allendalepharm Chapter 175 The Teetering Nymungard
Chapter 175 The Teetering Nymungard
Chapter 175 The Teetering Nymungard
How powerful are the world's top wizards?
Lockhart has now witnessed it firsthand.
It's important to understand that this impromptu battle isn't Lockhart versus Grindelwald one-on-one, but rather a gang fight.
Lockhart, accompanied by a group of dark magic creatures, a winged demon that had once sent Grindelwald to prison, and a barely-there apprentice, ganged up on the old wizard.
He had always thought that dark magic creatures were practically invincible if no one knew how to counter them, but that was clearly not the case.
It turns out that the threat of dark magic creatures has its limits; above the mechanical monsters are even more terrifying numerical monsters.
Dumbledore made a good point by not imprisoning Grindelwald in Azkaban, where Dementors, the creatures of dark magic, were the primary means of guarding him; that place simply couldn't contain such a powerful wizard.
This was a battle that had different levels of intensity.
Lockhart clearly hasn't yet reached the level of a top-tier wizard; even using his most proficient and versatile Oblivion Charm, he couldn't significantly affect Grindelwald.
He could feel it—almost there, just a little bit more!
Even the Oblivion Spell is fine in certain situations, but it falls short in magical duels. It's like the difference between 99 and 101 points; it seems like only a two-point difference, but it represents two different levels.
It's not just a matter of ganging up on him now; Grindelwald has another huge disadvantage—he doesn't have a wand!
The importance of wands to wizards is undeniable; just as Voldemort, when he lost his own wand, would immediately steal one from his henchmen.
Not to mention that Grindelwald, Dumbledore, and Voldemort all wield the Elder Wand.
The experienced master, unarmed, faced a group attack but was not killed by the hail of punches; instead, he firmly maintained the upper hand.
Lockhart quickly found himself in trouble.
Streaks of joyful and beautiful silver light were forcibly pulled from the depths of his mind. These strange substances, like living viscous liquid, filled the entire cell. Terrifying magical power surged forth, affecting Grindelwald and Lockhart, who involuntarily revealed strange, beautiful, and happy smiles on their faces.
"Young man!" Grindelwald suddenly burst into laughter. "This is my first piece of advice, concerning magic. It's called the wonder of magic, and you can't resist it. I know you're perfectly suited for it!"
He could feel Lockhart's magic pulling at him, preventing him from completely removing this positive force, similar to the Obscurial, from Lockhart's body. This was clearly beyond his expectations.
But that's alright, that's enough for him to do.
He suddenly relaxed his raised arm as if to grab, opened his palm, and instead pushed.
With this pull and push, most of Tom's guardian spirit was detached from Lockhart's mind and squeezed directly into Lockhart's body.
Transfiguration!
This is a transformation!
Moreover, it's a completely different kind of Transfiguration from Dumbledore's!
Lockhart's mind was filled with alarm bells. He had studied Dumbledore and Grindelwald's magical notebooks, "The Manipulation of Lightning," and knew the differences between their magical paths.
Dumbledore's Transfiguration is outward-facing, expressing his will to the world.
Grindelwald's Transfiguration is an internal art, pursuing ultimate control.
This mastery of shapeshifting even surpasses the innate talent of the Disguise Magus and the effects of using Polyjuice Potion in Potions. Grindelwald can transform into another person for extended periods without anyone noticing.
Lockhart had always been curious about how Grindelwald had instructed his nephew Credence on how to use the power of the Obscurus, but he never expected it to be through the Transfiguration method.
He was in great pain at the moment, feeling a terrifying force constantly eroding his body. Unfortunately, the magical path he had been pursuing had always focused on the mind, making him somewhat lacking in resistance to this.
Soon, he felt parts of his body breaking down.
His left hand, left shoulder, and even his internal organs began to permeate. Tom Riddle's guardian spirit was resonating with his body in a state of disintegration and restructuring, eventually merging together step by step.
That part of the body floated in mid-air like mucus, constantly churning and twisting, emitting large amounts of mental energy.
