The Rune Mage Starting at Hogwarts

The accompanying monks quickly arrived at the locations where the incidents had occurred, carefully inspecting the sites with their staffs in hand.

“Sir, we haven’t found any trace of the enemy. Most of these are local Ionia poisons and plant traps,” a mage reported back to Swain. “Moreover, these traps are crudely set up and not very powerful. There were no strange alchemical artifacts like the ones from last night. It seems that those artifacts are very rare to them, and they were probably used up last night.”

After hearing the report, Swain frowned, then turned to another mage captain: "Have you searched the inside of the house and the basement?"

“We’ve checked,” the mage captain replied. “Many houses do have cellars, but there’s no sign of any living people inside. The supplies have basically all been moved away beforehand.”

Swain did not speak immediately.

He watched the soldiers moving in and out of the houses, and his doubts were not completely dispelled.

Of course, his suspicions are correct.

Because the rebels were hiding in a place much deeper than the mage Noxas could detect with magic.

These secret passages were built a few days earlier with the help of Rizzi to the resistance.

The monks of the magic squad used their transformation magic—turning mud into stone and softening it into mud—to carve out numerous movable tunnels five meters underground. Now, more than two hundred resistance members have all gathered there, waiting for an opportunity to counterattack.

The difficulty of using these transformation spells is not low, even at Hogwarts.

However, because Ionia is more in harmony with nature, these magically gifted individuals possess considerable talent in transformation magic that involves nature and terrain.

Moreover, the entrances to these secret passages were also disguised by Rizzi, and there were no flaws to be seen from the outside.

For these Noxus mages who can only sense ordinary energy fluctuations, these hidden doors concealed by magic are almost impossible for them to detect.

With the entire Noxus Legion inside the city, the soldiers' search of Presidium had been going on for nearly an hour.

Aside from catching a few frightened poultry and dismantling dozens of magical traps that had caused more than ten casualties, the Noxus army still couldn't find a single rebel soldier, nor could they find enough food supplies to resupply a thousand men.

“Sir, we’ve searched every house in the outer city, and there’s definitely no one there,” another centurion stepped forward, looking somewhat anxious. “Our soldiers have been marching since this morning, and they’re quite exhausted. If we don’t capture the academy in the city center soon and find the food supplies stored in the city, the troops will really run out of food by tonight.”

Swain looked at the sun, which was beginning to tilt, and finally nodded.

“Keep the formation and don’t spread out too much,” Swain drew his sword. “The third and fourth battalions will stay on the outer city streets and set up the ballistae at the crossroads. The rest of you, come with me to Presidium Academy.”

"Yes!"

Bugle calls sounded on the main road, and the Noxus soldiers regrouped into marching columns, advancing along the wide white stone avenue toward the city center.

The procession quickly arrived at the gates of Presidium University.

This is a vast white stone building with several huge stone pillars carved with mysterious runes standing in front of it.

As the Noxus vanguard charged to the bottom of the steps, the academy's gates suddenly and slowly opened.

Seven or eight elderly scholars dressed in white robes emerged from behind the door.

They carried no weapons, but stood calmly on the steps, holding ancient scrolls and wooden staffs that symbolized academic status, looking down at the Noxian soldiers.

The leading elder scholar cleared his throat and spoke in a steady voice: "Soldiers of Noxus, this is the great library and academy of wisdom of Presidium. The knowledge of the First Land belongs to the whole world. We will not participate in any military confrontation. We are willing to establish dialogue with your commander to discuss the new order of Presidium..."

Before he could finish speaking, the centurion from Noxas who was leading the group had already mounted his warhorse and charged up the steps.

In the centurion's opinion, these guys were just stalling for time.

"Where do you hide your food?" the centurion interrupted him coldly, asking the most crucial question directly.

The elderly scholar paused for a moment, then frowned, a hint of dissatisfaction creeping into his voice: "We can discuss the food issue later..."

Listening to the scholar's words, the other party seemed completely unaware of the current situation.

The centurion showed no intention of dismounting.

Without hesitation, he thrust his iron sword forward, the tip piercing directly through the old scholar's throat.

The old scholar's eyes widened instantly, and blood quickly stained a large area of ​​his white robe.

After dealing with the old man, the centurion drew his iron sword and shook off the blood.

“Enough with the nonsense,” the centurion turned and waved to the soldiers behind him. “Charge in and take out everything of value and food. Anyone who resists will be killed on the spot.”

The remaining scholars finally realized the terror of Noxus's army. They trembled with fear, dropping their wooden staffs and scrolls to the ground, and turned to flee back to the academy.

But hundreds of Noxian soldiers had already charged forward with their weapons.

All they are thinking about now is obtaining enough supplies and wealth from this place.

