Tracking

On the Muya Continent, the elves’ vault was perhaps the place that preserved the most complete collection of historical artifacts from that world.

Josh was no archaeologist, and he was not particularly interested in such things. But every historical artifact possessed unique value. The most typical example was the stone Ilka had brought out during the Four Nations Invitation finals. That thing had once been used and collected by Akathosh.

Josh was not interested, but Akathosh was extremely interested in the place. Simply put, he hoped to recover more things that had once belonged to him.

Those things might not improve him much, but they could provide Josh with quite a bit of useful and valuable information, which would be very beneficial to Josh in the future.

Besides, bringing a profession that had already vanished from that world back onto the stage of history would be an immensely fulfilling accomplishment no matter how he looked at it.

Not to mention, it was an opportunity the Elf Empire could not afford to miss. Josh could practically guarantee that his territory would have plenty of dealings with the Elf Empire in the future.

That would be good for both his territory and his wallet. Josh would never pass up something that could further raise his territory’s profile while fattening his wallet.

After telling Bion to go to Rivendell and find Elrond and the others, and to say that Josh had sent him when he met Elrond, then have Elrond teach him how to cultivate Battle Qi, Josh mounted Hosdena and left the plains. As for Bion’s bewildered expression upon hearing the name Rivendell, Josh could not be bothered to care anymore.

Of course Bion was bewildered. When Legolas said Josh was the Elf King, he had not thought too much of it. But when he heard the name Rivendell, he could no longer remain calm.

What kind of place was Rivendell? There were probably very few people in Middle-earth who did not know of it!

Josh was the Elf King of Rivendell? Bion’s face was full of disbelief. He even suspected that this fellow named Josh was deceiving him, but he had no choice but to steel himself and head in Rivendell’s direction.

"I never expected so much to happen after I left Kamacia. Druids? Through special magical rituals, they merge their bodies with Warcraft and can freely switch between the forms of two creatures. How great and incredible."

Lying on Josh’s shoulder, Akathosh spoke with emotion. He had already learned what Druids were from Josh’s memories, and he also understood why Josh wanted to help a race born with such abilities. He did not care about that, though. He simply found this miraculous race incredible.

"There are too many incredible things. Otherwise, in the world where you ended up, aside from those low-level spells, would there have been so many things made of steel that could fly through the sky and burrow into the ground?"

"Those are not all that strange. I grew accustomed to them long ago through your memories. What surprises me more is that some worlds can allow magic and these things called technology to coexist. Forget it, enough of that. What are you planning to do next?"

"Of course, I’m going to see whether those dwarves have been swallowed by spiders. If their luck is that bad, anyway."

"You can look for the ring inside the spiders’ stomachs too, right?"

"That’s right! And I can study these things while I’m at it."

Josh stated his thoughts without the slightest hesitation. He truly did not care whether those dwarves lived or died, though it would be a pity if anything happened to that Hobbit.

Of course, Josh did not think they were really doomed. If they were gone, especially Bilbo, there probably would not be any Fellowship of the Ring in the future.

Josh truly did not want that to happen. Although he knew that with the Elf Empire developing like this, the Fellowship of the Ring was no longer quite so necessary, he still wanted to see their performance. It would also let him relive the things that had once made his blood boil.

It did not take long for them to reach Mirkwood at Hosdena’s incredible speed. However, in order to better search for the dwarves’ trail, Josh and the others decided to enter Mirkwood and take a look.

After all, this was Legolas’s home. Josh and the others were not afraid of getting lost inside, and they did not care about those corrupted giant spiders either. They could simply clear out those annoying vermin along the way.

This forest could be considered part of the rising Elf Empire in the future. Josh was merely helping clean up the trash in his own territory.

That trash was neither powerful nor particularly difficult to deal with. It was just disgusting enough, and it had caused enormous damage to the environment here.

"Even though it makes perfect sense, why do I always feel like a janitor? It’s really annoying."

Josh stroked his chin, then directly handed the cleanup task to Legolas. Clearing out those spiders was easy enough anyway. Legolas had led a team and killed a whole lot of them before, and since this counted as a routine task, there was no problem letting him handle it.

The facts proved that after cultivating the mysterious power known as Battle Qi, Legolas’s combat strength had improved by far more than a little. Problems that had once required him to lead a team could now be solved by him alone, and he did not even feel like he had used his full strength. Even if there were more spiders, they would not be a problem!

"I have to say, this place is really dark. Legolas, how did you get used to living here?"

After spending less than half a day in Mirkwood, Josh was already finding it unbearable.

