Volume 4: The Sea and the Ship Heading North Chapter 293: The Book Hidden in the Ice
The spell representing deathly silence exploded on Nick's terrified face, but Nick was still Nick, and even the expression on his face did not change at all.
When John realized that he couldn't escape the killing curse, he was even ready to die. However, the curse accidentally fell on Nick who was petrified!
It really is true that good people are rewarded!
In his heart, he was feeling lucky that he had rejected Gabrielle's intention to scribble on Nick's face and moved him to the position in front of him to protect him. Then he turned around and fought back without saying a word!
"Thunder explosion!"
The reason why John did not respond with the Killing Curse was not because he was soft-hearted, but because he understood very clearly that with three people on the other side, even if his Killing Curse could accurately kill one of them, the other two would find a gap and retaliate in the same way.
Therefore, large-scale spells such as the blasting spell are undoubtedly the best choice.
"boom!"
When the Death Eaters saw that one of the Killing Curses had hit John, they were completely unprepared for the fact that he not only survived but was able to fight back.
The magic power affected reality, and the powerful explosion effect instantly blew away the armor spell on the three people.
After two months of learning and deepening his knowledge of dark magic with Grindelwald, the power of the dark magic that John can use now is much greater than before.
Before this, his blasting spell could at most shatter the Death Eaters' Armor Charm, and then it no longer had any offensive power. But now, its remaining power directly blasted the three Death Eaters away!
John was not confused by the temporary results he had achieved. After blowing up the three Death Eaters, he simply fired another shot of the Shadowless Shot, then took Gabrielle with him, and at the same time replaced the useful Nick behind him as a shield, and began to quickly flee the area.
The three Death Eaters just now were obviously crouching here using the Disillusionment Charm. John was not sure how they knew his route, and he was even less sure whether they had more helpers on the way besides these three Death Eaters.
The space inside the maze is different from outside. As long as there are more than five people surrounding John from the front and back, he basically cannot dodge all the spells shot at him. The best proof of this is that when he was attacked just now, one of the three killing curses hit him.
The limited space prevented Jon from making better use of his advantages in speed and flying, so he could only retreat as quickly as possible and wait and see what the situation would be after getting rid of these three people.
John evacuated in time. The narrow space limited his ability and also brought maximum benefits to his blasting spell. The three Death Eaters were blown to pieces. The one who faced John even had two fingers broken!
After they managed to dodge John and used the shadowless sword to cover him, John was no longer in sight.
The Death Eater whose fingers were blown off was obviously the captain of the three-person team. His face showed a distorted expression of pain, and he picked up the two broken fingers from the ground with his body trembling.
"How long has it been since the letter was sent to Lord Lestrange?"
His face was full of ferocity, his wand was tucked at his waist, and his two men answered as they hurriedly took out potions and poured them on his severed finger that was still bleeding and shaking violently.
"It's been less than half an hour, Captain. The letter we sent out when the arrangement we left on that road was triggered. According to the scope of this maze, if Lord Lestrange is far away from us, it will take at least three days for them to receive the letter and rush over."
"Three days? Three days is enough for them to collect our bodies!"
It was unclear whether the captain with the severed finger was venting the severe pain in his hand or was simply expressing his dissatisfaction and cursing.
"This is a damn maze! Why can't we Apparate? Even if we equip everyone with a magic broom, it's impossible to get support in such a short time! Where's the paper plane you used to seek nearby support? Did you release it? Tell those other idiots that we found him at this location! Let those idiots start to surround this place immediately!"
Another Death Eater said in panic when he asked.
"I released the paper plane as soon as you told me to, Captain, but the nearest squad seems a little far away..."
Just as he hadn't finished speaking, a sound of footsteps came from behind them, and the three Death Eaters immediately maintained the highest alert. Even the captain with the broken finger endured the severe pain and clenched his wand with his left hand.
Soon, a fluttering paper airplane appeared in their sight.
After seeing the paper plane, the three Death Eaters all breathed a sigh of relief, and then everyone looked grimly at the other three Death Eaters they had just felt following the paper plane.
“Where are the people?”
"He has already run away."
"Why didn't you keep him?"
"When you bring your men to intercept him and keep him here, then ask me this question again!"
The communication between the two teams was not harmonious, but they had not forgotten their duties in this maze. Except for the captain with the severed finger, the other five people chased in the direction where Jon fled.
Jon is greatly limited in his abilities within the maze, and the same is true for the Death Eaters.
All areas of this maze were covered by anti-Apparition magic. Their total number of people was less than a hundred, and splitting into teams of three was already the limit. According to the assessment of John's specific strength that they had discovered within the British Ministry of Magic, if there were less than three people, not only would there be no possibility of killing or capturing him, there was also a great chance that he would kill them.
This is why the other two did not rush to pursue after one of the three Death Eaters had his finger blown off and lost his ability to cast spells for a short period of time. If they really caught up with him, they might not be able to stop him, but there was a high possibility that they would get themselves killed.
Just as they started chasing, Jon had already turned three forks in the road and returned to the original normal road according to the map he got from the laboratory.
After making sure that there were no Death Eaters chasing him, Jon took out his invisibility cloak and prepared to wear it throughout the rest of the journey.
