Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1115 1097. Undercurrent
Thranduil seemed to have made up his mind. He only wanted to go to Lonely Mountain to get back the relic of his deceased wife, the Starlight White Gem.

As long as he gets what he wants, he retreats to the Mirkwood and lives his life behind closed doors.

Lan did not try to persuade him anymore. After all, as Thranduil had said, the elves were few in number and it took a lot of time and effort for them to grow up.

However, most of the elves would still be beaten to death by a dozen orcs.

For ordinary people, progress has its limits, and this limit is likely to be no match for the advantage in numbers.

It is really cruel to put the elves into a battlefield with countless orcs.

On the other hand, Lan, who was still marveling at Lady Galadriel's power, suddenly discovered after a while that the Arondite on his waist began to emit a faint light spontaneously again.

Holy and pure is the Light of Earendil.

The demon hunter drew the dagger from its scabbard, and the light on it immediately appeared as if it was connected to the starry sky as before.

A thin and fluttering band of light extended all the way to the far southwest.

That is the direction of Dol Guldur.

".Support?"

With his back against the wreckage burned by dragon flames, Lan En frowned slightly and looked at the Sword of the Lady of the Lake in his hand.

According to Thranduil, the only amount of the Light of Earendil left in Middle-earth is the crystal bottle in Lady Galadriel's hand.

Part of it was given to the Sword of the Lady of the Lake, and perhaps this missing part caused some trouble for Lady Galadriel.

So even though they were hundreds of kilometers apart, Arondate still sent the light to support them.

But what kind of enemy could be the one that could make a light elf like Galadriel need the support of Eärendil's light?
In fact, the answer has always been obvious, but because people are frightened by the war, most people who know the answer are unwilling to admit it.

The only one who could make Galadriel expend such a huge amount of power was the fallen Maia - the Dark Lord Sauron.

Although he killed the evil dragon, Lan En, who was resting on the ruins, kept looking at the starlight strips extending from his long sword.

It was not until the light band disappeared shortly afterwards and there was no more unusual movement in the sky that he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Walk over to the bonfire the elves have lit and rest with them.
-
Bud woke up early the next morning on the blanket on the floor.

He was drowsy, but was soon awakened by the cold morning mist.

The human archer stood up suddenly in alertness, and tried to touch his bow and arrow with his other hand.

But after not feeling anything and looking around, he stopped in a daze and scratched his head.

"You were badly hurt last night."

A voice came from behind Bard. Bard turned around and saw Lan En sitting on a stone step that was scorched black by dragon fire, eating a bowl of steaming fish soup in his hand.

Seeing Bard turning around, the witcher raised the wooden bowl in his hand towards him.

"The elves just caught a fish and stewed it with some salt. Would you like a bowl?"

Bud was confused, pointing at his ears, and yelling at Lan from a distance: "What did you say? I can't hear you!"

Lan En was also a little confused. He quickly put down the fish soup in his hand and ran to Bud to fiddle with his ears.

After patting and beating for a long time, there was finally a significant improvement.

It's just that Bud still habitually shouts loudly when he speaks. This is because his hearing has not fully recovered. He needs to wait at least a few more days before thinking it through.

"That's to be expected."

Lan let go of Bud's ear and clapped his hands with relief.

"You were too close to Smaug last night. First, he kept roaring at you, and then the shockwave from the lightning even blew you away. It's a blessing that your hearing has recovered."

In fact, the thunder in Qilin Corner was so loud last night that even Lan En couldn't help but cover his ears.

Just this makes my eardrums hurt.

"Here, wear this."

As he spoke, Lan En took off a small shield emblem from his belt, which had an abstract pattern of white wind on it.

"What is this?" Bud took it and asked curiously, "Is this your wizard's magical prop?"

"You can think of it this way. It can speed up your recovery. I'm just borrowing it from you. You have to return it."

Bard nodded to indicate that of course, he was not a greedy man, or rather when Smaug was attracted by the greed of the dwarves and caused such a great disaster.

As a descendant of the Lord of the Valley, he should be the person who is most wary of greed.

Soon, Bard also felt the unusualness of the small shield emblem in his hand.

After he was blown away last night, the wood chips and glass fragments from the building wreckage actually left many small cuts on his exposed skin.

However, the alchemy technology of the New World Investigation Team, the function of the [Early Recovery Stone] began to take effect, and he immediately felt that the pain from the minor wounds on his body was much lessened.

In the square not far away, there could be heard the sounds of elves relaxing and laughing.

Smaug's huge corpse lay quietly in the ruins of Long Lake Town, but people no longer cared much about it. The elves were holding baskets of fish and going to play with the Qilin.

