"Smaug, take us down!" Luke and Gandalf quickly scrambled onto Smaug's back. The massive dragon plummeted freely into the abyss, carrying the two figures with him.
The abyss beneath Durin's Bridge wasn't a dwarven excavation; it was a naturally formed chasm deep within the mountain. It was utterly bottomless. Even the Dwarves who had once dwelled there didn't know its true depth, and none had ever dared to measure it. Luke and Gandalf, clinging to Smaug's back, fell deeper and deeper into the chasm.
The frigid wind howled around them, stinging their faces. They lost all sense of time; had it been ten minutes, an hour, or a full day? The abyss was utterly pitch black, and they couldn't see their hands in front of their faces. Fortunately, Luke and Gandalf were pressed tightly against the dragon's back, and Smaug shielded them from most of the biting wind, allowing them to keep their eyes open and observe their surroundings.
Just as Luke wondered if they had reached the very depths of the earth, Smaug abruptly spread his wings, dramatically slowing their descent. "Master," he warned, his voice a low rumble, "The Balrog is below, climbing upward!" Luke and Gandalf peered down into the inky blackness, spotting a flicker of fire that grew larger and larger. In the absolute darkness, fire always stood out vividly. Soon, they saw the Balrog waving a whip of fire, rapidly ascending the sheer, smooth stone wall of the abyss.
The previously cold air around them began to grow hot. The Balrog below also noticed Luke and the others above. Seeing its enemies, it was instantly filled with a jealous rage, letting out an ear-splitting roar at them, then surging upward along the steep wall as if it were flat ground. Luke quickly pulled out the last three bottles of fireproof potion, giving one to himself and one to Gandalf, then feeding the final one to Smaug. After drinking the fireproof potion, Smaug felt a sudden chill throughout his body, and the fire in his stomach was instantly extinguished. For a moment, he couldn't even breathe dragon flames.
"Master?" Smaug asked, confused.
"Don't let the Balrog escape!" Luke instructed. "Hold onto it tightly! Once it falls into the water beneath the abyss, its strength will be greatly reduced, and it will no longer pose a threat to us!"
The next moment, the Balrog's flaming whip arrived. The long whip coiled directly around Smaug's feet. Smaug was surprised to find that the Balrog's flames seemed to pose no threat to him. He immediately bit the flaming whip and began pulling upward, along with the Balrog below. Then he gripped the Balrog tightly and continued to plummet downward with it.
The Balrog struggled relentlessly, unleashing terrifying flames that engulfed Smaug and, by extension, Luke and Gandalf on his back. Thanks to the fireproof potion, Luke and Gandalf were spared, but they knew the potion's potency wouldn't last forever. If they couldn't defeat the Balrog before then, they would all be severely burned, perhaps even killed.
As Smaug and the Balrog continued their freefall struggle, Luke and Gandalf also descended. Gandalf's staff had been lost long ago. He clutched his Flaming Sword and Glamdring, his elven sword, in each hand, leaping from Smaug's body and landing on the Balrog's back.
He plunged his Flaming Sword into the Balrog's back, and as they fell, he engaged the demon with Glamdring. Luke could only hear the piercing roar of the wind around him, his eyes nearly blinded. But as he watched Smaug and Gandalf both fighting the Balrog, he gritted his teeth, grasped his staff, and unleashed a spell with all his might.
"Descendo!"
As the spell was cast, all those who were already falling rapidly suddenly felt an immense downward pull, like being dropped by a heavy weight, and their descent accelerated even more. The rapid fall transformed the flames on the Balrog's body into a long, fiery tail. The strong feeling of weightlessness made Luke float upward, and he could only cling tightly to Smaug's dragon tail to avoid being flung away.
Soon, a gust of cold water vapor wafted up to them. "Master, we're almost at the bottom of the abyss!" Smaug's voice echoed in Luke's ears amidst the rushing wind. Perhaps sensing the deep water below, the Balrog struggled frantically, and instantly erupted with terrifying, scorching flames, engulfing Luke, Gandalf, and Smaug in a sea of fire. Even with the protection of the fireproof potion, Luke still felt the searing heat. Fire raged all around him; even the air he breathed was hot flame. His clothes and space bag were incinerated by the flames. With crackling sounds, everything inside the space bag spewed out and flew in all directions.
But Luke no longer cared about these items. He quickly snatched the Divine Spear Aiglos, then leaped towards the Balrog, plunging it directly into one of the Balrog's eyes, unleashing a burst of destructive power. The Divine Spear exploded with such force that it blew off half of the Balrog's head. But the Balrog's body was made of flames, and as long as those flames weren't extinguished, it wouldn't truly die. The half of the Balrog's head that was blown off quickly regrew under the rapid replenishment of its internal flames. However, Luke showed a relieved expression. Because when half of the Balrog's head was blown off, although it didn't die, its thinking was temporarily suspended. The result was that they had reached the bottom of the abyss.
"Arresto Momentum!" Luke's voice rang out. Luke, Gandalf, and Smaug all instantly hovered a few dozen centimeters above the water, avoiding being smashed into pulp. The Balrog, on the other hand, plummeted directly into the deep water without slowing down, creating a massive splash. Simultaneously, there was the incessant crackling sound of water meeting fire. After hovering for almost a second, Luke, Gandalf, and Smaug fell heavily into the water.
