Durlin was looking down on all of them, snarling as smoke shot out of his nostrils.
"Intruders, come to steal my gold, no doubt," he snarled angrily.
"We didn't come here to steal any gold," said Hiccup. "All that we want is that thing on your claw."
Durlin looked even more infuriated. "My ring? You come to me and demanded that I hand over my ring?"
"We needed in order to close the Gates of Helheim, the undead are already running rampant across Midgard, and we suspect they'll attack the Academy there," said Hiccup. "If that happens, it is one step closer to Ragnarok. If Ragnarok were to happen, then all your precious gold would be gone."
Durlin looked at him curiously. "So you are a demigod, and by the way to speak, your no doubt a son of Frigg."
"I am, and everything I've been saying is true."
"Or perhaps at the clever deception from the give up my ring," Durlin snarled.
Snotlout then stepped forward. "We're giving you a chance to live, old man."
Upon seeing Snotlout, Durlin became more furious. "You! You dare show yourself after you betrayed me!"
"I betrayed no one!" Snotlout snarled. "You're the one who betrayed our family for a cursed ring!"
"This ring is the best thing that ever happened to me. It has at all given me all this precious gold all to myself and given me the power to protect it."
"In exchange for the suffering of your own people!" Snotlout roared. "Everyone is starving because you're holding all this gold for yourself! And we see the bodies of all those who remained in the cattle to serve you!"
"They were going to betray me; they use the same excuse you claim that our people are starving, but in the end, all they wanted was my gold."
"What good is all this gold if you keep it to yourself?" Astrid yelled furiously. "The idea of money is so that you can use it to buy things or sell things, but you're just keeping it all for yourself."
"I will not be lectured by a bunch of thieves who just came here to die!" Durlin snarled.
"So you would kill your own grandson?" Fishlegs yelled, looking appalled.
"His mother was trying to take the throne from under my feet, claimed that I had lost perspective. I need to do what needs to be done to keep the preservation of my kingdom."
"Preservation? It's deteriorating!" Hiccup yelled.
"So claims the outsider who knows nothing of our ways, but perhaps you are right. The situation outside is getting out of hand. My people may very well do something desperate."
"Finally, he sees reason," said Fishlegs looking relieved.
"Wait for it," said Ragnar.
"They might try to storm the Palace and still my gold; I suppose the only way to protect it is by eliminating all of them!"
Fishlegs stared at him. "You would kill your entire kingdom out of fear that they might steal your gold!"
"We won't let that happen," said Hiccup.
"Ah, so now you show your true intentions!" Durlin roared. "I will not have you steal from me! Now die!"
Durlin opened his mouth, and then suddenly, flames shot out; they probably would have been roasted alive if Hiccup had created a protection spell.
"Guess that concludes with negotiations," said Fishlegs.
"Then we know what we have to do," said Astrid.
Jill looked at Snotlout. "Snotlout, is it all right for us to kill your grandfather?"
"Never had much love, my grandfather, and even if I did, that thing is not him anymore," said Snotlout.
"Then we all know the plan," said Astrid.
Everyone nodded.
"Good, because I don't know how long I can keep this spell for much longer," Hiccup warned.
"Brace yourselves!" Astrid yelled and immediately shot lightning from her axe.
The lightning shot through Durlin's flames and struck him. This immediately stopped him from breathing fire at them, as it was clear they had been taken completely by surprise.
"Spread out!" Hiccup yelled.
The twins immediately transformed into crows and took off; Fishlegs and Snotlout dashed to one side while Heather and Jill when the other way. Remaining in the centre were Hiccup, Astrid and Ragnar, as it had been agreed that they were the best to face Durlin head-on.
Astrid's pure strength and lightning give them a massive advantage, Hiccup's foresight would give them warnings and back them up the spells, and Ragnar could heal them quickly. However, even with this setup facing down a crazed dragon was not going to be easy.
Durlin glared at them. "How dare you!"
He then dived towards them with his mouth wide open, but Hiccup had seen this attack coming.
"Dive forwards!" he yelled at the same time Durlin launched himself at them.
They quickly rolled forwards, and the timing could not have been any more perfect. Durlin had already launched himself the moment they rolled, so they were able to avoid his mouth and within striking distance of his neck.
"Now!" Hiccup yelled.
The three of them swallowed their weapons at his neck and there were able to pierce his dragon scales. However, Hiccup knew they had only inflicted a small scratch, but it was enough to annoy Durlin.
"You dare strike me!" Durlin roared. "I'll burn you to ashes!"
He was about to unleash his fire breath once more, but then the twins flew up towards his eyes and pecked at his eyeballs, causing him to cry out in pain. Fishlegs and the others then emerged and began banging their weapons on golden plates creep noise.
"Stop this!" Durlin roared.
"Hit him again!" Astrid yelled.
They quickly dashed towards his body and attacked his front right leg, but this time made sure to hit the joints. Even with the armour dragon scales protecting them, they were still far softer than the rest of the body in order to allow free movement, so they were the weak spot on any dragon.
Apparently, their attacks were having some effect because Durlin was crying out in pain. He then attempted to swipe them with his right front claw, but the three of them had already jumped out of the way. Durlin tried to face them, but he was now limping into the damage done to his leg.
