Hogwarts Card System.

Chapter 454 Sacrificial Flame Demon

Smaug the Dragon!

In the Lord of the Rings universe, the last dragon of Middle-earth once occupied the Lonely Mountain, the kingdom of the dwarves, crushed them, and seized a vast treasure of gold for himself.

It turns out that this giant dragon had already arrived in this world more than two years ago due to infiltration from another dimension.

However, because the process of the otherworldly infiltration was too smooth and gentle at that time, it did not wake up Smaug who was sleeping.

And so, they went from sleeping on a pile of gold to sleeping on a pile of rubble.

The foreign goblins who are now in charge of Gringotts are a bunch of remnants from various countries. Not only are they dishonest, but they are also incredibly greedy!

What's that saying again? "I'm terrified of poverty!" I didn't dare spend a single penny! I got completely fleeced!

To prevent their scheme from being exposed and devoured by Voldemort, they decided to settle the score.

As soon as I heard there was a dragon!

I had an idea right then and there.

There used to be a dragon in Gringotts. If we add another one now, wouldn't that be a restoration of tradition?

If the dragon caused a great disturbance and resulted in significant losses, then it would be understandable.

So they arranged for you to lure the dragon here!

Goodness, it really attracted them!

The result was somewhat unexpected—unexpectedly large.

They had been thinking of finding a dragon to cause trouble, but they didn't expect things to escalate so much. More than thirty of the hundreds of goblins were killed, and Smaug completely overturned Gringotts and took over the place!

Once they arrive, they don't want to leave.

Voldemort is about to go to Hogsmeade Village to fight and eliminate these last remaining resistance fighters.

And then this kind of news came from behind?

Voldemort's expression at that moment was absolutely terrifying. No one around dared to speak.

About half a minute later, Voldemort finally spoke: "Ignore those goblins, take down Hogwarts first. When I get back to London, I'll teach them a lesson! You like gold, don't you? Then you can be with gold forever!"

Voldemort, having survived for so many years, still possessed considerable strategic resolve. He didn't change his mind because of the unexpected dragon robbery.

That boy named Epifani can no longer be given time to grow up.

If such a trend emerges, it must be nipped in the bud immediately.

As for Gringotts, losing a little gold is nothing.

Voldemort brought his men, all sorts of monsters and demons of all sizes, Dementors, giants, vampires—everything they could find—intending to finish them off in one fell swoop.

Forgetting all the unpleasantness, he grinned from the high hilltop, watching with great interest as Hogwarts erected its magical protective shield.

This place where I used to go to school has brought me so much joy.

……

Just as a major war was about to break out in Britain, Grindelwald, far away in Africa, was doing something very important.

Back then, a significant intrusion from another world occurred here. In one of the mountains, a vast and complex underground kingdom was created.

This place also came from the Lord of the Rings world; it's called the Moria Mines.

This place was once inhabited by all sorts of orcs, goblins, and trolls, numbering in the tens of thousands!

After a quick cleanup, Grindelwald sealed the place off completely. He had discovered a powerful and malevolent magical aura emanating from the depths of the mine, indicating the presence of some terrifying monster.

At this moment, just as the great battle was about to begin, Ted and Grindelwald appeared here.

"Is this the Balrog you mentioned?" Grindelwald asked.

"That's right." Ted nodded.

"Does Albus need it?"

"It needs to be killed. The world of the living and the world of the dead are balanced. If someone wants to come out from the other side, someone of similar quality has to be sent in from this side."

"Then let's get started. Don't delay the battle at Hogwarts!"

Even in the Lord of the Rings, this Balrog wouldn't be considered low-level; it's a legendary monster.

It and the dragon Smaug are probably the strongest individual entities to date to have infiltrated from another world.

Of course, there may be others, but they haven't been discovered yet, such as in the vast ocean...

Hogwarts is a magic school with a history spanning thousands of years.

