#840 - Sudden Fear Curse

“Believe it or not, it's up to you…” Lockhart sneered. “You might not know, but now the entire wizarding world, especially the wizarding areas centered around Britain, France, and Germany, has been built into an iron fortress by Anduin's Silver Flash Bank.

“Anyone who dares to cause trouble in this area will be struck by a thunderbolt. You probably haven't seen the sight of Aurors arriving at the scene within 5 minutes of a spell being cast, have you…

“Isn't what you're saying a bit too outrageous?” At this point, not only Rodolphus, but also the other Death Eaters including Bellatrix revealed disdainful expressions.

Who were they before? Which of them hadn't stained their hands with several lives? And committing crimes wasn't something they only did once or twice.

Years ago, whether they attacked wizards or Muggles, the Ministry of Magic rarely discovered it on the same day, and it was considered highly efficient if they arrived within an hour.

So, Lockhart's words sounded like mythological legends to them, a bit too bizarre.

'Although this Lockhart is loyal to the master, he's not without flaws. This habit of boasting is quite a big one.' Rodolphus shook his head secretly. He didn't believe it anyway, but since the other party had just helped them a lot, he was too lazy to expose him.

Seeing the reaction of the Death Eaters, Lockhart was also very helpless. He finally told these guys the truth, but they didn't believe him. Well, then just wait and suffer the consequences…

Next, these Death Eaters stopped talking to Lockhart and instead loudly discussed how to escape from prison, including roughly determining the time and route of the operation.

Don't be fooled by the fact that Azkaban is said to be heavily guarded, but the guards are severely insufficient. So these people just discussed it out loud so carelessly, completely not worried about being discovered.

However, the guards of the prison couldn't discover it, but that didn't mean these secrets only circulated among the Death Eaters. You must know that this floor doesn't only hold Death Eaters.

Just as Rodolphus and Bellatrix and others were finalizing the details, a dry, dirty hand suddenly stretched out from beside his cell, and a hoarse voice followed, “Rodolphus, when you escape, take me with you too!”

“Why should I?”

Rodolphus smiled coldly upon hearing this. His cellmate next door had been in the world longer than him, but despite spending so long together, he didn't even know the other person's name.

He only knew that this person was strange and always muttered to himself in the corner. The two had always minded their own business and never had any interaction. Now, making such a request, Rodolphus would be crazy to pay attention to him.

You must know that after suffering so many years of torture in Azkaban, the condition of these Death Eaters was extremely poor. Even after a few days of recuperation and recovering some magic, it didn't mean they could return to their full strength.

This was equivalent to their magic power and physical strength being discounted, and they had to gradually recover after a period of recuperation.

And they were preparing to break out of prison violently, preparing to directly break through the imprisonment of the cell, and then rush all the way to the top platform where they could Apparate to escape.

At the same time, the entire process was wandless magic. Not counting the battles during this period, the consumption of wandless Apparition alone was not small, and they probably wouldn't be able to transfer to a safe area in one step.

So they couldn't even take care of themselves, how could they bring a useless person with no fighting power? The other party wasn't a meritorious person like Lockhart.

“If you don't help me, when the Aurors patrol tomorrow, I'll expose all your plans!” The wizard's hoarse voice carried a faint murderous aura, not concealing his threatening intent. It could be seen that the other party was not a kind person either.

“You think you can threaten me? By this time tomorrow, the magic I've recovered will be enough to kill you. If you want to live longer, just say so, otherwise shut up!” Rodolphus didn't care about the other party's threat, and even really had the intention to kill. Which wizard in prison here was kind-hearted?

And after the wizard discovered that the threat was ineffective, he didn't care about the murderous aura Rodolphus revealed, but immediately changed his face and smiled.

“Rodolphus, don't be so anxious. I'm not asking you to save me for nothing. After escaping, I will naturally have enough to thank you!”

