Hogwarts wizards who signed in to Middle-earth.

Chapter 210 Entering the Netherworld
To enter the Netherworld, Dui currently knows of only two methods: wearing the One Ring or being pierced by the Mogul Blade.

However, neither of these methods is practical.

Even Gandalf, a Maiar, dared not touch the corrupting allure of the One Ring. Wearing it would allow one to enter the Underworld, but the likely outcome would be corruption, turning one into Sauron's servant!

Not to mention that the One Ring is still in Tom Bombadil's possession.

As for being stabbed by the Mogul's Blade, Dui didn't even consider such a self-harming method.

The Mogul Blade is poisonous; after striking an enemy, a portion of the blade remains in the wound and continues to penetrate deeper into the body until it pierces the heart.

If not treated promptly, as the blade fragments move towards the heart, the injured person will gradually become a ghost-like being, a lesser ghost under Sauron's rule, at the mercy of the Ringwraiths and Sauron.

Moreover, even if the wounded are treated and the blade fragments are removed, the wounds are difficult to heal completely. For example, after Frodo was treated by Elrond, the best healer in Middle-earth, he would feel extremely uncomfortable every year on the day he was stabbed, and only by going to Valinor could he be completely cured.

Dui wouldn't risk injuring himself just to enter the Netherworld.

Since neither of these two methods worked, Dui had no choice but to seek help from his "know-it-all" father-in-law, Elrond.

In the secluded valley, in the winding and quiet forest corridor.

Dui was taking a walk with Elrond.

When Dui asked him a question, Elrond stopped, turned around, and frowned slightly.

"You want to enter the Netherworld?"

Dui nodded.

"I want to capture the matter of death from the Netherworld to forge a magical item that breaks the boundary between life and death."

Then Dui explained the principle behind the resurrection stone to him.

Elrond looked surprised when he heard that the resurrection stone could summon the undead.

"The souls of the dead enter the Hall of Mandos to be judged by fate. No spirit can leave there and return to the world of the living without Mandos' permission. If your Resurrection Stone can do that, it would be a treasure no less valuable than the Philosopher's Stone!"

Dui shook his head and explained, "It's not that you can actually summon the soul back, but rather a projection of the soul. They are more real than ghosts, but more illusory than physical entities. They are more like projections of the memories and longings of the living."

“This is already very good,” Elrond said. “If it is truly possible to summon the undead, then only the undead ruler—Mandos—can possess such authority.”

The two then returned the conversation to how to enter the Netherworld.

Elrond said, “The Netherworld is essentially a part of the spirituality of this world. Those who are not summoned by Mandos but remain in this world will enter the Netherworld. Nazghurs (Ringwraiths) are typical Netherworld creatures. In the real world, without the disguise provided by Sauron, they would be ethereal and formless.”

Of course, this doesn't mean the Netherworld is an evil place. Both dark and light spirits coexist within it, and it is inherently neither good nor evil. Powerful beings like Lady Galadriel and Lord Glorfindel can freely perceive and exist within the Netherworld without external assistance, and are unharmed by it.

"But if you want to enter the Netherworld, you will need to rely on external forces and ensure that you will not be harmed in the Dark Realm."

Elrond looked at Dui with a serious and solemn expression and reminded him:
"The Netherworld is not safe. Living beings who enter it will be detected by Netherworld creatures. Moreover, your magic will lose its meaning in the Netherworld. You will become like an ordinary person and will be easily attacked by Netherworld creatures."

Furthermore, you can't stay inside for long, otherwise your body will be transformed into a ghostly creature, making it impossible to return to the real world! Are you still willing to take that risk?

Dui wasn't intimidated. He smiled and nodded, replying, "For the sake of the resurrection stone, we should at least give it a try."

Seeing this, Elrond did not try to stop him.

He led Dui to his palace, took out a scroll from his collection of books, and handed it to Dui.

"This is an ancient magic circle that connects to the Netherworld. It was created by an elf to find the spirits of the dead who refused Mandos's summons."

He then took out a black sword wrapped in leather with sealing incantations drawn on it and handed it to Dui.

Dui remembered that this black sword was the Mogul Blade, given to Gandalf by the brown-robed wizard Darrigaster, and was the weapon of the Witch-king of Angmar, the leader of the Ringwraiths.

"You need to find a place filled with the aura of death, then at the turn of midnight, activate the magic circle and use this Mogul Blade as a guide to enter the Netherworld."

Elrond said very seriously:

"But you must remember that once you enter the Netherworld, you must not stay for more than a quarter of an hour."

Most importantly, you must never let any creature from the Netherworld harm you. If you are, your body will rapidly weaken, gradually turning you into an invisible ghost, forever wandering the Netherworld!

Upon hearing this, Dui also became serious and nodded: "I understand, I will be very careful!"

