#441 - Strength lies in restraint

The blazing flames transformed into a colossal dragon, roaring as it lunged toward Dumbledore.

Fawkes the phoenix swooped towards the dragon, the two colliding in mid-air, unleashing a dazzling burst of light.

Dumbledore appeared, clad in silver-grey robes, his silver-white hair dancing wildly in the wind, his blue eyes gleaming with a cold light.

"Dumbledore!"

Grindelwald shouted, a hint of madness flashing in his eyes, the tip of his wand trembling slightly, as if unsure what to say, he shouted again: "Dumbledore!"

At the same time, he abruptly swung his wand down, a lightning-like curse streaking towards Dumbledore. The latter merely flicked his wand, deflecting the spell.

Neither spoke a word, nor did they chant incantations, they simply wielded their wands like whips, the light of their spells interweaving and colliding, as if each strike carried devastating power.

Whether intentionally or not, most of the spells that were deflected or missed their mark flew towards the manor not far away. Amidst deafening roars, the newly dispatched support troops from the organization vanished from the ground as soon as they appeared.

Not only that, large areas of buildings and concrete ground began to collapse, vehicles overturned, and weapon turrets twisted and deformed, becoming sandbags that the two casually tossed at each other, the fractured ground revealing the vast buildings below and the panicked figures fleeing.

At this point, both the Wizengamot Party and the organization's soldiers had ceased firing, desperately running away as fast as their legs could carry them.

Werewolves sprinted, bats took flight in alarm, ordinary soldiers only regretted not having two extra legs, while wizards quickly Apparated thousands of meters away, watching the battlefield in awe.

"Dumbledore... How did Dumbledore get here?"

The Wizengamot Party members looked at each other in panic, even Derain was drenched in cold sweat, breathing rapidly, his hands clenched into fists unconsciously, his nails digging deep into his palms, yet he felt no pain.

"Dumbledore... He's all alone..."

Derain's Adam's apple bobbed with difficulty, his chest heaving violently, but he still said: "We should help Grindelwald!"

He took steps as if his feet were glued to the ground, walking forward with difficulty, about to raise his wand, when Moreau pounced on him and held him down.

"Are you crazy?" Moreau roared: "Look over there! You'll probably be killed by the aftershocks of the battle as soon as you get close! Grindelwald doesn't have time to care who you are right now!"

Dust billowed in the center of the battle, mist filled the air, and flames danced wildly under the force of the storm. Tall stone pillars occasionally emerged from the flat ground, and sometimes stone giants or cages appeared, as if even the terrain was changing.

Their figures loomed in and out of sight, occasionally their eyes met, each with a metallic coldness, as if the person in front of them was their most hated enemy.

Anyone who saw this scene would not doubt for a moment – as long as either side revealed the slightest flaw, they would be completely killed by the other!

Derain's pupils constricted, veins popping on his neck. He grabbed Moreau's arm forcefully, glaring at him fiercely, squeezing a hoarse voice from between his teeth:

"Mr. Grindelwald... His health isn't good! He can't maintain this state for long!"

Even in such a hurry, he didn't forget to lower his voice, only Moreau heard his words.

Moreau looked at him in astonishment, then his face turned as pale as paper, he turned his neck stiffly to look at the battlefield over there, his lips trembling as he said:

"But... How can we help? If we all go up there, we'll just be courting death... And it's so chaotic, spells flying everywhere, we might accidentally injure Mr. Grindelwald..."

Derain seemed to be pulled back to reality by his question, his eyelids blinked slowly, the arm holding the wand drooped weakly, shaking involuntarily.

He clearly realized that they had no choice but to watch and wait... If Dumbledore didn't stop, Grindelwald had almost no chance of surviving...

Perhaps he shouldn't have tried so hard to get Grindelwald out of Nurmengard. If not for that, he might have lived a long time, instead of burning out the rest of his life in a short period of time.

Now, recalling the words Grindelwald had said to him in the past few days, Derain suddenly realized that he seemed to be giving his last words, and even chose his future successor.

During the prison break, had he already clearly foreseen his ending?

Derain's face was ashen, blood flowing from between his fingers.

