Hogwarts wizards who signed in to Middle-earth.

Chapter 173 Flame Demon's Lair
The treasury is located at the lowest level of Moria, with a tunnel dug by the dwarves.

At the end of the tunnel is the treasure house door made of a mixture of mithril and fine iron.

"This is the last intact treasure house left in Moria," Balin explained to Dewi and Gandalf.
"The defenses here are the strongest. The walls of the vault are cast with a mixture of mithril and fine iron. The gate is also set with a code that only Dwarves can decipher. Therefore, the Orcs cannot dig a tunnel to enter the vault. This is why the treasures in the vault are not plundered by the Orcs."

When talking about this, Bahrain was also heartbroken.

The former Kingdom of Khazad-dûm, relying on its rich mithril mines, was a gathering of all the wealth in the world, with so much treasure that even a treasury could not contain it.

However, with the awakening of the Balrog, Khazad-dûm was destroyed. Although the Balrog was not interested in the treasure, the Orcs were very greedy. They not only plundered and occupied the treasure, but also continued to mine mithril ore and transported it to Barad-dûr to provide supplies for Sauron's army.

Only the first vault built by the dwarves survived because of its strong defenses.

"It took me several days to finally crack the code to this treasure house." Balin said happily, his eyes shining. "Perhaps Dulin's ancestors had a premonition and built this sturdy treasure house on purpose, leaving us a huge treasure."

As he said that, he pushed open the door and led a few people in.

As soon as they entered, Dui and Arwen couldn't help but open their mouths slightly and their eyes widened.

Inside the treasure house, illuminated by the fire, it was a magnificent sight.

The treasury is huge, no smaller than the dwarf hall. It is supported by a huge golden pillar in the middle, and the ground, walls and ceiling are all paved with gold. It is very luxurious!

In addition, the treasury is filled with countless gold, jewels, jade, exquisite and luxurious jewelry, handicrafts, etc., piled up into mountains, almost touching the high ceiling.

There are so many treasures, no less than the treasures in Gushan.

More importantly, half of the treasure here belongs to Dui, while he only took one tenth of it when he went to Gushan.

Gandalf still refused Balin's idea of ​​giving him treasure, but only took some gold coins to buy tobacco from the Shire.

Dui did not have the noble moral integrity of Gandalf who treated the treasure mountain as dirt, so he directly used the space bag to collect half of the treasure in the treasury.

After all, he has a lot of people (pets) to support at home, especially a giant dragon who values ​​money like his life and is waiting to use more gold and jewelry to build a nest.

Balin did not feel any pain or reluctance when Dui took away half of the treasure in the treasury.

After all, Moria’s real treasure has never been the gold and jewels in the treasury, but the mithril ore that is far more precious than them.

The mithril ore in Moria is inexhaustible. As long as you own this mine, it is only a matter of time to make endless wealth.

After coming out of the treasury, Balin asked Dui to set up a Floo network on the fireplace in the first hall, and was willing to exchange mithril for Floo powder, with the price being one gram of mithril for one gram of Floo powder.

Dui naturally would not refuse such a lucrative deal.

He was even thinking about how to increase the production of Floo powder without having to do it himself.

"Gandalf, Doir, I actually want to trouble you with one more thing this time."

Balin said hesitantly.

“You may not know that the bottom of the mine where the Fire Demon is entrenched is actually the place with the richest mithril reserves. If we want to continue mining, we can’t get around it.

But the problem is that due to the presence of the Fire Demon, it has turned into a land of magma, and it is constantly spewing out sulfur and other poisonous gases. We can't get close to it with our strength."

"So could you please go there and see if you can resolve the hidden danger there?"

Dewi and Gandalf were both a little surprised to hear Balin's words.

Logically speaking, the fire demon has been destroyed, and the flames and magma at the bottom of the mine should have gradually died out.

Could it be that there is a volcano underneath, and the fire demon has dug through the magma layer deep underground?

Out of curiosity, Due and Gandalf agreed to Balin's request.

They came to the edge of the Moria Mines and flew to the bottom of the mines on their broomsticks.

The mine is very deep. Although it is not as deep as the abyss under the Durin Bridge that goes directly underground, it is still several thousand meters deep.

The two continued to descend, but the temperature was abnormally getting higher and higher.

When we arrived at the bottom of the mine, we saw a river of magma, which continuously gushed out hot magma, and a strong and pungent smell of sulfur filled the air.

Due cast a Bubblehead Charm on himself and Gandalf to block the pungent, noxious smell.

Then use the staff to cast the clear water spring spell towards the magma below.

The spring water gushed out and turned into a flood that submerged the magma below.

