As one of the three Unforgivable Curses, Crucio, unlike Avada Kedavra which is used to kill, is essentially the most vicious Dark Arts spell created for the sole purpose of torturing people.
This torture encompasses not only the body but also the soul; even the most resilient wills cannot withstand such pain, and prolonged torment can even lead to mental breakdown, turning people into living dead.
To Luke's surprise, Crucio's power over Smaug the Dragon even surpassed that of Avada Kedavra.
Under the torment of Crucio, Smaug couldn't even muster the strength to fly, only able to writhe and twist in pain on the ground, letting out screams and groans.
"Spare me! Wizard, spare me, I surrender!" Smaug finally couldn't bear it anymore and began to wail for mercy.
Everyone watched in shock as the Dragon begged for mercy before Luke, unable to recover for a long time.
Especially the Dwarves, who were even more astonished and conflicted.
Smaug, the Dragon who had caused the Dwarves heavy losses and forced them into exile, was actually tortured into surrender by Luke?
Luke was not fooled by Smaug's sweet talk; while Crucio could cause the Dragon immense pain, it was not fatal.
Once the spell was stopped, giving him a chance to breathe, he would immediately revive on the spot and become even more difficult to deal with!
So, he concentrated all his malice and increased the output of his magic.
"Crucio!"
"Ah!!!" The Dragon let out an even more agonizing scream, and in its violent thrashing and struggling, the surrounding mountains were continuously destroyed.
Smaug was tormented to the point of wishing for death, but his consciousness was not lost; he gathered his last burst of power and accurately slammed his tail, like a battering ram, into the giant stone pillars that served as support.
The stone pillars instantly cracked and shattered under the heavy blow, and the unsupported main gate of the mountain quickly collapsed, with countless boulders crashing down.
Facing the onslaught of countless boulders, Luke had no choice but to divert his attention to cast a protective charm on himself.
And taking advantage of Luke's distraction, Smaug the Dragon seized the opportunity, quickly spread his wings, and soared into the sky, flying towards the distance.
"I will remember today's humiliation, Wizard! I will have my revenge! I will turn everything you care about into ashes!"
As he left, Smaug the Dragon still uttered threats.
The Dragon's gaze fell on the brightly lit Lake-town in the distance, his eyes filled with malicious intent.
"You will be the first targets of my revenge! You will endure my endless wrath!"
Watching the Dragon fly towards Lake-town, Gandalf's expression was anxious and worried: "Smaug is going to destroy Lake-town, we must stop him!"
"I'll chase him!" Luke grabbed his broomstick, ready to pursue, but was immediately called back by Gandalf: "I'll go with you!"
Time was urgent, Luke and Gandalf had no time to talk to Bilbo and the Dwarves; they immediately mounted their flying broomsticks and chased after the Dragon at top speed.
As for Lonely Mountain, with the Dragon gone, there was no need to worry about their safety.
The Dragon's speed was incredibly fast; by the time Luke and Gandalf caught up, the Dragon was already spewing dragon fire over Lake-town.
Lake-town below had already fallen into chaos and terror.
The Master, with a boatload of gold and jewels, was about to escape, but because he carried too much and it was too heavy, he and the entire boat of treasures were incinerated by the dragon fire.
As a descendant of Girion, Lord of Lake-Town, Bard retrieved his ancestral black arrow and went to the highest tower, aiming at the Dragon high in the sky, trying to find an opportunity to strike the Dragon.
Seeing this, Luke and Gandalf did not hesitate and charged directly towards the Dragon.
"Luke, get me above the Dragon! We must stop Smaug from continuing his rampage!" Gandalf shouted.
Without a word, Luke raised his broomstick high and soared straight up into the sky at a ninety-degree angle.
The broomstick carried the two directly above Smaug's head.
Gandalf didn't wait for Luke to react and immediately jumped off the broomstick, crashing heavily onto Smaug the Dragon's back, raising foe-hammer and forcefully thrusting it into the Dragon's back.
The Dragon's scales were incredibly hard; even foe-hammer only penetrated half an inch before getting stuck.
And for the massive Smaug, this was like a toothpick pricking flesh; painful but not fatal.
Discovering Gandalf on his back, Smaug twisted and turned in the air, trying to shake him off.
But no matter how he shook, Gandalf held tightly to foe-hammer embedded in the Dragon's back, like an unshakeable pest, greatly infuriating Smaug.
He no longer cared about spewing fire down on Lake-town and turned to breathe fire on Gandalf on his back.
"Crucio!" Luke's attack followed closely.
The Dragon's body stiffened, letting out a painful shriek, and his body rapidly plummeted downwards.
Just as he was about to crash into the lake, the Dragon spread his wings again and flew up.
The cunning Dragon used the falling distance to avoid the Crucio attack, not giving Luke another chance to get close.
Seeing the Dragon playing guerrilla warfare with him, Luke noticed Bard on the tower below, aiming his black arrow at the Dragon, and remembered that he probably didn't know the Dragon's weakness yet, so he immediately flew over.
"Bard, there's a missing scale on the Dragon's chest; it was shot off by your ancestor Girion with a black arrow. Try to aim there."
Hearing Luke's words, Bard's eyes lit up, and he immediately searched for the Dragon's weak point on its chest.
Meanwhile, Luke continued to ride his flying broomstick, chasing Smaug, wanting to force him towards Bard, allowing Bard to once again achieve the feat of slaying the Dragon.
The Dragon was really too difficult to deal with; he just wanted to use the inertia of fate to see if he could eliminate Smaug the Dragon.
Smaug the Dragon was already wary of Luke's Crucio and, seeing him approach again, immediately accelerated to open up enough distance.
But Luke wasn't the only one giving him trouble; Gandalf on his back struck his staff forcefully against his back.
The staff delivered a massive impact, instantly making the Dragon feel as if he had been struck by a ten-thousand-ton weight, causing him to plummet in a tumble,
almost crashing heavily into the ground.
Luke also caught up and immediately followed up with a Crucio.
The Dragon instantly felt like dying, fleeing frantically towards Bard's direction, completely oblivious that a black arrow was aimed at him.
"For Lake-town! For Lake-Town!" Bard roared, using all his strength to shoot the black arrow.
The black arrow flew directly towards the missing scale on the Dragon's chest.
Just as everyone thought the black arrow would successfully hit, it was caught by a giant claw.
The Dragon grabbed the incoming black arrow, a look of mockery in his eyes: "Did you think I would fall for the same trick twice?"
With that, he tossed the black arrow high, tilted his head back, and spewed scorching dragon fire, quickly melting it into a puddle of molten lava.
And he directly smeared the molten lava from the black arrow onto the missing scale on his chest, patching up the gap.
This scene greatly disheartened Bard.
And Luke was even more shocked.
He had originally thought Bard would successfully kill the Dragon as in the original course of fate.
But he hadn't expected such a huge change to occur now.
However, upon closer thought, it was understandable.
In the original course of fate, Bard's success in shooting Smaug was also due to various luck and coincidences.
Most importantly, at that time, the Dragon had no opponents whatsoever; even when he left Lonely Mountain, it was only after knowing that Lake-town and the Dwarves were cooperating that he sought revenge on the humans of Lake-town.
So, a large part of the reason Smaug the Dragon died was due to arrogance and carelessness.
But this time was different; Smaug the Dragon was severely wounded by Luke and others, forced to flee Lonely Mountain, and his mindset had changed drastically, becoming very cautious and careful.
Naturally, the success rate of killing him with the black arrow was much lower.