In the morning, everyone woke up and packed their belongings, preparing to set off.
"Where's Gandalf? Has he not woken up yet?" one of the Dwarves suddenly asked.
"Where's Luke? He's not here either!" Bilbo also noticed another person was missing.
Upon hearing this, everyone realized that neither Gandalf nor Luke had been seen all morning.
Thorin frowned, looking puzzled, and instructed the Dwarves, "Look around and see where they are. It's getting late, we need to depart."
Before everyone could disperse to search, a green flame suddenly ignited in the fireplace.
Gandalf stepped out of the flames, and seeing everyone, he greeted them with a smile, "Good morning, everyone!"
Immediately after, Luke also emerged from the fireplace, carrying a pile of things in his hands. He said to everyone, "Ah, you're all here. That's perfect, come have breakfast. The bread and sausages are freshly cooked and still hot."
Everyone was very surprised to see Gandalf and Luke appearing from the fireplace flames.
Thorin walked forward, scrutinizing the two with surprise, then looked at the steaming bread in Luke's hand, and asked, "Where did you go?"
Gandalf chuckled, replying, "Being bored, Luke and I went to The Prancing Pony for a drink. On our way back, we brought you breakfast."
They went to The Prancing Pony? Everyone was shocked to hear this. It was several days' journey from The Prancing Pony to here. How did they manage it?
Connecting it with their emergence from the flames just now, everyone clearly guessed that magic was used, and immediately looked at Gandalf and Luke with envy.
Thorin, however, thought of something deeper. He looked at Luke and Gandalf with burning eyes and asked, "Since you can use magic to get to The Prancing Pony, can you take us directly to the Lonely Mountain?"
Luke shook his head. "Magic teleportation has conditions. Two fireplaces must be connected first to be able to teleport. There's no designated fireplace at the Lonely Mountain, so it can't be teleported to."
Thorin was very disappointed to hear this. He was now single-mindedly focused on reaching the Lonely Mountain and reclaiming his home occupied by the dragon.
After everyone finished the breakfast Luke brought from The Prancing Pony, they didn't delay further and set off again.
Before leaving, Luke sealed the tower entrance with Transfiguration, then cast the newly learned Muggle-Repelling Charm and Confundo around the area, only then feeling at ease to leave with everyone.
For the next part of the journey, everyone needed to cross a vast, desolate wilderness, pass over the Last Bridge on the Mitheitel, and then go through the Trollshaws to reach the Misty Mountains, completing half of their expedition.
Between Weather Top and the Last Bridge was an uninhabited wilderness, known as the Lone-lands. Few people lived here, except for rangers who secretly patrolled this wasteland.
However, in recent years, with the surge in the number of Orcs in the Misty Mountains, Orc squads often descended the mountains to raid deep into the wilderness.
Thus, the originally peaceful wilderness became a bit more dangerous.
The wilderness was so vast that the expedition team walked for a week without leaving its confines or reaching the Last Bridge.
This night, as everyone just stopped, preparing to rest by the roadside, dozens of arrows suddenly shot towards them!
"Alert!" Gandalf reacted the fastest, standing in front of everyone, wielding his staff as a weapon, blocking some of the incoming arrows.
Luke was pulling out his wand to Transfigure a tent, but seeing this scene, he reacted quickly, turning his wand and casting Transfiguration.
The incoming arrows all turned into flowers, falling onto everyone.
Everyone felt a lingering fear; if the arrows had hit them, even if they didn't die, they would have been severely injured.
"Well done, Luke!" the Dwarves cheered after recovering, then grabbed their weapons and immediately gathered.
Bilbo also immediately drew the dagger Luke had given him, nervously choosing to stand by Luke's side.
As everyone looked, a group of people emerged from the darkness in the distance, numbering at least fifty.
They were tall, with ugly, twisted faces, protruding fangs, small, red eyes, dressed in tattered leather armor, and carrying primitive, crude weapons like bows, axes, and clubs, exuding a fierce and cruel aura.
They were Orcs!
"It's an Orc squad! Prepare to fight!" Gandalf shouted loudly.
The Dwarves, seeing an Orc team several times their number, became even more eager to fight.
Thorin looked at these Orcs with utter disgust and hatred, as his grandfather and father had both died at the hands of Orcs. Now, seeing his enemies, his eyes turned red, and he gripped his longsword tightly.
"Kill them!" Thorin charged first towards the Orcs.
The other Dwarves followed closely, swinging their axes and hammers, attacking the Orc squad.
In an instant, both sides clashed fiercely. Although the Dwarves were short, they were very agile and strong, cooperating seamlessly, specifically targeting the Orcs' lower bodies.
Gandalf also seemed to be infected by the Dwarves' fighting spirit, instantly turning into a berserker, wielding his staff as a weapon, wildly smashing and hammering the Orcs.
"Wow, are they all this fierce?" Luke watched his teammates transform into berserkers, which made him feel a bit impulsive, wishing he could pull out his Flame Sword and go on a rampage.
However, considering his identity as a squishy Mage and his terrible swordsmanship, he still chose to stay put.
Moreover, he had a weak hobbit to protect by his side.
What surprised him, though, was that while Bilbo seemed a bit nervous, there was no trace of fear on his face. Instead, he gripped the dagger Luke had given him, looking ready to fight at any moment.
Should he say, 'As expected of the protagonist'?
Luke calmly observed the intense situation on the battlefield, ready to provide support at any time.
Perhaps fate didn't want Luke to be idle on the side.
Or perhaps these Orcs were not intelligent enough, or had poor memory? Seeing that Luke did not actively attack, five Orcs actually charged towards him and the isolated Bilbo.
"Oh, are they treating me as a soft target?"
Luke sneered, then cast a Shield Charm on Bilbo and instructed, "Stay close to me later."
Saying that, he drew the sword from his waist, holding the sword in one hand and his wand in the other, and charged towards the incoming Orcs.
"Petrificus Totalus them all!"
Luke immediately launched a super powerful Petrificus Totalus.
He raised his Flame Sword and brought it down forcefully on an Orc. The longsword was extremely sharp, easily slicing off the Orc's head, which was then quickly engulfed by the flames spreading from the sword.
Luke felt his adrenaline surging at that moment, his emotions highly excited, without any fear. Instead, when he sliced off the Orc's head, he felt a secret sense of satisfaction.
No wonder Gandalf liked to charge forward with a sword; holding a sword truly felt different from holding a wand.
While Luke easily dealt with five Orcs, Gandalf and the Dwarves were no less impressive.
Gandalf wielded his staff with great force; basically, an Orc fell with every few blows.
And the thirteen Dwarves led by Thorin were even more powerful in combat, easily fighting two-on-one.
Soon, the Orc forces suffered heavy losses. Seeing they were no match, the Orcs began to flee.
The Dwarves had no intention of letting a single Orc escape. They pursued them all the way, finally eliminating the last Orc.
In this battle, the Dwarves contributed the most, killing more than half of the Orcs, followed by Gandalf and Luke.
What was most surprising was that Bilbo actually had a kill count of one Orc.
During the pursuit of the Orcs, Bilbo threw the dagger Luke had given him, directly taking down a fleeing Orc, completing his first kill.
The Dwarves were impressed by Bilbo and fully accepted him as a member of the team.