Just as Gandalf's words fell, Smaug's dying shriek reached everyone's ears.
At the same time, Millison came to Arthur's side, glanced at Thorin and the others, and said to Arthur, "Smaug is dead, General Radahn has won."
Her voice was not loud, but it was enough for everyone around, who had quieted down after the dragon's roar, to hear.
Before Arthur could say anything, Thorin excitedly looked at Fili and the other dwarves behind him: "Azog's greatest reliance is dead! Today we will surely use its blood to pay tribute to our fallen comrades!"
Then he looked at Arthur again, and said impatiently, "Arthur, now do you still think this beheading operation is just going to die for nothing?"
Arthur's expression also relaxed, and he shrugged: "The plan has changed, prepare to cut the weeds and eliminate the roots!"
Then Arthur turned to Millison: "Since Radahn has successfully dealt with Smaug, you don't need to constantly pay attention. Come with us and help Thorin take down Azog."
Millison smiled and nodded: "Of course."
Bilbo, who had been nervously watching Arthur and the others, hesitated for a moment, then suddenly looked up at Gandalf, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly: "Perhaps...perhaps I should witness the final chapter of this Lonely Mountain journey with my own eyes? Please take me."
Bilbo's voice was very soft, so soft it sounded like he was asking himself, yet he deliberately made every syllable clear and audible.
Gandalf stroked his beard and had not yet spoken, when Thorin acted first.
He rode his war goat to Bilbo's side, laughing as he clapped the hobbit's thin shoulder, but Bilbo did not stumble as he had before.
Thorin said: "Bilbo, I remember you said you wanted to write a book to record this journey. But in fact, you are already a part of the story. When you dip your quill in ink, just add two strokes for me: Thorin Oakenshield slays Azog within the Lonely Mountain."
After he finished speaking, he looked at Bombur, signaling him with his eyes to blow the horn.
Bombur immediately understood, puffed out his round belly, and inhaled like an inflated frog until his cheeks turned purple before blowing into the horn.
"Whoosh ↓ Whoosh ↑ —"
Amidst the trembling sound of the horn, Thorin called out to Fili and the others, rushing out of Dale like an arrow from a bow.
Arthur glanced at Gandalf and Bilbo, wrapped Torrent's reins twice around his palm, and after dropping the line, "I'll wait for you to catch up," he also led Millison out of Dale.
Seeing that Gandalf hadn't spoken, Bilbo cautiously poked his head out and asked, "Uh, Gandalf?"
Then the next moment he was lifted onto the horse by Gandalf, listening to the wizard's exasperated voice: "I somewhat regret letting you come to the Lonely Mountain. I don't know when you secretly learned the dwarves' stubborn temper!"
Meanwhile, on the Lonely Mountain, Azog's eyes suddenly constricted, his pupils reflecting Smaug's collapsing remains, falling like a mountain.
It couldn't believe that Smaug had died outside like that.
Amidst the sound of the dragon's body splashing down, Azog suddenly gripped the warg's reins tightly, his finger joints cracking like popping beans.
A rare panic showed in its eyes, but it was quickly controlled, and the surrounding orcs did not notice Azog's situation.
Then Azog noticed that after Smaug's fall, the gate of Dale roared open again, and a small cavalry unit composed of Humans and dwarves pierced through the smoke and charged directly towards the Lonely Mountain.
At the same time, almost all the catapults and ballistas within Dale were also helping this cavalry unit deal with the orc army attempting to block them from both sides.
Immediately after, a brilliant blue beam of light suddenly appeared from within that cavalry unit. Wherever it passed, snow vaporized and the ground cracked.
orcs couldn't even raise their shields before their twisted bodies disintegrated in the radiance, and several wargs charging at the very front of the formation, attempting to attack this cavalry unit, turned into scattered ashes without even emitting a wail.
It's that wizard!
Azog's pupils constricted, and it immediately realized that this mixed cavalry unit of Humans and dwarves was coming for its life.
Based on its understanding of its orc soldiers, Azog knew that they simply could not withstand the penetration of this cavalry unit.
"Full effort to block…"
Azog's mind raced, and it forcefully stopped the impulse to order the orc army to block the wizard.
