Not everyone in Middle-earth can afford to have a nickname, in fact, it's pretty rare.

You can't just give yourself a nickname and then have to be admitted by someone else, it's a serious thing, like a traveler, or a wizard, these are not nicknames, they are just professions, and they are not put after the name as a surname.

Townsend Traveler?

No one would call it that.

But the Oak Shield, or Mithril Hammer, will become a nickname that will follow people for the rest of their lives, and when the story of this place spreads, people will know that this person is called Shalin Mithril Hammer.

With a giant hammer, she led a formation of more than 20 dwarves to cut through an army of thousands of Orcs, spiders, wolves, and trolls, fighting from noon to dusk, killing countless enemies, covered in blood, and not retreating.

There is no doubt that she is the hero of the Dwarves of Durin.

Even humans, or elves, have to admit her deeds, she can meet any king directly, and even receive courtesy, this is fame, and like blood, it occupies an extremely important social position in Middle-earth.

"Hey, I love the nickname." Shalin rubbed the blood-stained Mithril Hammer, her face covered with her visor, but Townsend could feel her pleasure.

"Unfortunately, this Mithril hammer doesn't belong to me yet."

"It's yours now." Tang Sen said directly.

"Really?" Sarin almost jumped up.

"You deserve it all, and, starting tomorrow, things may be different." Tang Sen didn't say much, just said: "Now is not the time for small talk, the sun is about to set, we have to climb up." ”

In fact, the Orcs have not stopped attacking, although most of them are exhausted, they do not have the curse of immortality, but the command from the depths of their souls keeps them from stopping.

The stairs up the hill were too narrow, only shoulder-width apart, and the formation naturally couldn't continue, Thorin walked at the front, leaving Townsend sandwiched in the middle, while Salin stayed at the end to fend off the Orcs, and she didn't climb the stairs until the last dwarf went up the stairs.

The huge Mithril Hammer couldn't be used on top of the stairs, so she could only hold the hammer sideways, relying on the Mithril armor to withstand the attacks of the Orcs who poured up the stairs.

The giant spiders finally had a stage to play, spitting silk, crawling on top of the giant sculptures, and even laying cobwebs in front of the stairs in an attempt to stop the procession.

Thorin chopped through the spider silk without saying a word, and he had to show his strength to maintain his position that was nearly taken away by Sharin.

"Traveler, be careful!"

At this moment, Shalda, who was guarding next to Tang Sen, exclaimed, only to see a black shadow covering the sunset, and the three fierce beasts pounced again, this time, Tang Sen was no longer in the encirclement of the dwarves, only two dwarves in front and behind him could block the fierce beasts, but they still let a fierce beast get close.

The beast's claws grabbed directly at Tang Sen.

Towne's heart was beating faster, but he still made the best decision, he stubbornly pressed against the rock wall next to the stairs, then crouched, huddled in a ball, and aimed the spiked side of his armor at the beast.

The beast grabbed Townsend without question, the force of the impact causing Townsend to slam his back against the rock wall, followed by a scream that almost tore his eardrums, and the claws had nowhere to focus before retreating from the stab wound from the spikes.

"Wow! It must have hurt a lot! ”

Sharda was shocked and then relieved, he was really afraid that Townsend would be captured at the last moment, so that all the efforts of the dwarves would be in vain.

"It's good that the traveler had the foresight to change into such a strange armor."

Tang Sen was not in such a good mood to laugh, he looked at the sky, and there were more small black dots flying over.

"More beasts are coming! We need to speed up, it's too dangerous up the stairs! ”

It's not always possible to have such good luck dodging the beasts, the effect of the spike armor is only to catch you off guard, and if the beasts want to capture themselves regardless of their injuries, then the spikes are meaningless.

Obviously, the beasts don't do it.

"Speed up!" The dwarves also realized this and yelled ahead.

But the speed didn't come up, and although Thorin had done his best, the dwarves couldn't help but get anxious because of the obstacles caused by the spiders.

There is a contrast to everything, and the dwarves will unconsciously think that if the Mithril Hammer had opened the way ahead, it would definitely do a better job than the Oak Shield, right?

No matter how anxious it was, the team was still climbing upwards at a not fast speed, and those fierce beasts had already flown closer.

Five, no, six beasts, plus the three that were already there, this is almost most of the beasts in Mordor, they have flown all the way from Mordor just to bring the One Ring back, and this is their best chance.

Multiple terrible screams rang out, and the beasts attacked overwhelmingly.

"Unstoppable!" Shalda's face was pale under his visor, he really didn't have the confidence to protect Tang Sen under the repeated attacks of so many fierce beasts.

