Runcorn's Trail

Safe House on the Chile Coast.

A flash of Blue Light appeared, and five figures emerged from the damp cave.

The sound of waves crashing against the rocks rushed towards me, carrying the salty, fishy sea breeze that made my head throb.

Outside the cave, it was still dark, with only a faint gray-white tinge in the east.

The distant Andes Mountains disappeared into the night, like a sleeping giant.

"We've arrived," Dyg said softly, putting away the candlestick that had lost its light.

Harry stepped out of the cave and took a deep breath.

The crisp, cold air filled my lungs, carrying the scents of the ocean and rocks.

He closed his eyes and extended his senses.

The land beneath my feet is the unfamiliar continent of South America.

The pulse of the Ley Lines is different from that of Britain; it is more rugged and primal, like an untamed wild beast.

He could feel the grandeur of the distant mountains, the ancient power slumbering deep underground, and his heart leap into his throat, pounding violently.

The throbbing was clear and intense, pointing directly to the northeast.

Tornador Peak, it's right there.

Harry opened his eyes and looked back at his teammates.

Cassandra, Tonks, Dyg, Silva are all ready to go.

"Let's go," he said.

The five people left the cave and headed north along the coastline.

As dawn broke, a gray-blue light spread from the east, illuminating the rugged reefs and the distant Mountain Shadow.

Seabirds circled overhead, emitting sharp cries.

Silva walked at the front, his steps light and agile, like a nimble lynx.

She grew up in the jungles and mountains of South America, a terrain that felt like home to her.

Dyg followed closely behind, holding the Quartz Probe in his hand, constantly monitoring the surrounding magical fluctuations.

Tonks ' hair had turned a grayish-brown color similar to the surrounding rocks, an instinctive reaction, like a chameleon's camouflage.

She warily surveyed her surroundings, occasionally exchanging messages with Kingsley in low voices via communicator.

Although Kingsley wasn't there, his phone was always on.

Cassandra walked beside Harry, the Silver Compass in her hand turning slightly, pointing northeast—the same direction Harry sensed.

"Can you feel it?" she asked softly.

"Yes," Harry nodded. "He's there, clearly."

"That's good," Cassandra said. "I'm not worried about him running away, I'm worried about not being able to find him."

Two hours later, they left the coastline and began to enter a branch of the Andes Mountains.

As the terrain gradually rises, the vegetation changes from coastal shrubs to alpine meadows, and then to sparse coniferous forests.

The air is getting thinner and thinner, and the temperature is getting lower and lower.

Silva stopped at a ridge and pointed ahead. "Once we cross this ridge, we'll be in the radiation zone of Tornador Peak. From now on, be careful with every step."

Dyg raised the Quartz Probe, which trembled slightly, its tip pointing northeast.

That's the direction of Tornador Peak, and also the source of the Magic Fluctuation.

"The energy is very strong," he said. "Stronger than anywhere else we've detected before. Voldemort is definitely there."

Harry closed his eyes, extending his senses to a greater distance.

He could sense the mountain peak, the mountain peak shrouded in thunderstorms.

He could sense the violent energy surging deep within the mountain, and he could sense the countless traps laid on the mountainside.

He frowned.

"What's wrong?" Cassandra noticed the change in his expression.

"Something's strange," Harry said. "I can sense a lot of Dark Wizard, a lot of dark creatures, but Voldemort's own presence seems different than before."

"How are they different?"

"More dispersed?" Harry said uncertainly, "Like it exists in several places at the same time. But it's very faint, as if it's covered by something."

Cassandra pondered for a moment, then said, "It's probably due to the ritual. The Return of All Souls requires binding the caster's soul to the earth, and during this process, his aura spreads throughout the entire area."

"That makes sense." Harry nodded, but a sense of unease lingered in his heart.

"Let's keep going," Tonks said. "Wherever he is, we'll find him."

The five continued on their way.

After crossing the ridge, Tornador Peak finally came into view.

It was a precipitous mountain peak, its summit hidden in thick, leaden-gray clouds, through which lightning flashed constantly, illuminating the mountain's outline.

Even from tens of kilometers away, one could feel that suffocating sense of oppression.

"That is—" Dyg murmured.

"Yes," Harry said, "Our goal."

