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Chapter 153 - Attack on Orc Base

The ninth floor of the tower, Transformation Room.

Sylas was waving his wand, drawing thin red lines in the air. The lines combined to form a complete three-dimensional vein map, resembling the network of blood vessels in the human body. The red lines were intricate and constantly flowing, forming a complete circulation system that radiated a mysterious and extraordinary power.

This was a diagram of the magical circulation within the skin-changer Beorn. It was also the secret behind Beorn's ability to transform into a giant bear. Sylas had never abandoned his research into Transfiguration, especially the idea of advancing Animagus magic.

After all, if the Animagus transformation only resulted in becoming an ordinary animal, then this so-called pinnacle of transfiguration felt a little underwhelming. To spend years, perhaps over a decade, mastering Animagus, only to turn into a common creature, hardly seemed worth the effort.

This was why so few wizards in the magical world practiced Animagus. Even throughout the entire twentieth century, there had been only seven Animagi registered with the Ministry of Magic. Including the unregistered illegal ones, the total number would still be at most in the single digits. The reason was clear: beyond the difficulty of training, the return on investment simply wasn't worth it.

If Animagus could transform into magical beasts like fire dragons, phoenixes, or thunderbirds, millions of wizards would rush to study it. Sylas hadn't been very confident at first, but Beorn's unique nature gave him a model to work from.

Over the past year, he had been studying the magical circulation in Beorn's body, with help from Arwen, Legolas, and others. He had already completed the diagram of the magic cycle, but he didn't dare to test it on himself immediately. He intended to find test subjects for magical transformation experiments first.

However, he considered himself no dark wizard and refused to experiment on innocent people, so he was preparing to leave. But before he could, Elrohir and the others were already getting ready to depart.

"Are you going back to Rivendell too?" Sylas asked Arwen.

Arwen nodded gently, her eyes sparkling. "I have been here for quite some time. I plan to return to Rivendell to spend some time with my father, and then go back to Lórien to be with my grandparents."

Hearing this, Sylas fell silent for a moment and made no effort to persuade her to stay.

"I think Thorondo will miss you!"

"What about you?"

"I uh... ahem... of course I'll miss you too. After all, we are best friends, right?"

Sylas's heart couldn't help but beat faster.

Arwen's eyes twinkled, and then she smiled brightly. "Yes, we are close friends!"

Sylas was a little dazed by her smile. He immediately lowered his head and took out an exquisite and elegant purse from his space bag and handed it to her.

"What is this?" Arwen was a little surprised and curious.

"I wove this using giant spider silk, and then used some alchemical techniques. The space inside will expand as more objects are added. The maximum limit is about the same size as a garden. It is very tough, and the space is more stable than using the Traceless Extension Spell," Sylas explained.

"And I've put some Floo powder in it, so you can travel between Rivendell, Lórien, and Weathertop at any time."

Arwen took the exquisite purse, felt its elasticity, and opened it to look inside.

Her eyes brightened slightly, showing surprise. "So many!"

There was a whole bottle of Floo powder inside, more than what was given to Elrond.

This amount was enough for one person to transport back and forth every day, and it could be used for more than a year.

Sylas shook his head. "It's not much. You don't have to save it. When you are almost finished, just tell me, okay?"

Arwen nodded, smiling brightly.

"I understand. Don't worry, I will make good use of it. I will come to visit you and Thorondo when I have time."

Sylas coughed dryly, his eyes wandering.

"That's good!"

After seeing off the three elf siblings, Sylas was depressed for a moment, then after sometime he began to focus all his attention and energy on the next thing.

After explaining the matter to Edward, he woke up the reluctant dragon Smaug and rode him northeast towards the Etten Wastes.

To the north of the Ettenmoors lies the Gram Mountains, a branch of the Misty Mountains.

Among them, a tribe of Orcs established a stronghold in this mountain and often went south to invade the wastes of Eriador.

The purpose of Sylas's trip was Mount Gram.

Smaug flew very fast, and in just half a day, he appeared on Mount Gram with Sylas on board.

With the guidance of the palantír, Sylas quickly locked onto a place in the mountain.

He patted the dragon's back and pointed to the orcs' hidden stronghold in the mountains.

"Smaug, go down there."

Without another word, Smaug swooped down into the mountain.

...

In the Gram Mountains,

In a canyon where the sun never reaches, the Orcs' stronghold lay.

There were nearly ten thousand orcs in the canyon.

The leader of the Mount Gram Orcs was Salzog, who was under Sauron's control. When Azog and Bolg led the Misty Mountain Orcs, they obeyed their calls and orders to a certain extent and cooperated with Azog and Bolg in their actions.

Until a year ago, Azog and Bolg were killed one after another, and the northern Orc army led by Bolg was completely destroyed in the Battle of Five Armies. The Orcs suffered heavy losses, and the Orcs of Mount Gram had been huddled in the mountains, not daring to go south and invade the wasteland for over a year.

Especially since they had heard that the one who had slain the Orc Kings Azog and Bolg, and caused their defeat at the Battle of Five Armies, was establishing his domain on Weathertop west of the wastes.

