I, Hogwarts Second Time Around.

Chapter 371 The Flower Magician

The passageway was pitch black, with only a few torches providing illumination.

Hermione gripped her wand, remaining vigilant.

However, they soon reached the end of the road, because it wasn't very deep.

On both sides of the wall, just as Nefertari had said, were imprisoned magical creatures.

They all wore a metal collar around their necks, inscribed with ancient runes.

This is a limiter—its purpose is to restrict the special abilities of some magical creatures, such as the Zouwu's apparition, the Invisible Beast's invisibility, and the Ogre's ability to freely shapeshift, etc.

Irving also had this rune engraved on his fanny pack—to prevent Hirok from running too wild.

This invention cannot be attributed to evil—tools themselves are neither evil nor good; the difference lies only in the user.

Hermione waved her wand, blasting open a door that held the animals, while a commotion arose outside.

The Aurors from the Ministry of Magic have arrived.

"You came so quickly!" Miss Granger said casually. Indeed, it was very quick; less than two minutes had passed.

"I knew it was them—the Hartway Search Party."

A man's loud shout echoed from the arena.

Although it was Arabic and Hermione couldn't understand the meaning, she could roughly guess from the anger in the voice that the words were definitely not nice.

"Hmm—now they're even starting to seduce and sell wizards?"

Next came the sound of punches and kicks after Hermione walked out of the passageway.

From there, you can see the two dark wizards she defeated being beaten up by several Aurors.

Those guys didn't hold back at all; every punch landed squarely, and soon the two poor souls were bruised and covered in blood.

"It's you, Miss Granger."

Upon seeing the familiar girl appear in the arena, one of the Auror figures who was ganging up on her stopped and walked over.

Hermione couldn't understand what he was saying, but she could still barely make out her own name.

She was actually very opposed to the barbaric acts unfolding before her eyes. Of course, Hermione would not be merciful to her enemies now, but torture was another matter entirely.

You can kill him, but you can't torture him.

This is important evidence for distinguishing whether a soul is distorted.

However, she hasn't spoken yet.

An unusual emotional fluctuation caught her attention.

"Um?"

At this moment, Hermione noticed that the eyes of those Aurors seemed to faintly emit a purple light, and each of them exuded a violent aura.

It was as if he had just come down from a bloody battlefield, his murderous aura still lingering.

Looking into his own eyes, though restrained, they still held a murderous glint in them.

Lost in thought—she looked away again.

The same situation applies to most other Aurors.

Unlike the one in front of him, they did not look him in the eye, nor did they need to suppress their emotions; the aura emanating from them was even more violent.

They do things in a very crazy way.

Those onlookers who were stunned by lightning or bound by vines were subjected to a barrage of punches and kicks, with no intention of holding back. Each punch was enough to tear the skin and draw blood.

Soon, the entire tent was filled with wails of agony.

"Did they just come from the coastal waters of Arish?" Miss Granger suddenly became worried, then looked away and turned her gaze back to the wizard in front of her.

Her words were relayed to the Auror by Neferpitou, who was standing beside her.

"Yes, most Aurors are currently located along the coast."

"The coast," Hermione said in a low voice, her brow furrowing slightly.

She had heard Owen say that the Outer Gods were most skilled at bewitching.

To bewitch people.

Could it be that beneath that sea, the flesh and blood possess a bewitching magic?

"I want to go see the coast," Hermione said to Nefertari.

Suddenly, her heart clenched. That Owen guy... could it be...? Her mind started racing with the cliché story of that boy being bewitched by an Outer God and then having to fight him.

"Okay—of course—no problem." Nefertir, who had almost given her heart and soul to Miss Granger, nodded vigorously with flushed cheeks.

She walked toward an Auror.

He spoke a few words in their language.

The other person then nodded and held out his hand, gesturing for Hermione to grab it.

Hermione, who had secretly resolved to learn the Apparition Charm during the summer vacation, did not refuse and grasped it directly.

Neferpitou—instead of taking Auror's other hand, she skillfully took Hermione's arm.

Then, after a dizzying sensation, the surrounding scenery began to change dramatically.

They were like people squeezed into some kind of narrow pipe, bumping around for quite a while.

When I came to my senses, I was already on a pale purple sea.

They were standing on a small boat.

No more than a few feet long, they were flatboats used in rivers, and in Hermione's field of vision, there were many such flatboats. They were everywhere on the sea.

The Aurors were using trawl nets to retrieve severed limbs from the water and were spraying a strange potion into the sea.

As a potions whiz, Hermione immediately recognized that the potion was actually a kind of magical dye—something the Weasleys often used and added to many of their foods.

Extracted from plants.

Its main function is to change the color of food or potions.

The reason these Aurors poured this dye into the seawater was simply to turn it back to blue.

Dyeing seawater—I must say, that's a brilliant idea.

The guy who came up with this idea must have an IQ that's definitely over 70!

They're either crazy or stupid.

