As the violent explosion erupted, everyone below looked skyward with desperate hope.
But the next second, the iceberg emerged again from the explosive clouds.
Kael's full-powered strike had only shattered the iceberg's lower half—the larger upper portion remained intact, still hurtling downward.
The iceberg was formed by the frost dragon's extreme cold, incredibly solid and impossibly frigid. After being struck by Kael's Blasting Curse, it paused for only a heartbeat before continuing its deadly descent toward Isengard.
On the ground, Dunlending warriors and Rohan cavalry showed nothing but despair.
Atop Smaug's back, Kael refused to surrender.
"Arresto Momentum! Protego Totalum! Protego Maxima! Salvio Hexia—" Spell after spell tore from his throat as he desperately cast successive enchantments to slow the iceberg's fall.
Simultaneously, he fully activated the Ring of Power, erecting an unprecedented massive shield covering all Dunlendings, Rohirrim, great eagle Thorondor, griffin Aslan, three-headed dog Cerberus, and the others below.
In that moment, all magical power stored within the Ring poured out, maintaining the shield's strength.
Kael stood atop Smaug at the shield's apex, holding up the sky single-handedly, becoming the first to face the iceberg's impact.
Under Kael's full effort and various spell barriers, the iceberg showed signs of slowing.
But the frost dragon refused to allow this. He dove from the sky, relentlessly breathing surging cold at the iceberg, accelerating its descent and adding crushing weight.
Kael's protective barriers shattered like fragile glass, layer by layer.
Finally, with world-destroying momentum, the iceberg collided with the massive shield erected by Kael's Ring of Power.
A thunderous boom rang out—like worlds colliding. Ice shards swept horizontally for kilometers like deadly rain. The air instantly froze, filled with bone-deep cold.
Violent shockwaves formed a massive storm spreading outward, reaching distant mountains, shattering and destroying trees and boulders.
Under the tremendous impact, even through the shield, Kael bore enormous force. He groaned in pain, feeling as though his very bones would splinter.
Dragon Smaug felt as if carrying the weight of mountains. His massive wings could no longer maintain flight. Together with Kael, they plummeted downward.
The giant shield, under the iceberg's terrifying impact, became a severely deformed dome rapidly spider-webbing with cracks.
Finally, the shield could hold no longer and shattered completely.
The slightly slowed iceberg struck toward the ground, determined to level all of Isengard in one devastating blow.
Orthanc Tower's peak crumbled instantly upon touching the iceberg. Ice shards and rubble exploded outward like a countdown to destruction.
Flying creatures—great eagle Thorondor, griffin Aslan, hippogriffs, fire dragons—all wailed, falling under the massive impact and crushing pressure.
"Is today the end for us Dunlendings?" Chief Brog watched the falling iceberg in despair.
King Théngel, after the initial terror passed, became strangely calm. He looked apologetically at the Rohirrim he had brought, then gazed back toward distant Rohan with deep reluctance.
Just as everyone closed their eyes awaiting death, a terrifying power suddenly erupted from Smaug's falling form.
Under that power's impact, the entire world seemed to fall silent.
Warriors who had closed their eyes awaiting death did not die. They reopened them slowly, disbelieving.
They stared wide-eyed in shock at everything around them.
All objects seemed to have lost gravity—ice shards and rubble floated mid-air, rotating slowly in eerie suspension. Falling great eagles, fire dragons, hippogriffs all stopped, suspended motionless in the air.
Even the massive iceberg seemed frozen in time, halted in the sky just touching Orthanc's peak, having smashed through the four polyhedral stone pillars.
Everyone looked at this impossible scene in disbelief.
Then they all noticed above Smaug—a massive black energy mass churning there, looking like roiling black fog or dust, emanating a terrifying, inhuman aura.
The black fog churned continuously, floating in air like unstable energy, rapidly expanding with immense destructive power. It rushed toward the suspended iceberg above.
It transformed into black gauzy mist enveloping the iceberg, instantly tearing the massive structure into countless fragments, creating sky-filling snow that drifted down like ash.
The frost dragon above watched this, pupils contracting sharply, staring at the black energy mass, "Are you Kael?"
The black energy did not answer. Instead, after shredding the iceberg, it transformed into black wind charging directly at him.
The frost dragon instinctively breathed ice at the approaching darkness.
But the black wind was impossibly fast and could scatter like cloud and mist, dodging the frost dragon's ice attack with ease. It rushed before the frost dragon, transforming into a black cloak-like shape, rapidly enveloping and destroying the dragon's body.
The dragon's scales, hard as black ice, shattered under the Obscurus's savage assault—cracking, splintering, exploding away like shards of frozen glass. Dragon flesh ripped open beneath. Ice-cold blood erupted in freezing torrents, crystallizing in the air as it sprayed.
