Chapter 909
Raid
Chapter 909 Raid
An old silver pocket watch lay quietly on a mahogany table, its gilded hands gliding slowly across the dial, making a soft but clear ticking sound.
The hour hand has slowly passed the Roman numeral "1".
At this time, not to mention breakfast, many people have already eaten lunch.
Gilbert Fontana sat behind the table, his gaze fixed on the small, pulsating piece of metal, unmoving for a long time.
Outside the window, the afternoon sun was shining brightly, illuminating the room.
Salina Goldstein asked softly, “Headmaster, it’s past one o’clock. You haven’t even had breakfast… Should we continue to wait?”
Fontana was silent for a few seconds, then slowly closed his eyes and said, "There's no need to wait."
Salina Goldstein looked at his tired appearance, nodded slightly, and turned to leave.
Fontana stood up, no longer looking at the pocket watch, but instead turning his gaze to a photograph on the table.
In the photo, young Stern is standing with several classmates, a rare smile on his face.
Fontana even remembers that it was the students' last Quidditch match before graduation, and the final result was neither a winner nor a loser, only the laughter of all the children playing happily.
A moment later, Salina came in from outside the door again.
She said considerately, "Principal, we are ready to go... If you don't want to participate, we completely understand."
"No... I'll go with you."
Fontana put away his pocket watch and stood up.
"My students... have gone astray now, how can I not face the consequences?"
……
"boom!!!"
A muffled yet violent explosion, seemingly originating from underground, shook the entire stronghold, causing dust to fall from the walls.
The endoscopes installed in each passage were triggered, emitting a sharp, piercing screech that continuously assaulted everyone's eardrums, while red lights flashed wildly in the dim space.
Stern sprang up from the old sofa, his heart pounding.
It took him two seconds for his pupils to adjust to the flashing red light before he realized he was still wearing yesterday's clothes and had slept there all night.
However, a night's rest did not alleviate his fatigue; in fact, he felt even more exhausted.
Amidst the urgent alarm, he hurriedly drew his wand, then involuntarily paused for a moment.
The argument with Brolin last night seemed to echo in his ears, and Stern's face gradually became vacant.
Just then, the door was flung open with a bang, and a member of the Purifier stumbled and scrambled into the room, his face deathly pale, his voice distorted by extreme fear:
"Mr. Stern! No, something terrible has happened! Wizards... the Aurors of the Magical Congress have broken in! They've found the entrance!"
All sleepiness and despair evaporated in an instant. Stern strode over and asked sharply:
"What's going on? Where's the leader? Where are the others?"
He rushed out the door, only to be met with chaos.
In the dimly lit corridor, shadowy figures moved about, and panicked shouts, painful groans, and piercing alarms mingled together.
The Purifiers' firepower was not weak; the muzzle flashes of automatic rifles in the dim light, and bullets poured towards the entrance of the passage like a storm of metal.
The Aurors erected a barrier thicker than the armored vehicle's deck, advancing while defending themselves, bullets striking it and sending up dense sparks.
The grenades were thrown, but before they even hit the ground, they were bounced back by invisible armor, blasting the Purifier members into a frenzy in the narrow passage. Someone picked up a rocket launcher, but before it could be fired, it was struck by a precise exterminator, and the force of the impact sent the person flying.
Some Purifiers also used spells to fight back, but most of them were just kids who had just come from the training base and were not very skilled in spells. They were no match for the experienced Aurors.
"Back off! Back off!" Stern shouted. "Spread out! Don't huddle together! You're just making yourselves targets!"
He shouted and waved his wand rapidly, saving two young people who were nearly blown away by a rebounding grenade.
"Mr. Stern!"
The children cried out in surprise, as if they had seen a savior.
From the rear of the Auror ranks, Lyra Picqueri gave a clear command:
"Suppress the left flank! Squad on the right, advance forward, watch out for crossfire!"
The underground passage was not originally intended to be a battlefield, and the Purifiers did not have time to set up dense counterattack traps and automatic mechanisms there.
The wizards advanced steadily, their shields almost completely blocking out all angles of attack, only creating a firing port randomly when they needed to cast a spell.
Thus, those weapons that were once incredibly powerful were now completely ineffective against the wizard, but each exploding spell created screams among the Purifiers.
Cries, pleas for mercy, curses, and the explosive sounds of incantations mingled together.
Many people even dropped their weapons and rushed towards the passages in all directions like headless flies, only to fall to the ground under the crossfire and magic.
Amidst the splattering blood, Stern's mind remained ice-cold, allowing him to clearly perceive death in every corner.
He walked against the flow of people in the chaos, his sharp eyes scanning every corner, and grabbed a young member who was running past him with his head in his hands, terrified out of his wits.
"Where's Brolin?" Stern practically lifted the man off the ground, yelling into his ear, "Where's the leader? Where's he at a time like this?"
The young member, pale-faced and trembling, stammered, "I...I don't know! I...I didn't see him! I haven't seen the leader since the explosion! Maybe...maybe he's already..."
"impossible!"
Stern angrily threw him aside, and a thought suddenly popped into his mind: Could it be that Brolin is still in the underground station at a time like this?
That place... it seems that no alarms were indeed set up to avoid disturbing the puppets.
Although they didn't trust the puppets that Illari had made, only those monsters could save the organization in this situation!
Stern raced through the tunnel filled with explosions and screams like a whirlwind.
He saw a young member huddled in a corner, futilely trying to load a pistol with trembling hands, before being frozen in place by a petrification spell.
The two members fired back-to-back, but were driven into a desperate situation by a Fiery Curse, which mercilessly engulfed them.
Some people tried to surrender, raising their hands and crying out, but were hit and fell by stray bullets in the chaos.
Stern hardened his heart and, disregarding everything else, ran straight towards the underground station.
He slammed open the heavy door that was disguised as an abandoned warehouse, sweat soaking his forehead and a burning pain in his lungs.
"call--"
A gust of wind blew past him.
The platform, once teeming with vampires, werewolves, and monstrous puppets, is now deserted. Only a few broken chains lie scattered on the ground, and a faint magical fluctuation lingers in the air, proving their existence.
Stern froze completely.
(End of this chapter)