From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 280 Slaying the Dragon
A golden disc decorated with intricate patterns rolled out from behind the stone platform where Ivy was hiding. Smaug turned his only remaining left eye and ignored it, still spitting out flames tirelessly, burning the giant stones that the dwarves had mined from the depths of the mountains and carefully carved.

Although Ivy had gained immunity to fire damage thanks to the spell of Empowered by Flame, he was not ready to reveal this information so early. When he was previously burned by dragon flames, Smaug was unable to confirm that the flames had directly hit Ivy, so he continued to choose fire breath as the primary method of attack.

Compared to the dragon flames that Ivy was immune to, Smaug's powerful tail and claws that could easily penetrate steel were a more terrifying threat to Ivy. Due to Smaug's huge size, any physical attack from the dragon's body was not something Ivy could withstand. So Ivy had to induce Smaug to continue to spit fire instead of getting into a life-and-death close combat.

The temperature of the dragon flame was extremely high, and Smaug was determined to melt the stone platform and Ivy behind him, so he worked even harder.

So in just a few minutes, the stone platform began to crack due to the high temperature, and then showed signs of melting.

Smaug increased the force of his breathing and moved closer to the stone platform.

The viscous lava began to drip along the edge of the stone platform, then turned into a torrent, and finally turned into a whole pool of lava flowing freely. The lava swallowed up the gold below and drilled down along the cracks with the gold and water.

Smaug stopped breathing fire and put his nose close to it to smell it carefully. There was no burnt smell of burnt flesh as he had imagined, except for the familiar smell of melted stone and gold, and there was no new smell that Smaug had been waiting for.

The evil dragon stood up in anger and lay in the golden ocean to look for the enemy. He twisted his body and raised golden waves, hoping to find the cunning enemy.

"Come out!" the dragon roared, "You coward! I will burn you to ashes with my wrath!"

Smaug had been blindly spraying his anger at the stone platform for several minutes, and Ivy had already moved to another place through the arcane door. During this period, he had not launched any attack. What was he doing?
Before Ivy became a wizard, he was first a wizard at Hogwarts. Although the changes in the world's reality made Ivy's wizard magic power useless, he still had another kind of magic that was closer to the original form of nature - the magic of ancient wizards.

This power is certainly not compatible with the world of Arda, but the object they rely on is Ivy itself, so it will not disappear out of thin air. Changing the world means that the ancient wizard's magic in Ivy can hardly be restored, but since he came to the world of Arda, he has never encountered a situation where he needs to use ancient magic. Even when facing Sauron and the nine ringwraiths, Ivy can rely on the professional ability and spells of the swordmaster to deal with it, but when facing such a huge Smaug, the magic and sword that are invincible against humanoid creatures have lost their effect.

Therefore, Ivy decided to pour all the magic power of the ancient wizards into one spell. Since the ancient magic would be banned by Ilúvatar once it was used, it would be better to use the whole thing at once.

In fact, as early as a hundred years ago at Hogwarts, Ivy had almost reached the end of the road of ancient magic. This does not mean that Ivy is extremely talented in ancient magic, but because there is only a short section of this road. There is no mentor in Hogwarts who can continue to teach Ivy. All the application methods of this violent power were almost figured out by Ivy himself.

Although he was able to control the strength of this power, he had not been able to find an advanced way to use it. Apart from the basic throwing and the slightly more advanced thunderbolt, this power seemed to have no third form of expression. Ivy had a 10th-level Ancient Magic Wizard occupation level, but it did not bring any special benefits to his ancient magic. If the 1st-level Ancient Magic Wizard was throwing stones, then the 10th-level Ancient Magic Wizard was just throwing bigger stones, which was not a qualitative leap like other occupations.

But DND's transmutation magic gave Ivy new inspiration. He used the three-ring transmutation spell Lightning Beam as a blueprint and developed a powerful spell that had both range and power and was driven by ancient magic.

However, the spells and gestures of DND arcane magic are obviously not applicable to the ancient magic of wizards, so when Ivy uses this spell, he must rely on his own spirit to guide it. The advantage of this is that the preparation of the spell is completely silent and there is almost no possibility of being discovered, but the disadvantage is that the preparation time is very long, and it cannot be regarded as an arcane spell with a normal casting time. Of course, it cannot be regarded as a ritual spell because it does not use any runes or magic circles, and there is no material or medium to rely on.

