Chapter 258: The Battle of Smaug

The Dwarves' secret passage was quite narrow. With Wayne's tall stature, he had to stoop to move normally.

Looking at Bilbo walking in front, his body trembling slightly, Wayne smiled slightly at the corner of his mouth, reached out and patted the Hobbit's shoulder, and said in a relaxed tone:

"Don't worry, Bilbo."

"Your mission is just to find the Arkenstone without waking Smaug."

"You don't need to fight the dragon."

"Once that dragon wakes up, you just hide in a safe place and leave here. I'll handle the rest, and I will protect you."

Facing Wayne's comfort, Bilbo gratefully turned his head and smiled back at him. The journey over the past half year could be said to be the most thrilling, exciting, and memorable adventure of Bilbo's life.

As a Hobbit who enjoyed comfort and was content with his lot, being able to have such a colorful adventure was enough for him to reminisce about for the rest of his life.

Of course, this was not setting a flag. After obtaining Wayne's guarantee, Bilbo had much fewer worries, and his every move became more decisive and steady.

The two soon walked through the long and narrow secret passage. As the space ahead suddenly opened up, a scene that made people gape in astonishment entered their eyes.

Gold, gold, shining gold, gold like a vast ocean, filled their entire field of vision.

In the huge room, which was estimated to be at least a thousand square meters, the mountains of gold were like a golden ocean. Gold cups, gold bowls, gemstone necklaces, plus countless gold like sand in the desert, were simply dazzling.

Not to mention Bilbo, a native, even Wayne, a transmigrator born in the modern world, was shocked by the treasures in the Lonely Mountain. It was worthy of being called the place that gathered the most wealth in the Middle-earth world; the gold here was enough to drive any country, any ordinary person, crazy.

Just a casual estimate, there were probably hundreds of millions, or even over a billion gold coins here.

Thinking that one-third of the gold here would belong to him, Wayne's mood also became excited.

One could imagine that after obtaining this wealth, when he returned to the Wizard World, just in terms of financial resources, he alone could rival the entire Northern Kingdoms, and it would be no exaggeration to call him the world's richest man in the Wizard World.

By then, the name of Lord Wayne would be well-deserved.

And after possessing wealth that looked down upon the whole world, he could do everything he wanted to do.

Being a cheater with a system, Wayne quickly woke up from the fantasy of huge wealth. He patted Bilbo, who was still dazzled beside him, did not speak, but gave him a wink, letting him get ready to start the action.

Bilbo was worthy of being the Hobbit in the original work who could withstand the temptation of the One Ring. He quickly adjusted his mindset, took a light breath, and then walked lightly into the ocean made of gold, starting to search for the Arkenstone inside.

And Wayne also drew the Oath of Victory Sword from behind his back, concentrated his spirit, and prepared to launch a fatal blow at any time.

For him, whether Bilbo found the Arkenstone was not important. The Hobbit was actually just a bait to attract Smaug, helping him determine Smaug's location.

Once that dragon appeared, Wayne would immediately launch an attack and deliver a fatal blow to it.

The golden mountain and golden sea made of gold coins had a structure that was quite loose. The stickiness between each gold coin could almost be said to be non-existent, and a little touch could easily cause a collapse.

However, the Hobbit was worthy of being the thief in the sky. Even if Bilbo had not undergone very professional thief training, his feet were quite steady when stepping on the gold coins, and he did not make much sound at all. Even most Witchers could not achieve this level.

Wayne stood on the balcony, watching Bilbo, who was carefully searching for the Arkenstone in the golden mountain and golden sea below, his heart at peace.

The warm blood surging in his body made his strength constantly burst forth, and the trembling muscles all over his body poured all his strength into his arms.

After about an hour, a slight cheer suddenly came from Bilbo's side.

Wayne looked up and saw the small Hobbit holding an oval-shaped gemstone the size of an ostrich egg, waving at him excitedly.

That was the Arkenstone. Although neither of them had seen this legendary treasure, just by seeing the gemstone for the first time, everyone would understand that it was the treasure of the Durin clan, the Arkenstone.

