Chapter 49 - chapter 45

A/N: I am not dead yet😎

X_

• Rome, Italy. October 22nd •

[Arteum Lovchikov]

Arteum found himself standing inside the muggle military blockade around the sealed area of the Vatican Gate.

The blue‑colored circle hanging in the air, like a hole in space, was not as clear as the moving images he had seen before.

'Was the intel wrong?' He wondered before shaking his head.

There's no way it was.

'Then what's this fog?'

He didn't know either. He wanted to ask, but the past few days of constant training and fighting under Dumbledore had taught him that he didn't need to ask about everything because Dumbledore would explain it in time.

He was still a little resentful that the higher‑ups in the Motherland had chosen him to act as an inside information source for Dumbledore's suicide squad, but that resentment was mostly toward the higher‑ups.

Sure, he "volunteered" to be here, in the first Gate‑clearing squad ever created, but his reasoning at the time was mostly driven by patriotism. The Motherland needed him, so he accepted.

That was before he started training. When sleep, food, and water weren't something he thought he'd miss…

Four days of constant hell. That was what patriotism gave him in return. Days and nights of constant running, spell casting, strength training, and fighting for their lives.

He had lost his left arm twice, his right arm once, and he had forgotten how many times his bones broke.

'It's a wonder we still have our minds intact.'

He could still remember the excruciating pain of having half of his abdomen blasted away with a curse. The first shock, the numbness, then the mind‑blowing pain.

Of course, Dumbledore healed him almost immediately, but he at least thought he would feel some phantom pain, but no.

'Though that might have been due to not having time to do anything but train new techniques, dodge, and cast spells,' he reasoned.

Though he couldn't rule out the chance of mind magic being used—though knowing Dumbledore's stance on mind magic, he reasoned that the chances were slim to none.

It could just be that his healing magic was powerful enough to heal the mind.

Arteum shook his head, throwing away the useless thoughts. It didn't matter how it happened; what mattered was that it did, and he should be grateful for it.

He looked around, his eyes tracing the twenty‑one fighters that volunteered to join. Most of them were like him, country‑affiliated combatants working inside the ICW, so he was sure they didn't volunteer out of the goodness of their hearts.

He knew for a fact that at least two of the Italian four volunteers were in the same situation as him, just like the Yankees and the Chinese ones.

The only ones he could tell had genuinely volunteered were the English ones and maybe one or two of the Japanese.

"Attention!"

His body locked up and he saluted before his mind could register what had happened. His eyes suddenly looked forward, watching Dumbledore in his black‑colored combat robe.

"At ease!"

His muscles loosened slightly, but he kept his posture straight and his attention on Dumbledore.

"Good." Dumbledore nodded at them. "The seal around the area is going to break any moment now, so I will start casting a boundary spell around to help push the concentration of magic upwards toward the sky."

'Wait… was the fog obstructing their view of the Gate a concentration of magic?' He asked himself, suddenly feeling cold sweat on the back of his neck.

"Worry not, just cast your own Mana‑Skin on yourselves and brace for it. I will try my best to minimize the dangers," Dumbledore continued his speech, brushing their worry and fear aside.

"It would have been better if some people were more cooperative, but what can I do? I can try all I want, but I can't save those who don't want to be saved…"

'So what's going to happen to all those muggles back there?' He wondered but didn't turn to see, mostly because his attention was caught up in the magical letters and symbols that started moving around.

Dumbledore's hand moved in a blur. He couldn't clearly see anything more than the golden‑colored Scripture Magic that started surrounding the place.

Three belts like circles, with the highest being about an arm higher than the Gate's and the lowest being an inch above the ground.

Arteum didn't let himself get distracted and quickly concentrated on making his magic into a thin layer above his skin.

It was harder than it looked, and it took literal fear of death and pain for them to develop the magical sense required and learn how to apply the technique—and they were fully trained combat wizards already.

'This technique might as well be a pipe dream to regular witches and wizards,' Arteum thought, feeling like their hellish training might not have been all that bad…

He opened his eyes and looked around, seeing his squadmates with a faint shimmering outline around their bodies.

Katchak~ crash~

The sound of glass breaking made them all look upwards, and the sudden heavy pressure made them buckle instantly.

The feeling of magic so dense that it pressed on them like physical gravity was something he thought they'd be used to by now, seeing as they had been fighting Dumbledore almost constantly for more than the past four days, but no.

Dumbledore's pressure felt refined and elegant compared to the wild pressure he was feeling at the moment.

"Hah!"

