From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 487 Stone Lord (Thanks to the generous donation from Feiyan Lunhui)

“You’re so cute, Minsara.” Shadowheart’s mockery was utterly merciless. “Even I know that spells in fairy tales don’t work.”

Knowing she had lost her composure, Mingsara didn't refute Yingxin's mockery. Instead, she chose to divert everyone's attention. Just then, a very eye-catching guy appeared in the vault hall of the accounting office.

“Minsk. He’s here.”

A bald, muscular man covered in the slime of the mimic monster crawled out from the sharp teeth and thick tongue of the treasure chest. He had already smashed the lock on the treasure chest, which the mimic monster had previously transformed into, with a single punch, and even the wooden planks held together by angle iron were almost torn apart by this humanoid Gundam.

"There's no gold here!" The furious Leatherman pointed at the half-dead mimic on the ground and glared at Chief Banker Shining Beard, whose pipe was slowly sliding from his mouth.

"Moradin's cracked clay..." The chief banker, who regarded gold as the most powerful force in all planes, was completely speechless.

Meanwhile, Minsk's mouth, described by the people of Menzoberranzan as a megaphone, continued to vent its anger: "If there is anything more hateful in Minsk than a foul-mouthed beast, it must be those who use the truth to play pranks."

The two Golden Guards standing beside Yaoxu also completely lost the courage to draw their weapons, and could only tremble as they stared at the wall of muscle in front of them.

“And turnips,” Minsk added, “but you are not a turnip. Let it be your comfort in your final moments!”

Just as Minsk was about to make a move against the chief banker, Jahira smiled and beckoned to his companion, who was ready to jump over the marble fence at any moment: "Come see Minsk. He always seems the same to me."

Before Jahira could even appear before the Stone Lord in Minsk, another voice belonging to "Jahira" came from the main vault at the end of the vault.

"Had enough fun, Stone Lord?" The main vault, where the coins of Baldur's Gate merchants and citizens of all classes were kept, had opened at some point. Inside stood another "Jashira," with the same face as the Jashira who was making a surprised sound in the telepathic communication channel.

"W...T...F?"

Ivy interrupted Jashira's classic speech via telepathy: "That must be some kind of shapeshifting creature. Don't just stand there, let's take them down!"

The adamantine shield whistled out, a powerful projection from Shadowheart.

Several members of the cult belonging to the Supreme God also emerged from the main vault along with the fake Heila. They intended to carry out a massacre in the heavily guarded vault, leave behind the emblem of the Supreme God, and continue to incite panic in the city.

Before these cultists wielding daggers and crossbows could even make a move, shields made from the adamantite forge of Twilight Star City were slapped onto their faces. Relying on these skins to bounce back and forth, they were caught firmly in the hands of Shadowheart, who leaped down from the air.

"Minsk! You stonehead!" Jahira's hand glowed with emerald green light, and numerous vines pierced through the marble floor of the vault, coiling up from Leatherman's bald feet and tightly binding him inside.

The sudden turn of events caught the Stone Lord and the fake Hera off guard, but they still noticed that the forces belonging to the Supreme God still held a numerical advantage in the vault.

“It seems the trap set by Nine Fingers wasn’t too bad, little banker. At least you had a backup plan.” Fake Hilla beckoned to Minsk, who was trapped by vines. “Come on, Stone Lord. We’ve got the gold—and the Supreme God has other uses for them.”

"Ugh—" Leatherman's bald head shouted, struggling to tear off the vines covering him. "Yes, sir, Jashira."

“God…” Jashira clutched her head and jumped in front of Minsk. “Can’t you move your stone head? She’s not Jashira, she’s not me! She’s just a lackey of the Supreme God!”

“You?” Minsk wasn’t fooled by the two Jahiras in the vault. “You’re not a Jahira! The Supreme God has shown me your face, you wretched shapeshifter! I’ll beat it into a satisfactory shape!”

"Enough, Lord Stone!" The fake Hera in the main vault clapped her hands. "Leave this work to the other believers of the Most Holy God! We have other things to do."