He hated himself for being so slow to realize, only thinking that his immaturity had greatly disappointed Mr. Grindelwald, only thinking that he would follow that person for a long time, but he didn't expect...

Suddenly, Derain remembered Grindelwald's praise and expectations for Wade Greyson, and suddenly turned his head, but couldn't find that figure among the many black-robed wizards.

Although they were all wearing cloaks, Wade Greyson, as an alchemist, wore some special alchemical products, Derain had a deep impression of this and would never mistake it.

He grabbed Moreau and asked urgently: "Where's that kid? Have you seen him?"

Moreau was stunned: "Wasn't he following you and Mr. Grindelwald..."

The two of them turned their heads together instantly, looking at the battlefield filled with spells, the blood vessels at their temples throbbing, even feeling dizzy.

"He wouldn't... He wouldn't have been caught in it... And didn't escape, right?" Moreau murmured.

Derain opened and closed his lips several times before asking with the last glimmer of hope: "Can he Apparate?"

Moreau asked despairingly: "Thirteen years old... What do you think?"

Derain's eyes went black.

...

The huge explosion rumbled into the underground, penetrating the thick layers of earth and reinforced concrete, still carrying a dull and oppressive force.

The walls and ceiling were trembling slightly, dust falling rustling, and a piece of peeling wall skin fell on Dobby's head.

"They're fighting fiercely up there." Dobby shook off the wall skin, patted his head, and said uneasily: "Did the Muggles bring out terrible weapons!"

Mackey bit his lip.

When Professor Abigail popularized the development of Muggle weapons, these house elves also secretly listened to a class. Thinking of those terrible missiles and even nuclear bombs, fear unconsciously appeared in Mackey's eyes.

But then, he showed a firm expression and said: "The most terrible weapons are right in front of us... In any case, we must destroy them all! We must not let them hurt Mr. Greyson!"

Hearing this, Dobby straightened his thin chest, clenched his fists in both hands, and nodded vigorously: "Yeah!"

When they were hiding in the dark, they heard someone in the wizarding group say Wade's name, and even heard Wade's voice with their own ears. The joy at that moment was self-evident.

But standing next to Wade were not only more than a hundred dark wizards, but also that most terrible demon king Grindelwald. Even if the house elves were worried, they didn't dare to jump out and take Wade away.

Afterwards, they also overheard the voices of those people arguing and discussing in the underground building, hearing them say that they had arranged weapons here that could make wizards unable to use magic and suffer unspeakable pain.

Of course, Dobby and Mackey hoped that the dark wizards would be defeated, but Wade was also among those wizards, and Muggle weapons couldn't possibly skip Wade alone and only attack those other hateful dark wizards.

The two house elves struggled hard in their hearts for a moment, but finally ran to the underground together to destroy the machines first.

"Even if we lose track of Mr. Greyson this time, we'll have the opportunity to find him again in the future. But if he loses his magic and is caught by Muggles, then it's completely over!"

Mackey used these words to convince himself and also to convince Dobby. The two elves endured their grievances and temporarily acted as helpers for the Wizengamot Party.

...

While the battle was in full swing, there was still a team flying over Sweden.

The broom flew very fast, the Rubik's Cube golem was blocking the wind in front; then there was Mabel in a cloak, she was still holding a map; finally there was Peter II, Mihail was standing on its head, and he had burned two holes in the cloak on its body, but Peter II didn't care.

After receiving Machioni's message, the golem teams actually wanted to find that Adler at first, but after calculating the distance, everyone was silent.

The golems and Mabel couldn't Apparate, and there were no suitable Portkeys. Their movement speed was all based on the flying speed of the broom.

It took nearly a day to fly over from England, and it would take about two days to fly from here to that Adler's manor.

If they weren't lucky enough, perhaps the battle would have ended long before they arrived, leaving only the same ruins as the previous few places, and then they would have to spend another two days returning.

"Let's not go!" The Rubik's Cube golem made a decision: "The Wizengamot Party can run around, but their lair can't run away!"

So one person and several golems didn't leave this land, and continued to search everywhere, the number of castles crossed out on the map was increasing.

"This area has been searched, we can change places next."

Mabel drew a cross on the map, about to decide which direction to go next, when she suddenly heard the Rubik's Cube golem say:

"Huh? Aren't those people below a bit strange?"

