Chapter 253: Beacon and the Crisis of Lake-town

As everyone knows, the Wood-elves of Mirkwood and the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain are incompatible by nature.

The Woodland Realm views the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain as thieves and liars because in the past, they were unwilling to return the necklace of the Elf King's late wife according to the agreement, and even raised the price on the spot, not complying with the contract.

And the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain harbor resentment because of the Wood-elves' failure to rescue them when Smaug attacked the Lonely Mountain.

The two races met, and immediately became tense.

However, unlike the original work, this expedition had Wayne, the master who was not short of money, as logistics. Now in the expedition team, every Dwarf was equipped with mounts, fine armor, and various weapons, not the unarmed ones in the original work.

Although the number of Wood-elves appearing around was more than the expedition team, the Deathclaw's heaven-shaking roar and the terrifying eight-meter height of this giant beast made these Wood-elves understand that the other party was not easy to mess with, making people feel quite helpless.

Both sides held weapons, staring at each other, no one dared to relax, and it was quite tense.

However, at this time, the leader of this Elf team was a very handsome and delicate male Elf, named Legolas, the prince of the Woodland Realm, nicknamed Greenleaf.

This Elf prince had a very brave and hateful personality. Even facing the more powerful Deathclaw, he had no fear. After observing both sides, he did not blame Wayne for his shot just now, but looked at everyone with a cautious gaze for a while, and then asked seriously: "Who are you? This is the territory of the Woodland Realm, and outsiders are not allowed to act recklessly here."

Saying this, he looked at Thorin and other Dwarves, his tone full of suspicion.

"I have seen you, Thorin Oakenshield, and other Dwarves. You left the Lonely Mountain a long time ago. Now that you are back, what do you want to do?"

Although Legolas's tone was not aggressive, the arrogant temperament of the Elf race still made the Dwarves feel uncomfortable.

However, this time, Thorin did not show too much irritability, and there was also the Grey Wizard Gandalf in the team. Before the two sides really provoked a conflict, this white-bearded old man stood out and said to the Elf prince: "Respected Elf prince, I am the Grey Wizard Gandalf."

"And your father Thranduil are already old friends."

"Please don't misunderstand, our purpose this time is just to go to the Lonely Mountain and will not do anything in the Woodland Realm that affects the Wood-elves."

Seeing Gandalf who took the initiative to stand out, Legolas's expression eased slightly. He carefully looked at the Grey Wizard.

As an outstanding prince, he had read many books and knew that from ancient times to the present, every time he fought against dark forces, there was always a group of wizards paying silently, so this Elf prince was quite respectful to Gandalf.

He considered for a few seconds, then waved his hand, and the Elf guards beside him also put away their weapons.

Legolas bowed to Gandalf and said politely: "Welcome, Grey Wizard."

"If these people are all your friends, I invite you to participate in our banquet."

"Today is the day we hold a banquet in the palace. I believe my father will also welcome your arrival."

Although it was an invitation to a banquet, perhaps it was the somewhat arrogant attitude of the Elf prince that made the Dwarves feel uncomfortable. Before Thorin could speak, other Dwarves immediately shouted:

"We will not participate in the Elf's banquet."

"Who knows if the Elves have any conspiracy, they are not good people at all."

"Yes, they failed to rescue our clansmen when they were in trouble, and let us suffer heavy casualties under Smaug's dragon fire."

The voices of the Dwarves were not loud, but the hearing of the Elves was very good, and everyone heard it clearly.

The Dwarves in Middle-earth are like this, with biased and stubborn personalities, petty theft, and very greedy for money. It is precisely because of various personality defects, plus birth problems, that the two races of Dwarves and Elves always have contradictions and make a lot of trouble.

Seeing that the Dwarves' words were becoming more and more ugly, the faces of the surrounding Elves were becoming more and more ugly. Gandalf coughed loudly, interrupting the Dwarves' complaints.

However, just at this somewhat awkward time point, a beautiful female Elf wearing a green robe, with a slender figure and a bow and arrow on her back, suddenly jumped to the side of the Elf prince Legolas and whispered in his ear:

"Legolas, we have to return to the palace immediately."

"The beacon in the west has been lit, and judging by the signal, something should have happened in Lake-town."

"Thranduil will definitely summon us."

Legolas's face changed upon hearing this. He bowed to Gandalf and said regretfully: "Sorry, Grey Wizard, the Woodland Realm has an emergency military situation. Please forgive me for not being able to accompany you back to the palace."

