"That dragon has a blood feud with me."
"You hold no attraction for the dragon, Bilbo. It won't fly into a rage over a hobbit it's never seen before."
"Levi won't work either. He can face the dragon head-on, but if he suddenly flees, it will definitely become suspicious."
Thorin stood in the center of everyone.
"Only I. I am the true heir to Durin's throne, and will eventually return to become King Under the Mountain. Only I can make it want to kill me at all costs, never giving up any opportunity."
"And only I can make it lose its reason."
A glint of madness flashed in Thorin's eyes.
Levi saw all of this.
Yes, what he said was indeed correct, but this statement worked in reverse as well. This dragon would also make the heir to the dwarven throne lose his reason. From the moment he set foot in the Lonely Mountain, Thorin had been drawing closer and closer to madness. The curse existing on this land had already wrapped around him tightly.
When he truly ascends to the throne, his greedy nature might even surpass that of the dragon.
If that was the case, then let the madness come completely.
Levi's fists and milk had been prepared for a long time.
"Levi, what do you think?"
After the plan was explained, Thorin habitually asked, just as they used to ask Gandalf.
"Go ahead and do it."
Levi gave an affirmative reply, and guided the dwarves through the passage he had previously dug to circle around to the corridor behind, successfully completing the assembly of the windlass.
At the end of the secret passage, Bard looked at the well-crafted windlass before him that had even been refurbished, and the black arrow in his hand. He took several deep breaths and waited quietly.
"You fire-breathing maggot!"
A loud curse suddenly came from the other side of the passage. Smaug's first reaction was that the detestable Steve had come again, but when it turned around, it was stunned for a moment, then let out a meaningful evil laugh.
"Look who this is. Isn't this the last heir to the throne of the cowardly line of Durin, Thorin Oakenshield?"
"What, have you grown tired of wandering around doing dirty work for others, and finally decided to come die?"
Smaug abandoned guarding the hole in front of it and slowly approached Thorin instead. Its massive body made Thorin feel obvious tremors with every step, yet he only stared at the dragon, motionless like a true stone.
"You think you can drive away the great Smaug by finding some warrior from who knows where? You coward among dwarves, you scum!"
"What did you say? You fat, slow, aged, addled worm!"
Thorin finally put his talent for provocation to good use. Having been thoroughly insulted from all angles, this dwarf could no longer endure it. He continued shouting:
"You false usurper, fat maggot that only knows how to writhe in deep pits! You'll never know what things are truly valuable. You have no status, no right to rule anything. Only I, the legitimate King Under the Mountain, have the right to sit on the throne!"
"Hahaha, is this theory something you just pulled out? How fresh."
While speaking, Smaug gradually approached, preparing to slowly deal with this dwarf who had come to die.
Bang!
Suddenly, several flash-bang grenades were thrown by Thorin, precisely hitting the dragon's eyes and exploding in intense white light and dust. However, neither the bright light nor the explosion made the dragon blink even once. It only made its extremely long neck instinctively retract slightly.
"I've had enough of these tickling things. Why not try something different?"
Its belly suddenly turned red, and Smaug fiercely spat out a stream of flame. Thorin quickly dove toward the corner, running non-stop toward the smelting works.
When Smaug also rounded the corner, preparing to breathe out an enhanced dragon fire, it heard Thorin shout "Pull!"
The dwarves lying in ambush pulled down the water gate, and suddenly, massive torrents of water gushed down from above, dousing Smaug and extinguishing the flames building up in its belly.
"Good, you're starting to annoy me a little."
Rumble! Rumble!
The dragon's footsteps quickened, its large head probing forward, closely pursuing Thorin's steps.
At the end of the smelting works, Thorin again threw two flash-bang grenades, precisely hitting the dragon's head to slightly distract Smaug's attention.
Clang!
A large iron gate was pulled open. Thorin immediately slipped inside to hide. At the same time, several huge stones fell from behind where Thorin had just been standing, heavily striking Smaug's head.