Although it was a school, the site selection and construction were very particular, because the witch hunts were intensifying, so the castle was designed to be easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Although the entrance to the school is flat and open, that's part of the later expanded campus. If you're really talking about a castle, then the location is truly treacherous.

There is a rift valley and cliff ahead, requiring a long covered bridge to cross.

To the side and behind is a vast black lake, and on the other side is a forbidden forest stretching for tens of kilometers.

The castle sits atop a man-made hillside, making it quite safe.

If it's just a few enemies infiltrating, they can choose to sneak in through some secret passage or something, but if it's a large force, there's only one way: a frontal assault.

However, these statements were made under the premise that the two sides were evenly matched.

If the opponent has a legendary wizard like Voldemort who has broken the limits of the world, then these conditions are not enough to rely on.

However, Voldemort, being proud of his status, naturally couldn't be the vanguard, leading the charge for his few rotten henchmen.

He's being reserved now, no! He's always been extremely proud and reserved. Although he's often unpredictable and hard to understand, most of the time he's very concerned about his image.

For example, right now, with a gentle wave of his hand, the blood-red black demon mark on the foreheads of the monsters under his command appears prominently, as if it is about to break through flesh and blood and jump out from the forehead.

Those giants, vampires, ogres, monstrous creatures, trolls, and the like immediately clutched their heads and roared like madmen, then charged recklessly toward the distant castle.

The school had already prepared for this battle; it was a do-or-die situation.

As soon as the monsters charged out, the castle began to react.

The magic within the giant protective shield enveloping the entire castle circulated along a certain path, and the hundreds of statues and stone carvings around the castle came to life, jumping down from their respective walls and stone platforms, and lining up in formation in front of the long covered bridge in front of the castle.

At the same time, on the land surrounding the castle, small pebbles began to tremble on the ground, and large amounts of soil began to coat those specially treated "pebbles," quickly forming clay figures—their lower bodies were lumps of mud connected to the earth, and they had excellent regenerative abilities.

Those living statues are, after all, an old method that has been around for thousands of years. Even if they have been enhanced, they are still outdated.

These emerging clay figures are quite advanced, combining runic literature, magic, magic arrays, and alchemy. Although they may not be considered high-end, they are a highly complex new type of magical puppet.

Compared to the hard and rigid stone carvings, clay figurines are soft and delicate, and the combination of the two creates a very good effect.

The five-meter-tall giant had long legs and a large stride. He wielded a large club made from a three-meter-long tree trunk and wore simple, tattered clothes. He was the first to charge forward.

Driven by Voldemort's spell, these monsters were in so much pain that they lost their minds and could only follow the guidance of the Dark Mark. There was no possibility of them cheating or making any cooperation.

The giant was the first to charge forward and the first to be hit. He stepped onto the covered bridge, and suddenly countless sharp rock spikes, as thick as a normal person's thigh and more than half a meter long, shot up from the entire bridge.

It pierced right through the giant's big foot!

"Ughhhh~" The giant could still feel pain, but the mark on its head hurt more, while the pain in its feet was not so obvious. It actually pulled out its pierced foot and charged towards the stone man on the other side of the bridge, stepping on the spikes and blood.

Behind it were several other giants, two or three trolls, and a few trolls—all long-legged and fast runners. Further away were other monsters, a vast and imposing sight!

Suddenly, a rune appeared on the magical shield, and then a large number of ice blocks, ice blades, ice arrows, and ice spikes flew towards the bridge.

What would be fatal to an ordinary person with a single hit from a large block of ice or an ice blade was not fatal to the giant. Although dozens of blocks of ice hit him in a few seconds, they almost tore his skin open, and the blood that flowed out froze on his body.

But this intense pain and coldness seemed to alleviate the terrible agony in my forehead, making it feel much more comfortable.

Giant: More! Hit me! Hit me hard!

The other two giants behind it did the same, stubbornly charging forward over a trail of sharp rocks, struggling to move forward amidst the blizzard of shattered ice.

