The Troll named William only had time to cry out, clutching his face, before the sword light flashed like lightning.
Accompanied by a silvery glow, Millison appeared silently behind William like a ghost.
William's scream ceased abruptly, his large bald head separated from his huge, bulky body, smoothly falling to the ground.
At the same time, another Troll, Tom, seemed not to have realized his companion had been brutally killed; he even foolishly pointed at Millison and said, "Hey, William, this human female tiny thing actually chopped off your head, that's hilarious."
"Oh oh oh oh!!!"
Fili and Kili let out a battle cry, and Beast Prayers [Beast Stone] was cast, with several sharp broken stones hitting Tom's eyes, causing him to clutch his eyes and cry out in pain.
"You little Dwarves have angered me!" Tom clutched his eyes while fumbling for the saber at his waist, swinging it wildly.
Bilbo, holding a small stone he picked up from the ground, threw it, shouting loudly, "Hey, I'm over here!"
The small stone accurately hit Tom's hairless bald head. He clutched his eyes and swung the saber, longer than a dwarf, in the direction of Bilbo's voice.
But Tom didn't know that Bilbo had already scurried away on his furry big feet, leaving the clumsy Troll's back exposed to Fili and Kili.
"Hah!"
Fili quickly ran beneath Tom, and Beast Prayers [Beast Claw] appeared. Sharp claw strikes severed the Troll's two lower legs.
Tom's body, like a puppet whose support had been pulled away, tilted precariously backward. Sand and dirt on the ground scattered as he fell.
The Troll's remaining bright eye blinked rapidly a few times. Through his blurry vision, he saw Fili deftly flash to the side, avoiding being crushed beneath him.
After falling to the ground, Tom again managed to open his one unblinded eye, only to see another dwarf.
Kili's lips curved into a challenging smile, his bow already drawn taut, an arrow shimmering with a moon-like cold glow, ready to be released.
Time seemed to freeze, all movements coalescing into still frames, until Kili released his fingers. The arrow, like an arrow released from a string, sliced through the air, accurately piercing Tom's skull, and taking the Troll's life.
"Yay!!"
Fili saw his younger brother complete the kill, did a carp roll to stand up, pumped his fist, and let out an excited cheer.
Kili did the same, running to his older brother's side and bumping fists with him.
Arthur emerged from the surrounding woods at this moment, his staff tucked into his waist, clearly indicating that the fireball was his masterpiece.
He smiled and clapped his hands, "Excellent teamwork, Fili, Kili, your application of Beast Prayers in actual combat is already quite good."
Fili and Kili simultaneously beamed and bowed deeply to Arthur, "This is all thanks to your and Bernal's teachings!"
Arthur nodded, then looked at Bilbo, who was peeking over, and smiled, saying, "Of course, you two shouldn't forget Bilbo's cooperation. It was he who attracted the Troll's attention, allowing your surprise attack plan to succeed."
Fili said, "Of course, we won't forget!"
Then the two Dwarves rushed to Bilbo's side, cheering excitedly, making the hobbit a little embarrassed.
Arthur chuckled as he asked Bilbo, who was being pulled along by Fili and Kili in celebration, "How do you feel, Bilbo?"
Bilbo's face, which had been grinning foolishly with the dwarf brothers, froze. He hesitantly said, "What... feeling?"
Arthur shrugged and chuckled, "Of course, it's the feeling of adventure after defeating a seemingly invincible enemy. How about it, do you feel your heart pounding intensely?"
Bilbo touched his chest. Only then did he realize that even through his thick clothes, his heart was pounding "thump, thump."
He had been terribly nervous when he was attracting the Troll's attention just now.
But now, for some reason, Bilbo felt quite excited, and grinning foolishly with Fili and Kili was also due to this excitement.
Arthur touched the corner of his mouth and finally said, "Your smile can't be hidden, Bilbo. Remember this feeling, and I hope you come to love adventure."
