great-warnovel Chapter 357 The Black Curtain Flutters
Chapter 357 The Black Curtain Flutters
Chapter 357 The Black Curtain Flutters
Unlike ordinary elves who receive commands, Lucius's words seemed to carry an absolute and unquestionable authority.
Wherever his hundred hands were in control, wherever the light radiated, all the house-elves who heard his words immediately became dazed, their pupils turning a ferocious crimson.
They crawled out of the ruins and looked in unison at the stone army that had come with Dumbledore.
boom!
It's unclear which launched the attack first, but a red light exploded within the stone statue army, sending dust billowing up.
What followed was a torrential downpour of sprite magic. Among them were old sprites who were almost dead, and young sprites who had just come of age. But now, without exception, they all obeyed the command engraved in their blood and spared no effort in casting the most destructive magic they could.
Dumbledore's army, as if receiving a command, charged towards the elves.
Malfoy Castle boasts almost the largest number of house-elves in the world. The nobles take pride in keeping more and better house-elves. Excluding those who work for them year-round, there are at least a hundred house-elves in the inner city at this moment.
Each of them possesses combat abilities comparable to Dobby, capable of apparition at will, manipulating objects with their minds, and creating explosions, flames, and frost.
But Dumbledore's army of Transfiguration statues seemed endless, silently and loyally advancing step by step.
The ground was in chaos, with stone statues being blown to pieces. The crazed little sprites appeared among them, shooting out colorful beams of light from their fingers. The more ferocious ones would jump directly onto the heads of the statues and smash them, or pull on their legs and trip them up.
Dumbledore didn't want to harm these innocent elves; they were just pitiful creatures being manipulated and ordered around. Under his control, the stone statue army would simply knock them unconscious with weapons or change form the moment they got close, enveloping the elves like a cocoon of rock, thus preventing them from Apparating or attacking.
Some confused little guys would try to teleport over to attack Dumbledore, but the moment they appeared out of thin air, they would be bound like dumplings by the transfiguration ropes that were already waiting in place. This ghost wizard was not like Hermione when she was weak, who could not predict where the elves would land. If he wanted, the surrounding space would become as solid as steel, directly crushing the enemies who tried to teleport to death.
"Lucius, how long are you going to keep putting up this stubborn resistance! You can't possibly be a match for both of us!" The White Wizard's voice boomed like thunder, shaking the other's heart.
No one thought Lucius was being rational. If he were truly smart, he should have run away the moment he saw Dumbledore, which would have allowed him to secretly accumulate strength and rebuild his own city.
But now, with Hermione in the sky and Dumbledore on the ground, he can't even escape.
The gradually collapsing inner city barrier was completely captured by Hermione in the air. She raised one hand to the sky, her five fingers slightly grasping, as if she had grasped the heavens.
The magical sky, which was in disarray due to the damage, stopped sliding further under her control and gradually shrank, as if it were being kneaded into a ball.
This barrier magic is a combination of spells cast jointly by hundreds of highly skilled wizards, integrating various types of spells such as super armor protection, anti-apparition, weather spells, and all-encompassing protection. It requires a large amount of manpower and financial resources to maintain every year.
Malfoy Castle doesn't have a Brilliant Stone core. These barriers and spells require wizards to maintain, recharge, and renovate them regularly, which also costs a lot of rare and expensive magical materials. All of this costs money, and the effect achieved is not as good as the barriers at Hogwarts. This is why all the factions are asking for Brilliant Stone cores.
But now, the inner city barrier that hundreds of people have maintained for decades has been grabbed by Hermione with one hand and kneaded into a ball.
The concentrated magical power and chaotic incantations clashed and formed a storm cloud-like mass, within which dark purple lightning flickered.
Lucius's behavior made Hermione increasingly believe that no matter which world they live in, nobles are all the same. This familiar yet perverse method of limb reattachment may have different underlying principles, but the nobles' distorted desire to control and rule everything is exactly the same.
"The bone wand is probably just an alternative to this theory," she murmured to herself.
Since wizards are the most powerful magical creatures, and their bodies are the best materials for wands, why would it be more convenient and efficient to cut these things off and make wands than to fuse them all into one's own body?
"This is disgusting!" Her anger burned like a raging fire. Even though she hadn't transformed into a full moon, the moonlight emanating from her body was already tinged with the terrifying color of a blood moon.
Slowly lowering her raised arm, the storm ball containing terrifying energy accelerated little by little as she dragged it down, aiming at the arrogant Lucius.
This man may have truly been driven mad by the bipolar monster. He relentlessly pursues power, even ignoring the presence of his wife and son, all in an effort to kill the enemy before him.
But he remained clear-headed when making all these plans.
Despite the attacks from above and below, the crazed man remained calm.
He laughed maniacally, his hundred arms seeming to lift something from the ground: "Old man! You didn't actually think I was never on guard against you, did you?!"
"Voldemort has prepared a deadly curse to kill you, and I, long ago, prepared the gate to death for you!"
The already devastated land was torn apart again by a tremendous force, shaking like an earthquake. Huge cracks spread from the inner city to the entire city, and people screamed and ran further away, because if they were even a little slower, they might be swallowed up by the cracks that appeared out of nowhere.
Dumbledore's army of stone statues plummeted into the abyss, and in order to protect the elves, he had no choice but to abandon them and first throw the bound elves outside the city.
Countless rocks and soil were lifted up as if carrying a mountain, and Lucius hurled this mass of matter into the air, where it collided with Hermione's weather ball.
Exploding lightning and swirling air currents transformed the scattered earth and rocks into terrifying projectiles. In an instant, it was like a stunning meteor shower. Half of Malfoy Castle trembled under the tyranny of the great wizard. The beautiful New Diagon Alley, with its houses and buildings, was utterly destroyed in the earthquake and the collapse of the sky.
Lucius himself, however, paid no attention to the results of the battle in the sky. He looked triumphantly at the inner city he had torn apart. Deep in the dark earth, on a well-protected stone platform, his true contingency plan was revealed.
It was a huge, sunken stone pit, about twenty feet deep, with stone steps surrounding it, descending gradually. In the center of the pit stood a lonely, ancient, dilapidated stone archway, with a tattered black curtain or something similar hanging on it. Even as the outside world turned upside down, the curtain still swayed slowly, as if it were just being blown by a gentle breeze.
"Come! You old, undead walking corpse! Come before Death! Come before the altar of Death!" Lucius hovered above the rift in the earth, a hundred arms blooming behind him like flowers. He laughed wildly, looking at Dumbledore with a surprised expression, which also carried a sense of impending doom.