They found a secluded cave as a temporary camp. According to their plan, they would enter the Thunderstorm Zone early tomorrow morning and use the three-minute and twenty-second window of opportunity to break through the outer defenses.

I need to rest well today and recharge.

Dyg and Silva set up anti-detection magic at the cave entrance, Tonks was on guard, and Harry and Cassandra sat deep inside the cave, quietly adjusting their state.

"You just said that Voldemort's presence was scattered," Cassandra suddenly spoke up, "What if that wasn't because of the ritual?"

Harry looked at her: "You mean—"

"It's just speculation," Cassandra said. "But what if he wasn't there at all? What if he left some kind of substitute, or used Horcrux to conduct the ritual while he himself hid elsewhere?"

Harry fell silent.

That is indeed a possibility.

Voldemort is most adept at manipulating people's minds, and this isn't the first time he's used Horcrux as bait.

"But our mission is to destroy the ritual," he said. "Whether he's there or not, the ritual must be broken."

"I know," Cassandra said, "Just a reminder to be prepared. Don't be surprised if this happens."

Harry nodded.

In the evening, they ate some simple dry food and took turns resting.

Harry sat at the cave entrance, gazing at the distant mountain shrouded in thunderstorms.

Lightning streaks flashed down, illuminating the outline of the mountain and the surrounding churning clouds.

Cassandra's words kept echoing in her mind.

What if he's not here?

What if this is another trap?

Harry took a deep breath, suppressing his doubts.

Anyway, we'll know tomorrow.

August 15th, 3:00 AM.

The five men set off from the cave and headed towards the Tornador Peak.

The night was dark, with only occasional flashes of lightning in the distance illuminating the path ahead.

Silva took the lead, guiding the team along the route she had studied.

Dyg always held his Quartz Probe in his hand, constantly monitoring the magical fluctuations around him.

Two hours later, they reached the edge of the Thunderstorm Zone.

Only by standing here can you truly feel the terror of that thunderstorm.

The sky was covered by thick clouds, through which countless lightning bolts streaked, striking the mountains and bouncing back into the clouds, forming a perpetual electric grid.

The wind howled, carrying ice, snow, and gravel, emitting a shrill sound like the wailing of ghosts.

"There are still twenty minutes left in the window," Dyg, glancing at the timer in his hand. "We need to cross the most dangerous area and reach the first safety barrier within those three minutes."

"Remember the route," Silva said. "Stay close to me and don't fall behind."

The group checked their equipment and confirmed the rope connections. Harry closed his eyes and extended his senses into the Thunderstorm Zone. The chaotic magical field made him frown slightly, but there was indeed a relatively stable path within it, which matched the red line on the map.

"That road is open," he said. "I can feel it."

Twenty minutes later, the window opened. The lightning density in the southeast of the Thunderstorm Zone suddenly decreased, and several gaps appeared in the previously dense power grid.

"Walk!"

The five of them shot into the Thunderstorm Zone like arrows released from a bow!

Beneath our feet were rocks covered with a thin layer of ice, and overhead, lightning could strike at any moment.

The wind howled, almost knocking people over.

But they dared not stop, and could only run desperately along the route Silva had indicated.

Dyg's Quartz Probe vibrated wildly, constantly issuing warnings: traps! Curses! Hidden surveillance points! But they had no time to deal with them and could only bypass them.

Thirty seconds, sixty seconds, ninety seconds—time ticked by, second by second. With each passing second, the lightning overhead grew more intense, and that brief window of opportunity was rapidly closing.

"Thirty seconds left!" Dyg shouted.

Ahead lies a steep ice wall that needs to be climbed.

Silva was the first to rush forward, using both hands and feet, with Tonks close behind.

Harry helped Cassandra up, and the two climbed upwards together.

The ice wall is so slippery that you have to use all your strength for every step.

The last ten seconds.

The last five seconds.

Finally, they climbed up the ice wall and rushed into a naturally formed crevice.

Almost simultaneously, a deafening roar came from behind—the window of opportunity closed, and lightning flashed again.

"We're safe now," Dyg said, panting.

The group leaned against the ice wall, panting heavily. Harry glanced back at the Thunderstorm Zone behind them; the dense electric netting was like a net that completely blocked the path they had come from.

"Keep going," Silva said. "This is only the first level."

Over the next six hours, they traversed Voldemort's meticulously constructed middle layer of defenses.

