Fusion with an S-Rank Item, the Philosopher's Stone!

"Enemy attack—"

The piercing alarm sounded immediately after the explosion. Sturdy, shimmering protective barriers sprang up outside the vaults affected by the blast, while the vaults themselves were reinforced by beams of magic, remaining stable and largely unharmed.

Hagrid and the others, who had nearly been buried alive beneath stalactites and rubble, were likewise mostly unharmed.

"Damn it! Who was it?! Who had the nerve to rob Gringotts?!"

The goblin Griphook stretched out his clawed hands and cast a large protective barrier, shielding himself as well as Hagrid, who had bent over Harry and Dudley to protect them. It blocked the falling rubble.

"Harry, Hagrid! Listen to me. If that Dark wizard comes over later, Hagrid, you'll take the lead and try to knock away his wand. Harry, use the 'Calm Mind' spell on him with everything you've got. Calm him down so he can't gather the killing intent needed to cast the Killing Curse!

"I'll support you from the middle and seize a chance to ambush him!"

Inside the barrier, Dudley calmly whispered a battle plan to his nearby teammates.

"Yes, Cousin!" Harry nodded resolutely. Over the past few years, his cousin had often led him through simulated combat drills against wizards.

"Dudley, no, it's too dangerous..." Hagrid was worried and did not want the two children taking such a risk.

"Don't talk, Hagrid. Do as I say! Otherwise, we might all die here! A Dark wizard's spells don't care whether you're a child or an adult!"

Dudley spoke with extreme severity. Then he wriggled out of Hagrid's embrace, lowered his head, and crouched behind Griphook.

Harry moved as well, using his fringe to cover the scar on his forehead. Standing beside Hagrid's thigh, he began muttering as he gathered power. "Calm... calm down..."

The two spells he and his cousin had developed were not yet mature enough to become true spells and could not be cast quickly. Charging them in advance was the best option.

Seeing Dudley and Harry's actions, Hagrid had no better choice and could only tacitly accept Dudley's plan. He gripped his umbrella wand tightly in one hand and clenched the other into a fist, ready for battle.

If the Dark wizard dared come any closer, his fist might be faster than any spell!

"Dear guest, what are you...?"

Griphook held both hands high to maintain the barrier. Feeling Dudley crouching behind him, he could not help feeling awkward.

"Cut the crap! Keep your barrier up! Dragon guards, spell lockdowns, the safest vaults in the world—you bragged so much your heads were in the clouds! What a... bunch of trash!"

Dudley mercilessly mocked the goblins' security forces, leaving Griphook nearly too ashamed to show his face.

At the same time, he once more issued a command to the system in his mind.

"System, fuse the Philosopher's Stone for me!"

Clearly, Dudley had already succeeded!

[Command received! Consuming 1 S-rank magical item fusion opportunity.]

The small paper packet Dudley had secretly switched and hidden in his coat pocket deflated. The S-rank magical item wrapped inside, the Philosopher's Stone, which resembled a ruby, instantly transformed into an invisible, intangible mysterious force and fused with Dudley.

[Congratulations, Host!]

[You have obtained an exceptional wizard bloodline!]

[From this moment onward, your magical power and reserves rival those of an elite magical professor. Your magical talent is extraordinarily outstanding. As your mental will stabilizes and strengthens, as you grow older, and as your magical knowledge increases, your magical cultivation will continue to grow. Its ultimate limit will be five times your current state.]

[You have obtained Pure Gold Transmutation!]

[You may consume magical power to transform any non-gold metal into pure gold. You may transmute up to 100 ounces, approximately 2,835 grams, every seven days.]

[You have obtained Elixir of Life Transmutation!]

[You may consume magical power to add the effects of the Elixir of Life to any beverage. You may transmute up to 10 gallons, approximately 45.5 liters, of beverages each year.]

[Note: For every gallon of beverage containing the effects of the Elixir of Life consumed, a person's lifespan may be extended by two years. The Elixir of Life can only extend one's lifespan. It cannot preserve youthful looks, heal bodily injuries, or grant immunity to instant-death attacks.]

