The Hobbit.

Middle-earth.

After many twists and turns, the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins and his dwarf friends finally found the entrance to the Lonely Mountain under the moonlight.

He was invited by the grey wizard Gandalf to join the dwarves' team in order to enter the Lonely Mountain and steal the Arkenstone.

The Arkenstone is an extremely gorgeous gem. It does not possess extraordinary powers, but it has a special status among the dwarves, symbolizing the dwarves' sacred royal power.

The dwarf who holds the Arken Gem will be supported by the dwarves of the seven kingdoms and become the true dwarf king.

Thorin, the leader of the dwarves and leader of Durin's dwarves, had this purpose in mind, so he begged Gandalf to invite the hobbit Bilbo to participate in their action.

He planned to rely on the Arken Gem to gain the recognition of the dwarves of the seven kingdoms, and then unite to take back the Lonely Mountain! The Lonely Mountain was their ancestral land, and being occupied by the evil dragon Smaug was a shame for all dwarves!

Looking at the entire Middle-earth, only the Hobbits could have stolen the Arkenstone from Smaug, who valued money so much.

They are one meter tall on average, petite and flexible, and very good at hiding themselves.

Although they are kind by nature, because of this unique talent, Hobbits can be considered natural "thieves".

Under the expectant eyes of the twelve dwarves, Bilbo walked down through the entrance.

The surroundings became dry and dark, with a faint smell of heat.

He was somewhat nervous knowing that this place was home to the legendary last fire dragon on this continent.

But holding the ring in his hand, his mood eased a little.

This magical ring obtained from Gollum allows him to hide his body and avoid many crises.

He walked towards the end of the passage step by step.

In fact, the evil dragon Smaug is just an ancient legend after all. Even the dwarves are not sure whether it still exists or whether it is alive or dead.

"It must be fake, there is no dragon!" Bilbo silently encouraged himself as he passed through one ancient door after another.

Then, he saw the dazzling gold in his field of vision.

Even in the dark and lonely mountain, such colors are particularly eye-catching.

The ground was littered with gold coins, gold cups, gold jewelry and all kinds of gorgeous gems.

This is a golden mountain! He did not see the dragon.

Bilbo was stunned for just a moment, then came to his senses.

Hobbits are kind and sincere, have strong personalities, value freedom, and are not greedy for wealth.

He looked around and began to look for the purpose of his trip.

Akon Gem.

According to the dwarves' description, it is unique and can be recognized at a glance.

Bilbo felt depressed thinking about what those people said.

This gold mountain is extremely huge, and the gems in it are countless. Finding the Akon gem in it is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

I'm afraid that even when I'm old and my eyes are blurry, I won't be able to find it.

The good news was that the dragon didn't seem to be there, and he never saw its figure, which allowed him to search the gold mountain with peace of mind.

Picking up a diamond bigger than his fist, Bilbo looked at it in front of his eyes, compared it with the other gold jewels around it, and threw it aside in disgust.

Seeing a dazzling light flashing on the other side, he hurried over, but all he saw was another slightly more gorgeous gem.

He walked on the mountain of gold, searching aimlessly, but to no avail.

I don't know how much time had passed, but when he threw away another handful of gold coins and picked up a gold cup to use as a shovel, he suddenly heard a rustling sound coming from the front.

Because he had been turning it over for so long, Jinshan seemed to be a little unstable.

He glanced casually and was thinking about whether to slow down his movements when he saw a scene that shocked him.

Under the golden mountain, a terrifying dragon head appeared.

Looking at the ferocious scales and dragon horns, and the slowly trembling eyes, Bilbo's heart almost jumped into his throat.

He swallowed hard, carefully hid behind a stone pillar, and took out the magic ring.

Just as he was secretly praying that the dragon would not wake up, the rustling sound around him turned into a loud crashing sound.

He quickly put on the ring and became invisible.

At the same time.

A huge monster rose up from the golden mountain.

Looking at the giant dragon that was over a hundred meters long, a terrifying pressure swept over him, and the brave Hobbit found it difficult to breathe.

"I smell you!"

"I heard you breathing!"

"I feel your presence!"

"Where are you?"

"Come out, don't be shy..."

Bilbo's consciousness became hazy as the evil dragon Smaug's bewitching voice reached deep into his soul.

The power of the ring instantly found an opportunity to invade, and a flaming figure suddenly appeared deep in his mind.

The figure in the flames was none other than Sauron.

The devil king that everyone fears in Middle-earth!

Bilbo reflexively pulled the ring off his finger, and his figure was immediately revealed.

Smaug's dragon head appeared in front of him almost at the same time.

Its tone was, as always, full of disapproving teasing: "There you are, thief in the shadows!"

Bilbo was horrified, but in a hurry he suddenly had an idea and began to flatter: "I am not here to steal, Smaug the Wealthy, I just want to see your majestic figure..."

Smaug did not take his flattery seriously.

It has lived for endless years and has faced countless thieves who wanted to steal its wealth, and has long been tired of all the sweet words.

But it didn't mind playing with this strange newcomer for a while longer.

It asked about Bilbo's origins, his name, and commented on him.

As Bilbo was dealing with it, he happened to see the shining gem on the ground.

He recognized it at first sight.

Akon Gem!

While Smaug was questioning the dwarves, he took the opportunity to grab the Arkenstone, but he failed to hold it tightly, causing it to roll down the mountain of gold.

Bilbo had no time to deal with the dragon anymore, so he turned around and chased after it.

Smaug followed behind him, boasting about his own power and the dwarves' insignificance, while teasing him like a cat playing with a mouse.

The movements of the two attracted the attention of the dwarves and frightened many people in Long Lake Town under Lonely Mountain.

The dwarves naturally knew the horror of the dragon that stole their ancestral land.

The people of Long Lake Town grew up listening to the legend of the evil dragon Smaug.

For example, Bard.

The descendant of Girion, the former king of the Valley, holds in his hand a dragon-slaying arrow left by his ancestors!

He has always been brooding over the fact that his ancestor Girion once missed the opportunity to kill Smaug, and firmly believes that his ancestor once shot him and that Smaug also has a fatal weakness.

After hearing the voice, he thought of the rumor in the town that after the dwarves arrived, Long Lake Town would be destroyed by the dragon's fire. His face suddenly changed and he was about to stand up.

The Hobbit Bilbo was once again caught up by Smaug.

The evil dragon suddenly expressed his interest in giving him the Arken Gem and asked him to give it to the Dwarf King to watch the interesting scene of the other party being attracted and corrupted after getting the gem.

A moment later, Smaug regretted it again.

Bilbo took the opportunity to grab the Arkenstone, put on the ring and ran away.

His behavior completely enraged the dragon.

After some dispute among the dwarves at the entrance of the cave, the dwarf leader Thorin finally decided to use the furnace left by their ancestors to melt the gold and kill Smaug.

He successfully tricked Smaug into falling into his trap, but the hot golden water did not kill him, but instead further angered the dragon.

It was determined to take revenge on the people down the mountain because Bilbo had tricked it into saying that it came from down the mountain.

Bilbo was stunned as he watched the giant dragon splashing hot golden water towards Lake Town at the foot of the mountain. He could almost foresee that the town was engulfed in fire.

He didn't expect that his casual words would bring disaster to these innocent people.

However, faced with this situation, he had no choice.

Just when he was in despair, a voice suddenly sounded in his mind.

"The Spacetime Tavern..." the hobbit muttered to himself.

(End of this chapter)