Chapter 262: The Power of Sword and Magic Unleashed
"What?!"
Sauron had clearly taken a step back to dodge the attack, yet suddenly a line of blood burst from his neck, causing his eyes to widen in shock.
What was more alarming was that this wasn't an ordinary wound. Normally, such a wound would heal in seconds, but not only did this one not heal—it continued to bleed profusely.
"An attack imbued with curse power? You think that works on this Demon King?"
As a well-versed Maia, Sauron quickly realized that the attack wasn't just a normal physical strike but a special magical one carrying a negative curse effect.
However, he was a master in this field. Reaching to his neck, he drew upon his formidable dark power, which absorbed the curse and instantly healed the wound.
"This guy really is thick-skinned!"
At that moment, George's expression grew serious. The spell he had just cast—the Divine Edge Shadowless Curse—was delivered with full force and struck Sauron's neck directly.
In terms of power, it could even split stone in two, yet it merely left a small cut on Sauron's neck, and the curse effect that was supposed to cause unhealable bleeding had already been neutralized.
This could only mean one thing: even a lesser god is still a god—not something an ordinary mortal can compare to.
So George didn't launch another attack immediately. Instead, he circled around to the side of Finrod, who was catching his breath and recovering.
In the earlier battle, Finrod had clearly been at a disadvantage. His Elven armor was cracked in many places, and he had several wounds from Sauron's magic sword.
Had George not landed that surprise blow, Finrod likely wouldn't have lasted much longer.
"Heal to Perfection!"
As the healing magic activated, Finrod's wounds began to visibly mend at a rapid pace.
"Repair to Perfection!"
Immediately after, the repair spell was cast, restoring the cracked Elven armor to its original state.
From the recent exchange, it was clear that with his current magical strength, George couldn't land a fatal blow on Sauron—it was simply too difficult.
But just because he couldn't didn't mean Finrod couldn't.
All he had to do was play the support role for Finrod. Driving Sauron back wouldn't be a problem, and perhaps they could even destroy his physical body.
"Thank you. If you hadn't warned us in time, we might've been completely annihilated!"
Seeing his wounds and armor restored, Finrod was deeply shocked. He hadn't expected that the once ragged human could now wield magic more proficiently than himself.
At the same time, he sincerely expressed his gratitude to George.
Given the number of orcs earlier—and the fact that Sauron had personally led the ambush—if they had entered the canyon unprepared, not one of them would've escaped.
Unlike now, where thanks to their prepared strategy and the advantage of archery, the tide of war had started to turn in their favor.
"Your Highness, this is what we humans should do. What matters most now is defeating Sauron."
George nodded, then pointed his sword toward Sauron.
The brilliance of the Two Trees flared once more from Finrod's body as he raised his Elven longsword high:
"Leave him to me. Today, I will sever his head!"
With that, he transformed into a golden streak of light and charged toward Sauron.
Sauron, seeing Finrod charge at him again, no longer bore the relaxed expression he had earlier.
"I was just playing before. But now, it seems I need to get serious."
The human opposite him wielded far too many spells, and the orc army had already lost momentum against the Light Elves. If he couldn't quickly take down Finrod and the human, he would lose this battlefield.
So now, he unleashed all the dark power within him.
"Divine Edge Shadowless!"
A flash of electricity sparked from George's body as he closely followed behind Finrod. While Finrod and Sauron clashed, George seized the opportunity and swung his sword again.
But this time, Sauron was prepared. He didn't dodge. Instead, he waved his magic sword, dispersing the invisible Divine Edge Shadowless Curse and blocking George's strike.
"This kind of cheap trick doesn't work on me."
"That's not necessarily true."
George smirked:
"Disarm!"
At such close range, he cast the Disarm Curse—Sauron had no time to dodge.
As the curse struck, the magic sword in Sauron's hand was instantly dislodged and sent flying.
From the earlier Shadowless Curse, it was clear that George's magic wasn't ineffective—it was just significantly weakened when used against Sauron.
"Come back!"
Sauron frowned and quickly reached out, trying to summon his sword back.
He hadn't expected such a strange spell from his opponent.
But George wasn't about to let things go his way. Activating his psychic power, he exerted ten tons of force upon the magic sword, preventing its return.
Though he couldn't completely stop it, he greatly slowed the speed of its return.
And that was enough—Finrod, with his masterful swordsmanship, had already seized the opening created by George and thrust his sword straight at Sauron's heart.
Sauron had no time to evade and was struck directly by Finrod's sword.
The Valar and Maiar were originally spiritual beings without physical bodies, so they didn't have vulnerabilities like hearts.
But after coming to Middle-earth, they had crafted physical forms for themselves, complete with all the attributes of flesh.
That meant vital organs like the heart and brain—if struck—were harder to heal than other wounds.
They could even produce offspring with divine blood when mating with Elves or Humans.
For example, Thingol, the leader of the Grey Elves and one of the three great Elven kings during the Age of the Two Trees.
When he led the Elves to Valinor, he fell in love with the Maia Melian, who protected the forest of Doriath in Beleriand from Morgoth's corruption with her divine power.
He abandoned the migration and instead founded the Kingdom of the Grey Elves in Middle-earth.
Together, Thingol and Melian had a daughter—Lúthien—an Elf princess with both divine and Elven blood.
Thingol had once visited Valinor with the other Elven kings to witness the Two Trees and had bathed in their light, making him one of the strongest of the Light Elves.
This heritage made Lúthien renowned as the most powerful and beautiful female Elf in history—surpassing even Galadriel, the Elven Queen.
She bore not only the bloodline of the Light Elves but also that of a Maia goddess.
Later, she would infiltrate Morgoth's stronghold in Angband, using a sleep spell to subdue Morgoth and his minions, and—alongside the human Beren—steal one of the Silmarils from his crown.
She is also the protagonist of the song "The Lay of Lúthien" sung by Aragorn in the film.
In the current Elven war, Thingol and his Grey Elf kingdom did not participate. This was because the Noldor Elves had killed many of the Sea Elves—Thingol's kin—when they left Valinor, which left him resentful of the Noldor.
With Melian's divine barrier protecting the Grey Elven kingdom, even Morgoth's power could not breach it. Thus, Thingol had no reason to aid the Noldor.
In any case, Sauron's heart had been pierced, and his physical body took significant damage. The dark energy within him erupted violently, forcing George and Finrod to retreat to avoid being caught in the explosion.
(End of Chapter)