The giant at the very front was once the chieftain of a giant tribe, possessing the highest physical attributes and magic resistance.

Despite the various attacks, it reached the other end of the covered bridge, raised its huge club, and smashed it down hard on the living statue.

But the clay figures were the first to stand in front, and under the influence of magic, several of them gathered together and turned into a large clay figure about three meters tall, which took the blow head-on!

How heavy must that giant chieftain's blow have been, delivered amidst immense pain? Even the force of a thousand pounds wouldn't be enough to describe it.

The upper body of the clay figure was almost completely smashed, and in an instant, a large amount of mud was splashed more than ten meters away.

At the same time, several mud figures rushed to the giant's legs, pounced on them, and turned into large patches of sticky mud, sticking the giant's lower legs to the spot.

The living statues were fearless, and even when faced with such a five-meter-tall behemoth, they did not hesitate at all. Immediately, three or four slender stone figures jumped into the air.

Like a nimble swallow, he leaped directly to the giant's face and thrust his spear at it!

Although the giant swung his hand and sent two flying, one of the stone men still managed to pierce one of the giant's large eyes with a spear. Amidst a scream, blood and a strange liquid gushed out...

Suddenly, a magical structure resembling a magnifying glass appeared on the protective shield. A bright light appeared on the magnifying glass, and in the blink of an eye, a blazing beam of light shot out, piercing through the chest of another giant.

A hole the size of a normal person's fist wouldn't be considered a serious injury to a giant, unless it pierced and burned the heart.

The giant crashed down, then plunged headfirst off the bridge into a crevice tens of meters below.

This enormous, scorching beam of light would be too much for even a giant to withstand!

……

Within just five or six minutes of the battle beginning, Voldemort and his companions, from a distant hilltop, witnessed four or five variations and methods of using this massive protective magic array, leaving them utterly astonished.

Even Voldemort remained silent—no wonder his few rotten garlic cloves failed so miserably; these mediocre and incompetent British wizards actually managed to produce something so amazing?

In fact, this magic circle can be said to be the culmination of the magic system after the otherworldly infiltration!

The concept of the magic lock in elven magic, the rune enhancement system of dwarves, the magical engineering of gnomes, the magic workshop and barrier construction of the Type-Moon world provided by Ted, the runes and Hextech Cores of Valoran—this is an improved version that has been studied and pondered by hundreds of thousands of players for more than a year, combined with the original protective magic of Hogwarts, and the largest magic network hub in Britain under the school.

This thing can already be called war magic! Its powerful and diverse functions are almost beyond the capabilities of an individual wizard.

However, this thing does have a fatal weakness: its strength.

There is a limit to the amount of magic it can withstand and output. If it falls below that limit, even a saturation attack would be difficult to break through it, because there is a continuous magic network supplying magic below.

However, if there is extremely powerful magic that can penetrate a point to break through an area, it can be easily broken.

Of course, this spot isn't easy to find either.

Isn't Voldemort also sending out a large number of cannon fodder to test the changes in this magic circle, trying to see through its core and weaknesses?

Ten minutes passed, and almost all the large cannon fodder that rushed forward had been wiped out. Their huge corpses lay on the ground, enough to serve as cover.

On the Hogwarts side, everyone's confidence soared, after all, this magic circle looked much more powerful than the one built by Hogsmeade.

The enemy lost one or two hundred monsters, while our side only lost thirty-odd stone golems. Although the mud golems suffered greater losses, they were all recovering.

As long as the "pebble" the size of a Go stone is not completely shattered, this thing can keep regenerating using the school's magic!

The deep blue, hemispherical magical shield, like a bowl, enclosed Hogwarts Castle. Every second, spells outside would strike it, yet they could only create tiny ripples.

Within that meter-thick magical barrier, magical energy circulated along circuitry like a circuit board, and various runes appeared and disappeared in strings, achieving various magical effects.

Ice, fire, storms, various buffs and debuffs... give people an incredibly strong sense of security!

