Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 450 The Moving Calamity of Salazar and the End of Phase One

Astoria: ? ? ?

She felt a jolt, as if a powerful, charged strike had landed on empty air.

"Rice, how could you... I mean, um..." Astoria felt her language system malfunctioning.

The formidable enemy who was supposed to fight you to the death was instantly killed by your suddenly appearing teammate. Anyone would be thrown into a state of mental chaos in this situation.

"Sorry, I stole a kill." Rice glanced at Astoria with a hint of apology.

He had just realized that he seemed to have inadvertently deprived Astoria of a valuable opportunity to grow.

What could be more motivating than a life-or-death struggle?

As a result, I accidentally killed her opponent in a life-or-death battle, which was a bit of a disaster.

Rice glanced down at the strangely shaped corpse of the cultist monk and then noticed the oddity in his blood.

The divine remains that this cultivator fused with were none other than a drop of divine blood!

That's quite a coincidence.

Feeling a pang of guilt towards Astoria, Rice decided to extract the divine blood from the monk's body.

Under the relentless assault of Rice's magic, the divine blood contained within the cultivator's body was gradually stripped away by Rice, until finally a drop of blood, as red as a pure ruby, gathered in Rice's palm, radiating an alluring light.

With a gentle flick of his magic, Rice sent the divine blood to Astoria's side.

"Take it, it will be of great benefit to you." Rice transferred the drop of divine blood to Astoria, hoping it would benefit her domain.

After being passed down for a long time in the secret society, the negative emotions that originally existed in this drop of divine blood have been completely dissolved, much like the red wine transformed from the divine blood in Helga's golden wine jug.

Observing it regularly will definitely have some benefits.

"Eh? Thank you!" Astoria was surprised that she could extract the divine blood from that guy. She quickly put away the blood bead and thanked Rice repeatedly.

"No need to thank me, you deserve it. I have other things to do, so I'll be going now." Rice gave a few simple words and prepared to leave.

He still has a lot to do!

"Eh—" Before Astoria could react, Rice's figure disappeared.

This was the first time Astoria had seen Rice since the start of the tournament, and the last time she had seen him before the first stage of the competition.

Although he hadn't met Rice, his presence was still very strong. Astoria had heard about Rice's whereabouts from the natives of the Alchemy World more than once. Although no one had seen the face of that mysterious and mad strongman, Astoria intuitively determined that the person the natives were talking about was Rice.

On October 1st, a violent explosion occurred in the Dragon Forest where the Earth Dragon King, who had fallen from the sky, was living in seclusion. Two meteorites fell, and all seventeen powerful figures from various realms who went to investigate disappeared.

On the morning of October 3rd, a tsunami swept across the west coast of Jotunheim. According to survivors, the dying cries of dragons echoed from the depths of the ocean. Later, the water dragon king was discovered to be missing.

On the evening of October 3rd, the Fire Dragon King's corpse fell on Pas, the most important town in the eastern border of the Kingdom of Amer, and the flames on the dragon's corpse burned the entire city to ashes.

On October 6, a storm and torrential rain swept through the Kingdom of Ribtyat, causing natural disasters that stretched for hundreds of miles. The Mistyk River changed its course and flooded for thousands of miles, displacing millions of people.

The Wind Dragon King disappeared from that time on.

……

News of the Four Dragon Kings' misfortune quickly spread throughout the entire continent.

The Royal Palace, the eternal city, the capital of the Thessalonian Empire.

The empire's founder, Emperor Jule, is discussing with his close friend, the court's chief mage Yexus, the mysterious and powerful figure who recently swept across the continent, unleashing countless calamities.

"Is it raining?" The emperor suddenly raised his head and looked at the gloomy sky outside the palace.

"It's not just rain," Yexus said gravely, "there's a strong magical fluctuation within the clouds; these are hostile visitors..."

"Inform His Holiness the Pope!" The Emperor's expression also turned serious. He instructed the palace attendants, "I remember he went to Ptiat—"

"No need." A booming voice suddenly echoed from the dark clouds, so loud that it could be heard throughout the entire Eternal City: "The Pope is dead."

