The woman, in the very act of leaping, managed to plant a foot squarely on the man’s thigh, leaving him utterly unable to struggle free for a moment. Only when she had sprinted three or four meters ahead did the man finally manage to wrench himself up from the ground. But it was too late. A slash of black light swept past him from behind; this man fared even worse than the one before. That dark radiance sliced straight into his midsection, cleaving him in two at the waist. For a moment, before death could fully claim him, he let out a long, excruciating wail.

A chill settled in the hearts of the onlookers. First, the Black Rider’s attack was impossibly swift and sharp; only a handful among the three teams had clearly seen the trajectory of the strike. Second, the seemingly delicate and beautiful woman possessed ruthlessness beyond measure in this moment of life and death. The two men who had been fawning over her moments before were now merely sacrifices she dragged along while fleeing. What a cold heart this woman possessed.

But this was hardly the time for such judgment.

Whether in the speed or the sheer force of its swings, this Black Rider was significantly more formidable than the Ringwraiths in the original film. Among the three teams, definitely fewer than ten people could track the path of the sword’s arc.

It was a two-handed longsword, wreathed in black smoke.

The Black Rider slowly emerged from the undergrowth, seated astride a tall, imposing steed, entirely clad in black. Patches of dark metal armored the horse, but what struck true terror was the beast’s eyes, which glowed a searing blood-red, flickering with an unnatural light. No ordinary horse could possess such eyes. The wraith held a pure black two-handed greatsword, from which billowed a constant stream of black vapor. Wherever this smoke touched the surrounding grass, the foliage instantly withered and died.

The two corpses it had just slain began to putrefy around their wounds. This longsword, perpetually emitting dark smoke, carried intense toxicity and corrosive power.

"What kind of joke is this? How could a Ringwraith possibly appear here? Wasn't the first encounter supposed to be tomorrow, after meeting the other two hobbits?" A newcomer from the North Ice Continent couldn't help but shout out loud.

In contrast to the composure of the veterans, the quality of the newcomers was now fully revealed. Out of more than ten novices present, only four watched the wraith with utter calmness.

The rest showed varying degrees of panic: some were shouting loudly, others were frantically hiding behind the veterans, and yet others simply collapsed onto the ground, weak-kneed. The scene instantly devolved into chaos, and seizing this opportunity, the Ringwraith spurred its horse toward Frodo.

The speed of the steed the wraith rode was simply exaggerated, easily three to four times faster than a real horse. The mount transformed into a black phantom as the wraith raised its longsword high above its head toward Frodo.

With a heavy clang of metal meeting metal, an axe appeared, blocking the strike between the wraith and Frodo. At some unknown moment, Richard from the South Flame Continent team had stepped in front of the Ringwraith, wielding a fiery red two-handed great-axe; it was this weapon that had just intercepted the wraith’s attack.

"Damn it! Panicking already? What about the rest of this journey? Aya! Any newcomers still making noise or running around—use the venomous bees to knock them out!" Richard roared, simultaneously bringing his axe up to parry several more slashes from the wraith. Each clash forced the big white man to step back a pace.

The wraith’s arrival had been too fast, catching many veterans off guard, and Zheng Zha and his group were positioned too far away to react immediately. By the time they regained their senses, the wraith was already locked in combat with Richard. However, the veterans of every team had witnessed major ordeals before and were no strangers to life-or-death situations. As Richard fought, they swiftly gathered their respective newcomers, and several veterans positioned themselves to shield Frodo and his companion in the center of their formation.

After blocking several blows, Richard finally roared and swung his axe in return. But the wraith’s horsemanship was first-rate, and the steed moved with ghost-like speed. Just as Richard's great-axe descended, the wraith swiftly wheeled its mount to the side. With a dull thud, the giant axe gouged a massive pit over half a meter deep into the earth, but the wraith’s sword was already arcing toward Richard’s head.

