Hogwarts Raven

Chapter 367: The Faceless One

The night was as dark as ink, thickly enveloping the entire city.

The bustling streets of the day were now silent, with only a few oil lamps flickering in the wind, casting dappled shadows. Ian quietly returned to the surface through the hidden exit of the ancient Egyptian library, the wisdom and warnings of those ancient texts still echoing in his mind. He did not rush back to the city, but chose to walk slowly in the shadows of the outskirts, trying to clear his thoughts.

However, as he passed through a narrow alley, he caught a glimpse of a blurry figure out of the corner of his eye. It was a person wearing a dark gray cloak, thin and wiry, moving with light and cautious movements. He was squatting in front of a wooden door, holding a slender magic pen and drawing something quickly and discreetly in the shadows of the doorframe.

Sneaky, secretive—he didn't look like a good person at all. His movements were chillingly practiced—in just a few breaths, he had "visited" every doorway on the street. Moonlight, like murky amber, streamed down the cobblestone streets of Memphis, and Ian silently followed behind the furtive figure.

What the person drew was not a random scribble, but an extremely complex set of runes—intersecting lines, interlocking rings, with a tiny six-pointed star pattern embedded in the center.

After finishing the drawing, he quickly got up and moved to the next house, repeating the same action.

“Marking every house in the middle of the night?” Ian frowned. “This is no ordinary thing. If it’s not a thief scouting ahead, then it’s a prelude to some kind of ritual.”

Alarm bells rang in his mind. He thought of the recent spate of disappearances, the maid's bizarre corpse, the strange seal on the temple, and the replica of the "Eye of Ra".

Scenes flashed through my mind.

The man's actions were unmistakably fraught with malice. Ian silently closed the distance, and just as the other man was about to turn onto the next street, he suddenly emerged from the shadows.

"They'll all turn to petrification!"

A beam of grayish-white light shot out from the tip of the wand, striking the man precisely in the back. The body under the cloak instantly stiffened, collapsing forward in a half-squatting position.

Ian's spell-casting sneak attacks are very effective.

The mysterious man was frozen as if by invisible frost, unable to move, except for his eyes, which could move slightly, revealing shock and astonishment.

"Don't move. Tell me what you're doing? What are these marks?" Ian stepped forward slowly, his wand pointing directly at the other's chest, his voice cold and stern as he asked.

Although he was a top student, he didn't understand every magic system. The system the other party used was beyond his knowledge, so he couldn't figure it out for the time being.

The cloaked figure struggled to turn his eyes to look at Ian. When his gaze fell upon the faint magical fluctuations emanating from the wand in Ian's hand, his pupils dilated abruptly, his face drained of color, and his voice, distorted and trembling from the petrification spell, still managed to squeeze out a few words: "A...legendary...mage? How...how could he...be here?"

He is clearly a very discerning wizard.

Ian's heart skipped a beat. He deliberately lowered his voice, his tone carrying a hint of mystery and authority: "Why I am here is none of your concern. I only ask you—who do you serve?"

"These runes, are they for guidance or for sacrifice? I'm unusually interested in the temples of this city. Now, answer my question." Ian raised an eyebrow, deliberately letting a few sparks fly from the tip of his wand. He stared at the other man, releasing an invisible legendary pressure that made the other man feel as if a mountain was pressing down on him.

He removed the petrification effect from the other person's throat, but kept the rest of the body restrained.

"Wait! You're not from the temple? You're here... to investigate the temple's anomalies?" Upon hearing this, the cloaked man's tense expression suddenly relaxed, the horror in his eyes fading, replaced by a complex emotion of relief. He breathed heavily, as if confirming something, and then, though his voice still trembled, it held a hint of hope.

Ian remained unmoved, and said in a cold voice, "Answer my question."

He still knew that when facing these unknown situations, he had to keep a poker face, which was the best cover to prevent others from seeing through his thoughts when he was out and about.

"I am a member of the Twilight Hermits! These marks are protective runes, not harmful things. Their effect is to ward off the 'predators' of the night!"

The cloaked man's voice suddenly became excited.

The other party clearly knew about those shadowy figures, and judging from their appearance, unless they were exceptionally skilled actors, they were not from the same group of wizards as the priests in the temple.

"The Twilight Hermits? Doesn't sound like a legitimate organization." Ian raised an eyebrow; he had never heard of this name before. He slightly relaxed the pressure on his wand.