No, no, ordering these useless creatures won't stop that wizard. Instead, it will expose my position and let them know that I'm out of options.
Even in this extremely unfavorable situation for Azog, it remained calm, thinking of opportunities to escape successfully.
Just half a minute later, Azog thought of a way.
It narrowed its eyes, looked at the orc messenger beside it, and roared loudly at the other party: "Pass down the order, the entire army quickly retreat to the Lonely Mountain, and defend the great hall to the death!"
"Understood, Master." This orc messenger didn't think much and immediately went to convey Azog's order.
Then Azog looked at another orc messenger, revealing a cunning smile, and whispered temptingly: "Do you want to survive this war?"
This orc messenger was stunned. Although it didn't know why Azog asked it this question, it still knelt down in fear and replied, "I will not run away, Master."
Azog kicked it: "Coward, I'm asking if you want to live!"
"Yes, yes, yes…" the other party replied nervously.
Azog then actively helped the other party up, his tone even becoming 친절: "Very good, you go find the wargs, choose a white warg as a mount, and then leave here with my most elite orc warg riders from the west side of the Lonely Mountain."
The orc messenger was confused: "Le-leave here? But Master, didn't you just order us to defend to the death? I, I won't run away!"
"Fool! That's because if they don't defend to the death, how can we escape while the Humans and dwarves are distracted? Now go find the wargs quickly, or I'll throw you off the Lonely Mountain!" Azog threatened.
The orc messenger immediately scrambled up from the ground in fear and headed towards the location of the wargs.
Azog watched the distant figure of this orc messenger, then turned its gaze to the chaotic battlefield due to the retreat order, and sneered.
The orc army first saw Smaug fall, then received Azog's retreat order, and immediately realized that they had already lost this war. Now, if they ran too slowly, they would die.
Therefore, after receiving Azog's order, even the most well-equipped orc soldiers ran backward in disarray, even starting to attack weaker comrades who were obstructing their escape.
Some orcs, seeing that they couldn't retreat to the Lonely Mountain in time, even began to flee in other directions to save their lives.
And what Azog wanted was this kind of disorder and chaos. Anyway, even if these orc soldiers retreated in an orderly manner, this war had already been lost. It was better to let the battlefield be in this chaotic state, so that Arthur and Thorin, who were charging directly towards the Lonely Mountain, would be blocked by the large number of scattered orc soldiers.
Azog watched Arthur and Thorin getting closer and closer, its teeth grinding, and deeply etched their faces into its mind with hatred and unwillingness.
"When darkness covers the Lonely Mountain again, I will brew mead with your skulls and sew banners from human skin. Then, you will kneel and beg me for the mercy of death!"
Then it turned and left its spot, walking quickly into the Lonely Mountain.
Both the orc army it ordered to retreat to the Lonely Mountain and the warg riders escaping from the west side of the Lonely Mountain were bait to allow it to successfully escape.
Thorin's frozen shell axe froze a group of panicked orc soldiers who had crashed into their cavalry unit. After catching his breath, he shouted to Arthur beside him: "Arthur, the battlefield is too chaotic now! It's making it difficult for us to advance! Can you use that Glintstone Magic you just cast again?"
Arthur nodded slightly: "I can, but my remaining magic power is only enough for one more use."
Thorin grinned: "That's enough!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Arthur again unleashed Azur Comet , once again completely annihilating the fleeing orc soldiers in a straight line in front of him.
The nearby orc soldiers, seeing this scene, were so frightened that they scrambled, throwing away their armor and weapons, and fled far from Arthur and the others.
"The path is clear, speed up the charge!" Thorin pulled the reins, and the war goat's running speed increased by several points.
Fili and the other dwarves also quickly accelerated, following behind their uncle.
Although Gandalf had a grim expression, he also silently spurred his horse to catch up.
Arthur, with Millison on his back, easily caught up with Thorin on Torrent, and said loudly beside him: "This retreat order was clearly given by Azog. He intends for these chaotic orc soldiers to block us! But I don't think Azog just gave such a simple order. Do you see the orc soldiers on the walls of the Lonely Mountain? They plan to defend the palace inside to the death."
