Chapter 004: The Lonely Mountain

After leaving the inn, Wang Bo and his party headed for the Misty Mountains.

Once they flew over the Misty Mountains and then passed through Mirkwood, they could reach the Lonely Mountain. However, because the journey was long, Wang Bo planned to take a spaceship out of the Time Villa.

But considering that this spaceship might not match the aesthetic of this world, Wang Bo quickly dismissed the idea.

After some deliberation, Wang Bo pulled a dragon out of the Time Villa.

"Great master, Margaret is at your service." A huge red dragon lowered its head and bowed to Wang Bo.

Well, this aesthetic matched perfectly.

In a world like Middle-earth, with dwarves, elves, trolls, and all sorts of fantastical races, traveling by dragon was perfectly normal.

So Wang Bo, Xiao Bai, Xiao Qing, and Ya Zi climbed onto the red dragon's back.

"Let's go."

At Wang Bo's command, the red dragon let out a mighty roar, beat its wings, and soared into the sky amidst a gale, straight into the blue.

Wang Bo and the others sat firmly on the dragon's back, seemingly unaffected by the fierce wind.

Each of them possessed extraordinary skills; if they couldn't even sit steady, that would be too ridiculous.

The red dragon was incredibly fast, no less than a high-speed train in the modern world, perhaps even a bit faster, crossing thousands of mountains and rivers in a single day.

The Misty Mountains were right before them.

This mountain range is one of the most important geographical landmarks in Middle-earth, stretching approximately 850 miles from north to south, located between Eriador and the Anduin River and the Great Wild, extending from Mount Gundabad in the north to Mount Methedras and Methedras in the south.

It serves as a natural barrier between Eriador and the Great Wild.

Legend holds that this is where Durin, one of the seven fathers of the Dwarves, awoke, and the largest Dwarf realm in Middle-earth, Khazad-dûm, lies in the middle of the Misty Mountains.

But that was a very long time ago.

Wang Bo had read the history of the world of The Lord of the Rings and was very clear about most of the stories in that world, such as how after Durin awoke in ancient times, he settled in the caves of Khazad-dûm, established a vast Dwarf realm there, and it continued to prosper.

Later, the ancient Dwarf cities in other places were destroyed, so Dwarves migrated from elsewhere, settled here, and made Khazad-dûm prosperous and strong.

Unfortunately, good times did not last long. Wang Bo did not remember exactly how many years ago, but he knew that a Balrog appeared here and occupied the Dwarf kingdom of Khazad-dûm.

The Dwarves could not defeat the Balrog, so they had to leave and migrate to the Lonely Mountain.

Then they established a new kingdom at the Lonely Mountain, but before they could enjoy it for long, the dragon Smaug appeared, easily drove away the Dwarves, and occupied the Lonely Mountain.

Whenever Wang Bo thought of this, he always felt that the Dwarves in the world of The Lord of the Rings were really unlucky.

First a Balrog, then a dragon—does this world have some malice toward Dwarves?

Wang Bo did not intend to enter the Misty Mountains; instead, he commanded his red dragon to fly over the Misty Mountains from the sky and rested for a night near the Anduin River.

The Anduin River is the most important river in this world, its status no less than the Yangtze, Yellow River, Indus, etc. Although not a so-called cradle of civilization, it is still very important.

After resting here for a night, Wang Bo led the group the next day, mounted the red dragon Margaret, and soared into the sky.

That day, they flew over the Mirkwood and finally arrived at the Lonely Mountain in the afternoon.

When Wang Bo entered the Lonely Mountain, he once saw a ruin at its foot.

If nothing unexpected happened, this should be Dale.

Before the dragon Smaug came, Dale was very prosperous. After Smaug arrived, he first attacked Dale, reducing it to ruins. The remaining humans fled to the middle of the Long Lake to survive, establishing the water town of Lake-town, and traded with the Wood-elves.

After Smaug was killed by Bard, the humans returned to Dale and rebuilt the Kingdom of Dale. Bard and his descendants became the kings of Dale.

Seeing the ruins of Dale, Wang Bo could basically determine the timeline.

Dale being in ruins meant Smaug had already arrived, and Dale not yet rebuilt meant Smaug was not yet dead.

In other words, the plot of Middle-earth had not yet developed to the point of The Hobbit.

So Wang Bo commanded the red dragon to fly into the Lonely Mountain.

But the gate of the Lonely Mountain had long been sealed, yet that did not trouble Wang Bo. With one blast of magic cannon, the sealed gate was instantly blown open by Wang Bo.

Even the red dragon Margaret could easily fly in.

After entering the Lonely Mountain, Wang Bo shouted, "Smaug, where are you? Your old friend has come to see you. Smaug, won't you come out and see your old friend?"

Wang Bo had the red dragon fly downward all the way. He remembered that Smaug seemed to be in the treasure hall at the very bottom of the Lonely Mountain, guarding his wealth, or rather the dwarves' wealth.

But to Smaug, it was his wealth.

Wang Bo swaggered all the way into the Lonely Mountain, shouting loudly, which had already awakened Smaug, who was sleeping in the treasure hall.

After being woken up, Smaug flew into a rage.

How dare someone intrude into his territory, utterly reckless. Today Smaug would burn this restless intruder to ashes and show everyone the consequences of offending him, Smaug.

So he raised his head, pricked up his ears, and determined where the sound came from.

"Smaug, your old friend is here. Come out, let's catch up."

A voice came from above Smaug's head. Smaug couldn't help shivering all over, every cell in his body exuding a feeling called fear.

It was him, it was him, that person!!!!

Smaug finally recalled that long ago, he had once left Middle-earth and entered a strange world. Originally, he had thrown his weight around in that world, but he had provoked a monster.

A monster that could rival the Ainur.

A monster that had almost killed him.

Even after returning to Middle-earth, Smaug had not forgotten the voice of that monster. Whenever he recalled the scene of being beaten up, Smaug's heart was filled with fear.

That was the closest he had ever come to death.

Now, that monster had come. He had appeared. He had come for him.

Smaug began to burrow. He frantically buried his oversized body in the treasure, trying to use the piles of treasure to cover his body.

He did not want to see that monster. All this was for the sake of his own life.

"Smaug, so you're here. Come out and catch up."

Wang Bo rode the red dragon into the treasure hall and immediately saw the dragon burying himself in the treasure. He couldn't help but laugh. It seemed that Smaug still had some shadow about him.