A small, curled-up object fell from the clouds and landed on the roof of the central cathedral.

"You two go together, I'm in a hurry—I still have to meet with the gods in the sky later."

The Eternal City was in an uproar.

……

"We're almost at the capital. I'm so excited, the legendary Eternal City." Busbarton's contestant, Fleur Delacour, sat gracefully on the cart. "They say it's a gathering place for the most skilled craftsmen on the entire continent. I'm thinking of ordering some jewelry and a few outfits."

Furong has been participating in the competition for a full two weeks now, and her initial shock at the detailed and realistic settings of the arena has turned into numbness. She has even started to enjoy the competition process, and after completing the main quest, she immediately switched to a travel mode.

She planned to see just how much stuff Hogwarts had crammed into the playing field.

Krum gently tugged at the reins of his horse, slowing it down so he could talk to Fleur. The system had grouped him and Fleur together, along with a third-year witch from Hogwarts and the "albino" wizard from the Japanese Magic Institute.

"We can't let our guard down. There are still two weeks until the main quest deadline, and we can't waste this time. Even finding a job in Eternal City to save some money is better than doing nothing."

Krum was really looking forward to the legendary City of a Thousand Cities, the City of Kings. He felt he would gain a lot there.

He didn't want his teammates to miss this opportunity. Although they came from different schools, since they were assigned to the same team, they were bound together by a shared destiny and a relationship of honor and disgrace.

"It is said that the Emperor of the Salonia Empire is as powerful as a god, but I wonder if it is true or not." The wizards at the magic institute were more curious about the powerful figures on the continent.

Luna from Hogwarts huddled silently in the corner of the cart, seemingly lost in thought.

While her teammates were chatting, she looked up and gazed towards the City of Eternity. She noticed that it seemed to be shrouded in dark clouds.

"It seems to be raining in the Eternal City," she said softly.

"Oh?" Furong turned her head to look at the young girl.

Fleur initially didn't treat Luna well because she was too young and weak, and was simply a burden to the team. However, after spending a few days with her, Fleur discovered that although the girl was a bit eccentric, she wasn't inherently bad and was very friendly towards magical creatures. This greatly won over Fleur, a wizard with Veela blood.

Now, she simply treats Luna like her own sister.

Seeing that Luna seemed worried about the weather, she chuckled and then told Luna that she could teach her a spell. By applying this spell to her robe, she wouldn't have to worry about it getting wet.

"I can make a pot of sukiyaki to warm you up. It's perfect for rainy days," the wizard from the magic institute chimed in.

"Yamashita, you'd better make more. The meal you prepared for four people last time was only enough for me." Krum saw that Yamashita Hide from the magic institute was about to show off his cooking skills again, so he quickly reminded him to prepare more food.

That Japanese meal last time really opened Krum's eyes. What, do Japanese wizards photosynthesize? Can they really get full from eating so little?

After eating the hibiscus at Beauxbatons, they all showed great emotional intelligence by saying that eating Japanese food every day would definitely help them lose weight.

The atmosphere in the team was harmonious and pleasant, and all four of them were in high spirits until the next morning.

According to the plan, they would arrive at the City of Eternity in three days, but the four soon learned that they might never be able to reach the City of Eternity in their lifetime.

Because the legendary Eternal City has become ruins!

The legendary warrior who slew four dragon kings arrived in the Eternal City. He first executed the Pope in public, and then single-handedly killed the Emperor and the chief court magician.

During this process, the other powerful figures in the Eternal City did come to their aid, but in the face of that terrifying powerhouse, they were turned into dried corpses in a single encounter.

Blood rain shrouded the Eternal City, and blood flooded this once-prosperous city.

Then, the enraged gods descended.

The war of the gods broke out. The Eternal City was completely razed to the ground.

No one knows, because everyone present has been reduced to ashes.

After hearing the stories told by the refugees, Furong and her three companions were dumbfounded.

