Gandalf walked out of the flames, saw everyone, and greeted them with a smile: "Good morning, everyone!"

Then Dui emerged from the fireplace, carrying a bunch of things in his hands. He said to everyone, "Ah, you're all here. Come have breakfast! Freshly cooked bread and sausages are still hot."

Everyone was very surprised when they saw Gandalf and Due appear from the flames of the fireplace.

Thorin walked forward, looked at the two of them suspiciously, then looked at the hot bread in Dui's hand and asked, "Where have you been?"

Gandalf replied with a smile: "I was bored, so Doile and I went to the Prancing Pony Inn for a drink. I brought you breakfast when we came back."

Went to the Prancing Horse Inn? Everyone was shocked when they heard this. It took several days to get here from the Prancing Horse Inn. How did they do it?

Thinking about how they had just walked out of the flames, everyone obviously guessed that they had used magic, and immediately looked at Gandalf and Duee with envy.

Thorin, on the other hand, thought deeper. He looked at Dewi and Gandalf with burning eyes and asked, "Since you can use magic to get to the Prancing Pony Inn, can you take us directly to the Lonely Mountain?"

Dui shook his head. "Magic teleportation is conditional. The fireplaces in two places must be connected before teleportation can take place. There is no locating fireplace in Gushan, so teleportation is impossible."

Thorin was very disappointed when he heard this. He now only wanted to reach Lonely Mountain and take back his home occupied by the dragon.

After everyone enjoyed the breakfast that Dui brought from the Prancing Horse Inn, they set off again without further delay.

Before leaving, Dewy sealed the entrance to the tower with a Transfiguration Charm, and then used the newly learned Muggle-Repelling Charm and Confounding Charm to cast spells around the area, and only then did he feel at ease to leave with everyone else.

For the next part of the journey, everyone needs to cross the vast and desolate wilderness, cross the last bridge over the Cangquan River, and then pass through the Troll Forest to reach the Misty Mountains, completing half of the expedition.

From Windcloud Peak to the last bridge lies a vast, uninhabited wilderness known as the Lonely Land. Apart from the rangers who secretly patrol the wasteland, few people live there.

However, in recent years, with the surge in the number of orcs in the Misty Mountains, small groups of orcs often go down the mountain and plunder deep into the wilderness.

Therefore, the originally peaceful wasteland has become a bit more dangerous.

The wasteland was so vast that the expedition team walked for a week but still hadn't left the wasteland and reached the last bridge.

That night, everyone just stopped and prepared to find a place to rest on the side of the road.

Dozens of arrows suddenly shot towards everyone!

"Be alert!" Gandalf reacted the fastest. He stood in front of everyone and waved his staff as a weapon to block some of the incoming arrows.

Dui was just pulling out his wand to transform the tent, but when he saw this, he reacted quickly, turned his wand around, and cast a transfiguration spell.

The arrows shot in turned into flowers and fell on everyone.

Everyone was still in shock. If they were hit by an arrow, they would be seriously injured even if they didn't die.

"Well done! Duir!" The dwarves cheered after they reacted, then picked up their weapons and gathered immediately.

Bilbo immediately drew out the dagger that Dewi had given him and chose to stand beside Dewi with a nervous look on his face.

As everyone looked over, a group of fifty people emerged from the darkness in the distance.

They are tall, with ugly and distorted faces, protruding fangs, small and red eyes, wearing tattered leather armor, holding primitive and simple weapons such as bows and arrows, axes, and clubs, exuding a ferocious and cruel temperament.

It's an orc!

"It's the Orcs! Prepare for battle!" Gandalf shouted.

When the dwarves saw the orc army that was several times larger than their own number, they became more eager to fight.

Thorin looked at these orcs with disgust and hatred on his face, because his grandfather and father both died at the hands of orcs. Now when he saw his enemies, he was extremely jealous and clenched his sword with both hands.

"Kill!" Thorin took the lead and rushed towards the orcs.

The other dwarves followed closely, brandishing axes, hammers and other weapons to kill the orc group.

In an instant, the two teams engaged in a fierce battle. Although the dwarves were short in stature, they were very flexible and powerful. They cooperated with each other tacitly and attacked the orcs' lower bodies specifically.

Gandalf seemed to be infected by the dwarves' fighting and instantly turned into a berserker. He used his staff as a weapon and swung it to smash the orcs.

"Oh my god, are they all so fierce?" Dui watched his teammates transform into berserkers one by one, which made him a little impulsive. He wanted to draw out his flaming sword and chop them wildly.

However, thinking of his identity as a fragile mage and his poor swordsmanship, he chose to stay where he was.

And he has a weak hobbit to protect.

But what surprised him was that although Bilbo looked a little nervous, there was no trace of fear on his face. Instead, he gripped the dagger he had given him tightly, as if he was ready to fight at any time.

Should I say he is worthy of being the protagonist?

Dui calmly watched the fierce situation on the battlefield, ready to provide support at any time.

Maybe God couldn't bear to see Dui sitting idle.

I wonder if these orcs lack intelligence or have poor memory? Seeing that Dui did not take the initiative to attack, five orcs actually rushed towards him and Bilbo who were alone.

"Wow, are you treating me like a soft persimmon?"

Dewi sneered, lowered his head and cast an armor spell on Bilbo, and ordered: "Follow me closely later."

As he spoke, he drew the sword from his waist, held the sword in one hand and the magic wand in the other, and rushed towards the orcs.

"Freeze them all!"

Dui went up and cast a powerful petrification spell.

He raised the flaming sword and chopped it down at the orc. The sword was so sharp that it easily cut off the orc's head, which was quickly engulfed by the flames spreading from the sword.

