Chapter 147 Return
"The good news is that I had a competition with the Fire Demon. Although the process was a bit difficult and destroyed many buildings, he did not gain any advantage."
"What about the bad news?"
"We competed in your hometown."
"That's good news. At least we won't have to worry about having nothing to do for a long time after we retake Moria."
Thorin spoke calmly, his emotions quite stable.
"Okay, don't worry about this little thing. At least the place is still intact, and I'm still here."
Levi patted his shoulder.
"You are right."
Thorin nodded slowly, but his expression did not relax at all, instead it became more solemn.
"What's wrong? Don't you believe me?"
Levi also asked questions whenever he had something to say.
"No, I believe that with your help, everything will be fine."
"only…"
"Flame Demon, he is still there."
"The recovery of Moria will probably take a long time, and the hope is slim."
Thorin confided, "Ballin has always wanted to do this. He told me a few days ago that when all the tribesmen have returned and the equipment and weapons are ready, he will lead an army to retake Moria."
“Of course, that’s what I want to do.”
"You know, Levi, we dwarves have always lost our homes and wandered, first to Moria, then to the Grey Mountains, and then to Erebor..."
"And the things that occupy our homes are always beyond our power to defeat."
"The cold dragons, the fire dragon Smaug, the Balrog."
"We never gave up fighting them, but..."
Thorin sighed.
The mountain environment where the dwarves depend for survival is always quite dangerous. If they live on the ground, evil dragons will come to them smelling the scent of gold and silver, and if they dig too deep, they will encounter Balrogs. In addition to these big guys, there are also ugly orcs all over the mountains, and they are directly controlled by Sauron.
Surrounded by enemies on all sides, none of them is easy to deal with.
Levi didn't know what to say either.
Almost all the landmines that can be stepped on in Middle-earth have been stepped on by the dwarves.
"At least everything is moving in a positive direction now, isn't it?"
“Yes, I believe it will get better.”
"Oh, there's one more thing."
Levi suddenly said: "The elves also contributed to bringing back Durin's Axe."
Thorin paused and looked at Levi.
"It was the Elves of Lothlórien, led by Lady Galadriel herself, who led a great host out of the Golden Forest and used her power to drive the Balrog back."
"Is it the legendary witch who can bewitch people... No, I mean, is it the lady who controls magic?"
"right."
"I see."
Thorin nodded, his eyebrows knitted.
"If I had the chance, I would thank that lady for her help. I won't owe them any favors."
"That would be great."
The matter is settled for now.
On the day after Levi brought the Axe of Durin to Erebor, a great ceremony was held.
The king gave a passionate speech on the podium, announcing to his people the return of Durin's treasure.
Behind the return of the treasure, Levi's battle with the Balrog and the dangers he encountered in Moria were also vividly described with embellishment.
A man and a Balrog fought fiercely for several days beneath Moria, until the gate was destroyed.
At the end, the support and assistance of the Golden Forest elves were also reluctantly added to the story. The length of the story was not large, but it was rare in the story of the dwarves.
"Let's just give them credit for now."
"Humph, it's just that we live too far away, otherwise it wouldn't be their turn!"
"That witch..."
"It's the magical lady, as our king calls her."
"Well, that magic lady, I heard she's very beautiful, I guess her beard must be very long."
"But don't elves have beards?"
"Well, maybe that lady is different?"
Whatever the process.
Judging from the results, the elves' reputation among the dwarves has indeed improved a lot.
At the same time, a new name spread among the dwarves.
"Enemy of the Fire Demon."
He was a man who could fight against the Fire Demon. Legend has it that the Fire Demon could not get any good results at his hands and could only be beaten back into the underground.
His name is Livi.
The dwarves spread his title.
But in another place, the name has become a taboo.
"he."
Not long after Levi arrived at the Lonely Mountain, a tall figure wearing a black robe and a tall black helmet walked out of Mordor.
The horse under his crotch is also huge, ugly in appearance and wearing a terrifying mask. Its head is like a skull, and evil flames are coming out of its eye sockets and nostrils.
If someone who didn't know the situation saw him, they would probably mistake him for a Ringwraith.
But whether in terms of strength, status, or age, he might be superior to most of the Ringwraiths.
"The Lieutenant of Barad-dur greets you, Mouth of Sauron."
A few days later, in a deep pit in Moria, the tall dark human politely greeted the Balrog. The terrifying high temperature that filled the underground did not affect him at all.
"I don't like the color of your armor."
"…I'm so sorry, next time we meet I promise it will be a different color."
"What do you want to do?"
"My master said that we have a common enemy: him, the human."
Boom boom
A heat wave strong enough to cook all life swept over and stayed within a few feet, almost melting the armor.
"so what?"
Flames burst from the mouth, simulating the sound of speaking.
The Mouth of Sauron took two steps back and took out a roll of magical parchment that could resist high temperatures.
"The master said that in some unreachable caves at the foundation of the earth, there might be some sleeping fire spirits."
"It contains the dark magic that can call upon your kind—if they exist."
"This might require a little assistance from you."
No one knows exactly how the Mouth of Sauron discussed things with the Balrog.
But what is certain is that he completed the task assigned by his master excellently.
A dancing flame was stored in a small, sturdy box and taken back to Mordor.
A few days later, another group of Orcs set out from Mordor and stationed in the Pit of Moria. At the same time, a new leader of the Orcs of Moria appeared.
The changes happened quietly, and even the nearby Golden Forest was unable to notice the movement. The skeleton horses galloping in the wilderness seemed to be covered by something and were not noticed by anyone.
Apart from--
"What is that?"
In a field north of the White City that intersects the Death Swamp, a ranger hid behind a tree, lowered his body, and secretly looked out.
"Black robes, skeleton-like horses, such an ominous aura..."
"Could it be that remaining Black Númenórean, the Mouth of Sauron?"
The ranger took off his hood and looked into the distance.
“Maybe something unexpected has happened in this land again.”
"But I was only away for two years. What could have happened in those two years?"
Farodan stared at the dark figure that was gradually moving away for a long time. After he was sure that he had left, he emerged from his hiding place, stepped onto the road, and continued to move west of the Misty Mountains.
It's time to go check out the Wizard of the Wilds.
I wonder if he is doing well recently?
There has always been a huge controversy about the number of Balrogs - this is mainly because Tolstoy has been changing the settings, and this pigeon king eats books every now and then I heard that a reader wrote to him to ask about the specific settings and pointed out the bugs in his book, and he wrote back to the reader: "It's none of your business."
Anyway, in the end, Tolstoy never said for sure how many fire demons there were.
Today he said there were hundreds of them, and tomorrow he said there were only three or four in total. I guess he himself hasn’t figured out how many there are exactly.
So here I just use the setting of "The Silmarillion".
According to the original text of The Silmarillion: "The Balrogs were destroyed, except for a few who escaped and hid in deep, unreachable caves in the foundations of the earth."
In other words, it can be assumed that there are still other Balrogs sleeping in some invisible pits, but there are no dwarves or anything else to wake them up.
(End of this chapter)
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