Mysterious Journey
Chapter 455: Accumulating Experience
How is it because of Elena Kaslana again?!
Wait... so, it's not because of poaching unicorns?
That's right! Almost forgot!
As a maker of the Philosopher's Stone who has lived for hundreds of years, "Paracelsus" has probably used more magical animal materials than he has ever seen in his life. A wild unicorn is not enough to make him make trouble.
Hearing the old wizard's voice, Quirinus Quirrell's mind flashed several thoughts.
So that's the reason...
Quirinus Quirrell and Voldemort breathed a sigh of relief; this was much easier to deal with.
After all, although they felt aggrieved and embarrassed, they had been passively beaten throughout the brief firefight. Strictly speaking, they hadn't touched that little girl once.
They had finally waited for the chance to fight back, but Elena had summoned a Cerberus from her chest, chasing him around the field. He was busy collecting soil stained with unicorn blood from the ground and didn't have time to retaliate.
"...Professor Quirrell, I told you. If you dare to harm that child, I will kill you with my own hands..."
"Wait! I haven't even touched a hair on her head!"
However, before Grindelwald could finish speaking, the young Defense Against the Dark Arts professor suddenly took the initiative to move the wand in his hand away, turned to look at the old wizard, and said loudly with some humiliation and anger.
"From the beginning! From the beginning... she was the one hitting me!"
"Eh?! Is that so?"
Grindelwald's face stiffened, and the momentum he had painstakingly built up was interrupted once again.
Only now did Gellert Grindelwald finally have time to see the state of the young wizard in front of him.
If Quirinus Quirrell had given any other reason, Grindelwald might have hesitated a lot, but the old dark lord almost immediately believed such a "victim" complaint.
The poor Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was in a state that could no longer be described as simply embarrassed.
Nearing Halloween, the temperature in the Scottish Highlands had long dropped to the lowest level of the year. Even wearing autumn clothes, one could sometimes feel a hint of coolness. However, Quirrell now only had a tattered undershirt left.
As the bleak forest wind blew, Grindelwald could clearly see the young wizard shiver involuntarily.
The clothing on Quirinus Quirrell's chest and abdomen had long been torn into tattered strips, and the exposed skin was unnaturally bloody. If it weren't for the silvery, unknown magic covering it, this one wound alone would have been enough to deprive most humans of any ability to act.
As someone who had personally taught and witnessed Elena turn an ordinary Exploding Charm into a destructive spell almost at the level of Dark Magic, Grindelwald knew at a glance that the wound on Quirrell's body was most likely the work of that white-haired furball.
Without a doubt, this was probably why Elena had triggered the Unbreakable Vow.
Although he didn't know the specific situation at the time, from the situation of the contract, Gellert Grindelwald was certain that Elena was definitely the one who attacked first.
And judging from Quirrell's miserable state, it was definitely the same sneak attack as always.
However...
Grindelwald narrowed his eyes. Just as Quirrell thought the old man was going to ask more questions, the old wizard raised his wand and pointed it forward without warning, a scorching magical beam grazing his cheek and hitting the tree behind him.
"Perhaps she didn't hit you. But you retaliated, didn't you?"
Looking at the young wizard in front of him who had narrowly dodged his spell again, Gellert Grindelwald raised his eyebrows with interest, and said slowly in a soft voice. He tapped his wand lightly, and several more spells flew forward.
"And you should have shown a certain degree of threat, otherwise that child wouldn't have taken the initiative to release the Cerberus. Elena being uninjured only means she was lucky, and her strength is barely passable..."
"Oh, don't look at me with that surprised look, or what do you want to hear, meaningless sympathy and patient judgment of right and wrong... I'm sorry, that's Dumbledore's way of doing things, not mine."
Unlike Albus Dumbledore, Grindelwald had always adhered to the habit of taking the initiative to eliminate hidden dangers in advance.
Perhaps, in this particular incident, the poor Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was more justified than Elena, but for Grindelwald, what influenced his actions was never which side was more justified.
"Damn it! Why is it another unreasonable bastard!"
Quirinus Quirrell cursed in a low voice, dodged the magical light in a somewhat embarrassed manner, turned around without hesitation, and ran towards the exit of the Forbidden Forest -- a Cerberus plus a legendary wizard of hundreds of years old, this was no longer something he could deal with.