Peter II looked down and frowned, "Indeed."

There was a convoy on the road below, a dozen large trucks, all parked on the side of the road.

People in this country generally don't start working so early. If there is an emergency and they start rushing on the road in the early morning, then it's not normal to stop on the side of the road to rest now.

And there were black-clothed soldiers on guard next to the cars, each car had a radar-like machine slowly rotating on the front.

"What's strange? What's strange?" The cloak that couldn't sense that far perked up and shouted: "Tell me about it."

"Wait, you'll know when I go down!" The broom said, lowering its head and swooping down.

"Wait!" The Rubik's Cube golem stopped it: "The instruments below make me feel a little dangerous, don't get too close."

"It's... It's those people!" Mabel's eyes were slightly distracted, and she said in a trembling voice: "I recognize their clothes!"

The Rubik's Cube golem's eyeballs turned backwards one hundred and eighty degrees, seeing Mabel's body trembling, and even starting to emit dangerous black mist.

"Calm down, Mabel." It said: "Our purpose is to rescue the master, you have to control your emotions, otherwise you will become an indiscriminate Obscurial."

"I... I understand." Mabel took a deep breath forcefully, trying to calm down and said: "They appear here, they must have some purpose, I'll go find out."

Her body slid down, falling directly from the broom, the cloak wrapped around her was crackling, flapping like a pair of wings.

In mid-air, the girl's figure turned into a cloud of black mist, taking advantage of the darkness before dawn, falling on the ground like a waterfall, and soon gathered into a human form again.

Her pupils were white, her eyes flashing with dangerous light. But then, the cloak fell on her shoulders, and even pulled up the hood on its own.

"Be careful." The cloak said in a thief-like whisper: "I've made us invisible, approach slowly. Or go ask that Rubik's Cube guy for a bottle of Draught of Living Death, you'll be more confident when you make a move."

It sounded like it wanted to retaliate even more actively than Mabel.

Mabel grabbed the edge of the cloak, couldn't help but smile, finally calmed down, and ran over lightly.

A young man was holding something like a briefcase, fiddling with the knobs on it, a palm-sized screen showed green lines and numbers.

"No mistake." The young man said to the person next to him: "The magnetic field values are abnormal, very consistent with the result after magical interference."

Another man with high cheekbones nodded slightly and said: "Satellites have also monitored people disappearing suddenly nearby, it seems that the old nest of those people is in front."

"But..." The bald man who was shorter and fatter next to him said: "Isn't there only the ruins of a Viking-era castle there? I heard that only a few walls and weeds are left, even the children of the local villagers are unwilling to go and play."

"Precisely because of this, it is more likely to be a wizard's place." The high-cheekboned man said: "Those secretive guys always hide their residences."

The young man nodded silently in agreement.

The high cheekbones walked towards the vehicle and said: "Prepare, as soon as they give the order over there, we will attack immediately!"

Mabel blinked her eyes, turned around and ran quickly towards the Rubik's Cube golem and them.

The young man suddenly said "Huh" softly.

"What's wrong?" The bald man asked.

"The value just fluctuated, maybe some magical creature passed by us."

The young man said, turning his head to look around.

The cloak protected him well, he didn't see anything, and the bald man was the same.

The bald man asked: "What is it?"

"I don't know... Maybe it's a ghost, or maybe it's some invisible creature."

The young man guessed, and said longingly: "I really want to know, what does this world look like in the eyes of wizards."

"No matter what it looks like, artillery fire will make them submit." The bald man said indifferently.

"What if it can't?" The young man asked.

"That means the firepower isn't strong enough!" The bald man said decisively, and punched his fist hard.

...

"Cough cough!"

Grindelwald suddenly lowered his head and coughed twice, blood溢溢 from the corner of his mouth. The spell that was originally going to strike Dumbledore also deviated greatly, blasting a large tree in the distance to pieces.

Dumbledore did not take the opportunity to attack. His wand pointed directly at Grindelwald, but the light at the tip of the wand slowly went out.

"What are you hesitating for, Dumbledore?" Grindelwald raised his eyes and laughed mockingly: "Don't dare to kill me? Or does the greatest wizard of all time not know how to use the Killing Curse?"