The killing curse that hit Nick really scared him. If he hadn't moved the petrified Nick in front of him in advance, John would have no chance of surviving the killing curse.
Even after putting on the invisibility cloak, their forward speed would be greatly slowed down and it would be inconvenient to move, so Jon still chose to be cautious.
Sure enough, his judgment was correct.
After coming out of the secret corridor, he had entered a Death Eater patrol network. Not long after he put on invisibility and continued walking forward, he encountered another group of Death Eaters.
It was still a team of three, but these three did not notice Jon. Instead, Jon noticed their footsteps in advance and hid in a corner near the ice wall with Gabriel and did not meet them.
Watching this group of Death Eaters leave, Jon was certain of at least one thing.
These people could not know his movements accurately. The three Death Eaters who had ambushed in a fixed position in advance were most likely prepared because they heard the conversation between him and Gabrielle.
It also basically confirmed to John that these Death Eaters in the maze were unlikely to use Apparition at will.
Otherwise, in the situation at that time, if they had sent one person alone to call for reinforcements, and the remaining two people tried to hold Jon back, it would definitely bring him more trouble.
It turned out that they had just ambushed in advance. Either these three people wanted to take credit and thought that they could take care of Jon by themselves and take all the credit, or they were not quick enough to seek support.
Jon felt that the possibility of greed for merit was more plausible than the explanation that he couldn't Apparate.
After all, although there are many crazy lunatics among these Death Eaters, lunatics are not the same as fools. It is unlikely that a normal person would still be thinking about seeking credit at this time.
This speculation also made John breathe a sigh of relief. If the Death Eaters could still use Apparition to provide support anytime and anywhere in the maze, it would undoubtedly put tremendous pressure on John.
This means that as soon as he shows his head, he will be surrounded by dozens of people.
If they didn't care about the consequences of casualties, this maze would definitely become John's burial place.
And now, since they have no way to use Apparition, that is good news. It means that John has more opportunities. Even if he encounters any accidents and encounters Death Eaters, he will not be without room for retreat.
Then they continued to move carefully towards their predetermined target. During this time, they encountered three waves of Death Eaters, but they carefully avoided them and were not discovered.
Just as Jon looked at the time on his pocket watch, they set out from the secret corridor and walked for seven or eight hours before arriving at the first point marked on the map.
This was an ice surface that looked no different from any other place. After searching for a while, Jon didn't find anything unusual. He even tried using a universal spell to remove the spell, but to no avail.
It wasn't until Gabrielle passed through the ice wall and entered the ice layer inside that she made the discovery.
"It's empty here, Jon!"
Gabrielle said excitedly, suppressing her excitement.
Jon was also shocked.
"Did you see what was in there?"
"A book. A book the size of a notebook."
Gabrielle's description made Jon a little disappointed. He thought he would find the gems left by Adrian here, but it is better to get something than nothing.
Although Gabrielle was able to cross the ice and get the book, she had no way of getting it out.
Fortunately, according to her description, the ice where the things were hidden was not very thick. Jon estimated and used a shattering spell on the ice.
The spell made quite a loud noise, so after he successfully broke the ice and took out the book that Gabrielle had seen, he immediately used a repair spell on the broken parts.
Then he did not check the book immediately, but took Gabrielle and put on the invisibility cloak again and moved immediately.
Less than a minute after they left, a team of Death Eaters hurried to where John and his friends had been before.
But after a careful check, he found no movement of anyone. However, he did not let it go, but used the magic paper airplane to report the discovery.
The speed at which paper airplanes transmit information is only average, even slower than that of owls delivering letters.
But in the cold Arctic, there are no owls that can work in this place, so the Death Eaters can only use this inefficient method.
As for John, after he arrived at a relatively safe place, he and Gabrielle hid under the invisibility cloak and opened the book with a very old cover.
However, to his disappointment, the contents of the book were not written in English, but looked somewhat like German. In any case, Jon could hardly understand it.
But after all, this is what Adrian left behind when he marked the map. Even if he can't understand it now, Jon can't just throw it away.
After safely putting the book into his pocket, he began to study the next target point on the map.
There were only three points marked by Adrian on the map, two of which were marked with red ink and the other was black.
The black mark is the secret corridor where Jon and his team found the map. Among the red dots, one has already discovered the book, and now there is only the last dot left.
This point can basically be confirmed as the location of the gem that Adrian made in the Arctic.
Jon didn't realize that he had come to such a place with great effort just to find the raw materials for making gems, but in the end he found the things and made them but had no way to take them away without leaving any mark.
At the same time, this also indirectly reflects the importance of the book he got. The fact that Adrian specially marked a point on it like a gem means that the status of this thing in his heart is equal to that of the gem.
Afterwards, Jon did not stop. The last point was very far away from where they were now, basically about twice the distance from when he entered the maze.
They now had to move around wearing invisibility cloaks, and only Gabrielle was left. John was worried about letting her explore the way ahead alone, so their progress was undoubtedly slowed down a lot.
But apart from a fight that broke out between Death Eaters shortly after they came out of the secret corridor, they had a safe journey afterwards. Even when they encountered a squad of Death Eaters, they were able to avoid them successfully.
It wasn't until two and a half days later that they finally arrived less than a mile from the marked point on the map.
