The Balrog didn't speak. It looked at King Ghidorah's movements, at the coverage and speed of those golden light pillars, at the traces of melt that were still slowly cooling on the swept surface, and then turned to Sauron,
He spoke in a voice that was compressed at high temperatures and sounded like it was squeezed out from the depths of his throat and released from his chest, "You said before that they were just forces at the mortal level."
Sauron was silent for a moment. He admitted that after seeing the continuous effect of the golden beam, he had a new understanding of the resistance of this world.
The temperature of that energy beam is enough to melt rocks and soil into a flowing liquid in an instant, and its coverage is enough to clear an entire battlefield in a few breaths.
The scales and bones of the giant beast seemed to be able to withstand impacts far beyond the limits of ordinary creatures, and there were even signs that it was absorbing the residual energy in the bodies of the targets it destroyed.
But what made him really start to re-evaluate was his retreat.
The Earth Snake has completed a wide underground passage leading back to the mine tunnel from the outside of the camp, and the orc army is gradually retreating through that passage.
The entrance to the passage is behind a slope on the north side of the camp, not far from where Sauron and the Balrog are.
"I need the dragon," Sauron said.
Balrog didn't respond to him. He was already thinking about returning.
Sauron was not surprised by the Balrog's silence. He knew that Maia had always been good at getting what he wanted in war, and at this moment, his intentions no longer needed words to promote them.
Balrog turned to face Dragon, the flame that was entangled with Ehm, and sent out a short, high-temperature vibration signal from his mouth.
The crimson fire dragon that was biting and entangled with Ehm briefly turned its head when it heard the signal. Sauron saw that action, and the Balrog also saw it,
Then Balrog sent the signal again, this time the tone was more urgent and higher, with a command strength that could not be ignored.
Flame Dragon obviously hesitated after receiving the second signal, but it still began to escape from the entanglement with Ehm.
Ehm did not give the fire dragon any chance to retreat calmly.
Its dark red beam of light erupted from its mouth and hit the root of its right wing the moment the fire dragon turned around, burning through an irregular hole in that part of the wing membrane and the muscles below.
The fire dragon let out a deafening roar, and its body was temporarily unbalanced in the air. Then it forcibly adjusted its posture, tilted the angle of its wings to one side, and dived in the direction of Sauron and Balrog in a more inclined and unstable trajectory.
Ehm followed closely, trying to launch another round of attacks before the fire dragon broke away, but the fire dragon had already accelerated and dived to a low altitude, shortening the distance to the point where it could land quickly and use ground obstacles to block the pursuit.
It finally landed near the entrance of the passage on the northern slope of the camp. The moment its limbs touched the ground, it slid back a certain distance, and the dust raised covered the corpses of several orcs around it.
After its body landed on the ground, it immediately contracted into a defensive posture that was closer to a curled up, tucking the injured wing root inside its body while using its other wing on the ground as support.
Its neck was drooped, and other parts of its body maintained a standing posture while trembling continuously. The wounds on its wing membranes were still smoking, and dark red blood mixed with burned tissue fluid dripped onto the gravel on the ground.
Sauron and the Balrog had already entered the underground passage before the fire dragon landed.
The passage opened by the Earth Snake is wide enough to accommodate the Balrog and Sauron walking side by side. After being burned by the continuous high temperature, the passage wall presents a gray-white texture similar to the ceramic surface. There are some cooling and attached lava droplets at the top that are stretched into slender cones and hang from the top.
The slope of the passage went downwards, and the extending depth gradually increased as they advanced. The ground became darker and darker, and only the remaining warmth of the walls on both sides still gave off a dark red shimmer, forming a continuously extending, weak guiding line deep in the passage.
The fire dragon did not follow its owner into the passage after landing.
Its size was too large to pass through the passage opened by the earth snake, which was only large enough for the Balrog and Sauron to walk side by side.
It could only stay near the entrance of the passage, pressing its body as close to the ground as possible, covering its wounds with the remaining wing membranes, and remaining motionless amid continued blood loss and pain.
Ehm swooped down from the sky and circled above the fire dragon. Its dark red Dragonfire sprayed out from its mouth, covering the entrance to the passage and the surrounding ground with flames.
The fire dragon only let out a weak, obviously weak roar when the flames covered its body. Its body was no longer able to make effective dodge movements.
Ehm continued to spit out flames, burning the rocks around the entrance of the passage red, spreading downward along the cave wall, trying to pour the flames into the depths of the passage.
Those flames are guided upward by the ventilation airflow inside the channel and roll up along the wall of the channel, but they cannot penetrate very far into the channel.
Ehm stopped spraying after hovering outside the entrance of the channel for several times. It was unable to enter the channel itself and could only continue to cover the entrance area with Dragonfire on the periphery, burning the rocks at the entrance of the channel red, forming a continuous flame barrier that was almost impenetrable to outsiders.
King Ghidorah flew above the entrance of the passage after completing the cleanup of the remaining trolls and orc arrays in the camp.
After it landed, it first glanced at the entrance of the burning passage Ehm, then lowered its head and pointed its three heads in three directions. After confirming that there were no orcs still active on the ground, it turned to Redd.
Redd jumped from King Ghidorah's head to the ground and stood at the edge of the entrance to the passage.
There was continuous darkness inside the passage, and the flames spouted by Ehm were still burning on the inner wall of the entrance, illuminating the cave wall into a dark orange color unique to high-temperature burning.
The passage is only wide enough for two adults to pass sideways at the same time, and its depth cannot be estimated. The airflow from the inside carries a continuous heat and a sulfur smell pouring out from deeper.
Redd stood at the edge of the cave entrance and looked for a while, confirming that he could not enter this passage with King Ghidorah or Ehm. Even if he went down by himself, he would have to turn sideways and shrink his shoulders, unable to carry out any effective combat operations inside.
He turned around and walked towards the place where the fire dragon was still struggling after landing.
The fire dragon still stayed on the ground not far from the entrance of the passage. Its body had been covered by Ehm and Dragonfire. The scales on the surface were burned into dark scorch marks. The wounds on the wing membrane stopped bleeding after being burned by high temperature, but the blackened edges made its outline look like it had been charred and fixed into a rigid, immovable silhouette.
Its limbs stopped moving after the last struggle, its neck was leaning on the ground, and its eyes burning with faint light were gradually losing their brightness.