Chapter 37: Violent rage
Translated by: Chua
Edited by: TN and Elkassar
The water wall paused in mid air for roughly a second, as though accumulating more force. Then, it was unleashed like in the form of an earth-shattering tsunami!
Within one outburst of spit, it was simply a mountain flash flood exploding forth. At least half of the underground lake was drawn out, carrying the sorrowful anger of the Ocean-freak Moria as it blasted out!!
The reason Ocean-freak Moria didn’t resort to this previously, was because it feared the repercussions would affect its offspring eggs. Yet now, it held back no longer, releasing its awe-inspiring deadliness.
Even though the mountain belly was incredibly vast; under the furious all out might of the Ocean-freak Moria, its entire contents were transformed into an unbridled vast body of water. The turbulent flood carried on with unstoppable might, colliding against the naturally arched door at the east of the mountain belly. The flood then continued forward, draining out towards the lower inclination of the mountain cave entrance!
At present, the terrifying might of the Ocean-freak Moria could be seen evidently. If it could be described as a class 5 legendary creature, then after it submerged into the water; it was at least elevated beyond the pinnacle of a class 6 legendary creature!
Caught completely off guard, the place Sheyan was hiding in was abruptly flooded. His body was instantly swept off by the ferocious flood. Fortunately, he reacted fast as it hastily held onto a nearby stalagmite, instead he felt like his entire body was being stretched excessively by the raging water current.
Fortunately, his pure strength was still 23 points, his fingertips crushed into the stalagmite. “Crkk crrekkk” Still, weakening cracks formed on the rock surface, as though it could break off at any moment. Sheyan gritted his teeth as he steadily held on without being swept away.
It was at this moment, when Sheyan was observing the rushing flood, he immediately understood the narrow mountain valley he travelled through previously; why there were so many loose Ocean-freak Moria’s eggs.
It seems like this wasn’t the first time Ocean-freak Moria had decided this destination to lay its eggs; probably due to the suitably terrain for doing so. It was only this place that the rock surface was warm, an unusual phenomenon of body temperature but it was due to the underlying influence of the hiding balrog. Thus, its breeding plans had always been wrecked by the crafty balrog.
In its fury, the octopus would unleash a torrential flood, the flood soaring through the bends of that narrow valley they travelled through; finally being stopped at that gigantic boulder of before. The water would be stalled there, with a small portion draining out through the small hole, carrying fragments of the Ocean-freak Moria’s eggs. Finally, the water would slowly be drained completely, and flow into the lake behind the pine forest.
The actions of those orcs from before were now abundantly clear. The reason they flayed the captives and tossed them off the icy peak yet still preserving their life force; was because they needed the captives to struggle intensely after landing to the ground.
Under such severely cold temperatures, random pieces of mud, gravels and stones would adhere onto the flesh of the captives, and pasted frozen onto the flesh. Of course, that includes the ultimate aim of Saruman as well – those Ocean-freak Moria’s eggs.
Obviously neither the uruk-hais nor orcs were able to climb down from the thousand metres high icy precipice, and retrieve the corpses they tossed down. Not only did they have to face the treacherous cold and slippery descend, they also had to cross over the unknown dangers of the lake. Although they couldn’t accomplish that, it didn’t meant other creatures couldn’t.
Truthfully speaking, Saruman’s doppelganger was really a talented individual. He was actually able to analyze that Great Eagle, Thorondor’s offspring, inside the Misty Mountain; and was able to produce an aroma that they loved – combusted fumes from the stone basin. Enticing them to approach, before throwing the stone basin down the cliff.
Naturally, the Great Eagle would tailgate after the origins of the wonderful aroma. Hence, they would casually discover the existence of those frozen corpses, that had the wonderful Ocean-freak Moria’s mucus flowing inside them. After encountering such a delicacy, the eagle would definitely have its fill. According to its natural tendencies, it would definitely capture some back into its nest to feed the young, or as night snack for its companion.
Based on the topography of this snowy precipice and valley, the stuffed Great Eagle would normally fly across the orc metropolis encampment. Saruman’s doppelganger would then control the Wizard Tower to assault it. The Great Eagle’s primary weapon was its beak and claws; after being aggressed, it would loosened its claws to retaliate, thus dropping the frozen corpses. If those frozen corpses had Ocean-Moria’s eggs pasted onto them, then Saruman’s doppelganger would have profited. Of course, the majority didn’t.
Naturally, Saruman was able to obtain great benefits from these Ocean-freak Moria’s eggs; leading to defining breakthroughs pertaining to his research.