This creature, with a noble appearance and a majestic temperament, had charged head-on with Smaug last night and broke one of the dragon's wing bones. He is very much loved and respected by the elves.

The elves asked Lan En about the Qilin's eating habits this morning and caught a lot of fish, but they only kept five or six for themselves. The rest of the basket was for them to feed the Qilin.

Of course, Qilin also accepts everyone who comes. After all, the elves in this world have a natural affinity. They are the firstborn children created by the creator god Ilúvatar.

Moreover, Qilin had just lost his own Cang Horn, although this time he didn't know whether it was because of experience or adaptation.

In short, it is much better than the last time the corner was broken.

But in order to grow those pale blue high-energy crystal horns, food is of course essential.

The sound of hooves stamping on the trail began to approach.

That was not the sound of a Qilin's hooves, but that of Thranduil's mount, a stag with majestic horns.

"What are you going to do next?"

After getting closer, the Elf King sat on the back of the stag and asked Lan and Bard.

"Are you leaving?" Lan stood up and looked at Thranduil.

"Yes, we have to go back and tell everyone that the dragon is dead, so that my people can relax their tense nerves."

As Thranduil spoke, his eyes passed over Smaug's body lying on his back and looked at the towering snow-capped mountains in the distance.

"Besides, I should also prepare to take back our national treasure, the relics of my late wife."

"Then I wish you good luck. Thorin will return the Starlight White Gem to you. He is a reasonable man."

"It would be better," Thranduil repeated with a sneer, "after he had entered the Lonely Mountain and seen the treasures of his ancestors."

Seeing that it was a racial conflict between dwarves and elves, Lan wisely chose to keep silent on the issue and start a new conversation.

"The residents of Changhu Town have all gone to the ruins of River Valley City. We are also going there."

The demon hunter patted Bard on the shoulder, but because his ears were not healed yet, Bard heard nothing and could only nod hesitantly in a daze.

"We might need a little help."

"Go ahead, Adanisil. The people of the entire Lonely Mountain region owe you a favor. We elves are not ungrateful people."

"River Valley City needs food and things to keep warm." Lan En also turned his head and looked at the snow-capped mountains glittering in the sun. "It looks like it's going to snow soon."

The temperature is getting lower and lower now. Smaug's dragon fire almost burned down the entire Lake Town last night. But early this morning, the town's waterways were filled with floating ice from the lake without the sluice gates blocking them.

"Just supplies." Thranduil nodded easily, pulling the reins to turn his stag. "We will be in Riverdale soon, don't worry. Goodbye."

Lan En also waved to the elves.

Although Bud didn't hear clearly what they said, he knew it was goodbye when he saw them waving.

The elves follow orders and have a tacit understanding with each other that has lasted for thousands of years, so their actions are faster and smoother than you can imagine.

As soon as Thranduil appeared riding on a stag, the elves who had been surrounding the Qilin politely bowed or waved goodbye to the ancient dragon of the New World.

Then he quickly packed up his things and followed Thranduil back towards Mirkwood.

The town, which was already uninhabited, became completely quiet after the twenty-one elves withdrew.

Only the Qilin was left, and out of curiosity and a desire to vent, it would occasionally use its hooves or lower its head to nudge Smaug's completely cold body.

With the dragon's death, the evil dragon stench seemed to be cleared away by the light of Eärendil on Arondate.

Therefore, the Qilin was not irritated by the smell of the evil dragon and did not snort.

Although Bard had hearing problems at the moment, after facing Smaug last night, he missed his three children very much.

So after drinking the remaining fish soup in a few gulps, he began to collect the bedding on the ground, tied it into a package and prepared to set off.

Bud was packing up, and Lan was not idle either.

He had collected the remains of his armor last night. They could only be called remains.

Although there were no problems with the main Valyrian steel armor plates and chain mail shirt, the cloth and leather used for connecting and filling the seams were all burned.

The entire piece of Bear School Grandmaster Armor was now just a pile of pieces that couldn't be connected. Needless to say, the enchantment that was supposed to connect it as a whole was definitely invalid.

Lan was now wearing the silk lining of a suit of armor, and he had found a piece of tattered canvas in the ruins of Long Lake Town that still smelled of fish oil and had an old greasy sheen, and he had packed up all the odds and ends.

Walking to Smaug's body, Lan put the bag of things on the Qilin's back and patted the ancient dragon's head.

"To be honest, it's quite nice to touch without the horns."

"Xilulu!"

Qilin hissed in dissatisfaction, lowered his head and pressed against Lan En's chest in annoyance, pushing the person who was making sarcastic remarks away.

(End of this chapter)