Chapter 3
After walking for about half an hour, they arrived at a dense forest, and by this time the sky had completely darkened.
Moriarty whispered to Lockhart, "There is a tribe of Yeti hidden in this forest, and every evening the little Yeti come out to play."
"Great, I'll wait for him here!" Lockhart drew his wand.
Moriarty looked at the wand a few more times; it was exquisitely crafted, perhaps overly so, and he feared Lockhart might not even be able to cast a disarming spell.
"Hey," Lockhart said excitedly, "Did you hear that? Screaming, growling, doesn't that sound like the Yeti?"
Moriarty frowned; Yeti typically made rough calls, and he had never heard such high-pitched cries.
Lockhart was thrilled as if he had discovered a new continent, pointing to a spot in the woods for Moriarty to see: "That white shadow! Look! It's moving! Is it a Yeti coming out?"
But soon, his expression soured as a flock of fiery red crows appeared in the sky above the forest, their bodies ablaze with scorching flames, screeching as they swooped towards the Yeti in the woods!
The forest was ignited; several Yeti sprayed snow to extinguish the fire, but in an instant, they were attacked by more crows.
Three beams of white light shot into the sky, summoning three gusts of wind that slammed into an adult Yeti, knocking it out of the woods.
Lockhart stared at the broken trees and injured Yeti, his eyes glazed over.
Those three beams of light were magic; the Yeti tribe was under attack by a wizard!
Moriarty also received a prompt from the system at that moment.
"Mission issued: Prevent the dark wizard from taking the Ice Moon Necklace and save the Yeti family! Reward: Ten years of magical power, one alchemical item. Mission failure results in a penalty of having the host run naked for a mile!"
Originally, he just wanted to take revenge on the Yeti using Lockhart's help and perhaps recruit Lockhart as well.
He hadn't expected to get caught up in an incident involving a dark wizard!
Moriarty gripped his wand tightly, contemplating whether he could defeat a dark wizard.
Hopefully, the Slytherin wand would be sturdy enough!
He ignored the system's penalty; running naked was out of the question.
"Lockhart, follow me! We must sneak into the woods."
"What are you talking about? Are you crazy!" Lockhart shook his head in disbelief, finding it utterly ridiculous. "We should leave quickly while they haven't noticed us, and never come back!"
Lockhart put his violin and wand back into the box and decisively turned around, only to have the tip of the wand pressed to his back.
Moriarty held the wand, his tone icy: "You currently have two choices: First, I kill you now! Second, you come with me to save the Yeti!"
Lockhart swallowed hard: "Don't joke around, you're just a kid, you can't kill me."
"Are you testing me? Very well, then taste my Killing Curse!" Moriarty growled: "Avada—"
"No, no, I'm begging you, don't say that curse!" Lockhart suddenly broke into a sweat, pleading with Moriarty: "Don't kill me, I'll go with you."
"Come with me. We'll sneak in, and as soon as we see the dark wizard, you cast a spell, understood? Yeti are not without intelligence; if they see us attacking their enemy, they won't attack us. Be careful, move lightly!"
Moriarty gently released Lockhart. He knew Lockhart was merely talking; if the situation seemed dire, he would still run away, but all he needed from Lockhart was to stall for a few seconds when the fight broke out.
The two bent down and jogged into the woods, spotting a large lake where over a dozen Yeti were fighting against four wizards cloaked in black robes.
The Yeti tribe was severely damaged; the fire crows were completely unaffected by the snow, and already four Yeti had fallen to the ground, while the Yeti Lockhart had seen was being chased by a group of fire crows.
Lockhart realized that the little Yeti wasn't out to play; it was running for its life.
"Save that Yeti first!" Moriarty dashed forward, waving his wand: "Wingardium Leviosa!"
The levitation spell caused a broken tree to float into the air, and Moriarty manoeuvred the tree to come crashing down, scattering all the fire crows chasing the Yeti.
The Yeti realized it was safe and joyfully leaped towards Moriarty, emitting a squeaky sound.
The adult Yeti on the other side quickly responded, but unfortunately, Moriarty couldn't understand what they were saying.
Moriarty observed the battlefield; the black wizard controlling the fire crows was a dwarf, carrying a large bag, holding his own against six adult Yeti.
The three other black wizards summoning the gale were tall, one facing off against one adult Yeti each.
Moriarty made a clever decision: "Lockhart, you deal with that dwarf. I'll help you after I take care of those three over there."
Lockhart jumped in anger: "You handed me the most powerful and evil black wizard! I can't defeat him!"
