Seeing that the giant bear had turned back into human form, Wayne whistled at Robin.

Pets that have been trained through taming techniques since childhood are obedient. Upon receiving the order from the master, the Death Claw immediately retracted its claws and stopped pressing the giant to the ground.

The originally ferocious and terrifying expression was instantly restrained, and a hint of harmlessness could actually be seen on the face of this huge beast, which made the hairy giant breathe a sigh of relief.

Only then did he get up, revealing his hairy face. He first looked at the other members of the expedition team, and then spoke to Wayne and the others in a somewhat awkward common language: "Who are you and why are you approaching my house?"

"What kind of creature is this scary-looking beast, and why is he attacking me?"

Bilbo, who was riding on the mare, immediately retorted:

"You were the first to rush down the hillside, looking as if you were going to pounce on us. You looked so ferocious. If we hadn't stopped you, we might have been eaten by you."

The giant whom Gandalf called Beorn was startled for a moment, then he stood up, bowed and apologized, saying:

"I'm sorry! After turning into a giant bear, my mind might be a little hard to control. I just saw you approaching my house and wanted to come and take a look."

"My name is Beorn, I am the master of this house, and I wish no harm to you."

Seeing that his apology was quite sincere, everyone stopped caring about it. After all, it should be considered the fault of the expedition team, as they approached someone else's house without the owner's consent.

However, the reason for doing this was because Gandalf said that the owner of the house was his old friend, which made everyone let down their guard.

Facing the questioning looks from everyone, the gray-robed wizard was also embarrassed. He stroked his white beard and said sincerely to the giant who was a head taller than him, "Don't worry, Beorn. We are here to visit you. Although we haven't met formally, I have known you for a long time."

"I am the Grey Wizard Gandalf. I am passing by here this time, and I am planning to go to the Lonely Mountain opposite the Mirkwood with this team."

Gandalf was a good speaker, and with his combination of deception and coaxing, as well as some specious words, he easily fooled Beorn, a kind-hearted man who hated orcs very much.

Although the giant also disliked the greedy and stubborn dwarves, after hearing that they had killed the famous pale orc Azog in the Misty Mountains, he immediately developed a sense of respect for their team. His attitude became very enthusiastic, and he invited them to his home and treated them to sumptuous food.

As a member of the Skinchangers, they are a race of half-giants from a distant place. They are generally around two and a half meters tall, have thick hair, and are docile in character. They also have a feud with the orcs.

Now, of the entire Skinchanger clan, only Beorn and a few others survived, and the others died under the siege of the Orcs. This was an irreconcilable feud, and Beorn always kept it in mind. He often looked for opportunities to sabotage the Orcs' actions and hunt down these scum from the dark forces.

Therefore, any righteous person who is hostile to the orcs and willing to fight with them can gain the favor of this giant.

So, after three months of long journey, the expedition team finally found a more comfortable residence and rested for a few days in Beorn's huge wooden house, relieving the fatigue of the journey.

Wayne, with his superb cooking skills, powerful strength and the legend that he defeated an entire orc town by himself, easily won the favor of this simple-minded giant.

Even during the few days of rest, he helped Baern complete several expert-level tasks, destroyed several nearby Orc outposts with him, hunted some large animals, and increased the food supplies for everyone's subsequent journey through the Mirkwood.

Soon, three days passed in a flash, and everyone had a good rest in Beorn's residence. Although there was still plenty of time, in order to reach the Lonely Mountain as soon as possible, they still said goodbye to the friendly giant. With a lot of supplies given to them by Beorn, they entered the Mirkwood under the escort of the giant bear.

Before they separated, the survivor of the skin-changer said that if there was a war with the orcs in the future and help was needed, he would rush there immediately with just a signal and fight against the orcs together with everyone.

Beorn, who can transform into a giant bear, is undoubtedly a powerful force. If he could be equipped with a giant bear armor, he would be equivalent to a small heavy cavalry and invincible on the battlefield.

Gandalf seemed to be waiting for this promise. As a military strategist against the dark forces, his main task for thousands of years was to unite those poor people who were persecuted by various dark races, to unite everyone's strength and to fight against the dark lord Sauron.

Since many years ago, every time the army that was able to defeat the forces of darkness was able to do without this hardworking wizard, he would travel back and forth between various forces, build bridges for the alliance of justice, and deal with various conflicts.

Of course, this gray-robed wizard is indeed very kind-hearted, the kind of person who is willing to sacrifice himself for others.

Whenever someone is in trouble, Gandalf will actively help. He is not the kind of person who will wait until someone's family is broken up and then take advantage of other people's hatred to do what is considered the greater good.

Unfortunately, compared to the white wizard Saruman, the grey wizard Gandalf is too principled and too easy to trust others, so he is often deceived and exploited, and does not seem to be that powerful.

After entering the Mirkwood, the expedition team's speed suddenly slowed down. Compared with ordinary forests, the trees in the Mirkwood were extremely lush, and they were all huge primitive trees that covered the sky and blocked out all sunlight.

