The Lord of the Rings: Lords of Middle-earth.

Chapter 918 The shady story!

"..." Roland's pupils contracted. Although he had guessed that Doss would be the leader of the dragon race in the Middle Earth, he did not expect the bloodline bonus to be so exaggerated, that he would be a dragon emperor from birth.

“This reverse scale contains a wisp of my essence and soul. With it, you can command all the ice dragons…!” Asata whispered.

"I left the Dragon King's spiritual imprint inside, and it will convey my will to every ice dragon you encounter! This way, you won't have to worry about them reporting you to Dragon Island and bringing disaster upon you! Not every Dragon King is as understanding as I am!" Asata boasted. With his reverse scale, all ice dragons would greet their ancestor with auspicious greetings! And when they saw Roland, they would kowtow and respectfully address him as the first "Baturu" of the human race!

"Of course I won't take away your rights as a dragon knight! As a condition of the deal, I need you to help me find something deep in the Gray Mountains. If you can, please help him as much as possible. Don't worry about not finding it. When you enter the Gray Mountains, my Reverse Scale will guide you..." Asata's voice was somewhat timid and melancholy. His eyes seemed to hold stars as he looked at Roland with hope in his eyes.

"Okay! I promise you!" Roland nodded, knowing perfectly well that a system task was about to be triggered!

"Ding! Congratulations, host, for witnessing a world wonder: The Dragon King falls, and all things come to life! Reward: Honor Points +10!" The system's calm voice rang in Roland's mind.

“Asata…” Dos began, preparing to say something.

"What's going on?" Roland wasn't panicked as he stared at the massive body that had crumbled into scattered fragments of light, but the trembling and shattering of the entire world threw him into a panic. After all, the spatial rift was quite obvious! Fun fact: The soul can be damaged by space!

"Oh no, this place is going to collapse! Doss..." Roland reached out to grab his dragon, but felt himself plummeting rapidly. Then everything went black, and he felt as if he were falling into an endless void!

……

"Doss!" Roland exclaimed suddenly, only to be met with Long Xi's bewildered gaze.

"Your Majesty..." Fenglin Youlan said anxiously, looking at Roland whose mental state had suddenly changed, after all, he had also been pulled into the consciousness space by Asata.

"Uh...it's alright!" Roland put away the Reverse Scale, shaking his head to himself. Doss had just told him that it was all true, and Asata was completely annihilated! There was no longer any trace of Asata's soul on this Reverse Scale...

"It seems you've already made a deal with Senior Asata!" Long Xi understood just by looking at Roland's state; clearly, that old man Asata had been dragged into his mental space by someone else again!

"Yes, but the terms of the deal have changed. By the way, did Asata tell you anything about those chess players?" Roland suddenly remembered that Long Xi had given him this dragon scale, so she must have communicated with Asata and must know something.

"Senior Asata only had some guesses, but we don't know who exactly was behind it. The Dragon God must have had some foreshadowing, but we know nothing about the gods. We can only guess that it was done by those gods who didn't fall back then!" Long Xi shook his head.

"Which gods are left from back then?" Roland narrowed his eyes. The waters of the Middle-earth were getting increasingly murky! He'd have to be even more careful if he wanted to take advantage of the situation!

"I know nothing about that, but I do know that Sauron is definitely a piece in the gods' game!" Long Xi shook his head. Ragnarok had claimed too many gods, and most of the remaining gods were hiding in secrecy, so it was impossible to count how many survivors there were. "Then, if I may be so bold, are there no survivors among the Dragon God's allies?" Roland's eyelids twitched as he asked. Although the probability was extremely low, Roland still wanted to ask.

“I think His Majesty Doss knows the answer better than I do! Your Majesty King Roland!” Long Xi said respectfully.

"It's a pity, Roland, I'm afraid there are no surviving divine allies..." Doss sighed. After all, those allies were eventually wiped out by the dragons, achieving the true Ragnarok! The dragons may have countless enemies, but they can definitely count how many allies they have. Backstabbing them is a piece of cake for them... How could any escape?

“That’s not right! Morgoth and Sauron have always been the opposite of the gods. How could they be willing to become pawns of the gods?” Roland frowned. In the worldviews of novels, games, and movies, Sauron and his predecessor Morgoth have always been intolerable to the gods. How could they be willing to become the gods’ henchmen and backup plans after Ragnarok?

"Gods gain power through faith..." Dos explained to Roland.

"Hmm? Wait a minute? The power of faith? You mean the gods rely on the power of faith to maintain their power?" Roland seemed to have grasped a key point.

"You said if the power of faith is enough... is it possible for the gods to be resurrected?" Roland looked at Dos with a hint of fear in his eyes. After all, in this worldview, it was obvious what would happen to the human kingdoms that had colluded with the dragons and were in cahoots with them if the gods were to be resurrected.

"Possibly! Divine positions are shaped by the power of faith!" This is why the birth of the Dragon God is so significant! Apart from the nature deities, all other gods are born through faith, but the Dragon God was born before the dragon race! This is the fundamental reason why he is incompatible with the other gods, or rather, the Dragon God's power system originates from both his own power and the power of faith! This is an existence that terrifies the other gods!

"The power of faith must have accumulated quite a bit over the years, right?" Roland's eyes narrowed as he began to ponder the deeper secrets behind it all. The Battle of the Lonely Mountain in Middle-earth within this worldview hadn't changed! But the outcome was much better; at least Thorin was still alive! The War of the Ring would probably still happen! So, was there a deeper meaning behind all this?

Roland suddenly realized a terrifying possibility: in the original story, Gandalf was a Maiar under the Valar, a fellow god! But in this world, Gandalf was just an ordinary righteous wizard. So what was the point of his expedition to the Lonely Mountain? Unless he was a messenger for the gods, traveling among mortals to gather faith! The reconquest of the Lonely Mountain reunited the dwarves, who worshipped their ancestor Durin and his king! So if Thorin truly died on Ravenhill as history has it, would the vast faith of the dwarves really reach their ancestor Durin? Don't forget, Durin died but didn't become a god! Those vast, unsourced faiths…

Similarly, the War of the Ring might even have been a scheme orchestrated by the gods to collect faith! The harvest was of human faith! Even Sauron was a pawn in this game! Before this… Morgoth had already been used once!

“It seems that a change needs to be made in the War of the Ring! The king who carries the faith of mankind absolutely cannot die again! If he dies, who knows where that massive amount of faith will go!” Roland felt a chill in his heart.

“I mean, if the person who carries the faith dies, where will the power of faith go? Like me!” Roland pointed to himself.

"If one dies of old age, the faith will return to the flag of the nation; if one dies suddenly, the faith will dissipate... You mean?" Doss realized.

“I suspect the gods are collecting scattered faith power by causing the deaths of kings of various races… Look at history, there aren’t many kings who died of old age!” Roland said with a dark face.

I'm back, family! Four days! Four days in bed! Vomiting, diarrhea, and a persistent high fever! I'm finally alive again!