Hogwarts Card System Chapter 228

Chapter 227: Dumbledore Makes His Move!

Sirius and the others squeezed into the cave and moved forward, and the ambient temperature quickly began to rise again.

He pulled out a crystal vial like a test tube, and a silvery magic potion swirled within it like mist, cold to the touch.

He wiped some sweat. “I think it’s time to drink this stuff!”

Gulp, gulp, gulp~

“Hiss~ Snape’s concoctions are indeed not worth looking forward to.”

Although Sirius usually badmouthed his nemesis, the Frost Bodyguard Potion’s effect was still very good. A magical shield, like a thin layer of ice, flashed around their bodies, and the few wizards in the vanguard immediately felt cool.

While they continued to push forward, the follow-up troops also began to descend into the sinkhole.

Professor McGonagall and the other old warriors of the Order of the Phoenix, led by Moody and the Ministry of Magic’s Aurors and Hit-Wizards, also began to prepare.

Hermione leaned into Ted’s ear and whispered, “I think they might be a little nervous?”

Ted shrugged slightly. “No choice, they haven’t experienced this kind of situation before…”

Ron: “I’m a bit nervous too! Can I go to the restroom?”

Jerry: “You’ve been three times already!”

The last large-scale wizarding battle was over ten years ago.

And the attrition rate for that batch of old Aurors was extremely high. Among the current Aurors, eight out of ten are new recruits. Although they’ve fought against evil humanoids or dark wizards, they’ve never experienced such a large-scale gathering of dozens of wizards!

If you include the assisting sub-humans, dwarves, and gnomes, the entire team, from combat personnel to logistics, numbers over three hundred!

For wizards, this was already the scale of a small war!

Especially when they heard they were dealing with strange, unseen, elemental fire creatures from another world, they felt even more uncertain.

Ted ignored them and instead led his companions to constantly check the magic circle beneath their feet.

Although Dumbledore had reassured him not to feel pressured, not to force himself, and that he could still shield his students for a while, Ted always felt that his magic circle might have a huge role to play.

…

Sirius and the others took out two fire elemental creatures and breathed a sigh of relief. Not only because the environment was too hot, making every breath feel scorching, but also because these things were too difficult to deal with!

According to Ted’s appraisal, these fire elemental creatures all had a certain degree of magic resistance. Level 1 or 2, with a few even at Level 3.

Spells like Incendio were completely useless against them, while spells like Aguamenti were significantly less effective in this special environment.

And the remaining spells, like Confringo and Reducto, couldn’t easily kill these monsters. Because they had no flesh and blood, these spells often only blasted away scorching rocks, tore apart some flames, or even splattered some dark red, viscous magma.

It almost took four or five people continuously casting spells multiple times to completely shatter an elemental creature, turning it into a pile of ash or a heap of scorching rubble.

The vanguard team had only cleared a foothold of about two hundred square meters at the edge of the fiery land and was already exhausted.

Their magic consumption was high, and the duration of the Frost Bodyguard Potion was drastically reduced. Once the cooling effect disappeared, they felt suffocated by the heat within mere seconds!

Not to mention fighting!

And these things were too difficult to deal with.

Fortunately, their intelligence seemed low. As long as they were far away, they completely ignored what was happening here, otherwise, if they attracted a large group, even establishing this foothold would be difficult.

Soon, Sirius’s slightly urgent voice came through the communication device: “We’ve opened up a foothold, come on over. However, these things are very troublesome…”

A team of about ten dwarves in metal armor were the first to enter the cave. Their armor was inscribed with special runes, which could greatly resist fire damage and reduce the negative effects of high temperatures.

Then came Professor McGonagall with a few wizards and some gnome artisans wearing special magical devices. They were to establish a sturdy base in the fiery land under the dwarves’ cover…

Seeing Dumbledore leading a group of old Order of the Phoenix members begin to enter the cave, Ted told his companions, “You guys stay here and keep an eye on the magic circle. I’m going in to take a look.”

Dumbledore bent over as he moved through the cave—he was very tall. Seeing Ted at the very end of the line, he said nothing.

Ted needed to go in and set up the magic circle to connect the inside and outside.

The outer magic circle was the operational one, and the inner one was the effect circle. It was like the outside was the computer case and the inside was the monitor. No one else could do this; only he could…

When Ted emerged from the cave and reached the fiery land, the battle was still ongoing ahead.

A dozen wizards, under the cover of the dwarves, were fighting several large fire creatures.

Among them was a Lava Annihilator, a Level 12 elite unit, which simply waved its hand and sprayed lava, forcing the wizards and dwarves to scatter everywhere, not daring to take a direct hit.

Sirius and Snape stood at the forefront, using magic to restrict it, and the two still seemed to be somewhat at odds with each other…

Professor McGonagall glared at them both and used Transfiguration to alter the terrain to restrict the monster.

Forget it, no time to deal with them.

Ted didn’t even have time to see how the runes on the dwarves’ magical armor worked, nor did he have time to observe how the gnomes’ magical devices formed protective shields. He had to quickly get to work on constructing the magic circle.

