234: rlin Ambrosius…?
The magic-forged Bifrost pierced through the glacier.
The imnse magical energy left eternal frost in its wake.
The box trembled violently, gradually breaking free from the withered plants.
If this continued, not only would the glacier be destroyed, but the entire Dragon Field would be wiped out.
"Why the fuck is sothing this dangerous in the Dragon Field?!"
John couldn't help but curse as floating text continuously appeared on the box's surface.
He focused carefully and recognized them as ancient inscriptions.
"The Casket of Ancient Winters?" Reading the words aloud, John found it utterly absurd.
A legendary treasure of the land of giants—an artifact said to be capable of freezing everything.
Even for John, it took a mont to process the existence of mythology within the wizarding world.
Pointing his wand at the Casket of Ancient Winters, John channeled his magic, attempting to destroy it.
"Reducto!"
The white blast struck the Casket, but John's spell, capable of shattering buildings, didn't leave so much as a scratch.
Unwilling to give up, John continued unleashing every spell he could think of in rapid succession.
Without exception, the Casket of Ancient Winters continued its operation, freezing everything in its path.
At this point, John was completely out of options. He was starting to think that Heimdall really was blind—sending him down here had directly led to the destruction of the entire Dragon Field.
Just then, a silver thread drifted past his eyes.
Following its movent, he spotted the soul fragnt.
The fragnt floated toward the frozen figure, struggling to pass through the ice and reach inside.
John's expression froze for a mont before a strange thought popped into his head. Could that be the ice sculpture's soul?
He focused on where the soul fragnt was heading and quickly noticed sothing unusual.
Despite the powerful surge of freezing magic, the fragile soul fragnt remained completely unhard, like a candle flickering in the wind that refused to go out.
"The cold only affects things that physically exist." A glint flashed in John's eyes.
The soul fragnt drifted toward him, as if pleading for help.
"You want to lt the ice sculpture?" John asked.
The soul fragnt bobbed up and down, as if saying, Yes!
John took a deep breath. Dragon horns sprouted from his head, and wings unfurled from his back.
His body rapidly expanded, transforming into his full dragon form in an instant.
Aiming at the frozen figure, John opened his massive jaws.
||Blazing Flas!||
Fuuaa!!
A surge of fire erupted, engulfing the ice sculpture in crimson flas.
Under this intense heat—enough to lt solid rock—the ice sculpture began to lt slowly.
"Not hot enough."
The scales on John's neck shimred with light as he unleashed another breath attack.
This ti, the flas were even more terrifying.
As ti passed, the ice sculpture finally lted completely.
John reverted to his human form. Just as he was about to let the soul fragnt approach—
WHOOSH!
The stiff-bodied man, now freed from the ice, was imdiately caught in the rushing magical currents.
He was flung straight into the wall—And shattered into pieces.
John: "…!!"
What had all that effort been for?
The soul fragnt also seed caught off guard. It had been moving excitedly just monts ago, but now it froze mid-air, stunned.
"Forget it. Relying on others is useless."
Seeing the ss before him, John knew better than to count on outside help.
With a flick of his wand, his pupils transford—turning into dragon's eyes.
The tip of John's wand spat out flas, gathering into a massive crimson dragon.
"Fiendfyre!"
Summoning the Fiendfyre, he montarily halted the unstoppable torrent.
The entire room ignited as John commanded the Fiendfyre to lunge at the Ice Casket, the source of the magical flood.
Under the terrifying flas, the layer of frost covering the Ice Casket began to lt.
The raging current clashed against the Fiendfyre, which roared furiously in return.
Two formidable magics—absolute cold versus an all-consuming inferno—Neither side gave an inch.
John simply let go of his control over the Fiendfyre.
Freed from restraint, the fire swelled explosively, yet even it couldn't escape being overwheld by the Ice Casket's flood.
"Can I use Soul-Devouring Curse on it?"
"An!m@ Ed##x!"
Raising his right hand, black threads seeped out from his limited glove, gradually dyeing his silver arm pitch black.
John's right eye also darkened as the threads spread toward the Ice Casket.
His expression was solemn as the Soul-Devouring Curse slowly coiled around its surface.
The Soul-Devouring Curse completely enveloped the Ice Casket.
In an instant, a coldness so intense it could nearly freeze the soul itself wrapped around John's body.
Bit by bit, his body began to ice over.
His eyes widened—this wasn't supposed to happen.
Why… why was his soul freezing?
There was no ti to pull back now. John could only watch as the ice crystals encased him entirely.
Just as he was about to lose consciousness, he saw the soul fragnt rushing toward him.
Without hesitation, John reached out and caught it.
The next second—Ting... everything turned black and white.. His thoughts stopped.
Frozen in place with his hand outstretched, the Soul-Devouring Curse continued to coil around the Ice Casket.
The Fiendfyre, gradually subdued by the flood, now had ice crystals forming atop its flas.
