HP: The Duelist of Hogwarts - 399

Chapter 399: I've Arrived

"Voldemort? A madman who split himself into pieces, and you expect me to serve him? Lucius, do you think I'm as stupid as you—foolish enough to stake my family's entire future on such a lunatic?"

"If that's the case, then there's no other way. Attack!"

With Lucius's command, the surrounding Death Eaters laughed loudly as they surrounded Gavin, while simultaneously Bartholomew and Boreal quickly retreated to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

Gavin looked at the Death Eaters rushing toward him and suddenly swung his wand violently. A streak of flame appeared around his body as his wand moved. One circle, two circles, three circles. With each swing, these streaks rapidly transformed into blazing red fire blades that shot toward the surrounding Death Eaters in all directions.

The Death Eaters either dodged or cast defensive magic. They were clearly no ordinary practitioners. These Death Eaters that Lucius brought were all reasonably capable.

Of course, capable or not, Gavin's spell still took down some of those whose reactions weren't fast enough. These people hadn't dodged or cast defensive magic. Instead, they'd tried to use spells to deflect the red fire blades. But when they cast their magic, they discovered the blades cut straight through their spells, slashed across their bodies. The lucky ones only lost some limbs; the unlucky ones were cut in half and died on the spot.

This spell was quite similar to the Sectumsempra that Sean obtained from Snape, except that while Sectumsempra was invisible and intangible, Gavin's fire blades were somewhat easier to block.

The Death Eaters shot curse after curse at Gavin.

In their view, this old Gavin should be quickly disposed of by their combined efforts. But when they truly engaged, they discovered Gavin's strength was far greater than expected. Even with their combined forces, they couldn't bring him down.

Gavin sidestepped a Disarming Charm. The white rings in his pupils grew increasingly bright. In Gavin's vision, countless trajectories appeared around him, each with subtle differences that allowed him to identify which spells these trajectories represented and when and from which direction they would come at him.

If calculated using Sean's panel data, Sean's Spirit Vision ability was currently only Level 1, but Gavin's Spirit Vision had already reached Level 3, almost Level 4—completely different levels.

With such ability, to the Death Eaters' eyes, Gavin moved like a ghostly phantom. Each time, he evaded or preemptively defended against threats. Meanwhile, Gavin found gaps for counterattacks within the endless onslaught, and each counterattack killed or severely wounded a Death Eater.

"Damn it! Everyone attack together! I don't believe he can hold out much longer!"

"All together!"

A massive barrage of dark curses came from all directions simultaneously.

Gavin saw this, and the white rings in his pupils grew even brighter. He suddenly lowered his body, dodging one curse, then abruptly shifted left, leaped up to avoid three more curses, and while airborne, waved his wand forward, casting a Stunning Charm that knocked out one Death Eater. Using that momentum to propel himself backward through the air, he landed, twisted his body to dodge the remaining curses, and swung his wand upward in an arc, releasing a red fire blade vertically that split the second Death Eater in half from the middle.

Crouching halfway down, Gavin breathed heavily.

In his youth, such constant skirmishing would have been a mere trifle. Now, after this relentless engagement, exhaustion crept through Gaven's body like cold through stone. His legs burned with every movement; his knees—once strong and reliable—screamed in protest. Age was no longer something he could deny or ignore. He felt it in every aching joint, every labored breath. He truly was old now.

The Death Eaters suffered heavy casualties. Lucius and the other veteran Death Eaters could no longer simply watch. Seeing them preparing to engage, Bartholomew and Boreal stepped forward, readying themselves to join Lucius in surrounding and attacking Gavin.

"Finally taking action yourselves? Perfect timing. I've just finished my warm-up and was looking for worthy opponents!"

"Father, you can still agree to my terms. It's not too late."

"Don't call me father. I don't have such an 'intelligent' son. Embarrassing!"

"If that's the case, then there's no way. Thorny Entanglement!"

The asphalt road suddenly arched upward. Thick thorn vines burst from the ground beneath, writhing toward Gavin.

Seeing this, Gavin chuckled softly. "Boreal, do you think hiding your true strength would give you a surprise advantage? Let me show you what a true Thorny Entanglement looks like. Thorny Entanglement!"

Boom!

With a dull explosion, the ground suddenly trembled.

Immediately, trees sprouted rapidly from the ground. Their branches grew quickly, tangling around the thornvines Boreal had summoned like creeping vines. Against these thick trees, those seemingly sturdy thornvines couldn't do anything whatsoever to these wooden giants.

Boreal gritted his teeth, reached up to yank a pendant from around his neck, and crushed it. Instantly, magical power surged from the pendant into Boreal's body, suddenly increasing his magical strength. Taking this opportunity, he shook his wand again, and those thornvines suddenly grew several times larger and thicker, wrapping around the trees, becoming locked in a mutual stalemate.

"You two attack! I can't hold this much longer!"

Hearing Boreal's words, Bartholomew and Lucius attacked simultaneously. Lucius directly shot a dark green beam at Gavin—naturally, the Killing Curse, most commonly used by Death Eaters.

Meanwhile, Bartholomew waved his wand, and gravel from the ground flew up, transforming into flying birds that danced and wove through the intertwined trees and vines, swooping toward Gavin.

Waving his wand, Gavin countered Lucius's Killing Curse with his own. Simultaneously, his left hand pressed forward against the flying birds, and a strong wind rose up, blocking them outside.

At this moment, Gavin snapped his fingers, and flames appeared from nothing. The fire rode the wind, transforming into a raging firestorm that consumed the stone-formed birds, reducing them to ash, and then engulfed Bartholomew and Boreal. Meanwhile, his wand snapped down violently, and two Killing Curses flew upward and exploded in mid-air.

"If you three have only this much capability, you cannot possibly keep me here today!"

"That's right, which is why I've arrived!"