Hogwarts Card System Chapter 221

## Chapter 221: Geothermal Reaction

The next day, Ted, along with Muradin, Jinli, Clara, and Mr. Svarog, formed a small team and returned to the location where they encountered the hippogriff to conduct a thorough search.

As for Clara’s uncle, Millhouse, he was assigned to work at Iron Hammer Fortress—yesterday, if it weren’t for his illusion that enraged the hippogriff, they wouldn’t have had such a fierce battle. In the end, he wasn’t injured.

He definitely couldn’t stay today!

Another dwarf brother, however, was seriously injured.

Yesterday, the hippogriff’s lightning bolt sent him flying almost three meters.

Later, the others learned that the brother’s chest hair was scorched, and his chest skin was covered in radial electrocution marks.

After treatment by the dwarf physician at Iron Hammer Fortress, it would take a week to recover.

Ted even gifted him Dittany essence and healing salve.

Despite this, the brother still attended the gathering and drank alcohol before seeing a doctor… truly a man forged in iron and quenched in spirits!

But he certainly couldn’t join the team today. He had to stay behind and recover.

…

Upon reaching the battle site from yesterday, everyone began their search.

Ted had Anzu ascend to check for any abnormalities.

The dwarves also took out strange instruments, drilling holes in the ground to detect anomalies.

Clara, on the other hand, brought out a peculiar magic device, somewhat resembling a radar screen, and began scanning around with a beeping sound.

To their surprise, it was Anzu who, holding this head-sized instrument, flew into the sky to increase the detection area, which finally yielded results.

Clara fiddled with the green grid-patterned display screen and said, “There’s a spot about a kilometer to the northwest where the temperature is off!”

“Temperature off?!” Jerry questioned, puzzled.

“That’s right, no other abnormalities were found, just that one spot is a few degrees hotter than the surrounding areas,” Clara explained.

“Should we go check it out?” Jinli looked at Svarog.

Svarog stroked his long beard. “We’ve been searching all morning, and this is the only unusual thing around here. Let’s go take a look. If there’s nothing unusual, then this area can be ruled out.”

But, believe it or not, there was indeed something unusual!

It was a deep pit, a cave formed by the collapse of a mountain cavity due to long-term crustal movement or underground water erosion, commonly known as a sinkhole.

Anzu flew down a distance, about a hundred meters, and surprisingly discovered several brightly burning fire elementals at the dimly lit bottom of the sinkhole!

These creatures were similar to earth elementals; earth elementals are elemental life forms made of stone.

Fire elementals are entirely composed of flames, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, bright at the top and dim at the bottom. Their lower half resembles an inverted cone of dark red gas, floating about half a meter high.

A typical fire elemental appeared to be about 1.5 to 1.7 meters tall, with some being larger and some smaller. Their levels ranged from 6 to 9, with higher-level ones being larger.

Anzu also discovered a huge, abandoned nest on a platform halfway down the deep pit. It was made of many branches, weeds, and feathers, with a diameter of three meters!

They could also see some small animal bones and a lot of droppings.

It seemed that this was originally the hippogriff’s nest.

It had been well hidden halfway up the sinkhole, but for some unknown reason, it got into a fight with its downstairs neighbors, was outnumbered and burned, and then fled.

As a result, it encountered Clara and her group, was already in a rage, and Millhouse’s inappropriate illusion not only failed to scare the hippogriff away but further enraged it. It immediately launched an attack!

Ted informed everyone about the situation below.

This place was undoubtedly unusual.

Mr. Svarog immediately concluded that this was an abnormal phenomenon. He could confirm that these fire elementals were not here last month!

After all, this place was less than a day’s journey from Iron Hammer Fortress. Dwarves and gnomes had lived here for seven or eight years, so they naturally had a deep understanding of the surrounding environment.

As for the hippogriff, although its nest was uncertain, the dwarves did know that a flying monster had been spotted in the east recently, but no one wanted to provoke it.

It would take a team of elites, fully equipped with various targeted items and a well-designed plan, to safely take it down. It wasn’t worth the trouble.

