then he quickly pursued the frantically fleeing Snaga, taking its life with one sword. He had never understood biology in school. Now in Middle-earth, there is even less hope of figuring out such complex knowledge.
Rumble, rumble, rumble—thunder exploded again in the dark clouds. In the nearby dense forest, that crimson radiance flared again. The already demoralized Snaga now completely collapsed.
Though their numbers still held advantage, they abandoned armor and helmets, turning to charge into forest depths.
"Stop chasing, clean the battlefield, and tend the wounded." A somewhat familiar voice arose. This rainstorm battle had finally reached its conclusion.
Aedric also stopped pursuing, casually finding a large tree to lean against. Supporting himself with his sword, he sat down gasping for breath to recover stamina. Relaxing his bowstring-taut nerves.
Even if rainy days were Aedric's domain, that series of operations had exhausted his full strength. Had his movements been even slightly slower, he would have been skewered by spears. Even so, he had been struck by orcs.
Without that armor, his shoulder would have been severed first by the Snaga's curved blade. Finally, he had relied on the invisibility ring to shock everyone, gaining the opportunity to approach Ghost Brain and kill him with a leaping chop.
An action meant for hiding actually achieved effects similar to a war cry. Thinking about it now, in that moment of hot blood, he had truly charged regardless of consequences.
Moreover, what a loss! My cloak! That magical cloak that could provide warmth, waterproofing, and environmental camouflage! Now torn to shreds.
Aedric pulled over the cloak behind him, full of tears and holes, his face full of sorrow.
"Are you injured?" Concerned words arose beside him. It was Luna.
Somehow, she had quietly approached. Her somewhat disheveled pale face in the rain was written with worry.
"Am I?" Having spoken, Aedric suddenly felt tearing pain from his left leg.
After splitting Ghost Brain with one sword, he had rolled to avoid spears thrusting from behind. Presumably he had not completely avoided them—his left leg was scratched.
At the time he had only felt a chill with no other discomfort. Certainly adrenaline had taken effect. Now that his spirit relaxed, plus someone was asking, he immediately felt pain.
"Hiss..." Aedric gritted his teeth and drew a sharp breath. Reaching to lift his trouser leg, a half-foot wound was seeping blood. Skin near the wound also showed faint blackening.
Even in the dim rainy night, this was visible. He was poisoned!
"Let me bandage this for you." Luna hastily drew bandages and medicine bottles from her waist pack, crouching down while raising her cloak to cover both of them, also blocking the rain that had not weakened at all.
If rain fell too heavily, tree canopies could not block water. At most it would be heavy rain outside and torrential rain inside. After gathering through branches and leaves, falling raindrops were larger and colder.
With a tearing sound, Aedric's already tattered trouser leg was directly ripped open. Luna took out clean silk cloth, carefully wiping rainwater around the wound plus somewhat blackened foul blood, saying: "Aedric, those filthy orcs coat their weapons with many polluted substances. If time drags on, even small wounds can cause serious consequences."
"Yours is fine—after applying medicine it should heal quickly." Speaking comfortingly, both hands uncorked bottles, gently sprinkling powder evenly on the wound.
Extremely stimulating pain made Aedric grimace as his calf muscles tensed. What was this stuff? Salt?!
Luna looked up, asking puzzledly: "Did I hurt you?"
"Yes, a little painful." After hesitating, Aedric admitted it, though his face squeezed out a smile as he asked softly: "Did not expect you to understand these things."
"We must learn healing skills from childhood." Luna did not look up, saying: "Only I am somewhat special—I prefer shooting and sword practice, so I did not learn very well. Can only temporarily bandage people, cannot work as a professional doctor."
Speaking thus, her hands were not idle. "Done, how does it look?"
Aedric looked down at the neat, even circles of bandages around his calf—neither tight nor loose, just right, with a cute white bow at the securing point. His mouth twitched as he praised: "Excellent, definitely the first place I have ever seen in my life."
Luna did not respond, only a trace of a smile appearing at her mouth corners. She took out her dagger, cutting off a small piece of her own cloak to tie around the bandaged wound exterior. She explained: "This can be waterproof."
"Thank... thank you."
"No need—as companions, this is what I should do." Luna smiled in response.
"Aedric!" At this moment, Elladan suddenly issued an enthusiastic call, striding over to give Aedric a big embrace.
"Aedric, what you did was truly wonderful, my friend!" He vigorously patted Aedric's back while praising profusely: "That sword strike was like a falling meteor, like manifesting thunder, solving our biggest problem instantly!"
Actually, the gesture elves used to express gratitude was not embracing. But Elladan, to make Aedric understand his feelings, decisively chose human etiquette. Otherwise, going through a complete elven ritual sequence would leave the other party completely clueless—how embarrassing that would be!
Fortunately he had befriended Dúnedain for a long time and understood human customs.
"Do not... cough! Cough! Do not be polite... cough!" Even though Aedric's physical condition was incomparably improved, he could not withstand a three-thousand-year-old elf patting so vigorously.
Moreover, being embraced by a male elf was somewhat strange. Luna's smile had completely vanished, becoming calm and waveless. She reached out to pull away Elladan, saying: "Do not be so exaggerated!"
Aedric finally broke free, coughing for quite a while before feeling somewhat comfortable. He looked up at the embarrassed Elladan, hesitantly asking: "Speaking of which, how did you get entangled by orcs?"