Just as Thorin looked up at the gate of the Lonely Mountain Palace, the sharp-eyed Kili on the other side loudly warned, "Look at the Lonely Mountain, on the west side! A team of warg riders is quietly sneaking out!"
Bilbo, who had been shrinking in front of Gandalf, heard Kili's shout and quickly looked up, hesitating, "Yes, there is indeed a team of warg riders escaping... Wait, one of the wargs is white!"
"A white warg? That's Azog's mount! I knew this cunning orc scum wouldn't sit idly by in the Lonely Mountain! He actually used the entire orc army of the Lonely Mountain as his scapegoat! Turn around, we'll pursue him immediately! Those wargs aren't as agile on the mountains as the war goats!" Thorin roared instantly.
But Bilbo waited for a while and found that neither Gandalf nor Arthur turned their horses around.
Thorin also noticed this and turned back to ask, "Arthur, Gandalf, what's wrong now?"
Arthur frowned tightly and said, "Azog's character is so cunning, would he really expose himself in such an easily discoverable position to escape?"
Gandalf silently nodded in agreement with Arthur.
Thorin also calmed down slightly, but his tone was still a bit anxious: "What if Azog is using your and Gandalf's overthinking to truly escape with that warg cavalry?"
Arthur said without hesitation, "Then we'll split up and pursue! I, you, Fili and Kili, along with Gandalf and Bilbo, will continue to pursue into the Lonely Mountain, and let Millison, Balin, and Dwalin go to the west side of the Lonely Mountain to pursue that warg rider."
Thorin didn't hesitate and immediately agreed: "Did you hear the grouping Arthur mentioned! We'll split up! Be careful, all of you, I still want you to get drunk in the Lonely Mountain!"
The cavalry squad split into two teams. Millison agilely leaped from Torrent's back, then landed lightly on Balin's war goat, making the old dwarf sigh in relief: "A wonderful performance, madam."
Millison replied plainly, "I also have to thank you for leaving me a place to land."
After Arthur and his group separated from Millison, Thorin spoke, "How will we find Azog once we're inside the Lonely Mountain? You know there are many orcs in there now, and if we can't find Azog in time, we might be overwhelmed."
"Jerian and Dain will definitely order an attack out of the city when they see the orcs retreating, so we don't have to worry about being isolated and helpless in the Lonely Mountain. The only concern is that Azog might have escaped before we find him."
As Arthur said this, he looked behind him, and sure enough, the Red Lion Legion and the dwarf army in Dale were rushing towards the Lonely Mountain.
Thorin nodded: "So the problem circles back. Where will Azog escape from the Lonely Mountain? Maybe he'll escape through a dwarf secret passage that even I don't know about!"
Bilbo, who had been listening to their conversation, suddenly spoke, "No, Azog definitely won't escape through a dwarf secret passage! Because he wouldn't dare gamble whether we know those secret passages and would intercept him at the exit beforehand."
Thorin asked, "Then where will he go?"
At this moment, Arthur and Thorin's group happened to pass near Ravenhill. Bilbo looked at Ravenhill, which had collapsed into ruins, and a flash of inspiration struck him. He hurriedly shouted, "Those big worms! They're Earthworms! Azog will definitely escape through the tunnels created by the Earthworms! Only this isn't a secret passage dug by the dwarves!"
"Excellent! My Master Burglar! You truly are a hobbit who likes to live in holes!" Thorin praised.
At the bottom of the Lonely Mountain Palace, Azog came alone to the place where the worms originally rested.
He carefully pushed open the door, noticed the orc corpses killed by the invading wizard earlier, and after repeatedly confirming that no other wizard were guarding here, he walked in.
Azog looked at the intricate underground tunnels and chose one without hesitation, walking through it.
But before Azog could breathe a sigh of relief, the faint screams of orcs suddenly came from the direction he had come from, followed by increasingly loud hoofbeats.
"Azog!!!"
Thorin's roar, full of fury, arrived at the spot before he did. Then, the war goat leaped from the steps and landed steadily on the ground. Azog's surprised pupils met Thorin's eyes burning with rage.