"You think this can hurt me? What a pity. I've experienced this trick too!"
"How has it experienced everything?"
Fili, who had just dropped the boulder from high up in the smelting works, scratched his head. These methods had all just been thought up!
The dwarves' coordinated attacks had consistently failed to take effect, but Smaug had grown tired of playing. It charged toward the large gate where Thorin had escaped, folding its wings to dive inside, its belly accumulating a patch of crimson, just waiting to see that figure to deliver a vicious blow.
Yes, from beginning to end it had only been playing. This dragon didn't believe the dwarves could have any means to harm it. If they really did, they wouldn't have been driven from the mountain by it in the first place.
However, one thing still surprised it.
"It's coming."
Wind and massive commotion came from the passage entrance, striking Bard's face.
A huge shadow approached from far to near, steel-like claws scraping the walls on both sides as the dragon dove down like this.
"Another human?"
"You think your weapons are useful?"
Instinctively, Smaug began using dragon-speech, trying to influence this human who smelled somewhat different.
But Bard only stared at its belly from beginning to end, his gaze never wavering once.
At this moment, nothing outside his target could shake his attention in the slightest.
Finally, when Smaug reached a certain distance, he moved. But what was activated wasn't the windlass on the ground, but the longbow on his back.
Whoosh!
An ordinary arrow shot toward Smaug. Almost simultaneously, Bard pulled the windlass trigger, shooting out the spear-like black arrow.
Snap.
The ordinary arrow shot first precisely hit the diamond stuck between the scales, knocking it away and exposing the skin underneath that wasn't covered by dragon scales.
Almost at the same instant the diamond was knocked away, the black arrow followed closely, giving Smaug no room to escape as it pierced fiercely into its heart.
"Ugh... ahhhhh!"
Lava-like scalding liquid gushed from its mouth. With a splash, Smaug lost all strength, struggling to open its mouth as if wanting to say something, though judging by its angry expression, it certainly wouldn't be anything good.
[-900]
[100/1000]
Abnormal status: Massive bleeding, life suppression.
Truly worthy of being an anti-dragon specialized weapon. The effect was quite good.
Having succeeded with one strike, Bard quickly rolled and dove into a two-meter-high hole nearby to avoid the impact of the dragon's diving collision.
"Levi!"
Bard called out.
"I'm here."
As he hid inside, Levi appeared from another opening. He drank a Level II Strength potion, wielded his long sword, and jumped down from above.
At this moment, the dragon had almost no strength left, only able to wildly wave its claws, rumbling as it scraped the walls. What could be seen was that even in its severely wounded, dying state, it was still terrifying. Any random thrashing delivered tremendous force that no one could withstand.
But no matter how it thrashed, it couldn't escape Levi's sword edge.
Directly in front of the dragon, Levi slashed sword after sword, delivering the final end to this hundred-meter-long dragon.
At this moment, with each additional sword strike, Smaug took higher damage. This was the bonus from dynamic swordsmanship. After locking onto a target, each additional combo hit would increase the next damage by one point, with a maximum of twelve consecutive hits possible.
At this moment, Smaug could neither escape nor naturally recover health. It could only endure Levi's attacks. However much blood Levi cut away, it had to lose that much, unable to recover even a single point.
Finally, when the combo was maxed out, Levi thrust fiercely, delivering a sword strike with as much as 30 points of damage.
Ding!
The extraordinarily fierce sword thrust difficultly pierced into the gap between the jawbones, severing the dragon head's last breath of life.
Its pupils lost their luster, its limbs no longer possessed strength.
From this moment, the fire dragons of Middle-earth were declared extinct. Or were they?
Notifications appeared one after another.
[Achievement Unlocked: Dragon Slayer]
[Achievement Unlocked: Liberation of the Lonely Mountain]
[Title Obtained: Dragonslayer]
[Is It Over?]
[Chapter Complete]
***
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