💥 Good News For my Pãtreon Supporters the first team member just join me to help me Translate the chapter and from today we will post 4 chapter a day on Pãtreon/Flokixy so I hope for your support so we can continue with the daily update 🙏
"How dare you—"
Many stories, at their beginning, have predictable endings. From the eerie underground world, a furious howl suddenly erupted, its sharp intensity comparable to a werewolf's roar at the sight of a full moon.
"Playing tricks—"
Three seconds after ingesting the bewildering potion, the old wizard slammed his hand on the table. The dense pustules and scabs on his head rapidly turned from red to purple, then from purple to black. Immediately after, like a potion about to finish brewing, they began to boil. The fleshy thorns on his face also became excited, wildly twisting and rapidly growing, seemingly eager to detach from the old wizard's face.
"Great—"
The old wizard was beside himself with rage. His intonations, rising and falling, clearly showed the fury in his heart at this moment. He raised a short, stubby staff, its tip inlaid with a gemstone, seemingly intending to unleash a vicious curse on the one who deceived him.
But unfortunately, he seemed to have forgotten that his current state could no longer control his volatile, evil magic. And the act of actively casting a spell caused his own chaotic and disordered magic to further spiral out of control. He was like a wax figure placed on a flame to roast, rapidly melting, starting from his head and spreading throughout his body.
In a blink of an eye, the living person from moments ago had turned into a puddle of black, gooey pus accumulated on the ground!
"Sorry, great... what?"
The thin, bamboo-like wizard who traded with the old wizard sneered oddly. He grabbed the mithril from the table and stuffed it into his robe. Then, he walked to the puddle of pus and examined it for a few moments, pulling out the old wizard's discarded staff from within. He carefully scrutinized the ruby at the tip of the staff, illuminated by the torches suspended in mid-air.
Even through the black cloth, Amostas could sense the triumph on his face.
The thin wizard noticed the gaze. He turned his head and looked at Amostas with an unfriendly expression, seemingly thinking Amostas intended to double-cross him. So, he threatened in a low voice,
"In this place, greed and excessive curiosity can cost you your life at any moment. Golden Viper, don't think that having once torn apart a few large wolfhounds makes everyone fear you—"
Amostas smiled contemptuously. He lowered his head and deeply gazed at the puddle of liquid. After a long while, an old, hoarse voice emerged from beneath his hood,
"Thank you for the reminder, Mr. Deceiver, but you seem to have forgotten one thing: besides greed and curiosity, carelessness is also very fatal."
"What?"
In the instant the thin wizard was stunned, a black specter with scarlet eyes suddenly emerged from the puddle of pus on the ground. The specter, like a grim reaper, floated in mid-air and let out a shrill roar at the thin wizard,
"Embrace death with me, shameless one!"
The specter in the air was beyond the thin wizard's comprehension. He had no thought of fighting it. He turned and tried to flee, but unfortunately, every inch of the underground world was bound by Anti-Apparition Charms, and the nearest fireplace was at least half a mile away.
Before the thin wizard could run out of the low wall, the massive, grim reaper-like specter had already caught up to him. It dove from mid-air towards the ground. It opened its blood-stained mouth, filled with sharp teeth, and instantly swallowed the thin wizard's body and his screams!
Gooch, gooch, gooch—
A sickening grinding sound clearly reached his ears, mixed with blood and brains mixed with bone fragments, falling like streams onto the ground. The rich, putrid smell of blood made Amostas inwardly frown.
The old wizard's grim reaper form was merely a dying struggle before perishing, unable to last long in the world.
The specter, having exacted its revenge, rapidly faded. Before completely vanishing, it turned and stared fixedly at Amostas, its hoarse voice filled with resentment,
"You knew that thing was fake, but you didn't warn me!"
"Why do you attribute your own foolishness to others?"
Amostas said coldly, "Before I become interested in your current form, you'd best disappear. Otherwise, I don't mind keeping you in a glass bottle for a few decades before sending you to hell."
Amostas's words were unrefutable. The specter sighed helplessly. After a lingering glance around, its form completely faded, and it walked resolutely towards death.
Some people nearby noticed the commotion, but no one was surprised by what happened, nor did anyone try to approach and inquire about the specifics. As the thin wizard said, in this lawless land, excessive curiosity could cost you your life at any moment.
A dark breeze swept through, carrying a silver gleam. Amostas summoned the mithril, covered in teeth marks, from the blood and flesh, cleaned it, and then unconcernedly tucked it into his robe, feeling exceptionally pleased.
With a crisp snap of his fingers, golden magical flames spontaneously ignited on the pus formed from the old wizard and the shattered blood and flesh of the thin wizard. In just a few breaths, the flames cleansed the foul ground, utterly destroying the last traces of the two on earth.
Since he took someone's things, he should help clean up the aftermath. This, is called public virtue.
"It seems I missed a good show, Mr. Golden Viper?"
Amostas turned his head towards the source of the voice. A golden-haired, black-eyed, amicable middle-aged wizard stood beneath the tall notice board, smiling at him.
"Perhaps you luckily avoided trouble."
Amostas nodded, his tone indifferent.
The newcomer's name was Carcus Free. He was a well-known broker in the underground world, from the Free family, one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight Families.
This family had once been renowned in the wizarding world. In their most glorious period, the family's patriarch even served as the Minister for Magic, making them one of the undisputed noble families.
But unfortunately, Hector Free, the then Minister for Magic from the Free family, did not possess a strategic vision that transcended reality. He ignored Albus Dumbledore's warnings and mistakenly underestimated the damage that the then-ascendant first-generation Dark Lord, Gellert Grindelwald, would inflict upon Britain and even the entire European wizarding world. Consequently, he was forced from power by enraged wizards.
And the Free family, stripped of political protection, suffered heavy losses and gradually disappeared from the British wizarding world.
For two or three generations, the fallen Free family had sought ways to return to the center stage. They tried numerous attempts but always failed, because at the end of every path stood a figure that was absolutely insurmountable in the current era.
In fact, Albus Dumbledore never targeted the fallen Free family. However, people in the wizarding world would not forget that it was precisely because Hector ignored Dumbledore's warnings that the British wizarding world later suffered heavy casualties in its fight against Grindelwald.
Fifty years passed, and people's anger towards the Free family gradually faded, but Albus Dumbledore was still alive!
The current Ministry of Magic officials always treated the centenarian at Hogwarts with the utmost vigilance. They had no need to risk angering the greatest wizard of their time for a speck of dust that should have long been submerged in the river of history.
Ultimately, the helpless Free family decided to delve into the shadows.
They sent one of the few promising youngsters from their family, willing to expose themselves to the risk of retaliation by operating in the underground world, diligently accumulating wealth and connections, silently awaiting an opportunity to return to the light.