Although the plan was to let Thorin and his companions suffer a bit, Gandalf and Luke still didn't forget to scout ahead.
Though the two were walking, their speed was not slow.
Especially when he was with Gandalf, influenced by the power of narya, the Ring of Fire, Luke felt no fatigue at all.
Luke could only express his envy for this.
He really wanted such a divine artifact too.
Unfortunately, the three Elven Rings were all in the hands of three powerful individuals, so he had no chance of obtaining them.
No wonder Saruman, the White Wizard, became jealous and estranged from Gandalf after Círdan bestowed narya, the Ring of Fire, upon Gandalf.
Who wouldn't want such a divine artifact?
Thinking this, he also recalled the one ring.
Currently, this ring was still in Gollum's hands in the Misty Mountains, but it wouldn't be long before it fell into Bilbo's hands.
This made him somewhat curious about the one ring's abilities.
After all, this ring was rumored to be more powerful than the Three Elven Rings, but in Bilbo's hands, it seemed to have no other abilities besides helping him become invisible.
However, as soon as he thought of the one ring's power to corrupt the mind, which even Gandalf, Galadriel, and others dared not touch, he dismissed the idea.
He didn't believe he would be stronger than Gandalf or Galadriel, or immune to the one ring's power.
Luke and Gandalf walked along the main road until dark, until they passed an unnamed small village.
But what made Luke and Gandalf's expressions grow increasingly solemn was that this small village was severely damaged, and not a single person was to be seen.
And judging from the signs of destruction, the damage was not very old, likely within recent times.
It was unknown whether the villagers had already suffered misfortune or had fortunately escaped.
Luke and Gandalf hoped for the latter.
But when they walked into the village and saw some bloodstains and untouched furniture, their mood also became heavy.
Clearly, the people here were more likely to have met with misfortune.
Gandalf carefully examined the traces of destruction, then said with a somewhat heavy tone, "The destructive power is great, and there are huge footprints. This must have been done by Trolls."
The two silently left the village and continued walking, encountering several more small villages along the way.
But without exception, all were severely damaged, and there was not a single person in the villages.
Their moods grew increasingly heavy.
"The previous plan is canceled!" Gandalf suddenly said to Luke, "Our top priority is to find the Trolls that destroyed the villages. They kidnapped quite a few villagers, and it hasn't been long, so there might still be hope for survival."
Luke naturally had no objection.
The two stopped walking forward and instead changed direction, heading deeper into the Troll Forest, tracking the Trolls' footprints as they searched.
The deeper they went, they continued until midnight, just when they thought they would find their target.
They encountered a large swamp.
Looking at the swamp before them, Gandalf frowned deeply.
The swamp was muddy, and the Trolls' footprints were submerged by the accumulated water, so the trail ended here.
Luke also remained silent. He remembered that there was a guiding spell in Harry Potter, but the problem was that he hadn't learned it yet, so he was willing but powerless.
[Hogwarts Sign-in System: Troll Forest located. Sign in?]
The system suddenly gave a prompt.
Luke was stunned for a moment, then quickly chanted inwardly, "Sign in!"
[Sign-in successful. Congratulations on obtaining the Parseltongue talent!]
Parseltongue talent? Luke was somewhat astonished, not expecting to obtain this from the sign-in.
But he waited for a while and didn't find anything extra.
Could it have failed? That shouldn't be.
"Alas~" Gandalf let out a long sigh, looking somewhat disappointed, "Luke, we can only rely on luck now to see if we can find the Trolls' cave quickly."
"Uh, Gandalf, I have a method I can try, but I don't know if it will succeed…" Luke suddenly spoke with some uncertainty.
"You have a method?" Gandalf's eyes lit up, staring at him intently.
Luke felt a bit less confident under Gandalf's gaze, nodding, "I don't know if it will succeed, it's just a try."
They say swamps are where insects and snakes gather, so Luke tried to imagine himself as a snake and shouted towards the swamp, "Are there any snakes?"
Just as Luke awkwardly thought he had spoken human language.
From Gandalf's perspective, he saw Luke hissing at the swamp.
The sound contained power, sounding cold and slimy, like the intimidating hiss of a venomous snake flicking its tongue, making one feel uneasy and mysterious upon hearing it.
"What language is that?" Gandalf asked in surprise, "It sounds like a snake hissing."
Luke also realized that he had indeed spoken Parseltongue just now, and with a surge of joy, he explained, "This is Parseltongue, or snake language. It allows me to communicate with snakes."
And just as Du Yui was explaining, there was movement in the swamp. Countless snakes emerged from the water and grass, including water snakes, poisonous snakes, Pythons, all gathering towards Luke.
The dense mass of snakes of all sizes made one's scalp tingle and gave them goosebumps.
Seeing this situation, Gandalf was surprised and implied, "I'm afraid it's not just communication with snakes, is it?"
However, Luke's attention was not on Gandalf at the moment, so he didn't quite hear his words. He hadn't expected so many snakes to live in the swamp, especially now that he possessed the Parseltongue talent; he only felt a cacophony of sounds around him.
"Hey, human, did you summon us? Why can you speak our snake language?" A water snake asked, raising its head.
"I was just making babies with Little Red, and this hateful human summoned us. I really want to bite him!" A bright green poisonous snake hissed unhappily in threat, but didn't dare to actually bite.
"I'm so hungry, I haven't eaten in over a month. Human, can you give me that old man to eat? I promise I'll be good to you…" A Python as thick as a water bucket and over ten meters long said hungrily.
…
Luke only felt his head buzzing and immediately shouted, "Be quiet!"
A hissing Parseltongue sound came from Luke's mouth, and all the snakes seemed to be controlled by some power, instantly becoming silent and slithering limply on the ground.
Luke gradually adapted to the Parseltongue talent. He immediately commanded the snakes, "Which of you knows the location of the nearby Trolls' cave? Lead us there immediately!"
The hungry Python was the first to reply, "I know where the Trolls are! As long as you give me food, I'll take you there right away."
Luke raised an eyebrow.
It even knows how to make demands? It seems to be a smart snake.
He smiled and agreed, "As long as you lead us, when we take care of the Trolls later, the entire Troll will be left for you to eat, how about that?"
"Really? You can take down the Trolls?" The Python expressed doubt.
"Of course it's true. I'm a Wizard. Otherwise, why would I be able to talk to you?"
"Then I'll believe you!" The Python nodded, then turned its bowl-sized head towards Gandalf, its gaze covetous.
"But can't you give me the old man next to you first? I know several Troll caves, and there are many shiny things inside, which I think are things you humans like. I can take you to get them, how about that?"
Luke's mouth twitched upon hearing this, and he glanced at the oblivious Gandalf beside him.
It seemed he had spoken too soon; this snake had a brain, but not much.
"Alright, stop wasting time, lead the way!" Luke didn't waste any more words and urged it quickly.
The Python could not disobey the Parseltongue command and immediately turned to lead the way in a certain direction in the swamp.
The other snakes scattered and left.
Luke immediately turned to Gandalf and said, "Let's go, Gandalf. This Python knows the location of the Trolls' cave, we'll just follow it."
As he spoke, he waved his wand, and a sturdy stone slab bridge appeared in the muddy swamp.
Luke stepped onto the stone slab bridge and followed the Python's direction.
"Wonderful magic! Amazing language!"
Gandalf exclaimed in admiration, then also stepped onto the stone slab bridge and followed closely.