Luke instantly felt like he had entered an ice cave. The water around him was so cold that his blood vessels and heart felt as if they were freezing. It was pitch black all around, with no light whatsoever. Luke released a Lumos charm, illuminating the water surface at the bottom of the abyss. Only then did he see Smaug, Gandalf, and the Balrog! Luke quickly climbed onto Smaug's back, thus avoiding the consequences of freezing to death by continuing to soak in the water. But at this time, Gandalf was still fighting with the Balrog.
"Evil spirit, this is the realm of Ulmo! You have no power here!" Gandalf's voice was like thunder, resounding throughout the abyss, and the Flaming Sword in his hand shone with light. As if to confirm Gandalf's words, the Balrog fell into the water, and all the flames on his body were extinguished. It became extremely weak, transforming into a sticky, dark shape. Although it was still powerful, it was much weaker than before, its strength not much different from Gandalf's.
"Master, you come down too!" A hissing voice suddenly sounded from the side. Then the serpent monster Herpo emerged from the water and asked Luke happily with his eyes closed.
"Herpo!" Luke was stunned for a moment, then surprised. When Herpo and the Watcher in the Water were thrown into the abyss by the Balrog, he had been a little worried about Herpo's safety, but he didn't expect that he was perfectly fine. He immediately ordered the Basilisk: "Herpo, go help Gandalf, use your eyes and fangs to fight the Balrog!" Hearing Luke's order, Herpo swam quickly towards the Balrog.
Herpo was a vengeful Basilisk, and he naturally remembered the Balrog throwing him down, so he instinctively wanted to attack the weakened Balrog. He dove into the deep water, swam quickly under the Balrog who was fighting Gandalf, and bit the Balrog's leg directly, then injected it with highly toxic venom. The Balrog felt pain, and although the Basilisk's venom couldn't kill it, it still made it weaker.
Luke was not idle either. He quickly summoned back all the things that fell after the space bag was burned using the Accio Charm. "Gandalf, catch your staff!" Luke shouted to Gandalf and threw the staff over. Gandalf was delighted when he saw his lost staff. Facing a powerful enemy like the Balrog, the sword was not as useful as the staff. He caught the staff successfully and instantly released a powerful spell, knocking the Balrog away.
"Avada Kedavra!" Luke's Killing Curse followed closely and instantly hit the sticky-shaped Balrog. The Balrog roared in pain and became weaker in an instant.
Faced with the combined assault of Gandalf, Luke, Smaug, and the Basilisk, the Balrog finally gave up the fight and fled into a dark tunnel. "Chase him! We can't give him time to recover!" Gandalf took the lead and chased after him. Luke saw that the tunnel was too narrow to allow Smaug to pass through, so he could only tell Smaug to return with the petrified Watcher in the Water. He mounted Herpo, caught up with Gandalf, and made him ride as well. Herpo had a keen sense of smell and could track the scent of the Balrog without the guidance of Luke and Gandalf.
The dark tunnels at the bottom of the abyss were dug by someone unknown. They stretched in all directions and were so densely packed that it seemed as if they had dug through the entire underground. Luke noticed that Gandalf was looking at these dark tunnels with an expression that he had never been more nervous about.
"What's wrong with you, Gandalf? Is there something wrong with these tunnels?"
Gandalf's voice was weak, as if he was afraid of disturbing some being in the darkness. "May the Valar bless us! We won't encounter the creatures that live here! Otherwise, we will face a creature far more dangerous and terrifying than the Balrog!"
When Luke heard Gandalf's words, his heart tightened. "What kind of creature is that? It can make you so nervous?"
Gandalf shook his head. "I don't know what they are either. I only know that they are a very mysterious and ancient nameless creature. Not even Sauron knows what they are!" He paused, his voice barely a whisper. "But I don't think we'll encounter them. The Balrog seems to know this place very well. If it's not confused, it won't take the initiative to face the nameless creatures underground."
But it was unclear whether this was Gandalf's crow's mouth, or if he truly possessed the gift of prophecy. Just as they caught up with the Balrog, it seemed as if it encountered something that frightened it. For the first time, a sound emanated from its inhuman, sulfur-smelling throat—not an angry roar, not a painful wail, but... a short, sharp, almost whimpering whine, filled with the most primitive panic.
The Balrog didn't bother to attack them, not even looking at them. It moved hastily and terrified, desperately running towards the tunnel leading to the surface. Gandalf seemed to sense something and immediately became nervous. "Hurry! Follow the Balrog and don't look back!"
The Basilisk Herpo seemed to have sensed something as well, and with all his might, he carried Luke and Gandalf on his back and swam quickly in the direction where the Balrog was fleeing, as if there was some terrifying monster behind them. Luke almost fell off the Basilisk. He quickly grabbed the red feathers on its head to avoid being thrown off. At the same time, the ground was shaking as if an earthquake had occurred, and countless broken lime chips fell from the top of the tunnel.
A strange "silence" suddenly descended—not silence, but all sounds, including the sounds of rapid movement and breathing, seemed to be absorbed and swallowed by a thick, invisible curtain. Then, a deeper darkness spread in the deepest part of the tunnel. It wasn't merely the absence of light, but a sense of nothingness brought on by existence itself, a pure darkness that obliterated all color and form.
An indescribable ancient whisper, not through his eardrums, but vibrating directly into Luke's soul. It was a chaotic mess, filled with incomprehensible malice and pure, cold hunger. An indescribable fear that came from the instinct of life gripped Luke tightly, like an icy snake coiling around his heart.