"Look! The bridge!" Balin excitedly pointed to the right.
Roland looked closely and saw a lonely stone bridge spanning the Moria Abyss, connecting the two. Although it was not very clear, Roland could clearly sense that the thing was probably not close to him.
"We have to occupy Hall No. 4 before we can defend the bridge... There's no mining cable car now, this is our only way out!" Balin seemed to see Roland's surprise and explained to him.
"Don't you have any other way?" Roland was a little nervous. God had no idea whether that thing was reliable or not. Anyway, Roland only knew that 60 years later, a poor wizard named "Gan Doufu" became a lost old man...
"We're all heavily armored! I don't want to die by slipping instead of being killed by an orc's sword!" Roland said, shaking Balin's shoulder. Whether sold by pound or by weight, this group of men was definitely heavier than the Balrog. He doubted it could handle such a heavy load.
"Oh no! Your Highness Roland! You need to trust our dwarf-made products! Our craftsmanship and quality are absolutely top-notch!" Balin assured, patting his chest.
"No matter how good the craftsmanship and quality are, it can't be smoothed out after a thousand years of no maintenance..." Roland's face darkened. If he hadn't known that this thing would eventually collapse, he would have almost believed it.
"We can temporarily reinforce it..." Balin shrugged nonchalantly, looking like he'd inherited the true essence of Russian aviation! If the Middle-earth dwarves hadn't lacked aircraft technology, Roland had no doubt that the engine would still fly even if a dwarf fell off.
"..." Roland shuddered and said nothing.
…
"This road doesn't look far! Why did it take so long?" Roland watched the coalition forces moving like ants on the winding stone steps. He stood on a platform and looked at Balin helplessly with his hands folded.
"Hahaha, this is the capital of the dwarves! We have built it for countless years... The ten main halls are connected to countless buildings. The dwarves once lived and worked here. We gathered here! Mined here! Smelted here! Until later... the demons underground were awakened, and we were unable to defeat them. The dwarves finally withdrew from this place... During the Battle of Azanulbizar, I witnessed the fall of the king and the decline of the tribe... We didn't even enter the gate of Moria!" Balin sighed, tears welling up in his eyes.
"That's great! You've successfully returned home... If we really can't defeat them, we can destroy the passage here! Separate half of Moria!" Roland said.
"This is the worst-case scenario..." Balin sighed.
"We'll take care of that Balrog! No! It should be the Dragon Clan! You'll have to slowly clean up the rest!" Roland nodded and said to Balin. He still needed to lead the troops back to help with the autumn harvest! Having suffered from famine before, Roland ordered the people to vigorously reclaim wasteland and even implemented a system of military settlements. It was obvious that River Rapids City was short of manpower to manage the crops.
"No problem, leave those small fry to us!" Balin nodded gratefully. The orcs and goblin dwarves here could be dealt with if they fought to the death, but that Balrog was not something the dwarves could deal with at the moment. The dwarves had already lost the protection of the sixth level, and ordinary sixth level couldn't do anything to an adult Balrog.
"I don't know what the current situation is like in Jiliu City. Have they encountered any difficulties? How is the land reclamation going? How is the house repair going..." Roland, who was tired from walking, found a platform to rest and sat down cross-legged.
"Don't worry, Your Highness. His Highness the Grand Duke and Lord Yun Feng will take good care of the kingdom. And with Renault in command of the Lulong Fortress, there won't be any major problems!" Caslo comforted.
"I hope so... Balin, have you always walked like this before? It will take forever." Roland sighed and held his forehead as he looked at the team that still looked like a long dragon.
"There used to be a wooden bridge connecting them... here! Here and here!" Balin glanced at Roland and pointed at several places.
"Uh..." Roland fell silent. It turned out that it wasn't that there were no other ways, but that they had disappeared because of too much time... Roland looked up at the giant stone steps with a drop of at least a hundred meters and took a breath. It was really hard to imagine how the dwarves had dug these things out with pickaxes and hoes. The time it took was definitely not something that could be stopped by one generation.
"Let's go, King Roland, don't stay here and be a target! The view is too wide! This city is not safe yet, and I cannot take you to appreciate its most magnificent glory at the moment!" Balin shook his head and tightened the leather strap of his helmet.
"Yeah!" Roland nodded. This wasn't the first time he'd been attacked by a hidden arrow. There were always people trying to harm him! This made Roland miserable.
As for why it was so quiet at the moment, it was entirely thanks to the Lordaeron rangers who were leading the way. They had already identified dozens of hidden danger spots, and no matter whether they were hiding orcs or secretly shooting goblins, they were all thrown off the cliff by them.
"Pass it on! We're almost there, everyone gather at that square first, and don't alarm those bastards in the fourth hall!" Balin pointed to a very obvious large square in the distance and whispered to the messenger.
"clear!"
"What? Is that the fourth hall?" Roland asked curiously.
"No, no, no! Of course not! That's the square of the fourth hall!" Balin looked at Roland deeply and said meaningfully.
"..." Roland looked at the vast square and suddenly understood Balin's description of the fourth hall as being so big. It was more than just big!
"Are we lost?" Roland suddenly shuddered. "Oh my god!" With such a large area, it was doubtful if the thousand-strong coalition army could even make a splash.
"Wait! Your Highness, I feel something is wrong! Have you noticed? The temperature seems to have risen a lot!" There was already a layer of fine sweat beads on Caslo's face.
"Hahaha! There is magma in some places underground, so it's normal that it's hot!" Balin smiled and was used to it.
"I'm afraid it's not the magma..." Omsk frowned, not knowing what he was thinking.
"I smell the sour stench of sulfur... I don't like the feeling here!" The Smurf said unhappily as he climbed onto Roland's shoulder.
"Maybe... we are close to the habitat of the fire demon!" Kaslo's eyes were full of solemnity.
"Your Highness, please don't go over there yet! I'll go and take a look! If anything happens, destroy the passage immediately! Don't worry about me!" Omsk leaped away dozens of meters. The sixth-level hero could already fly in the air for a while with the help of fighting spirit. Even if the stone steps were cut off, Omsk could still come back.
"Be careful! Stop advancing!" Balin and Roland ordered all the soldiers to stop advancing. Everyone involved in the fire demon also became cautious. What if the coalition forces were to suffer a severe blow? A few lords and generals might be fine, but ordinary soldiers would definitely suffer heavy casualties.
Looking into the distance, Kaslo clenched the dragon flute, while the Smurf bared his teeth, and the dragon power surging in his dragon eyes flashed in them.