"Whoosh—"
The sound of an arrow piercing the air came. The moment Kili saw Azog, he drew his bow and shot, hitting Azog's right shoulder, causing the orc to let out a cry of pain and anger.
"Gandalf and I will hold off the orcs outside for you! Deal with him, Thorin!!!" Arthur's shout also reached Thorin's ears from above, making him softly say "Thank you."
Azog's mouth flashed with a cruel grin when he heard that the two wizard would not come down.
Then, after dodging three throwing knives from Fili, he forcefully broke off the one stuck in his shoulder, looked at Thorin, and sneered, "Without your wizard friends, you are nothing, Thorin, you can't even get revenge on me by yourself."
And Thorin, after seeing Azog, seemed to calm down, though he was still panting heavily as if agitated, his eyes looking as if he wanted to devour the other party.
Fili and Kili stood beside Thorin, glaring with shared hatred at the culprit who had caused the dwarves so much suffering for years.
Azog saw that Thorin made no move and continued to try to provoke Thorin with words, hoping he would rush at him alone in anger.
And Azog was confident he could take the opportunity to defeat this irrational dwarf, capture him alive, and exchange him for his own safe escape.
So Azog intentionally approached Thorin little by little, and then, with that mocking tone, said, "Are you wondering why I gave up the Lonely Mountain so easily? Why my elite army was so small? And why there were only two Earthworms attacking Ravenhill?"
Thorin suppressed his anger and calmly asked, "Why?"
Azog was very pleased that Thorin played along. He took another step forward, his intact hand grasping the hilt of his blade behind his back.
He narrowed his eyes, calculating the distance between himself and Thorin, and said, "That's because they went to attack your father's army, Thorin Oakenshield! Your father should have died in Dol Guldur. The prey my master decides to kill cannot escape! Calculating the time, your father should be crushed under some shattered rock right now, crying and calling your name!"
Thorin's eyes trembled as he stared at Azog, and Azog, sensing Thorin's inner turmoil, pushed off with his feet and lunged forward, simultaneously drawing his blade from behind and swinging it.
"Bang!"
But a rock, appearing from nowhere, suddenly struck Azog's head. Before he could react to the pain, his gaze met Thorin's cold sneer.
Wait? He wasn't swayed by my words?
Before Azog could react, he felt his entire legs enveloped by a bone-chilling sensation, and then his whole body knelt right in front of Thorin.
No, it wasn't a feeling; Azog's legs were truly frozen to the ground.
Thorin slowly raised the frozen shell axe in his hand and rested it on Azog's neck, then looked up and gave a slight nod to Bilbo, who had hidden behind an orc corpse at some point: "Thank you, Baggins."
Azog felt the cold and stinging sensation from the axe blade on his neck and cried out in panic, "Wait, Thorin Oakenshield! I didn't lie to you! I really ordered an elite army to ambush your father again! If you let me go, I can order them to abandon the attack."
But in Azog's vision, Thorin merely slowly raised the frozen shell axe, his eyes fixed on his neck, seemingly contemplating how to sever it with a single blow.
At the same time, Thorin said to Azog, "Guess where the soldiers who invaded the Lonely Mountain and made you provoke Smaug went?"
What...
Before Azog could figure out why Thorin thought a hundred-man squad could save Thráin, a sharp pain shot through his chest, making him cry out.
"Ahhh—! My Lord..."
Thorin's pupils reflected the black blood surging from Azog's chest. The frost from the frozen shell axe spread along the broken bone seams, congealing the spattered blood droplets into black ice crystals.
A hoarse curse squeezed from Azog's shattered throat, but it was extinguished completely the moment the cold gleam of the frozen shell axe struck.
The dull thud of the axe cutting through the cervical spine mixed with the sound of ice shattering. As the pale beast's head rolled onto the frost-covered ground, Azog's frozen, contorted eyes seemed to be looking somewhere to the south of Middle-earth.
Thorin's war boot stepped on the head, crushing the last unspoken word, "Lord," into ice shards.
In the Third Age of 2940, Azog the Defiler died at the hands of Thorin Oakenshield, Lord of the Lonely Mountain.
Thus, after one hundred and seventy-one years, the Durinfolk returned to their homeland.