great-warnovel Chapter 257 The Durmstrang Men
Chapter 257 The Durmstrang Men
Chapter 257 The Durmstrang Men
They weren't kept waiting for long.
"They're here!" Hermione, with her third eye, was even more perceptive than McGonagall.
She turned her head to look at the dilapidated house that had collapsed halfway to the side, and the next moment, a very faint cracking sound came from inside.
McGonagall exchanged a glance with her and released her tabby cat Patronus. The transparent white spirit leaped up the broken wall and climbed into the house. Patronus is difficult to imitate. Dumbledore had obviously consulted with Mikhail beforehand, and immediately pushed open the door after seeing the spirit cat.
Hermione also saw him. He was a middle-aged man, around forty or fifty years old, with a typical Slavic appearance. He was very robust, with a short, thick beard, but his face was deathly pale.
He was wearing a thick fur coat, a woolen hat, and carrying a suitcase, looking around nervously.
"Mr. Mikhail." McGonagall stepped forward, and the Guardian Angel returned to her side.
"You must be Professor McGonagall." The man stepped forward with a hint of wariness. His voice was deep and harsh, like two pieces of bronze clashing together.
"Why did you bring a student along?" he said, slightly annoyed, when he saw Hermione.
"This is our defense class teaching assistant. You may have heard of Miss Granger," McGonagall explained. Any wizard interested in cutting-edge magic would know about the popular brilliance magic of the last two years.
Mikhail seemed not to hear him; his gaze was already drawn to the staff behind the girl.
"This magic wand—."
"This is not a place for idle chatter. We need to move immediately," McGonagall interrupted him directly. These professionals always seem to drift off at inappropriate times.
Mikhail snapped out of his reverie: "Oh, right! But afterwards, please make sure you show it to me, young lady."
But Hermione didn't respond; she was fully focused on using her third eye to sense the surrounding space.
McGonagall reached out, ready to pull the two of them away together.
But Hermione suddenly grabbed her hand as she reached for Mikhail.
"??"
Before the two could even ask any questions, a sudden and unexpected change occurred to Mikhail.
His heavy fur coat suddenly sprayed out a thick, sticky black liquid, like glue trapping insects, instantly fixing Mikhail in place. McGonagall also quickly retreated; if Hermione hadn't grabbed her, they would both have been bound.
"It's a trap!?" Hermione guessed immediately.
But Mikhail looked terrified, clearly not someone who knew the truth.
"Damn it! They've already tampered with me!"
Clearly, this naive rod-maker thought that Durmstrang's professors couldn't see his desire to leave.
"Troublesome dark magic—" McGonagall frowned and immediately began trying to break the spell.
Hermione's palm also radiated the light of "Stop Curses Instantly" and "End All Curses," but the dissipation of the stubborn slime was quite slow, and the correct method of breaking the curse might be needed.
With a sharp "snap," several figures appeared around them, surrounding them completely.
Seven or eight intersecting red beams shot towards them simultaneously.
"Drink!" Hermione quickly changed her spell, and thick, sharp rock spikes suddenly rose from the ground around the three of them, firmly protecting them within.
The spells that caused unconsciousness struck the rocks, but without exception, they were all deflected. "You must break the spell!"
As she stomped her foot, the rock layer, which had been upside down like a large bowl, instantly expanded outwards, and the ground became undulating as if it had softened, with sharp rock spikes spreading out continuously.
The pursuers from Durmstrang were forced to create distance and used Polymorph to stop the changes in the ground.
"Anti-Apparition!"
The newcomer was very experienced. Upon realizing that he could not subdue the opponent immediately, he immediately ordered his wizards to set up an anti-apocalyptic barrier. They obeyed orders and reacted very quickly. The three in front were responsible for blocking the ground spikes, while those behind did not worry about getting hurt and focused on completing the spell at an extremely fast speed.
At this moment, the rock protecting Hermione and the others slowly collapsed, and the two groups finally met.
"Professor McGonagall, I never expected to meet you under these circumstances." The leader of Durmstrang's group was a tall, thin, sinister old man with a goatee. He looked at the three Hogwarts members with a half-smile.
McGonagall slowed down her dispelling of the curse and turned to look at him: "Kakalov, I didn't expect it to be you."
"Who would have thought that chasing a traitor would lead to encountering the Vice-Headmaster of Hogwarts?" Karkaroff teased.
"This has terrified me, a mere professor of dark magic. What if I'm no match for him? Wouldn't that tarnish Lord Grindelwald's reputation?"
Even the shamans wouldn't station too many troops at the magic school, so the ones who came to hunt down the Master of the Staff were the school's professors, along with some teaching assistants and top students.
Hermione noticed that next to Karkaroff was a muscular boy with a distinctive aquiline nose, about the same age as Cedric, who was strangely holding a finely crafted military broom and staring at her with sharp eyes.
"How about it? Why don't you just surrender? We, the Wusili Party, treat wizards well and won't do anything to you."
Karkaroff looked confident of victory, and logically speaking, he was. Although he was much weaker than McGonagall, he could hold them off for a while. His men would easily take down a staff-wielding master who was no longer able to fight, and a little girl as well.
"Look, you brought students with you. It wouldn't be good if anyone got hurt."
He stepped forward: "I'm willing to believe this is just a misunderstanding. You just need to hand over this traitor to us, and the rest can go back to Durmstrang. I think Ms. Rozier would be happy to have a heart-to-heart talk with you."
McGonagall took a deep breath, didn't answer him, and turned to Hermione, saying, "I need three minutes, but don't hurt them."
Hermione nodded in understanding. The next moment, a violent icy wind swirled up from the ground, enveloping the three of them in the eye of the storm, where all they could see from the outside was a white expanse.
"Viktor!" Karkaroff shouted angrily.
The young man beside him was surprised by Hermione's strength, but he was not stunned. He immediately let out a strange, high-pitched whistle.
The next moment, a squadron of wizard air cavalry riding brooms flew at high speed from the dark clouds on the horizon.
"They even brought air cavalry!" McGonagall frowned. She had initially thought that Karkaroff had only brought a few men to chase after them in the rush, but it now seemed that they had come prepared and intended to capture the Phoenix Order members who were there to meet them!
"Are you sure you're okay?" Although he had confidence in Hermione, the number of wizards they were facing now exceeded twenty, which was far beyond what one person could handle.
Hermione didn't say anything, but gave her a reassuring look.
Unleashing his full magical power, even the long-unused Golden Thief's Radiant Stone began to shine.
The next moment, the raging blizzard was no longer confined to the ground. Snowflakes began to fall from the dark clouds in the sky, and the entire abandoned port town was enveloped in a sudden blizzard in an instant!