"Boom——"
At the moment the Basilisk burst out from the ground fissure, William, who had just finished the Atmospheric Charm, momentarily forgot to keep his cool. He quickly turned his head, pivoted, and kicked its head sideways in one fluid motion. With a light click, the metal eye cover on the Basilisk's head dropped down with a metal clash, covering its yellow pupils.
"...What kind of look is that?"
Seeing Lupin riding on the Basilisk, covered in dust and dirt as he emerged from the ground, William asked in confusion——he was just going to deal with this group of poachers' stash... why did it look like he had been chased down eight streets in a zombie movie?
As he pulled Lupin out from the ground, William also lightly waved his Magic Wand, making the giant serpent, several meters long, disappear without a trace with a twist.
"Quin... Quintaped——"
After gasping for a moment, Lupin pointed at the crack beneath him, gasping for breath.
What's that thing?
Despite only getting an E in the Magical Creatures Class, William, who had forcefully leveled himself into some aspect of being a Master of Magical Creatures by leveraging Druidic (Advanced Magical Creatures Affinity), didn't immediately react.
William looked down in the direction Lupin pointed. All he saw was a pitch-black fissure with a sea of reddish-brown slowly writhing within...
"Damn, what the hell is that..."
The densely packed red writhing scene in the cave made William's sanity plummet rapidly.
"Quintaped..."
The air beside William suddenly stirred for a moment. Dumbledore's figure appeared next to William, also looking down at the reddish-brown sea writhing continuously, his expression turning somewhat grave.
"Yes, but how can there be so many?"
Grindelwald released his grip from Dumbledore's shoulder, peering below with a head stretched out, his skinny figure swaying slightly, "The entire Derya Island couldn't possibly hold so many of these damned things..."
Saying this, the old man turned to look at Lupin, who had just gotten to his feet, his face showing a peculiar expression, "You really stirred up a hornet's nest..."
Lupin didn't respond, only giving a bitter smile.
"Norbert, Fire!"
William waved his hand, and in the next moment, the Fire Dragon's orange-red Dragon Flame poured down like a waterfall into the chasm.
"Crackling——"
The Quintaped swarm began to writhe and roll in the inferno, the scorched smell mingling with the stench of blood foam spread throughout the cavern, while the monsters twisted and fell screaming into the flames, forming a grand scene.
"Is it solved just like that?"
Grindelwald leaned against a collapsed Roman pillar due to the previous Atmospheric Charm, fiddling with a toffee candy snagged from a dessert stand. But just as his words trailed off, a mutation suddenly arose —
The previously pure orange-yellow Dragon Flame suddenly had reddish-brown ripples, like backflowing poison coursing along the flame's trajectory into the Fire Dragon's mouth and nose.
"Grr——"
The blood vessels beneath Norbert's golden-red scales suddenly bulged, and the Dragon's eyes lit up with a bloody reddish-brown hue.
"Roar——!"
Suddenly, the out-of-control Dragon Flame swept across the entire audience, molten the iron railings near the stage into iron melt in a blink, "Snap——" Dumbledore's figure vanished once more, then appeared in front of the audience, "Impedimenta!"
A milky white barrier instantly rose, blocking the overwhelming Dragon Flame outside.
But the disappearance of the flame blocking the fissure represented more than just Norbert's "betrayal."
"Crackle——"
The Quintaped swarm's shrieks burst from the underground chasm, the piercing sound prompted everyone present to instinctively cover their ears, as hundreds of nearly three-meter-tall misshapen monsters erupted from the chasm. Their cooperation was obviously smarter than it seemed on the surface, propelling their bodies forward by bouncing on their five flexible limbs, swiftly avoiding Dumbledore's line of sight... and the barrier he held up.
"Aaaaaaah——"
The shrill screams from the audience roared louder than the Quintaped's shrieks, as the horde rapidly approached them.
"Snap——"
The sound of air displacement echoed continuously. Half of the audience instantly vanished as they responded, but of course, the wizards' self-preservation capabilities weren't as weak as they appeared. However, this group of poachers wouldn't abide by the secrecy laws —
So, obviously, not just wizards were sitting in the audience.
The unabated blazing Dragon Flame was far from ending, leaving Dumbledore with no hands free. Meanwhile, some Quintapeds had already rushed to the front of the audience, extending their gruesome limbs towards the screaming Muggle girls—
"Diffindo!"
A crimson charm flew in from a distance, slicing the Quintaped before the girl into chunks of meat strips in a split second, its horrifying death scene eliciting a reflexive scream from the Muggle girl—
"Impedimenta!"
Lupin extended his Magic Wand, continuously casting charms to shatter some Quintapeds while shielding the splattering debris and sharp limbs and fangs. Yet the relentless oncoming Quintapeds began to turn his face pale—
"Control the Fire Dragon!"
Dumbledore's voice boomed fervently.
Indeed, no reminder was needed; William already reacted the instant Norbert "betrayed." Observing the irregular Fire Dragon, he vanished amidst black smoke, reappearing atop its head.
"Roar——"
Feeling the extra weight above, Norbert shook its head wildly... "Boom——" Even while rummaging through his pocket, William threw a punch at Norbert's head. Despite his usual workouts, his physical strength couldn't affect a nearly adult Fire Dragon even through the scales of its forehead —
"Shut up——"
But perhaps due to the familiar voice accompanied by the punch, Norbert's expressively humanized face paused slightly.
"Ahem... huh?"
"Tsk."
Honestly, William always felt that Norbert was constantly under various magical influences affecting its brain since they first met, later being affected by poachers' Imperio Curse, and now clearly by some bizarre Dark Arts...
Although not inherently its fault, this frequency of control...
Luckily, he had previously noticed this point, then implemented a patch earlier.
After rummaging in the pocket for a moment, William caught the recently crawled-in Kabuda, shook it head-down, causing a hoarding of items to cascade out from its pocket —
Spotting his target, William reached out to grasp a deep blue Crystal Stone, snatching it into his hand.