The whole person felt light and airy, as if they had broken free from the constraints of their physical form.
Hemp egg!
Lockhart was furious.
He stared coldly at Grindelwald. "Please stop casting spells on me. This is an extremely rude and offensive act!"
"In this state, you can still speak?" Grindelwald looked at him with some surprise, then smiled strangely. "Young man, stop resisting. You'll find that my arrangement for you is the best, you—"
OK OK.
You won't listen, huh?
Lockhart narrowed his eyes, gently waved his wand, and stopped speaking, allowing his mind to quickly enter a meditative state.
Sure enough, one shouldn't have any subconscious fondness for these characters from the original work. Everyone has their own thoughts, especially powerful wizards who have reached the top. They are all so self-centered and domineering, so how could they really care about other people's goodwill?
Then...
He waved his wand slowly, but powerful magic began to surge, as if a strong wind had risen around him, howling and making the stones in the house tremble.
He was attempting an extremely dangerous spell, because he had no idea whether he was capable of controlling it.
Composite magic, deconstructing and reconstructing the magical abilities he possesses, is the magical path that has become increasingly clear to him since he began studying weather spells.
boom!
Boom boom boom!
Bolts of lightning struck every crevice and window of the prison castle, as if they were possessed and trying to penetrate the cell. Subtle currents began to permeate the surrounding air, sending chills down one's spine.
This kind of goosebumps carries an extremely eerie sense of fear, as if it transcends the realm of normal human understanding. It attempts to dismantle one's mental defenses in an indescribable way, making one so terrified that one wants to freeze, or even so terrified that one's body will disintegrate into different parts and roll to the ground.
Terrible blood gushed from the stone walls, ceiling, and floor. The air was filled with a sweltering heat and mournful cries, so loud that it seemed as if people wished more mouths would split open on their bodies to scream in agony.
Lockhart's eyes were filled with thick, black smoke, as if his entire body had become nothing more than a shell, a thin shell filled with smoke whose true shape was indeterminate.
But soon, Lockhart disappeared from Grindelwald's sight, and no further changes could be seen.
Only the intuition transmitted by his spirit remained, frantically telling Grindelwald with a large amount of chaotic information that Lockhart was right in front of him, right here, right there, casting terrible magic.
"The Art of Spiritual Communication!"
Grindelwald's lips twitched, his eyes filled with disbelief. "This same magical trick can be used like this?"
Indeed, when they were young, Dumbledore casually figured out this spell. The two of them didn't study it for long before giving up on exploring it further, because there wasn't much to study about it.
Can·.
This young man in front of me has actually used this magic to such an extent?
No, it's not just about telepathy.
He sensed the terrifying aura surging around him, faintly perceiving countless top-tier magical powers within them—blood magic, Patronus Charm, Weather Charm, Imperius Charm, Killing Charm, Oblivion Charm, Dark Power, Horcrux Power, Life Power, Soul Power—
Holy crap, this young man!
Albus, do you want to come and take a look? This young man you're praising is actually a dark wizard!
Oh, or to put it more nicely in modern magic terms, it's called Defense Against the Dark Arts.
But isn't defensive magic also black magic?
Nonsense, that stuff is black magic!
boom!
Another violent tremor struck, and Grindelwald felt the world begin to twist rapidly.
He knew that this was not a distortion in the real sense, but a mental illusion caused by the erosion of magical power into his mind.
No, it seems that reality has also been distorted, with too much lightning and fire carrying a terrifying will, as if it wants to tear everything apart.
This is··
Haha, it has Dumbledore's Transfiguration technique, and also his Transfiguration philosophy!
Grindelwald laughed, a unique kind of joy, as if celebrating the appearance of another powerful wizard in the world, and the addition of another figure to the lonely path of magic.
"OK--"
Give it a try!
Look at how far you've come, young man!
Grindelwald suddenly stood up, pressing his palms forward forcefully as if he were pushing something.
This is the power of the prophet, propelling things in the direction they should go.
Of course, he knew that this was not the inevitable direction of development. The "future" is not something that is inevitable; it has countless "inevitable" possibilities.
