Chapter 1393: The Black Cocoon
Chapter 1393: The Black Cocoon
Snowflakes as light as goose down drifted silently from the sky, only to be swept up by a gust of wind that howled through the air. The figure that had been flying at breakneck speed was now nowhere to be seen, having disappeared beyond the endless expanse of white.
Suddenly, the figure pulled hard on the broomstick, causing it to ascend sharply before hovering in mid-air. Albert looked down at the village below, shrouded in a thick, icy fog.
"Is this... caused by Dementors?"
After observing for a moment, Albert withdrew his wand from his robe pocket and pointed it at the fog that blanketed the area ahead.
With a swift movement of his wand, a powerful storm surged forth, aiming to disperse the strange mist that enveloped the village in one go.
However, the eerie fog merely rippled slightly, showing no signs of dissipating.
"Oh, how surprising."
Albert paused for a moment, glancing at the newly triggered quest panel named "Liberation," before lifting his gaze back to the village enveloped in snow and wind. He fell silent for a brief moment as he pieced together what was happening in the fog-shrouded village below.
"Looks like it's a trap set by Death Eaters... Fine, I'll handle it myself," he muttered.
It was partly because he wanted to complete the relatively rewarding quest, and partly because he didn't want to put others at risk.
If the fog couldn't be dispelled, the members of the association would have to face the onslaught of Inferi within the mist, and casualties were likely.
He had come ahead to scout precisely to avoid any casualties among his companions, knowing that maintaining high morale was crucial when facing Voldemort.
Otherwise, with Christmas approaching, Albert would much rather be relaxing than running around on a wild goose chase.
With a light tap of his wand against his body, Albert tilted his broomstick and dove straight into the mist.
The visibility ahead was terrible; he could barely make out his surroundings within a few meters. From below, he could hear faint, eerie sounds.
They must be Inferi.
Those Death Eaters were madmen, slaughtering the entire village and turning its residents into Inferi.
While this situation was somewhat related to the association's mission to counter the Inferi, Albert didn't consider it his problem. Even if he hadn't tasked the association with eliminating the Inferi, the Death Eaters would still continue to create more.
Albert hovered on his broomstick above the rooftops, looking down at the Inferi on the streets illuminated by the firelight and muttered, "Those guys deserve to die."
He was glad he had come to scout the area first. Otherwise, the members of the association would have blundered into the village and likely faced a brutal siege by the Inferi.
Well, they could have ridden brooms too, but this freezing fog was a problem.
The fog was bitterly cold.
Even with magical protection from the cold, the frost on his thick cloak and the ice crystals all around told a clear story of the extreme temperatures.
If Albert were on his own, he might not have had an effective solution to this environment, except for using Fiendfyre to burn everything, including the fog, to ashes.
But he was reluctant to do that.
The traces left by Fiendfyre would be far too obvious.
Moreover, in such harsh conditions, controlling Fiendfyre would be challenging, especially in a village of this size.
"Let's start by killing all the Inferi here!"
Albert reached into his pocket and pulled out a specially crafted Mandrake doll. After casting a spell to ensure it wouldn't freeze, he tossed it onto the street.
The doll bounced a couple of times upon landing, then split into two, and soon after, into four, each one emitting an eerie, high-pitched laughter.
The Inferi, which had been wandering aimlessly, suddenly froze and turned towards the source of the sound.
"There are probably only this many Inferi in the area."
Albert checked his pocket watch and, despite finding the speed of the Inferi's gathering a bit lacking, raised his wand. A bone-chilling gust of wind, laden with frost, swept through the streets below, freezing the Inferi in their tracks.
As the Inferi shuffled towards the source of the sound, their movements slowed, and the frost on their bodies thickened. Before long, they were completely frozen, turning into lifeless ice sculptures. It looked like a scene from a disaster movie, both spectacular and chilling.
No, this was a disaster.
Or perhaps, this was what war looked like.
A group of madmen.
Albert waved his wand again, causing the lifelike ice sculptures to shatter into pieces, saving them the trouble of cleaning up.
He repeated the process several times—gathering the Inferi and then destroying them—until there were none left in the village.
If any other member of the association had been tasked with clearing this village, they would have had to endure a slow and arduous process in such harsh conditions.
"I guess this is one of the perks of having power!" Albert mused to himself.
Having finished his internal monologue, Albert turned his attention back to the village before him.
It wouldn't be a problem to stay here, but once the Anti-Muggle spells around the village wore off, Muggles would likely notice the abnormalities here.
Even if he wanted to reverse the effects of the freezing fog, Albert didn't have a good solution.
Wait a moment! Something felt off, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
What was it?
He tapped his forehead lightly, his gaze scanning the surroundings before finally landing on the detection watch on his wrist.
