Chapter 240: The Troll's Treasure and the Elven Swords

The experience of fleeing their homeland from the Lonely Mountain and traveling south to the Blue Mountains has always been deeply etched in the hearts of the Dwarves of the Durin folk.

This is a memory carved into their bones; even though hundreds of years have passed, these surviving Dwarves still cannot forget the pain and hardship of that southward journey, nor the relatives and friends who died along the way.

Therefore, with such a group of Dwarves leading the way, they were not at all unfamiliar with the route to the Lonely Mountain.

After the group set off from Wayne Manor, the expedition quickly got on the right track.

Once the others in the expedition team learned that Wayne possessed a magical item capable of storing a large amount of supplies, the task of managing logistics fell to him.

Among the traveling party, he was responsible for cooking, while Robin the Deathclaw, who was responsible for hunting and capturing wild animals from the dangerous wilderness, took on most of the work during the trip by himself.

With this big guy bringing up the rear, its two-story-tall stature and the terrifying aura it emitted meant that no wild beasts dared to actively attack the team during the journey.

Coupled with the magic Wayne occasionally displayed and the magical items he used, everyone in the team felt even more recognition toward him.

Bilbo even joked with Gandalf, "Gandalf, which of you and Wayne is the real wizard? We have never seen you use magic."

Such a joke made everyone burst into laughter, and Gandalf himself was no exception.

Half a month later, the expedition team left the Hobbit kingdom and entered a primeval forest.

The territory of Middle-earth is vast; although there are many races such as Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, and Humans, their total population is not very large. The total population of the entire continent does not exceed two million, and the vast majority of the land is covered by forests and wilderness, with no human presence.

The major races themselves lack stable transit routes, which leads to the difficulty of long-distance travel. Except for those areas with prosperous trade that have been fully explored, few people are able to leave their homes to go elsewhere.

The endless wilderness, ferocious beasts, and other man-eating monsters are the biggest challenges in their travels.

That night, when all the Dwarves of the expedition team had entered dreamland and it was Wayne's turn to keep watch, everyone slept soundly out of trust in his strength, not worried about danger at all.

After an unknown amount of time, Bilbo was suddenly awakened by some movement; it was faintly the panicked cries of horses.

He opened his eyes groggily, rubbed his eye sockets, and first looked up toward the direction of the campfire.

Wayne, who should have been sitting there keeping watch, was nowhere to be found, and the most reassuring combat power in the team, Robin the Deathclaw, was not lying beside its master as usual, and its huge figure was also nowhere to be seen.

This discovery gave Bilbo a shock, and his initial sleepiness cleared up quite a bit. He subconsciously climbed up and looked toward the place where everyone kept their horses.

Sure enough, he discovered that of the fourteen horses tied to the stumps, only ten remained; four horses were missing.

He looked back at the campfire and found that the Dwarves in the team, including Prince Thorin, were all sleeping foolishly there, covered in high-end sleeping bags provided by Wayne, snoring like thunder, and no one had discovered the anomaly with the horses.

Bilbo tried to nudge Kili and Fili, the youngest of the Dwarves, but these two guys were also sleeping very soundly, and there was no reaction after pushing them several times.

Seeing this, Bilbo did not force it further; he was not sure if there was really a problem and did not want to wake everyone up because of his own fuss.

So he carefully crawled out of his sleeping bag and then followed the direction of the sound he had just heard, walking away without a sound.

Hobbits are short and agile, and their soles are different from other races; they never wear shoes and go barefoot all year round, naturally possessing a structure that can eliminate sound. When they walk, there is no noise at all, which is indeed, as Gandalf thought, very suitable for being a burglar.

After chasing for about a few hundred meters, following the sounds and traces left along the way, Bilbo bypassed a cave blocked by rocks, and a patch of firelight entered his eyes.

He pushed aside the wild grass that was taller than him, rubbed his eyes, and looked toward the direction of the firelight.

He saw three giant humanoid creatures with rough skin, wearing only fur skirts, gray all over, ugly in appearance, and bald-headed, who were stirring a huge iron pot over the fire while discussing how to cook.

Beside these monsters, the four Shire horses brought from the Hobbit kingdom were cowering in a corner tied up by the Trolls, shivering, seemingly sensing their impending fate of being eaten.

Bilbo was immediately frightened by such a scene. Living in a peaceful village, he had never seen such monsters, and he hurriedly covered his mouth, wanting to retreat.

However, he suddenly thought of the Dwarf Prince Thorin's distrust of him along the way, believing that a Hobbit like him, immersed in peaceful times, could not complete the task of a little burglar and was not worthy of joining them on this expedition to the Lonely Mountain.

Yet, although Bilbo was a timid person, he was a person of great courage. He inherited the fine bloodline of his father and mother as well as the innocence and kindness of Hobbits. After gritting his teeth and considering for a few seconds, he decided to use action to prove his courage and try to rescue the tied-up horses.