Ivy took out the goblin magic silver wand that he had used for a long time, hung it upside down on a broken bridge in the hall, pointed at Smaug on the ground, and silently used his mental power to guide the spell.

When Smaug stopped raising waves of gold coins in vain, Ivy finally completed her guidance.

Without any warning, brilliant and colorful lightning shot out from the tip of the wand, crossed a distance of hundreds of feet and directly hit the base of Smaug's right wing, which was also the base of his right forelimb.

That goal was the result of Ivy's careful consideration. Facing a dragon as big as a mountain, Ivy couldn't kill it with a spell, so the expected result was particularly important. Further stripping Smaug of his ability to move was a decision that would never go wrong.

Smaug's huge body means not only strong endurance and vitality, but also a very wide attack range. Every time Ivy launches an attack, she must move a very long distance to ensure that the beast bite sword hits the target. Otherwise, if she keeps using spells to bombard from a distance, I am afraid that she may not be able to defeat the dragon until all her spell slots are used up.

Therefore, in order to limit Smaug's range of movement, Ivy struck Smaug's right wing with this powerful lightning.

Just as Ivy had expected, the deafening roar once again resounded throughout the kingdom under the mountain. Smaug's right wing had been completely folded up, and his thick front claws began to spasm. The place that was directly hit by the lightning was bloody and even had a hole several feet deep.

In this way, all the wounds on Smaug's body were concentrated on the right side. Then, as long as Ivy approached him from this side and attacked him, the dragon would have difficulty turning because of its injuries, and it would be much easier for Ivy to avoid the bites, claws and tail sweeps that belonged to melee attacks.

"Wizard!" Smaug's roar revealed genuine fear. Since Morgoth was defeated in the War of Wrath, there has been no one in Middle-earth who can seriously injure the dragon for thousands of years. And Ivy can release lightning from his hands, and the sword he holds can easily break through the defense of dragon scales. Smaug really feels the threat to his life.

"What on earth did the dwarves promise you?" Smaug turned around in the gold with difficulty, and turned his intact left body towards Ivy standing on the rock wall. "Glory? Gold? Or something more precious? No matter how tempting the dwarves' promises are, they will never fulfill them! Once the gold in the Lonely Mountain occupies their minds again, these dwarves will become the craziest race in the world! All their promises will no longer count! You don't have to fight with me here! I am willing to share the treasures in the Lonely Mountain with you!"

"In my opinion, the dragon's credibility is not as good as that of the dwarves!" Ivy hung upside down on the top of the rock wall and slowly walked towards Smaug. "I can kill you and then decide who owns the gold here."

"I feel so sad for your fate. As a powerful wizard, you can't see through the calculations in the stone heads of the dwarves." Smaug stared at Ivy's facial expression with his cunning eyes, without any sign of moving away. "Do you really think you have already won? My ancestor Ancalagon was the most powerful dragon under Morgoth. His attack was accompanied by fire, lightning, storms and thunder. Even the Valar in the Far West could not kill him. In the end, they launched a despicable siege, which lasted for a whole day and night before they shot Ancalagon down from the sky! Now you are alone, but you have caused me a little insignificant damage, and you dare to say that all the gold and treasures in the Lonely Mountain belong to you?"

"Your lips and tongue are indeed more powerful than the fire that spews out of your mouth. If you opened your mouth a few more times, I'm afraid I would be willing to leave in disgrace." Ivy said sarcastically, "In fact, in my opinion, the most valuable treasure in the Kingdom under the Mountain is not this gold, nor is it the Heart of the Mountain, the treasure of the dwarves, but you as the evil dragon! Smaug!"

Ivy showed a fanatical expression and said intoxicatedly: "I will remove your scales to forge armor, peel off your wing membrane to make a cloak, tan your skin to make boots, and pull out your fangs and claws to make swords and spears. Your hot blood will not be wasted. I will use it to prepare elixirs to give mortals the power of dragons. Your muscles will be made into dishes to feed every human in Changhu Town, every dwarf in the Kingdom under the Mountain, and every elf in the Black Forest. Your fat will be refined into oil and used as paint to maintain weapons. Your bones will be made into specimens and displayed in my castle. Your head will be chopped off intact and well preserved, and hung outside the gate of the Kingdom under the Mountain forever, showing my great achievement and glory in slaying dragons!"

