Chapter 303: Life and death struggle (2 in 1)
Chapter 303: Life and death struggle (2 in 1)
The passages in the labyrinth under the ice had never been all that spacious.
Previously, even when Jon and Gabrielle were draped in the cloak of invisibility, both had to watch out for encountering searching Death Eaters in this area to prevent being spotted by them; and now that it had become Jon's turn to run for his life, it had placed even more restrictions on him.
His voice calling out for Fawkes echoed through the labyrinth, but the crimson fire, and the phoenix's song that usually came with its own BGM when he appeared, never emerged.
Jon didn't dare to run recklessly through the labyrinth, according to his belief Fawkes shouldn't be far from his location even if he wasn't near him.
If he ran far away and caused Fawkes to be unable to find him altogether, that would be a real problem.
And somehow, Bella and Rodolphus, who had been chasing behind Jon on their flying brooms, were now left alone with Rodolphus only.
Not only did Jon not let his guard down, but he also put his guard up!
As his body turned sideways in mid-air, dodging the spell that shot out from the tip of Rodolphus' wand, Jon suddenly stopped his original movement of constantly flying forward.
At the same time, Rodolphus appeared behind Jon, stopping his flying broom and holding up his wand in his hand as he looked at Jon with cold eyes.
And Bella, who had somehow disappeared behind Jon, was blocking the path that Jon must have taken to get ahead!
She took a gamble on Jon's choice at a fork in the path midway, taking an advance shortcut to get in front of Jon to engage in a back-and-forth encirclement with Rodolphus.
For once, luck was on her side in this case, and she caught Jon right in the middle of the path!
Jon's face was stony, and instead of hovering in mid-air, he slowly descended to the ground by accessing the levitation charm on his body.
Both Bella and Rodolphus also abandoned the flying broom beneath them and the couple, one in front and one behind raised their wands and aimed at Jon.
Three breaths belonging to different individuals resounded in this narrow labyrinth under the ice.
This brief silence was not because both sides had some harsh words to say; at this point in the chase, they had long since reached a point of no return, and there was no need for any more nonsense.
But even though they had the advantage in numbers, and were still encircled him from front to back, Bella and Rodolphus were not only not relaxed, they were even more on edge.
At this point, neither of them considered Jon as an ordinary third-year student who had not yet graduated from school.
No third year had ever achieved such a feat since the ancient era, and even with Bella's near-crazy admiration for Voldemort, she was not certain that her lord could have achieved such a feat as Jon did today when he was this young.
If all the Hogwarts third-year students under Dumbledore performed like Jon, there would be no need for them to fight this war.
But caution being cautious, the first incantation finally rang out first from Bella, who was blocking Jon's front, in this hair-raising atmosphere!
"Confringo!"
A sharp and frantic voice echoed through the labyrinth.
The first spell Bella fired was actually not the simplest and most straightforward killing curse, which made Jon feel a little surprised.
But he still didn't take it lightly, even though the general counter-spell maintained all over him was able to cancel out the vast majority of the blasting curse's power, the effect the spell had on his surroundings was something Jon couldn't cancel!
The walls and ceilings made of ice began to shake with the violent blast, and the sharp pieces of ice shattered and splashed out in all directions.
Jon maintained his shield charm which protected him from some of the physical attacks, but some of the larger ice shards still required him to actively dodge.
And it was in this gap in his dodging, immediately after the sound of Bella's blasting curse spell fell, that Rodolphus' killing curse sounded behind Jon!
"Avada Kedavra!"
A deadly light instantly filled the tunnel as the couple, though seemingly at odds with each other, maintained a full offensive understanding.
In terms of mastery of the spell, Rodolphus was definitely inferior to Bella, but the reason why Bella was assisting him this time to create a real attack chance was that at the moment Jon still had the petrified Nick in front of him, and no matter whose spell was shot from in front of him, it would have no effect.
Only Rodolphus, who was behind Jon, was in the best position to be the main attacker!
Jon had seen the signs of their plan of attack as soon as Bella had started to use the blasting curse.