The orcs on Mount Gram became very cautious, fearing that they would attract the attention of the being on the top of the storm and bring about a catastrophic disaster.

But on this day, Orcs in the mountains had nothing to do and thought it was just another boring day.

An Orc, who was in charge of lookout, suddenly felt a shadow in the sky.

Surprised, the Orc looked up and saw a huge figure falling from the sky. His surprise and confusion turned into fear in an instant.

"It's a dragon! It's a giant dragon!" The Orc shouted loudly, his face pale and his body trembling, then quickly picked up the horn and blew it hard.

As the horn sounded, many Orcs also discovered the giant dragon appearing in the sky, and suddenly there was panic and commotion.

The Orc leader, Salzog, looked extremely uneasy at the appearance of the dragon.

As far as he knew, there was only one dragon still active in Middle-earth, and that was the tamed dragon Smaug.

Now that Smaug had appeared here, the being on the top of Weathertop must be here as well.

The fear of that man was so deep in the hearts of all the Orcs that they dared not even call him by name.

It was said that the wizard had cast a spell on his own name. Once an Orc called out his name, he would sense it and come riding on a dragon to burn the one who called him to death with dragon flames.

Therefore, all the Orcs called him "that wizard," "that man," or nicknames like "Lord of the Dragon," and they did not dare say his name.

Even the Orcs' leader, Salzog, had been forced to call Sylas by name in order to appear fearless before his men, which caused the Orcs to exclaim in awe, but he had also been worried.

Now seeing Smaug appear on Mount Gram, Salzog's first reaction was to wonder if he had attracted him by calling that name.

But the problem was, he had only shouted it once. How could it have worked so well?

At this time, Sylas, who was sitting on the dragon's back, had no idea that the Orcs had already spread rumors about him as if he were a god.

When the dragon descended upon the canyon, Sylas gave an order.

A scorching dragon flame burst out from the dragon's mouth, instantly devouring countless Orc dwellings.

For a moment, the cries of fear and screams echoed throughout the canyon.

"Counterattack! Take out your bows and crossbows and fight back!" As the leader of the Orcs, Salzog had the strongest resolve and immediately organized his warriors to attack the dragon.

Countless arrows were fired toward the giant dragon in the sky.

Among them were many massive bolts, clearly weapons specially forged to target dragons.

Even a slight wound from such a projectile could be fatal, for the poison and curse upon it were extremely dangerous.

But Smaug was unfazed. His scales alone were impenetrable, and on top of that, he wore a suit of dragon armor forged by dwarves.

Even if an arrow capable of piercing dragon scales struck true, it would still have to break through the armor first before reaching the hide beneath.

This double layer of protection allowed Smaug to wreak havoc without concern. He flew low over the canyon, tearing through structures with his massive claws while unleashing torrents of fire.

The giant bolts barely scratched him.

Once the entire canyon was engulfed in flame, Sylas waved his wand, petrifying some of the surviving Orcs, including their leader Salzog, and stored them in his enchanted space bag.

At that moment, a long-lost prompt appeared before him:

[Hogwarts Sign-in System: Location, Mount Gram. Do you want to sign in?]

Sylas froze for a moment, then grinned. He had almost forgotten about the system.

"Sign in!" he commanded.

[Sign-in successful. Congratulations, you have received Newt Scamander's copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them!]

Sylas was slightly disappointed; he hadn't expected a book at such a moment.

After capturing nearly a hundred Orcs, he mounted Smaug once again and left Mount Gram without bothering to see if any survivors remained.

All that was left behind was an Orc stronghold swallowed by fire.

Smoke rose high into the sky, visible from valleys far to the south and even to the Dúnedain Rangers patrolling the wilds.

Soon after, a Ranger arrived at Mount Gram and found the charred ruins left by dragon fire.

Word of Sylas's name once again spread swiftly across the wilderness.

The Orcs of the Misty Mountains trembled, refusing to descend into the wilds, and dared not even speak his name.

Survivors from Mount Gram swore that their leader, Salzog, had spoken Sylas's name aloud just once, and that was enough for the Black Robe Wizard himself to arrive on dragonback, burn their stronghold to ash, and take Salzog captive.

Sylas himself learned of this absurd rumor from Salzog's own memories, leaving him completely speechless.

How come he was getting the same treatment here in the North that Voldemort received in the wizarding world?

Fortunately, the Orcs had not gone so far as to call him "the one who not be named," or he might have been utterly embarrassed.

Destroying the Mount Gram stronghold had been effortless for Sylas.

He imprisoned more than a hundred captured Orcs in a cell high in the tower, then brought a petrified Orc to his laboratory to begin research.

The origin of Orcs is unknown. One belief holds that Morgoth once captured Elves, tortured and twisted them, eventually turning them into the warped and hideous dark creatures known as Orcs.

This would explain the Orcs' deep jealousy of the Elves and their eagerness to inflict upon them the same suffering Morgoth had once dealt.

For that reason, Orcs are often more hostile toward Elves than toward any other race.

Sylas did not know whether this legend was true, but he could sense the presence of magic within the Orcs.

Such humanoid creatures were perfect subjects for experiments in magical transformation.

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