And Bilbo did not notice that just as he was cheering for finding the Arkenstone, behind him, a huge vertical pupil the size of seventy or eighty centimeters had quietly opened.

With a slight tremor, a large number of gold coins began to collapse like a waterfall, like a mudslide made of gold, instantly setting off waves in the entire golden treasury, and such a reaction immediately attracted Bilbo's attention.

At this critical moment, the Hobbit performed very reliably. He did not hesitate at all and immediately drank the Invisibility Potion Wayne had given him.

This potion from Azeroth took effect very quickly. Before Smaug could recover from his slumber of hundreds of years, Bilbo's figure had already disappeared quickly, leaving only a row of shallow footprints, representing that the Hobbit was fleeing rapidly.

This bronze-colored giant dragon, which was over a hundred meters long, slowly revealed its body from the golden ocean.

It shook its head, flapped its wings, shook the gold coins piled on its body, and revealed its beautiful yet fierce body.

It opened its mouth and spat out a breath of foul-smelling air, then said in a hoarse and vicious Common Tongue: "Strange smell, not the stinky Dwarves, nor the fragrant Elves. Strange, what kind of mouse actually crawled into my treasury."

However, before Smaug could figure out who the thief was, it suddenly felt a slight heaviness on its neck, as if something was standing on its back.

The danger instinct in its body was about to force it to roll to get rid of the thing on its back.

Smaug suddenly felt a numbness in its neck, a pain it had not experienced in hundreds of years instantly entered its brain, making the dragon unable to help but let out a terrified roar.

"Awoo!!!"

"Who is it? Which despicable fellow is on my back?"

"Who dares to hurt the great Smaug!"

While this deafening roar resounded through the entire treasury, Smaug, like a crazy wild boar, slammed its back against a stone pillar in the treasury, attempting to use this method to knock off the thing that had just landed on its back. And Wayne indeed did not dare to bet with his own body, nor did he want to experience the feeling of intimate contact with a stone pillar, so he hurriedly jumped off the dragon's back.

What a pity, damn Smaug, its dragon scales were actually much harder than the dragon scales in the Wizard World and the Elder Scrolls world.

With Wayne's current strength, which was five times that of an ordinary person, and using a good weapon like the Oath of Victory Sword, a full-strength sword strike on the dragon's neck, where the defense was relatively weak, only managed to cut a small wound.

Failing to deliver a fatal blow in one strike was really a pity.

And Wayne did not know that the sword strike just now had already scared Smaug out of its wits. As the last evil dragon in the Middle-earth world, now that many powerhouses of the First Age had fallen, it could be said to be one of the top existences on the side of the dark forces.

It had been a long time since it had tasted the feeling of being injured.

And the sword strike Wayne made toward its neck, which made it bleed continuously, had made it experience the taste of death after a long time.

After crashing through a stone pillar, Smaug didn't even think; his burning chest swelled slightly, and a jet of orange-red dragon fire, reaching temperatures of over a thousand degrees, erupted from his gaping maw, spraying toward the position where Wayne was standing.

The high-temperature flame quickly melted the gold at the Witcher's position, melting the piles of gold coins into a pool of molten gold.

However, Wayne's figure had already disappeared from the spot before the dragon flame arrived, appearing in the sky above Smaug's back.

It was not that he did not want to appear directly on Smaug's back and cut the wound on the dragon's neck again.

It was just that, as a possessor of the primary Elder Blood, his Blink needed to calculate the position and could not be traversed at will.

Otherwise, if the traversed position was wrong, and he unfortunately got his body stuck in someone else's body, or stuck in a stone or wood, that would be a fatal injury. Lord Wayne did not dare to take this risk.

However, when he fell from mid-air and stood on Smaug's back, the dragon immediately reacted. Without caring about its image at all, it rolled sideways and kept rolling in the ocean of gold coins, like a rascal dog, swearing to shake off the dangerous person on its back.

And facing this situation, Wayne was also very helpless. He did not want to collide with metal with his own body and could only leave large and small wounds on the dragon's body in the gaps of Smaug's rolling with his sharp two-handed greatsword.

