Hogwarts: I Am an Exemplary Wizard

Chapter 1176 -828: Rosier’s Decision_2

“Tinos, you stay behind.”

“Vinda, I can still manage.” Tinos flexed his newly healed arm, “This level of injury has no impact on me.”

“No.” Rosier shook his head, “If you pursue further, he will definitely use you as a breakthrough point, and by then, we’ll have to leave another person behind.”

“You go take Nagel’s place and send the injured people together, get them to come over swiftly.”

“Alright.” This time, Tinos didn’t hesitate and immediately returned after identifying the direction.

Rosier and the others set off again, chasing in the direction where Kael had departed.

It was already dawn.

Kael was weaving through the dense trees, awkwardly realizing that he seemed to be lost.

Just a moment ago, he was focused solely on evading those pursuing him, without any time to determine direction, resulting in him now having no idea of his current location.

“No, if this continues, I’ll just be endlessly chased.” Kael felt some agitation.

Just then, the Billywig responsible for reconnaissance brought him some good news.

“So, now only one person is chasing me?”

Listening to the Billywig’s buzzing, Kael steeled his heart and stopped directly.

“Where is he?”

The Billywig pointed in a different direction, and Kael swiftly turned his broom and flew over.

In less than a minute, he spotted the Wizard hovering in midair.

Without any useless words, Kael raised his wand directly.

“Sectumsempra!”

Klaf, in charge of chasing Kael, although puzzled by why he suddenly turned back, the current situation left him no time to think. He swung his wand, and a streak of red light shot directly at Kael.

Kael had no intention of dodging, instead, while the opponent was avoiding Sectumsempra, he pointed his wand at the tree beside him.

Klaf’s Stunning Spell was blocked by the Silver Shield surrounding Kael… the branches started writhing rapidly, tightly wrapping around his leg, then a trunk nearby suddenly grew a huge maw full of fangs.

“Still want to ambush me? Aren’t you underestimating me a bit?” Seemingly reminded of Telong’s leg being bitten off, Klaf instantly became furious, shattered the trunk beside him, then redirected his target to Kael.

“Crucio!”

“Expelliarmus!”

A deep and a shallow red light collided in midair, bursting with dazzling aftershocks, akin to a red sun.

“Ha, Disarming Spell… just a kid after all!” Klaf sneered, forcefully gripping his wand, causing the orb of light to slowly move toward Kael.

Kael’s face showed a panicked expression, scrambling to manipulate his Magic Power, trying to fend off the approaching orb.

But it was futile; no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t prevent the orb from nearing.

“Vinda told us to be cautious, but now it seems you’ve exhausted your means.” Klaf grinned viciously, “I hope later when I interrogate you, you don’t surrender too quickly, so I can spend more time torturing you, avenging Telong and the others…”

Suddenly, Klaf’s voice ceased abruptly, his whole body convulsed briefly before falling straight from the tree.

With the loss of Magic Power’s support, the Crucio Curse vanished instantly, and Kael caught the spinning wand, walked up to Klaf, reached out his arm, and said plainly, “You really should’ve listened to Rosier.”

A Bowtruckle emerged from Klaf’s sleeve, holding a tiny Bone Needle, polished from Basilisk teeth.

While dueling with Klaf, Kael had sent the Billywig along with the Bowtruckle to his side.

Klaf didn’t notice this… or he did but didn’t care.

After all, in a forest, who would care about those ubiquitous and very weak Bowtruckles?

Kael again produced his wand, placing it in his palm.

“Guide me!”

The wand spun a few times in his palm, then its tip pointed in a direction, Kael immediately mounted his Broomstick and flew away.

Moments later, Rosier and the others arrived, and there were six of them, indicating they had gathered all the wounded, and those previously responsible for the care were now freed.

They immediately spotted Klaf lying on the ground.

One of them rushed over to check on his condition, then turned back pallor-faced to say:

“Vinda, he’s dead.”

“I know.” Vinda Rosier said solemnly, her gaze falling on Klaf’s hand where it had turned completely black, with a barely visible tiny wound.

“Nundu again?” Rosier frowned, shook her head and said, “No, it shouldn’t be, the wound is too small. It couldn’t have been a Nundu bite.”

“It should be some kind of poisonous bee.” One of them pondered aloud, “But in the Magic Realm, are there such poisonous bees? Killing a battle-hardened Wizard in such a short time.”

“It might be something else.” Rosier closed her eyes, waved her wand, the ground turned into a swamp, swallowing Klaf up gradually.