As he ran quickly, he swished various spells backward with his wand.
Compared to the aging first-generation Dark Lord, the young and strong Quirinus Quirrell had a particularly obvious advantage in physical fitness. At least in this forest chase, as long as he paid attention to protecting himself and dodging spells, he could still run away.
Provided that... the other party also had to abide by the rules of pedestrian pursuit.
"As expected of a young man, his physical strength is indeed good..."
Grindelwald glanced at the fast-running young man not far away. After trying to chase forward a few steps, he decisively stopped, turned around, climbed onto the back of the giant Cerberus next to him, and raised his chin.
"Fluffy, catch up with him!"
Facing the spells fired by Quirrell, Grindelwald had no intention of dodging. He lazily flicked his wand, and a translucent arc-shaped magical shield appeared, easily catching all the incoming attacks.
Then, a pale blue magical flame surged from the top of the old wizard's wand, transforming into a blue phoenix that quickly pounced toward the back of the young wizard who was fleeing not far away. All the trees along the way were like hot cheese, silently melting into two pieces under the scorching wings, unable to form even half a second of obstruction.
The temperature of the entire forest seemed to instantly jump from autumn to the noon of midsummer. As the blue phoenix flew past, everything seemed to start burning, and a straight flame track firmly locked onto the wizard in front.
Quirinus Quirrell had never imagined that ordinary flames could become so terrifying. In his impression, even the legendary Dark Magic [Fiendfyre Curse] didn't seem to have such a heart-wrenching power.
This seemed to be... a desperate power from purgatory that could devour even souls and magic.
"Quirinus, focus on identifying the direction, leave the rest to me."
Just then, Voldemort's weak and hoarse voice suddenly sounded in Quirrell's mind.
As Voldemort's voice echoed, Quirinus Quirrell's left hand uncontrollably reached into his chest, took out a lump of soil covered with silvery-white bloodstains, and rudely stuffed it into the giant turban on the back of his head.
"M-Master... what are you..."
"Enough! Don't worry about me! Run towards the castle quickly, bleh!"
Voldemort chewed on the soil mixed with unicorn blood and said viciously, "That old madman, bleh, I'll deal with him. Bleh, bleh, bleh! As long as we get back to Hogwarts, we'll be safe."
Once they returned to the range of Hogwarts Castle, as a Hogwarts formal professor without any mistakes or flaws, that old wizard couldn't possibly kill Quirrell in front of so many teachers and students.
Facing that old wizard who was likely "Paracelsus," Voldemort didn't want to gamble unless absolutely necessary. If he turned into a ghost state, completely losing his ability to resist, he didn't know if he could successfully escape.
From Grindelwald's perspective, he saw Professor Quirrell's right arm make a cracking twist, folding into a strange shape. He trembled and raised his wand backward, aiming it at the particularly terrifying Fire Phoenix.
The next second, a black hole-like vortex appeared at the top of the wand.
The pale blue flame was quickly swallowed up, and the phoenix carrying the aura of death seemed to plunge into a mud pit, disappearing silently into the air without even raising a ripple.
"Oh?! Finally, someone else has taken action."
Grindelwald's mouth turned up, and his eyes showed a hint of playfulness.
Finally, it was starting to get interesting.
Bullying a clumsy ordinary wizard was too boring for him.
Moreover, based on his understanding of Elena, if this Professor Quirrell really only had that much magical power, he wouldn't have been able to endure the little girl's bombardment until the stage of "releasing the dog."
"Speaking of... you're the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, right?"
Grindelwald's wand emitted a few sparks, intercepting the increasingly fierce magical counterattack in front, grinned, and said meaningfully.
"Then, next, let me see if you're really competent, 'Professor Quirrell'? Just consider it... accumulating practical experience in Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"Avada Kedavra!"
"Avada Kedavra! Bleh, bleh!"
Two dazzling green beams lit up in the Forbidden Forest almost simultaneously.
The two generations of Dark Lords, although they had never met during their prime, coincidentally, under Elena's influence, had their first friendly exchange in this Hogwarts Forbidden Forest with no onlookers.
It's just that both sides don't know each other's true identity yet.
……
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Hogwarts Forbidden Forest.
Elena, who was chasing the unicorn, was instead caught in a little accident.