Fiendfyre danced at the tip of Lynn's wand.
The golden-red flames blazed within the darkness, illuminating the entire cavern as brightly as day.
Within the firelight, the Goblins' silhouettes twisted, deformed, and collapsed one after another—wave after wave.
Lynn stood behind the inferno with his wand raised, the light at its tip as steady as a star nailed to the night sky.
His expression remained calm, yet something seemed to burn deep within his eyes.
Unsurprisingly, he was thoroughly enjoying the slaughter.
To be honest, Lynn could no longer remember how many Goblins he had killed.
Twenty?
Thirty?
Fifty?
Forget it. The exact number didn't matter.
None of those dying were his friends, after all.
Lynn yawned.
His wand traced a small circle through the air, and the Fiendfyre leaped from its tip, devouring two more Goblins attempting to flank him.
Neither had time to scream before they were reduced to piles of smoldering black ash.
Just then—
A dense series of Apparition cracks erupted throughout the cavern, sounding like someone had set off an endless string of firecrackers.
Lynn's eyes narrowed slightly.
He subtly adjusted his stance, allowing him to continue facing the enemies ahead while observing the newcomers behind him through his peripheral vision.
Professor Fig stood at the front of the group.
His robes were stained with dust and fragments of stone, his hair was slightly disheveled, and his breathing was somewhat hurried.
Behind him stood a large group of Hogwarts professors.
Lynn's gaze moved away from Professor Fig and swept across the faces behind him.
He recognized two of them almost immediately.
The first was Phineas Nigellus Black.
While Lynn had been impersonating Dumbledore, he had argued with Phineas's portrait more than a few times.
After every argument, the portrait's face would turn crimson with rage. Phineas would then spin around, present Lynn with the back of his head, and refuse to speak to him for several days.
Now that the man who had previously existed only inside a portrait was standing before him in the flesh, Lynn felt an almost irresistible urge to insult him.
As for the other familiar figure, her red hair made her identity obvious.
She was undoubtedly the Professor Weasley whom Elias had mentioned.
Lynn sensed a certain temperament from her that closely resembled Professor McGonagall's stern, dignified aura.
That resemblance made him feel inexplicably guilty, as though he had genuinely encountered Professor McGonagall herself.
Is this the legendary pressure of a master teacher?
Lynn shifted his gaze away from Professor Weasley and examined the other professors.
Hmm...
He didn't recognize a single one of them.
While Lynn studied the professors, none of them were paying much attention to him.
Their gazes had fallen upon the enormous mound of suspicious black ash piled several meters in front of him.
The expressions across their faces were remarkably consistent.
They were utterly stunned, to the point of questioning reality itself.
The ash was as fine as flour that had been ground repeatedly. Its grayish-black surface shimmered with a faint dark-red glow beneath the Fiendfyre's illumination.
Several fragments that hadn't been completely consumed lay scattered around its edges—a piece of armor, the hilt of a dagger, the corner of a mask...
Professor Fig approached Lynn.
His gaze also fell upon the mound of ash. It lingered there for a moment before he deliberately looked away.
"Mr. Lynn... did you deal with all of them?"
Lynn considered the question.
"Most of them."
After a brief pause, he added,
"There are still a few over there."
He gestured toward the depths of the cavern with his chin.
Professor Fig followed his gaze.
Several Goblins had just emerged from the darkness.
The moment they saw the large group standing ahead, they froze, abruptly turned around, and fled.
They ran faster than frightened rabbits.
Before Professor Fig could say anything else, Goblin battle cries once again echoed from the passage.
Lynn turned toward the sound.
A vast horde of Goblins—far more numerous than those who had previously attempted to block him—surged from a fork in the passage ahead.
They swarmed through the cavern like a plague of locusts.
Upon witnessing this scene, Lynn became even more determined to establish a "sustainable population level" for the Goblins.
He raised his wand, preparing to unleash a large-scale area-of-effect spell.
Professor Fig abruptly grabbed his wrist.
"Mr. Lynn, leave them to us old bones. You have something far more important to do."
Lynn paused.
"Something more important?"
"You must prevent Ranrok from obtaining the power of Ancient Magic," Professor Fig reminded him. "Until Elias returns, you are the only person capable of stopping him."
Lynn's voice caught in his throat.
He had been feeling as though he had forgotten something ever since entering the Repository.
It turned out that he had forgotten his most important objective.
Damn it.
Lynn silently cursed himself.
It was all these Goblins' fault.
They had made the slaughter so satisfying that he had completely forgotten his actual purpose for coming here.
Professor Fig saw his expression, and the corners of his mouth curved slightly.
"Go."
Lynn's wand abruptly whipped forward.
The light at its tip exploded.
A thick arc of blue-white electricity erupted from the wand, moving so quickly that the naked eye could perceive only a flash.
The lightning struck the Goblin closest to Lynn.
His body instantly froze—not because the electricity had numbed him, but because it had pierced straight through him.
The arc entered through his chest and burst from his back.
It continued forward without slowing, striking the second Goblin behind him.
Then the third.