He heard Dumbledore shout, and with great difficulty, he lifted his head.

He saw the man pointing his two arms up, the tip of his wand glowing in gold light, and then, with a blinding flash that had him close his eyes, the pressure eased.

Arteum blinked a few times, his vision blurry as he looked around. The belt‑like boundary of runic magic glowed faintly, and the fog‑like density of magic started to dissipate quickly, going upwards.

He let out a sigh of relief and quickly stood up, returning to his attention posture.

He gritted his teeth as he tried to keep the ice‑cold grip of fear he was feeling around his heart from showing on his face.

No matter how many times they faced death the past few days, it didn't make the feelings any less frightening.

"Attention!"

Stomp~

Everyone stood straight, hitting the ground with their dragon‑leather boots.

"Formation 1!"

They moved quickly and in an orderly fashion, making a triangle‑like formation.

Albus Dumbledore took his position as the head and started walking slowly.

"Advance!"

They too started following him, their grips tightening around their wands and their focus laser‑sharp.

They didn't know what was inside, but seeing Dumbledore leading them made them slowly lose their fear.

'At least we won't die as soon as we step in.'

=••=

[Albus Dumbledore]

Stepping into the Gate felt like passing through a thin membrane of space. A little weird, since I had never felt anything like that before, but that was all there was to it.

The environment on the other side of the Gate, however, was something else.

It felt as if I could finally breathe.

The magic was dense and heavy, the air so fresh and pure that for a second, it actually got me thinking that I had never breathed before.

I looked around, my Archive cataloguing everything for me through my eyes. The dense prehistoric forest with thick, tall trees, big mushrooms between their roots, and wild bush‑like trees and grass everywhere in between.

It was a little dark, with tree leaves blocking the sunlight as if they had a grudge against it, but it was not dark enough to hinder eyesight yet.

It was quite an astonishing sight, and I had to forcibly curb the urge to start researching and experimenting right then and there.

'I'll just have to be content with the Archive's data for now,' I thought to myself as I turned around to face the hunter squad.

I still haven't really decided on what to name them, though it seems that people were already calling them the Suicide Squad.

I knew who started that little scheme of demotivation, and already set him up for a retaliation he wouldn't expect.

Still, I am sure by the time I get out of this Gate, some would have learned a lesson on not following my "advice."

Especially those that refused to heed my advice about evacuating the Vatican and its surrounding areas.

It's a shame about all the deaths that would soon follow due to the concentration of magic around, but you can't save those that don't want to be saved.

"Attention!" I called and watched as the twenty‑one squad members suddenly stood at attention.

I don't think I would get bored of doing this anytime soon. It was just so fun.

"We are inside an unknown environment, people, so be extra cautious about where you step, and keep your Mana‑Skin active all the time. Understood?"

"Yes sir!"

"Alright! I'll take the air to see if I can discern our position and which way to go! Be on your guard," I said as I started to float up slowly.

The trees were more than 200 meters tall (650 ft), and all of them were about that height or taller. Once I was past that height, I let out a small wave of magic, and like a sonar, my Archive actively started to map everything.

I didn't need the map, though, but it would come in handy in case Gates don't actually close after clearing the goblins.

I descended back to the ground and saw the people I brought with me still standing at full attention.

"We go left. The monsters are that way," I said and took the lead.

The walk was a little different, mostly due to the thick tree roots that obstructed our way, but we persevered.

I didn't help, nor did I intend to help anyone in this clearing mission or the next. I had already spent days and nights since the 18th whipping them into decent shape.

The amount of temporary blessings I gave them was more than most deserved, especially since a lot of them joined just to try and gauge my power level or gain information about the Gate early.

We stepped out of the tree line into a small clearing with a big hill and a wide cave opening.

The goblins were there—some standing guard, some playing with water, and some just eating what looked like moose? I didn't know, but it was meat.

'How interesting,' I thought as I observed the monsters that started shouting as soon as we stepped out of the tree line.

'They seem to be intelligent enough to form a society.'

Grrrr~ grrrr~ 

Soon enough, the clearing was filled with goblins armed with a variety of stone and bone weapons. Crude but effective.

"Alright… you see the monsters. What are you waiting for?" I asked, looking at the people behind me.

They didn't need any more words, as they suddenly grouped into two‑person units, one casting a shield while the other blasted spells.

"Confringo!" "Bombarda!" "Reducto!"

I watched as they decimated the groups of goblins running toward us, mostly by blasting the crowds with Bombarda, and I smiled in satisfaction.

It was good to see them apply what I taught them. The vigilance, the overpowered spells, the teamwork.