The alert light was still on, indicating that there were still enemies nearby.
The Inferi hadn't been cleaned up properly, or... perhaps the quest called "Liberation" wasn't completed either.
"There's still something unknown here." Albert muttered, staring at the direction indicated by his detection watch. "Is it over there?"
"A trap, or..."
The unknown was frightening.
Albert was reluctant to take the risk, but his intuition told him that the quest was most likely referring to whatever was causing the strange sensation.
"Let's go take a look, but we need to be prepared."
Albert waved his wand, summoning his old wand from where he had left it on the ship. Although he was loath to admit it, he had to concede that in critical moments, that old wand gave him a sense of reassurance.
With a wave of his wand, ice hounds materialized before Albert, their heads thrown back as they emitted silent howls before charging towards the peculiar direction.
Only after enveloping himself with the Patronus Charm did Albert remount his broom and fly towards the source of the anomaly.
The target indicated by the detection watch was an ordinary-looking house, no different from the other houses in the village. However, as Albert approached, he felt a peculiar sense of strangeness.
That feeling was somewhat familiar—it was... Dementors.
Yes, Dementors.
It was the sensation one got when encountering those creatures, the kind that affected people around them.
They had felt something similar when they went to Azkaban to rescue those unfortunate souls who had been captured.
Only, it wasn't as intense then.
Albert waved his wand, causing the ice hounds below to charge into the house. However, the hounds didn't stir up any commotion, as if the house were completely empty.
Nothing at all?
That was highly improbable.
This was undoubtedly a bad omen.
Albert had no intention of venturing inside, so... he chose to simply cast a spell and violently demolish the entire structure.
As the walls and roof were reduced to rubble by his spell, Albert finally laid eyes on the terrifying creature that had been hidden within the house.
It might be inappropriate to describe it as a creature; it was more like a cocoon.
Yes, a cocoon.
A Dementor's cocoon.
It was like a black mist cocoon, filling the space where the house once stood and spreading an eerie sensation in all directions. Even Albert, protected by the Patronus Charm, felt a cacophony of voices whispering in his ear.
Albert turned his broomstick around and retreated to create some distance. Only then did the voices in his ear finally cease, prompting him to breathe a sigh of relief.
His intuition told him that the Dementors were likely in the process of "hatching" their offspring.
There was no record in the extensive books he had read about how these creatures reproduced.
However, all signs pointed to the fact that Dementors would proliferate rapidly in an environment with abundant food, and the large number of Dementors roaming the lands of Britain was a testament to that.
So, what should he do about this situation? Since he had encountered it, he couldn't just ignore it, especially since it seemed to be related to the quest on his panel.
Should he use the Blasting Curse to burn them all at once?
But would the Blasting Curse truly incinerate that cluster of Dementors, entwined like a black cocoon? After hesitating for a moment, Albert ultimately decided against using the Blasting Curse first. Instead, he raised his wand and cast the Patronus Charm towards the anomaly.
The ball of light, condensed by his Patronus, suddenly blossomed with a radiant glow, enveloping the black cocoon.
The next moment, a piercing shriek emanated from the cocoon, as if countless souls were wailing in agony. Stranger still, the cocoon began to churn and writhe, revealing hideous faces that startled Albert.
"This..."
Albert felt that he might have guessed the meaning behind the quest "Liberation." He urged the ball of light, infused with his Patronus, to plunge directly into the cocoon.
The black cocoon trembled violently but soon calmed down.
"It's working."
Albert's eyes lit up as he continued to summon his Patronus, sending the ball of light into the cocoon repeatedly.
The shrieks grew louder, and the entire cocoon quaked uncontrollably.
It couldn't hold out much longer. As it wailed, the cocoon began to glow with a bright light, as if something were about to break free.
With a thunderous boom, the cocoon exploded amidst the brilliant light.
The force of the explosion left Albert dizzy, and he saw double for a moment.
He shook his head to clear his vision and stared, dumbfounded, at the souls that poured out of the shattered cocoon.
They resembled ghosts, formed from dense white smoke, and were likely the villagers whose souls had been sucked away by the Dementors. Their faces contorted in agony, as if enduring some kind of immense torment.
After a moment, the agony on their faces gradually faded, as if they had finally come to their senses. They turned to Albert in unison, and a small portion of the souls bowed slightly before vanishing without a trace.
Watching the vanishing souls, Albert muttered, "They deserved to die. Not a single one should have been spared."
As the black cocoon completely vanished, the icy fog shrouding the village began to dissipate, although it might take a long time for things to return to normal.
Looking at the completed quest on his panel, Albert took a deep breath and urged his broomstick to leave this troublesome place.
(End of Chapter)
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