Identity Exposed! Future Human Emperor Aragorn Officially Steps Forward

Crack...

After a deafening blast, the dwarf Gimli was sent sprawling onto his back before the stone platform, looking utterly disheveled. The great axe in his hand had been twisted into an abstract work of art, while its broad, heavy, hardened blade had shattered into fragments of every size. Even the impossibly hard stone platform bore several deep, radiating cracks. Yet the golden ring at its center remained utterly unscathed—not even the faintest mark appeared on it. It was still as pristine as new, lying there in perfect silence.

Faced with this outcome, which had exceeded most people's expectations, both Gondor's great knight Boromir and the elven prince Legolas were momentarily speechless. If they had not known who had struck the blow, they might have assumed that the wielder was simply too weak, or that the axe was of poor quality.

But the two of them knew that although Gimli was not among the very strongest, he came from the Durin dwarves of the Lonely Mountain. There might have been flaws in other areas, but his strength was beyond question. Especially the great axe in his hand—though it looked ordinary, its materials and craftsmanship were exceptional. What left the two of them most speechless was the material itself: in Boromir and Legolas's eyes, the precious materials used for this single axe would have been enough to forge three axes of the same size! But then again, the dwarves excelled most at extracting underground mineral deposits. No race in Middle-earth could compete with them in mining. Accordingly, their forging techniques were second only to those of the elves, with almost no other race able to compare.

Such an outrageously well-equipped dwarf, wielding such an outrageously well-equipped dwarven axe, had produced this result. Even Legolas, the elven prince who knew full well