Zheng Zha, however, was struggling to maintain his footing. With that last strike, he had clearly intended to cleave the Ringwraith in two, but unexpectedly, the wraith’s black greatsword had managed to block the radiance of his Hu Po blade. As the two weapons crossed, he had only managed to sever one of the wraith’s arms. By the time he raised his blade for another attack, this wraith had already jerked its reins and leaped away. That gravity-defying characteristic was proving incredibly useful; the Ringwraith commanded its skeletal steed to stand directly upon the treetops.

Having failed with his strike, Zheng Zha immediately pushed off the ground and jumped back, as three more Ringwraiths charged toward him. The speed of these three was certainly no slower than the first. Facing such speed and such vicious attacks, Zheng Zha knew he would certainly meet a bitter end unless he activated his “Destruction” state. The crucial difficulty lay in their movement, which seemed to ignore gravity, making their assaults bizarrely unpredictable. Otherwise, in a straightforward, one-on-one ground battle, his “Explosion” state would have been enough to deal with several wraiths.

“Zhang Heng! Where are your arrows? Hurry up and support me with your bow! What about the others? Frost Fruit, Thunder Fruit—damn it, those are all high-level skills! Are you all just waiting here to be cornered and killed by the wraiths?” Zheng Zha stood alone, facing the charge of three Ringwraiths, and despite his skill and boldness, a chill crept into his heart.

As these four wraiths appeared, the other three materialized on the distant treetops as well. Suddenly, seven Ringwraiths stood before the assembled group, and a wave of dread washed over everyone.

“Ready!” the Elven leader’s voice rang out once more. Beside him stood hundreds of Elven longbowmen. Though these bowmen were hastily conscripted, they were clearly well-trained elites. At the leader’s command, a rain of arrows shot toward the four closest Ringwraiths.

Three of the wraiths used heavy shields to block; the pounding arrow shower could not penetrate those shields at all.

Only the wraith that Zheng Zha had wounded, missing an arm, struggled clumsily. After the volley of arrows subsided, this wraith, along with its skeletal steed, resembled a hedgehog covered in quills.

Its helmet, in particular, was completely shattered. The group heard a faint, distant, yet profound wail before the wraith immediately collapsed.

A plume of black smoke rose into the air. Simultaneously, the skeletal warhorse ridden by the wraith let out a long shriek before dissolving into a ball of fire that crashed to the ground.

“…What a fearsome volley of arrows… Zhang Heng, what’s happening? Shoot, now!” Zheng Zha cried out in delight, seeing one wraith destroyed.

There were six wraiths remaining in total. Everyone focused intently on them, but these six stopped moving. They all lifted their gazes toward the sky. Six streams of black smoke began to slowly descend from the pitch-black void, surprisingly seeping into the gaps in their helms. Once the black smoke was completely absorbed into their bodies, the shields of the six Ringwraiths grew noticeably thicker, and their greatswords, which were already emitting black mist, became even darker, almost entirely obscuring any trace of the original mist—as if the wraiths were wielding greatswords that shimmered with a faint, deadly glow.

The Elven leader immediately frowned and declared loudly, “It is just as the records stated.

The Ringwraiths are not truly living creatures; they are monsters that linger between life and death. The lives of the nine wraiths are interconnected.

When one dies, its power and life force are transferred to the remaining ones.

And when only one Ringwraith remains, that is the monster the Dark Lord Sauron intended to control—the true Nazgûl, the strongest legion commander under the Dark Lord.”

(Did the original movie plot never mention these details?) Such questions arose in the minds of the veteran members present, but with six strengthened wraiths standing before them, they had no time for speculation. Facing these six increasingly formidable figures, the veterans felt the urge to retreat. After all, these six wraiths were not charging them directly; why risk their lives for minor reward points? Immediately, some members from the North Ice Continent team and the South Flame Continent team began to slowly shift their steps backward, and even Luo Gandao followed in their wake.

“…Are you all idiots? Do you understand the consequences if the One Ring is seized by them? The Dark Lord Sauron will be completely resurrected!” Neos was the first of the three captains to roar out. He sneered, “What was the goal of our Ring mission? Teams Five must reach Barad-dûr! If the Dark Lord Sauron is there, do you honestly believe its power would be less than that of the combined nine wraiths? We wouldn’t even know how we died. It would be far better to follow the plot’s intended path and prevent Sauron from obtaining the Ring; only then can we safely complete the mission in this reincarnation world!” These veterans hesitated. Gannier quickly shouted, “Everyone using technological weaponry, fall back; you are useless here! The rest, prepare to engage with your maximum combat strength. Zheng Zha, how many wraiths can you handle simultaneously? I mean, at their current level.”

