This grey-robed wizard, the white-robed wizard Saruman, and the brown-robed wizard Radagast are all members of the White Council, an organization that specializes in dealing with the Shadow of Sauron.

The dark power of Dol Guldur is growing stronger. It is rumored that there are shadows of the necromancer and the Witch-king of Angmar. The members of the White Council are ready to conduct a thorough investigation of this place, so Gandalf left in a hurry.

After the wizard left and everyone obtained a lot of supplies from the Woodland Kingdom, the expedition team prepared to head to Lonely Mountain to find the secret passage inside the mountain.

Although they were prepared that they might have to wait for Durin's Day to open the secret passage, they had nothing to do anyway. Thorin and his companions were unwilling to waste time or stay in the Woodland Kingdom for too long. They would rather go to Lonely Mountain and sleep in the open air than stay with the elves.

As a member of the team, Wayne was also ready to go with them. Anyway, he had a magic carpet that could fly, so it was quite convenient for him to travel between the two places.

However, before leaving, he ordered the refugees of Changhu Town to sail along the Running River to other forces to buy supplies to rebuild their homes, and gave them a lot of money.

This is a long-term investment, and there may not be any returns in the short term, but as an immortal demon hunter, his vision is much longer-term than that of ordinary people.

Although the road to Lonely Mountain was rugged, there were no enemies along the way. In addition, with Wayne's flying ability, neither the steep slopes nor the rugged rocks were too troublesome.

The Woodland Kingdom was not far from the Lonely Mountain, and it would only take two or three days to walk there. They soon arrived near Riverdale City and came to the gate of the Lonely Mountain Kingdom.

Looking at the tightly closed magnificent gate, the dwarves of the expedition team could not hold back their tears, and they sang the dwarven ballad one after another, with the lines filled with the sadness of being forced to leave their homes.

However, this was not the final destination of the expedition team. According to the map left by Thorin's father, they spent several more days walking along the rugged path and circling half of the lonely mountain before they finally found the location of the secret passage exit indicated in the cipher text on a cliff.

Unfortunately, it was a huge stone wall with countless holes on it. After searching for a long time, they couldn't find the keyhole. They all became dejected and some even said they would pack up and go home.

"We still have a few months left, so why don't you try every keyhole? Or just use the draft to chisel through the door. With your strength, it won't take long, right?"

In fact, Wayne felt a little annoyed when he saw this scene. After all, in the original book, the dwarves just tried for half a day and failed to find it, so they gave up and even prepared to return the same way, which made him feel it was a joke.

Regardless of whether there are secret hints or not, as long as we can confirm that the keyhole is on this stone, even if there are ten thousand holes on this stone that need to be experimented, it will only take a few days.

However, this is the character of the dwarves in the original book. It is not surprising that they always have strange thoughts in their heads.

After Wayne's reminder, Thorin and the others were suddenly enlightened and immediately became motivated. They simply set up camp on the open space nearby and began to look for any possible keyholes on the wall where the secret passage was located, testing them one by one.

The result was quite good. After about three days of testing, they finally found the correct keyhole and opened the secret passage leading to the interior of Lonely Mountain.

This was undoubtedly very exciting news. However, Wayne stopped Thorin and others who wanted to carry out the theft mission immediately and told them that they must be prepared.

Although the Arkenstone is close at hand, the dragon Smaug is also close at hand. If you enter it, you will most likely wake up the dragon immediately and lose your life, so you must be prepared.

Originally, Thorin was unwilling to wait any longer. They had been waiting for hundreds of years, and now all their hopes were right before their eyes. They could no longer remain patient.

Because he lacked the hiding ability of the One Ring, Wayne took out two of the five bottles of invisibility potion he had obtained before and gave them to Bilbo.

Along the way, the Hobbit's tenacity and bravery have touched many people in the team. They regard this short thief as their companion and hope that he can survive the final mission.

After getting Wayne's hidden potion, Bilbo's confidence increased greatly, and he quickly thanked Wayne for his generosity. In the expedition team, both of them were from the Shire, and they had known each other ten years ago. Along the way, he had taken good care of the Hobbit, and the two had already been good friends.

Actually, when it comes to preparations, there is not much that needs to be prepared. For Thorin and other dwarves, ordinary weapons and armor are useless when facing the evil dragon Smaug. Whether facing the dragon's bite or its fiery breath, even heavy armor is of no use.

The dwarves' sword attacks were basically unable to break through Smaug's dragon scale defense. Therefore, even if Thorin and others entered the palace of Lonely Mountain, they would only be living targets to attract the dragon's attention.

However, that was before I met Wayne.

Now that everyone is a team, Master Wayne was not stingy. He gave two north wind bombs to each of Thorin and other dwarves as a means of attack.

Perhaps Smaug's defense is strong enough, and ordinary honeycomb bombs can only tickle this dragon, but the north wind bomb that can create severe frost can definitely have an impact on this fire dragon.

Not only that, Wayne also arranged Robin Deathclaw at the gate of the Lonely Mountain Palace, on the route that Smaug had to take to break through the gate and fly away from the Lonely Mountain in the original book.

After all, the Deathclaw could not pass through the narrow secret door to enter the Lonely Mountain. Even if it entered, given its size, it would not be able to gain any advantage in the battle with Smaug, but would instead become the main target of its fire breath.

As for Wayne himself, he took off the blood-red heavy dragon scale armor and put on a lighter green dragon leather armor suitable for agile combat.

In the week before the battle, he flew a flying carpet and told King Thranduil of the Woodland Kingdom that they had found the secret passage and were about to start the formal battle, so that the Silvan elves could make corresponding preparations.

On the day of the agreed battle, Wayne checked all the combat props he might need, as if he was carrying out a powerful demon hunting commission, drank six bottles of demon hunter potions that enhanced his physical functions, and then, carrying the Sword of Promised Victory, he and Bilbo entered the palace inside the Lonely Mountain through the secret passage at the back door.

Before leaving, he patted Thorin on the shoulder and said earnestly:

"Thorin, if things go well, then you won't need to take part in the battle later."

"However, I hope you can be mentally prepared. You are about to see the treasure of Lonely Mountain, and your wish for many years will soon be fulfilled."

"Your decision affects the fate of many people. Don't let them down."

(One more chapter.) (End of this chapter)