"Our attacks seem to be having an effect," Ragnar noted.
"Yes, we need to bring him down once and for all," said Astrid.
"You will all burn for your insolence!" Durlin roared.
He then began flapping his wings very strongly, creating a powerful vacuum that was pulling them towards him.
"He's trying to draw us in!" Astrid yelled.
"And it's working there isn't exactly a place to hunker down," said Hiccup.
He was right, as they couldn't get a firm footing in the sea of coins they were standing in.
The twins desperately flew towards Durlin's face attempting to pick out his eyes, but he was ready for them this time. Just as they flew really quickly knocked his head into them, sending them flying and forcing them to return to their human form.
"Ruff! Tuff!" Hiccup yelled.
"They're fine, just out cold!" Heather yelled as she grabbed hold of one of the stone pillars.
"Yeah, but we won't be fine much longer!" Fishlegs yelled.
Hiccup could see that Fishlegs and the others were grabbing the stone pillars so they wouldn't be drawn in. Snotlout and Jill have managed to grab the twins pulling them back towards them so they wouldn't be pulled in.
"Not sure how long we can last!" Heather yelled.
"Just hang in there; I have a way to get us out of this!" Ragnar yelled
Ragnar immediately swung his blade, which took off, striking Durlin's wings. Hiccup watched as the sword flew around, slicing through his wings until there were massive holes in them. This, in turn, weakens the vortex that Durlin had created.
"My wings!" Durlin cried as he saw the massive holes that had been created. "My beautiful wings!"
Sumarbrander then returned to Ragnar's hand. "Should've given us that will bring them."
"I would sooner die than handing it to the likes of you!" Durlin roared and raised his tail.
"Funny because that's exactly what we're planning to do," said Astrid.
Durlin swung his tail, striking sever the stone pillars causing Fishlegs and the others to scatter. He then aimed his tail directly towards them, and while Hiccup and Ragnar dived forwards to avoid getting hit, Astrid did the exact opposite and jumped right onto it.
"Astrid! What are you doing?" Hiccup yelled.
"Something crazy!" Astrid yelled.
Durlin saw her and snarled angrily. "Get your filthy hands off of me!"
He then attempted to shake her off by shaking his tail frantically, but Astrid kept a strong grip. She then raised her acting with all her strength, swung down upon his tail, and he instantly roared in pain.
Seizing this opportunity, Hiccup charged in and began enhancing his blade with magic. He then jumped forwards, plunging his sword right into his chest, and with all his strength, began pointing downwards.
"This cannot be happening!" Durlin roared in anguish. "I won't let it!"
He then opened his mouth and began to breathe fire, but before he had a chance to unleash it, Ragnar sent Sumarbrander flying. The elven blade then plunged itself into Durlin's bottom jaw and began pushing upward, closing his mouth shut.
"And I think we learned when studying dragons is that they not so fireproof from the inside," said Ragnar.
Durlin's eyes were beginning to water as smoke exited from his mouth now was quickly followed by a small set of explosions through his body. Once it was safe, Ragnar quickly pulled Sumarbrander back, and Durlin began coughing out a massive amount of blood.
Hiccup then began enhancing his own physical strength with his magic, and with one good pull, he opened Durlin's chest wide open. The cursed dragon then suddenly went limp and collapsed, causing a small earthquake.
"It's over," said Hiccup.
Snotlout then approached his grandfather, who was still alive though barely. "None of this would have happened if you had just given us the ring."
"Even if I had, you yourself would have been cursed; you know the bloody history of that ring," said Durlin. "I take great comfort knowing that one of you will die and suffer the same curse as me."
"Afraid that's not happening," said Snotlout.
"What? Didn't you come here for the ring?"
"We needed a cursed object for a special ingredient to create a key that would seal the Gates of Helheim. Which means that none of us will be carrying that cursed ring, not for a long time anyway."
"No! You lie!"
"Goodbye, grandfather," said Snotlout.
The life from Durlin's eyes then faded away.
Fishlegs collapsed to the ground. "Glad that's finally over. It was actually terrifying."
"It's not over yet," said Astrid as she limped her way over to the claw that held the cursed ring. "We need to remove that ring."
She then raised her axe and cut the claw clean off with one swipe. She then removed the ring from the remains of the claw, and the moment she did, the ring retracted to normal human size.
"Feel any strain sensations?" Hiccup asked.
Astrid shook her head as she examined the ring. "No, I don't do your thing."
"I believe you have to hold the ring for a certain amount of time before it starts affecting your mind," said Ragnar.
"Then we should leave immediately," said Jill.
"Not yet; there's one more thing we need to do," said Ragnar as he looked at Durlin's body.
Everyone then watched as Ragnar approached Durlin's body and began using his sword to cut open his rib cage.
"Rag, what are you doing?" Hiccup asked.
"Cutting out his heart."
Jill then immediately threw up.
Hiccup, too, felt as if he was going to be sick, but instead, he asked the one question he didn't want to be answered. "Why?"
"So you can eat it, of course," said Ragnar as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Fishlegs then fainted.