He had wondered about this for a long time. If this battle were left to Aedric, he would definitely harass them with arrows until ammunition was exhausted—no way would he fight decisive battles with orcs in forests! Such waste.
Who would use special forces for frontal gunfights with cannon fodder?! Aedric did not believe Elrohir did not understand this principle.
"Uh..." Elladan scratched his head embarrassedly, just preparing to explain when Elrohir's voice came from the distance.
"It is his own problem! I told him not to linger in battle—shoot a few arrows from distance then retreat promptly. Luna and I would support from behind. As a result, he still got bloodthirsty."
"Then without any surprise got entangled by these pests. If not for Halladrak bringing the 'Star of Eärendil' to temporarily frighten enemies, who knows what tragic consequences might have occurred?"
Having spoken, approaching Elrohir glared fiercely at his brother. Elladan hastily raised both hands in surrender, repeatedly saying: "Never again—will absolutely follow commands in the future."
Only then did Aedric understand. He could understand Elladan's actions. Setting aside the great cause of opposing darkness, orcs were enemies who had hurt his mother—getting bloodthirsty was normal. Like during wartime when everyone wished to eliminate all invaders.
Understanding did not mean approval, though. In the future, command duties should try not to be given to Elladan. Luna might be more reliable than him. Possibly.
"Aedric, my friend." Elrohir patted Aedric's shoulder, saying: "Though Elladan is sometimes very impulsive and unreliable, what he just said was absolutely correct."
Elladan raised both hands, seeming to protest, but was glared back by his brother. Two three-thousand-year-old elves could still maintain such relaxed, youthful attitudes. Also rare.
Elrohir ignored him, continuing: "You did indeed very well—that sword strike was perfectly timed, saving us and Thornfield Village!"
"Also thanks to you drawing orc attention in front, I could succeed with one strike." Aedric scratched his head. Being so praised by two powerful, handsome men still made him somewhat embarrassed.
Enduring his left leg pain, Aedric smiled and briefly described what he had done previously. Hearing that the orc-stored food plus their lair had been burned down, and the captured humans were all rescued with even travel money home, the elf twins both sighed with relief.
This troublesome matter finally had a reasonably satisfactory conclusion. Heavy rain still showed no signs of stopping.
The three stood under the great tree preparing to say more, but were stopped by Luna, whose expression grew increasingly ugly.
"Aedric is injured and needs rest—cannot keep standing in rain like this. Very likely to cause infection."
"You are injured?" Elrohir looked down to check, finally reacting as he hastily said: "Aedric, let Luna escort you back to camp for rest first. Leave remaining matters to us."
"Right." Elladan patted his chest, saying: "Leave it to us!"
Though orcs were defeated, most had escaped. Those remaining naturally needed pursuing and killing. To prevent them from regrouping and selecting the next chieftain—another trouble later.
"Good." Aedric nodded, casually picking up Mithreleth. The wounded should rest—forcing it would only worsen things.
"Let us go." Luna reached out to support Aedric, asking softly: "Do you need me to carry you?"
"No, no need." Aedric quickly shook his head, even showing a trace of smile: "I am not so fragile."
"Good." Luna said nothing more, nodding.
Supported by Luna, Aedric limped and hobbled across the entire battlefield. Wherever they went, grateful gazes followed. Some young Rangers' eyes even faintly carried admiration.
Halladrak stepped forward, asking with concern: "Master Aedric, you are injured?"
"Already treated—nothing serious." Aedric answered, then asked somewhat puzzledly: "Something wrong?"
Under orc siege, Dúnedain had also suffered casualties. Next they needed organizing people to cooperate with elf twins pursuing orcs. As leader, the other should be quite busy.
"Yes." Halladrak nodded, saying: "Later, there are some matters I wish to discuss with you. May I?"
"Of course." Aedric did not refuse.
"Then I will not hinder you two." Halladrak turned to leave—he was indeed busy.
"Farewell." Aedric bid the other goodbye, somewhat puzzled about what exactly the matter was.
Suddenly remembering another matter, he turned to ask: "Luna, just now Elrohir mentioned Eärendil's Star. Do you know what that is?"
Aedric naturally knew what Eärendil's Star was. But this thing should be in Orthanc's secret chamber—one of Saruman's treasures. How did it appear here?
Had some plot change occurred? Saruman returned it to the Dúnedain? Impossible!
"That is Arnor's symbol of kingship." Luna blinked and smiled. As if saying there were actually things Aedric did not know.
She explained: "It is an elven gem set in a circlet forged of mithril, possessing extremely powerful magic that can intimidate evil. That flame-like radiance just now was its power."
"The Dúnedain's acting chieftain, Dírhael, after learning news from here, sent people to deliver it, helping kinsmen oppose darkness."
That matched! Had Saruman's conscience awakened? Aedric somewhat could not believe it. After pondering, he asked again: "Is that also an elven-crafted item?"
"Of course—Rivendell's craftsmen forged it." Luna nodded, saying: "However, this is only a replica. The original Eärendil's Star was lost. Dúnedain have been searching but without any clues."
That made sense! I have clues! Only then did Aedric understand there were two Eärendil's Stars.
Should he reveal the information to Dúnedain to earn this favor? Or wait until Aragorn grew up? Valuable intelligence should be told to appropriate people.
Aedric stroked his chin thoughtfully. Luna noticed this but did not disturb him, just supporting him toward camp.