Not only that, the branches of these trees are twisted and complicated, and the roots at the bottom are also tangled and tangled, like tripwires, and there is no flat space at all.

The most troublesome thing is that the ground of the dark forest is not ordinary grass or soil, but mud and puddles similar to a swamp, which makes it very difficult for everyone's horses to move forward. In the case of unfamiliarity with the road conditions, they often even have to turn back because the road ahead is difficult to move forward, which delays a lot of time.

However, this time, because the grey wizard Gandalf was traveling with them, everyone did not fall into a coma due to the dark magic in the forest as in the original book.

The gray-robed wizard is best at removing various curses and traps. He possesses extensive knowledge and has helped the expedition team solve many problems.

Although Gandalf had anticipated this situation, the reality was more serious than he had imagined and had reached a point where it had to be dealt with.

So one day, before everyone went to sleep, the gray-robed wizard told everyone a piece of news.

"I'm sorry, Thorin, Wayne, once everyone is out of Mirkwood, I will have to leave the team and return to Rivendell."

"The dark forces in Dol Guldur are growing too fast. Radagast told us that the Witch King of Angmar seems to be gathering his forces there."

"We wizards must gather our strength and weaken the power of the Witch-King of Angmar before he is ready."

"Otherwise, it will be a disaster for the entire Middle-earth."

After saying this, seeing that Thorin's face was a little gloomy, but he did not object, he immediately added:

"But Thorin, don't worry. There are still three months before the secret passage mentioned on your father's map is opened. I will definitely come back to find you before then."

"Together with you against Smaug."

Perhaps because of the painful experience of having his arm broken and the revenge for his father and grandfather, the young dwarf prince seemed to have matured a lot.

Although his expression was still somewhat unhappy, he did not blame Gandalf. Instead, he patted the grey-robed wizard on the shoulder, forced a smile, and said:

"Don't worry about us, Gandalf. Middle-earth needs you as a wizard. Go and do your duty. Come back to us when you are done."

"Don't worry about Smaug. We are here with Bilbo, the snitch, and Wayne. We will definitely succeed."

After these discussions, not only did the dwarves in the expedition team notice the growth of Prince Thorin, but even Wayne had a slightly changed opinion of this handsome dwarf prince.

Perhaps the reason why Thorin's character was so extreme before was because he was carrying too much. Now that he has killed his enemy Azog, he has put down the burden in his heart and shown the courage that a prince should have. He is no longer as stubborn as before.

If the other party really grew up and possessed the demeanor of a king, he wouldn't mind helping Thorin become the new King Under the Mountain and continue their friendship.

Another half a month passed quickly. The expedition team continued to advance in this endless dense forest and had reached the deepest part of the forest.

Here, they discovered more and more giant spiders, and many hard-to-detect places were filled with large numbers of spider web traps left by these monsters in the dark.

In this dense forest without sunlight and unclear vision, there are dangerous traps everywhere and predators waiting for prey at any time.

However, although such an environment is very dangerous and makes people feel uncomfortable, with the existence of the super-sized Death Claw in the expedition team, Wayne and others' journey is not as dangerous as imagined.

Be it the swamp, the giant spider, or the dark magic, these fancy things are nothing but trifles in front of the eight-meter-tall and extremely powerful Death Claw.

Ever since Robin was arranged by Wayne to explore the way ahead, most of the difficulties in the dark forest seemed to be useless.

Neither tree roots nor giant spiders could stop the Death Claw's advance.

Sometimes when crossing a swamp, Wayne would directly order the Death Claw to cut down the surrounding trees and use them as a floating bridge on the mud to allow everyone to pass more easily.

Although those giant spiders in the darkness have relatively low intelligence, they are not stupid like wild beasts. They are all descendants of the evil spirit Ungoliant. Like the orcs' wargs, they can even be classified as intelligent races. They are creatures with their own thoughts and able to communicate.

Faced with an enemy like the Deathclaw, whose appearance makes them invincible, they would not take the initiative to provoke it.

A few days later, when the expedition team was struggling to pass through the depths of the dense forest, Wayne suddenly felt that a group of people seemed to be surrounding him.

He stretched out his hand to stop the team from moving forward, raised his head to look at a shadow above his head, and indeed found a swaying figure.

Without any hesitation, Wayne threw a stone with force, and with a bang, he knocked a humanoid creature in armor off the tree. The creature groaned in pain, and judging from his appearance, he was a handsome male elf.

In an instant, not only did all the dwarves pick up their weapons and take defensive postures, but dozens of elves wearing green armor and holding huge bows and arrows suddenly appeared from the trees, looking at each other with nervous expressions.

As if sensing its master's vigilance, the Death Claw, which had been walking obediently on the side of the team, immediately opened its bloody mouth and let out a huge beast roar that resounded throughout the dense forest, causing everyone's eardrums to ache slightly.

(End of this chapter)