Chapter 296: Vaid Gre?
Chapter 296: Vaid Gre?
The dazed wizard, barely conscious, turned and tried to escape, only to find the elevator doors stubbornly refusing to open.
"Get out of my way!"
A furious man yelled and pointed his wand at the door, shouting, "Thunder Blast! Thunder Blast!"
A loud explosion followed, sparks flew, and the metal door twisted and deformed. But behind it, there was still a solid metal wall.
Someone else attempted to Apparate, spinning and falling back to the same spot.
"The Counter-Apparition Charm... It's not working!" he said in despair.
A tall, red-haired wizard rushed over, grabbed Gor by the collar, and shook him forcefully. "Who's behind you? Let us out! Or I'll never let you off the hook!"
Gor smiled mechanically. "Regarding the price, you can contact me privately. Of course, this is a one-of-a-kind treasure. If others also want it, then I..."
"Damn it!"
Despite knowing that Gor was under someone's control, the red-haired wizard couldn't hold back his temper and pushed him to the ground.
Gor sat up, dazed, and said to the stone podium next to him, "This ancient ruins exploration mission is very dangerous. Are you sure you want to join? Well, I can discuss it with the others..."
Seeing his crazy behavior, someone familiar couldn't help but shed tears. "Why? Why would someone do this to us? I haven't done anything wrong!"
He cried for a while, then closed his eyes and fainted.
Alchemists are mostly technicians who spend most of their time in their research labs, and their ability to respond to emergencies is extremely poor.
They wandered around like headless flies for a while before someone remembered to use the Friend Ledger to notify their friends outside to find a way to rescue them.
However, the words written on the parchment had already disappeared, and they received no response.
Professor Morrow, dragged into a corner by Vold, was already half-conscious. He trembled and forced himself to drink a potion before he could barely lift his head.
"Vold..." he said weakly.
Vold knelt beside him, supporting the professor's body with his hand.
"Have you contacted...Dumbledore?" Professor Morrow asked in a broken voice.
"No," Vold replied softly. "This room is probably under an Anti-Linked Charm, preventing messages from getting out."
"Is that so..." Professor Morrow gasped heavily twice, struggling to say, "If you...If you have a chance to escape...just run...don't worry about me..."
The old man's arm slipped from Vold's grasp, and Professor Morrow closed his eyes, his neck losing its support.
Vold laid him flat on the ground, then checked his breath anxiously.
As he expected, the old man's breathing remained steady.
Professor Morrow may have thought he was dying, but in reality, he was just knocked unconscious.
The statues continued to spray golden sparks, and golden fragments flew out like fairy dust.
As the wizards ran around in excitement, these fragments were scattered everywhere. Only near Vold, when the golden fragments floated by, they were blocked by an invisible barrier.
If someone observed closely enough, they would notice that the first people to fall were those closest to the statues, and their skin was covered with these fragments.
When Vold activated his second vision, he noticed something strange about these seemingly decorative fragments—they contained a power far beyond that of magical fireworks, and it was a very peculiar and unfamiliar force.
Vold was relieved that he didn't enjoy close contact with crowds and had positioned himself at the edge from the start. When the golden sparks initially erupted, he managed to avoid getting them on himself.
However, not many wizards could match Vold's ability to quickly identify the issue and silently cast the Ironskin Charm without a wand, maintaining it for an extended period.
Many alchemists, including Professor Morrow, carried alchemical items that protected them from magical harm.
But the golden debris floated like dust, and even if it landed on the skin, it wouldn't cause immediate harm. The weak magic on each particle was even weaker than a single Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, so it naturally wouldn't "activate" the defensive mechanisms of the alchemical items.
This was why Professor Morrow was affected.
Vold thought for a moment and, taking advantage of the chaos, stumbled to the side, pretending to faint as well.
One by one, everyone in the room collapsed until the last wizard, who was struggling with the iron door, also fell. After a while, new voices started chattering.
"Fainted—"
"Everyone fainted—"
"The plan was successful—"
"You can come in—You can come in—"
"Open the door—Open the door—"
"Idiots—The door wasn't even locked—No need for me to bother now—"
The portraits on the wall spoke one after another, not like the residual images left by wizards on the canvas, but more like a group of chattering sparrows.
The statue spraying golden dust rotated and sank into the ground, and a buzzing sound filled the room again. The air stirred, and the golden debris floating in the air was sucked away.
Vold quietly canceled the Ironskin Charm and, under the cover of his clothes, rubbed some of the debris stuck to Professor Morrow's body onto his shirt.
The wind stopped, and one of the portraits slid open with a creaking laugh. Several masked individuals emerged, followed by the girl who had been sitting behind the counter.
"They're all down," the girl said, kicking the sleeping Gor who was hugging the stone podium. "Useless! I even acted in front of him for several days."
"Stop chattering. The leader wants us to take these alchemists back," said a muscular man as he bent down to pick up the frail old wizard, Matthias. Another person followed behind, supporting Matthias as they dragged him out through the doorway.
The group dragged the alchemists out in an orderly manner, being careful not to let their bodies bump into the walls.
Vold narrowed his eyes slightly, feeling a bit surprised.
Using the Levitation Charm would have been simpler, but these people preferred to sweat and strain rather than using an easier spell.
However, the Soul Snatcher Curse and the strange golden debris didn't seem like something Muggles would possess.
The existence of this group... They didn't appear in the original plot, nor had he seen them in the movie series...
No, perhaps after he crossed over, new movies or TV shows emerged... After all, it's a super-hot IP, and a new adaptation is not impossible...
Vold tried to find some humor in the situation, suppressing his uncertainty.
Since they didn't intend to harm them immediately, Vold temporarily dismissed the idea of jumping up to resist. He rubbed the golden debris on his shirt onto his palm and soon felt his head getting heavy.
He wouldn't let himself truly fall asleep, but he also couldn't fake it too obviously.
After a while, footsteps stopped beside Vold.
"Are you sure?" he heard someone say. "Is this little boy Vaid Gre?"
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report