Chapter 266 The Dwarf Prince's Enlightenment
"Thorin," Aaron said, leaning against the wall and looking at him meaningfully, "What are you planning to do? Gandalfasked me to protect you all before he left, and my answer was 'within my capabilities.'
If you choose to stay here and wait for death, I will take Bilbo and escape. I promised him his safety, and I will keep that promise."
"Thank you," Bilbo said, sniffing his nose, a little overwhelmed.
"But if you choose to fight Smaug to the death, then I will fight alongside you and do my best to ensure everyone survives."
Thorin looked at the bones scattered on the ground and said blankly, "I will not die like this, cowering, struggling, dying.
We will lure Smaug to the forge and fight him to the death."
"Have you decided?" Aaron asked with a smile.
Thorin nodded, looking at the nine dwarves who followed him, "We'll split up and lure him to the forge.
If all is destined to burn, then we shall go into the fire together."
Clap! Clap! Clap!
"As expected of the Dwarf Prince, making this decision requires immense courage," Aaron applauded. "Thorin Oakenshield, you haven't disappointed me."
With that, Aaron took out the arkenstone and used the Levitation Charm to suspend it in mid-air.
The milky white light illuminated the gloomy guardroom. The dwarves looked at the beautiful King's Gem, their eyes becoming incredibly devout.
"The arkenstone," Thorin murmured in disbelief. "You got it."
Aaron shrugged. He had never said he hadn't gotten it.
"I don't think anything can boost morale more than this right now."
"Indeed, nothing," Thorin said excitedly, reaching out his right hand, then awkwardly realizing he couldn't touch it.
Snap!
Aaron snapped his fingers, and the arkenstone fell into his hand.
"I'm sorry, but I can't give it to you yet."
"Why?" Thorin glared. "It should be mine."
"That's right, the arkenstone is yours originally," Aarondidn't deny it, but then changed the subject, "However, Smaug said the arkenstone would devour your mind."
"You believe the Dragon's words?"
"But you drew your sword on us earlier for this stone."
Thorin was speechless. He had indeed been impulsive at the time and shouldn't have drawn his sword on friends.
But the arkenstone's status among the dwarves was like the Imperial Seal, it concerned whether he could legitimately inherit the throne, and could not be lost.
"If it's because of that, I apologize to you all."
"It's alright," Bilbo smiled. "We understand the importance of the arkenstone to you, perhaps more important than life itself."
"But precisely because of that, we worry if you might become a different person because of this stone," Aaron said earnestly.
His concern was not unfounded; Thorin's stubbornness was rare in the world. For a prince who had been down and out for half his life to become a king with immense wealth overnight, his state of mind might undergo a huge change, perhaps even surpassing his grandfather Thrain.
"I won't," Thorin slowly shook his head. "I promise."
Hearing this, Aaron hesitated for a moment and put the arkenstone into his pocket.
The others looked at his actions in surprise, and Thorin felt even more betrayed.
The atmosphere was already set, shouldn't you give me the gem, and then everyone works together to slay the Dragon?
"I will give it to him, but only when it's safe," Aaron said sheepishly. "After all, it's a matter of life and death. If anything happens to Thorin, I will give this stone to Kili."
"Gaius," Dwalin said, looking at him somewhat angrily. "That's not appropriate."
Aaron raised an eyebrow and brought the gem to Thorin, "You make the decision."
Thorin reached out and touched the arkenstone. A hint of struggle flashed in his eyes. He remained silent for a while before looking at Aaron solemnly, "I'll leave it in your safekeeping for now.
If I die, give it to Fili. If Fili dies, take it back to Kili and let him inherit the throne.
Balin, Dwalin, you..."
"No need to say anything, Thorin," Balin said, forcing a relaxed smile. "This old bone of mine might die before you, but one thing remains: my loyalty to the King will not change."
"That's right, loyalty to the King," Dwalin declared solemnly, and the others nodded silently.
Next, Thorin divided the team into four groups, with three people per group, and they left the guardroom.
However, Aaron proactively offered to act alone, secretly covering everyone's safe arrival at the forge.
Thorin, Bilbo, and Balin went through the passage from the front and, as expected, were discovered by Smaug.
"Run! Run! Run for your lives!
You have nowhere to hide."
A neck tens of meters long emerged from the darkness, and a massive Dragon head appeared before them.
"Look behind you, little worm."
Three dwarves shouted, and Smaug's attention was drawn away. Thorin and his two companions seized the opportunity to duck into a doorway.
Smaug roared and pounced on the three dwarves.
"Hey! Over here!" Dwalin shouted. Seeing Smaug turn his gaze, he immediately grabbed Fili and Nori and ran wildly.
Just as Smaug was about to give chase, he saw two dwarves run past right under his nose.
Could he tolerate this?
Blazing Dragon breath erupted from his mouth, forcing the two to flee at top speed, only escaping the Incendio by jumping into a cable car.