Perhaps it's a combination of both.

Before her, the shimmering sea surface emitted purple light spots, and a strange, melodious sound entered Hermione's heart.

She seemed to see a boy she knew very well struggling to sink into the sea in the distance.

She almost jumped into the water.

Her feet were already on the edge of the boat, and then—then she woke up.

It was an illusion—Hermione realized in an instant that this sea was cursed, and this terrifying mental interference would last for a long time, even hundreds of years, until all the magic it contained was exhausted.

After regaining her composure, Hermione looked at the sea again and a sense of unease arose within her.

This kind of dyeing only makes passing ships confused about the scope of the curse, and is purely counterproductive.

I have no idea what the Egyptian Ministry of Magic was thinking.

"Hermione, did you find what you were looking for?"

Nefertory's voice came from the side.

She didn't seem to be affected at all.

My eyes are still burning.

It's getting a little too hot.

"No," she said, frowning.

But other things came to mind.

That is—was that so-called god really dead?

Is it possible that she is beneath this pale purple sea?

With that thought in mind, Hermione stretched out her wand, and magic transformed into threads that began to stir the seawater.

Suddenly, a mouthful of flesh and blood surged out from underwater, following her spell.

The next second, a spell struck it, knocking it back into the sea.

"Please do not cast spells," Neferpitou translated the serious warning from the Auror beside him.

"The monsters in the sea are very sensitive to magic. They are not completely dead, and any act of casting a spell may provoke their attack."

"Oh—no wonder the arrogant ones use this trawl net instead of casting a spell," Neferpitou exclaimed in sudden realization.

"Isn't this too slow?" Hermione questioned. "Why not deliberately cast a spell to lure these severed limbs and then wipe them all out in one fell swoop?"

"He said—because of the shortage of manpower, many Aurors were injured in the previous war. Being injured by the ominous signs is very troublesome, like a curse. The Ministry of Magic can no longer send enough people."

Nefer continued translating.

"But—this sea." Hermione pointed to the boundless purple seawater, "This seawater releases a kind of mental pollution. Haven't you noticed? If we continue to drag this out, other mutations may occur again."

"Yes—" The Auror nodded, then said rather helplessly, "According to our research, that kind of mental pollution will dissipate six hours after leaving this sea area, so our people are rotated every six hours. That's all we can do for now."

After Neferpitou finished translating, Hermione saw the Aurors around her all casting Apparitions.

Before long, another group of wizards dressed in robes took their place.

"Hmm? The shift change was pretty quick today," Auror said.

"This job is not easy—the Ministry of Magic had to use a lot of persuasion to get the Aurors to take it on."

As you should know, the Ministry of Magic has a department that handles disaster-related matters.

Normally, incidents like this should be handled by the Department of Magical Accidents and Disasters, according to the jurisdiction.

However, due to what lies beneath the sea, ordinary disaster relief staff are simply not capable of resisting it. They have not received training in dealing with such sudden attacks, and six hours of high-intensity work could easily lead to accidents, so they have no choice but to send the Aurors.

This current approach is the optimal solution.

The Auror talked on and on.

Nefert almost didn't have time to translate.

Perhaps influenced by the purple sea, or perhaps because he had been suppressing his emotions for too long, this Auror finally found an outlet for his feelings and began to pour out his grievances to Hermione, even launching into accusations against the Ministry of Magic as he got into the conversation.

He even glared at Nefertir, which made the other party quite unhappy.

The girl immediately began a verbal exchange with the Auror.

During this exchange, Hermione gleaned some information—Nefertir's relatives must hold high-ranking positions in the Ministry of Magic, so the Auror's indiscriminate attack must have affected her elders.

The two argued for a long time. It finally ended when the Auror shut his mouth.

It wasn't that he lost the argument.

Instead, he was looking at the group of guys working around him, and he didn't quite understand what they were doing.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

"The surrounding protective magic has already been applied; no further enhancement is needed."

All around, the newly arrived wizards were waving their wands, and a faint white curtain slowly rose.

It covered them like a dome.

After doing all this, the wizards began to Apparate away from here one by one.

"Wait—you haven't finished get off work yet!" Hermione's Auror said angrily, but even if he shouted, the black-robed wizards still left without stopping at all because of his words.

In the blink of an eye, apart from Hermione's ship, there was only one other ship with a wizard on it.

"No—you're not Aurors! Who are you?!" Finally, even the most idiotic Auror could tell that these guys weren't with them.

"I've never seen you before, what have you done!"

"He who takes money must do the work!" The only remaining wizard lifted his hood, revealing a face covered in knife scars.

"Someone's offered a fortune to kill that little British girl next to you. She only has herself to blame for touching someone else's things!" Bat-like wings suddenly sprouted from the man's back, followed by a hysterical shout, "Die!"

After reciting a strange incantation.

He pulled a huge glass bead from his pocket.

He casually tossed the bead into the sea.