After saying this, regardless of whether the members of the expedition team agreed or not, the Elf prince left a guard to lead the way for them, and he and other guards quickly left by jumping on the branches.

Only that Elf guard and the members of the expedition team looked at each other.

However, as a Witcher, Wayne's hearing was far beyond ordinary people, and he had already heard the conversation between the female Elf and Legolas.

He was quite surprised in his heart. According to the female Elf, it seemed that Lake-town was in danger, so the Elves lit the beacon.

But in his memory, Lake-town should not have had any problems until Smaug flew out of the Lonely Mountain and the Orc army invaded. Although it was poor, it had not suffered from the harassment of war.

Thinking this way, he turned to Gandalf and Thorin and said: "You go to the palace of the Wood-elves first. Smaug is the enemy of all forces in the North. Perhaps we can reach cooperation with the Wood-elves."

"However, I will go to see where the beacon was lit first. After the matter is over, I will come back to find you."

Thorin wanted to say something but stopped, but looked at the Elf guard beside him, and still didn't speak.

And Gandalf was a bit puzzled about Wayne's purpose, but he didn't stop him, and nodded, telling him to be careful.

Wayne didn't explain too much, drove the magic flying carpet and flew into the sky, and at the same time blew a whistle at Robin on the ground. This big guy immediately opened his legs and ran wildly after hearing it.

One person and one pet, one flying in the sky and one running on the ground, but their speed was very fast, much faster than the Elves on the ground.

After flying in the direction of Lake-town for about half an hour, Wayne, because he flew high enough, barely saw what happened there.

I saw a town built of wood, located by the lake, already had many places lit by fire.

The Witcher's excellent vision allowed Wayne to see clearly that a large-scale looting seemed to be happening in the town. A group of people were killing each other, some people were running away desperately, and some people were driving small boats, fleeing from the lake.

Looking from afar, more than half of the town had fallen, and everywhere was burning. However, because the distance was too far, even with the Witcher's vision, he could not see the specific details.

But judging from the body shape, equipment, and combat style of the looting team, it was likely an Orc army.

This discovery made Wayne quite puzzled. Why, before the Battle of the Five Armies, would the Orc army attack Lake-town in advance? He thought for a long time and didn't think of the answer. The only thing he felt possible was that he destroyed the Orc Town in the Misty Mountains and killed Azog.

It was precisely because of this change different from the original work that the butterfly effect was caused now. However, looking at the mountain and running the horse to death, the speed of the magic flying carpet compared to the running horse was much faster, and it could fly in a straight line in the sky, reducing many obstacles. But even so, by the time he flew to Lake-town, the time had long passed for several hours.

He almost watched as the Orcs left Lake-town with large and small spoils and batches of captives.

Perhaps because the purpose of these Orcs was not to completely destroy the residents of Lake-town, but more to loot the materials of Lake-town and the population of Lake-town.

After defeating the few guards and soldiers in Lake-town, the Orc army did not waste too much time to create slaughter, but began to concentrate on collecting materials and kidnapping captives.

A large amount of food, materials, and the population of the town were packed and taken away by them.

Except for the killed men and soldiers, the remaining people in the entire town were estimated to be less than one-quarter of the original, and many people suffered serious injuries, lying in the streets and various buildings, lingering on their last breath, waiting for death.

Not only that, the Orcs were very professional in looting.

This small town, whose main buildings were all built of wood, had most of the buildings lit after less than half a day of looting, and the entire town was in danger in the burning fire.

After landing in Lake-town driving the magic flying carpet, Wayne only considered for a moment and gave up the idea of chasing the Orcs.

You can kill Orcs at any time, but these refugees in the town, if you miss the time, it is estimated that they will all die.

But now looking around, there are not many people in the entire town who can stand up. With his own strength, it is really too limited.

Wayne thought for a while, reached into his space bracelet, and immediately took out five white scrolls. These were the scrolls for summoning skeleton warriors that he had drawn a long time ago.

Holding these five scrolls in his hand, after injecting magic power, with his casual throw, with a few light bangs, five skeleton warriors made of white bones holding shields and swords appeared on the ground.

Wayne scanned them and immediately ordered:

"Put down your weapons and move the wounded in the town here."

The eye sockets of the five skeleton warriors flashed with faint blue soul fire. After hearing his order, they did not hesitate, immediately threw away the shields and swords in their hands, and then walked into the burning town along different directions.