Even Smaug, who had lived for thousands of years, had never seen anyone as crazy as Ivy. A demon who was good at skinning and pulling out tendons could not be more terrifying than Ivy.

Smaug stepped back in shock, and the gold and gems stuck between his scales fell out in response to the stress.

"Don't even think about it!" Smaug felt that the distance between them was enough, and immediately spewed a huge breath of dragon flame towards the rock wall where Ivy was standing.

Ivy ran along the rock wall, dodging the flames behind her. At the same time, she kept saying, "I advise you not to resist! Otherwise, the sword in my hand will cut your beautiful dragon skin into pieces, and its value will drop significantly!"

Smaug shook his head violently, and the flames from his mouth turned into a fan to block Ivy's way forward.

Holding the Beast Bite Sword, Ivy kicked the wall hard and rushed towards Smaug below.

The dragon's golden-red scales spread out one after another, and its snake neck retracted and aimed its bloody mouth at Ivy again. In Smaug's opinion, Ivy was undoubtedly confused by the hot blood rushing to her head, and she actually launched an attack from the air in front of him. The air is different from the ground, and humans without wings cannot change direction. Now it's time to let this hateful wizard face the blazing dragon flame head-on!

A blinding red light emerged from under the scales on Smaug's abdomen and rushed to his throat in less than a breath. He confirmed the target with his only remaining left eye again, and then Smaug spewed out all the flames that had been accumulating for a long time.

In just a moment, the wizard in green robes disappeared under the flames. Smaug suddenly felt ecstatic. He did it! He killed the wizard who hurt his perfect body! All he had to do next was find his weapon and destroy the sword with many lights like he destroyed the black arrow. There would be nothing in Middle-earth that could threaten Lord Smaug anymore!

These delusions only swirled in Smaug's head for a moment before disappearing as Ivy leaped out of the flames above his mouth and stepped on his nose.

The light from the Beast Bite Sword stung Smaug's left eye, and he knew very well that the sword was aimed at his only remaining eye. Frightened and shocked, Smaug waved his left claw, which was still intact, trying to grab Ivy who was standing on the tip of his nose. However, Ivy did not necessarily want to take away Smaug's eyesight, but wanted to gain a foothold on his huge body.

Therefore, as soon as Ivy heard the evil wind coming from his ear through the super-sensory spell, he had already twisted his ankle and moved in another direction. He swung the beast-biting sword to cut off several bone spurs on Smaug's face, stepped on his bleeding right eyelid, and ran towards the back of the dragon's head.

Smaug, who had swung his claws in the air, had already figured out Ivy's target through the touch from his head, and he couldn't help but feel panic and shock. Even though dragons and humans are very different, the heart and brain are still fatal weaknesses for Smaug. Since the sword in the wizard's hand can break through the defense of his scales, it may also be able to break through his hardest skull. Although the sword in Ivy's hand is like a toothpick to him, he can't let this toothpick stick into his brain and stir it back and forth!

The evil dragon twisted his body and fell to the right, even at the risk of suffering secondary damage to the wound on the right half of his body. He also had to protect his most important organ.

No matter how sharp the sword in the wizard's hand is, or how powerful the magic he can unleash is, the wizard himself is just a human with flesh and blood. It must be uncomfortable to be caught between gold and dragon scales.

When Smaug turned over and smashed down, Ivy had already obtained the corresponding information through the super-sensory spell. His body disappeared with a silver mist, and then reappeared directly above the dragon. This time Ivy no longer used the second-ring Phantom Step, but its higher-level version, the fifth-ring Distant Step.

As a fifth-ring spell, Far Step not only has a longer travel distance, but can also be used every six seconds within a one-minute duration.

Ivy landed right above Smaug's body. Since he had smashed the right side of his body to the ground, the weakness on the left side was completely exposed. Ivy had noticed when she was face to face with him before that there was a spot on his left chest that was not protected by scales. That should be the place where Girion, Lord of the Valley, had hit him with a black arrow.