This wasn’t solely and evidently seen from those nasty tentacled-freaks he created, but also from the gene-mix ‘Mucus of the Ocean-freak of Moria’.
The former was a terribly deadly biological weapon; loyal, intelligent and adept in calculating. The latter was an incomparably miraculous potion, able to amplify one’s survivability in battle by several folds!
The only thing Sheyan wasn’t able to deduce was how did Saruman get his hands on the first cup of ‘Mucus of the Ocean-freak of Moria’…..it was possible an orc randomly fished an egg from the lake. Perhaps a certain exterminated orc tribe had passed down the legends, or perhaps it was the produce of an evil divine sacrifice etc.
But Sheyan could definitely confirm, Saruman had already conducted several probes and research to the area here, and had paid a gravely huge price along the way. That was how he had managed to come up with an ingenious tactic of utilizing the Great Eagle to retrieve the flayed captives.
“Then…….” Sheyan finally understood one thing. ‘Those uruk-hai and that one-eyed demon outside weren’t even here for us! We were just small fish being swooped up by a huge storm!”
Saruman had been plotting this matter for a long time. Actually comparing his capabilities, it shouldn’t be inferior to the Ocean-freak Moria. It was only because Ocean-freak Moria was a water type creature, and held utmost supremacy in the water. Yet it was because Ocean-freak Moria had always been coping itself within the Carn Dûm lake, that Saruman perpetually couldn’t deal with it; or even cross the lake.
However, not only was Saruman powerful, he even possessed an extremely astute intellect. After long periods of research and investigations, he probably was able to infer the breeding season of this legendary creature. Thus, he had mobilized an expedition into this remote region, to exploit this fact!
Previously when Sheyan worked in the basement of the Wizard tower to process tremendous amounts of materials, it was in preparation for this one time expedition. Instead because they managed to flee, they became the fuse for Saruman to shift the mobilization of his troops nearer. This was because the secret of this orc encampment, after Saruman had expended countless blood and effort, was definitely not permitted to be leaked to the outside world.
Nevertheless, Saruman was a human and not a deity. He would’ve never been able to guess that the Ocean-freak Moria would actually be clashing with the ancient balrog. The primary motive for this first large scale skirmish, was probably to seize the golden opportunity that Ocean-freak Moria had left the lake for its breeding season. Thus, advancing towards that narrow and long mountain valley, that the orcs hail as the ‘Land of Hope’, to gather more Ocean-freak Moria’s eggs.
But as the saying goes, man proposes but God disposes. As Ocean-freak Moria reached the pinnacle of its fury, those orcs and uruk-hais that had infiltrated this ‘Land of hope’ instantly became fish in a calamitous pond. That had to face the incomparable horror of the heaven defying flood!!
Sheyan tightly grasped onto the stalagmite, cracking sounds repeatedly emerged from his grip. He bit heavily against his lips. His fingernails were being forcefully inverted, as blood streamed out. Still, Sheyan tried his utmost to stabilize himself against the torrential currents. He knew that if he was swept away, this life would be lost easily by smashing against any loose rocks!
Fortunately, his current position was at the back region of the mountain belly, nearer to the underground lake. He wasn’t situated against the direct flush of the flood, occasionally pulses of backflow would even allow him to take an additional breath.
Seizing an opportunity of a backflow, Sheyan forced himself forward using his legs to wrap tightly around the stalagmite. With this huge stalagmite shielding the water, he could finally relax a little. Moreover, the flood gradually halted after ten minutes since Ocean-freak moria’s outburst of rage. Sheyan reckoned that the amount of water spurted out was definitely not inferior to a typical flash flood of a medium sized river!
Swoosh! Swoosh! The water gently slapped against the surrounding rocks. Although it was an unchallengeable legendary creature, Ocean-freak Moria was also clearly exhausted, curling up its tentacles as it floated on the water surface, resting. The rippling waters beneath it swiftly retreated back, allowing this temporary mountain aquarium to rapidly shrink back to dry land.
Undoubtedly, both Sheyan and the Ocean-freak Moria had their attention glued towards the middle region of this place. Currently, the water was still flowing, a mix of white froth and muddied yellow formed into numerous tiny whirlpools. It was also the area the balrog was standing on before the flood!
The waters swift receded, yet not a single trace of the balrog could be seen. Only, over the surface of the rocky ground, was a tiny clump of burnt darkness which signified one thing – just a short while ago, there was a legendary creature emitting an incinerating temperature over this surface.