"We're not the villains!"

The cloaked figure was sweating profusely, but unfortunately, he couldn't move. "The Hermit Society is spread throughout the world, composed of wizards and scholars, dedicated to maintaining peace between the magical world and ordinary people!"

"You...you wouldn't happen to be that legendary 'Shadow Mage' who has lived for a thousand years, would you?" This mysterious cloaked figure clearly mistook Ian for an ancient relic disguised as a teenager because of his youthful appearance. This was understandable, after all, a legendary mage in his teens was indeed too astonishing.

"Enough talk. Explain yourself, or I won't mind keeping you in this position forever." Ian squinted, examining the symbols carved into the doorframe by the moonlight—a complex pattern of three nested triangles, edged with tiny runes. He recognized several defensive runes.

It is indeed unrelated to black magic.

Even after recognizing this, he still couldn't lower his guard. The dark wizards in the ancient wizarding world were far too wicked. He still remembered that even the infamous Dark Lord Voldemort was one of the few pure-hearted dark wizards in the ancient world.

"Yes, yes, yes! The Twilight Hermits are a secret organization composed of wizards from all over the world, headquartered in the 'Twilight Tower' in the far west. Our purpose is to maintain the balance and stability of the world and prevent ancient evil magic, forbidden experiments, or the abuse of divine authority from causing disasters. We are spread throughout major cities, operating in secret, unknown to the world."

The cloaked man gave another extremely detailed explanation, as if afraid that Ian might kill him if he was displeased. Ian feared him, but he was no less afraid of Ian's ruthlessness. For wizards of this era, ruthlessness wasn't limited to dark wizards; white wizards sometimes acted even more decisively than dark wizards.

Especially these legendary figures who have lived for a long time.

“Now it sounds… a little less like a villainous organization?” Ian stroked his chin, deep in thought, but in reality, he had already begun to spy on people.

“Of course not!” Kalan almost shouted, his cheeks flushed with excitement. “We are the Guardians! We are not creating chaos, but stopping it! These runes you see are preliminary markings for an ‘evil-repelling barrier.’ We draw them with special ink that can interfere with the perception of low-level evil spirits, preventing them from locking onto residents. Recently, there have been a lot of disappearances in the city, and we believe that some kind of dark force is operating in the shadows, and the temple…”

He lowered his voice, “The temple’s reaction is too abnormal. They’re not investigating the murderer, they’re covering something up. We can only do our best to protect the innocent residents and prevent them from becoming the next victims.”

Clearly, these so-called righteous people were also unaware of what was happening at the temple; perhaps their magical abilities and manpower were inferior to those on the temple's side. Ian was shaken. This vaguely matched the clues he had received from the woman in black robes—the temple was covering it up, and someone was resisting in secret.

“Prove it to me.” Ian lifted part of the petrification spell, but still pointed his wand at the other’s heart—he could only glimpse a little because of the other’s mental defenses.

just now.

Ian needed the other person to actively open their heart. The cloaked figure laboriously pulled a bronze badge from his robes, engraved with a pyramid pattern in the afterglow of a setting sun. When Ian's wand lightly touched the badge, it immediately projected a 3D image.

Countless figures wearing the same cloaks cast spells across the world. Some were reinforcing houses to protect against werewolves, some were guiding lost ghosts, and others were healing Muggles injured by dark magic. — These were all recorded achievements, and Ian examined them and found they were not fake.

"interesting."

Ian finally broke the spell completely.

"So you discovered there's a problem with Memphis?"

He made an inquiry.

The cloaked figure rubbed his stiff shoulders as he stood up, lifting his hood to reveal a young face—looking no more than twenty-five years old, with a lightning-shaped scar below his left eye.

“I’m Cam, a junior observer from the branch.” He lowered his voice. “We noticed the anomalies in Memphis three months ago, but the security at the temple was too tight; we could only pinpoint the problem to that area.”

Ian noticed that when Cam said this, he unconsciously touched the leather pouch at his waist—it was emitting a faint magical aura and clearly contained many amulets.

"You rely on these runes on the doorframes to protect your residents?"

Ian asked in surprise.

“It’s not just runes.” Kam took a small vial from his leather pouch, containing a shimmering silver powder. “Use it in conjunction with Nightmare Dispeller. Those ‘things’ seem to be hunting through dreams.” He suddenly shuddered. “We lost two companions last night; they tried to approach the temple.”

