Flun's sacrifice paid off as a blinding flash of white light slammed into the dark figure.
An ear-piercing scream soon filled the air. Furon clutched the bloody wound on his chest and stared straight ahead. The black shadow was hit by the spell beam and slammed into a nearby cabinet. It shook its head and stood up.
It wasn't until then that the wizards had a good look at the attacker. It was a large, jet-black cat, about half a meter in length.
It slowly lowered its body and let out a strange roar at Fran and the others. Its blue eyes glowed faintly, and its sharp claws were still covered in blood.
What shocked the crowd the most was the fact that half of the Black Panther's body had been severed due to the Dissociation Charm. However, there was no blood flowing out of the wound. Instead, it was rapidly wiggling. In just a second or two, the Black Panther split into two identical individuals.
Flun's skin crawled at the sight, and he growled, "What the fuck is that?"
A female Auror in the crowd took a few steps back and explained in a fearful voice, "This is a Madago, a very dangerous magical beast in a pack. I read about them in a book about magical beasts, and they are said to divide themselves at the first sign of an attack, creating more of them…"
"But they shouldn't be attacking wizards, and they shouldn't be that fast…" the female Auror added, slightly puzzled.
"Don't worry about that now. I just want to know if the book says anything about how to deal with them!" Flan interrupted her quickly, her eyes fixed on the two Madago. She didn't want to make things worse by attacking them.
"Madagos are usually very territorial, and once they leave their territory, they are generally not pursued…" replied the Auror automatically.
Flan's face darkened. They were trapped here. How could they leave?
"We need to find a more practical solution!" Flan said through gritted teeth.
Before the female Auror could speak again, the two Madago crouched low and charged at them, as fast as a blur.
The two wizards in the front row waved their wands first, and several invisible magical barriers appeared in front of them.
The Madago on the left had a gleam in its blue eyes, but it did not slow down. With a powerful leap, it jumped over the barrier of magic in front of it and grabbed the bars of the cabinet with its claws.
However, this gave Walker the opportunity he had been waiting for, and with a quick wave of his wand, a dark green light flashed through the air.
"Avada Kedavra ~ (Avada Kedavra)"
As Walker had expected, the Death Curse hit its intended target, and Madago did not continue to split. Instead, her body spasmed and she fell from the railing, where she lay motionless and lifeless.
"Nice kill!" Flan's ugly expression finally softened a little. It seemed that Madago was not as terrifying as he had thought, or at least could not be immune to the Death Curse.
However, he soon realised that he was being too simplistic. After the death of the Madago, the one that had just split apart seemed to have been threatened. Without being attacked, it split into four identical Madago.
A few more Madago appeared from the right cupboard and charged at them from all directions.
The expressions of the wizards present changed drastically, but the female Auror suddenly said, "Why don't we think of a way to gather all the individuals in one place and dispose of them with a fierce fire!"
Frampton's eyes lit up. Although Madago had the trait of constantly splitting, he was not invincible. As long as he destroyed every single one of them, he would not be able to split any more.
The formidable devouring power and self-replicating properties of the Fire also happened to restrain these strange creatures…
With that in mind, he issued orders through the magical mark on his wrist, directing them to fight back.
The results of the past month or so of training were soon on display, and everyone worked well together.
The twelve wizards present were divided into three groups, the first of which used Slow Charms, Slowing, and other non-aggressive Charms to slow down the Madago herd.
The second group used the Impediment Curse to create a constant magical barrier, further compressing the enemy's movements and forcing them to deviate from their original attack path to reach their intended location.
Walker and the others, who were in charge of tying up the loose ends, worked together to cast the Fire-Enhancing Charm, creating a large ring of fire that trapped all of the Madago.
"Now, everyone, cast your spells together and get rid of them at once!" In order to prevent the spell from not being powerful enough, Fran called on all the wizards present to cast the Fire Incantation together!
The hot flame suddenly expanded and pressed towards the centre.
Shrill screams filled the Department of Mysteries as Madago after Madago struggled in the sea of fire, their bodies twisting and splitting into new bodies. However, this only served to increase the ferocity of the Fire, as scarlet flames rose high and engulfed all the Madago.
After devouring all of the Madagascars, the Fire of Malice had grown several times larger than before. Flan looked at the Aurors and waved her wand in front of her. The Fire of Malice transformed into a dragon and crashed into the stacked cabinets.
When the smoke and dust cleared, the scene before them was clear. The stacked cabinets had fallen to the ground, and scarlet flames were licking the wreckage on the ground. They had just blasted a path forward…
Seeing this, Fran and the others immediately worked together to forcefully suppress the scattered flames.
Such terrifying dark magic, while incredibly powerful, was extremely easy to lose control of.
If these fires really spread within the Department of Mysteries, none of them would survive.
Wiping the cold sweat from his brow, Walker glanced around warily, relieved that no new shadows had leapt out to attack them. "Where is President Harls?" he asked, turning to face Flan. "Have you informed him of the situation?"