[ Ding ding ding! Quest [The Beginning of the Fire] triggered ]
[An unfamiliar Fire Dragon has ignited inextinguishable Dragonfire, which will engulf half the Forbidden Forest. How could the Savior Lord stand by and do nothing!]
[Reward: 10 experience points, Bronze Magic Knowledge · 1]
--Unfamiliar?
"Lock Dog Body!" Harry's fist moved faster than his confusion.
[Potter Combat] had returned to the scene.
Harry's technique had reached perfection. He no longer needed to wrap his arms around anything; one punch was enough.
Everything inside the cabin froze in place: the flickering embers, the falling black eggshell, the black spider legs that had poked out of the shell, tipped with spikes like crab legs...
The door also swung open with a click, completely unharmed.
"King Harry, help! There's a monster! (Dog language)"
Fang circled around behind Harry, cautiously poking his head out to look inside.
What had hatched was an extremely bizarre creature.
Most of its body was covered in a metallic carapace. Only the black spines running down its back to its tail, its bulging orange-red eyes, the horn on its head, and its white nostrils suggested it was a Norwegian Ridgeback.
Three black gemstone-like Compound Eyes were neatly embedded in the bony plates on either side beneath its dragon eyes. The six thick legs growing from its sides, covered in carapace and tipped with spikes, had oily black wing membranes—and looked nothing like the limbs of a Fire Dragon.
"Spider! Spider-Dragon!" Ron hid behind Draco and crouched down.
"It looks like a crab, too." Draco's love of Fire Dragons overcame his fear. "Those legs are wings as well. It should be able to fly. Eight eyes... I know!"
"The offspring of an Acromantula and a Norwegian Ridgeback!"
--Dragonfire that could engulf half the Forbidden Forest and was supposedly inextinguishable... Was this Voldemort's original plan?
--A brand-new 5X-class creature created with Dark Magic?
Harry realized what was happening. He stamped out the stirring [Dark Qi] and released the Acromantula-Dragon from his restraint.
He also let out a wisp of Arbok's aura.
In any case, as long as it wasn't a bird and had eyes—especially eight eyes with no blind spots—a Basilisk was its natural enemy.
Sure enough, the Spider-Dragon, about to Spit Up black flames, immediately became docile.
The flames transformed into a bird and flew past the four of them toward a tall, slender figure.
"Interesting. Dragonfire similar to Fiendfyre. Tom has taught me a lesson. It has completed its transformation even before absorbing life energy."
Dumbledore waved his wand. A glass bottle appeared out of thin air, enclosing the Dragonfire before settling into his palm.
"You mean it's a Dark Magic Creature created by the Dark Lord!" Draco finally began to panic. He hurried backward, pulling Ron in front of him.
"Dumbledore and Harry are both here!" Ron scoffed. He took a quick sidestep backward, nearly stumbled, but managed to steady himself before retreating behind Dumbledore. "What are you afraid of?"
"Dumbledore! What's going on?"
Hagrid came running over in a hurry, leading a kite.
No, it wasn't a kite at all. It was a person suspended in midair.
"A new breed of Fire Dragon! Rubeus, did you make it?"
The man pointed his wand at himself and muttered something. He abruptly dropped to the ground, then walked toward the cabin on his wooden leg.
"Professor Kettleburn?" Harry recognized him. He gently nudged away the Acromantula-Dragon, which was rubbing up against him like a puppy.
The Spider-Dragon whined in distress, its legs clicking.
"Abusing Billywig venom isn't a good idea, Sylvannus." Dumbledore sighed. "There are still several patients at St. Mungo's who'll never be able to touch the ground again, and remain suspended in midair."
"Then make this leg better." Professor Kettleburn held out his wooden leg.
Crack!
The Spider-Dragon bit through the wooden leg in one snap, then carried it over to Harry to curry favor with him, its tail wagging so fast it blurred.
"Looks like she didn't inherit the Acromantula's intelligence." Professor Kettleburn seemed used to having his prosthetics suddenly bitten off. He stood steadily on one leg and analyzed the situation calmly.
"The bite isn't green, there's no sizzling, and no venom?"
"That remains to be seen."
Draco pricked up his ears. He wanted to get closer, but hesitated.
He quickly asked, "Could she have been—"
"She's lucky," Dumbledore replied at once. "Tom's magic didn't affect her. And... she seems to have taken a liking to Harry. Only Harry, though."
Hagrid, looking like a doting father, was being gnawed on by the Spider-Dragon, but its teeth hadn't broken the skin.
Professor Kettleburn, who had been excited the whole time, grew unusually dejected. He cast an envious look at Hagrid, as if he wished he were the one being bitten.
"The dragon egg has been activated?"
A puff of white cloud eagerly drifted toward the window.
The Forbidden Forest hadn't caught fire as he'd hoped.
"Please calm down, Master." Quirrell reacted quickly and immediately prostrated himself.
"No, I won't get angry. And I certainly won't punish you for this."
Voldemort seemed to have changed his attitude toward Quirrell. His voice was no longer cold.
"Master~"
"Get up. You've done a great service."
The white cloud gathered into a hazy silhouette. He stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the sky.
"Because of you, I'm closer to the moon than ever. I'm no longer just a shadow and steam. I've regained the reason I lost. Moon's Magic is soothing my soul."
"Of course, the person I should thank most is Dumbledore. He specifically had Harry Potter learn about Muggles, even disregarding the International Statute of Secrecy. I simply never realized it before."
"During the London Blitz, I was lucky enough to be sheltering at Hogwarts."
"During the Normandy Landings, I was on my way to Little Hangleton."
"The Berlin Blockade, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Northern Ireland Conflict—I missed them all. My so-called travels around the world had been limited to the Wizarding World, where I was busy with one dangerous magical transformation after another..."
"Only yesterday did I realize... Grindelwald might have been right."
"Indeed, we couldn't detect them or drive away their Non-Existence. Ghosts like them were so powerless."
"Our magic could also easily transform nonmagical objects, control minds, travel through space, even traverse time and alter history, erasing countless people who should have been born."
"But most of our own kind are just as vulnerable as ordinary people."
"And there are far too many traitors to the wizarding world like Dumbledore, who styles himself a protector of Muggles."
"They've never realized how many times the Muggles they think need protecting have nearly destroyed our world!"
"Science must be erased from Muggle minds. Only wizards should be allowed to study it. The Muggles need only live like lambs."
Voldemort's outline began to roil. It was a sign that he had fallen into a state of utter fury.
Once, he had been supremely confident.
He'd been confident that even if he failed, he could simply hide somewhere for a hundred years and wait for his enemies to die of old age.
But now...
The Muggles' progress and the rapid changes in their society had robbed him of his confidence.
Perhaps, one day,
the satellites in the sky would discover the Wizarding World.
Then they would drop a devastating bomb, one said to harness the secrets of the sun.
Everything he longed for—his teaching position at Hogwarts, Dumbledore's admission of defeat, his future subjects... would all vanish.
The out-of-control Non-Existence would spread everywhere. The Muggle government's leaders would flee Earth, leaving this ruined world behind like trash for him—and perhaps two or three surviving wizards.
"I will protect this world!"
"From Dumbledore and the others! From those foolish and dangerous Muggles!"
"I will become the true Savior!"
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