ตอน 138: Cursed Nucleus
Since when does one punch on the ground generate three deadly spikes?
Luckily, he had previously moved the swords with his telekinetic ability. Otherwise, they would have been crushed by the golem's punch.
Three swords flew towards the spikes at great speed. When they hit they managed to destroy them.
'Phew... That was close,' thought James as he controlled the swords and flew them close to him.
"You did that?" asked Gwen and Snape, gawking at the swords floating around James. They didn't see James cast any spells, and his wand was still pointed at the ground.
James, when he told Gwen the story did not explain how he defeated the knights. He was not specific. As for Snape, he didn't know that James had already faced ice knights, so he wouldn't know this information.
"Yes. Pay attention, he's already back on the attack," James said, raising his wand.
"How do we defeat that thing?" asked Gwen, brushing aside her love-friend's strange abilities... She would ask him later.
"First..." said James as he explained a quick plan to Snape and Gwen.
James first had to make sure that the golem didn't have any symbols on its body. So with the help of Gwen and Snape, he managed to sneak around and look at it from behind.
To his bad luck, the golem had no symbol on its body. It was pure ice.
Sirius, Regulus, and Lupin had already defeated the last ice knight and approached James.
"You're hurt," James said, looking at Sirius, who had a cut on his forearm.
"Yes. The speed of that bugger was too much. He took me by surprise," said Sirius with a slight wince. James quickly threw an Episkey at him. He didn't have time to heal the cut completely.
They had to help Snape and Gwen, who were running and dodging the golem's deadly blows.
"There is no symbol. So there is no weak spot. We must defeat it with powerful magic," said James.
"That's not good news..." said Regulus.
"Target his joints. Specifically the one on his right leg. Use, Diffindo, Incendio, whatever. If too many attacks hit that leg we'll cut it off. We have to dismember him a little at a time," James said quickly as he ran towards the golem to help Gwen.
'Dismember him...?' thought Sirius, Lupin, and Regulus with strange expressions.
James with a Bombarda and a three-sword attack on the golem's large leg managed to get its attention. The frost giant slowly turned around and charged at James, who dodging his blow continued his attack.
Sirius, Regulus, and Lupin also cast offensive spells at the golem's leg. Being a large target and its slow movement it was not difficult to get a shot at it.
Gwen and Snape could tell just by looking at James and the others,' target.
While James was getting the golem's attention the others were shooting at him from different places. When the golem wanted to change targets, James would throw a lot of swords and spells at it to get its attention back on him.
Thanks to the stamina potion, he could keep up. He just had to have his attention, and when he had a chance attack with the swords to his left leg. If the golem attacked him with its ice spikes he simply used the swords for cover or a Protego.
The others were casting spells left and right. They found that the best combination was to cast Incendio and then Diffindo. This way, they made the ice weaker and not so hard.
The flames made the ice softer and more malleable. Then the Difffindo cuts through the ice. They had to repeat this process over and over again as James dodged and blocked.
At one point the golem let out a rumbling roar as it struggled to stand. Ice spikes began to grow from its massive body, and from one second to the next it fired them in an area attack.
James saw five spikes heading towards him at an incredible speed. He raised all five swords into the air and sent them colliding with the spikes. His swords with ancient runes won, but that wasn't all.
James kept his speed up and aimed for the golem's leg. The five swords descended with astonishing speed and pierced the last layer of ice.
With one leg down the golem fell to the floor with a thud. The room rumbled from the impact.
"Aim for its head!" shouted James as he approached the others.
Try as the golem might to get up it could not. A person could balance on one leg, but the golem's frame was disproportionate. Its legs were too small for just one to support its weight.
The golem was hitting the ground with its arms as if it were a baby throwing a tantrum. It was a strange sight. The others, some with wounds from the icy pricks, stood at a safe distance and began to attack the golem's head.
The magical fatigue they felt was palpable on their faces. They had struggled for thirty minutes with the golem, but no one complained, and they continued to cast spells until the golem's head was severed.
When the little ice head was severed the body ceased to function. The little blue eyes went out and became lifeless.
"Damn, golem. How much stamina does it have?" cursed Sirius, sitting on the cold ground and breathing heavily. He took an endurance potion and was exhausted. Besides, the golem didn't even chase him. It only attacked him from a distance.
To Sirius' bad luck, he had a cut on his forearm and a pinch of ice on his shoulder. Thanks to the ice he didn't feel much pain, and the blood stayed in place.
"Sorry, brother... My fault," Regulus said, walking over to Sirius, who had saved him from a pinch of ice.
"Never mind. It's just a small cut," Sirius said, downplaying it.
"James," Regulus called out.
James approached and could tell by the look on Regulus' face that he was asking him to cure Sirius, although he was already planning to do so.
James looked over at Lupin. He was lying on the ground near them recovering energy, luckily he had no injuries. Then he looked over at Snape, who was sitting up and pale. There was a long cut on his right quadriceps.