“Hmph, stop talking nonsense, it's as if anyone is short of money…” Rodolphus curled his lips in disdain.

As a member of a pure-blood family, he could be called wealthy and had been accustomed to seeing Galleons and various potions and treasures since he was a child.

The reason why Rodolphus joined the Death Eaters was not because of the grand blueprint that the Dark Lord had drawn for them. What they wanted in the future was to rule the wizarding world, not mere possessions.

“Hehe…” The wizard didn't care about Rodolphus's arrogant words, but continued, “I know you don't care about those possessions, but what about real power? Power that can make you invincible, and can even help your master become stronger!”

“Insolent!” Rodolphus cursed fiercely. In his mind, the Dark Lord himself was an invincible existence, and his power was already extremely strong.

So the other party's words sounded like mockery to him, which made Rodolphus unable to help but burst into flames. →

“Heh, you don't think that the so-called Dark Lord is invincible, do you?” The wizard next door seemed to hear Rodolphus's thoughts and sneered, “If that's the case, how could he be killed, even his soul was captured, and in the end, even his Horcruxes couldn't be protected?”

“You're courting death!” Rodolphus glared at the withered hand stretched out by the other party with a ferocious face. If he hadn't just put on the protective charm and hadn't accumulated much magic power on his body, he would have killed the other party on the spot.

“Don't deny it, and don't be stubborn. Where in the wizarding world is there an absolutely invincible existence? Even if there is, it's only the one I know. Your Dark Lord is probably a bit lacking…” The wizard next door didn't care that he had annoyed Rodolphus and just spoke to himself.

And Rodolphus smiled coldly upon hearing this. If the other party was only a bit offensive before, now he was really courting death, actually daring to look down on his master.

As for the invincible existence the other party mentioned…

Rodolphus looked at the withered hand in front of him as if he were looking at a dead man, and joked, “Oh? You actually know an existence stronger than my master? Tell me about it.”

In fact, Rodolphus had already made up his mind at this moment to completely kill the other party when he escaped from prison, so at this moment, he was just talking to a dead man in advance, and his tone didn't carry a trace of anger.

The wizard next door didn't seem to notice the change in Rodolphus's tone, but just boasted to himself, and this boast made Rodolphus very surprised.

“Have you heard of the vile Herpo the Foul?” The wizard next door said.

“Herpo the Foul? That dark wizard from thousands of years ago? Don't tell me that the invincible existence you're talking about is him!” Rodolphus said.

“That's right!” The wizard next door's voice suddenly became high-pitched, but the volume was suppressed extremely low, “What I'm going to tell you today is this big secret, Herpo is still alive!”

“Is that so…” Rodolphus was obviously a little unbelieving. In his mind, this old guy next door was no different from a lunatic!

“Don't disbelieve it! You must know that he was the first dark wizard to invent Horcruxes!” The wizard next door lowered his voice and said urgently, “It's not a strange thing that he can live so long!”

Rodolphus frowned slightly upon hearing this. The fact that the other party knew the origin of Horcruxes did make this 'story' seem more real, after all, although they had just discussed Horcruxes in public, they had not mentioned the origin of Horcruxes.

“Even if what you said is true, so what? You don't know Herpo, do you?” Rodolphus asked somewhat doubtfully.

“You guessed right, I did have brief contact with Herpo, since I was marked by him…” When the wizard next door said this, his voice suddenly became messy and rapid, and even the withered hand that was exposed couldn't help but tighten, as if the other party was enduring some kind of pain.

“Hey! Hey!”

Rodolphus heard the other party suddenly stop halfway and couldn't help but ask repeatedly, obviously he had been aroused by the other party's words.

“Don't… uh…”

The wizard next door seemed to have violated some terrible taboo, and his whole body was tense due to pain.

After a while… the arm he was exposing actually began to emit a faint black smoke, and at the same time, it was accompanied by a terrifying magical fluctuation.