The frost dragon roared in pain and fury, trying to tear off the black energy with his claws, but it flowed like fog or sand through his talons without harm, untouchable and unstoppable.
Reluctantly, the frost dragon breathed ice upon himself, trying to freeze the black energy into submission.
This tactic worked somewhat—successfully freezing portions of the black energy into black ice blocks. But this still did not affect the overall mass, as if losing that portion could not stop its continued destruction.
In retaliation, the black energy rapidly spread to the frost dragon's wing roots and brutally tore off one entire wing.
The frost dragon screamed in pure agony. Unable to fly with one wing, he plummeted from height, crashing heavily into hills between Isengard and Fangorn Forest, collapsing the mountain entirely.
The fall did not kill him. The frost dragon climbed from the crater, roaring with primal fury.
Hearing the frost dragon's summons, Nazgûl rapidly surrounded the black energy mass. The darkness showed no fear, splitting into eight black tentacles that entangled with them. The Nazgûl's deadly Morgul-blades posed no threat whatsoever to the incorporeal substance.
Then the sky suddenly changed—lightning struck without warning, falling directly upon the black energy mass.
The black energy trembled violently, emitting a terrible, inhuman roar. Then a pained human face emerged from the black fog—Kael's face, twisted in agony.
In the distance on an evil dragon's back, Saruman who had summoned the lightning, showed a vicious, triumphant grin.
"Hmph, boy, no matter your methods, you die today!"
Simultaneously, the frost dragon breathed extreme cold at the black energy, combining with Saruman's lightning in a joint assault, determined to destroy Kael utterly.
Under their combined attack, the black energy mass shrank visibly. Kael's emerging face became more pained and weak with each passing second.
Just then, a horn sounded as bright as the rising sun and spring thunder. Two mithril arrows shot toward Saruman and the frost dragon with deadly precision.
Dunlending chief Brog and King Théngel, seeing Kael's peril, acted simultaneously.
King Théngel blew the Horn of Victory with all his strength—the sound struck the frost dragon and Saruman like physical blows while invigorating the struggling black energy mass.
Though the two mithril arrows missed their marks, they succeeded in distracting the frost dragon and Saruman for a critical moment.
Countless arrow volleys followed from the warriors below. This brief interruption gave the black energy precious respite. It seized the chance to rush Saruman's evil dragon, tearing the creature apart with savage efficiency.
The dragon could not even scream before falling with Saruman atop it.
The black energy ignored Saruman's plummeting form, charging the frost dragon instead. Dodging another ice attack, it climbed onto the dragon's head, constantly tearing at the rooted iron crown embedded there.
The iron crown seemed to have grown into the dragon's very skull, eliciting pained roars when pulled.
The frost dragon's eyes showed raw panic. He desperately tried to shake off the black energy devouring his crown. But the Obscurus clung like a living parasite, flowing between his claws when he tried to tear it away, reforming instantly around the iron circlet. Despite his violent thrashing—twisting, diving, roaring in primal terror—it remained fused to his skull, tendrils of darkness burrowing beneath the crown's edge, wrenching at it with relentless, inhuman strength.
Nazgûl swarmed to stop it, shrieking as they attacked.
The Obscurus gripped the crown with tendrils of living darkness and pulled with inhuman strength. The frost dragon thrashed violently, roaring in agony as the iron tore free from bone and scale. Finally, with a sound like rending metal and a scream that shook the heavens, the crown came loose. It tumbled through the air, spinning end over end, and struck the ground with a final, definitive clang.
As the crown left the frost dragon's head, the demonic shadow clouding his eyes vanished, clarity gradually returning to his ancient gaze.
The battlefield fell into strange, tense silence.
The reinforcing Nazgûl seemed hesitant about continuing their assault.
Then the frost dragon's eyes filled with endless fury and hatred. He roared with a voice that shook the very air, "Sauron, you despicable, shameless wretch! Merely our former master's servant, yet you dared to humiliate me like this!"
"Revenge! I want revenge! I will turn Mordor into frozen wasteland and destroy everything you possess!"
Seeing the Nazgûl before him, he directly breathed endless ice without mercy.
Unprepared for this sudden betrayal, most of the Nazgûl were instantly frozen solid—only the Witch-king of Angmar, most powerful of the Nine, reacted quickly enough to escape the deadly blast on his fell beast.
The frost dragon then crushed the frozen Nazgûl beneath his massive claws while trampling the controlling iron crown in absolute fury, shattering it into twisted metal.
The frost dragon locked his burning gaze upon Saruman—enemies meeting with particular hatred.
"Despicable wizard! If you had not disturbed my slumber and poisoned me with Ungoliant's venom, I would never have become Sauron's tool! And you dared use my blood to create those filthy, base mongrels—I will make you pay with your life!"