"Do you want me to do something?" asked Gwen, approaching James. She was just fatigued, but not as fatigued as Lupin or with injuries like Sirius and Snape.
"Yes. Go to the door and see if it's locked. If it is we'll need to find a key which, I'm sure is inside the golem," James said, and Gwen nodded as she headed for the ice door.
In a few seconds, she returned, "It's locked. It's not working the Alohomora," said Gwen.
"Mm, can you unfreeze the golem's head? Maybe the key is in there," said James as he healed Sirius.
"Leave it to me," said Gwen as she began to cast Incendio on the little icehead.
"What fabulous healing magic. How do you know so much?" asked Sirius, looking at his now healed wound. As if nothing had happened.
"Why do you think, I'm training all the time?" asked James with a strange expression.
"Makes sense," said Sirius with a slight smile.
James then moved on to the next patient. Snape looked at James with his black eyes and pale face as he was healed. He watched as his cut healed within seconds.
"How do you have so much resistance?" asked Snape.
James had gotten the worst task. He had to be constantly dodging and taking cover when the golem threw the spikes at him. Besides, he was also attacking when he found the opportunity.
"Lots of training," James replied with a grin that pissed Snape off.
"And how did you make those swords fly? I didn't see you using your wand," Snape asked again.
'Why is everyone asking so many questions?' thought James in annoyance.
"We're short on time, and one of us has no potion to protect us from the ice. Let's go," said James as he approached Gwen, who had already finished the task of thawing the ice head.
To everyone's luck, there was a key there, "You were right," said Gwen passing the key to James.
'Good thing it was in the head. How many Incendios would we have to throw if it was in his torso?' thought James with relief.
The group quickly made their way to the door. James used the key and entered the room which was not very large compared to the previous one. It was a square room with an extreme cold that they even felt despite drinking the potions.
"That's the cause of the curse," said Lupin with little energy rubbing his hands together.
In the center of the room stood a glowing crystalline sphere of ice, pulsing with a cold, magical light. Freezing patterns spread out from the center, weaving a web of dark magic.
"Who the hell put this thing in Hogwarts?" asked Sirius.
"Maybe someone from hundreds of years ago? From when Hogwarts wasn't a school," said Lupin, trying to guess.
"How do we destroy that nucleus? Hopefully, I can cast one more Incendio," said Snape.
The others nodded agreeing with Snape. They had been on this deadly excursion for over an hour now. Everyone's energy was very low despite the potions.
They all looked at James and waited silently for his response.
'Why are they looking at me?' thought James. He was also fatigued and felt his brain throbbing from using his telekinetic ability for so long to defend and attack.
'One last attack,' thought James as he pulled out eight swords from his wallet. Some had ancient runes, and some were normal. He would be pushing himself to the limit again.
He didn't know exactly how strong the nucleus was, but it was better to be sure of its destruction. Controlling eight swords was his limit.
"Cast one last spell at the nucleus. It doesn't matter if it's powerful or not. Then I'll attack it," James said, and everyone nodded cautiously looking at the eight swords on the ground.
"Incendio!"
"Difffindo!"
"Bombarda!"
"Diffindo!"
A flash of lights shot towards the cursed core and hit it. It only trembled a little and then held steady and exuded extreme coldness.
The eight swords on the ground began to float slowly, and from one second to the next they headed for the core at an astonishing speed. From different angles, the swords struck the core, and a metallic sound was heard in the room.
The more cuts they made the more the core shook and began to show cracks. It was working. James with a frown and a vein in his forehead continued the attack.
The nucleus had multiple cracks and finally cracked and exploded into fragments of magical ice that shot into the air. The room momentarily lit up with a glow.
Within seconds of the nucleus being destroyed a change in the atmosphere of the room was triggered. The extreme coldness was no longer felt. It was still cold, but it was not as extreme as seconds before. Everyone felt it.
"Is it over?" asked Sirius, who was shocked by the attack of eight flying swords.
"Let's hope so," said Lupin wearily.
"We'd better get back. Even if we've stopped the curse, the cursed ice is still in the stairs and the vault. If we touch it without the potion we'll be frozen like Allan," said Regulus.
"Are you okay?" asked Gwen worriedly, looking at James, who was touching his forehead.
"Yeah... just a bit tired," said James with a slight smile.
With the help of Gwen and the others, he put his swords in his wallet. He no longer had the energy to float them towards him.
"Look at that," Snape said as he walked over to an old wooden table that was frozen with frost. The others followed him.
On the table were only two old parchments that unlike the table were not frozen.
"They look similar to the ones Professor Eustace gave Allan," Regulus commented.
Snape opened one parchment and didn't understand a word of what it said. He passed it to Regulus, as he was the person who had deciphered the scrolls earlier.
"What is it?" asked James impatiently after a few seconds of silence.
Regulus looked up and answered in a serious tone, "There is another vault."
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