While he was dodging the shattered pieces of ice that were blown to pieces, the hand that was holding his wand didn't stop for a moment to point at a piece of shattered ice underneath him.
The next moment, the transfiguration spell came into play, and the piece of broken ice he had pointed his wand at began to expand wildly in an instant, forming a wall of ice behind Jon with great speed!
Rodolphus' curse hit the wall of ice that Jon had created with no surprise!
There was a loud shattering sound and the wall of ice, which was only meant to block the curse and wasn't really that hard, collapsed!
The flurry of attacks appeared to be defused by Jon, but without realising it, the distance between Bella, Rodolphus and him closed by three or four metres.
Both sides went into an eerie silence again.
Jon calmed his breathing and quietly touched Gabrielle's worried little head, hiding between him and Nick, with his wand, while his other hand dug into his pocket and quietly pulled out a bandage.
And as he did so, separated by a Jon, Bella and Rodolphus looked at each other from time to time.
Then they raised their wands in their hands, neither of them made the first move here yet, and together they simply took another step forward!
They were much closer to Jon.
So close that they only needed to take five more large steps forward to the point where they would be face-to-face with Jon.
At such a distance, it would make it more difficult to dodge the spell and add some uncertainty and danger.
But even with all the uncertain risks, the Lestrange couple were willing to risk it all if they could kill Jon and keep him here forever!
Jon leaned his back against the ice wall, his eyes not bothering to look at either of them, only slowly wrapping the bandage around his left hand.
Such a move on his part didn't attract too much attention from both Bella and Rodolphus, who assumed that Jon had a wound on that palm and had only squeezed some time out to fix it by now.
And it was during this opening while Jon was wrapping the bandage that the two of them took another step forward.
At this point, they were as close as they could get to Jon, and if they continued any further, it would not be a spell-casting distance, but a straightforward and direct close-quarters fight.
Precisely when Jon finally strapped the final section of bandage to his hand, Bella waved her wand!
"Avada Kedavra!"
"Avada Kedavra!"
Rodolphus' voice recited the incantation almost at the same time as hers, only there was a lapse in timing by less than a second!
It was precisely this second of misalignment that caused the direction of their curses to deviate a bit, one aiming a little further back than Jon's chest, the other aiming a little further forward at his stomach.
But at such a close distance, it was basically virtually impossible for him to react so quickly and pull away enough to avoid the two killing curses. Even if he were to turn around and use the petrified ghost to defend himself, he would at best only be able to parry one side's attack, while the other side's killing curse would be a sure hit!
Faced with such a near-desperate situation, Jon did not have any time to think.
At such a distance, he turned to Bella's side and used Nick to block the curse from that direction, then, instead of reciting a spell, he suddenly swung his wand at the ground!
Numerous pieces of broken ice floated up from the ground and blocked behind Jon. The killing curse shot by Rodolphus was blocked by the resistance of three or four consecutive pieces of broken ice, and the magic power attached to the curse was completely exhausted.
And not to mention this side of Bella, Nick was as reliable as ever.
Seeing this near-deadly attack defused by Jon once again, Rodolphus' bloodshot eyes were filled with malice and viciousness!
Including that time on the sea surface, he had already dealt with Jon more than once.
This evil student under Dumbledore was always like this every time, always using those odd magical tricks he had mastered brilliantly, solving one desperate situation after another and causing constant trouble for him and his lord.
This time in such a situation, Rodolphus did not believe, nor did he think there would be any chance of escape for Jon.
By whatever means, Jon had to die here today!
Jon fended off a second wave of attacks from the Lestrange couple, while he began to counterattack.
While holding up Nick to face Bella, he waved the wand in his hand and recited the unforgivable incantation!
"Avada Kedavra!"
Bella's immense combat experience had given her mind a warning the moment she saw Jon's apathetic gaze fixed on her.
The moment the green glow from the tip of Jon's wand flashed, her entire body rolled to the ground, not only dodging Jon's killing curse but also clutching a dagger from her sleeve and stabbing it down hard towards Jon's calf!