Moriarty had already run off, shouting without looking back, "I didn't say you had to defeat him; can't you at least manage to disarm him from behind?"
Lockhart gritted his teeth, his gaze towards the dwarf gradually becoming resolute, but when the dwarf shot him a fierce glare, he immediately revealed his true self, his wand trembling in his hand.
"I-I-I surrender, I didn't intend to deal with you!"
However, the dwarf had no intention of letting Lockhart go, waving his wand and sending a swarm of fire crows towards him!
The dwarf also communicated with his companions; even though they were not far apart, Moriarty still heard the dwarf speaking in another language.
"Is he also a foreign wizard?" Moriarty had mastered five foreign languages in his previous life.
Translated, the dwarf's words were: Don't let anyone find out, eliminate everyone!
"Lockhart has run away, they will stop at nothing and won't let us go!"
Moriarty didn't expect Lockhart to defeat the dwarf, but Lockhart could still cast a disarming spell to buy some time.
After hearing this, Lockhart finally resolved to sneak attack the dwarf, rolling rapidly to cast a disarming spell at the dwarf.
At the same time, Moriarty cast a glow spell to help him see the distance to the three black wizards.
He quickly reviewed the magical heritage of the Slytherin family in his mind and ultimately chose a few simple spells.
"Petrificus totallus!"
A surge of magical power flowed from his wand; the first time he cast the petrification spell, Moriarty's control over it was not yet perfect.
The spell slowly shot towards one black wizard, who easily dodged it and made a thumbs-down gesture towards Moriarty.
Moriarty reflected on the casting process and aimed his wand at the wizard who had mocked him.
"Petrificus totallus!"
The second spell released quickly hit the black wizard in the chest, petrifying him, so fast that the wizard's thumb was still pointed down.
Moriarty rushed to the black wizard, aiming the tip of his wand at him: "Bombarda! Bombarda! Bombarda!"
Three consecutive spells caused the black wizard to explode into fragments with a loud bang.
"Ding dong~ Host has killed a black wizard, earning 300 points."
Moriarty was delighted; with points, he could exchange for various spells.
With his rich experience, he could always identify the best points to exert his strength and unleash terrifying power.
Moriarty was now more confident in taking out these black wizards.
The remaining two black wizards, seeing their companion dealt with so ruthlessly, recognized Moriarty's terror and quickly abandoned the Yeti, raising their wands at him.
"Expelliarmus!"
"Crucio!"
The two spells revealed the identity of the black wizards; they spoke English.
Moriarty didn't have time to ponder why British wizards would mingle with foreign wizards; the two spells formed a chain.
Once Moriarty was disarmed and hit by a heart-breaking spell, he would be left vulnerable.
"Protego! Protego!"
Learning from the experience of casting "Petrificus totallus," Moriarty cast the shield Charm twice.
An invisible shield appeared in the direction pointed by the Slytherin wand, serving as a protective barrier in front of Moriarty.
When Moriarty saw the rebound of red light, he knew he had deflected the black wizard's disarming spell.
But the cruciatus spell was one of the three unforgivable curses, and the Shield Charm could not withstand unforgivable curses.
With Moriarty's current level of magic, he couldn't use the powerful magic of the Slytherin family; he could only summon a nearby tree to block.
"Tree, Accio!"
Moriarty then cast a small spell on himself, to increase his agility
With his movement speed increased, Moriarty performed a roll to buy himself some time, and the tree blocked the Cruciatus spell, exploding into fragments.
Instinct was fully manifested at this moment, and Moriarty realized that he could further increase his speed by taking advantage of the slippery snow.
He rushed toward the black wizard who had cast the curse, sliding in for a quick approach.
Many spells from the Slytherin family flashed through his mind, and he finally locked onto a spell that was instantaneous!
"Ferrum!"
The black wizard's robe was shredded into pieces, revealing skin that bled profusely as if struck by an invisible sword.
"Oh no, my Merlin! Please save me!"
The black wizard who had cast the disarm spell looked on in shock as his companion gasped for breath, blood flowing from the writhing body like a breached dam.
Moriarty squinted; the blood was particularly bright against the snow. This was a vile curse invented by his ancestor Salazar in his long duel with Godric Gryffindor, maximising the damage!
"Detected that the host has killed a black wizard, gaining 500 points."
Moriarty opened the shop; a minor mana restoration potion required 500 points.
"System, exchange for a bottle."