Tang Sen's heart was also cold, he had made all the preparations he could, but the timing of the attack of these fierce beasts was too coincidental, and it happened to be stuck at the node of the landing ladder for everyone.

At this moment, there was a sudden swishing sound of breaking the sky, and the fierce beast that had almost touched Tang Sen crooked its neck and slammed directly into the rock wall.

An arrow pierced its side neck.

"It's an elf!"

A dwarf shouted excitedly, and Tang Sen looked down in shock, only to see a group of elves in golden armor and red cloaks outside the dense group of oaks, bending their bows and shooting at the fierce beasts on the rock wall.

While the dwarves were fighting, they were not idle, constantly trying to lure the Orcs away, but the Orc's goal was Townsend after all, and most of the dark army was drawn back by the dwarves.

But instead of taking the opportunity to leave, the elves followed the Orcs to the rescue.

The elves' precise arrows were effective in alleviating the precarious situation, but the beasts did not want to give up, these dark creatures were not without intelligence, and they could see that they would not allow the dwarven team to make it out of the stairs.

So, braving a hail of arrows, they attacked again.

"The road ahead is clear!" Thorin roared as he finally took the last step of the stairs and reached the wide platform on the edge of the cliff.

The dwarves in the rear hurriedly followed, but Tang Sen in the center of the line was obviously too late, and those fierce beasts were close at hand.

The dwarves even threw out their weapons in an attempt to hinder the beast's attack, which did work, but it didn't last long, and was finally attacked by a beast in front of Tang Sen.

Tang Sen gritted his teeth and forced himself to calm down, constantly recalling the swordsmanship given to him by Tom in the previous world, and at the moment when the beast approached, the bayonet sword in his hand stabbed the beast's neck fiercely.

The blade of the sword struck against the thick skin of the fierce beast, and Tang Sen only felt a shock in his hand, and his strength unconsciously crooked.

Wow –

The blade grazed the beast's neck, leaving a wound, bloody, but not fatal.

"Oops!"

Tang Sen didn't have time to think more, a pair of sharp claws had already grabbed Tang Sen, the spikes on the armor pierced deep into the claws, and the fierce beast let out a miserable cry, but did not let go of Tang Sen, but spread his wings, ready to take Tang Sen away from the stairs.

At this time, everyone was close to a hundred meters from the ground, and all the dwarves felt a chill in their hearts when they saw this scene.

"No!" Thorin let out a roar of rage, he could predict that the dwarven journey would come to naught, that they would be utterly defeated at the gates of Erebo, and that the dwarven king, the lord of the mountain, and the monstrous wealth of Erebo would no longer have anything to do with him.

So he threw the axe in his hand, but in his rage, the axe grazed the body of the beast and fell.

Then he watched as the traveler's feet left the stairs, ready to be carried into the air by the beast.

For a moment, despair gripped the dwarves.

At this moment, a silver-white figure suddenly jumped out from the top of the stairs, and she almost crossed a distance of nearly five meters, accurately hugging the neck of the fierce beast and hanging on its body.

It was Shalin, the dwarf who had always stepped on the earth, put down her Mithril hammer and threw herself into the sky in a gesture of forgetting her life.

The iron fist slammed into the beast's wound, and the beast whimpered and frantically shook its neck to shake the unexpected guest off, but Shalin strangled it and even rolled over on top of the beast.

"Sharin!"

The dwarves shouted, but they couldn't reach the beasts that flew in the sky.

As the last rays of the setting sun faded, they watched as the ferocious beast, driven frantic by the pain, spread its wings and fly upwards.

"We've got to find a way to save them!" Sharda yelled, "Thorin, think of a way! ”

"Nope! We're out of time! Thorin ignored him, and searched the rock face as fast as he could, "They are not saved, and the only thing we can do now is to find the door to Erebo." ”

"The last light of the day of Turin will shine on the keyhole!"

He muttered like a madman, "Where? The sunset is almost gone, where the hell is the keyhole? ”

"Thorin!" Shalda shouted angrily, "Shalin has been captured!" Travelers were also captured! Now is not the time to do such a thing! ”

"We've got to find something to throw and smash that thing down, they're immortal, they're not going to be killed!"

"Shut up!" Thorin turned his head sharply, and the tone of voice through the visor made the dwarves tremble, "There's no time to waste!" ”

"Are they more important than Erebo's wealth?"

"Hurry up and find the keyhole, we've come so far, just for this moment, we must not fail because of these stupid little things!"

The dwarves remained motionless, their eyes staring at their king in disbelief.

And the sunset finally fell completely.

The light was gone.

(End of chapter)