The Butcher of Hogsmeade

Chapter 128 Forest fires are easier to explain than trolls

The roars of adult male giants act as a signal, instantly triggering the ferocity of female and juvenile giants; they don't have the large wooden clubs of the males, but they casually uproot small trees by the roadside, break off branches from large trees, and even pick up stones by the roadside to use as weapons, howling as they rush down the hillside.

"Retreat, don't get separated, don't get surrounded!" Gideon immediately ordered, while he and Fabian stayed at the rear of the group to cover the retreat; but even two elite Aurors could not stop the charge of dozens of large and small trolls.

At this moment, Shen Hou suddenly asked a seemingly unrelated question: "A small-scale forest fire is easier to explain than a group of enormous monsters three or four meters tall, right?"

"What did you say?" Fabian asked in the midst of the chaos, but Gideon also didn't hear him clearly.

"I understand!" If the Prewitt brothers hadn't heard clearly in their confusion, then Shen Hou hadn't heard at all. He nodded as if answering his own question, then waved his wand, "Blazing Flames!"

A wall of fire, more than ten meters wide and more than ten feet high, spread out to the left and right along the foot of the hillside; this was only the first one, blocking the female and juvenile giants coming down the hillside. Then there were a second and a third wall, separating the retreating wizard groups on the left and right sides from the pursuing adult male giants.

The trolls were of low intelligence and were equated with animals by the wizards; and apart from a few magical species such as the fire serpent and the fire dragon, how many animals were not afraid of fire? The walls of fire stood tall, the flames blazed high, and the instinct of fear drove all the trolls to slow their pace.

"Wow, this fire is so big, you could probably see it clearly from Godric Valley," Fabian exclaimed, his tone more excited than worried.

Gideon had no time to be excited, but instead urged repeatedly, "Hurry up and block the way down the mountain." As he spoke, he used all sorts of transformation spells and burrowing spells as if they were free, creating a large number of obstacles between his side and the troll.

They weren't there to fight the trolls to the death. If they could just hold them off for a few more minutes, their Auror colleagues would be able to come to their aid. There were really only two things on their minds: first, they couldn't let the trolls break through the blockade and threaten Godric's Valley, since more than half the inhabitants there were Muggles; second, they couldn't let the troll tribe scatter, otherwise they'd have to search the entire mountainside afterwards.

"Shen, control your flames and try to trap the giant here," Gideon warned.

"I'll try my best." Shen Hou casually agreed, but he didn't dare to make a definitive statement. He could only say that he was confident in controlling the pyromantic spell, but he lacked experience in more precise operations, and the bone spike wand in his hand did not support it.

Is it that the Hungarian hornet dragon is used to controlling the fire's range when it breathes fire, or that the mantis willow knows how to distinguish its targets when it goes berserk?

Since the troll tribe couldn't be scattered, Shen Hou naturally had to adjust the position of the fire wall: when all the team members retreated, leaving only himself and the Pwitt brothers who were also bringing up the rear, he suddenly pulled back the bone spike wand, and the fire wall that was blocking the female and underage trolls on the hillside quickly went out.

The adult giants, already trapped by the fire wall, instinctively rushed towards the gap. The two groups of giants successfully joined forces, but once again they huddled together in a dense swarm, completely disoriented and unsure of where to go.

Shen Hou, however, would not give the giants time or opportunity to slowly understand the situation. Just as the giant tribe gathered, an even hotter and wider-ranging flame rapidly rose up in the middle of the hillside and spread across the entire hillside in a very short time.

In this way, including the dozen or so giants that had been stunned and lay unconscious in the pit, at least forty mountain giants were surrounded.

Between the three firewalls arranged in an "open" shape, the only gap has been blocked by the Pwitt brothers with various obstacles.

It was at this moment that Shen Hou's unstable magic began to flare up: the two vertically arranged fire walls nearby were fine, but the fire wall that stretched across the hillside in the distance gradually went out of control. After burning away the shrubs and vegetation on the hillside, the flames seemed "unwilling" to rely solely on the magic provided by Shen Hou as fuel, and began to gradually spread towards the top of the hill and both sides, heading straight for the lush broad-leaved forest.

In no time, the entire mountain was ablaze, resembling a giant fire. Even the two vertical walls of fire were starting to get out of control. However, the fire wasn't spreading outwards but rather contracting inwards, squeezing the giants' foothold smaller and smaller. It looked like the giants would be roasted alive in just a few more minutes.

Fortunately, the wizards' reinforcements arrived before the fire completely spiraled out of control.

At first, Aurors appeared in phantom form, directly beside Shen Hou and the others. Upon landing, they quickly controlled two vertical walls of fire, gradually suppressing the flames. Simultaneously, they swiftly used Polymorph to alter the terrain, driving the giant monster towards the center of the valley. Another group of reinforcements rode flying broomsticks straight to the farthest hillside, doing the same thing: controlling the fire and altering the terrain.

Looking from afar, Shen Hou initially thought the broomstick riders were temporary Quidditch club players, but upon closer inspection, he discovered that the new riders were not wearing club uniforms. He then realized they were all Aurors and batters from the club.

Only after the fire and the giant were brought under control did the leaders of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the Department of Magical Accidents and Disasters finally turn around and cause trouble for Shen Hou and his group.

"Aren't you making a bit too much noise? In just those few minutes, the Muggles of Godric's Hollow have already..."

At least six emergency calls were made.

"So what? It's just a forest fire! A hunter's campfire, a cigarette butt left by a hiker, or the first lightning strike of spring—it's easy to explain." Shen Hou used the same excuse as before. "At least, it's easier to explain than a group of monsters nearly four meters tall."

"The Muggles also heard the roar of the trolls." Piastral wasn't going to let them off easily.

"That's the sound of the wind, not a roar," Shen Hou explained seriously, his eyes wide. "When a forest fire occurs, the huge temperature difference often creates a strong convection environment in a localized area, which is a sudden strong wind; when the wind blows through valleys and caves, it can easily produce unusually loud noises. Moreover, large trees inevitably fall and roll down in the fire area, which can also cause sounds that are misunderstood. These are all normal phenomena and perfectly reasonable."

Piastrelli, with a half-smile, said sarcastically, "You really should work for the Muggle Mediation Committee, Mr. Shen; being a hitman is a waste of your talents."

"Thank you for your kind words; if you really have such an idea, you can certainly report it to the Minister. I am ready to be at your service at any time, Your Excellency." Shen Hou's ambiguous smile was exactly the same as Piastrelli's.