His tone was filled with sadness.

"How much do you know about the temple?" Ian pressed.

Karan shook his head, a hint of helplessness and anxiety flashing in his eyes: "Not much. Our branch is just a grassroots organization, and the intelligence we can access is limited. We only know that a force is rising within the temple, and it's related to the ancient rituals of the 'Sun God,' possibly involving 'divine grafting' or 'soul transformation.' We suspect that the maid's death was part of this ritual—she wasn't killed, but rather 'chosen.' But we can't penetrate into the core of the temple; we can only report to headquarters and wait for higher-level investigators to arrive."

"What about that blue crystal fragment?" Ian asked tentatively.

Kalan was taken aback: "You...you even know this? That's a fragment of the 'False God's Eye,' a medium used in rituals to guide souls into the 'Elysium Illusion.' The real 'Ra God's Eye' can grant light, while this imitation...will only lead people to death in false joy. We are also investigating its origin and suspect that someone inside the temple is secretly crafting it."

Ian remained silent. Karan's words corresponded perfectly to the contents of forbidden books he had seen in the library, such as *The Art of Divine Grafting* and *The Guide to Cultivating Artificial Gods*. The temple was attempting to create "artificial gods," and the maid was the first sacrifice to be "converted." Her eerie smile was a hallucination created by the "Eye of the False God"—before her death, she believed she was entering the divine realm.

"Why...why are you waiting for headquarters?" Ian asked.

“Because…” Kalan’s voice was low, “the power of the temple far exceeds our imagination. They not only have powerful priests, but may have already touched upon true divine power. We branch members are at most intermediate mages. Acting rashly would be like moths to a flame. The ‘Night Watchers’ sent by headquarters are the ones who can contend with them.”

Ian nodded slowly, finally understanding Karan's predicament. He raised his wand and softly chanted the dispelling spell. Karan gradually regained feeling in his body, moved his stiff limbs, and looked at Ian gratefully: "Thank you... I thought I was going to die here today."

"No need to thank me."

Ian said calmly.

“I’m just searching for the truth. And your organization might just be the ally I need.” He spoke softly, just as the other was about to be overjoyed.

Suddenly, the sound of stone slabs shattering came from afar.

Cam's expression changed drastically, and he grabbed Ian, pulling him into a shadowy corner: "They're here!"

Ian followed his gaze and saw three blurry human figures moving slowly in the moonlight at the end of the street. Their gait was strange, like that of dolls with their joints broken in the opposite direction, and the edges of their bodies had an unnatural blurriness. Most disturbingly, when one of them turned its "head," what should have been a face was just a flat patch of skin.

“The Faceless Ones.” Kam’s breathing became rapid. “The hounds released by the temple. They will seek out sinners and bring them to the temple. This hunt is officially permitted.”

obviously.

The so-called hunts were not a one-off event. In addition to the shadowy figure released by the mysterious embryo, there were also a number of officially approved hunts, which may have been the human sacrifices used at the beginning.

"Are they afraid of the dark?" Ian keenly noticed that the creatures deliberately avoided shadowy areas where the moonlight didn't reach when they walked, and he wasn't surprised that the authorities would agree to hunt criminals.

after all..

It's not hard to see from the information we gathered last night that the entire city is facing a huge threat, so those in power, not wanting to die, naturally place their hopes on the temple.

They're just guilty people; the authorities certainly won't care. Even innocent people, the officials will turn a blind eye to save their own lives. Just look at the activities of those shadowy figures later on; it's impossible that those in power haven't discovered this, they're just pretending not to know.

“No, it was the moonlight that guided them.” Kam pulled a handful of silver powder from his leather pouch. “Look.”

He gently blew away the powder, and the silver dust formed clear trails in the moonlight—those invisible "paths" connected all the unmarked houses. The three faceless beings moved along these paths of light and stopped in front of a door.

"Oh no! That house's sign has been washed away by the rain!"

Cam was about to rush out when Ian grabbed his shoulder.

"It doesn't matter if they're sinners or not." Ian didn't actually feel disgusted by the Faceless Men's actions. After all, as a model student at Hogwarts, he also hated vicious sinners.

"But……"

He swallowed hard, about to say something, when suddenly the sound of shattering glass came from the other end of the street—a faceless being had smashed through a window and broken into that house!

(End of this chapter)