The atmosphere here was indeed rather intolerable. It felt like one of those forests from fairy tales where witches lived. Although Josh and the others would not be affected by these things, their senses still found the place rather unpleasant.

"This place does not affect our vision, and it is where we were born. We grew accustomed to this environment long ago." Legolas answered Josh’s question seriously.

"All right, then. Have you found any traces of the dwarves?"

"I found some. It seems their luck was good, and they had no problems. They do not seem to have been affected by the river water, nor were they eaten by spiders. Instead, they killed quite a few spiders."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. The spiders’ wounds are very clean, and they were killed in one strike. It looks as though they were ambushed. They should have a very formidable assassin or someone similar among them. Otherwise, they could not have accomplished this."

After hearing Legolas’s description, Josh nodded. It seemed these dwarves really were lucky.

Although they had lost the elves’ help from the original story and had separated from Gandalf here just as they had in the original, Bilbo had still obtained the ring and cleverly used its power to help the dwarves avoid the misfortune of being wiped out.

As for how they found an exit in this forest shrouded in magic, that was even simpler. As long as someone climbed to the top of a tree to determine their position and came into contact with sunlight, the effects of the magic could be dispelled, allowing them to find a way out.

Josh was not worried that they could not manage even that, especially with Bilbo the Hobbit among them. That would make everything even easier.

"Your Majesty Josh, I think we need to pick up the pace. Since we all went to Rivendell, the elves stationed in the forest have not cleared out these spiders recently. I examined the tracks, and they seem to have left the forest only a short while ago. We only need to move faster to catch up with them."

"Is that so? It seems their luck is pretty average after all."

It seemed there had still been some changes to the plot. At the very least, these dwarves had not been lucky enough to spend only a short time in this forest before being captured in the elf city, then escaping with Bilbo’s help. This time, who knew whether they could pull it off.

"It looks like we need to catch up quickly, or it’ll be too late for everything."

Josh nodded. Then magic surged through his entire body, and a silvery-white halo accompanied by all sorts of strange runes appeared before everyone.

If he released Hosdena inside this forest, it would probably tear a huge gap through the woods. Josh figured it would be better to use teleportation magic to travel himself.

Although Josh could not accurately determine the direction himself, he had Legolas at his side. With Legolas’s help, he could quickly find the direction he needed.

Besides, Josh’s requirements were not high. He only needed to teleport them onto flat ground, which would at least ensure they did not end up stuck inside a wall.

"Everyone, get in. This forest may not be a problem for us, but I really don’t like the environment here. Legolas, help me determine the direction. We’re leaving the forest immediately."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

It was his first time experiencing teleportation magic. Even as a ranger, since he had no idea what effects he would feel, Legolas was spectacularly caught off guard.

Fortunately, he was a ranger, and his sense of balance was quite good. At the very least, he did not throw up from the effects of the teleportation.

Still, the experience was enough to leave him dumbfounded. One moment they had been inside the forest, and the next he discovered that they had already arrived at the place outside the forest he had indicated. He found it extraordinarily unbelievable. He had never even heard of such magic.

After resting briefly, Legolas quickly recovered. However, he also noticed that Josh and the others seemed to have discovered something, so he hurried over and examined it closely.

He found signs of battle here, as well as many Orc corpses nearby.

"These corpses have been dead for about two days. They also bear marks from blunt weapons. The attacks were mostly aimed at the chest and abdomen, which suggests that the attackers were not tall. They should have been dwarves, no mistake about it. Josh, it seems we didn’t take the wrong direction."

Natasha crouched down and conducted a brief examination before quickly reaching her conclusion. Josh nodded. It seemed his luck really was good. They had not even taken the wrong path, as though even the heavens wanted Josh to find them.

Josh slowly closed his eyes, and magic surged through him once more.

Josh could not use mental power to scan an entire area, but he could use magic to achieve something similar. However, magic could only detect things that possessed magic themselves.

The most obvious example was those Orcs. How could Josh possibly fail to sense the Dark Magic fluctuations on them?

Now that Josh knew the dwarves were being hunted, he believed that as long as he found the Orcs, he could find the dwarves.

Very quickly, Josh discovered something. A group of Orcs was converging on a certain location, and the Orcs were already extremely close together. That meant they had most likely found the dwarves and were now joining forces to surround and capture them.

"It’s time to move, guys. I found the Orcs’ location. It seems those dwarves aren’t having much luck."

Wow, it actually didn’t upload—sorry, sorry. I finished it a long time ago.