The Collection of The End

——Third Age, 3018, October 8——

"Well."

Gandalf groaned and slowly opened his eyes.

one eye.

The other one is still swollen and cannot be opened.

The gray-robed wizard looked at the blue-black steel in front of him with his barely open right eye. He thought for a few seconds and finally figured out that he was lying face down on the floor made of steel.

"This is... Isengard." He said with difficulty.

Isengard is translated from the Elvish language "Anglinost a". Its name means iron fortress, and it also means west guard tower.

It is the jurisdiction of Saruman, the current speaker of the White Council.

Thinking of this section, Gandalf's memory finally became smoother.

Saruman... after he came to inform Sauron of his resurrection and the emergence of the Lord of the Rings, not only did he not immediately contact other councilors to jointly fight against the enemy, but instead announced that he would be loyal to Sauron and build for him an army capable of conquering Middle-earth. army.

Unable to convince Saruman, Gandalf took action in anger, but was attacked by the opponent first, snatched away the staff, and knocked him unconscious with a heavy blow.

He was both Maiya, calculated mentally and unintentionally, and because he was in a favorable location, he did not lose unjustly.

Also because both parties were Maiya, he did not dare to kill himself, because that meant that the news of his rebellion would be immediately known to other Maiya and Valar.

Then, there is only one choice.

Gandalf stood up with difficulty and looked around.

He was at the top of a steel spire hundreds of meters high. There was no possibility of climbing down the steep steel wall.

Around this steel spire, there are countless green Occasions running busy among the blast furnaces, iron canals, forges and material storage areas. Further away, a large number of towering ancient trees are being knocked down, cut down, Burned into firewood.

The beautiful and verdant forest fortress that was originally located at the mouth of the Eshin River, covered with trees and grass, has changed beyond recognition. It is now a military fortress that continuously produces armor and weapons to provide equipment for the army of Mordor Orcs.

"What on earth do you want... Saruman?" Gandalf muttered to himself.

As the immortal Maia who was sent to Arda by the creator god Eruilúvatar, responsible for guiding the development of various races, Gandalf could not understand the meaning of gaining power and power in this world. First, Melkor, Then Sauron, and now Saruman.

If anything, it sounds like... a child who deliberately damages his parents' favorite artwork just to get attention?

Don't they know that there is also a punishment for getting the same reward?

Sauron has been wandering without his body for a long time, and Ilúvatar has no intention of calling him back. Saruman actually wants to follow in his footsteps.

So far, Ilúvatar is still interested in this world and will assign the Ainu around him to transform into Valar and Maiar to maintain its existence, but this is not a reason for them to act recklessly. If it goes too far, Ilúvatar decided to abandon the world and them, taking away all the other Valar and Maia, so that they could only wander in the ruins they had created forever.

Although it once again confirmed the legitimacy of Saruman's surrender to Sauron, it did not help Gandalf's current situation.

When Maia enters the world, her own strength will be reduced to a suitable level that will not have a bad impact on the world. As the "synchronization" with the world increases, her strength will gradually be unlocked. In other words, if there is Maia enters the world in the form of an animal, such as Juan, who will always remain a hound and cannot become a human or elf.

For Gandalf, the limitation of this is that...as a "grey wizard", he cannot fly.

As for jumping... Although after Maia dies due to various reasons, the soul will be picked up by Ilúvatar, but this takes time. After all, he cannot pay attention to every Maia at all times. Before that, Saruman He must be happy to have his soul sealed away to prevent his plot from being revealed.

Therefore, the only way now is to use "communication animals" and ask some flying creatures to ask for help from Gwaihir in the form of a giant eagle, so that he can pick him up from this prison in the sky.

But... in an environment like Isengard where the creation of war weapons is in full swing, a slightly smarter flying creature would definitely stay away.

——

Zhizhi!

"Bat..." Gandalf looked at the small black animal in his hand and frowned: "Is it really not going to be eaten casually by the giant eagle family? No, I should say, if you don't have eyesight, how can you catch it? Getting to the giant eagle's habitat is a problem, but..."

Gandalf looked beneath the iron spire.

In just a few days, Saruman's weapons manufacturing factory has grown to a large scale. There is no trace of green anymore, only flames and steel, and an increasingly large Orc army.

Although these green-faced and fanged monsters have no military discipline at all, their numerical superiority and thick-skinned bodies are enough to overwhelm conventional battle groups - such as the regular armies of Gondor and Rohan. As for those belonging to Aragorn, , it’s hard to say.

"If you continue to hesitate, Gondor, who is unprepared for this 'rebellion', is likely to be defeated instantly." Gandalf shook his head: "Let it try first, but you can't place all your hopes on it."

Gandalf's hand holding the bat glowed with bursts of white light, and the originally dark bat gradually "dyed white" in this white light.

"Go, go to the territory of the giant eagle and tell the leader there that Gandalf the Gray needs help." Gandalf raised his hand and threw the "white bat" high.

Chi Chi!

The white bat circled twice in the air, preparing to fly to the east, but was swallowed by a huge mouth.

Huh-huh-

With the sound of flapping wings accompanied by strong wind, a huge shadow immediately appeared on the top of the tower, but because it was too far from the ground, the flames of the weapons factory could not completely illuminate its appearance.

Phew...buzz.

The huge shadow quickly shrunk, and then a little hobbit girl with short horns on her head landed on the top of the steel spire.

"Gandalf" she raised her hand and greeted the gray robe wizard who was hugging the pillar tightly to avoid being blown away: "I'm coming."

"Hehehe..." Gandalf flicked his robe, covered his unswollen eyes and stood up: "Why are you here?"

"I ate all the war elephants," the little girl said. "I was about to go back to the Shire to find Baggins. I saw it was quite lively here, so I came to take a look."

"You came just in time," Gandalf nodded: "Please go to Guan He and ask him to send a giant eagle to rescue me. After that, I will decide to send a giant eagle to you."

"Giant Eagle!" Sophie's eyes shone, she nodded repeatedly, turned around and jumped off the steel spire, then turned into a red dragon and soared into the sky.

"In this case, there will be no problem in calling for help. Then we just need to find a way to defeat the Orc army here..."

Gandalf looked up and watched the dragon's figure disappear into the sky. He thought for a moment and suddenly raised his hands to cover his face:

"……I am silly."