Chapter 379 Welcome back
Hiss——
The roar of a ferocious beast resounded through the air. A Ringwraith hovered over the territory of Rohan, suddenly stopped at a certain place, and slowly fell down.
"I can feel the breath of those humans, and their souls."
A large army just passed by, heading towards... Helm's Deep.
The Ringwraiths cannot see, but they have another perspective to perceive the world. They can perceive traces of the souls of the living in the world of the dead.
Reinforcements from Edoras, the capital of Rohan, entered Helm's Deep, where there was only one place suitable for garrison and defense, the Hornburg.
However, it's still manageable.
The number of reinforcements would not exceed two thousand, which was about the same as the number of defenders at the Isen River Ferry seen before. The total number of Rohan soldiers currently guarding the Hornburg would not reach four thousand.
In any case, twenty thousand versus four thousand, the advantage is on me.
The Ringwraiths once again mounted the ferocious beasts and gave an order in the sky.
The army marched quickly, only a step slower to catch up with the reinforcements, heading straight for Helm's Deep.
The two sides nervously competed for opportunity.
At dusk, the Rohan reinforcements and four members of the Fellowship of the Ring arrived at the Hornburg first.
Theoden successfully met with Theoded, and the father and son were in a conference room together to discuss the current situation.
"I failed to hold the ferry, father."
"It's not your fault."
Théoden looked at his son, his only child, his only son, and chose to forgive.
"If you want to hold on in this situation, you have to have someone who can fight ten thousand at once, or everyone in the army can fight ten at once."
"Retreating to the deep valley was the right choice, which saved us some losses."
"As for those enemies whose end seems in sight..."
"Just let them come."
Theoden showed no fear of the upcoming 20,000 elite troops.
"The defense of Hornburg is extremely solid. No matter how many of them come, they will just be like water hitting rocks and will only disperse themselves."
"Father, the orcs in that army are much stronger than ordinary orcs. I know this very well."
Theodjed didn't seem very optimistic.
In the corner of the meeting room, Gimli heard this and added: "They are not the noisy Orcs, but the Uruk-kin, with thick armor and large shields..."
"I am also a veteran of many battles, Master Dwarf."
Theoden said forcefully, "How could I not know what you are talking about?"
"But our only option is to fight to the death."
"If this is our end, let it be epic and memorable."
On the other side, Aragorn suddenly said: "We should ask for help."
"Send a messenger, your majesty."
"To whom?"
Théoden looked from Aragorn to Legolas and Gimli and said, "Elves, or dwarves?"
“Who would be willing to go out into the army?”
"The Free Cities, they will be willing."
"The Free Cities..."
Theoden muttered to himself with a complicated expression.
"They are indeed very good allies. If it were in the past, I believe they would not sit idly by. But haven't you heard the recent rumors? Levi was plotted against by the Dark Lord and has been out of touch in the Northern Wasteland for a long time. The elves asserted that he is no longer in this world. The enraged Free Cities gathered all their forces and headed to the North and South Rivers to confront the Black Gate, but they did not attack because there are far more than a hundred thousand troops inside Mordor."
"They are holding onto more than half of Mordor's army and allies, and it is difficult for them to take care of this side at this moment."
"Besides, it's a long way from the Black Gate to here. How can they make it in time?"
"As for Gondor, let alone, you know that before I learned that a large army was attacking Helm's Deep, I was considering whether to take the initiative to support Gondor. After all, they did not light the beacon fire, and the prime minister lacked trust in Rohan."
Hearing this, Boromir hesitated to speak, but shook his head and said nothing.
This matter is very complicated.
"We can no longer muster more men. Éomer and the cavalry stationed in the East Mark cannot be transferred. Otherwise, if the east is lost, we will not only face the Dunlendings of Isengard and the mighty army of Uruk, but Mordor will also be attracted."
"That's when there will be real despair, and there will be no way out."
Taking a deep breath to relieve the suffocation in his neck, Theoden suddenly looked left and right and asked, "Where is Gandalf? Has he left?"
"He left halfway."
"Where did he go?"
"To the west, he ventured further west to the crossing of the Isen River, presumably heading for the Water City."
"Okay." Theoden nodded.
"His intentions are good, but I don't expect anyone to come unless..."
"unless?"
"Unless he can get Levi back from beyond the world."
"That's hard to say."
"Give up your illusions, Lord Aragorn."
"We can only fight alone."
After saying this, Theoden sighed slightly and walked towards the city wall without looking back.
"Let all those who can still fight take up arms!"
Amid the intense preparations, the night arrived as not everyone expected.
…
"Who are you?"
"Your eyes are blurry and you can't recognize who I am?"
Not far to the west of the Isen River, the white-robed wizard Gandalf, riding Shadowfax, the king of all horses, ran head-on into a silver-white army.
While he was astonished, Gandalf felt more delighted.
Before he could ask for help, the Free City actually took the initiative to send troops? Then he found the person who was leading the group, and then the following conversation took place.
"My eyes are fine, Levi, I just want to ask, are you still you?"
"Am I still myself?" Levi was really amused by this question.
"You ask such a question, then I ask you, are you still you?"
Gandalf nodded and said, "Of course I am."
"Then I am me too."
"Are you really you?" Gandalf asked doubtfully.
Levi affirmed: "When you are no longer you, I will still be me."
The soldiers who heard the conversation between the two were sweating.
As soon as the two met, they started mumbling a bunch of incomprehensible riddles, and everyone who heard them was confused and had no idea what they were talking about.
"Don't speculate. What our leaders said must have a profound meaning. Maybe they were discussing philosophical questions about 'self'."
“The discussion about ‘who am I’ has always been quite profound.”
Someone found an explanation for Levi's exchange with Gandalf.
"Who are you?" Gandalf was really confused.
"It's different than anything you could imagine."
Levi shook his head.
"Perhaps you will know part of it when your mission is completed."
"But I can tell you for sure that the 'I' now is all of me, without any reduction, forgetfulness or incompleteness. I am Levi, and Levi is me. I am not any other existence, nor do I have any other name."
"Okay, I see."
"That's good to know."
Levi smiled and said, "But no matter who I am, one thing is certain."
"What?"
"We're still friends, right?"
Gandalf opened his eyes, raised his eyebrows, and revealed a genuine smile.
"Oh, that's right, why bother so much, my friend."
"Welcome back."
"The same to you."
(End of this chapter)
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