His magical power merely propelled one of the "inevitables" to become a reality.
But this is enough.
He grasped a possible path Lockhart might take in the future, realized that this path would benefit him, and thus pushed for it.
He could feel that the power he had extracted from the young man's soul, which was similar to the Obscurus but also the opposite of it, was gradually dissolving into the young man's body and merging into his blood.
The magical bloodline is rooted in the heart; this is his own realization.
No matter how powerful or wondrous his Transfiguration abilities had been in the past, Dumbledore could always accurately locate him.
It's because no matter how he changes, the magical bloodline rooted in his heart still exists, and his prophetic magical bloodline is so special.
He couldn't simply force a magical bloodline into anyone; he couldn't do that without a wand right now.
It simply relies on going with the flow to bring about some "inevitable" outcome in the future.
Almost.
Just a little bit more.
But this tiny bit is resisted by a powerful force—the resistance of the "present" to the "future," a self-correction of time and the world.
This is actually the prophet's tragedy. He seems to be promoting development, but by forcibly pushing forward, he inadvertently creates opposing forces that resist his efforts.
Just like the "fairytale adventure" that Albus had mentioned to him.
Characters like "prophet" are often supporting characters in fairy tales, whose sole purpose is to help the "protagonist" move forward better.
But he was unwilling to accept it.
He also wanted to be the protagonist; he didn't want to be a supporting character. In fairy tale adventures, the prophet can only ever be a background character. How could anyone be content with that?
Grindelwald keenly sensed the effect Lockhart's spell had on his mind at that moment. His brain was churning with countless thoughts, and countless weaknesses hidden beneath his hardened defenses were emerging.
He began to feel angry, angry at the inability to fulfill his own will, ambition, and desires.
That was the pain brought about by the long years of past experiences.
The pain was profound.
The more his inner weakness surfaced, the angrier he became. This anger made his magic even stronger, but he also felt the opposing forces growing stronger in tandem.
His efforts and his spells are making this force opposing him even stronger.
He looked up sadly, finally feeling a complete and utter tearing apart.
It was a crack in the soul, and also a crack in reality.
The power center he had built in the past has now become his prison, and Nurmengard Castle is tearing apart.
He saw the cracked and twisted stone walls, he saw the gloomy sky, he saw lightning flowing like the ocean, and he saw a terrifying, gigantic werewolf figure waving its claws, which were covered in terrifying light, reaching out to grab him from the crack.
It's like digging up an anthill.
Just then, a figure lunged forward, blocking his path, and forcefully raised the Elder Wand. An aged yet still domineering voice resounded—"Restore to your former glory!"
The world twists and turns again, trying to restore everything to its original state.
Thus, the twists and turns collided, and the entire Nurmengard teetered on the brink of collapse.
Inside the split upper half of Nurmengard Castle, the wolf's claws in the gloomy, lightning-filled sky seemed to be approaching yet also receding, creating a visually distorted and uncomfortable effect.
But this is a great opportunity!
Grindelwald's eyes lit up, and he suddenly pushed that joyful power to merge with Lockhart once more.
Dumbledore clearly noticed his little trick, turned around abruptly, and looked at him sharply. "Stop!"
Grindelwald didn't stop, he just laughed loudly, his messy gray hair flying wildly as the surging magic swept through it, and his wizard robes, which looked even wider because of his thin bones, fluttered and snapped.
He looked at Dumbledore and simply said, "Let him kill me, or help me!"
"You!" Dumbledore felt he shouldn't have rushed up. Really, why did he always have to go through such difficult choices?
Helping Grindelwald would only hurt Lockhart, making it seem like he and Gellert were bullying the young man.
However, helping Lockhart would also harm Gellert, and given Gellert's current weakened state, he might even be killed.
A dilemma...
It seems to be something that's always bothering him.
"Oh no!" Fortunately, fate always seemed to favor Dumbledore. Whenever faced with a dilemma, some unexpected event would always manage to escape these predicaments completely. His expression changed, and he roared, "Stop, all of you! Nurmengard is collapsing!"