Seeing Dragon Glam about to be successfully hypnotized, Saruman's face showed triumphant satisfaction.
But the next second, his expression changed completely.
Struggle flashed in Dragon Glam's eyes. Soon it broke free from Saruman's hypnotic magic.
"You're seeking death!" The dragon's roar shook the mountains.
Surrounding glaciers trembled from its massive body stirring. Countless ice blocks crashed down like an avalanche.
The dragon breathed extremely cold frost directly at Saruman. The air plummeted instantly, as if the very atmosphere would freeze solid.
Saruman's face went pale. He held his staff high immediately, releasing a light shield to protect himself.
The extreme cold struck the barrier. Ice formed instantly, thick and deadly. Under constant assault from frigid air, the light shield began cracking like breaking glass.
Saruman didn't dare face the dragon head-on. He retreated quickly from the glacier.
Dragon Glam wouldn't let this hypocrite escape. Having slumbered too long, it began stirring, preparing to chase and kill the wizard who'd dared offend it.
The massive glacier started cracking. The entire mountain shook. An unprecedented avalanche began.
Saruman escaped the crevice and quickly summoned his fell beast, barely dodging the avalanche's fury.
With a tremendous roar, a thousand-meter-long black dragon burst through the glacier. It appeared atop the mountain, raising its head to roar furiously at Saruman.
That massive form was nearly ten times larger than Smaug's. It radiated suffocating, oppressive power.
Dragon Glam spread enormous wings, beating them forcefully to create a massive storm before taking flight. It pursued Saruman riding the terrified fell beast.
The fell beast fled desperately, wanting only to escape this nightmare.
Saruman twisted on its back, releasing massive fireballs from his staff at the pursuing dragon.
Scorching fireballs exploded against the dragon's hide but failed to stop its offensive. They didn't even leave scars.
The chase continued across the vast northern wastelands.
Though massive, the dragon remained surprisingly agile. Its speed far exceeded the fell beast's. With a single wing beat, it caught up quickly.
Opening its giant maw and inflating its chest, it breathed extremely cold frost toward the fell beast and Saruman.
Saruman's face changed. He activated his staff, releasing a brilliant shield to block the dragon's frost attack.
Most of the dragon's breath was blocked.
But the remainder hit the fell beast, instantly freezing its wings and lower body.
The fell beast let out a piercing cry before plummeting headfirst.
Saruman, riding behind, fell with it. During the rapid descent, he gripped the creature tightly, using it as cushioning to absorb most of the impact force.
The fell beast crashed into a mountain peak. Barely alive, it wailed weakly.
Saruman stood quickly, ignoring his disheveled state as he looked warily up at the dragon.
The dragon descended with beating wings amid swirling snow.
It looked down at the ant-sized wizard, mocking. "Where can you flee now, wizard?"
"Perfect. I'm hungry. I'll use you and this flying beast as snacks to fill gaps in my teeth."
With that, Dragon Glam bit the barely alive fell beast, killing it instantly before swallowing it in several gulps.
Then it focused on Saruman, opening its massive fanged maw to bite him.
But suddenly it stopped, staggering slightly.
"What...? So dizzy. What's wrong with me?" Dragon Glam felt lightheaded and shook its head forcefully, showing surprised unease.
Then it noticed Saruman's triumphant smile and was immediately alarmed.
"It's you! What did you do?"
Saruman answered smugly. "I merely hid a poison bottle inside my mount's body. Though this poison is rather unusual. A drop of Ungoliant's venom."
Ungoliant was an evil spider-form deity matching Morgoth's power. A monster birthed from the dark void outside Arda who'd once conspired with Morgoth to infiltrate Valinor secretly.
Morgoth had used his spear to wound the Two Trees' cores while Ungoliant drained their sap and injected deadly poison. The Two Trees gradually withered and died, shrouding Valinor in darkness.
Ungoliant's poison that could kill the Two Trees would have no difficulty dealing with an ancient dragon.
Dragon Glam became shocked and furious. It breathed frost at Saruman to freeze this despicable person.
But after breathing briefly, the toxin took effect. It collapsed unwillingly, powerless.
Saruman lowered his shield, looking at the mountain-sized dragon with satisfaction.
He approached actively, his gaze burning with covetous desire.
If he possessed this dragon, it'd be more powerful than having a hundred thousand strong orc armies. Reclaiming Isengard would be within reach. He might even gain greater power to realize his ambitions.
But thinking of Sauron, Saruman had to suppress this desire.