Before Minsk's brain was invaded by the Mind Flayer Tadpole, it was not far from being a lump of mush. Therefore, even after becoming puppets of the Supreme God, the Baal Order had to transform into the appearance of his former companions in order to control the Leathermans.

In this situation, much of the intelligence that can be transmitted through Mind Flayer Tadpoles is not very effective for Minsk.

But the shapeshifter disguised as a high-ranking harpist had already recognized Ivy standing on the steps.

That was the greatest enemy of the Supreme God, and the culprit that almost caused the Three Gods of Death plan to fail.

The shapeshifter didn't think it was capable of fighting him, so it only wanted to retreat as quickly as possible.

Before Minsk could respond to the fake Hilla's orders, the Archdruid Halsin, who was standing on high ground, transformed into a terrifying cave bear.

It swooped down from the sky with a fierce wind, slamming the Lesserman who had just broken free of the vines to the ground.

"Don't kill me! Halsin!" Jahira warned anxiously, drawing his scimitar to deflect a dagger that came from the shadows.

Besides the two assassins standing next to the fake Hera, there are many other assassins belonging to the Supreme God hiding in the shadows.

This is only natural; how could a few cats and dogs possibly empty the main vault of the clearing house without making a sound?
Standing next to Ivy, Minsara felt something hard poke her lower back armor. Only because the mithril armor's protective strength exceeded the attacker's expectations did she escape injury.

The drow paladin swung Elise's longsword with both hands, making an exaggerated horizontal slash that enveloped the space behind Ivy.

The sparks that suddenly appeared proved that the Drow Paladins reacted exceptionally well, and that there was indeed some unseen enemy standing behind them.

"Watch out! They're invisible!" Minsala shouted to his teammates, holding his sword horizontally in front of his chest and standing back-to-back with Ivy.

Having received the warning, Shadowheart joined forces with Jahira, using scimitars and shields to protect the giant bear fighting Minsk.

"Swoosh—" That was the sound of Ivy plucking the strings with her fingers.

The magical sound waves that flew from the lute strings quickly echoed throughout the hall, sweeping across all the creatures on the ground.

Ivy's teammates naturally knew that this was support from the spellcaster, but the Golden Guard of the Clearing House and the followers of the Supreme God were puzzled.

It wasn't until a pale blue humanoid silhouette appeared behind a pillar swept by the sound waves that the others present realized that this was actually an anti-invisibility spell cast using a musical instrument.

First-level Evocation magic, Felfire. It exists only in the spellbooks of Mechanic, Bards, and certain Druids. In the Underdark, Drow also use this magic to provide light.

This group buff spell, which combines enhancement, illumination, and anti-stealth effects, is surprisingly only a first-level Evocation spell. Its only drawback is that it requires a Dexterity save to take effect, making it often difficult to hit assassins or small creatures.

However, due to Ivy's high bonus, every single cultist assassin present was forced to reveal themselves.

Chief Banker Yao Xu glanced around and discovered that the enemy's numbers were more than twice that of his own.

If it weren't for the vast amount of gold stored in the main vault of the Clearing House, the Supreme God wouldn't have sent so many people to carry out this mission.

"Rescue the Stone Lord!" With the fake Sheila's call, several assassins pulled out projectiles from behind their backs and threw them without looking at the bear and the man and bear rolling around in a ball, their fur flying everywhere and roaring incessantly.

The enraged Minsk and Khalsin, transformed into giant bears, possessed equal strength, and even when pinned down by the giant bear, they still had the power to resist.

At this moment, the cult's assassins' projectiles flew in, giving him a chance to turn the tide.

Light and flames exploded behind the brown bear, immediately releasing a foul stench of burning protein.

Shadowheart had already used what could be described as a magnificent parrying technique, but the adamantine shield that could protect an adult was still too small for the massive cave bear. Three or four bombs that came from the right returned the way they came, but more projectiles hit the giant bear from directions that Shadowheart could not reach.

"Aaaaah—I'm going to kick your furry ass hard! Minsk's chest belongs to the cute little beast, Bu!" Minsk, who never uses his brain, often uses his muscles when he needs to think. So, the moment the force on his body weakens, his shrewd muscles detect the opening.