Bang! Clack! Clack! Three ranged weapons struck simultaneously at the falling black greatsword: Zero Point's Gauss sniper rifle, Zhang Heng's silver metal bow, and a green crossbow held by a girl from the North Ice Continent team. The Gauss bullet was the fastest; as soon as its sound registered, a translucent protective layer shimmered around the wraith. The rifle round struck this layer, followed almost immediately by Zhang Heng's +3 enchanted arrow and the green bolt. With two sharp clacks, these two arrows managed to shatter the black greatsword. However, the broken blade segment still managed to rake a long gash across Richard’s body. Richard rolled away, finally tumbling clear of the wraith’s attack range. At the same moment, from the North Ice Continent team, the youth with brightly dyed, multi-colored hair charged toward the wraith, gripping a spear as transparent as ice and snow.

"Damn, that force is heavy!" Richard shouted as he rolled clear. Only then did everyone get a clear look: while his axe was unharmed, the hands gripping it were already torn open at the web between the thumb and forefinger. Richard was a berserker who relied on brute strength; Zheng Zha had fought him before and knew that even without activating his "Berserker" skill, the white man’s physical constitution was top-tier. To batter him to the point of tearing his hand open in a direct clash meant the wraith’s sword force was already comparable to Zheng Zha in his "Explosion" state.

Zheng Zha felt a sinking sensation in his stomach. For some unknown reason, a premonition of disaster persisted. He immediately shouted, "Mental controllers from all three teams, start scanning the surroundings! Record every detail of the situation! Zero Point, your weapon is ineffective against plot characters, focus on protecting others. Zhang Heng, and the girl with the crossbow, target its steed with your arrows. Cheng Xiao, treat Richard's poison. Everyone else, guard the perimeter to prevent the wraith from escaping the central combat area!" Zheng Zha ignored the fact that he was overstepping his authority; the orders were nearly instinctual. He himself drew the Hupo, stamped his foot, and charged toward the Ringwraith.

Just as Zheng Zha lunged forward, the youth confronting the wraith could no longer hold back and launched his attack. The spear in his hand was clearly a legendary magical weapon, and its grade looked quite high. He aimed the spear directly at the wraith’s head, but the wraith was surprisingly agile; the thrust missed past the edge of its cloak. Yet, in that single moment of contact, the wraith's cloak began to freeze over. In less than a second, the fabric cracked and burst apart. This spear clearly possessed an intensely powerful frost attribute.

The multicolored-haired youth chuckled, preparing to withdraw his spear for another thrust, when he saw the wraith swiftly wheel its horse back into the farmland. He immediately burst into laughter: "Seems like it's nothing special after all. I wonder how many reward points killing it will yield, haha! If only I could get a side-quest reward..." With that, he raised his spear and charged again.

Zheng Zha's sense of danger grew acutely stronger. He didn't have time to warn the youth when the wraith erupted in a torrent of black smoke from its entire body. The surrounding fields and grass instantly withered, and its black longsword was fully restored within the haze. By the time the multicolored-haired youth charged in, the horse it rode had transformed from a black warhorse into a skeletal warhorse constantly radiating dense black mist.

This skeletal steed's eyes remained blood-red. Its four hooves burned with crimson flames, and every bone radiated black smoke, gradually merging with the mist enveloping the wraith.

"Watch out!" Zheng Zha was still ten meters from Su Nian and the wraith, but the youth had already plunged his spear forward fiercely. The wraith simply pulled the reins, and the skeletal horse leaped into the air, soaring over the incoming spear thrust—as if both the wraith and the mount were weightless. With a swift swish, the head of the multicolored-haired youth was severed and flung into the air.

"Explosion!" Zheng Zha no longer focused on attacking first. As the youth’s head flew off, the danger signals in his mind spiked violently. He stomped his foot hard and retreated backward, his body already entering the second stage of unlocked genes, activating his "Explosion" state.

But the wraith did not attack him. Instead, it pulled the reins again, and the skeletal horse bolted toward a large tree nearby. Under everyone's gaze, the wraith and its mount completely ignored gravity, galloping straight up the trunk of the tree. Wherever the hooves struck, the wood burned instantly into chunks of black charcoal. When the skeletal horse reached the treetop, it suddenly lifted its four legs, and the impossibly cool mount launched itself off the branch, soaring directly down toward Frodo in the formation.

Jumping down...