"Protect my back. Lockhart extinguished the fluorescent flicker, pointed his wand at the side of the black hole, and suddenly remembered Dumbledore. The corners of his mouth curled, and he shouted, "Blazing!"

He cast the spell with all his might, and a thick dragon flew out of the tip of the Elder's wand and roared towards the other end of the aisle, the light of the fire illuminating Lockhart's face. The heat heated the air in the closed space, and the hot wind was forced by Lockhart's spell to blow the flames in the direction of the walkway farther away from Lockhart.

The walkway was circular - a few seconds later, the dragon swooped down on Lockhart's back from the other direction of Lockhart's spell with high temperature and pressure, and Scrimgeour was ready to deal with it, an iron charm to block the impact of the air heated by the flames, and a film of water to keep the heat out.

Now the entire passage was filled with flames, and the two of them seemed to be in a bubble in the lava, but fortunately it was just an ordinary flame, and there was nothing to burn without magic support, and it was quickly extinguished. At this time, all the wall tiles have been lit up by this range of magic, the large magic hidden in them has been activated, and a dazzling white light fills Lockhart's entire vision, and with the violent spatial magic fluctuations, everything in this passage has been teleported away.

The vertigo, which was stronger than ten consecutive apparitions, faded away, and Lockhart found himself lying on the ground, Scrimgeur's Occlumency a little better than he had learned, and he sat up, staring coldly at the ceiling.

"Merlin's **, this is the legendary forcible long-range teleportation, without the help of Floo Net!" Lockhart said in surprise, "What a magical experience, just the magic and energy consumed by this hand make me believe that I really can't destroy the energy supply system." ”

He resisted the discomfort and got up and sat down like Scrimgeour, now in a large Hogwarts lobby space. Even more striking than the area is the height - at first glance it's hard to tell how high the ceiling is.

It couldn't have been behind a wall, as they had just guessed—because the circular passage couldn't enclose such a tall and large space. Probably, as the legend goes, this was in the depths of the ground, so that the system could not be accidentally destroyed by Muggles.

The first thing that catches your eye is a dazzling device in the middle of the large room, more than a person tall, with blue light throughout, and a frame of unknown material around it to protect it. At the same time, there are a lot of pipes that run up from this frame to the ceiling overhead, which is also shiny. But because the brightness of the device below is too high, it is almost impossible to see the column formed by this pipeline.

I knew on my toes that it was a pipe for extracting mana, and their upward extension confirmed the wizarding world's suspicion that this room was deep beneath the Ministry of Magic.

Looking overhead along the pipeline, Lockhart understood why Scrimgeour had been staring at the ceiling - it took several seconds for the temporary night blindness and phantom vision of the energy supply to subside, and he saw a dome that looked like a otherworldly sky.

It was a ceiling made up of a large number of pipes, thick and thin, all pale blue, centered on the sky above the intermediate device, radiating to the surroundings, like a giant blue chrysanthemum. In this radial pipeline. About a third of the thick pipes are constantly glowing, and it is these continuously glowing pipes that illuminate the large room. Obviously, it is these continuously illuminated energy supply routes that continue to provide magic for the Ministry of Magic's network of Floo paths or protective magic, lights, etc.

There are also some thin pipes that flash from time to time, presumably belonging to those spells that are used intermittently. For example, the Aurors are in contact with each other from a long distance and so on. The whole pattern has a magical nature that attracts people to look at it all the time...... Fortunately, both of them are occlusionists.

The structure of the entire energy supply room is summed up: a huge room, with a large glowing tree-like object supporting the ceiling in the middle, the trunk and branches are also shining, and the roots of the tree are inlaid with a dazzling and huge luminous crystal.

"Uh-" Lockhart struggled to his feet. Go under this big tree and use a layer of filtering to protect your eyes. Quietly looking at the big blue crystal-like thing embedded in the frame.

"That's the energy for the entire Ministry......" Scrimgeour also walked over at this point, telling Lockhart what he knew. "It's unknown how this thing came about or who made it. It has not been exhausted for more than two hundred years, and it is said to be a magic crystal with the ability to automatically collect a certain range of free magic elements - that is, as long as the rate of consumption of magic is less than the speed at which it absorbs magic power, it is a magic crystal that will never run out. Of course, there is another theory that it fell from the sky and was a gift from the gods that had the function of continuously extracting energy from the void......"

"Whichever statement is true, for us, it can't be destroyed. Lockhart said, pulling out his wand and attacking the device, and was about to hit the crystal when it was blocked by a layer of protection that emerged from the frame that surrounded it.

"No, as far as my attack is concerned, I think this thing can be destroyed, as long as you gather dozens or hundreds of wizards......"

"You're just attacking the frame that supports it, and the frame is used to fix the lines that transmit energy, not to protect the energy supply. Lockhart pointed to the large blue crystal surrounded by the frame and said, "The core thing should have another layer of protection, which is directly powered by itself, and when it is attacked, it will cut off the energy supply to the outside world and give priority to protecting itself - I dare say, even after the end of the world, this crystal will continue to exist intact." ”

"And how are we—"

"What we're going to destroy is the external framework, not the energy supply system itself, and even if we had the ability to destroy it, I wouldn't do that. Scrimgeour seemed to know what Lockhart was asking. "Because if we destroy this thing, then the danger we have caused to the wizarding world will far outweigh the contribution, and then our war against the mysterious people will really become a rebellion against the dangerous hài magic world. And if we really destroy this thing, I'm afraid that the movement can spread to half of Britain, and we will kill more Muggles than we did in World War II. ”

"Well, well, let's think about how to destroy these power lines. Lockhart pouted, "If our forty Aurors are still around, it's a bit of a possibility......"

"There's no way we're going to mix in forty people at once. Scrimgeour stroked the stubble on his chin, "If we have that ability, we can just mix everyone in, and then directly occupy the Ministry of Magic and rely on the Ministry's defensive magic to fight the mysterious man...... And forty people is probably not enough, although the defensive magic on the frame is not strong, but it also has the same level of protection as the ordinary Brave Loyalty Spell. ”

"-milk, I'll try again!" Lockhart raised his Elder wand unconvinced, wanting to test how strong the protective power of this frame really was, "Break!"

The mana poured into the Elder's wand with all its might, and a powerful piercing spell shot towards the outermost protective layer of the energy supply device, and the moment it was blocked, it burst into a dazzling white light - and then triggered the strongest anti-intrusion mechanism on it.

The entire device had a full second to cut off the external energy supply, converting this part of the energy into energy for counterattack, and a surging spiritual shock erupted from the device, instantly knocking out all the life in the room.

――

Where is this?

Lockhart got up from the ground in a daze, he had just fallen off the swing and fallen into the bunker, and a girl rushed to him and helped him up.

"Does it hurt. ”

"It hurts!" Lockhart shouted, "You're pushing too hard!"

"I'm sorry, I rubbed it for you, not next time. Kristen Lockhart said with a grin, rubbing his ass. "Okay, now it's up to you to push me, ...... quickly"

Christine happily sat on the swing and looked at him expectantly, and Lockhart reluctantly walked behind his sister and began to push her on the swing......

"Why are you a girl heavier than me!"

"I'm a year older than you, what's the point!" Christine urged angrily and loudly, "Less nonsense, use some force......"

Lockhart obediently increased the force of his hand, swinging her sister into the air, and she giggled with joy......

――

(Recommended Ticket←)

――(To be continued......)