Bear School Astartes

Long Lake Town was like a defenseless cake, randomly cut by Smaug using the flames he spewed as a dinner knife.

The town perched on the giant rock in the lake suddenly lit up with a skyward blaze, a scar of fire chilling to the heart!

But what reassured Lann and the Elves was that Smaug’s first wave of low-altitude fire breath apparently hadn’t noticed Bard.

The black arrow held by the human archer was the key to this battle.

Bard had only one chance; everyone knew well that all their subsequent actions were merely to create an opportunity for Bard to fire that arrow.

”Release!”

Accompanied by a command from an unknown direction within the town, more than twenty arrows shot out from various places in Long Lake Town with a piercing whistle.

”Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!”

A series of arrows accurately struck Smaug’s body as it skimmed just above the ground.

The dragon’s chest emitted a scorching red glow from the inside due to the flames it breathed.

Yet, the series of arrows still sparked brilliantly against other parts of its body.

The elite Elves were all powerful archers. Their strength combined with their bows and arrows could even guarantee each arrowhead penetrated solid rock evenly!

Among the more than twenty arrows, one stood out with a might vastly different from the others.

Following the fletching of that arrow was a trail of white mist, the high-density air swirling up due to the arrow’s excessive speed during flight!

In terms of speed, power, precision... it surpassed even the Elves’ elite archers.

But it was meaningless.

These more than twenty arrows merely scraped out more than twenty sparks on Smaug’s body.

The sharp arrows struck the dragon’s scales with a crisp ’clang’.

They spun and were flung away, their wreckage landing in the chaotic Long Lake Town.

The shot capable of piercing rock with stability, along with an arrow far above the Elves’ elite shooters in standard, achieved only a sense of helplessness before the dragon’s scales.

Smaug’s scales had a hardness beyond imagination!

Or rather, without such hardness, it should have been crushed to death when previously flattened by a massive amount of liquid gold into less than a five-step stair thickness.

”Hmm?!”

Though the series of shots had no effect, they immediately drew Smaug’s attention.

The dragon flames that had been freely spraying from its mouth then halted, its mouth closed, exuding a sound of suspicion.

Originally driven out of the Lonely Mountain by the cunning and courage of dwarves familiar with the terrain, Smaug felt resentment and rage, yet a hint of fear had crept in.

Compared to the earlier times when it destroyed two cities with brazen arrogance, Smaug was now much more cautious.

Previously slowing down to seize an opportunity to carefully unleash its flames, Smaug suddenly flapped its wings, whipped up a gale, and increased its speed.

It flew low over Long Lake Town.

Legend has it that on the day the dragon attacked the Lonely Mountain Region, the first sign people saw was large swathes of trees broken and sent flying by the wind stirred by the dragon’s wings.

The ’crack’ sounds of wood splitting echoed everywhere.

The sturdy trees rooted in the soil were as fragile as toothpicks in the storm whipped up by Smaug.

Now, the buildings of Long Lake Town were even more so.

The sturdiness of wooden houses could not compare to trees.

Smaug barely sped up, yet the storm it whipped straightly shattered a swath of houses into scattered wooden planks.

The dragon flames it had just spewed out suddenly spread widely in the rapidly flowing air.

”Who are you? How dare you oppose me, the great Smaug!”

The dragon’s figure circled in the sky, amidst the intertwining cold fog over the lake, the burning black smoke from the buildings, and the dark clouds, looming and flickering.

Its strong chest resonated with its voice; the wicked deep words made everyone in Long Lake Town frown in discomfort.

No one responded; they just coldly watched, gripping their weapons tightly.

Yet in the cloudy sky, the dragon’s dim yellow glowing eyes flickered faintly.

”Oh! Elves! And humans! I can smell you! I won’t be mistaken!”

The dragon in the sky darted out of one mist and glided into another.

It circled the relatively small Long Lake Town, yet everyone in the town grew unconsciously tense, looking around, staying vigilant.

Smaug dominated the sky with high mobility, maintaining control over the battlefield situation, able to attack from whichever direction it wished.

Under its circling flight, the whole Long Lake Town seemed like a platter of small white mice laid out before a cold viper.

But the dragon’s coldness and malice did not end there.

They were created to execute Morgoth’s malice, to disrupt the harmonious ’great symphony’ of world creation with Morgoth’s chaotic ’notes’.

Thus...

”Hm hm... hm hm hm!”

A low and sinister laughter, filled with malice, echoed from the sky amidst the fiery mist, intermittent and penetrating the hearts of the people.

”Ah! I understand now!”

