The Tarnished in LOTR with Elden Ring

Ori was rescued, and this Dwarf with a frame as small as Bilbo's looked at the deep pit with lingering fear, gazing helplessly at Tarnes.

He said worriedly: "What about Thorin and the others?"

Bilbo also realized what had happened and asked with concern: "Uh, shouldn't we also go down to find Thorin and them? Is there another way down?"

Tarnes cast the Starlight spell, and with the spell's radiance, the others could see clearly into the deep pit.

It wasn't a naturally formed pit but some kind of artificial shaft.

Not far below, they could see iron brackets for torches and passages built for smaller creatures to walk through, though the torches weren't currently lit.

The knowledgeable Ori immediately exclaimed in surprise: "I remember this shape of passage. These are things only Goblins would build. This isn't a deep pit; it's a passage leading to a Goblin nest. The place we were resting is the door to one of their exits."

Tarnes appeared lost in thought, mainly because he was too embarrassed to tell Ori that the door had been opened by his usual trap-testing tool.

However, after hearing Ori's words, he felt slightly relieved.

At least this was a passage for Goblins to enter and exit, not some trap. At most, Thorin and the others would suffer some bruises and injuries.

At this moment, Bilbo tilted his head and asked: "Goblins? What are those?"

Ori explained: "They're actually a type of Orc, but they're much smaller than the Orcs we've encountered before. They're about as tall as us Dwarves and you Hobbits. Goblins, Orcs, Uruk-hai—you can call them whatever you want."

Bilbo nodded.

Bernahl asked: "So how do we divide our personnel now? We don't know the terrain inside, so this opened door is the only exit we know of. We need someone to guard here to ensure the door doesn't get closed by those Goblins."

Tarnes nodded. He looked at the people present: Bernahl, Millicent, Bilbo, and Ori.

The grouping was obvious.

He said: "Bernahl, I'll trouble you to stay here with Bilbo and Ori to guard the door. Millicent and I will go through this passage to try and find Igon, Thorin, and the others."

Bilbo nodded repeatedly while drawing the Elven short sword he'd taken as a trophy from the Troll cave: "Of course, no problem. Besides, Gandalf said this sword would glow blue when encountering Orcs, which is perfect for guard duty."

Bernahl nodded: "That would make things much easier. This way we can know in advance if those Goblins are hiding in the shadows watching us."

Ori also had no objection to this task assignment. He wasn't good at combat anyway and was happy to stay here.

"Then we're going down. You be careful too. Oh, take this. If the door closes again, use this to open it." After giving instructions, Tarnes tossed Margit's Shackle to Bernahl, then jumped into the narrow passage with the aid of starlight.

Tarnes had another shackle with identical effects, so he wasn't worried about needing one when he didn't have it.

Tarnes stepped back a few paces and opened his arms to catch Millicent as she jumped down.

Then Tarnes released his hands from Millicent's slender but solid waist, looked up, and nodded to Bernahl above the pit, making an "OK" gesture.

"I'll take the front; I'm leaving my back to you," Tarnes said to Millicent after withdrawing his gaze.

Millicent seriously promised: "Of course. No enemy will get past my sword to harm you."

Tarnes nodded. While canceling the Starlight spell, he took out two white, fluffy, cotton-like objects from his spatial pack, handing one to Millicent.

Soft Cotton: Can be stuck to the soles of feet to temporarily reduce fall damage and landing noise.

Since the Goblins who had dug this passage hadn't discovered them yet, Tarnes thought it best to avoid exposing themselves.

Millicent naturally understood how to use this cotton. She skillfully stuck it to the soles of her shoes and followed quietly behind Tarnes as they crept downward.

As Tarnes walked, he stopped and gestured for Millicent to stop as well.

He looked at the small creature with its back to him not far away, switched his weapon to the Blade of Mercy, then silently crept over.

This small creature had pale skin with only a dirty loincloth covering its body. The rest of its body seemed covered with disgusting red bumps like a skin disease.

But aside from its size and skin color, it was very similar to the Orcs Tarnes had seen before.

Obviously, this was the Goblin, or Orc, that Ori had mentioned.

If Bilbo were here now, his sword should glow blue as a warning.

This Goblin seemed attracted by some disturbance and didn't notice Tarnes crouching and sneaking up behind it.

By the time it reacted, Tarnes had already lunged forward to cover its mouth while the Blade of Mercy thrust viciously from its anus, penetrating the spine.