Moriarty hid the exchanged potion in his left hand and stood up, leaning on his wand with his right hand. He clearly saw the face and hair color of the black wizard.
He was a genuine English wizard!
So, of the four black wizards, the dwarf was from the foreign country, and the other three were all English black wizards.
Moriarty didn't want to be chased by black wizards cluelessly in the future. He raised his wand, the tip pointed at the last black wizard.
"Seeing the fate of your two companions? Do you wish to die like them in a foreign land? Or will you tell me everything, and then I will give you some money to leave here and never come back."
Moriarty spoke with his lips barely moving, trying to break the black wizard's psychological defences with a tone of disdain for death.
The black wizard was not fooled; he pointed his wand at Moriarty: "The sweat on your forehead has betrayed you! To use the spell that killed Neil must have cost you a lot of mana, your pretense is useless against me!"
As the black wizard said, Ferrum had consumed too much mana, and Moriarty had started to develop a headache since earlier.
But he could not show weakness; instead, he glared back with a fiercer gaze: "You foolish mudblood! Die!"
The black wizard's eyes were filled with humiliation, clearly stung by Moriarty's taunts that pierced his sensitive heart.
He involuntarily stepped back a few paces, conjured a few layers of Defensive shield, only to realize that Moriarty had long since run far away.
"F*ck!" The black wizard realized he had been fooled and angrily raised his wand: "Bombarda!"
"Protego!" Moriarty suddenly turned around, pointing his wand at the black wizard; a surge of magic exploded, rebounding the Bombarda spell back.
Taking advantage of the black wizard's retreating time, Moriarty ran and swallowed the mana restoration potion; his mana was back!
In fact, as he used magic, Moriarty felt his mana had even increased somewhat.
"Flamma!" Moriarty had been eager to try this spell.
A spark flashed from the tip of his wand, and a large ball of fire surged toward the black wizard, so fast that the black wizard had no time to cast the shield spell.
"No!"
The black wizard rolled in the snow, hoping to extinguish the flames, but Moriarty casually summoned a broken tree to end the black wizard's life.
"Detected that the host has killed a black wizard, gaining 300 points."
Based on the points, Moriarty figured out that the three English wizards were led by Neil, who was also the strongest among them.
Eliminating the three black wizards would net him 1100 points.
At this point, the dwarf black wizard appeared to Moriarty like a gold bar with legs.
"Moriarty! What are you waiting for? Come save me!"
A shout from Lockhart came from the lakeside; he had been burned in the leg by the fire raven and had to soak his lower body in the lake.
Two adult Yeti that could spray water saved Lockhart; otherwise, the dwarf's Curse from earlier would have hit him long ago.
But the Yeti were not in great shape either. To end the fight quickly, Moriarty recalled a large spell from his family's legacy.
"Branches, Accio."
Moriarty summoned the branches and then controlled them to stick into the snow, then manipulated more than a dozen branches to shake continuously, as if painting.
Lockhart was exasperated: "At a time like this, you still have the leisure to paint!"
Hearing this, the dwarf looked toward Moriarty and then took a deep breath: "Where did this little brat come from? He can actually draw a magic circle!"
Lockhart: "..."
It was not that Lockhart was ignorant; magic circles were rarely used in modern magic. Those who could draw magic circles came either from ancient families or were reclusive old oddities.
The Dwarf realized he had gotten himself into big trouble.
The Dwarf waved his wand: "Ignis inmortuae!"
A flame crow from the forest flew toward the Dwarf, forming a fiery red circle, and a crow five meters high flew out of the circle, clearly targeting Moriarty!
"Swish!"
The crow spread its wings, which extended up to ten meters, igniting clusters of black fire that emitted a stench.
It was the smell of decay!
Moriarty frowned; this was clearly the Dwarf's trump card, a forbidden spell for summoning the undead.
Once the aura of death appeared, it was guaranteed to take lives.
But there was a weakness, and that was the fire crow circle.
The Dwarf's magic power was evidently insufficient to summon a real undead fire crow, so he could only sustain the large fire crow with the power of a smaller one.
As long as the fire crow circle was destroyed, the undead fire crow could be weakened.
Moriarty was still inscribing the magic circle and couldn't be distracted, so he shouted to Lockhart: "Cast all the spells you know at that circle!"
Lockhart complied, but the spells he knew were quite limited; Moriarty could see clearly that there was a disarm spell, a cleaning spell… but not the forgetting spell that Lockhart excelled at.
This indicated that Lockhart wasn't being completely honest and might be hiding something.