Elrond knew that Dui was aware of the situation, so after giving him detailed instructions, he didn't say anything more.

After bidding farewell to Elrond, Dui returned to Windrise with the magic circle scroll and the Mogul Blade.

Alvin knew about Dui's plan, but although she looked worried, she did not try to dissuade him. She simply gently told him to be careful.

After studying the magic circle scroll for some time, Dui began to prepare for his entry into the Netherworld.

First, a place filled with the aura of death is needed—a place where many people have died. In such places, the boundary between the spirit world and the real world is the thinnest, so occasionally spirit creatures like ghosts wander about, seen by ordinary people in the real world, thus spreading terrifying rumors. Dui's first thought was Kozuka Hill.

Unfortunately, the ancient mound has been almost completely ravaged by Du Yi, and now the aura of death there is faint. Even the ancient mound corpse demon has weakened and fallen into a deep sleep, unable to come out and wreak havoc anymore.

Therefore, Kozuka-oka is directly ruled out.

Secondly, Dui thought of Northhill Fornost, the former capital of Asedan, where the Witch-King Angmar led his evil army to conquer and destroy the kingdom.

A bloody battle ensued, with countless Dúnedan warriors, human soldiers, and the evil creatures of the Angmar Witch-King falling to the ground, leaving the battlefield littered with corpses.

The war was so brutal that many of the dead were hastily buried near the defensive dikes, or their bones were piled up directly on the banks, which eventually earned it the nickname "Dead Man's Dike".

Without hesitation, Dui immediately chose this location as the entry point into the Netherworld.

After bidding farewell to Alwen, Dui used Apparition to return to Beigang.

He chose the area near the defensive dike where the battle was most fierce, a place that had once been a meat grinder on the battlefield, where every inch of land was stained with the blood of the Aserdan warriors and the Angmar legions.

Even after a thousand years, the marks left by death cannot be erased, and a strong aura of death remains.

Dui began drawing a magic circle on the ground to communicate with the Netherworld. After finishing, he placed the Mogul Blade in the center of the circle and then quietly waited for the sky to darken.

As midnight approached, Dui activated the magic circle.

The dense aura of death around them converged towards the formation, generating an invisible fluctuation centered on the Mogul Blade.

The surrounding environment darkened, as if draped in a hazy veil, and the boundary between life and death was broken at this moment.

The moon in the sky was stained with a blood-red color, and the originally silent surroundings were filled with faint whispers and some cold, eerie laughter.

Looking at the hazy, dreamlike mirage within the magic circle, it felt as if there was a spatial rift separating the inside and outside of the circle into two worlds.

Dui stepped inside without hesitation.

In an instant, he felt as if he had entered ice water, and he couldn't help but shiver, as if his limbs and bones were about to freeze.

Suppressing the chill, he walked to the center of the formation and picked up the Mogul Blade.

Upon contact with the Mogul Blade, Dui's surroundings instantly transformed into a gray, gloomy world.

The surrounding scenery and things had not changed, but they seemed to have faded in color, becoming gray and gloomy, as if shrouded in an eternal shadow, giving people a cold and lifeless feeling.

This is the Netherworld, a realm between life and death.

The Mogul Blade is the key to entering the Netherworld.

Upon entering the Netherworld, Dui carefully examined his situation and found that he had not lost a single item.

But when he tried to wave the wand, it was like a stick and didn't react at all.

He couldn't even sense the magic power within his body anymore.

Despite Elrond's warnings, Dui still felt an extreme sense of insecurity.

His greatest asset—magic—was useless in the Netherworld.

He seemed to have become an ordinary person again.

What made Dui even more solemn was that there was originally nothing around him in the real world.

But at this moment, in the Netherworld, the surrounding area was swarming with countless Netherworld creatures—evil ghosts!
These ghosts include orcs, trolls, wargs, and even humans.

The Temple of Mandos only summons the souls of elves, humans, and dwarves.

As for evil creatures like orcs, trolls, and wargs, their souls linger on Middle-earth after death, either entering the Netherworld or wandering aimlessly until they eventually perish.

These human ghosts before them were not the fallen soldiers of Azerdan, but evil humans who followed the Witch-King of Angmar.

Fearing judgment in the Hall of Mandos after their deaths, they refused to be summoned and chose to remain as ghosts in the underworld.

In the Netherworld, these ghosts were more stable, exuding a dark aura, far more real and more evil than the ghosts he had seen on the Path of the Dead.

Their eyes gleamed with malice, and they stared at him with greedy lust, as if they had seen delicious meat.

"He's alive! I can smell his life force!"

Then these eerie, terrifying, and twisted ghostly creatures swarmed in from all directions.

They reeked of death and decay, their bodies rotting and grotesque, skeletal in appearance, as they menacingly attacked him.

(End of this chapter)