The presence of Wayne in the team also gave him this confidence. He believed that the anomaly here would soon be discovered by that powerful human adventurer, and in front of that terrifying Deathclaw, these three humanoid monsters were simply nothing to fear.

But just as he had pulled out the dagger at his waist and wanted to act, a tall figure suddenly walked out of the grass beside him. One hand held a huge, gorgeous two-handed greatsword, and he looked at the three humanoid monsters with a cold expression, his eyes devoid of ripples, as if he did not take them seriously at all—it was Wayne from the team. Just as Bilbo was about to speak, he suddenly saw Wayne raise his left hand, and a huge blue fireball shot out from his palm, hitting one of the monsters.

The scorching blue flames instantly engulfed the monster, turning it into a burning giant torch while it also let out a shrill wail.

Then, after a few seconds, while the other two monsters were still stunned, the monster wrapped in blue flames suddenly exploded violently, blowing into countless fragments. Foul-smelling blood and flesh were splattered everywhere, directly scaring the other two monsters silly.

Also scared silly was Bilbo, who was huddled in the grass; the Hobbit had never seen such a bloody scene.

He looked at Wayne somewhat blankly, the courage he had just mustered to act was stuffed back into his stomach, and he could only foolishly ask:

"Where did you go, Wayne?"

"I thought you went somewhere else, and even Robin doesn't know where he went."

Wayne held his precious sword level, aiming it at the remaining two Trolls, looked back at Bilbo, and said with a smile:

"I discovered the tracks of these monsters here long ago. The reason I let them take the horses was just to see where their lair was, so I could wipe them out together and leave no future trouble."

"As for Robin, I chased him off to wander elsewhere. If he were here, these monsters wouldn't even dare to approach our camp."

Bilbo somewhat dejectedly put the dagger back into its sheath; he knew that now that Wayne was here, there was no need for him to take action for what followed.

And the subsequent development was indeed as Bilbo had expected.

The remaining two Trolls, upon seeing their companion die instantly and be blown into minced meat by the explosive effect of the Igni Sign, were stunned for several seconds. Then, one of the Trolls, not knowing what it had figured out, suddenly let out a roar, picked up a mace from the ground, and charged toward Wayne.

But the Witcher did not give it a chance to attack. It was holding the mace, roaring while charging, and had only taken a few steps when it suddenly felt a figure appear on its shoulder; it appeared instantly, and it didn't know how it had climbed onto its shoulder at all.

And before its stupid brain could figure out this problem, the Sword of Promised Victory in Wayne's hand had already carried powerful force, turned into an afterimage, and slashed fiercely at the Troll's neck.

Trolls belong to the monsters of the dark forces, and as a holy weapon, the Sword of Promised Victory naturally has a restraining effect on them.

This Troll that was slashed in the neck didn't even have time to let out a wail before a 'Crack!' was heard, its head flew up, the stump of its neck was like a fountain, and it directly turned into a headless corpse.

As for the last Troll, it did not escape the fate of death either. Although it had chosen to surrender and was about to kneel on the ground after seeing its companions killed one after another by the human in front of it in less than half a minute.

But Wayne had no mercy in his heart. As three man-eating monsters who had committed crimes together and didn't know how long they had lived, they probably had countless lives eaten in their stomachs long ago; this was not a sin that could be forgiven by kneeling and surrendering.

After the cooldown of Blink passed, Wayne instantly appeared behind the last Troll, and the Sword of Promised Victory in his hand mercilessly stabbed into the back of the Troll's head, piercing through its brain and poking out from its mouth, ending this evil life.

After killing these three Trolls, Wayne's expression still didn't change. He whistled at Bilbo, who was still dazed while hiding in the grass, and said in a gentle tone:

"My friend, go and rescue our horses; I'm going to take a look at the Troll's cave."

Hearing Wayne's voice, Bilbo, who was shocked by his ruthless and decisive fighting posture, couldn't help but shiver, then nodded busily and replied: "Don't worry, leave it to me, Wayne."

Wayne nodded, took out a crystal ball that continuously emitted light from his space bracer, and then walked into the Troll's cave without looking back.

He remembered very clearly that in this cave, not only were many treasures left behind by the Elves of the First Age preserved, but there were also three Elven swords belonging to the First Age.

These three Elven swords were all masterpieces of the ancient Elves, and now that all three Trolls were killed by him, the spoils here should naturally all belong to him.

Rather than leaving these good things to the ungrateful Thorin, it would be better to claim them for himself.

By the time the others from the expedition squad heard the noise and rushed over here, they only saw flesh and blood flying everywhere on the ground, a headless corpse, a Man-Eating Ogre with its head pierced through, and scattered remains of corpses all over the floor.

And Wayne, who had just entered the Man-Eating Ogre's cave, had already walked out while covering his nose.

The treasures and swords in the cave, as well as anything of value, had all been collected into his pockets.

He also had no intention of sharing this news.

(End of chapter)