Still, the amount of goblins really exceeded my expectations. There were over a hundred and fifty of them swarming out of the cave.

'How big is this cave?'

'Are there more?'

"Depulso!" One of the guys on the left threw a wide‑area repulsion spell at the weapons thrown at us, while the one next to him threw another Bombarda.

The situation continued like that, with the goblins failing to advance due to constant bombardment. Their numbers dwindled at a fast pace.

'Hmm. Five minutes,' I thought as I saw the last few goblins being split into pieces with a Reducto.

We waited for another minute as everyone took a breath and checked on themselves and their teammates.

Meanwhile, I frowned as I checked the data collected through the Archive. The mapping was already complete, which was why I was frowning.

The dungeon area was a circle with about five miles in diameter. I couldn't map anything beyond that due to some kind of space barrier.

'No… it's more complicated than that.'

Now I really wanted to go and check the barrier, just to study it, because most of the data I received about it was useless—but I have another dungeon to clear first.

Plus, it might take a while to figure it out in the first place…

"Alright. Good work," I said lightly as I stepped forward toward the cave.

I stopped a few feet away due to the absolutely foul stench that made my stomach flip and my mouth taste like I was about to puke.

'Fuck! That's disgusting,' I grimaced, deciding on another approach altogether.

Even though I have several ways to help with the smell, now that I have smelled it, I couldn't unsmell it.

I raised my wand, casting a firestorm spell—a Dumbledore special—and rotated my wand above my head three times before sharply jabbing the wand toward the cave entrance.

The fire moved toward the cave like a jet of water, and after a few seconds I cut the magic energy supply and turned to leave.

It would take about five minutes for all the fire to go out, but it wouldn't spread outside the cave.

"Alright! Let's leave!"

"Yes sir!"

Anticlimactic as it was, the first dungeon‑clearing mission was a success.

==••==

[Albus Dumbledore]

As we stepped out of the Gate, its color started to turn grey. I used my divine sense along with the Archive to check it out, only to find that it was temporarily locked by some kind of mechanism.

The soft membrane we passed through seemed to harden in a way that blocked any attempt of getting in.

I filed that for later research and looked around. The surroundings were still locked by my spell—the soft blinking glow of the Scripture Magic I used to limit anyone from entering the perimeter seemed to be working just fine.

Outside the perimeter, however, was filled with people. Military personnel, vehicles, three military helicopters hovering in the air, and a few groups of wizards too.

"Gate cleared," I announced, looking at the Unspeakable group and the few Italian Ministry Aurors checking out my spell.

"We have another Gate across the ocean, so form a circle," I said as I looked at my hunter squad.

'Yup. Gonna call them hunter squad for now.'

I didn't need to send a notice to MACUSA because most of the notification memos were sent yesterday, so all I had to do was make a portkey and that was it.

I took out my napkin—a white one with golden trim—and with a flick of my wand turned it into a portkey. The process took a few seconds, and once I was done, I threw it up and hit it with an "Engorgio," making it bigger.

"Hold onto that!" I ordered the squad and watched as they spread out, holding their hands up and gripping the now‑engorged napkin.

"Alright then, let's get going!" I said and activated the portkey.

The trip was not as rough as one would expect from portkey travel, but that was mostly because I had improved upon it a little.

It still spun you around, but now it felt almost like a fun game instead of feeling like being inside a washing machine.

It was a lot faster too, though that might be because I used more magic than necessary.

A minute later, we arrived in front of the Gate, right outside the sealed area, only to hear the sound of multiple firearms being readied and pointed at us.

Kichick~

"Lower your weapons!" "Get your weapons down!" Two voices overlapped, one male and one female, ordering the same thing.

I turned my head toward the source of the voices, where I saw a muggle in a military uniform and our very own Emily Jackson.

"Emily! What a surprise to see you here," I smiled and greeted the woman.

'This is going to be a headache,' I thought with an inward sigh.

"Dumbledore… you are an hour early," Emily said as she shook my hand.

"I didn't specify a time, though?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Nicholas Flamel did."

"And is he here?"

"…"

"Anyway, the squad and I will be entering the Gate soon, so it's better to evacuate," I advised her once again. This time to her face instead of in writing.

"About that… I have a few people requesting to come with you," she said, her tone leaving no room for negotiation.

"And are those few people going to be fending for themselves? Because I am not adding anyone to the squad."

"Dumbledore, that's not—"

"Emily." I interrupted her with a smile that didn't reach my eyes. "My squad was formed through volunteers. If you wanted more of your own people, you should have sent them back then."