The magma and water intertwined and turned into steam, shrouding the bottom of the mine in fog.

The magma rapidly cooled and solidified, transforming into bright silver mithril lava. It turned out that this magma was actually melted mithril ore, and of very high purity. The solidified magma river instantly transformed into a silvery-white mithril river.

However, the two of them were not paying attention to the priceless Secret Milky Way at this time, but were looking at a lava tunnel. The scorching temperature there could not be extinguished or cooled even with water, and the mithril magma was still spewing out.

Looking at the deep lava passage, they both guessed that this was the cave of the fire demon.

The lava tunnel was extremely hot, as if there were flames surging in it.

To prevent accidents, Dui took out two bottles of fireproof potion. He and Gandalf drank one each, then cast a layer of protective spell before walking towards the lava passage.

The lava tunnel is very deep and seems to lead to the ground. Magma is constantly overflowing from the surrounding cracks, like a volcanic magma channel that may erupt at any time.

The two walked deeper and deeper into the lava tunnel filled with magma. The temperature around them was high enough to melt the hardest metal.

If it weren't for the effect of the fire retardant, they would have been burned to charcoal by now.

Just when they were wondering whether it led to the depths of the earth, the lava tunnel suddenly became clear and became bright and hot.

They finally arrived at the Fire Demon's lair.

The Balrog's lair is a huge circular cave with magma and burning flames below, and a black boulder platform in the middle that has not melted.

What surprised Dui and Gandalf was that the rock wall of the cave was covered with a thick layer of red transparent crystals, making the cave look like a crystal cave.

These red transparent crystals are very similar to the magic crystals of the fire demon, emitting a burning sensation and filled with fire element magic.

And it is because of the existence of these red crystals that the magma at the bottom of the mine has not cooled and solidified.

"What is that?" Dui looked at the red crystals on the cave wall in surprise and curiosity.

Gandalf was also very surprised. He replied, "This is a crystal of fire. It was formed by the flames and magic of the Balrog. It takes thousands of years to form."

He smiled and congratulated Dui, "It seems you're very lucky to have come across a flame crystal. It's even more precious and rare than mithril. Not only can it be used to forge weapons with flame attributes, it also grants immunity to fire damage. It's a rare magical material."

"We are lucky!" Dui corrected happily.

Gandalf smiled and shook his head. "Just knock a small piece for me to use as flint later. I won't need the rest. You can collect them yourself."

Seeing that Gandalf really didn't need it, Dui didn't insist anymore, and then happily began to use the divine spear Aegros to pry out the fire crystals on the rock wall bit by bit, and then put them into a mithril box cast with a traceless extension spell.

These flame crystals were extremely hot. Even with the protection of fireproof potion, Dui could still feel the heat in his hands.

If placed in an ordinary metal or stone container, the high temperature is enough to melt and burn through the contents.

Only a box made of mithril can not only insulate heat, but also does not have to worry about being melted by flame crystals.

Seeing that Dewi was happily using his divine spear Aegiros to pry out the fire crystals, Gandalf also came to help, borrowed Dewi's flaming sword, and joined in the digging.

Finally, after all the fire crystals in the Fire Demon's Lair were put into the mithril box and sealed, the temperature of the cave dropped significantly.

Of course, this drop is like dropping from tens of thousands of degrees Celsius to a few thousand degrees Celsius, which is still very hot.

However, without the flame crystals, the temperature here will drop lower and lower over time, and eventually the magma will cool and solidify, eventually turning into cold mithril ore.

If there is no external force, this process will last for dozens or even hundreds of years.

But since Due and Gandalf had agreed to help the dwarves solve the situation here, they naturally would not sit idly by.

Gandalf and Gandalf worked together to cast a spell, using the freezing spell to freeze the hot magma directly.

The temperature in the cave dropped rapidly, and the magma quickly cooled and solidified.

The two men did not stop until the magma was completely extinguished.

After it is completed.

Gandalf happily held a small piece of flame crystal, ready to use it as flint to light tobacco.

As he lightly touched it with the finger wearing the Ring of Fire, the flame crystal seemed to lose its temperature and turned into a red gem.

He casually put the gem into his pocket and said to Dui, "These flame crystals were born from the Fire Demon and are tainted with its evil aura. Remember to purify the evil power from them when you return."

"How do we purify them?"

"The simplest way is to expose them to the sun. The sunlight will slowly purify the evil power within them. Another way is to use the Light of Earendil in your hand. Of course, using both together will have a faster effect."

"I understand. Thank you for your advice, Gandalf." Dui nodded and thanked Gandalf.

(End of this chapter)