Zheng Zha didn't turn his head, his eyes fixed on the six motionless wraiths before him, and replied casually, “Two, or perhaps three. That’s the maximum number I can handle simultaneously; any more is impossible…” Gannier quickly pulled out a sphere of icy energy from his pocket. “If I use ‘Ice Age,’ I can probably handle one wraith. Hoper’s Thunder Fruit combined with our efforts might take down another. The rest will have to rely on the Elves… Damn it, the Ring quest has just begun, and we’re already facing such exaggerated opponents. It’s hard to imagine what enemies might appear in the future.”

Zheng Zha let out a heavy sigh. Just as he was about to speak, he saw the six wraiths suddenly charge toward them. Their speed was even slightly faster than before, almost matching his own speed in the “Explosion” state, and they were still advancing without regard for gravity, making it impossible for him to even predict their trajectory.

The instant the six wraiths moved, four arrows—one green and one white—shot out from the field. The Elven leader and Zhang Heng had fired simultaneously. Following them, the Elven longbowmen and the crossbow girl loosed their own shots.

With two crisp pa-pa sounds, two heavy shields of the two charging wraiths were indeed blown apart by the explosive arrows from Zhang Heng and the Elven leader. Following immediately came a dense, countless barrage of arrows. Everyone widened their eyes, imagining these two wraiths would also be buried by the rain of shafts.

But these two wraiths had truly become stronger. They brandished their black greatswords to ward off the myriad arrows. The black greatswords carried an intensely corrosive aura; any arrow that merely grazed the black light was instantly corroded away. As a result, after the volley, the arrows sticking to them and their skeletal horses were few, and there were absolutely no fatal wounds. At this moment, the leading three wraiths were only forty or fifty meters away from the group.

“Shoot again! Keep shooting!” Zheng Zha held his Hu Po blade defensively before everyone, screaming frantically as the wraiths drew nearer.

Then, Zhang Heng suddenly took just a single arrow. He brought the arrow to his lips and blew across it, then turned back, drew his bow, and sent a force that shot straight into the clouds, startling even the crossbow girl preparing to fire beside him. Except for Zheng Zha, almost everyone instinctively looked at him. Then, he released the bowstring. After Zhang Heng loosed this shot, he immediately staggered backward, looking utterly depleted.

This single arrow tore through the air; the onlookers didn't even hear the faint whistle of its flight, nor did they catch sight of its shadow. They only saw the nearest intact Ringwraith utterly shatter. The arrow had pierced in obliquely from beneath the skeletal steed and exited through the back of the wraith’s neck. Before the wraith could even fall, it had already disintegrated mid-air. The power of this one arrow was immense; this was Zhang Heng’s ultimate life-saving technique, the Wind Arrow.

“Good!” Zheng Zha naturally knew Zhang Heng was finished fighting, but with only five wraiths left, and two of them lacking heavy shields, he immediately activated his “Instant Destruction” state without a second thought. He used the move Shave, flashing past the two under-equipped wraiths and charging toward the three fully intact ones behind them.

How fast was Shave? In the blink of an eye, he passed the two lesser wraiths. Behind him, the sound of the Elven longbowmen firing erupted. When the wraiths had powered up, they had been stationary—the Elven archers would never miss such a perfect opportunity for a desperate sniping attack. Gannier, who had crushed his icy energy bead, charged forward as well, along with several members from the South Flame Continent team and the North Ice Continent team. Who would pass up such stationary reward points and side plot achievements? Zheng Zha executed Shave twice in succession. Without waiting for his speed to drop, he used the momentum of the surge to kick hard against the trunk of a large tree. The tree shook violently, and using that force, he leaped into the air. The radiance of his Hu Po blade flashed, and he swung down fiercely at one of the wraiths. However, this wraith was not completely static; just as the blade light was two meters away, the black-glowing greatsword was brought fully in front of it. With a clash of metal on metal, Zheng Zha’s hand vibrated violently, and immense force traveled up through the Hu Po, making even his tiger’s mouth ache slightly.

Five wraiths remained, but their strength had increased tenfold… Leaping up to...