Though both were Maiar, their power differed vastly. Saruman was now under Sauron's control, naturally not daring to disobey.
So he looked reluctantly at Dragon Glam before taking an iron crown from his robe sleeve.
Under Dragon Glam's terrified, resistant gaze, Saruman approached the dragon head and placed the iron crown at its center.
The iron crown seemed to take root upon touching the dragon head. It rapidly enlarged to become a massive iron crown fitting the dragon perfectly.
The crown was pitch black, emanating a cold, dark aura like a sovereign of darkness.
This iron crown had originally been Morgoth's. When he'd destroyed Valinor's Two Trees, he'd seized three Silmarils and embedded them in the crown.
This led the Noldor Elves to leave Valinor, launching a long war of vengeance against Morgoth to reclaim the Silmarils.
Human hero Beren and Elf Princess Lúthien had infiltrated Angband, prying one Silmaril from the iron crown. After many trials, it ultimately became Eärendil's star in the sky.
The remaining two Silmarils were also removed after Morgoth's defeat by the Valar armies.
Sauron had claimed the crown and reforged it to fit his wearing.
Now this iron crown, given by Sauron to Saruman, was placed on Dragon Glam's head.
The crown contained Sauron's will and evil power. The moment it was donned, it took root, fixing firmly to the dragon head and becoming one with it.
Dragon Glam couldn't resist the erosion of Sauron's will and power. No matter how it struggled, its mental defenses collapsed rapidly.
Finally, black mist shrouded the dragon's eyes. Sauron's shadow appeared in its pupils.
It had become a puppet without self-awareness.
The dragon regained mobility, spreading its thousand-meter wings and standing.
Its hollow eyes stared at Saruman while its mouth issued Sauron's voice. "Well done this time, Saruman. When you return, I'll allow you to reforge a Ring of Power at Mount Doom."
Hearing this, Saruman showed joy.
Mount Doom's flames erupted from the earth's core, the center of evil energy. Forging a Ring of Power would surely be more powerful than other Rings of Power.
Though he desired forging a Master Ring more, he understood his limitations. Being able to forge a stronger Ring of Power than before was already excellent.
So Saruman mounted the dragon.
The dragon beat its wings, soaring skyward like a massive canopy. It carried wind, snow, and cold currents southward from the north.
The dragon flew over the Grey Mountains, passing between the Lonely Mountain and Iron Hills, skirting east of Mirkwood with Mordor as its destination.
As an ice frost dragon, Glam possessed powerful magical abilities. Wherever it passed, cold arrived like winter's coming. It carried northern wind and snow to sweep across the land.
Because the dragon hid above cloud layers, the dwarves of the Lonely Mountain and Iron Hills didn't discover it. They only felt the sky darken briefly before the temperature plummeted.
The dwarves were puzzled but could only abandon the investigation, having no clues.
Only Thranduil the Elvenking in Mirkwood and Galadriel in Lothlórien seemed to sense something. They frowned toward the eastern horizon but remained ignorant due to unclear perception.
Meanwhile, Kael was temporarily unaware of this development.
He'd returned to Isengard first, confirming all was well there. Then he rewarded the griffins and three-headed dog responsible for patrolling and guarding Orthanc Tower.
After that, he visited the dragon breeding grounds he'd established deep in the Misty Mountains behind the mountain.
The dragon grounds were surrounded by various magical protections. Hidden from the real world like Diagon Alley, from outside or above, one couldn't discover the missing large forest area.
In the breeding grounds, over a dozen sub-dragons now lived scattered throughout.
The largest were over ten meters long. Though nowhere near Smaug's size, they were formidable creatures.
Ordinary swords couldn't penetrate dragon scale defenses. Scorching dragon flame could melt steel weapons. Even Kael would find dealing with a sub-dragon difficult without using deadly dark magic.
The only problem was these sub-dragons' limited intelligence. They couldn't speak like dragons and were temperamental, aggressive, and difficult to tame.
But this wasn't difficult for Kael to solve. He'd simply assigned responsibility to Smaug.
Due to dragon intimidation and bloodline connections, these sub-dragons submitted upon seeing Smaug. Even rebellious sub-dragons were thoroughly beaten by Smaug before obediently bowing their heads.
So Smaug had subjugated these bloodline-related sub-dragon descendants, becoming king of these sub-dragons.
Smaug didn't need much management. Just visiting the dragon grounds annually to display authority kept these sub-dragons completely obedient without requiring other actions.