"Now that it's over and I got some more bad guys to kill," Ryan glanced toward the survivors, "You guys can escape, but considering the anti apparation spell and blocked floo network, you people don't have much choice but to follow me if you want to survive."
He paused for a moment and cleaned his wand.
He continued, "Or, we can part ways and if more dark wizards come, your death won't be on me. Dumbledore wanted me to save you all, I did my part and gave you a choice. Now, choose. Fight with me and kill all the traitors today, so that no one gets hurt tomorrow, or go your own ways. Oh, there's another choice, you can always try to kill me and pin the blame on me for killing the ministry head..."
He looked at everyone's faces once before turning his attention toward the faint blue hue on the wall that shone for a flickering second.
"Well, I'll give you all five minutes to decide," Ryan chuckled as he walked toward the wall. "Bellatrix, keep an eye out. Kill anyone who tries to approach this floor. Alice, Lupin, Edgar, you three decide. I don't care about the others. As long as they don't attack me, I have no problem with them."
"As you wish, Master," Bellatrix walked to the door and leaned on it, keeping an eye outside.
Ryan was done with them.
He touched the wall. A faint blue light covered his hand, 'Some kind of ward... Interesting.'
"Revelio," Ryan cast a revealing charm on the wall, trying to find any secret passages hidden by the ward. The entire wall lit up with various shapes and patterns, but Ryan was not able to decipher them.
'Hmm... Looks like it's a puzzle of some sort.'
He glanced toward Alice, "You familiar with this?"
Alice walked up to the wall as everyone's attention turned toward the new discovery. She touched the patterns and examined the wall. Her eyes widened after a minute of examining it, "It's a hidden passage. She must have planned to use this passage to run away after getting rid of us." She turned toward the skeleton on the chair, "This is the ministry head's wand." She picked up the wand that had fallen beside the chair and inserted the handle into the hole located on the left side of the wall.
With a loud click, the wall shifted aside, revealing a dark pathway.
"Oh? How convenient," Ryan chuckled.
"We are coming with you," Edgar declared after discussing with the other Aurors. He too had made his decision.
"As long as you guys stay behind me and don't interrupt me, I'll safely get you out of here."
"What about the other survivors?" Lupin asked.
"Didn't I already say, I'll get rid of all the death eaters and dark wizards? That way, the survivors will survive. Now, time to see where this passage takes us," Ryan said as he gave a nod to Bellatrix who joined them. The others were hesitant with a death eater joining them, but what choice did they have?
Ryan stepped inside followed by Bellatrix, Alice, Edgar, Lupin, and the other Aurors.
The moment they entered, the wall slid back in place, plunging them into darkness.
Ryan used Lumos maxima which revealed a large, damp passage. The stench of rotten wood permeated through the air. The stairs were dusty and there were spider webs everywhere.
"This looks creepy," Alice whispered.
"Careful where you step, there might be traps," Ryan began to descend the staircase, his wand illuminating the path ahead. His eyes were always scanning around his surroundings as they climbed down the round stairways. He could see the glowing eyes of insects staring at him from the crevices, but none dared to come closer to them.
After nearly three minutes of descent, Ryan found the passage split into two directions. He stopped as he pointed his wand toward both sides.
"Two ways, should we split up?" Edgar suggested.
"No need, just follow me," Ryan continued down the right path.
"How do you know the right way?" Edgar asked as he followed Ryan along with the others.
"Footprints, obviously. Take a good look at the floor. It's dusty, yet there are footprints present here and there. There are no footprints on the left path, so it's safe to assume that nobody has taken that path before, an obvious trap. Plus, these footprints are fresh. Somebody took this path recently."
Edgar was impressed with Ryan's deduction.
After walking for another five minutes, they finally reached an elevator. There was a dim light bulb hanging above which illuminated the area slightly.
Ryan examined the elevator. There was only one button present below the light bulb. He pressed it. With a loud sound, the rusty elevator doors opened to reveal a large space that could fit nearly fifty people comfortably.
"Dang! This is big!" He stepped inside along with Bellatrix and the others. Ryan pressed the only button present below the light bulb.
With a jolt, the elevator began to descend slowly. The sounds of cogs rotating echoed through the elevator as it descended further and further down.
"So... Where do you think this takes us?" Alice broke the silence.
