Deep in the vaults beneath Gringotts, threaded with twisting minecart tunnels, a spectacularly chaotic minecart chase raged along the crisscrossing tracks.
"Diffindo! Confringo!!"
Curses, screams, and the sound of collapsing tracks echoed endlessly between the sheer cliffs of the cavern. The masked Roy was looking considerably worse for wear now. The robe he wore to conceal his identity was in tatters, and even the few intact patches were covered in marks left by dragonfire and spells.
Had he not healed himself quickly enough and wrapped the legendary-quality fabric he had scavenged from the Ancient Demon King around himself beneath his clothes, the magical damage from the dragon's breath and the goblins' combined attack spells would have been far harder to withstand.
After he blasted apart another stretch of track carrying his relentless pursuers, countless more goblins plunged into the abyss with their minecarts.
Yet there were still far too many minecarts and goblins chasing Roy to count. Their dense barrage kept the battered Roy pinned down, afraid to raise his head above the cart. Then the goblins blasted away the track ahead of him with fireballs, leaving him no choice but to brave the rain of fire, leap out of his cart, and land on a footpath carved into the cliff beside him. Gritting his teeth, he began retreating on foot toward the top-level extraction point.
"Well, looks like my free ride is over. But you goblins can't outrun me. You'd need stilts for that, at least."
Roy glanced at the enormous hole he had created at the top of the cliffs overhead by releasing the dragon and estimated the distance. He had probably reached the cliff level where Vault 1000 was located.
Recalling the plan he and Aisling had agreed on—to hand over the documents outside his vault—Roy checked