The Lord of the Rings: Lords of Middle-earth.

Chapter 249 Entering the City
"Good, it's getting dark! Brothers! Let's get moving! Look for the glowing spots on the stone wall!" After a busy afternoon, they finally managed to wait until nightfall.

"Children! Move! We must find our way home!" Balin rallied the exhausted dwarf soldiers.

"Good heavens... so you've been busy all day just to find the door at night? Why didn't you take a break in the afternoon?" The Smurf asked the group of not-so-bright humans and dwarves, posing a soul-searching question.

"That's a good question, but don't ask again next time!" Roland's lips twitched, feeling extremely embarrassed. Sure enough, one shouldn't take chances! This afternoon, Roland and Balin, clinging to a sliver of hope, led everyone to lick the walls clean, but still couldn't find the secret door.

"The moonlight will guide us home!" Bahrain gazed firmly at the full moon in the sky.

“Oh! By the Dragon God! If I’m not mistaken! Perhaps we’ve found it…” came Omsk’s surprised voice.

Roland quickly followed the sound and went closer. Under the moonlight, a magnificent secret door on the stone wall shone brightly in the bright moonlight. The flow of mysterious magical energy made the entire secret door appear grand and mysterious.

"There are words on it! It's Elven script!" Caslo exclaimed in surprise, pointing to the top of the secret door.

"What does it say?" Bahrain exclaimed.

"It says 'Gate of Turin! King of Moria, say 'friend' and you can enter!' It seems like a riddle!" Caslo translated.

“Oh! The Dwarven Gate uses Elvish script…” Omsk shook his head, indicating his incomprehension.

“Bahrain! Do you know the secret code?” Caslo turned to look at Bahrain.

“Uh…ah…this…” Balin and Caslo stared at each other.

“…” Caslo was completely speechless.

"How do you say 'friend' in Elvish?" Roland shook his head. Sure enough, he had to take matters into his own hands. Luckily, he still remembered the plot of Lord of the Rings, otherwise he would have really lost face... What kind of situation is it for a thousand people to be stopped at the gate when they arrive at their destination?

"Friends?" Caslo asked in Elvish.

"Creak~" After a series of old, teeth-grinding creaks, the door in front of us slowly opened!
"Oh! By Turin! By the Beard! We're home!" Bahrain exclaimed, tears welling in his eyes.

"Your Highness... how do you know the secret code?" Omske and Caslo cast surprised glances at Roland, which he thoroughly enjoyed. This kind of subtle, understated pleasure was captivating!
"Watch out! We're about to enter this long-sealed city! Orcs and goblins will be hiding in every corner, waiting to ambush us! And there's a Balrog lurking in the shadows, so keep a close eye out!" Roland instructed the soldiers.

“No problem! I’ll lead the way!” Omsk nodded. After all, as the team’s tankiest player, his tankiness was even greater than Caslo’s when he wasn’t riding a dragon.

"Be careful!" Roland gave a brief but succinct warning. As a seasoned veteran of the battlefield, Omsk didn't need Roland's instructions; he knew all the procedures by heart. In terms of survival, even if everyone else died twice, he wouldn't necessarily be in any danger.

"Welcome to the great Dwarf City! Now let me give you a grand introduction to this magnificent city..." Balin chattered incessantly beside Roland, his excitement overflowing. "What a pity, there's no fine ale or delicious boneless roast meat to celebrate all this!" After a while, Balin finally couldn't help but smack his lips and sigh regretfully.

"Oh ho? You're still thinking about food? I'm still worried about what to do with those damn goblins and orcs in here! They're like rats in the gutter, you can never get rid of them completely!" Roland shook his head, shattering Balin's reverie. Compared to the dwarves' celebration feast, Roland was more worried about the orcs and goblins who hadn't shown up yet, since there were quite a few of them in both the movie and the original story.

"Shh! Be quiet!" Roland suddenly saw a Lordaeron ranger running towards them with his fist clenched. This was the sign language he had taught the rangers to use to pass messages, meaning that something had happened ahead!
“What happened?” Roland whispered.

"There's a huge hall ahead! It's enormous! Its pillars are towering, reaching all the way to the dome! They're estimated to be tens of meters high! The entire hall is estimated to be tens of thousands of square meters in area!" reported the scouts from the Lordaeron Rangers.

"Bahrain! It's your turn! Figure out where we are! Don't tell me you don't know the way!" Roland whispered. If Balin dared to say no, he would really strangle this old dwarf today! You can't even find your own way home?

"Don't rush! Let me think! Right, this location should be near Hall 10! Your people must have already made their way into Hall 10!" Fortunately, Balin hadn't reached the worst-case scenario Roland had envisioned; at least they still knew the location of their home.

"Which way do we go?" This is where Bahrain, the expert, comes in, since Roland doesn't know much about the landmarks and buildings in Moria.

“The ten halls are the most important places, but we need to go to the Royal Hall behind Hall One! Once we occupy that place, the rest will be much easier! It's a place where we can defend or attack at will!” Balin said.

"Go along Hall 10?" Roland asked doubtfully.

“No, no, no! Go around it! Go to Hall Nine! From there we’ll go through Hall Four to find the bridge! Once we cross the bridge we’ll find the Royal Palace!” Balin said, shaking his head.

“Fine! I’ll do as you say! We’ll bypass it!” Roland, of course, had no objections.

"What's going on? Why is it so noisy?" Suddenly, there was a commotion in front of us.

"We've alerted some of the goblins! The soldiers are fighting! The bad news is that goblins are pouring out of the main hall! And we spotted trolls at the far end!" Omske ran over quickly and said, his body stained with dark green blood, clearly goblin splattered blood.

"Damn it! We've alerted them again!" Roland shook his head. Adhering to the principle of avoiding trouble, Roland only wanted to deal with the Balrogs, help the dwarves reclaim Moria, and then take the money and leave. As for eliminating these orcs and goblins, he believed the dwarves could handle it well on their own. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned…

"Children, take up arms! Let's settle this once and for all! These filthy creatures have occupied this place long enough! Now! It's time for them to leave!" Balin, gripping his battle axe, rallied his dwarf soldiers. Before he could even finish a few words, the dwarves, seeing the goblins, were like they'd been injected with adrenaline—enemies meeting are bound to be furious! These sturdy dwarves howled and pounced, engaging the goblins' thin arms and legs in a unique and gruesome "snap-to-snap" battle… The scene was horrific! The graphic content was enough to warrant condemnation from even the most virtuous! Definitely not suitable for children; viewer discretion is advised…

"My God! The dwarf has gone mad! Look at him, he's even biting the goblin!" Caslo exclaimed in amazement as if he had discovered a new continent, marveling at the dwarf tearing at the goblin with his mouth.

“That’s normal. If the goblins had occupied Upper Stream City for a few years, you would have gone even further than them!” Omske looked at the dwarves who were fighting desperately for their homeland and their enemies with pity, then glanced at Caslo.

"Yue..." Just imagining himself tearing goblins apart with his mouth, Caslo froze on the spot.

Brothers, I'm not dead yet, I can still update... As long as the virus doesn't kill me, I'll kill it!
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(End of this chapter)