“I’ll kill that guy! I must kill him!” a Wizard roared.

“Quiet, first we need to track him down again.” Rosier looked around and muttered, “He surely wants to leave here quickly, the simplest and fastest way is to find the correct direction…”

She seemed to have an idea, placing her wand flat on her palm.

“Guide me!”

The wand tip rotated and stopped in one direction.

“It’s this way, isn’t it? Let’s go after him.” One person impatiently flew some distance ahead.

“That’s right, this is the way, here’s a broom twig he dropped.”

The others immediately rushed out.

But Vinda Rosier didn’t move. After observing from a higher altitude for a moment, she decisively flew back in the direction they came from.

The midnight forest was terrifyingly silent, as if even the sound of insects had vanished. Rosier sped along, her expression growing more and more grim.

The quieter it was around her, the more it confirmed a certain suspicion in her heart.

Rosier accelerated once more, transforming into a giant golden eagle, soaring above the forest.

Finally, she saw the desolate tower and a leopard made of flames.

Swooping down, its target was…

Using the golden eagle’s excellent vision, Rosier saw Tinos holding his wand with his left hand and the injured, unconscious people behind him.

“Stop!”

The golden eagle let out a sharp screech, morphing back into Rosier in mid-air. She pointed her wand directly at Kael, emitting a blinding green light.

Kael dodged in time, and her Killing Curse hit the cliff behind, blasting out a shocking crater.

Rosier landed on the ground, her face gloomy as she stared at Kael, who was smiling at her.

“Is this Dumbledore’s style? To ruthlessly kill those who are already defenseless…”

“You’re really insulting me with that comment.” Kael shook his head. “I never had such an idea. You can ask this gentleman—if he hadn’t insisted on blocking my way, I would have left long ago.”

Rosier looked at Tinos.

Though reluctant, Tinos nodded, “Yes, his target has always been me.”

“I just didn’t expect you wouldn’t pursue me but would instead turn back.” Kael shrugged.

“Your speed could never be faster than ours; even if you found the right direction, you’d be caught eventually.” Rosier said calmly. “Thinking about it, the best way was to run back.

“Though it takes more time, it helps you evade us and keeps you safer. Honestly, I didn’t think you’d do that at first.”

“But you came back anyway.”

“Because of that broom twig.” Rosier said. “I didn’t believe you’d be so careless.”

“It seems I did something unnecessary.” Kael sighed, hands behind his back. “For wizards like you who stormed the world sixty years ago, my little tricks are indeed rather childish.”

“You shouldn’t say that.” Rosier adjusted her slightly disheveled robe. “Killing Klaf to provoke us, making us lose our judgment, then leaving obvious clues… most people were fooled by you.”

“Vinda… what are you saying… Klaf is dead?!” Tinos’s legs gave out, nearly collapsing to the ground.

“Kill him… avenge… avenge Klaf.”

“There’s nothing to avenge. We were the ones to strike first, it’s only fair.” Rosier said coolly. “If you lead us into Nimongard, I can guarantee your life.”

“That won’t do. If you rescue him, I can’t explain myself.” Kael said.

“So there’s nothing to discuss?” Rosier raised her eyebrow. “You should know, the only reason you’re alive is because we don’t want to kill you.”

“Of course, I know.” Kael said. “If you had used the Killing Curse earlier, my Protego Totalum definitely couldn’t block it. But still, I refuse your request. But before we fight, I’m curious about something.”

“Fight… with just your Fiendfyre Curse?” Rosier glanced at the wizards lying on the ground. “But since you didn’t harm them, go ahead and ask…”

“It’s just, between rescuing Grindelwald or watching him die, which would you choose?”

“What?”

“Periculum!”

Kael’s wand, hidden behind him, suddenly spouted a stream of golden-red flames. Under his control, the leopard formed by the Fiendfyre jumped into the air, merging with the flames.

In an instant, the golden-red turned into a chilling crimson.

The Fire God, entirely made of Fiendfyre, Kael was using for the first time, even startling Rosier, who instinctively raised her wand in front of her.

But she quickly realized, the flames weren’t targeting her, but the tower on the cliff.

The Fiendfyre couldn’t destroy the magic protecting Nimongard, but it engulfed everything around it, the intense heat turning the tower red for a moment.

“Take your time to choose, Ms. Vinda Rosier,” Kael turned with a smile, “Mr. Grindelwald might not last much longer…”

Without any hesitation, Rosier abandoned Kael and dashed towards the tower.