The next second, a storm of magic surged wildly beneath the sea, startling the monsters in the surrounding half-mile of water. They then leaped out of the water and indiscriminately attacked the three people on the ship.

"Damn it!" Auror roared. He didn't understand how Hermione had offended this group of outlaws. He had been busy cleaning up the seawater these past few days and hadn't been aware of what had happened recently.

So he didn't know that Hermione hadn't just provoked him—she had actually overturned the dark wizard's dinner table.

"Anti-Apparition Charm, that was the last thing he cast. It seems he wanted to trap us here." Miss Granger smiled.

How was her whereabouts exposed?

She didn't want to know why the other party was able to schedule the plan precisely at the time of the Auror's shift change.

She wouldn't stay in Egypt for long, she laughed—because of the other party's stupidity—this plan would certainly work against other wizards—but—not to mention that Sirocco's Apparition ignores wizards' spells, even Barker could fly out of this area.

Even—she rode a giant dragon through the city, and many wizards saw her. She didn't believe that these dark wizards hadn't anticipated this.

Oh—maybe they don't know that these two little guys can shrink and grow, and think that they don't have it in their current state?

Ha—it's incredibly foolish to so easily hand over the initiative of victory to someone else.

"Don't let it touch the seawater, it's poisonous!" Aurora shouted.

Then he cast a spell, sinking several pieces of flesh that were trying to parasitize them into the sea.

But his efforts alone were simply a drop in the ocean.

Even more and more limbed monsters were alarmed by his spell and began to surge towards them in a churning motion.

"Oh no!" he yelled.

They were only on a small boat, not a massive ship. This small wave was enough to capsize the lone vessel.

"Bang!" The seawater churned and slammed violently against the bow of the ship. Nefertir slipped and almost fell out of the water.

Fortunately, Hermione pulled her back at the crucial moment.

"Sanchez's Force Field!"

Miss Granger waved her wand.

Suddenly, a bright blue petal emerged from the tip of the staff, and Neferpitou witnessed the most spectacular scene of his life.

She saw the sea seem to have been split apart, and she saw those hideous and terrifying flesh flying past her eyes.

It's eerie yet dreamlike.

"What... what kind of magic is this?" she asked blankly.

Hermione—she suddenly felt that the words sounded very familiar. Many years ago, she had looked at someone else with the same eyes and said the same thing to him.

Now—after only a few weeks apart, her mind is filled with images of that guy.

Everything felt familiar.

Perhaps it was because she had been missing him for too long, but a strange emotion suddenly surged through her, leading her to inexplicably reply, "Want to learn? I'll teach you."

"Really? Thank you so much." Nefertir said, blushing, as the arrow struck him squarely in the chest.

So cool—Miss Granger!!!

She held Hermione's hand tightly.

My heart was pounding.

I really wish I could stay with you forever.

"Multiple freezes!"

Meanwhile, Hermione, having composed herself, cast a spell with her left hand without a staff, spreading ice that froze the seawater near the lone boat, finally alleviating the impact of the seawater.

Sanchez's Force Field is an extremely powerful spell derived from the Infinite Strength Charm. As Hermione continues to study it more deeply, she can better appreciate how much genius the person who invented this spell was.

Simply put, this spell stretches space within a certain range, so theoretically, any attack in three-dimensional spacetime will be deflected in other directions by the stretched space.

Unless the opposing wizard uses a spatial attack, they will never be able to hit the caster.

Force field magic has created a completely new branch of magic, a promising path worthy of in-depth study.

"Should we leave here?" Neferpitou asked, staring intently at Hermione.

"Why? Since we're already here, let's finish this once and for all," she said, then waved her wand, preparing to unleash a wide-ranging Origin Magic spell. She'd kill as many limbs as she could; with Sirocco around, she wasn't worried about leaving.

"Bang!"

It's the sound of seawater crashing against the ice.

Huge waves, obscuring the sky, crashed towards them.

Hermione raised her wand, forcefully severing the condensed Origin Wand, preparing to cast the force field magic again.

Just then—suddenly, the purple seawater filled the sky and floated in the air, as if someone had pressed the pause button.

Then—little pink flowers emerged from the seawater.

It was like ink dripping into a pool, spreading rapidly.

At a speed visible to the naked eye, petals sprouted all over the sea surface.

In an instant—they seemed to have arrived in a garden!

"Great!"

"We made it!"

A man dressed in a white robe, with waterfall-like silver and pink hair, descended from the sky and stood on the sea covered with flower petals.

"Since the purple sea is a life-giving ocean, let's transform it into innocent life."

"Oh! The battle plan is perfect!"

The man turned his head, and a shower of pink petals fell around him.

It amazed the world.

"Who are you?" Hermione asked cautiously, looking at him.

"Me?" The man pointed to himself. "I am Merlin—I hope you won't be shy and can just call me Brother Merlin!"

I saved you in a moment of crisis, and I hope you will shower me with endless words of gratitude.

tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)