As Bella made her most direct attack, Rodolphus also abandoned spell casting and incantations altogether, instantly transforming an ice block into a knight's sword with his transfiguration and striding forward, slashing down towards Jon's head!
"Go to hell!"
Rodolphus' seething roar rang out as the sword fell from his hand!
Jon didn't bother with Bella beneath him, but snapped his head down and side-stepped Rodolphus' attack.
But Bella also didn't get what she wanted, Gabrielle, although she had been shaking in fear under Jon's protection all this time, she stepped forward with unparalleled bravery at such a critical moment, raising the small schoolbag she had been carrying to help Jon block Bella's dagger!
"You fucking little bitch!!!"
The dagger stuck in Gabrielle's schoolbag and Bella's furious and shrill curses sent a shiver down Gabrielle's spine, but even though her eyes were welling up with tears from fear, she still held on to her little schoolbag without a moment's intention of letting go.
And just as Bella's words fell, a pale, thin palm suddenly clutched her dark, wavy hair, and then grabbed her head hard!
Jon's face was also full of ruthlessness, the battle had come to a point where all three of them had abandoned all means of wizardry in favour of the most primitive form of close combat.
The situation was very unfavourable for Jon, even if he was talented in magic, his real age is only fifteen.
In normal times, that would be before high school, the age of a junior high school student, and in no way could he be as strong as Bella and Rodolphus, two adults!
The excruciating pain of her hair being pulled fuelled Bella to scream out, her hands not half stopping as she kept pulling that dagger out of Gabrielle's beloved school bag and then stabbing it back down again!
Gabrielle's face was pale as she held on to Bella's blade with bag, the book bag that Jon had given her when he had first seen her before had become a pile of rotten pieces of cloth and the wizard's book with Merlin's pictures in it and the Tales of Beedle the Bard had all been cut to shreds.
By the end, Gabrielle had nothing left to hold Bella back.
She reached out helplessly, subconsciously trying to block the madwoman's blade with her own body, forgetting that at this point she was only a special ghost, able to touch physical objects of her own volition, but unable to resist them.
The blade with its flashing cold edge simply passed through Gabrielle's illusory body and the next moment lodged itself heavily into Jon's calf!
"Poof!"
With the sound of a sharp weapon entering his body, scarlet warm liquid burst out of Jon's calf!
The blood likewise went through the already-frozen Gabrielle and landed on Bella's face.
A shrill laugh escaped her as Jon grabbed her by the hair, yet not before she had pulled the dagger out and continued to inflict more damage on Jon.
Jon's other intact leg bent violently at the knee and crushed her neck!
With such a heavy blow, Bella's hair was pulled back by Jon, and she was unable to breathe, and struggled violently under Jon's knee!
At the same time, Rodolphus didn't stop attacking, he continued to slash at Jon with his knight's sword raised high in his hand!
Instead of moving the leg, he had kneed Bella with, Jon simply twisted his upper body to avoid the danger and swung his left fist at Rodolphus!
But his counter-attack looked so feeble that his bandaged fist couldn't reach Rodolphus, who was wielding a knight's sword.
And because of this, Rodolphus had no intention of dodging the punch, in his eyes, Jon had lost his judgement and composure at this point in time, and was only resisting in vain!
However, just as the knight's sword he held in his hand was about to pierce Jon's abdomen, the bandage that had been wrapped around Jon's left fist instantly changed after the transfiguration spell attached to it cancelled!
The white bandage turned into a long, narrow, venomous fang!
And the gap that had been left between the fist and Rodolphus' neck was bridged by the length of this one venomous fang!
"Poof!"
Another sound of flesh and blood being impaled rang out.
And this time it was Rodolphus' fragile throat that was pierced!
At the same time, a mellifluous song came faintly, and a fiery red light was speeding towards Jon's direction from not far away!
----
Thanks for all your love and support.
Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: /Crazy_Cat.
Happy Reading!!!
THIS CHAPTER UPLOAD FIRST AT NOVELBIN.COM