great-warnovel Chapter 411 The Frontier of Civilization
Chapter 411 The Frontier of Civilization
Chapter 411 The Frontier of Civilization
"You have two choices: either help the fire watchers persuade the village to agree to relocate, or you have to stop the spreading fire, at least for the time being."
"Can't I just extinguish the Fiendfire completely?" Hermione asked.
Grindelwald gave a mocking laugh that sounded almost disdainful: "If you can do it, you can try."
Although somewhat resentful, the witch knew the Dark Lord wasn't lying. Fiendfire possessed the ability to devour everything and grow stronger. The flame that had burned down most of the rainforest was probably beyond her ability to extinguish now. Perhaps Grindelwald was leaving it alone because he himself couldn't handle it.
She now feels that everything Grindelwald does is interconnected, and every action is taken with a three-step plan in mind.
The Battle of Volgograd accomplished his multifaceted ambitions. The Umbridge assigned to Hermione was annoying enough to prove his theory with her death, and it also gave Hermione some information about the Amazon rainforest. Then, "coincidentally," a mission about the rainforest came along.
Everything was just right, and the task truly aligned with Hermione's values.
There's no need to kill Muggles, and it doesn't involve any ideological or justice-related conflicts.
She could roughly guess that the old man's underlying purpose this time was to use the stubborn native wizards and Muggles, their ignorance and human flaws, to shake Hermione's beliefs, thereby further reinforcing his own views.
In his mind, Hermione would have prioritized persuading the local wizards to relocate, and after much effort to no avail, she would have had no choice but to suppress Fiendfire, even if that would only work temporarily.
In this process, the kindness and justice that Dumbledore instilled in her will gradually be shaken by his disappointment with humanity, and he can slowly and gradually influence and change the girl's mind.
She still had to accept the mission, since she was still counting on the old man to help her find Voldemort.
However, Hermione was determined not to bother with the stubborn rainforest native villages. Once there, she would cast a spell to bring rain and force Fiendfire back a certain distance.
This time, the destination is in South America, in a remote location on the upper reaches of the Negro River, the largest tributary on the north bank of the Amazon River.
After years of raging fire, most of the world's largest water system has been turned into a river of fire. The dry riverbed is filled with inexhaustible black liquid flames. Once they sense the approach of living beings, they will conjure up all kinds of monsters and drag all flammable materials into the river to burn them.
Nowadays, only the upstream areas of some tributaries are still habitable, but the raging flames and toxic black smoke are steadily eroding people's living space.
When Hermione landed on the door key, several fire watchers were already waiting for her.
These dark wizards remained silent, each possessing immense magical power. Unlike Umbridge, who had been banished here, they were true elite firewatchers.
Hermione could also deduce from this that Grindelwald deliberately gave Umbridge to her.
"Miss Granger, we will cooperate with your orders throughout this mission." A hoarse voice came from under the black hood; anyone who stayed here for too long would have their throat ruined by the poisonous smoke.
Hermione looked up. It was daytime, but the sky was as black as midnight; thick black smoke had completely obscured the light.
The humid, hot winds that came from the front made it not cold, but the pungent smell of burning permeated the air, making it hard to open one's eyes.
"Are there really people living in a place like this?"
She looked around. This was a lookout post built on a giant tree. The murky river flowed slowly beneath her feet, extending southward for a distance before disappearing behind a high wall of black flames, from which huge amounts of water vapor rose into the sky.
"The Fiery Blazes are moving northward year by year. The large amount of river water can suppress their expansion to some extent, but it cannot stop this process," the fire watcher explained.
"Less than a kilometer north of our lookout post is the local village, a wet swamp that is rich in resources under the protection of their shaman and is almost unaffected by the current climate."
Hermione turned to look, and the low forest did indeed look more lush, unlike the trees here which were almost withered.
The dense foliage completely obscured the view beneath the forest, leaving no trace of human habitation.
"They're not exactly primitive, and quite a few of them can speak English, but they're extremely xenophobic. We've sent people to make contact many times, but their wizards won't even show up," the fire watcher said helplessly.
"All that awaits us are poisoned blowguns and strangling vines..."
The people living here were once part of civilized society, but with the arrival of the wasteland era, global industry and shipping came to a standstill, and the borderlands of civilization could not receive new nourishment. The nascent modernization process in the rainforest also vanished, and those tribesmen who had just put on clothes returned to their swamps.
The Malachi Party welcomes wizards from all over the world to join them. At least Hermione saw wizards from Northern Europe and Africa on the Black Ship. If possible, they would also like to integrate their compatriots from the South American rainforest into the big family. In theory, the tribal social structure of these communities is not much different from that of New Paris. Wizards are the upper class and receive offerings from Muggles.
"Why don't they want to move?" Hermione wondered. A tribe with wizards wouldn't be affected much even if they moved away.
"That swamp is their ancestral land, and it seems to possess powerful magic, which is also the source of the swamp's abundant harvest."
In fact, regardless of air pollution and the ever-approaching Fiery Blaze, this place has abundant water resources and heat provided by the Fiery Blaze, making it a good breeding ground.
Hermione slightly activated her third eye and looked again at the magical rainforest.
A chilling, resentful aura permeated the ancient trees. Every hidden puddle, every mutated beast, and even every seemingly beautiful and harmless flower seemed to harbor the intent to kill the outsider.
A surging malice lies dormant beneath the swamp, where giants of America, suspected to be swamp diggers, and various magical beasts and fairies lurk, serving as both food for the villagers and feeding on them.
"Primitive and wild, with almost no trace of civilization left," Hermione muttered, then turned away and stopped paying attention.
"How do you usually deal with Fiendfire?" she asked the dark wizard beside her.
"Well, it depends on the situation."
The opposing leader, his voice hoarse, pondered.
"If it's just a small splash, we'll combine our efforts to annihilate it with a spell of 'All Curses End'."
"But for those surging in on a large scale, we can only use the Fiendfyre spell to guide the fire flow in the same way." This is not a good method; Fiendfyre is violent and hard to find, and even though these dark wizards have been learning since their student days, they are still covered in burns.
Moreover, it was Grindelwald who set the fire.
The so-called "using fire to guide fire" approach, while effective in the short term, is merely a temporary fix, like adding fuel to the fire.
Hermione nodded, staring at the Fiendfire border that was slowly creeping up the river in the distance, pondering a solution. Clearly, the fire that had burned down most of the rainforest could not be resolved overnight, and she would probably have to stay here for a few more days.
Suddenly, the alarm under the lookout station was triggered, and the piercing howling spell emitted one long wailing sound after another.
"You, go down and take a look." The fire-watcher leader appointed a wizard to go down and investigate.
"What a coincidence? I ran into trouble as soon as I arrived." Hermione gave a sarcastic smile.