The horror here far exceeds imagination; the entire mountainside is divided into countless distorted spatial fragments, each filled with deadly curses.

Runes that explode upon triggering, mist that corrodes souls, Devouring Beast disguised as normal rocks, and countless illusory paths that appear to be roads but actually lead to an endless abyss.

Dyg's Quartz Probe were almost constantly firing off alarms; Cassandra's Silver Compass spun wildly, trying to decipher the true structure of space; Silva's wilderness experience came in very handy here, as she could determine whether there were hidden creatures or traps ahead by the slightest changes in wind direction and scent; Tonks, on the other hand, used his ability to Metamorphmagus to occasionally Transfiguration the appearance of passing dark creatures to scout ahead or confuse any potential watchers.

Harry, on the other hand, became the core of the entire team.

His ability to sense Ley Lines played an irreplaceable role here—the spaces distorted by magic still left traces on the Ley Lines level. He could sense where the Ley Lines Ley Lines normally and where they had been forcibly cut off or distorted, thus determining which were traps and which were genuine passages.

Even so, they still faced several close calls.

Once, Dyg's probe fired half a second late, and they almost stepped onto a seemingly flat ice surface that was actually the entrance to an abyss.

Silva swung the rope just in time, pulling Tonks back from the brink of slipping.

Once again, they encountered a group of Thunderstorm Bat, dark creatures tamed by Voldemort, capable of surviving in thunderstorms and feeding on magic.

Hundreds of Thunderstorm Bat surged out of the darkness and attacked them.

Harry used the Gravity Cage he had just mastered to suppress them in one area, while Cassandra and Silva quickly wiped them out with Fire-Making Spell and Reductor Curse.

On another occasion, they stumbled into a large illusionary trap and nearly killed each other.

Harry immediately sensed something was wrong, and Cassandra, with her sensitivity to soul magic, also quickly noticed something amiss, releasing a Purification wave with her Silver Compass to dispel the illusion.

When the three regained consciousness, they found themselves pointing wands at each other, and cold sweat instantly soaked their backs.

But they all pulled through.

At 2 PM, they finally broke through the middle layer of defenses and arrived at the outer perimeter of the Core Zone.

The site is less than two hundred meters from the mountaintop ruins. Ahead lies a relatively flat Snowfield, at the edge of which stands Snowfield Dark Fortress, a remnant of an Ancient Magic device and a creation of Voldemort. The fortress's main structure is a massive circular building made of black rock and metal, with intricate Magic Array runes faintly visible on its top, slowly rotating. With each rotation, a visible ripple of dark magical energy spreads outward.

However, when Harry extended his senses to the fortress, he was stunned.

"What's wrong?" Cassandra noticed the change in his expression.

"It's too quiet." Harry frowned. "There are many signs of life in the fortress, but they are scattered and not concentrated. Voldemort's own presence is almost imperceptible."

"Could it be deep within Ley Line fissure?" Dyg asked.

"Possibly," Harry said, "But something just doesn't feel right."

Just then, Silva suddenly raised his hand, signaling for everyone to be quiet.

She listened intently, her expression subtly changing.

"Someone's coming," she whispered. "A lot."

Everyone immediately hid.

A moment later, a group of figures appeared at the other end of the Snowfield —not the Dark Wizard, but—

Goblin.

Those were a dozen or so fully armed Goblin, dressed in fine armor and wielding sharp weapons.

They marched in unison, patrolling along the edge of the Snowfield; they were clearly on patrol.

"Goblin— " Tonks murmured, "they've joined forces with the Dark Lord— "

"Not only that," Cassandra stared at the Goblin, "Look at their armor—these aren't ordinary Goblin, they're Goblin Warrior, like they were a hundred years ago—like they were during the Goblin Rebellion."

"Could it be someone from Runcorn?" Dyg suddenly said.

Everyone looked at him.

"Runcorn?" Silva asked.

"A Goblin leader," Dyg said. "I heard his legend in Egypt. A hundred years ago, he tried to seize Ancient Magic power and rule the entire magical world. But he was defeated a hundred years ago by the legendary wizard Harry Potter and disappeared without a trace. Recently, he was resurrected by the Dark Lord, and the two of them joined forces to launch a surprise attack on the American Ministry of Magic— "