Then the fourth.
The lightning didn't weaken as it passed through their bodies.
Instead, it became stronger, brighter, and increasingly violent.
It resembled an ignited fuse racing through the densely packed Goblin horde.
One after another, their bodies stiffened, convulsed, and collapsed within the surging electricity.
Those still charging forward tripped over the fallen Goblins and crashed to the ground.
Before they could rise, the lightning reached them.
BOOM—!
The arc exploded in the heart of the Goblin formation.
Blue-white light blossomed within the darkness like a colossal firework, illuminating the entire cavern.
A violent shock wave spread in every direction. The Goblins still standing were hurled from their feet, while those already lying on the ground were blasted even farther away.
The smoke and dust gradually dispersed.
A deep trench now extended from beneath Lynn's feet into the cavern's depths.
Goblin corpses lay scattered along both sides of it. At the trench's far end was an enormous crater created by the final explosion.
Lynn pushed off with both feet.
His figure instantly vanished.
He moved so quickly that the surviving Goblins felt only a gust of wind sweep past them.
Then they felt nothing at all.
As Lynn passed, he casually gave each of them a slash.
Invisible blades shot from the tip of his wand, cutting precisely across every Goblin's neck.
Their heads slid from their shoulders.
Their bodies struck the ground one after another with a series of dull thuds.
From a distance, it appeared as though an invisible line were neatly cutting through their necks in succession.
Lynn's figure disappeared into the passage ahead.
Realizing that someone had broken through their defensive line, the remaining Goblins immediately attempted to change direction and pursue him.
However, the professors had no intention of allowing that.
Professor Weasley swept her wand through the air.
The entrance to the intersecting passage instantly sealed itself.
"This way is closed," she declared.
...
Elsewhere, two enormous golems stood within a vast hall that had been meticulously excavated and constructed.
Positioned on the left and right, they stood like guardian deities on either side of the stone door at the deepest end of the chamber.
Each golem reached nearly one-third of the way to the hall's domed ceiling.
Intricate runes covered their grayish-white stone bodies, shimmering with an icy-blue light in the darkness.
The moment Ranrok stepped into the hall, both golems began to move.
Creak... Creak...
Their joints ground together as their massive stone components shifted.
The grating sound was exceptionally piercing within the empty hall.
The golem on the left violently swung its arm.
Its gigantic sword flew from its hand with enough speed to tear through the air, producing a shrill whistle as it shot toward Ranrok.
Ranrok's pupils contracted.
He abruptly threw himself aside.
The enormous blade grazed his shoulder before striking the stone wall behind him with a deafening clang.
Most of the sword sank into the wall.
Only its hilt remained exposed, trembling from the force of the impact.
Ranrok didn't stop moving.
He pushed off the ground and charged toward the golem on the right.
His wand was already raised, and dark-red light gathered at its tip.
The right golem lifted its enormous sword.
The blade descended toward Ranrok's head with overwhelming force.
Ranrok abruptly ducked.
The sword swept over his head, generating a violent gust that made his hair stand on end.
From his crouched position, Ranrok flicked his wand upward.
BOOM—!
A dark-red beam erupted from the wand's tip and struck the golem squarely in the chest.
The beam exploded on impact.
Dark-red light spread across the golem's torso like a tightening net.
The runes covering its body flashed frantically, seemingly mounting a final resistance.
Several seconds later, the golem began trembling.
Cracks spread outward from its chest, crawling across its shoulders, arms, and legs.
Creak... Creak...
The grinding of stone became louder and more piercing.
Then the entire golem collapsed with a tremendous clatter, shattering into countless fragments that scattered across the floor.
Only then did the left golem pull its sword free from the wall.
It turned toward Ranrok and spun the massive weapon once, aiming its blade directly at him.
Ranrok gave it no opportunity to attack again.
He sprang from the ground.
Before the golem could swing its sword, Ranrok had already appeared directly before it.
He pressed the tip of his wand against the golem's chest.
The dark-red light intensified until it reached its limit.
BOOM—!
The beam pierced through the golem's chest and erupted from its back.
It continued onward and struck the stone wall behind the construct, blasting an enormous crater into it.
The golem froze.
A moment later, its entire body shattered, showering the floor with fragments.
Ranrok approached the stone door.
He placed both hands against it and pushed.
The door didn't move.
He exerted more strength, but it still refused to budge.
Ranrok immediately made his decision.
He would force his way through.
The dark-red patterns across his armor flared brightly.
He raised his right fist.
BOOM—!
His fist struck the door with a deep, thunderous impact.
Thin, shallow cracks spread from the point of contact like a spiderweb.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Ranrok punched the door repeatedly.
Each strike was faster and heavier than the last, filling the hall with dull, pounding impacts.
The cracks continued spreading from the center, becoming denser and deeper with every blow.
Fragments broke away from the door and accumulated in a growing pile upon the floor.
Ranrok drew back his fist one final time.
BANG—!
The stone door exploded.
Fragments shot in every direction as smoke and dust engulfed the hall and rubble thundered to the ground.
---
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