And as for whether there were fire elementals nearby, the dwarves were even clearer.

Elemental creatures are not like magical animals; these things are generally not seen.

Nor would they migrate from other places.

They only emerge in suitable locations.

Like the earth elementals Ted and his group encountered before, they were born after magic had been concentrated in a certain part of that mountain stream for many years.

Once it appeared, it would linger nearby, slowly “growing up.” It wouldn’t go anywhere else.

The intelligence of these creatures is also very low; at least, they haven’t shown any ability to communicate. They’re like robots that only attack intruders.

If fire elementals had suddenly appeared recently, then it would be reasonable for the hippogriff to fight them.

Who wouldn’t be anxious if their downstairs was on fire?

Ted suddenly remembered his visit to Iron Hammer Fortress yesterday.

He asked, “I remember you, Muradin, saying that the efficiency of the great forge has been increasing over the past year. You can’t work there without wearing heat-resistant suits?”

“That’s right! It’s not that I didn’t want to take you to visit, it’s just that it’s really too hot there! Even I, a dwarf, can’t stand it. After a few minutes, my body is soaked as if I’ve had a bath!” Muradin explained, almost swearing on his beard.

“Of course, I believe you. But… that shouldn’t be the case! We’re on the border of the Scottish Highlands, not Iceland. How can there be such abundant geothermal resources? And only appearing suddenly in the last year?!”

The dwarves’ great forge at Iron Hammer Fortress was built by drilling down over a hundred meters and using special runic magic to draw molten lava from underground to provide a massive amount of heat. And it was “living water”!

Just with this technology, the dwarves could earn the respect of wizards.

This was mastering core skills; in a Muggle society, this would be the cheapest pseudo-clean energy!

If they built an underground power station, continuously utilizing underground lava, they might as well attract the American military!

“Down! Let’s go down and see!”

How to get down was a problem. Although the dwarves lived underground, rappelling was no joke.

Ted tied everyone together with ropes, then cast Feather-Light Charm on each person, and then used Transfiguration to create platforms on the cliff edge. Anzu then held the rope, and they floated down layer by layer.

He wanted to just float down directly, but the dwarves were actually afraid of heights!

According to them: “Just give us a quick death. Falling down so slowly is truly agonizing. We can’t even open our eyes.”

It took them five or six minutes to land safely.

The three dwarves in the team were already drenched in sweat.

Dwarves: “It feels so good to have our feet on solid ground!”

This was a bottle-shaped space, narrower at the top and wider at the bottom. The bottom was much larger than the entrance, which was thirty to forty meters in diameter.

Looking up, there was only a human-head-sized patch of light; it was very dim, and they couldn’t see very far.

However, the bottom of this sinkhole was not damp at all; it was even very hot!

The cave should have been very damp before, and there were even channels on the rocks carved by water flowing constantly on the ground.

But now, not a single drop of water was present, and even the moss on the rocks had dried up!

And not far away, there was a natural cave. At the entrance of the cave, several reddish-orange, golden-yellow fire elementals were aimlessly wandering.

Small Fire Elemental, Level 6, Elemental Creature…

Ember Guardian, Level 7, Elemental Creature…

Blaze Walker, Level 8, Elemental Creature…

Flame Soul, Level 9, Elemental Creature…

Six in total!

Svarog stared at the fire elementals, which were particularly conspicuous in the dim environment, and said, “We probably need to enter that cave and prepare for battle!”

Ted quickly advised, “I have a way to deal them enough damage, otherwise, with the destructive power of these fireballs, we might end up with casualties.”

Fire elementals are different from earth elementals. Besides anything else, earth elementals are just moving rock men. If you don’t get touched by them, you won’t get hurt.

But fire elementals are fire!

Just being close to them can cause burns, and who knows if they might explode. Any contact would result in severe, widespread burns. Compared to earth elementals, they are much more dangerous.

Therefore, Ted intended to deal with them as decisively as possible.

***

Thank you to “Yubing no Luode” for the 100-point reward! Thank you!

(End of this chapter)