This fluctuation continued to spread and echo in this layer of the prison. Whether it was the Death Eaters or the other dark wizards, they felt as if their hearts had been pinched suddenly, and at the same time, terrifying content echoed in their minds, and layers of terrifying affairs appeared before their eyes.

“This is… a Fear Curse?”

Due to being the closest, Rodolphus was the first to be affected by this magic. Fortunately, he was strong and his willpower was considered firm, and it only took him a few seconds to break free from the fantasy.

Of course, this also had something to do with his current poor condition. If he was at his peak, he wouldn't even be affected by this level of Fear Curse.

But even so, Rodolphus was startled by the situation that had just appeared. As the former patriarch of the Lestrange family, he naturally knew that the magic emanating from the wizard next door was a Fear Curse.

So he knew even more clearly how difficult this spell was to master and how much magic power it took to cast!

Just now, ordinary adult wizards couldn't even cast it, even a powerful dark wizard wouldn't be able to cast a spell that could affect such a wide range with low consumption.

But the guy next door was now staying in Azkaban like them! Logically speaking, there shouldn't be a trace of magic power remaining in the other party's body, so how did he cast this spell?

Thinking of this, Rodolphus's expression changed greatly. Obviously, he had begun to believe what the other party said, and quickly asked in a hurried voice, “Hey! Hey! How are you doing now?”

“Huff…” After a few more seconds, a relaxed sigh came from next door, and at the same time, the Fear Curse that was constantly releasing outward slowly stopped.

“I'm not called hey, I'm Boris Ivanovich!” Boris, who had regained his composure, sounded extremely weak, and at the same time, his tone was also slightly different from before, just… it felt like his mental state had improved a lot, unlike before when he was talking nonsense like a madman.

“You haven't finished what you were saying just now! Herpo, what then?” Rodolphus breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the other party had returned to normal, and then urged the other party to continue.

And in order to show respect, he didn't even ask about the Fear Curse just now. Being able to cast a spell in the heavily guarded Azkaban was not a trivial matter in itself, and he expected that the other party would not easily tell him.

“I can't tell you too much…” Boris's voice was full of pain, “That existence is not something I can discuss. I advise you not to ask too much. Didn't you feel the punishment just now?”

“What? Are you saying that just now was the punishment imposed by Herpo… that existence?” Rodolphus was even more surprised upon hearing this. If that's what the other party said, wouldn't it mean that the Fear Curse just now was cast remotely by a wizard outside with Boris as the target?

“I really can't say any more…” Boris gasped a few times with difficulty, “You just need to remember that if you can rescue me, I can connect you, or even the Dark Lord you follow, with that existence.”

“At that time, whether it's powerful power, treasure, or even power, everything will be at your fingertips! There are even real means of immortality. You probably don't know, even Horcruxes have more advanced uses!”

Boris seemed to have been pressed into the water, and he said these words in one breath, as if just saying these contents put a heavy burden on him.

And he seemed to be too eager for freedom, so he desperately said these words to ensure that the bait he threw out was enough for Rodolphus to rescue him.

Hearing this, Rodolphus seemed to be able to feel the pain Boris was enduring, and stopped talking to the other party and fell into thought.

Rodolphus was no longer as completely resistant to rescuing Boris as he was before, but the Fear Curse that the other party had revealed was enough for him to believe the other party's words.

At this time, he was just weighing the pros and cons of rescuing the other party. Boris was not a member of their Death Eaters after all, and it was hard to say whether the other party could fulfill the agreement after going out.

And the cost of escaping with this guy was not small, and it might even cost him his life and make it impossible for him to escape.

But when he recalled the content that Boris mentioned about Horcruxes, Rodolphus's spirits came back, “If what Boris said is true, if he can really escape with him successfully, if he can dedicate him to the Dark Lord, the days when the Death Eaters will reappear the glory of pure-bloods may not be far away! And he can also please the master! This gamble… may be worth a try!”