This is simply a magical miracle!

At this moment, the young wizards in the school were incredibly proud—this was Hogwarts! You can't possibly destroy our school!

……

In Africa, Ted and Grindelwald finally subdued the Balrog.

This thing looks like a roughly humanoid monster formed from shadows and flames, and you can even see two curved horns on its hideous head.

Its weapons are a long whip and a long sword formed of flames.

Even without moving, the scorching air can cause severe burns. Burning footprints can be left even on rocks!

However, it was going to face two legendary wizards.

One is the Magic Web Weaver, who controls a small part of the world by covering the Magic Web network.

One person has mastered the power of many, gathering the magic of tens of thousands of wizards under his command.

It only took Ted and his companion seven or eight minutes to subdue the fire monster.

Ted simply encased it in a huge block of ice.

"What should we do next?" Grindelwald asked.

"Kill it and use it as a sacrifice," Ted replied.

"And then Albus can be resurrected?"

"It depends on what the situation is over there."

Ted and the others could only say that they had done everything they could, but they could only help Dumbledore a little more. He dared not say whether Dumbledore could return.

After all, they didn't know what the situation was like over there.

Unless I go there in person someday, or cover that place with the magic net, the separation between the living and the dead is no joke.

……

Guided by Nagini, Nawi started running quickly and kept running and running, not knowing how long he had been running.

It was as if this direction had no end, only a vast expanse of white.

This reminded Neville of his first two years at Hogwarts, when he ran around the Black Lake with Ted and successfully completed his first lap around the lake.

By then, he was almost unconscious; his mind was about to stop, but his body kept running.

When I came to my senses, I had already run a lap, a feeling and achievement I had never experienced before.

I ran and ran, and finally it seemed like things were changing around me!

First, the roadside became hardened, then gradually turned into a concrete road surface, and some man-made traces began to appear around it.

Neville perked up and continued running.

Soon, he noticed that the artificial traces were increasing, like a sketch with more and more content appearing.

He felt the scene was familiar, and suddenly it dawned on him—a train station! This is a train station! It's King's Cross Station!

When he realized he was at King's Cross Station, he had no idea when he had stopped, and the surroundings had completely transformed into London's King's Cross Station.

It's just that the exposure seems to be too high, and everything is excessively bright.

King's Cross Station, Platform 9¾, is the starting point for Hogwarts!

"Nawi, you've succeeded! You've found the way!" Nagini's voice rang out.

"The road? This is the road?" Neville asked, puzzled.

Suddenly Nagini shouted, "Someone's there! Who?"

Neville turned around and saw a tall figure walking towards him from a short distance away.

Long white hair, white beard, white robe, tall stature, and an old yet familiar face.

"Dumbledore?! Dumbledore!" Neville cried out uncontrollably.

"Oh, Neville, you've finally arrived. I've been waiting for you for so long," Dumbledore smiled.

"You're not dead? Dumbledore, you're not dead?" Neville was overjoyed.

"Oh, to be precise, we are both dead. But not completely dead," Dumbledore said.

He pointed to the railway tracks below the platform: "You see, if we go over there, we'll go to another world and begin another journey. But if we choose to go back..."

"We will be resurrected!" Neville blurted out.

"That's right. Generally speaking, souls that come here only have one path: downwards. Some choose to stay and become ghosts. But we have another option."

At that moment, a faint cough suddenly rang out.

"There's someone else?!" the little snake Nagini cried out in a shrill voice.

She was already surprised to run into Dumbledore here, so why was there someone else?

Neville looked toward the source of the coughing—a long bench to the side.

Through the gaps between the wooden slats nailed to the seat, one could almost see a reddish object, standing out conspicuously in this pure white world.

When he saw it clearly, he was startled: "What... what kind of monster is this?!"

Dumbledore turned to look at the grotesque, skinned creature beneath the bench. "This is poor Tom, who has torn his soul to pieces. This is a part of it..."

(End of this chapter)