Wayne sighed. If there were no helpers around, he wouldn't want to use these skeleton warriors who were easy to be misunderstood to help.

However, saving people first, save as many as you can.

Thinking this way, Wayne did not wait for the wounded at the pier where he landed, and he also joined the rescue team, rushing into the burning Lake-town.

The first one he found was a middle-aged man with a knife in his abdomen. He was wearing a linen vest often worn by workers, opening his eyes weakly, covering the wound with his hand, wanting to stop more blood from flowing out, and seemed to be waiting for death.

After seeing him, Wayne walked up directly, slapped him on the face, refreshed him, then pried open his chin, poured a large mouthful of the magic wine pot containing intermediate healing potions, and then took out the needle and thread from his waist bag and sewed it up quickly.

After dealing with it for about three minutes, regardless of whether the guy was cured or not, Wayne handed him a roll of bandages and said:

"Bandage yourself, and then wait for rescue in the open space of the pier."

"If you can still persist, you can also look for other people who need rescue in the town and bring them to the pier."

After treating the first person, he found a soldier with a knife in his chest and his left foot cut off.

However, because of the protection of the armor, this soldier did not suffer a fatal injury. He covered his chest with a piece of broken cloth, his face was pale from excessive blood loss, and he was crawling hard in the burning town with his hands and feet, seemingly fleeing from the fire around him.

After seeing him, Wayne didn't say a word, directly forced him to drink a large mouthful of healing potion, and then took out strong liquor to disinfect his broken leg.

The pain of the strong liquor invading the wound made the soldier couldn't help but let out a miserable scream.

However, time was urgent now, and Wayne had no time to be hypocritical with him, directly restrained his constantly struggling body with his powerful strength, and forcibly bandaged his broken leg.

Then he carried this soldier, who was somewhat dazed by the pain, back to the pier where he had just landed.

And at this time, the five skeleton warriors he sent out had also brought back five wounded people.

However, because of limited intelligence, two of the five wounded had almost died. They suffered fatal injuries and could not be saved at all. The other three were terrified by the terrifying image of the skeleton warriors, and their original fearful expressions eased slightly until they saw Wayne.

Wayne just glanced at it and gave up the two with serious injuries, and began to treat the other three.

Speaking of medical skills, Wayne's technology can only be considered very average, at most it can be considered to have a little surgical and suturing and bandaging wound experience, most of which were learned from Kaer Morhen.

He had been out for three or four years and basically hadn't suffered any injuries. Treating other people's injuries was just at the theoretical stage.

However, fortunately, the effect of the intermediate healing potion was very powerful. With the vitality of ordinary humans in Middle-earth, as long as it was not an injury on a fatal part, a few mouthfuls of potion would basically start to improve and would not continue to deteriorate.

And the injuries suffered in the war were mostly flesh wounds and external injuries. As long as the wounds were sutured and disinfected, and excessive bleeding was prevented, most people could be saved.

Just like this, from the beginning of treating the wounded alone, to later some wounded recovered their vitality and assisted Wayne in treatment, with him as a commander, more and more people began to unite and help each other.

After a few hours, there were more than a hundred wounded in the town who survived because of his healing potion.

These hungry, panicked, and soul-lost survivors, because of Wayne's existence, gradually began to gather here, comforting each other, or crying bitterly, venting the fear in their hearts.

Until night fell, the entire town was ruined under the ravages of the fire, and the still-burning fire illuminated everyone's face.

After all the wounded who could be treated were carried out of the town by everyone and handed over to Wayne for treatment, the number of survivors gathered beside him also reached nearly two or three hundred.

There was no food, no shelter, and after the previous great joy and great sorrow, the survivors all huddled together. Many people fell asleep because of excessive sadness.

Fortunately, as the owner of the space bracelet, Master Wayne was not short of food. Although it was definitely impossible to supply hundreds of people for a long time, it was no problem to persist for a few days.

He took out his food and distributed it to the refugees present. In the thanks of the refugees, he sighed tiredly. Besides sympathy and intolerance, there was more disgust for the Orcs.

This was his first close contact with these poor people ravaged by war. After a whole afternoon of treatment, although many people were saved because of the efficacy of the healing potion, there were still thirty or forty wounded who died soon because their injuries were too serious and they suffered fatal injuries.

When slaughtering Orcs at the beginning, Wayne had no pity or guilt in his heart, just thinking that he was killing some monsters and beasts.

But facing these human civilians, he would remember that he was the same race as them.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 254 =====