"It can't be... It can't be..."
In the dense jungle, a short, fat man was fleeing madly on all fours.
His face was streaked with blood, half his body bore serious injuries, and nothing but overwhelming terror remained in his eyes.
He muttered meaningless words, but one thing was clear: his will to survive was incredibly strong. Even when branches in the jungle scraped against the mangled wound on his shoulder, he merely let out a muffled groan, his pace instead quickening slightly.
If Wormtail had merely been worried before, he was now utterly despairing.
He simply could not understand why a young wizard who had not even graduated could be so terrifying. He had constantly heard of Sean's excellence and had long known how frightening his teacher was, but Wormtail had to admit that he had still regarded him as an exceptionally talented wizard... rather than someone he needed to look up to.
But everything that had just happened made Wormtail realize that he had been wrong.
Spells he had never seen before, terrifying power, inscrutable casting methods... Every single one had been Wandless and Silent Casting.
The Half-Dead army he had been so proud of had only held out for a moment... An army capable of giving a country's Ministry of Magic a headache had only bought him a little time to flee.
Wormtail was terrified. He did not want to die, much less fall into that person's hands.
All he could do was hope that the last few Half-Dead could delay Sean for just a little longer.
The thought had barely crossed his mind when Wormtail heard a tremendous explosion from somewhere behind him. He staggered and nearly fell.
The man scrambled to his feet and pushed through the thick brush. He regretted it bitterly—why had he