Fortunately, Lockhart's interference allowed the circle to shrink a little, causing the undead fire crow to pause for a moment, but it quickly resumed its course, charging forward with flames.
Moriarty could feel the scorching heat of the undead flame, and at that moment, his magic circle was also complete!
"Speak to me, Slytherin! The greatest of the four founders!"
Moriarty thrust his wand into the ground, unleashing a green light, followed by silver light spreading across the snow.
The rudimentary magic circle was activated, rapidly spinning, with over a dozen branches turning into green pillars of light that shot up to the sky.
"Tempestas Anguis glacies!" Moriarty poured all his magic power into the magic circle.
The air suddenly grew cold, and a massive storm appeared above the magic circle, mixed with ice and snow.
Falling ice crystals and snow blocks continuously struck the undead fire crow, leaving it no time to counterattack.
The storm descended quickly, sweeping away the fire crow, and the undead flames vanished without a trace.
"Boom!" The fire crow circle exploded, and the Dwarf was hit by a backlash of magic, coughing silently.
Moriarty suspected he must be coughing up blood; although he concealed it well, the two Yeti wouldn't let this opportunity pass.
Two streams of snowmelt sprayed from the Yeti's mouths, and the Dwarf cast a protective spell on himself.
"Stupid little brat!" The Dwarf, seething with anger, glared at Moriarty, wishing he could cast another curse on him.
But Moriarty wouldn't give him a chance; if he could kill, he would kill, never delaying—a principle he had held as a spy in his past life.
He propped himself up with his wand, hissing: "Hiss! Hiss, hiss, hiss!"
Lockhart's mouth dropped wide open; even he, no matter how sheltered, understood now.
"Snake language!?"
Lockhart suddenly realized why Moriarty was speaking to Slytherin.
After Moriarty spoke snake tongue, the twelve green pillars transformed into large green snakes!
The giant snakes charged into the storm above the magic circle, emerging as twelve ice snakes!
The ice snakes slowly approached the Dwarf, who was already paralysed with fear.
The green giant snake, reaching over ten meters long and three meters wide, played with the Dwarf like a small mouse.
Twelve snake heads alternately stared at the Dwarf, flicking their tongues to lick his face; with each lick, the Dwarf's face would freeze a little.
Eerie and ominous!
The pressure from the ice snakes made the Yeti too frightened to move until the Dwarf was completely frozen, forming an ice coffin, after which the ice snakes gradually disappeared.
Moriarty sat down heavily on the ground, his magic nearly exhausted; he could no longer hold on.
"Lockhart? Lockhart! If you can still move, bring me the Dwarf's backpack!"
Moriarty ordered Lockhart like a servant, and the latter walked towards the Dwarf in a daze, the image of the twelve ice snakes firmly in his mind.
"Boom!"
The large backpack was placed in front of Moriarty by Lockhart.
Four or five Yeti rushed over, but after casting a fearful glance at Moriarty, they dared not approach further, only whimpering toward the backpack.
Before long, a low whimper sounded from within the backpack, as if it were crying.
Moriarty recalled the system's task; it seemed the backpack contained Yeti babies.
"Lockhart, open the backpack and return the Yeti babies to the Group."
Lockhart, trembling with his hands as if to verify their existence, opened the backpack, his eyes widening in shock.
He dazedly pulled out the Yeti babies and handed them over to the Yeti.
"You—how did you know there were Yeti babies inside?" Lockhart slumped to the ground like a deflated balloon.
Moriarty's powerful strength, endless spells, and terrifying forbidden techniques almost crushed Lockhart's self-esteem.
The only factor that allowed Lockhart to maintain dignity in front of Moriarty was his one and only memory spell.
And now, could it be that Moriarty is likely to be precognitive?
Doesn't that mean his memory spell is also known to the other party?
Moriarty was so focused on a necklace at the bottom of his backpack that he didn't bother to pay attention to Lockhart.
He picked up the necklace, and there was nothing unusual.
But the task was completed, right?
"Detected that the host has completed the task, rewarding the host with ten years of magic power and an alchemical item, the magic stone."
Magic stone?
Nicolas' magic stone!
He must find the chance to visit this alchemy master in the future.
Moriarty had Lockhart help him up, and he lifted his staff to stand before the Dwarf, storing both the Dwarf and the Ice Moon necklace into the system space.
He still didn't know the function of the Ice Moon necklace, but there was definitely a huge secret hidden behind the Dwarf.
Moriarty could not let this secret slip through his fingers; once he settled down, he would in