The sudden intense pain instantly rendered the Goblin unable to resist.

Then Tarnes pulled out the Blade of Mercy and gently placed the lifeless but still twitching Goblin corpse on the ground, not forgetting to take out his spirit extractor to collect its soul.

After finishing all this, Tarnes waved to the rear, but Millicent appeared a few seconds late.

Tarnes turned back and noticed Millicent was shaking black blood from the curved blade in her prosthetic hand.

Millicent proactively said in a low voice: "There was a Goblin hiding in a place we didn't notice behind us, but it was sleeping and didn't notice us. I went and dealt with it."

Tarnes nodded and quietly blamed himself: "My fault. I made the same old mistake again, only thinking about backstabbing the enemy in front while not noticing the one hiding nearby."

Millicent smiled and shook her head: "This is exactly how I can help you. Don't feel guilty."

Tarnes looked around the rugged rock passage again: "Even so, the terrain here is too complex for us. This Goblin I killed should have been distracted by Thorin, Igon, and the others who suddenly fell in, which is why it wasn't looking toward the entrance."

While speaking, he heightened his vigilance and continued creeping downward.

As Tarnes and Millicent went deeper into the cave, the space suddenly opened up.

Torches dotted the rock walls like a starry river, flames flickering and illuminating every sinister texture of the rocks.

Each rock was connected to others by crude suspension bridges built by these Goblins, and currently large numbers of Goblins were crawling from all directions toward one location.

Tarnes vigilantly observed his surroundings, his gaze falling on the Goblins shuttling between the suspension bridges.

These creatures were small in stature with fierce faces, eyes glinting with evil light, teeth sharp as knives, eye sockets deeply sunken, and eyebrows as coarse as brushes.

They held crude weapons in their hands, their laughter sharp and piercing, mixed with the cave's echoes.

Normal people seeing so many Goblins and hearing these sounds would feel particularly unsettled.

Unfortunately, neither Tarnes nor Millicent was a normal person. Such a scene wasn't enough to frighten them.

Under the firelight, the climbing Goblins looked like they were weaving dark webs.

Tarnes gripped his sword hilt tightly. He noticed the Goblins moving agilely between the rock walls, communicating with each other in a coarse, hoarse language.

Looking at the Goblins densely packed like they filled the entire cave in the distance, Millicent said in surprise: "Just how many Goblins are there?"

Tarnes shook his head. They no longer needed to deliberately lower their voices since the Goblins were making much more noise.

He replied: "Not sure, but the one thing we can confirm is that Thorin and the others made quite a commotion to attract so many Goblins. From their expressions, these Goblins seem unusually angry for some reason."

Tarnes raised his hand, pointing toward where the Goblins were surging. Faintly, dragon roars could be heard from that direction.

Millicent speculated: "Maybe Igon and the others killed someone very important to these Goblins?"

Tarnes nodded and moved toward that direction: "That's possible. We need to go help. There are simply too many Goblins. Even if Igon uses dragon communion incantations, he won't be able to kill all these creatures even if he exhausts his magical power."

Millicent followed closely behind with light steps.

Several minutes earlier.

"Woahhhhh!"

Amid the Dwarves' screams, they slid down from the deep pit and landed on a relatively flat, large rock.

"Oof!"

The fattest, Bombur, was the last to crash down, landing on the other Dwarves and making them all groan without exception.

Bofur struggled to push Bombur off himself: "I think you really need to go on a diet... Bombur."

But before he finished speaking, Igon's figure appeared in his sight, making Bofur show a terrified expression.

Being crushed by Bombur had already taken half his life, and if Igon landed on him too, Bofur felt he could go meet his deceased great-grandmother.

So he burst with amazing strength, rolled over to one side, revealing Dwalin and Fili underneath.

Dwalin and Fili: "?"

Of course, Igon didn't land directly on Dwalin and Fili, since he had jumped down voluntarily.

Igon continuously adjusted his posture along the stone wall and finally landed safely in the empty space on the rock where the Dwarves were.

Only then did Dwalin and Fili breathe a sigh of relief, as did Bofur.

However, before Bofur could say anything, Igon quickly pulled him up from the ground and dragged him aside.

"Swoosh!"

An arrow struck where Bofur had just been lying. The bone arrowhead sparked against the rock before falling into the abyss below.

Thorin stood up at this moment, looking at the Goblins suddenly appearing from various rock crevices and walls around them, and roared loudly: "Take up your weapons!"