[You have obtained partial knowledge and techniques of advanced alchemy!]

[You have mastered the alchemical knowledge and techniques related to creating the Philosopher's Stone.]

Powerful strength and profound memories accompanied the system notifications as Dudley absorbed them all.

He felt incredible now!

No sooner said than done!

Dudley's fusion with the Philosopher's Stone had taken only an instant. By then, Quirrell, who had been thoroughly berated by Voldemort, had already reached the top of the rubble pile trapping Hagrid and the others.

Quirrell waved his wand, swiftly moving aside chunks of stalactite. Dragon roars came from afar, drawing closer and closer. Goblins riding chained dragons were on their way to reinforce them.

"Hurry up! Useless fool! Find the Philosopher's Stone and leave immediately!"

"Yes, my master!"

Voldemort urged Quirrell on, and Quirrell waved his wand faster and faster. Soon, he spotted the azure energy barrier beneath the rubble.

"Master, they blocked it!" Quirrell said in surprise.

"Idiot! Stop talking and kill them!" Voldemort was growing frantic.

Quirrell did not dare delay any longer and hurriedly raised his wand. "Avada Kedavra!"

A dazzling green light shot forth, carrying overwhelming killing intent as it struck the barrier cast by Griphook.

The barrier shattered at once.

"Not good!" Griphook cried out. His body instantly twisted into a spiral and vanished from the spot.

When he reappeared, he was already more than ten meters away.

"Dear guests, please wait. I'll go call for help!"

That unprofessional goblin saw that things were going badly and used the Enhanced Apparition innate to goblins to run away!

If Gringotts' underground vaults had not been protected by an incredibly powerful anti-Apparition enchantment, Griphook's flash just now would not have taken him merely a dozen meters. Seeing even his silhouette would have disgraced the goblin name.

"Levicorpus of the Colossus!"

With the goblin proving unreliable, Dudley immediately used the wand he had swiped from Diggle to cast the Summoning Charm he had learned from the Standard Book of Spells.

Thanks to his formidable magical power and a little luck, Dudley's Summoning Charm worked smoothly.

A massive stalactite flew over and blocked the lingering force of Quirrell's Killing Curse.

The simplest way to defend against Avada Kedavra, the Killing Curse—known as the foremost of the three Unforgivable Curses—was to block it with a large inanimate object.

This was a trick Dudley had learned from Dumbledore while watching the film series in his previous life.

Quirrell had intended for that attack to shatter the barrier and eliminate the troublesome goblin at the same time. Instead, the barrier broke, the goblin fled, and the Killing Curse was blocked by an early-developing little fat boy.

Quirrell was furious. He immediately shifted position, found a new casting angle, and green light once again rose from the tip of his wand as he prepared to fire another Killing Curse.

But at that moment, a strangely enchanting voice reached Quirrell's ears.

"Calm down! Calm down!"

For no reason, Quirrell's heart became calm. The green glow on his wand faded, and he seemed to see the youth that had been worn away from him.

He had been an outstanding Ravenclaw graduate. He had been a brilliant hero who had entered the Albanian Forest alone to hunt vampires and wicked witches!

He was...

"Bang—"

A pot-lid-sized fist slammed into the face of the "former brilliant hero."

Quirrell instantly experienced the sensation of flying. He helplessly spun through the air three and a half times, his broken teeth caught inside his black cloth mask, before crashing heavily onto a boulder in utter humiliation.

"No one! No one can hurt Harry Potter! Or his cousin!"

Hagrid roared, completely exposing Harry and Dudley. Then he leaped high into the air and came down like Mount Tai collapsing, about to crush the hateful masked wizard on the ground.

"Ahhh! Useless! Useless fool!"

Voldemort finally snapped. Quirrell had clearly been an outstanding Ravenclaw, so why had he become so useless under his command?

Didn't going dark make someone three times stronger? Why had both his strength and intelligence regressed instead?

Voldemort was miserable. He was going to act himself!

Because he had heard that name—the name he hated to the bone. And if he did not act now, the only subordinate currently by his side would be crushed to death beneath that idiot giant's backside.