"…"

"Now, I advise you to evacuate the immediate perimeter. You know what happens when muggles are exposed to a high concentration of magic, and the sealed area has enough concentration to make you feel like a muggle."

I gave her my last words and turned to check the surroundings before nodding.

I did the same thing I did back in Rome and created a barrier through Scripture Magic.

I then prepared to destroy the seal around the area, but before that…

"Attention!"

Hup!

My soldiers saluted and got ready.

'Still fun.'

I shattered the seal, and the magic that had been accumulating for a whole week inside suddenly had much bigger room.

"Ugh!" "Ah!"

I paid no attention to the groans of the idiots who didn't listen, and just willed a little bit of my divine energy to help me disperse the magic upward and scatter it.

I warned them, but they didn't seem to want to take my warning seriously at all. I didn't know if it was defiance, arrogance, or just plain stupidity, but that wouldn't be a problem for much longer.

Nothing proves a warning like a few injuries and deaths.

Was it cold‑hearted? Probably.

Could I have done more? Most definitely.

But I was a man who hadn't slept a wink for close to a week. I gave zero fucks about them right now…

"Alright! We are entering the Gate, so focus and be ready!" I announced as I walked toward the Gate.

"Yes sir!"

My squad followed me, and we passed through the familiar membrane.

Squilch~

I frowned and looked down. My leg was knee‑deep in muddy, shallow brown water.

'A swamp?'

I walked a few steps in to make space for the twenty‑one people following me.

The air smelled clean, as opposed to the usual smells of swamps. This one just smelled like earth after rain.

Lowhanging trees were everywhere, and I could see a few long grass‑like plants all over the place.

Still, I couldn't feel the presence of monsters all around us. It was very easy to sense due to how chaotic and aggressive their energy felt.

I quickly pointed my wand down and did a full 360°, casting a 'Protego Diabolica,' and watching the blue flames surround us.

"We are surrounded! Start casting Mana‑Zones and kill the monsters. Those who kill the least will be rewarded with another week of training with me."

There was a beat of silence as the squad processed what I had just said before they started to scramble.

They still hadn't gotten the hang of Mana‑Zones. They barely succeeded in achieving a good enough Mana‑Skin, but that didn't mean their training was for naught.

I just wanted them to sharpen their senses a little.

Most of these people would report back, and making Mana-Skin and Mana-Zone a standard for Gate-clearing seemed like a good idea.

Still, that's only until I finish creating a system that would make 'awakening' into a phenomenon. People need to feel God's grace.

Splash~

A bit of muddy water splashed against the transparent shield around me and slid down.

Rawww~

Monsters were spawning from under water, appearing from behind trees, and some were even throwing darts while sitting on branches.

The squad was finally struggling, as one needed to shield from incoming projectiles while another took down the monster with a single hit as opposed to bombardment.

They mostly stuck to heart/arterial gauging spells, severing spells, and others.

The environment wasn't one where explosion magic would be useful, especially since unlike the goblins, these kobold fuckers were either alone or in two‑person teams.

I stayed in place, mostly watching over the squad while they started to move in a group of three after killing the monster closest to us.

I did help by killing one or two monsters when needed, but other than that, I didn't do anything. I didn't even cast a healing spell on them.

And so, an hour later, we were back together, surrounded by the floating bodies of more than a hundred kobolds.

The clean smell of the air was no longer there, as now it was mostly filled with the metallic smell of blood.

I sighed and released my diabolical flame. The circle of blue fire expanded rapidly, disintegrating the bodies and blood in the water, while ignoring anything else.

I didn't release my control entirely—that would be stupid—but what I did was make the fire expand into a large circle and kill the few kobolds hiding under water or on trees not far from here.

"And that's a job done," I muttered, smiling as I finally saw the end of the road.

I can finally go home and sleep.

"Alright! That's it, people! We are leaving!"

"Yes!"

And so we turned around and started moving back toward the exit.

We stepped out of the Gate, some leaning on others due to tiredness.

I noticed the blockade around the Gate had gone farther away, but I didn't care about any of that right now.

I looked back and saw the Gate's color turn gray, and I knew it was time to go home.

"Those who wish to return back to the ICW headquarters step to the right, and those who want to stay here step to the left," I ordered as I looked at the hunter squad members trying to stand upright.

Five people quickly stepped left, and I nodded before summoning my napkin from the ground and enchanting it again.

The rest of the squad took hold, and I activated the portkey, taking us directly to the ICW headquarters.

==••==