Bilbo nodded a little confusedly. Although he didn't understand what Arthur meant by that, it didn't stop him from enjoying his current joyful and excited mood.
However, he still felt a bit unreal, saying unconfidently, "But I only threw a few stones at the Troll; Fili and Kili were the ones who actually killed it. Does that count as me helping?"
Arthur said, "You'll have to ask Fili and Kili what they think."
Kili immediately said, "Of course it counts as your contribution, Master Burglar! Those stones you threw were incredibly accurate, even more accurate than Fili's throwing knives!"
Fili immediately gave a heavy cough and said with a smile, "Uh, actually, they were just as accurate as my throwing knives. I saw with my own eyes one stone hit the Troll's nostril."
Kili paid no attention to Fili's explanation, but nodded, "Yes, when we get back, I will explain in detail to Thorin that hiring Bilbo Baggins as the Burglar for the Lonely Mountain Expedition is absolutely worth it!"
Arthur smiled, watching Bilbo's flattered expression, and then realized someone seemed to be missing.
He looked at Millison, who was currently untying the ropes binding the horses to tree trunks, gently comforting the startled creatures.
"Millison, have you seen Gandalf?" Arthur asked.
Millison looked up and replied gently, "After the battle ended, he went deeper into the woods. I don't know where he is now. But we shouldn't worry about him; from the environment around here, there should only be these three Trolls."
The grass behind Bilbo, Fili, and Kili rustled, and Gandalf's wizard's pointed hat emerged from it, revealing his aged and wise countenance.
His voice sounded just then, chuckling, "Of course you don't need to worry about me, Lady Millison. And I think you should come with me to see; Trolls are afraid of sunlight, so there must be a cave nearby where they hide from the sun. I just found these Trolls' cave, and there are quite a few good things inside."
Arthur's eyes lit up; he loved this part of collecting spoils of war the most.
So he hurried over, and as he passed Bilbo, he happily clapped him on the shoulder, "Come on, Bilbo, come and enjoy the joy of gaining spoils after a victory in battle."
The Troll's cave was not far from there; they reached it in just a few minutes.
The cave was hidden deep within a winding hillside, tightly encircled by wild grass.
Near the entrance, a piece of cloth reeking of putrid flesh lay carelessly discarded, stained with dried brown spots—evidently what the Trolls used to block the entrance from the sunlight.
Gandalf reached out and touched his staff, making the light at its tip glow brighter.
"This is it," he said, and Arthur and the others all walked inside.
The interior of the cave was dim and damp, with human and animal bones scattered across the ground, and a nauseating stench of decay permeated the air.
However, to Arthur' surprise, the Trolls' cave even had shelves.
His gaze fell upon the crude shelves deep within the cave, piled high with various foods: shriveled fruits, dried meat strips, moldy bread, and broken cans, likely plundered from unfortunate victims.
Besides that, there was a chaotic heap of stolen goods, from brass buttons to full jars of gold coins sitting in the corner—everything imaginable.
There were also many clothes, casually hung on the walls, but they were clearly too small for the Trolls, probably belonging to their victims.
Gandalf and Bilbo aimlessly rummaged through the shelves, occasionally stepping carefully over human skulls on the ground.
As for Millison, she hadn't come in, as someone needed to watch over the horses they had just managed to rescue.
Upon discovering the jars of gold coins, Fili and Kili perked up, no longer finding the Troll's cave smelly, and with grins, began to move the jars out of the corner.
Meanwhile, Arthur, with sharp eyes, went directly deeper into the Troll's lair, his keen sight having noticed something reflecting light there.
His treasure-hunting intuition had never lied to him; it had to be something good, not some strange mushroom or forging stone!
Bilbo felt a bit bored; although Fili and Kili were excitedly counting the gold coins, he had no interest in gold.
Thus, Arthur' actions directly caught Bilbo's attention, prompting him to ask, "Arthur, did you find anything?"