With a strange war cry, Minsk successfully flipped the giant bear off him, but he was immediately confused again: "Little Bu... who is that?"

"Stone Lord!" The fake Sheila's scimitar had already been knocked to the ground by the real one, and one of her arms had even been severed from her shoulder, but she still relentlessly charged towards Minsk. "Grab my hand! We're getting out of here!"

Minsk's mind, as chaotic as a thick fog, had just begun to clear up when it was interrupted by the appearance of his comrades.

"Jahira! You're hurt!" Without thinking, Minsk grabbed the witch he believed to be the one and was about to get angry when the fake Jahira stopped him with her remaining arm.

"We must leave!" Black smoke rose from around the two, instantly enveloping the leader of the Stone Lord group.

The black mist suddenly dissipated, but the fake Sheila was surprised to find that the surrounding scenery had not changed at all.

“I was prepared for this.” Ivy used wind elementals to fly into the air, bypassed the railing, and arrived at the center of the vault, coldly observing the cultists below.

"What have you done?" the fake Sheila shouted in terror, her voice no longer the composed one of a high-ranking harpist.

The pale green ray link was now deliberately enhanced by Ivy's magic. Ivy had previously used the light of the demon fire spell to cover up the spell's effect, so that the fake Sheila who was hit was completely unaware. Two spells in one round, that's how effective [Instant Spell Casting] is.

That pale green ray is the fourth ring's dimensional anchor, which can prevent all dimensional travel spells on the hit unit, including effects such as teleportation, blink, and phase shift.

"Uh... don't let her make that face with my face again... mage." Soft light emanated from Jahira's hands, repairing the damaged fur on the archdruid's back.

"As you wish." Looking down from above, Ivy raised her mithril staff and drew a circle in the air. Brilliant magical light quickly outlined a complex magic circle with large circles inside small circles in the air.

Minsk, who hated enemy magic the most, didn't even have time to dodge before the dazzling lightning turned the fake Sheila in his arms into charred remains. The surging lightning spread out in all directions, chaining together all the cult assassins who tried to get close, and they followed in the same footsteps as the fake Sheila.

"Eek..." Jahira watched in disbelief as her face turned into a pool of grayish-white slime under the scorching of the lightning, peeling off the shapeshifter's body.

"No!" the Lesserman roared in fury, his bull-like eyes blazing with fire. "You killed...her?"

A furry, menacing bear paw, larger than Leatherman's bald head, slammed heavily onto Leatherman's chin.

This interrupted the Stone Lord's rage.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Halsin explained to Jahira. “I just think he needs a good night’s sleep.”

Jasila shook her head: "He won't calm down for long... We need to take him back quickly..."

"Ah!" Shadowheart clutched her head. The Mind Flayer Tadpole's spiritual power linked her to Minsk and was also transmitted to the minds of every teammate through Ivy's magic.

“There was only darkness and rage…” Minsara pulled his longsword from the corpse of the cult assassin, then leaped down from the platform. “He was a monster…”

Jahira disagreed with Minsara's statement: "That was his way of fighting the darkness. He was the hero who saved Baldur's Gate, not some monster."

Sensing the pressure Shadowheart was under, Ivy didn't say much. She raised her staff and thrust it into the void, opening a door that was constantly flashing with astral light.

"Take him in and let our octopus-headed friends help him reclaim his will," Ivy commanded.

With the main objective achieved, the team members naturally had no reason to delay.

Halsin hoisted Minsk onto his shoulder and jumped into the portal with Jahira.

Shadowheart also breathed a sigh of relief. In fact, the connection between the Mind Flayer tadpoles was greatly weakened the moment the [Permanent Interdimensional Gate] opened, and after Minsk disappeared from the gate, this connection was completely lost, as was the mind link that Ivy had released earlier.

"Wait!" Yao Xu, the chief banker who hadn't intended to stand by but had just raised his crossbow and found that there were no enemies left, called out to Ivy, who was about to leave. "Where's my gold? Uh... sir?"

“Go find Nine Fingers. If things go well, she’ll help you find her.” Ivy glanced at him, then disappeared into the main vault of the Clearing House along with the teleportation portal.

(End of this chapter)