"How am I supposed to know? As an Auror, you are the one who should know. But I'm assuming it leads to somewhere we aren't supposed to go," Ryan replied.
Alice didn't reply. She stood silently along with Lupin and Edgar as she kept an eye on Bellatrix who stood beside Ryan. She wanted to ask something but hesitated.
After a few minutes, the elevator finally came to a stop with a loud screech.
The elevator doors opened once again revealing a damp passage similar to the previous one.
Ryan stepped outside along with Bellatrix. The others followed.
After nearly fifteen minutes of nonstop walking, they finally reached a giant door with glowing runes written on the wall above it. The runes, although faded due to the negligence of those who were supposed to keep this place clean, the last few letters were readable.
"Wait! This is the Department of Mysteries! It was here in the basement of the Ministry all this time?!" Alice exclaimed with a shocked expression.
The department was located in the Department of Mysteries within the Ministry of Magic. This is where secrets are protected, studied, and stored by the department, hence its name. High-level wizards and witches knew about its existence but no one knew its exact location.
"Look! Over there!" Lupin noticed a metal sign which hung on the wall with writing,
"Entry forbidden!"
A black cat, having three eyes with long, batlike ears jumped out of nowhere and stood in front of the entrance.
"KKKKAAAAKKKK!" Its booming voice scared the heck out of everyone.
"What the hell is that? I've never heard of such a beast before!" Edgar jumped back, his eyes widening.
Everyone took a fighting stance, aiming their wand at the cat.
Ryan could see black smoke coming out of that creature. Although it looked alive, as a necromancer, he felt a tremendous amount of dark energy radiating from it, and the fun fact, he couldn't sense any life energy from that creature glaring with threatening eyes.
"Hahaha. Damn! This bastard isn't alive. It must be one of the ministry's sick creations."
"Wh..what? If it isn't alive, how the hell is it moving? That roar was real. Even if it's running on some kind of magic, just look at its eyes! They are glaring at us! How can it glare without being alive?" Edgar trembled slightly as he aimed his wand toward that cat while taking steps back.
"They must have tried to create life and fucked up. So, what to do with such a costly experiment? Why not let it guard the door and kill anyone on sight?" Ryan shrugged as he stared at the cat.
"KKKKAAAAAAKKKK!" The cat hissed again. Its sound wave was enough to push everyone back a few steps.
Ryan chuckled as he raised his hand, "Crucio."
The red beam hit the cat straight on its forehead. But it didn't even flinch, "See, no reaction."
Ryan stared at the unmoved creature. The Cruciatus Curse, which would have incapacitated any living being with excruciating pain, had no effect on it. The cat remained still, its three eyes fixed on the group, its ears twitching slightly. The dark energy surrounding the creature seemed to pulse with a life of its own, giving it an eerie presence. But it didn't attack them, instead, just stood there, giving them a death glare.
"Fascinating," Ryan muttered, lowering his wand. "This thing isn't just any magical construct. It's something far more advanced."
Alice, still staring at the cat, asked, "What do you mean? What kind of creature is this?"
Ryan pondered for a moment before responding, "The Ministry has always had a fascination with forbidden magic, especially necromancy, the failed magic that no one could perfect. So, they abandoned it. This cat is likely the result of a failed experiment. They tried to create a guardian using necromantic energy, but instead of creating a true undead, they ended up with this... abomination." He glanced back, "Well, let's blast it off and move forward, yeah?"
"Haha... Blast it off, we could barely move our body," Lupin said as he stood frozen along with the others.
"C'mon, guys. You just froze from that? Wtf is wrong with you pros?" Ryan sighed in disbelief as he noticed the dark energy swirling around their bodies, cutting them off from magic, somehow. 'Ah! So it can do that, huh? It's somewhat similar to my chains, but a lesser version. I wonder what kind of secrets are hidden behind that giant door. You kitty, you are in my way.' He raised his wand once again and prepared to fire curses at that cat when suddenly—
"Kkkkaaakkk..." The cat moved aside, its three eyes fixed on the group.
A blast of necro energy shot out of its eyes hitting Ryan's chest, but he just stood there as his body absorbed it with ease, "You bastard, using necro energy against me? Hahahaha! HOW HILARIOUS!!"
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