Even the rock they were on had Goblins constantly emerging from below, climbing up the stone walls.

Igon drew his bow and shot an arrow, killing a Goblin charging toward them while observing the surroundings: "We can't stay in one place. We need to keep moving or we'll be overwhelmed by these creatures."

Thorin nodded and roared again: "Run!"

The Dwarves didn't hesitate and immediately started running after Thorin.

Seeing so many Goblins, they were quite intimidated.

When Bombur, the slowest runner, finally left the rock, he cast a grateful look at Igon.

Igon leaped up without hesitation and kicked out, sending a Goblin that had just emerged from the ground flying like a broken kite into the abyss below, then caught up with the Dwarves.

The Goblin's terrified screams echoed in the air before being mercilessly swallowed by the abyss.

Thorin used his Icerind Hatchet to clear the way. After killing several overconfident Goblins that charged up, he turned back and shouted loudly to Igon: "Where should we run now?"

Huh? You don't know where to run?

The other Dwarves widened their eyes, but their hands didn't slack off, using various methods to kill the Goblins crawling toward them from all directions.

For example, Balin, though he held a sword, could wield it like an axe. Each strike was like a heavy hammer blow, cutting down those Goblins bold enough to approach like harvesting wheat stalks.

Or Dwalin, who directly charged into the Goblin crowd with his robust body, like an indestructible warship smashing small boats. With a swing of his arm, Goblins flew into the distance like broken kites, falling straight into the abyss.

But as Igon had said, there were simply too many Goblins. No matter how many they killed, more Goblins would replace their fallen comrades.

The Dwarves had just experienced the ordeal with the stone giants and hadn't rested well yet. Their stamina was nearly exhausted.

They were basically relying on Dwarven natural stubbornness to endure the fatigue brought by physical exhaustion.

Igon pointed very clearly toward the largest rock in this underground kingdom: "Run there! That must be where the leader of these creatures is. Killing their leader will make them afraid!"

Thorin nodded, then enduring his body's fatigue, grimaced and ran toward the direction Igon pointed.

On the largest rock sat a fat Goblin as big as a Troll.

It also noticed these uninvited guests who had fallen into its kingdom, raised the sheep-head staff in its hand, and laughed loudly: "Haha, look who's here! A group of Dwarves and a human archer!"

Then its expression changed, pointing the sheep-head staff at Thorin and the others: "Capture them alive! Someone has put a bounty on a certain Dwarf's head. Let's see if any of these Dwarves is that bounty target, Thorin Oakenshield!"

After the Goblin King said all this, it began swaying its bloated body, its pimply, fat flesh undulating like waves as it started singing.

There was even a special Goblin band playing accompaniment with broken metal for their king!

"Crash, smash, tumbling down! Just happened into my domain!"

"Just happened into my domain!" The Goblins on the surrounding rock walls echoed the Goblin King's song, mocking the running Igon and Dwarves.

"Bump and thump and down you go, no way out down here below!" The Goblin King sang to the end, happily raising its sheep-head staff and pointing at Igon and the others who had gotten a bit closer, showing an ugly and sinister smile.

It laughed maniacally and shouted: "We don't want Dwarves, kill him, kill that human archer!"

Then the Goblin King suddenly felt a cool, painful sensation in its chest. The sheep-head staff slipped from its grasp as its entire bloated body collapsed to the ground.

The Goblin King looked down to see an arrow had precisely pierced its heart.

It opened its mouth slightly, raised its head, and felt its life force draining from its body.

The Goblin King looked at Igon and said: "Oh, I was just joking."

"Whoosh!"

Another arrow struck the Goblin King's heart again.

"Your archery is indeed impressive, but that's about enough."

"Whoosh."

Igon lowered his great bow and looked coldly at the Goblin King whose skull had been pierced by his arrow. As it fell backward, he shouted to the stunned Goblins around: "I've killed your leader! Those who don't want to die, get lost!"

Thorin and the others also stopped, panting heavily.

Kili wiped sweat from his face and looked around at the unusually quiet Goblins: "Are we safe?"

The next second, the Goblins suddenly erupted in noise, their sharp chittering nearly deafening the Dwarves.

Fili swallowed and answered his brother's question: "Uh, I think they seem even angrier?"

Thorin hadn't rested for long when he saw the rioting Goblins. He could only weakly and desperately shout again: "Keep running!"