Is this part of Hogwarts' plot? Could this mysterious powerful figure be the final boss? If so, they might as well forfeit the tournament. They don't even want to face someone who can destroy a city so easily.

The Eternal City is clearly not a place to go.

Just as they were debating their next destination, the four of them spotted Ras Lint of Hogwarts in the fleeing crowd.

"Rice?" Luna tentatively called Rice's name, and sure enough, Rice stopped.

"Did you come from the Eternal City?" Fleur couldn't help but ask, noticing Rice's slightly pale face.

The main reason she asked this was because Rice looked like he had been fleeing for days.

"Yes." Rice nodded readily, then kindly reminded her, "There's no point in going to the Eternal City now; that city has vanished."

"What exactly happened?"

"What happened? Three powerful beings in various domains died, plus a genuine god." Rice thought to himself, but he didn't say it aloud. He just gave a general overview, which was similar to the information provided by the refugees.

To be honest, Rice was quite astonished when the gods descended to earth. He never imagined that Rowena's little world would actually give birth to a deity.

However, after a great battle with that so-called god, Rice discovered that His essence was still human, only He was very powerful and had fused with a great deal of the world's origin.

It seems there's more than one god like this.

No problem. The more gods the better, as they are all beings that make it easier for him to reclaim the world's origin.

In the past two weeks, he has traveled almost all over the continent, recovering a lot of essence from the Dragon King and other powerful beings, but it seems that he still cannot meet Rowena's requirements.

After meeting Luna and her group of four, the two sides decided to team up and travel the continent together.

The remaining two weeks passed in the blink of an eye.

When the one-month deadline arrived, everyone received a message on their crystal balls: regardless of whether the contestants had completed the main quest, they had to return to Hogwarts.

This is exactly what everyone wanted.

Since the destruction of the Eternal City, the situation on the continent has become increasingly chaotic, with war seemingly imminent. This has put all the contestants on edge, and returning to Hogwarts would be wonderful. They could finally relax for a while.

Fleur, Krum, Hideaki Yamashita, and Luna were successively taken away from the alchemical world by the crystal balls on their bodies, while Rice suppressed the restless crystal balls and turned to look at the phantom of Godric standing beside him.

For the past month, Godric had actually been by his side the whole time, but due to the properties of the resurrection stone, no one else could see his presence.

"We need to go back now. Why don't you rest in the Resurrection Stone for a while? I feel that bringing you back to Hogwarts like this might cause unexpected consequences."

Rice was worried that Godric's phantom and the imposter might have some strange reaction, so he planned to put him back into the Resurrection Stone ring.

Of course, the Resurrection Stone ring is only a temporary home for Gryffindor, and he already has a rough idea of ​​how to return to Rice.

Godric blinked. He had been thinking of just going for it, regardless of the consequences, but when he met Salazar's eyes, he immediately understood that his old friend wouldn't back down on this.

So he had no choice but to agree to his old friend's suggestion and vanished like a warm breeze.

After "dealing with" Gryffindor, Rice prepared to leave.

However, he paused before leaving.

A bold idea popped into his head.

Anyway, this is Rowena's alchemical world; no one will come to monitor him, and no one will criticize him for whatever he does. More importantly, this world is destined for destruction...

This is an excellent experimental site!

Rice felt as if he were possessed by Rowena at that moment; his desires surged like a flood, completely uncontrollable. Ultimately, the flood of desire breached the dam within him.

"Petrify them all!" Rice used a spell to control a passerby, slowly walked to his side, and took out a small bottle of potion from the deepest part of the small leather pouch at his waist.

He injected the potion into the passerby.

"Forget everything, and all is emptiness!"

Rice first erased the passerby's memory of him, and then lifted the petrification curse from his body.

Everything proceeded as if nothing had happened. Passersby continued along the main road, while Rice stopped suppressing the magic on the crystal ball and allowed it to take him back to Hogwarts.

The first stage of the competition has ended.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Update delivered, goodnight everyone~

(End of this chapter)