Chapter 1544: Defeat
Chapter 1544: Defeat
Nelson Tobyn understood why everyone was so hesitant to use the Mandrake.
It wasn't just because the cry of a mature Mandrake was incredibly deadly, and one wrong move could easily lead to the death of oneself and those nearby. There was another, more important reason: the fear that other Dark Wizards would learn and turn this knowledge against them.
Ever since the formation of the Defense Association, Albert had taught them practical techniques on numerous occasions to better protect themselves and face Voldemort's forces. However, in the repeated clashes with the Dark Wizards, many of these techniques had been learned and used against them.
Indeed, just as they had used the cry of the Mandrake to indirectly kill a group of Dark Wizards, their enemies could do the same. If they wanted to use Mandrakes against them after the fact, there wasn't much the Order could do to counter it, short of wearing earmuffs at all times! As for banning Mandrakes?
In the UK, living Mandrakes were already prohibited and their cultivation was forbidden in most places. However, their rarity in the UK didn't mean they couldn't be found elsewhere, and even if they couldn't be sourced locally, they could always be smuggled in from abroad; it was impossible to stop it entirely.
Most importantly, once they had defeated Voldemort and won this seemingly impossible Wizarding War, the truth about using Mandrakes to take out hundreds of werewolves in one fell swoop would undoubtedly be revealed.
So, Nelson Tobyn could understand why Albert was willing to push past his limits to eliminate these Dark Wizards once and for all, aiming for a permanent solution to most of their troubles.
After all, no one wanted to suffer the same humiliating death as those werewolves, who probably never imagined that they would be felled by the cry of a Mandrake.
Of course, no one would sympathize with the werewolves, just as no one sympathized with the Dark Wizards.
They deserved their fate! Following the guidance of the Felix Felicis, Nelson Tobyn stopped in the corridor outside the third-floor classrooms. He used the Alohomora spell to open the doors to each classroom and sneaked into one of the open rooms, patiently waiting for his prey to take the bait.
He never worried about choosing the wrong ambush spot because this location was near the staircase to the second floor. If the group of Dark Wizards wanted to access the third floor via the stairs, they would have to pass through this area, and he would be able to give them a nasty surprise.
This was an ambush solely designed and executed by Nelson Tobyn.
Without a doubt, following his intuition from the Felix Felicis was the right choice. Nelson Tobyn didn't have to wait long in the classroom before he saw a team of Dark Wizards walking past the door. This squad was actually bait, and if anyone attacked them, they would be quickly overwhelmed by the larger force waiting in the wings. With their numerical superiority, the Dark Wizards could easily crush their opponents, rendering ambushes less effective.
However, whether it was the Death Eaters or the Dark Wizards, none of them expected someone to use Mandrakes as a large-scale weapon.
And their reliance on numbers had now become their death warrant.
Watching the Dark Wizards walk by from his hidden spot in the darkness, Nelson Tobyn's lips curled into a cruel smile.
"Go to hell and repent!"
With incredible speed, Nelson Tobyn pulled out a Mandrake from his leather bag and placed it on the door frame, ensuring that its cry would reverberate throughout the entire corridor.
Accompanying the cry were a series of thuds from the corridor outside.
Even though Nelson Tobyn was wearing earmuffs and couldn't hear anything, he could see through the classroom door that a group of people had suddenly collapsed on the ground outside, and his smile widened.
His intuition told him that he should immediately leave his hiding spot with the Mandrake, acting as a mobile source of destruction and taking out anyone who had managed to escape the initial cry.
But in the end, Nelson Tobyn chose not to do so. He was certain that if he did, he could take out a lot of Dark Wizards, but he would also likely become a target and eventually perish.
The enemies weren't fools. If they cast large-scale spells to cover the entire corridor, he, as the obvious target, would undoubtedly perish.
Nelson Tobyn wasn't willing to gamble with his life, not until he saw Voldemort dead with his own eyes.
In fact, Nelson Tobyn was overestimating the Death Eaters and Dark Wizards, because they completely panicked and lost their composure after the unexpected event.
Of course, Yaxley's survival was purely due to luck. In the moment the cry rang out, he instinctively covered his ears, sparing him from the fate that befell the unfortunate souls in front of him who had been knocked out by the sudden cry.
The Dark Wizard in front of him wasn't so lucky. Even though he was still some distance from the source of the sound and hadn't covered his ears in time, he collapsed unconscious when the cry of the Mandrake washed over him.
If the corridor hadn't been so long, Yaxley suspected that everyone in their group might have been taken out in one go.
Fortunately, not all Dark Wizards were idiots. In the immediate aftermath of the incident, they realized something was wrong and covered their ears, staggering backward to minimize the damage.
It was only after Yaxley led the group away from the range of the cry that they realized more than half of their companions had fallen during the previous ambush.
"That despicable, vile Mudblood!"
Despite the stream of curses filling the air, Yaxley paid them no mind. He had abruptly snapped out of his daze from the crushing defeat, and it finally sank in—he had lost.
Yes, he had lost completely.
Originally, he had wanted to rely on their numerical superiority to crush those foolish rebels, but it seemed that this was well within the enemy's expectations. They were just waiting for them to regroup so they could wipe them out all at once.
Yes, Yaxley had guessed what had happened earlier.
Mandrakes! The cry of a mature Mandrake was extremely deadly, which meant that those who had fallen earlier might have lost their lives. Even those who were a bit farther away, if they didn't die, would likely remain unconscious for a long time.
This was as good as being dead.
Because along the way, they hadn't encountered any other living Dark Wizards who had been captured, which meant that their enemies might no longer be taking prisoners.
"What do we do now?"
Several Death Eaters, still shaken by the recent events, approached Yaxley, hoping that Voldemort's right-hand man would come up with a solution.
Obviously, someone had recognized the Mandrake.
They had seen firsthand what would happen if that thing was thrown into a crowd, and it meant that Yaxley's original plan was now completely unworkable.
(End of Chapter)
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