They heard the clear clinking sound of metal from Arthur' side, followed by Arthur' excited voice: "I really found something good! Look, these swords!"
He quickly emerged from the shadowy corner, holding several well-crafted swords of various shapes and sizes in his arms.
Under the light of Gandalf's staff, two swords were particularly striking—they were adorned with magnificent scabbards, and the gems inlaid in their hilts still sparkled brilliantly even when covered in dust.
Bilbo's eyes widened: "Oh, these swords don't look like they belong to Trolls."
Gandalf, with a surprised look, also walked over at this moment, and with a gentle wave of his staff, the dust on the swords vanished.
He looked at the swords in Arthur' arms with a nostalgic gaze, drew one of the two special swords from among them, and said, "And they are certainly not human craftsmanship; these swords come from Gondolin, forged by the High Elves of the First Age."
Arthur put down the other swords and picked up the remaining special sword: "High Elves? The sharpness of this sword is no less than some legendary weapons from my homeland."
Gandalf smiled and shook his head: "Of course not, Lord Elrond was born in the Second Age."
He said, returning the sword to Arthur.
Arthur curiously said, "I thought you would be interested in this sword."
Gandalf smiled, patting the ceremonial straight sword hanging at his waist: "Oh, if it weren't for this pair of straight swords you gave me, I would certainly ask you for one as a weapon for self-defense. But now, another sword is too much for me."
Arthur shrugged, keeping one of them aside, intending to give it to Millison outside.
Then he asked Bilbo, Fili, and Kili: "Do you want to divide these among yourselves?"
Fili and Kili both shook their heads, and Fili said, "Teacher Bernal has already given us a good longsword."
Then he rolled his eyes, lightly nudged Bilbo, pushing him in front of the swords, and said, "Let Bilbo choose; his first spoils of war should give him priority."
Bilbo hadn't expected this, pointing to himself: "Me?"
Arthur nodded: "Yes, you deserve this, Bilbo."
Bilbo then squeezed his hands and said, "Alright, in that case, I'll choose this sword."
He did not choose the remaining gem-encrusted sharp sword but instead selected a small knife in a leather sheath, which was just right for a hobbit.
Bilbo placed this small knife and the brass dagger Arthur had given him together, patting them with satisfaction.
Gandalf added: "Swords forged by Elves will glow blue when they encounter orcs or Goblins; at that time, you must be careful, my good hobbit."
Bilbo blinked, indicating he understood.
Arthur put the remaining swords back into his spatial backpack, took the sword he had chosen for Millison in his hand, and walked out of the Troll's cave.
"Millison, this sword is good, want to try it?" Arthur said after he went out and saw Millison, tossing the sheathed sword to her.
Millison raised her prosthetic hand to catch it, showing a slightly surprised expression: "So light."
Then she gripped the hilt with her other hand and drew it out, revealing the silver blade and the runic inscriptions on it.
She swung it a few times, then satisfactorily returned the sword to its sheath: "Thanks, Arthur, this sword is really good; I wish I knew its name."
Gandalf said, "There are runes on the blade; perhaps when we reach Rivendell, Lord Elrond will personally explain its extraordinary origin to you."
Millison nodded.
At this moment, the sky was just showing a hint of dawn, and the faint light of dawn spread like fine threads across the east.
"Let's go back; it's getting late, Thorin and the others should be getting ready to wake up," Gandalf said, looking up at the faintly lit sky.
After Arthur and the others left, the Troll's bodies, exposed to the sunlight, began to emit white smoke and a sizzling sound.
Their bodies transformed back into the material that had created them, turning into a harmless pile of rocks.
These Troll-like stones lay isolated on the ground, with only birds perching on them.
The sun continued to climb, light and shadow danced on the sharp edges of the stones, casting mottled shadows; perhaps only occasional passersby would be surprised by these strangely shaped rocks.