Dui only felt his adrenaline surging at this moment, and his emotions were extremely excited. He did not feel the slightest bit of fear. Instead, when he chopped off the orc's head, he actually felt a secret sense of satisfaction.

No wonder Gandalf likes to rush forward with a sword so much. The feeling of holding a sword is really different from holding a magic wand.

Dui easily dealt with the five orcs, and Gandalf and the dwarves were no less far behind.

Gandalf's staff was very powerful, and basically an orc would fall down with just a few hits.

The thirteen dwarves, led by Thorin, were even more powerful and could easily defeat two dwarves at once.

Soon, most of the Orcs' troops were killed and seeing that they were no match for their opponents, the Orcs began to flee.

The dwarves had no intention of letting any orc go, and they chased him all the way until they finally killed the last orc.

The dwarves made the greatest contribution in this battle, killing more than half of the orcs, followed by Gandalf and Due.

What is most surprising is that Bilbo actually killed an orc.

While chasing the orcs, Bilbo used the dagger given to him by Dewi to throw and directly killed a fleeing orc, completing his first kill.

The dwarves therefore looked at Bilbo with new eyes and completely accepted him as a member of the team.

Chapter 52 Dispute

After killing a group of orcs, everyone was a little tired and stayed to rest.

The dwarves were excitedly discussing the battle that had just taken place, and comparing with each other who had killed more orcs.

But Gandalf was smoking his pipe in silence, with his head down in thought, looking a little worried.

Dewi noticed his expression and walked over to sit next to him. "Gandalf, what's wrong?"

Gandalf did not hide anything from Dewi. He sighed and said, "Orcs usually live in the Misty Mountains. The fact that we meet them in the wilderness now only means that the number of orcs in the Misty Mountains has increased to a huge number, forcing them to come down from the mountains and plunder in the wilderness."

"If we want to cross the Misty Mountains to the Lonely Mountain, the current situation is not good news for us!"

"Then what are you going to do?"

"After crossing the last bridge, I plan to leave temporarily and explore the way ahead to avoid encountering the orc army." Gandalf revealed his plan to Dui.

After hearing this, Dui thought for a moment and decided, "I'll go with you then. I have some experience in concealed magic. Even if we encounter an orc army, I can ensure our safe escape."

As he spoke, he pointed his wand at a stone under his feet.

The stone instantly disappeared from their sight and vanished without a trace.

However, upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the stone was not really invisible, but rather blended into the surrounding environment like a chameleon, making it difficult to detect its existence.

Gandalf's eyes lit up when he saw this scene, "Doir, how many surprises do you have that I don't know about?"

So when no one else knew, Gandalf and Due had already decided to explore the way ahead.

After they had rested enough, they set off again.

In the next few days, the group did not encounter any more orcs and arrived at the last bridge smoothly.

Finally, the bridge spans the Cangquan River. After crossing the bridge and walking east, you will reach the Troll Forest.

From here, it is not far from the valley and the Misty Mountains.

Before Dewi and Gandalf told the expedition team about their plan to explore the way, Thorin and Gandalf had a conflict.

The cause of the incident was the map of the Lonely Mountain drawn by Thrain II in Thorin's hand. The map recorded the location of the secret entrance to the Lonely Mountain, but the password to open the secret entrance was recorded in the moon language, which is the code of the dwarven runes.

This kind of moon text is very secretive and difficult to decipher, and requires a specific time and environment to see its content.

In order to unlock the secret of the map, Gandalf suggested going to Rivendell and asking Elrond, the famous elf sage in Middle-earth, to help decipher it.

But Thorin had a grudge against the elves, and he was stubborn and refused to go to the elves' territory.

"I do not consent to go to Rivendell!" said Thorin. "We Dwarves have no good in the lands of the Elves, and Elrond rules there now, a kinsman of Gil-galad, who was allied with our enemies!"

The enemy Thorin was referring to was Thranduil, the Elf King of the Woodland Kingdom in Mirkwood.

When the dragon Smaug occupied the Lonely Mountain, the dwarves asked for help from the nearby Woodland Kingdom, but were rejected by Thranduil.

Just because Thranduil once commissioned the dwarves of Lonely Mountain to make a set of white gem necklaces for his wife, but was rejected due to a dispute over remuneration, it caused a conflict between the Woodland Kingdom and the dwarves of Lonely Mountain.

"Elrond is a wise and just Elf," Gandalf tried to persuade. "His domain is a safe place where we can get advice and help. Moreover, he may be able to decipher the secret code on the map, which will be crucial to our journey."

"I don't trust elves!" Thorin insisted. "They always use cunning tricks and sweet words to deceive people. I don't want to owe them any favors, and I don't want them to know our plans."

"You are prejudiced, Thorin," Gandalf said seriously, "Not all elves are your enemies. Elrond is one of the wisest men in Middle-earth, and he is well versed in ancient knowledge. We need his help, otherwise we may encounter more dangers and difficulties on our next journey."

"I would rather face danger than bow to the elves!" Thorin replied, with no intention of compromise.

"You are just a hard and smelly stone!" Gandalf was so angry at Thorin's stubbornness that he shook his head and turned away.

"Where are you going, Gandalf?" Bilbo asked.

"Go ahead and explore the way ahead, lest some stubborn people think the dangers are not enough."

Gandalf stopped and turned to look at Dewi.

"Duyle, you come with me."

"Huh? Okay."

Dewi glanced at Bilbo and told him not to worry. "You watch the carriage for me. I'll go check ahead with Gandalf."

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