The Watcher in the Water possessed the ability to regenerate, which caught Sylas off guard. He remembered that during the Fellowship of the Ring's journey, the creature had never displayed such an ability. However, this was understandable, after all, their encounter had been brief. When the Watcher extended its tentacles to attack, the Fellowship had immediately retreated behind Durin's Gate. From beginning to end, no one had truly seen its full form or capabilities.

Now, Sylas watched as the Watcher swiftly regrew its tentacles and continued to attack. Yet he felt no panic. So what if it had strong self-healing abilities? He had recently learned a dark spell designed to counter regeneration, it was the perfect time to test it.

Raising his wand, he unleashed an invisible curse.

Unlike most magic, this spell produced no flashes or sound. In the next instant, one of the Watcher's tentacles was sliced clean in two as though by an unseen blade. This time, the wound did not heal. The magic left a lingering force at the cut, preventing regeneration and causing blue-black blood to pour out.

Encouraged, Sylas cast the spell again and again, severing over a dozen thick tentacles. The blood that gushed forth dyed the surface of the lake a foul blue-black and filled the air with a strong, fishy stench.

"Well done, Sylas!" Gandalf called, slicing through a tentacle himself and smiling at the sight of Sylas's success. The dwarves cheered and waved their weapons in support.

Above, the great dragon Smaug swooped down, breathing searing flames into the lake.

The Watcher recoiled in pain, its eyes flashing with fear as its tentacles were hacked away and its healing rendered useless. Seeing the dragon's fire, it quickly retracted all its limbs, sinking into the depths and vanishing from sight.

Everyone stared in surprise. Had the Watcher retreated?

After a long wait with no movement from the lake, Balin peered forward cautiously. "Is it frightened? It won't come back to attack us, will it?"

Gandalf shook his head, his gaze fixed on the water. "The Watcher in the Water is older and more anciently evil than the Orcs. Even I know little of it, but I doubt it will give up so easily."

"What do we do now?" Balin asked. The presence of a hidden monster capable of striking at any moment made approaching Durin's Gate dangerous. But diving into the lake to fight it was impossible.

Gandalf's brow furrowed.

Just then, Sylas's expression hardened. He stared at the shoreline and said in a low voice, "Gandalf, have you noticed the water level is rising?"

Gandalf followed his gaze and saw that the lake was silently and rapidly spreading. His face changed. Spinning around, he shouted, "Run! The flood is coming!"

Gandalf ran towards the nearest big tree. His body was so agile and flexible that he didn't look like an old man, and he quickly climbed up the trunk.

"Hurry up and climb the tree! Hold on tight!"

After hearing this, the dwarves scrambled up the surrounding trees without hesitation. Sylas immediately took the broom from his space bag, mounted it, and rose into the air.

The next second, the water level in the huge lake surged upward, then, like a giant basin overturned, it poured out in massive waves that rushed toward the highlands on the lakeshore. The flood came like a tidal wave, sweeping away some dwarves who climbed too slowly or had been in low positions. Some trees couldn't withstand the force of the waves and toppled, taking the dwarves clinging to them down into the water.

From above, Sylas frowned as he watched the chaos. He shouted into the sky, "Smaug, Thorondor, come down and help!"

At his call, Thorondor swooped down, snatching two struggling dwarves from the water with his talons and setting them onto a sturdy tree that had not fallen. Smaug followed closely, his huge claws easily hooking up several more dwarves.

Sylas also descended to assist, using Levitation Charms to lift dwarves from the flood and place them onto the nearest safe branches. Gandalf, perched atop a tree, used his staff to pull back two dwarves who were about to be swept away. Then, realizing he still had his own broom, he quickly took it out from his space bag and joined the rescue.

But the underwater watcher that caused the flood had no intention of letting them escape so easily. It hid beneath the surface, its thick, powerful tentacles tearing down trees and sending the dwarves tumbling into the water. Knowing Sylas, Smaug, and the others were formidable opponents, the cunning creature used the churning water as cover, attacking the dwarves from below.

"Sylas, the watcher can control the current. We need to force it out of the water, or we'll never be able to stop it," Gandalf said helplessly.

Sylas thought for a moment and then pulled out the suitcase containing the basilisk. "The basilisk, Herpo, can move in water. Let's see if we can use it to threaten the watcher." He patted the case. "It's your turn!"

He tossed the suitcase into the lake. Immediately, a tentacle emerged, trying to drag it under, but the next moment, a massive snake head burst out of the case, sank its fangs into the tentacle, and injected venom.

The watcher recoiled instantly, releasing the suitcase. Sylas's eyes lit up, basilisk venom was lethal, with no cure except phoenix tears. But the watcher was cunning; it severed its own tentacle before the venom could spread. A broken length, over ten meters long, floated to the surface.

"Herpo, kill that thing!" Sylas hissed in Parseltongue to the basilisk now emerging from the case.

The basilisk closed its eyes and nodded, then immediately dived into the water.

Soon, the surface began to churn violently, as if a fierce battle were unfolding beneath. The once blue-black water, stained by the watcher's blood, suddenly turned pitch black, like ink had been poured into it, obscuring all visibility.

Sylas felt something was wrong. The basilisk's most powerful weapon was its deadly gaze, but underwater that ability was already diminished. Now, with the lake shrouded in darkness, could those eyes be of any use at all to threaten the watcher?

Sure enough, Herpo surfaced moments later.

"Herpo, what's the situation?" Sylas asked urgently.

The basilisk shook his head.

"That creature was highly perceptive. It sensed danger before even seeing my eyes and immediately sprayed ink at me. The ink blinded me, and I couldn't land a killing blow. It tried to coil around me and tear me apart, but I bit its tentacles and injected venom. In response, it controlled the water currents to keep me from getting close." (Snake language)

It was clear: the watcher feared Herpo's eyes and venom, while Herpo could not approach because the creature could manipulate the water to keep its distance. Both sides were locked in a stalemate.

Sylas frowned at the report. The creature was formidable in its aquatic domain, and forcing it out of the water would be no easy task. Cunning and cautious, it had retreated into the lake to wage a hit-and-run guerrilla fight.

Then Sylas's eyes lit up as he looked downstream. Once, there had been no lake before the gate of Dulin, only the Sirannon, the Gate-stream, flowing past. Over time, however, the downstream channel had been blocked, and water had pooled into the present landslide lake, submerging the entire western gate area.

If the lake could be drained, the watcher would lose its habitat entirely and be left vulnerable.

Sylas immediately shared the idea with Gandalf.

"But we can't simply destroy the dam. This water has been collecting for thousands of years. If we broke it outright, it would unleash a flood that could devastate the settlements downstream."

Sylas nodded solemnly. "Then we'll make a small channel to release the water slowly and avoid a flood."

Herpo was tasked with continuing to harass the watcher and keep it distracted. Meanwhile, Sylas flew to the landslide dam, a massive wall of stone, deadwood, and earth binding the valley's hills. The structure bore obvious signs of artificial construction, likely created by the watcher itself to enlarge its living space.

To avoid catastrophic flooding, Sylas instructed Smaug to carve a canal along the mountain's side with his tail. Water surged through the new channel, swelling the creek downstream but not to flood levels.

Gradually, the lake's water level began to drop. Alarmed, the watcher tried to sabotage the canal, but Smaug's flames drove it back. With the basilisk still attacking in the lake, the watcher could not focus on stopping the water's escape.

As the level fell further, Sylas finally unleashed a thunderous explosion spell, blasting apart what remained of the dam. The last of the water poured away, and at last the full form of the underwater watcher stood revealed.

...

STONES PLZZZZ

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