At the same time, the experienced ancient dragon, which had been cut all over, had already understood that Wayne possessed the ability to teleport. This discovery immediately cast a shadow over Smaug's already somewhat timid heart.

Originally, a dragon of its size was not very good at dealing with creatures that were agile and good at dodging.

To think that it would encounter an enemy that could teleport directly and whose attack power could destroy its scales was simply its nemesis.

The timid Smaug immediately gave up the idea of continuing to tangle with Wayne, and a desire to retreat arose in its heart.

It did not even dare to turn its head to leave harsh words, just desperately rolling in the gold coins, slamming its body against the surrounding walls, and finally, taking an opportunity, it flapped its wings and rushed toward the gate of the Lonely Mountain treasury.

Smaug, who had never experienced the feeling of being hunted by others, felt the fear of becoming prey for the first time.

However, just as its feet exerted force and its body had just risen, facing its prey, Lord Wayne was not polite at all. A long-distance Blink of several hundred meters appeared in front of Smaug.

At the same time, the space bracelet on his left hand was aimed at Smaug's body, and it began to flash with magical brilliance.

As a magical creature, Smaug immediately noticed the powerful magical fluctuation in front. On its originally gloomy and terrifying dragon face, a quite ridiculous expression of fear immediately appeared, flapping its wings with all its might, forcibly raising its body by a notch.

And just at the position where its chest had been, a dazzling white lightning spear composed of countless powerful electric lights, like real lightning, shot out instantly from Wayne's hand, hitting the position of its right leg. This was a Sixth-Circle Spell, Hera's Spear.

The high-temperature, high-pressure lightning spear shattered its dragon scales with a hiss, directly melting a blood hole the size of a watermelon in Smaug's thigh, and then hit a wall behind it, blasting a crater of about half a meter.

This ancient evil dragon immediately opened its mouth and let out a painful wail. Blood-red fresh blood instantly covered its thigh, but its body did not hesitate at all. Like a stray dog with a broken leg, while letting out a wail, it almost exerted all its strength and rushed toward the gate of the Lonely Mountain palace.

The speed was so fast that even Wayne, who used the Blink ability continuously, could only barely catch up and had no time to launch an attack.

The distance of over a thousand meters passed in a flash. Smaug was probably scared out of its wits. Facing Wayne's pursuit from behind, it did not slow down at all and slammed into the stone gate forged by the Dwarves with a bang.

With a loud bang, the huge stone city gate used by the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain to defend against enemies shattered in response.

Smaug let out another painful wail while flapping its wings with all its might without hesitation, wanting to fly toward the boundless sky outside.

It firmly believed in its heart that as long as it flew into the sky, it could stay away from the pursuit of the hateful hunter below and escape death.

As for the matter of revenge, before it healed its wounds and before it collected intelligence on this enemy, the cowardly Smaug absolutely did not dare to bring up this thought.

However, just as Smaug rushed out of the Dwarves' gate, thinking it could save its dog life and fly into the sky, the moment it did so.

Suddenly, a heaven-shaking roar sounded from its side. A terrifying figure, eight or nine meters tall, with deep green scales all over its body, looking like an ancient fierce beast, jumped up from its side with a powerful force.

Like a hungry tiger pouncing on its prey, those strong legs not only stomped fiercely, directly stepping on Smaug's back, but the claws on its legs also hooked onto its scales like iron hooks.

The two arms with sharp long claws also wrapped around its slender neck like steel.

And what made Smaug feel most soul-shatteringly terrified was that after the terrifying behemoth had firmly locked onto his body, a blood-filled maw, reeking of gore and lined with dense, sharp fangs, had already clamped down on his neck.

As if bitten by an ancient evil beast, Smaug only felt a clear and incomparable giant pain coming from its neck. The scales and flesh on it were torn, and the wound that the hateful man had left on its neck was torn open by a large section. The blood in its body gushed out, and the torn wound even reached its trachea.

Facing such an injury, a flash of realization crossed Smaug's heart.

I am going to die!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 259 =====