Chapter 78: The Death of Azog

"Black-robed Wizard!" Azog snarled in the Black Speech, looking at the suddenly appearing Kael with deep wariness. Seeing him appear here unharmed, yet not seeing any sign of the other Orc troop, his heart immediately sank. "Are you looking for this?" Kael threw the Orc leader's severed head in front of Azog. "I've already sent that Orc troop to hell. You won't be waiting for their arrival." "Or I could send you to meet them..." Kael raised his wand. "Reducto!" Villains die from talking too much. Although Kael didn't consider himself a villain, he still adhered to the principle of quick resolution and attacked without hesitation. If he could eliminate Azog, the Orc leader, here, the Orcs would temporarily be leaderless. Perhaps the subsequent pursuit and the Battle of Five Armies at the Lonely Mountain would no longer occur. Kael's magic was fast, but Azog's reaction speed was no slouch either. Among Orcs, strength was supreme. Azog's leadership position was earned by killing countless competitors to reach the top. With his superior physical strength and reaction speed, Azog dodged Kael's spells, and when he couldn't dodge, he directly pulled nearby subordinates to use as meat shields. Seeing himself at a disadvantage, Azog raised his intact arm and shot a concealed arrow from his wrist. It was a Morgul arrow inscribed with dark spells. Kael remained vigilant and immediately used a Levitation Charm to control a section of pine wood to block in front of him. But this also gave Azog an opportunity. He directly yanked an Orc subordinate from a Warg, mounted it himself, and turned to flee. The other Orcs and Wargs also fled in panic. "Kael, don't let Azog escape!" the dwarves shouted anxiously. "Don't worry, he can't escape," Kael said unhurriedly, looking calmly at the fleeing Azog as if he had prepared for this. The next second, Azog and his Warg, who hadn't run far, plunged headfirst into mud—into a swamp that had somehow appeared in front of them. The Orcs and Wargs behind them also followed suit, struggling in the swamp mud. Azog didn't give up struggling. He directly stepped on the Warg to climb out of the swamp, then ruthlessly used his subordinate Orcs' Wargs as stepping stones, leaping high to jump to the other side of the swamp. "Wizard, I remember you! You will be Azog's lifelong enemy!" Azog stared fixedly at Kael. His mortal enemy had changed from Thorin to this wizard. His response was a brilliant spell. "Confringo!" The massive explosive power blew open the mountaintop, subsequently triggering a landslide. "Ah, the mountain is collapsing!" The dwarves let out terrified screams, as cracks had already appeared in the cliff they were on, ready to crumble at any moment. "Don't panic, our eagle friends are coming!" Gandalf gave everyone good news. As soon as he finished speaking, clear eagle cries rang out from the sky. More than a dozen massive Great Eagles flew toward everyone, grabbing them and taking off amid their exclamations. Kael was also targeted by an eagle. Without giving him time to react, it rushed over, grabbed him, and threw him onto another eagle's back. Such a thrilling scene made even Kael cry out in surprise. As everyone was carried into the sky by the eagles, the mountaintop and cliff below could no longer hold up. They quickly crumbled and collapsed, taking all the Orcs and Wargs with them, crushed and buried by the falling rocks. "Hmm? He's still not dead? Is his life really that tough?" Kael had originally just taken out the Palantír to check whether Azog was dead, only to see that he was actually still alive. It turned out that when the mountain collapsed, Azog had used the iron hook attached to his severed arm to catch onto the cliff wall, avoiding being crushed or killed by falling rocks. Could this be the villain boss's luck? Not dying until the grand finale, no matter what? Kael didn't believe it. He patted the eagle beneath him. "Eagle brother, can we discuss something? Could you take me down first? I'll go kill that Azog, and then we can leave. How about it?" The eagle let out a clear cry and, without giving Kael time to react, instantly dove downward. The massive feeling of weightlessness made Kael's heart nearly jump into his throat. On Azog's side, having survived, he looked at his subordinates buried by the landslide rocks and let out a roar of anger and unwillingness. "Wizard, I want you to pay with blood!" "Are you calling for me, Azog?" A mocking voice rang out from above. Azog was shocked and horrified. The moment he looked up, he saw Kael riding an eagle diving down. Understanding the difference in their strength, he immediately tried to flee without saying a word. But Kael didn't give him another chance to escape. "Reducto!" The spell instantly struck Azog. Accompanied by a scream, Azog's body became covered with cracks, like shattered porcelain, with black blood continuously flowing out. But even so, Azog still had one breath left. "You're really hard to kill, Azog," Kael sighed, his eyes full of coldness. "But no matter what, today is your death day!" "Diffindo!" Azog's expression stiffened, his blood-red eyes gradually dimmed, and he died completely. Looking at the dead Azog, Kael took a deep breath. "Azog is dead. The trajectory of fate has changed. I wonder if the Battle of Five Armies will still occur?" "Kael." Gandalf flew over riding an eagle, with the others following. When they saw Azog's corpse, the dwarves cheered, celebrating the death of the dwarves' mortal enemy. Gandalf was also very happy and appreciative. "Kael, you killed Azog, the Orc King. This news will soon spread throughout Middle-earth from the Orcs. You truly deserve the title 'Enemy of Orcs'!" "However, correspondingly, you will also become the enemy of all Orcs. They will want to eliminate you quickly, so you should be mentally prepared." "I understand. Thank you for the reminder, Gandalf." Kael nodded, though he felt no psychological pressure about this. Having killed Azog, everyone didn't linger and flew away on the eagles. The eagles were messengers of Manwë, King of the Valar. They were large, intelligent, and could speak, responsible for reporting news from all over Middle-earth to Manwë and assisting the Free Peoples of Middle-earth in fighting evil. Gandalf was also one of the Maiar serving under Manwë, so he had a good relationship with the eagle clan and could summon eagles for help. The eagles were very fast. Everyone rode the eagles over the Misty Mountains, flying all the way to the Carrock on the Anduin River before stopping. As for why they didn't fly directly to the Lonely Mountain, on one hand, the eagles lived in the Misty Mountains and were mainly responsible for monitoring the Orcs in the mountains, unwilling to leave the Misty Mountains' range too far. On the other hand, for the same reason as Gandalf, the eagles were also not allowed to interfere too much in Middle-earth affairs, mainly assisting in fighting evil. Kael could only complain speechlessly about this. Wasn't this just like Journey to the West, where everyone had to experience countless hardships and vast distances, rather than letting Sun Wukong somersault directly to the Western Heaven to retrieve the scriptures? Getting down from the eagle's back, as Gandalf was saying goodbye to the Eagle King, Kael looked at the Eagle King's crest and suddenly had an inspiration, quickly saying: "Gandalf, your wand core has been elusive. Perhaps eagle feathers could serve as your wand core!" [Chapter Complete] *** Want more? 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