Large amounts of magical silver deformed in his hands like putty, then transformed into liquid metal like mercury, flowing and tilting. Finally, guided by his wand, it flowed across the ground, forming geometric patterns and magical script…

Dumbledore stood still, observing the space with narrowed eyes. Everything was red, as if they weren’t in an underground cave but in a charcoal furnace.

In the endless fiery land, there were hundreds of fire elemental creatures, large and small!

He also noticed the Molten Core Giant guarding the central lava pool, the spatial gate that connected to another world and continuously spewed out fire magic!

Over ten meters tall, seemingly made of lava and boulders, with complete facial features and even lava patterns like a beard…

Using spells like Aguamenti and Glacius in such a place drastically increased the difficulty and consumption. Otherwise, the wizards wouldn’t be fighting so tangled.

Even with the dwarves at the forefront and the gnomes’ magical devices forming a networked magic shield, it was still very difficult.

The high temperature forced everyone to sweat profusely. Only Dumbledore didn’t have a single drop of sweat, but his long beard moved without wind, and his eyes shimmered with magical light—he was observing the gate.

If the gate couldn’t be closed, everything would be in vain.

After twenty minutes of fighting, the first batch of dwarves and wizards retreated, unable to continue. The second batch took over.

It wasn’t just the intensity of the battle; it was also because it was too hot. Fighting while in a sauna, no one could last long!

Just then, Ted suddenly shouted with joy, “It’s done!”

He was also drenched in sweat at this point, his wizard robes already taken off and tossed aside, his shirt soaked and clinging to his body—he had no time to worry about that. Racing against time to set up the connecting magic circle, he finally finished it!

Alchemy Array, formed!

Magic Circle, activated!

With a low hum, the magical silver patterns on the ground began to glow. A complex pattern started to expand on the ground, magic flowing through it, extending along the magic circle towards the cave they came from.

Then, the external fire magic was absorbed into the magic circle, continuously swirling within it, finally transforming into ice at Ted’s core!

It was like an air conditioner had suddenly been turned on. A cool air, like a thin mist, began to spread, and the nearby five to six hundred square meters immediately cooled down!

Although the covered area was only half of what they had cleared, it at least made things much more bearable for those fighting at the front and provided a possibility for them to retreat and rest.

In the long run, as long as the magic circle’s range could be expanded, its effective area would also increase, until the limits of the magic circle or Ted himself were reached.

This could greatly alleviate the disadvantage of losing the terrain.

“Well done, Ted!” Sirius smiled, his beard practically bristling.

Snape, on the other hand, turned his head away from Ted in disgust, wiping the sweat from his face with his sleeve.

Professor McGonagall also smiled, then cast another spell to raise a stone wall from the ground to block a monster.

Dumbledore was also startled. He glanced at Ted, nodded slightly, and then continued to observe the “gate”!

The sounds of spells and the shouts of the dwarves continued from the front. The further they expanded, the stronger and more numerous the fire elemental creatures they encountered, and the advance was not going smoothly.

…

Outside in the sinkhole, Hermione and the others also noticed the change in the magic circle.

“Ted activated the magic circle!” she cried out in surprise.

Ron: “How is it?”

Jerry: “Is it okay?”

“Everything’s going smoothly! It’s just…”

“Just what?” Neville asked.

“It’s just these supplies…” Hermione estimated based on the current consumption rate, “Three hours, it can only last three hours!”

Actually, if Ted didn’t have the [Unequal Exchange (Orange)] talent, the consumption would increase at least tenfold!

It was precisely because he had been manipulating the magic circle, using himself as the core to transform fire magic into ice power, that the magic circle alone could not achieve this effect.

That was the fiery land where lava was just a few meters beneath their feet. It was like running an air conditioner in a furnace; what kind of effect could that have?

Ted, however, chose to directly convert heat energy into cooling, which was incredibly unreasonable!

Another hour passed, and some wizards had already gone through two rounds of combat and couldn’t hold on any longer.

Someone contacted the wizarding world, both wizarding families and the Ministry of Magic, to send more people. At least fifty more were needed!

To be honest, these wizards had never experienced this kind of battle. Although the danger wasn’t great, the intensity was indeed high. They had never experienced continuous high-intensity spellcasting for ten to twenty minutes.

Battles between wizards usually lasted about two or three minutes before a victor was decided, with five minutes being considered a evenly matched fight.

Many wizards were experiencing what it felt like to run out of magic for the first time. And the number of casualties was also starting to increase!

Another thirty minutes passed, and another group of people was rotated in. They had cleared about three thousand square meters of safe area and were starting to encounter a large number of high-level fire creatures when Dumbledore finally moved.

He raised his wand high, his hair and beard moving without wind, and quickly chanted a muffled spell.

His wide wizard robe sleeves slipped down to his elbows, revealing arms that were no longer full of muscle, but rather gaunt.

He was already a centenarian!

After about thirty-odd seconds, he finally finished the lengthy incantation. His wand slid down, pointing at the alchemical array beneath Ted’s feet, and he uttered the final note!

“…corresponding transformation!”

(End of Chapter)