Seeing no one else around, Smaug sniffed the air and pursued in Thorin Oakenshield's direction.
In a wide corridor, Thorin ran frantically, not even noticing when he passed the entrance to the smelting room.
"This way, Thorin!" Bilbo shouted.
Thorin heard the voice and immediately reacted, but before he could take a step, Smaug appeared at the end of the corridor, brewing Dragon breath.
Silently calculating the distance, Thorin knew he couldn't outrun Smaug's Dragon fire. He instructed Bilbo to follow Balin, then turned and jumped into the mine shaft.
Barely dodging the Dragon fire, Thorin held onto a seat in the mine shaft, falling continuously.
Before he could recover, Smaug pursued him. Its body was enormous, but it could just barely squeeze into the mine shaft.
Just as it was about to bite Thorin, Dwalin chopped down the corresponding minecart with an axe. The seat Thorinwas holding pulled him up quickly, allowing him to narrowly escape the Dragon's mouth.
Seeing this, Smaug changed direction, biting the rope connected to the seat as Thorin ascended.
"Tsk! I have to admit, the dwarves' mining technology is truly professional," Aaron's voice came from the side. Turning his head, he saw him casually sitting on another seat, leisurely swinging in the mine shaft.
"Thorin, you look like you need some help!"
"Stop talking nonsense!" Thorin roared.
"Alrighty!" Aaron extended his index finger towards Smaug. "Confringo."
Bang!
A light red glow hit the Dragon's mouth. Smaug felt as if he had been pricked by a needle and instinctively opened his mouth, letting Thorin go up.
Smaug didn't care. Instead, he looked at Aaronmeaningfully, "Dragon Speaker, your magic is a bit special, but unfortunately, you're too weak."
"That's normal, after all, I'm only fourteen," Aaron smiled shyly. "If I were forty, don't you think I'd kill you in minutes?"
"Too bad, you won't get that chance," Smaug said, opening his mouth, a blast of scorching air rushing out.
Aaron immediately extended his right hand. An ice-blue intermediate magic circle appeared in front of him, and a thick stream of water gushed out.
The stream of water poured into Smaug's mouth before the flames could even erupt. The Dragon breath was forcibly interrupted, and Smaug was choked, spitting out a large amount of white steam.
"You, die," Smaug roared in anger, raising his claw to swat him.
"Aaron!" Thorin and the others above were furious at the sight.
Whoosh!
A black and white vortex flashed and disappeared. Aaronlanded next to them. "Why are you calling me?"
"You, you, you..." Dwalin looked at Aaron, then at Smaugbelow, too incoherent to speak clearly.
"magic, you know!" Aaron explained casually. "It's supposed to be hard to understand."
"Teleportation magic," Thorin's eye twitched slightly. He had known about Wizards when he was a Dwarf Prince, but he had never heard of Wizards having such incredible abilities.
Aaron:... "Very few people can learn it. I am a rare genius of the Gaius Family, seen only once in a hundred years, so naturally, I'm an exception."
"Roar!" Smaug's roar came from the mine shaft. "Where are you? Dragon Speaker, where are you?"
Hearing this, Thorin and the few dwarves next to him all looked at Aaron with complex expressions, "You also speak Dragon Language?"
"Uh... when you're out and about, it doesn't hurt to have many skills, right?" Aaron chuckled sheepishly.
"Gandalf found us a good teammate," Thorin sighed, then glanced at Smaug, who was still searching in the mine shaft, and decisively pushed the nearby hoisting equipment down.
The hoisting equipment fell rapidly, soon smashing into Smaug's neck.
"Let's go, quickly! This won't hold him for long."
"Wait a moment," Aaron said, looking at the deep mine shaft. He slowly waved his arm, and a large ice-blue magic circle covered the top of the mine shaft.
Half a minute later, a huge block of ice fell from the magiccircle, crashing directly into the depths of the mine shaft.
Bang!
The few people clearly heard the sound of a heavy object hitting a skull, followed by the Dragon's angry roar.
"How about we throw a few more? Maybe we can smash him to death!" Fili said.
"Brother, there's not enough time, and my magic isn't enough either."
As his voice fell, fierce flames surged up from the depths of the mine shaft.
"Go, quick, go!"
Thorin roared, leading everyone into the smelting room.
Everyone met here, not one missing, but they were deeply disappointed looking at the cold forge.
"This plan won't work, this forge is cold," Dwalin said regretfully.
"He's right, we don't have fire to light the forge," Balin said bitterly.
"That's not necessarily true; I can also use the Incendio."
"Incendio."
Aaron pointed at the forge, and a ball of fiery red flames fell into it.
Boom ~ Boom ~ Boom ~
The first giant forge was successfully ignited, followed by the second, the third... All the forges erupted in fierce flames, and the extreme high temperature slowly melted the gold ore inside into pure golden liquid.