Then, the fiery dragon itself started to freeze, caught in a paradoxical cycle—
The Fiendfyre lted the ice, the flood covered the ice, and the ice returned to freeze the flas.
A bizarre balance had been achieved, temporarily halting the flood's path of destruction.
But this balance would eventually break as the Fiendfyre was gradually worn away.
When that happened, a world frozen in ice would co into existence.
The Fiendfyre grew weaker and weaker—the flood could even freeze flas.
.
.
.
Crack.
Suddenly—
A crisp sound echoed.
The soul fragnt slowly moved across John's body.
With great effort, it reached his right hand.
The Soul-Devouring Curse, still entwined around the Ice Casket, had ford a channel between them.
John's guess had been correct—the Ice Casket didn't freeze souls.
Bit by bit, the soul fragnt wriggled its way into the channel. It compressed itself into a needle-thin point and, with all its might, stabbed into the Ice Casket.
A tiny hole broke open in the casket, and the soul fragnt wedged itself inside.
On the other end, the soul fragnt morphed into a silver thread, linking back to John's hand.
The silver thread shimred faintly.
John's previously frozen consciousness gradually revived, and his thoughts began to stir.
Though he still couldn't move, he realized that his magic was still active.
His eyes shifted, and he caught sight of the silver thread.
Summoning all his strength, he moved a single finger and made contact with it.
In that instant, his awareness compressed and funneled through the silver thread, condensing into a single point before abruptly expanding.
The golden room vanished before his eyes.
Instead, he found himself in a dreamlike, ethereal space.
"You finally made it."
!!?
Snapping out of his daze, John turned around.
He glanced down at himself—his clothes had changed to white.
Following the voice, he looked up to see a man standing before him.
The man's tone was relaxed, carrying a hint of relief.
But none of that mattered.
What mattered was that this man had the exact sa face as Ekrizdis.
"You don't think you owe an explanation?" John steadied his emotions, his gaze cold as he stared at the man.
The man looked a little embarrassed. Scratching his head, he said, "A.. ahaha.. Well… I actually wanted to deal with this place's hidden dangers back in the day. But the power here was far stronger than I expected, so I could only seal it temporarily."
The man suddenly seed to rember sothing. He extended his hand toward John, a friendly smile on his face.
"Ah, I forgot to introduce myself. We co from the sa place."
"The sa place?"
"Of course! We went to the sa school." The man puffed out his chest with pride.
John was montarily stunned and asked in confusion, "You were a Hogwarts student too?"
The man smiled slightly and said, "And I was also in Slytherin. You can call Ambrosius, or by my full na…"
"rlin Ambrosius."
John froze on the spot, his brain montarily unable to process what he had just heard.
When he finally snapped back to reality, he couldn't stop himself from yelling in shock, "rlin's beard—!!"
"Ahem." Ambrosius reached out and stroked his perfectly white chin, looking helpless. "I really don't understand why you people are so obsessed with my beard."
John took a mont to digest the fact that rlin himself was standing in front of him.
Then, he suddenly thought of the body outside, and his expression turned odd, as if he wanted to say sothing but hesitated.
"Just say it." Ambrosius could tell from John's look that sothing was up.
After careful consideration, John finally asked, "So… are you dead? No, I an, are you actually alive after all this ti? Because I just saw your body get smashed to pieces."
His words ca out a bit jumbled, but that wasn't his fault.
Anyone who suddenly ran into the rlin—the legendary wizard—would react the sa way.
Ambrosius was remarkably patient and said, "You could say that, though I'm not entirely sure myself."
His answer was strange. He explained, "Strictly speaking, I am not the real rlin. I am the Hogwarts rlin."
"Uh… what's the difference?" John asked, feeling like a confused elentary school student.
Ambrosius simply sat down and said, "The difference is that the legendary rlin could be , but I am not necessarily the legendary rlin."
Most people would probably be completely baffled by this statent.
But as an alchemist, John could pick up on the deeper implications.
"So what you're saying is that you are related to the legendary rlin—maybe as a creator and a creation?"
"Bingo." Ambrosius clapped his hands, clearly impressed by John's understanding. "You're familiar with Horcruxes, right? I'm similar to one. I share a connection with that rlin, but we are also separate entities."
"So after rlin created you, you enrolled in Hogwarts. Then Heimdall ntioned a wizard who taught him prophecy—was that you or the real rlin?"
John recalled the wizard who had taught Heimdall prophecy and wondered which rlin it had been.
Ambrosius shrugged and said, "I'd guess it was him. Or maybe another rlin entirely. After all, I ca here later and failed to seal this place."
This rlin had co afterward and ended up frozen.
"...."
John's expression grew even stranger.
The Hogwarts rlin and a legendary artifact from the land of giants—both existing in the sa place?
Was he really still in the Harry Potter universe?
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