Blood-Colored Cellar

Under the cover of night, a heavily disguised figure appeared, silently passing through a pile of ruins and suddenly disappearing into the dense bushes.

The figure, with one hand covering his chest to protect the newspaper in his arms, crawled forward until he finally found a hidden trapdoor.

He let out a soft breath, carefully opened the trapdoor, and entered the cellar through the dark opening.

The cellar passage was extremely dark, with only two oil lamps on either side, casting a very faint light.

He strode through the passage and into the cellar hall, where he took out the Mesopotamia Daily from his pocket.

"They succeeded in New York ... but only halfway." He spread out the Mesopotamia Daily and handed it to the tall figure in front of him.

"How much longer until we succeed? This life of hiding and running is really unbearable... I can't use magic... I don't even feel like a wizard anymore."

The cellar hall was brighter and much noisier than the passageway, with strange cutting sounds and muffled whistling noises faintly audible.

The tall figure buried his head in the Mesopotamia Daily, carefully reading the text, and letting out a somewhat neurotic laugh.

"It'll be soon! As long as it brings death and disaster to the world... Things are different now... It will become increasingly difficult for them to use the Statute of Secrecy to maintain their secrecy in a corner of the world."

"Those Muggle will eventually find them... A new struggle will inevitably begin... But the ultimate victor will surely be Isaiah..."

The tall figure suddenly fell silent. He looked toward the direction of the cellar passage, where a strange, small creature appeared, resembling an echidna with a duck-like bill.

Serena Pendragon then appeared, waved at the strange creature, and showed off the Gold Galleon in her hand, "Niffler, come here!"

As the Niffler pounced on Gold Galleon, she quickly raised her wand and cast a spell on the two figures not far away, "La Wei A Sa!"

The two figures were completely powerless to resist and were lifted into the air by an invisible force, unable to break free no matter what they did.

Serena Pendragon continued chanting the spell, "Avada..."

"Have you forgotten?" Ominis Gaunt's voice rang out. "We'd better not use the Killing Curse; we can't just give the Isaiah Society an extra boost. We have other ways to deal with them."

"I've gotten used to the Killing Curse, so this spell just came to mind..." Serena Pendragon shrugged nonchalantly, changing her wand-waving gesture, "Descendo!"

As she chanted the incantation, the two figures were slammed to the ground like nails by an invisible force, their eyes rolling back as they lost consciousness.

Niffler snatched the Gold Galleon from Serena Pendragon's hand, hurriedly stuffed them into his pocket, and then ran towards one of the unconscious figures.

It fumbled for the pocket on the robe, eagerly tore it open, grabbed the Gold Galleon inside, and stuffed them into its own pocket.

"They're quite clever, never using magic..." Serena Pendragon remarked, watching the Niffler ' actions. "Without the Niffler, catching you would be really difficult."

Many people emerged from around the cellar hall, and various magical lights appeared, instantly illuminating the cellar hall.

Serena Pendragon narrowed her eyes slightly, and only when all the magic came before her did she suddenly raise her wand to cast Magic Barrier, blocking all the incoming magic.

After a burst of light, several more figures appeared behind her and cast spells at the people in the cellar hall.

After a fierce battle, Serena Pendragon finished off the remaining men by binding them all together.

After finishing all that, she picked up the * Mesopotamia Daily * and read the front-page article: [Fire Dragon Strikes New York, Statute of Secrecy in Danger, How Will the Magical Congress Turn the Tide?]

"Are we too late?" Ominis Gaunt sniffed and suddenly sighed.

"It's never too late for a wizard," Sebastian Sallow said, walking up to Ominis Gaunt. "Besides, we've already taken care of them."

"Let's go inside and take a look!" Serena Pendragon stretched and instructed the others, "Take them out first, and we'll decide what to do with them once we're out."

The three, wands in hand, headed towards the darker part of the cellar hall.

A pungent smell of blood wafted over, and the ground became sticky.

"Lumos Solem!"

Serena Pendragon whispered an incantation, illuminating the entire cellar hall.

A dozen or so bloodied Muggle appeared before her, their skin peeled off in half and hanging around their waists like skirts, looking both bizarre and terrifying.

These Muggle should still be alive; their indistinct flesh trembled slightly, and they could occasionally let out painful whimpers.

Near the corner, dozens of Muggle corpses were piled up, their abdomens cut open and their organs removed.

"Skin Bank ..." Serena Pendragon murmured. "No wonder Isaiah Society full of wandering wizards, and after wandering for so long, they haven't been taken in by the Wizards' Council."

"They are truly despicable! I have to say, the more Isaiah Society, the more innocent and harmless I feel.

"There are advantages to wandering; at least it kept the Isaiah Society very well hidden," Ominis Gaunt said. "If it weren't for that artifact, we probably wouldn't have known about such an organization."

"We're not too late; at least some of them can survive." Sebastian Sallow frowned as he examined the Muggle ' injuries. "I'm not good at healing; what should we do next?"

"First, put the skin back on," Ominis Gaunt said. "I remember around Christmas, Wizet sent some Invigoration Potion Invigoration Potion. Give them some."

The three immediately sprang into action. After a series of rescue efforts, the skinned Muggle were out of danger and fell into a deep sleep, their chests rising and falling rhythmically.

"His Christmas presents are indeed quite nice," Sebastian Sallow praised, "But after all this fighting, we're really running out of Potions."

Serena Pendragon held up the newspaper. "Look at what's on the cover! The World Trade Center in New York was attacked again!"

She read the newspaper to Ominis Gaunt and concluded with a sigh, "Such a huge incident as Fire Dragon attack, and the North America Muggle government was willing to cooperate in covering it up, things seem to be more complicated than they appear!"

Sebastian Sallow curled his lip. "According to past practice, the Isaiah Society must have communicated with the government there. I guess the Muggle are going to use guns and artillery to come here and deal with us."

Serena Pendragon said, "Then let's take a break for a while. Let North America do whatever it wants!"

"The consumption of Potions is indeed very high. I can take advantage of this time to brew some more Potions for future battles."