Suddenly, screams, wails, and the sound of something collapsing echoed throughout the academy.

Those ordinary people who held onto a sliver of hope and did not leave Presidium with the rebels, but instead hid outside the academy, had never witnessed such a scene before. At this moment, they could only tremble and squat on the ground, begging the soldiers of Noxus not to point their swords at them.

These Noxian soldiers now completely disregarded these scholars who were usually respected.

To them, these were just a herd of livestock to be disposed of at will.

Two centurions and their men quickly took control of the academy and dragged people out from various places in a very rough manner, gathering them in the central open space.

This naturally involves various forms of violence.

"Master, search every wall," an officer shouted, "see if there are any secret passages leading underground, or hidden chambers for the enemy!"

Among these search locations, the Grand Archives naturally became a top priority for the Knoxas Legion.

This ancient library, which houses over a thousand years of Presidium's academic legacy, is so well-known that speaking loudly here is considered disrespectful to knowledge.

At this time, the place was in a mess because of the soldiers of the Noxas army.

The heavy wooden bookshelves were roughly pushed over by the soldiers with spears, and the stacks of scrolls and books fell to the ground.

The soldiers didn't care at all about the ancient Ionian spiritual philosophy recorded on these parchments.

To make sure no one was hiding behind the bookshelves, the Noxian soldiers used their battle axes to smash several exquisitely carved bookshelves into pieces, and casually kicked the ancient books that had rolled off to the side.

Some people even used axes to split open the decorations on the walls, prying off the gold, silver, and magic gems embedded in them.

And on the crossbeam, which is more than ten meters high above the main bookstore.

Ryze stood there quietly, watching everything below. At this moment, he was shrouded in magic that distorted light. After his magic was completely withdrawn, neither the soldiers below nor the occasional passing mages noticed the strange thing above their heads.

He looked down at the scholars being manipulated at will, and at the ancient manuscripts being trampled underfoot by the soldiers, but Ryze's face remained expressionless.

Before the war began, the rebels had repeatedly sent people to notify the academy and the civilians who remained there to evacuate, but the scholars stubbornly believed that the academy's position in Ionia meant that as long as it maintained a neutral stance, it could avoid the war.

Now, reality has made these people pay a bloody price for their naivety.

Ryze didn't feel much sympathy for these people's current plight. After all, he was just a traveler from another world, and helping Ionia accelerate the development of the resistance was already the limit.

Let the scholars at these universities bear the consequences of their decisions for now.

His attention was now focused on the books he had previously set his sights on.

Although he had already memorized and copied almost everything, being able to bring some books back would naturally make his research much easier.

Anyway, as long as you leave a copy of this world before you leave, that's fine.

Therefore, in this chaotic situation, no soldier noticed that while they were searching the Great Archives, occasionally a few scrolls of parchment and books would silently disappear into this magnificent library.

Chapter 402: Before the Final Battle

As the Noxus Legion completely took control of the academy, Swain entered the academy's main hall, escorted by two squads of guards.

At this moment, the stone pillars in the hall were stained with a lot of fresh blood, and the ground was littered with the corpses of many people who had tried to resist.

The remaining scholars and civilians were all herded to the center of the hall, where dozens of Noxian soldiers, armed with blood-stained weapons, guarded them.

Swain's gaze swept over the group of trembling Ionias.

"Who is in charge here?" Swain asked, his voice not loud, but it sent a chill down the spines of all the scholars present.

There was a brief commotion in the crowd, and a moment later, a middle-aged scholar with a goatee walked out of the crowd, trembling.

After he came out, he knelt down directly in front of Swain's boots.

"Sir... I am the deputy manager here. Please don't kill me. I'll tell you everything!" the middle-aged scholar said in a trembling voice, not daring to even raise his head.

Swain looked down at him: "Where did those guys who rebelled against us outside the city go?"

“The back mountain…they’ve all retreated to the back mountain,” the middle-aged scholar hurriedly replied, trying to distance the academy from the resistance. “This has nothing to do with our academy. A few days ago, that girl named Irelia and Karma from the Temple of Eternity came here, wanting our academy to support them in forming a resistance, but we have never agreed to any of these things. They organized it all themselves!”

“Kalmar…” Swain knew the name.

After all, Noxus's greatest loss during the invasion of Ionia was Karma, who single-handedly destroyed a warship.

But he also knew that the faith of that eternal temple was harmony.

According to the information he obtained, after doing all this, Karma was subjected to the cult's punishment and then returned to the Hall of Eternity, never to leave again.

Therefore, after learning about the power the other side possessed, Noxus was not in a hurry to cause trouble for the Temple of Eternity. He waited until he had established more bases in Ionia before taking action against these sects that would not resist.