Although Ivy's Beast Bite Sword could easily break through Smaug's scales with the help of Ghost Strike, if he could aim at a place where there was no scale blocking it, it would mean that more of the sword blade would penetrate the dragon's body, which was much better than just doing superficial work on the dragon's body.

Smaug still didn't hear Ivy's screams, nor did he feel the blood and flesh exploding on his forehead, so he straightened his head and looked around for Ivy's position.

However, the severe pain in his chest interrupted his search. Ivy had already sunk the beast-biting sword into the area without scale protection, and was stirring it constantly. The blood flowing in the dragon's body was like high-temperature magma, spurting out as the wound appeared. If Ivy was not immune to fire damage, he would have been scalded to death by now.

"Although I have long known that your body is not as strong as you boasted, I still didn't expect that your scales would be shattered by a mere human whom you look down upon!" Ivy began to cut Smaug's chest with the Beast Bite Sword. The scales as strong as steel were easily broken by the Beast Bite Sword. Ivy tried to run while dragging the Beast Bite Sword on Smaug's body.

"You will kill me! I don't want to die like this!" The dragon's left chest was also where his heart was, but Ivy's blade was still too short to directly touch Smaug's beating heart. However, the threat of death still made the dragon's actions more crazy.

Smaug used his injured leg and wing to support his body and leaped towards the golden mountain in front of him. His one eye prevented him from accurately locking onto Ivy's position, so a large-scale attack was more effective.

Ivy had no way to expand his victory and could only use Far Step to leave again. This time he appeared right above the dragon's back, a position that his limbs could not reach.

The scales collided with the gold, and it was not easy to keep balance in the violent vibration. Fortunately, Ivy could insert the beast bite sword into the dragon's back as an anchor point to fix the body.

Every time Ivy tried to stand up and attack, the shaking caused by the violent collision forced him to continue trying to stabilize his body. Ivy looked around and found that various bridges and platforms in the kingdom under the mountain were passing by him quickly, and the direction of gravity changed from perpendicular to Smaug's back to parallel to it.

Smaug wants to escape!

Ivy wasn't sure if Smaug, who had been struck by ancient magic lightning, could still fly, but letting him escape was clearly not Ivy's original plan.

However, he had anticipated this and asked Bard to place the wind crossbows and black arrows at the main gate of Lonely Mountain. However, Smaug only had a short moment to rush out of the gate, and Ivy could not gamble on Bard's hit rate.

Far Walk was activated again, and this time Ivy appeared between Smaug's two horns. The staff in his left hand was stuck in the gap between the scales, and the beast-biting sword in his right hand continued to attack. Various elemental forces exploded on the top of Smaug's head, making him feel dizzy.

The huge dragon head hit the stone bridge, but the expected damage did not come. Because Ivy used the fossils to soften the impact. The effect of the supersensory spell was decreasing, and Ivy was almost about to hit the stone bridge. It's not that mud doesn't hurt, but it's definitely better than a bloody head.

Perhaps realizing that this strategy was effective, Smaug began to frequently move his body closer to the dwarven buildings, hoping to rub Ivy off his body.

Ivy knew that he couldn't just passively take the beating, so he used Far Steps again to get to the left chest of the evil dragon, and the elven curved sword in his hand lit up with a faint blue light, followed by bursts of cold mist. This was a contact spell called Extreme Cold Touch, which was activated using a high-level spell slot and could produce a heavy blow together with weapon damage.

The Beast Bite Sword once again pierced into the wound on Smaug's chest, freezing most of his internal organs.

Ivy's attack is still going on, and he has already put half of his body into Smaug's body!

The direction of gravity changed again, and Smaug could already see the gate of the Lonely Mountain.

Ivy knew that she couldn't delay any longer, so she released two super-magic seventh-ring spells, Rainbow Jets, into Smaug's body.

As Smaug's dragon head knocked down the gate of the Lonely Mountain, brilliant colorful light gushed out from his chest, illuminating every human guarding the main gate.

After uttering his last roar, Smaug, who was being chased by death, finally lowered his proud head and fell heavily in the autumn sun.

(End of this chapter)