The dragon’s voice accompanied by the howling sound of wide wings sweeping the air.

”You’ve made arrangements with the dwarves, haven’t you?”

”You want my throne, want my treasure!”

The dragon’s voice began with furious intensity but quickly dropped to a lower tone.

”Hmm hmm, this broken town is empty. Under my flames, there’s no melodious screams, no heart-piercing cries. Let me think, let me think... Ah!”

Smaug emitted a deliberate sound of sudden realization.

”You’ve sent those smelly fishermen to the Woodland Kingdom or Old River Valley City, haven’t you?”

”Don’t worry, don’t worry... they’ve hidden well!”

”I’ll go burn them first, so you won’t have to worry anymore! Get ready to enjoy the fireworks blooming from the earth, humans and elves! Perhaps it will be mixed with the melodious screams of your loved ones?”

”They will be right before your eyes! Burned alive by me!”

In the low voice descending from the sky, most of the people hiding in the town showed expressions of doubt and fear.

For those daring enough to stay in Long Lake Town and prepared to kill the dragon, they clearly were unafraid of death.

However, they hadn’t expected that the dragon would decide so quickly to vent its anger on others first.

Bard, as a human, although a descendant of Jirian from River Valley City, had never seen the dragon firsthand, nor faced it. He wasn’t aware that Smaug possessed such agile thoughts and such venomous nature.

Thranduil and the elves, on the other hand, had seen the dragon and had even witnessed Smaug’s raid on the Lonely Mountain Region firsthand.

Nonetheless, precisely because they’d seen how powerful and unmatched the dragon was on that day, they now found it unexpected.

According to the elves’ understanding of Smaug, why would it spare those in Long Lake Town who were attempting to attack it?

Whether for revenge or cruelty, it had always preferred to do it as swiftly and mercilessly as possible.

Now, with the enemy right under its nose, would Smaug really fly out to seek those far away and helpless?

But regardless, this dragon, which had slumbered for over sixty years, rushed out from Lonely Mountain, reappearing in the world once more.

Its cruelty and malice once again filled people with an unsettling sense of panic.

Cruelty and malice aren’t terrifying, but when they appear in a mighty dragon, it becomes truly fearsome!

In the mist outlined by firelight, the dragon’s sinuous and grotesque silhouette moved through the air.

Accompanied by its low menacing laughter.

But then suddenly...

”Bang bang bang!”

Sounds distinct from the sharp whistling of bow and arrow came from Long Lake Town!

The gunpowder grass from the New Continent provided explosive power, confined within tubes crafted by skilled artisans and made from robust materials of Roaring Dragons.

Three consecutive shots!

With precise aim, they exploded directly on Smaug’s dragon scales!

The blast wave even dispersed the mist partially that covered the dragon’s form!

In terms of force, the arrow Thranduil had just shot among the Elf Archers was definitely stronger than the standard round from Lann’s [Roar of the Roaring Dragon].

If Elf Archers could easily pierce rock with their arrows, then Thranduil’s arrows targeted penetrating through the rock wall level.

However, the design of arrows means that although their penetration is strong, their damage area and impact force are limited.

The sharp force on the dragon scales feels like a needle prick.

Smaug would definitely feel pain, but to its enormous size, it’s not really injurious.

However, the heavy crossbow cannons [Roar of the Roaring Dragon] from the New Continent Expedition Team are different.

The huge projectile and massive impact force are just enormous kinetic energy. Even if the projectile can’t penetrate the scales, the impact can forcefully drive through the dragon’s flesh!

At once, the dragon’s typically calm and cold laughter was interrupted by the explosion.

In the midst of flight, it suddenly misjudged, disrupted by the force of the heavy crossbow cannon’s ammunition.

Its wing tilted, though it was not without some turbulence, it smoothly landed on the rock base in the lake where Long Lake Town was established.

At its landing spot, the town’s wooden houses seemed as fragile as straw huts, crumbling with a mere swipe.

The town’s foundation was the same, utterly destroyed by its enormous weight, sharp wings, and hind claws, only stopping on the natural rock.

In the spreading flames, Smaug slowly turned its head, the town beneath it seeming like a miniature model built from blocks due to its size.

Smaug’s sudden forced landing caused the entire rock to quake, but the man standing with the heavy crossbow cannon facing Smaug, alone kept his footing steady.

”Simply put...” Lann moved closer to Smaug, in the reflection of flames and the dragon’s gaze, cocking the heavy crossbow cannon with a ’click’.

”Isn’t it that you’ve been scared out of your wits in Lonely Mountain, you beast?”