Unexpectedly, this resistance was actually organized by the other side.

It does seem to be a bit troublesome.

A powerful being capable of using magic to penetrate a warship is someone even Noxus would have to be wary of.

"How many people did they take with them when they retreated?" Swain pressed.

“Most of the civilians in the city have been deceived by them,” the middle-aged scholar swallowed hard and continued to explain to Swain, “That Irelia spread the word everywhere that there is no hope if one leaves Presidium alive, saying things like don’t put your life in the mercy of the enemy… Those ignorant civilians have all been bewitched by her, but our academy has never provided them with any support… We believe that the Noxians are reasonable people too.”

The Noxian soldiers standing nearby couldn't help but let out a mocking laugh upon hearing the scholar's words.

Swain looked over, stopping the taunts, and then continued to ask, "You really don't know anything about the resistance?"

“We really don’t know. All I know is that this resistance was formed by Karma with the support of that Zan family member named Irelia and that mage White from out of town. And that mage White taught a lot of people the strange magic of his place. We know nothing else,” the middle-aged scholar pleaded with Swain, trembling with fear. “We people from the academy never get involved in any disputes. We just want to save our lives. Please, sir, spare our lives. You can take everything from the academy!”

Swain looked at the terrified middle-aged man, who probably had no intention of resisting.

At this point, she dared not lie to him, so she went straight to the most crucial question: "So, where is the food?"

“It’s in the stone tower behind the academy, which we’ve sealed off with magic. I can take you there,” the middle-aged scholar said without hesitation, pointing to the back. “There’s enough wheat flour and dried meat inside to feed the Presidians for half a year!”

Upon hearing the statement that it would be enough to last for half a year, the Noxian soldiers around them instantly relaxed.

“Lead the way,” Swain commanded coldly.

"...Yes, I'll take you there right away!" The middle-aged scholar felt as if he had been granted a pardon. He struggled to his feet and bent over to lead the way.

Swain led a squad of soldiers and quickly followed the middle-aged scholar through the corridor to the foot of a sturdy stone tower at the back of the academy.

At the base of the stone tower is a heavy iron door, carved with many runes and emitting a white fluorescent light.

Two accompanying mages and a small squad had already gathered around the iron gate.

They held staffs and were using various spells to try and break through the door's defenses.

Upon seeing Swain arrive with a large entourage, the leading mage immediately turned around and bowed.

“Sir, we’ve just reached this point,” the mage said, pointing to the iron gate. “This gate is protected by a strong solidification spell; it’s difficult for ordinary explosive magic to open it directly.”

“This contains the food supplies for the entire academy. I brought people here to open the door,” Swain explained.

Upon hearing this, several monks immediately showed expressions of surprise.

The middle-aged scholar quickly jogged forward, placed his palm on a recessed area on the left side of the stone gate, and whispered a short incantation.

The white runes on the door flashed a few times before quickly going out.

Then the middle-aged scholar forcefully turned the copper ring next to the door, and with a mechanical creak, the iron door was finally slowly opened.

At the same time, the aroma of wheat and cured meat immediately wafted out from inside.

Several soldiers rushed in and saw hundreds of bags of white wheat flour neatly stacked inside. The hooks around the room were covered with dried meat and smoked fish, and in the corners were piles of beans that could be stored for a long time and large barrels of cooking oil.

A centurion strode in, inspected the area, and then ran out excitedly to report to Swain.

"Reporting to the commander, all the food inside is intact, enough to last our entire army for several months!"

Upon hearing this answer, all the Noxian soldiers present breathed a sigh of relief, and the tension caused by the depletion of supplies instantly dissipated.

As Swain listened to the officer's report, his expression remained tense, but he couldn't help but slightly loosen his clenched fist.

"Distribute the food according to the original plan. First, distribute hot meals to the entire army, but everyone must take turns eating," Swain quickly ordered. "The First Battalion will be responsible for guarding the granary, the Second Battalion will establish a defensive line around the academy, and the remaining battalions will continue to conduct a full search of Presidium."

"Yes," the messenger replied, then quickly turned to deliver the military order.

Swain then turned to look at the middle-aged scholar: "Gather the rest of the people in the east wing and lock them up with ten soldiers. No one is allowed to move without my orders."

"Thank you, sir, thank you, sir," the middle-aged scholar bowed repeatedly, then retreated under the escort of two soldiers.

As food was moved from the stone tower, the university quickly sprang up.

The soldiers carried flour and smoked meat to the camp, pouring them over the barracks. They also carried medicine and supplies.

Within half an hour, hot soup and baked barley cakes were distributed to every soldier.

After several days of forced marches and a thorough search upon entering the city, the Noxus soldiers were already at their physical limits.