"Confringo!"
A blinding magic spell struck the boulder, shattering it into countless fragments.
Luke stood at the front, keeping a wary eye on the distant Giants while loudly complaining, "Gandalf, your method is completely useless!"
Instead, it attracted the attention of all the Rock Giants.
"Things don't always go as planned, do they?" Gandalf shrugged innocently.
"At least Bilbo and the others are safe, aren't they?"
Luke rolled his eyes in exasperation. He still had the leisure to joke around now? Why didn't he make a move!
"Watch out!" Gandalf shouted a warning.
Several Rock Giants grabbed huge boulders and hurled them towards Luke and Gandalf.
Those boulders were like meteors falling from the sky, carrying immense impact force, enough to smash through mountains and crush the two of them into meat paste!
Luke naturally saw them immediately, his face changing. He gripped his magic wand and channeled his magic with all his might.
"Protego Maxima!"
A powerful magic barrier instantly formed, transforming into a thick glowing spherical shield that enveloped both Luke and Gandalf.
Gandalf didn't just stand there watching. He grabbed his staff with both hands and struck forcefully into the air. The powerful force shattered the incoming boulders into countless pieces, which were then blocked by Luke's magic barrier.
The two of them successfully fended off this wave of boulders, but this clearly piqued the Rock Giants' interest, and they picked up more boulders to throw again.
Both of them immediately looked grim. Casting magic was very physically demanding, and they would eventually run out of stamina, while the Giants had an endless supply of boulders.
"We can't confront them head-on. We need to find a way to obscure their vision, then find Thorin and the others and leave here as quickly as possible!"
Gandalf shouted amidst the thunderstorm.
"I have a magic spell I can try," Luke said loudly, "but I haven't tried it before, so I don't know if it will succeed."
"Don't hesitate, try it quickly, I believe in you!" Gandalf forcefully shattered an incoming boulder and urged him loudly.
Luke directly summoned the "Book of Spells."
He remembered there was a smoke spell inside that could release mist to hide one's figure and obscure enemy vision.
He had an impression of this spell; he remembered Dumbledore had used it to cover up when he met Newt Scamander in London, enveloping the entire city in mist.
Luke had only briefly looked at this spell before, and now he could only learn and use it on the fly, following the spell book.
"Vaporize ~"
Fortunately, this spell was not complicated. Luke succeeded on his first try. Thick clouds of mist poured out from the tip of his magic wand, continuously spreading outwards in a vortex.
In the blink of an eye, the entire High Pass was enveloped in thick fog, making it impossible to see one's hand in front of their face.
The Rock Giants tried to part the mist to find people, but the mist was endless, as if it had no end. They could only roar in frustration and haphazardly throw away the boulders in their hands.
"Well done, Luke!" Gandalf praised in a low voice.
Luke took out the Palantír. Guided by the Palantír, the two successfully passed through the mist and between the Rock Giants, arriving at Thorin and the others' location.
This was inside a cave. The cave was empty, with no signs of anyone having left.
Seeing this, Gandalf struck the ground in front of him with his staff. The ground instantly collapsed, revealing a huge, pitch-black slide.
"Oh no, this is a trap set by the Goblins! Thorin and the others must have been captured by the Goblins!"
"Don't worry, Gandalf, let's first check their situation with the Palantír." Luke pulled out the Palantír, and the crystal ball displayed the scene Luke wanted to see.
In the crystal ball's image, Thorin and the others were in a very large underground cave, surrounded by countless wooden suspension bridges and ladders, as well as tens of thousands of densely packed Goblins.
Goblins are actually a type of Orc. They are small in stature, with dark green skin, much smaller than humans. They typically live in underground caves, mines, or mountain tunnels, prefer to operate in the dark, are skilled at digging and building underground passages, and live by stealing, robbing, and setting traps.
Unlike the strong and violent Orcs, Goblins are more cunning and timid.
At this moment, the Dwarves were surrounded by countless Goblins, their weapons confiscated, and they were being led before the Goblin King.
Bilbo, on the other hand, displayed the hobbit's stealth talent, managing to escape the notice of all the Goblins, thus successfully evading arrest.
"Ha, it seems our Mr. Burglar was lucky enough to escape a calamity," Gandalf said. "We need to pick up the pace, or these Dwarves will become Goblin food."
Saying this, he tapped the surrounding stone wall with his staff, then struck a section of the wall forcefully. The wall cracked, revealing a cave passage.
"Let's go to Goblin-town."
Before Luke put the crystal ball back into his leather pouch, he happened to see Bilbo being discovered by a Goblin, and during their struggle, both fell into a deep chasm beneath the cave.
Falling from a great height, Bilbo was very lucky not to have died. Besides a few scrapes, he had no serious injuries.
The Goblin, however, died instantly from the fall.
He truly lives up to being the protagonist!
While Luke breathed a sigh of relief, he could only sigh in his heart.
If it were an ordinary person, they would have died from the fall long ago, just like the Goblin that fell with him.
But he just happened to be fine in various ways.
Confirming that Bilbo was fine, Luke confidently put the crystal ball back into his leather pouch and quickly followed Gandalf.
He thought that if he remembered correctly, Bilbo was about to encounter his fated one ring, thereby officially beginning the prelude to the demise of Sauron, the Dark Lord.
Luke had no intention of interfering with Bilbo's destiny, or of getting the one ring first.
Aside from hobbits like Bilbo, who have ridiculously high magic resistance, even Gandalf and Galadriel dared not easily touch the one ring. He did not believe he would be an exception and be able to resist the one ring's dark corrosion.
Perhaps as soon as he put on the one ring, he would become its servant, or even an existence like a Nazgûl.
Therefore, he kept his distance from the one ring, not wanting to touch it at all.
Gandalf and Luke finally arrived inside the mountain cave.
It looked like an underground world, with intricate passages and interconnected caves, like a vast and complex underground labyrinth.
The cave was dim, and Thorin's party was led before the Goblin King.
The Goblin King was different from other Goblins; he was incredibly tall, with a very large head, almost three meters high, and held a staff with a ram's head.
Compared to other Goblins, the Goblin King was more cunning, evil, cruel, and also very intelligent.
After capturing the Dwarves, he interrogated them about their purpose for being there. When he saw that among the confiscated items there were elven artifacts stolen by the Dwarves, he suspected they were sent by the Elves.
Upon discovering Thorin's sword, glamdring (foe-biter), which had killed many Goblins, he furiously ordered his subordinates to kill them all.