Chapter 211: Scorching the Earth
"Cooperation? You! Are not! Qualified!"
The sound issuing from the python's throat was hoarse, like fire silently devouring wood, licking at it bit by bit, before suddenly erupting into a crackling roar.
The DGSE Director remained unfazed. "Then I hope we can talk again after you've calmed down. I must point out that the Magi-Metal Wizards you wish to save are eager to return home."
He put down the walkie-talkie.
Behind him was Martin, spluttering blood and struggling to speak. "You animal! Just kill me! No one will cooperate with you!"
"You're still young. You don't understand the rules by which this world operates. Everything is interconnected. There is no black-and-white opposition, only cooperation for mutual benefit. Among you wizards, there are those with close ties to Prime Ministers and Presidents. I am merely following their example."
The Director believed everything was on track.
As long as he held the hostages, he could dialogue with the wizard outside. And as long as he could dialogue, he was confident he could persuade the wizard using mutual interests.
This was the self-cultivation of an intelligence chief.
And a necessary step for his ambition.
A person who couldn't give a persuasive speech would never become an excellent politician.
He stared at the monitor. The fire python, seemingly even larger now, was melting the ground, appearing to be boring a path straight down.
"Such powerful strength... If... no, I must obtain this power," he murmured, his eyes full of intoxication.
In a realm undetectable by all their sensors, waves of energy untouched by ordinary humans echoed continuously underground, like sonar probing and locking onto a position.
Yet, on the monitoring consoles, neither radar, nor sonar, nor optical sensors recorded these echoing waves.
They could only let these waves draw closer and closer to the basement where Martin and the others were held.
On the surface, layers of soil, rock, and reinforced concrete were melted into liquid, pooling in the depressions bit by bit.
The nine-headed fire python constantly spewed flames, roasting the earth, turning rock into glowing lava and metal into scalding molten iron. With each eruption of fire, a deep pit appeared on the surface.
Above this pit was a night as bright as day, a starry sky constantly bursting with fireworks. Everyone found this scene breathtaking.
Whether it was the wizards hiding in the dense forest or the ordinary people watching through the few remaining intact surveillance cameras.
One of the python's heads spewed a column of fire. The flames hammered the ground heavily, the impact blasting away a layer of earth while the intense heat melted another.
With just one breath of fire, the ground sank twenty or thirty centimeters. Aside from the deepening center, everything within a hundred meters of the impact was scorched black—a deathly, silent black.
Maxime's worldview was shattered once again. So magic's destructive power can reach this level! Magic isn't just a synonym for mystery; it can be a synonym for destruction!
She dared not imagine how tragic the outcome would be if a wizard of flesh and blood faced this giant fire beast.
Perhaps the entire French Ministry of Magic couldn't subdue this python... She began making comparisons in her mind.
"This... this..." Quirrell, who wanted to show off Ravenclaw's broad knowledge, was also speechless. He had truly never seen such a scene before. Even when Voldemort controlled him, the Dark Lord had only used the Cruciatus Curse on him. He also knew of Voldemort's Killing Curse, which embodied death itself.
But no matter how powerful a single-target attack was, or how instant the death it brought, visually, it paled in comparison to a maxed-out area-of-effect attack with full special effects.
It's hard to say Ryan didn't choose fire just to show off... The thought suddenly occurred to Quirrell, and the more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. His junior did love the limelight.
Dumbledore looked at the dazzling golden yellow with nostalgia. In his memory, there was also a brilliant blue fire that burned just as hot.
He murmured to himself, "The fire you wished for has been lit after all. This time, I have permitted it."
Far away at Hogwarts, Gellert, left to guard the school, sneezed. "Who's talking about me?"
Because of his gift for prophecy, he felt something deeply connected to him in a mystical sense was happening tonight.
But he couldn't figure it out; he couldn't find the cause.
"Strange. Maxime claimed she was coming to see Albus, so Albus and Ryan went to welcome her... and they still haven't come back."
He tapped on the desk.
Several known factors arranged and combined in his mind.
Dumbledore and the others haven't returned to the office.
Beauxbatons, located in France.
Related to me.
Albus and Ryan—mystically closely related to me.
A line gradually became clear.
"That day, the parties involved were the same as today—in France, in Paris... Only I wasn't there, but Ryan is."
"But Ryan is my disciple, inheriting my magical attainments... mystically speaking, at this moment, he can be seen as my extension..."
His eyes grew brighter and brighter, urgently wishing for Ryan to return and share the glorious deed with him.
20th Arrondissement.
The nine-headed fire python, a creature that shouldn't exist in the mortal world, had expanded to nearly a thousand meters in length. Beneath it, a pit over thirty meters deep swirled.
The surface of the pit was incredibly smooth, formed by dense oxides created by the intense heat, plated with an alloy layer formed from various melted metals.
There were some transparent areas on the pit's surface, through which one could see deep underground cables and shattered precision instruments.
Now, all these expensive devices had become raw materials for the smelting fire.
In the basement, the DGSE Director's heart was bleeding. He had never anticipated that in just a few minutes, this wizard's methods would melt through over thirty meters of ground!
This wasn't just the disappearance of countless funds.
It meant the wizard coming to the rescue was acting more like a Russian counter-terrorist unit!
Judging by current behavior, this wizard didn't care about casualties at all, or even how many "terrorists" there were!
God, why are there so many lunatics? Since becoming an intelligence chief, he felt a long-forgotten sense of imminent danger to his personal safety.
If this continued, the wizard outside would break through any moment!
At that point, once the hostages were rescued, he would lose his leverage for negotiation!
He stared at the monitor, calculating the specific location, and ordered his subordinates to aim their guns at the blood-stained Magi-Metal Wizards on the operating tables. As soon as he detected danger, he would immediately turn this negotiation into a hostage situation!
"Mr. Wizard outside, please do not act rashly! My men have taken the safety off their weapons. For the safety of everyone here, please do not act rashly! Listen to me!"
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