The barely conscious Wizard turned and fled in panic, only to find the elevator door wouldn't open no matter what.
"Move aside!"
A furious man shouted, pulled out his Magic Wand, and aimed at the door, yelling, "Confringo! Confringo!"
With a loud "boom," sparks flew, and the metal door twisted and transformed, but behind it... it was still solid metal.
Vid saw more gun barrels moving out from the ceiling, pointing at the crowd below. As his scalp tingled, the barrels didn't spew fire.
What is this...?
Looking at the crowd, Vid suddenly realized—
Alchemists are like scientists in the Magic World, each representing immense value. If there's no choice, no matter the faction, they'd opt to recruit rather than decapitate directly.
And the vast majority of Alchemists don't possess a firm will to refuse to the death, easily compromising under power and coercion, which increases their survival rate.
——Technicians can study anywhere, can't they?
Vid felt slightly relieved, amidst the steel menace overhead, he merely stayed close to the gradually fainting Professor Morry, without revealing his discovery.
Someone else attempted Apparition, spinning and falling, still in the same place.
"The Anti-Disapparition Spell... the Anti-Disapparition Spell hasn't been lifted!" he said hopelessly.
A tall red-haired Wizard rushed over, grabbed Gul by the collar and shook him vigorously, "Who's behind you? Let us out! Otherwise, I won't let you off!"
Gul smiled mechanically, "As for the price, you can contact me privately. However, for this unique item, if others want it too, then I..."
"Damn!"
Although the red-haired Wizard knew he couldn't blame the controlled Gul, he couldn't help his fiery temper and pushed him down.
Gul was dazed for a moment, sat up, and said to the stone platform beside him:
"This task of exploring ancient ruins is extremely dangerous, are you sure you want to join... alright, I can discuss with others..."
Seeing his mad demeanor, someone familiar couldn't help shedding tears:
"Why? Why would someone do this to us? I've never done anything bad!"
He cried for a while, closed his eyes, and fell down.
Most Alchemists are basically technicians, spending years in their labs, with poor adaptability.
They ran around like headless flies for a while before someone remembered to use the Friendship Book to notify friends outside to find a rescue solution.
However... the words written on the parchment had disappeared, but no response was received.
Dragged to the corner by Vid, Professor Morry was already semi-conscious, trembling as he poured a bottle of Magic Potion down his throat, barely raised his head.
"Vid..." he weakly said.
"Professor."
Vid half-knelt beside him, stretched out a hand to support the professor's body.
"Contact... Dumbledore yet..." Professor Morry asked intermittently.
"No," Vid softly replied, "This room seems to have been hit by an anti-Curse on the Connecting Spell, messages can't get through."
"I see..." Professor Morry wheezed forcefully, struggled to say, "Find a chance... if you... can escape… just go... don't... worry about me..."
The old arm slipped from Vid's hand, Professor Morry closed his eyes, even his neck lost strength to support.
Vid laid him flat on the ground, worriedly checked his breath.
As he expected, the old man's breathing remained steady.
Professor Morry might have thought he was dying, but actually, he was just knocked out.
The statues kept spraying golden sparks, tiny flecks of gold scattering around like sparklers.
While many excited Wizards ran around, these flecks were brought everywhere. Only near Vid, as the golden flecks approached, they were blocked by an invisible barrier.
If someone observed carefully, they'd notice the first ones to fall were those closest to the statues, their skin stuck with plenty of flecks.
When Vid activated his Second Sight, he found these seemingly decorative flecks odd—they contained a Magic Power far beyond a magical firework, a strange, unknown force.
Vid was fortunate, he disliked close contact with crowds, standing at the edge from the beginning, thus the initial spray didn't land on him.
But few Wizards could detect the problem promptly like Vid, silently and wandlessly casting and maintaining the Iron Armor Spell for a long time.
Many Alchemists—including Professor Morry—carried Alchemy Items that resisted magical harm.
But the golden flecks floated like dust, even when landing on skin, it wouldn't cause immediate harm, and each fleck contained less magical power than a single Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Bean, naturally failing to "activate" the defense mechanism of the Alchemy Items.
That's why Professor Morry fell into the trap.
Vid thought for a moment, pretending to be unconscious amidst the chaos.
People in the room fell one by one, until the last Wizard battling the iron door also fell, only after a while did new sounds whisperingly arise.
"Fainted—"
"All fainted—"
"The plan was successful—"
"Come in now—come in now—"
"Open the door—open the door—"
"Fool—the door wasn't locked—no need for effort now—"
The portraits on the wall spoke one after another, unlike remnants left by past Wizards on the canvas, resembling a flock of chattering sparrows.
The statue spraying Gold Powder spun, burrowed underground, the room buzzed, wind arose, and the floating golden flecks were sucked away.
Vid quietly canceled the Iron Armor Spell, then under the cover of clothing, brushed some flecks off Professor Morry onto his shirt.
The wind stopped, a portrait cackled silently and slid open, several masked people emerged, followed by the girl from behind the counter.
"All down." The girl kicked lethargic Gul hugging the stone platform, disdainfully said, "Useless! I acted out a play before him for several days in vain."
"Stop talking, the leader wants us to bring these Alchemists back."
A sturdy man stooped to lift the frail old Wizard Matthias, followed by another person, who supported Matthias and dragged him through the door.
People orderly dragged the Alchemists out, carefully avoiding their bodies bumping into walls.
Vid squinted his eyes slightly, somewhat surprised inside.
Clearly using Levioso would be simpler, but these people preferred to sweat instead of using an easier Spell.
Yet, to say they're Muggles... the Imperio and that peculiar golden fleck don't seem like something Muggles possess.
The presence of these people... didn't appear in the original plot, nor in the movie series...
No, maybe after crossing over, some new movie or TV series came out... after all, it's a super popular big IP, changing it again isn't impossible...
Vid amused himself with bitter thoughts, suppressing inner uncertainty.
Since they didn't appear to intend immediate harm, Vid temporarily dismissed the idea of instant rebellion, brushing the golden flecks on his shirt into his palm, soon feeling dizzy.
He naturally wouldn't let himself fall asleep genuinely but couldn't fake it too much either.
A while later, footsteps stopped beside Vid.
"Are you sure?" he heard someone say, "Is this Vid Gray who invented the Poppet?"