The Old Ones of Hogwarts

Chapter 205, Section 204: Irresistible! Ascending to Legend!

Chapter 205, Section 204: Irresistible! Ascending to Legend!

The ground beneath my feet was trembling violently.

"It seems that this is indeed a solution." Ian stared at the massive Helbo in the distance. He saw the terror on Helbo's face, and his guess was confirmed.

Under Ian's magical influence, Mount Vesuvius roared like an ancient beast awakened, ready to devour everything in its path.

The power that had been accumulating for countless years was completely unleashed at this moment.

Its eruption was like the end of the world. Thick smoke, carrying scorching magma, spewed out of the crater with overwhelming force, turning the sky a bizarre blood red.

Thick volcanic ash, still glowing with fire, swept through the air, filling it with the pungent smell of sulfur and the intense heat of lava; every breath felt like it was burning one's lungs.

Even the sunlight was blocked by the thick volcanic ash.

"This...this is the end of the world!"

The lava surged and billowed, like countless black dragons spiraling upwards. The priests beside Ian had already collapsed to the ground in terror; they had never imagined facing such a horrific natural disaster.

Faced with the overwhelming, unstoppable torrent of lava, all the priests seemed to have completely lost the ability to think; they even lost the courage to pray to the gods.

"This...this is God's punishment!"

of course.

Some elderly wizards, who had lost their voices and become limp, gave a bitter laugh.

Many more stood frozen, staring blankly at the sky gradually turning red, as if they had lost the ability to think. Even those wizards who usually prided themselves on being extraordinary felt their own insignificance. Their magic seemed so trivial in the face of this natural disaster.

They had even lost the courage to pray to the gods for protection—no wonder these people had mental problems, after all, the Pompeii eruption was one of the nine largest volcanic eruptions in human history, apart from the volcanic eruption that wiped out the dinosaurs. The entire mountain range awoke with a roar, symbolizing the power of nature.

Even gods would pale in comparison to this power, let alone mortal wizards.

"This is a scenario I never anticipated."

The little girl, Cassandra, clung tightly to Ian's leg, her body trembling violently, her face as pale as paper.

"My Lord, what have you done?" Her voice was filled with barely suppressed terror, so small amidst the roar of the volcano, as if it might be torn apart by its fury at any moment.

However, Ian heard it clearly: volcanic ash fell like black snowflakes, covering the earth, and he gently stroked the little girl's hair.

"I am saving you."

Ian's wizard robes fluttered in the heat as he gazed at the apocalypse he had unleashed—not an ordinary volcanic eruption, but a "historical anchor" prematurely awakened by time magic.

The arrival of this moment was inevitable; it was an unchangeable turning point in history, something even God could not prevent, let alone the fact that Helpo, an angel, was missing and had not yet completed his ascension to Godhood.

This was the best solution Ian could think of. After all, Pompeii had already been destroyed by Herpo, and those who had been assimilated and absorbed probably wouldn't care about that.

Knowing he couldn't contend with Halbo with his own strength, Ian chose to trigger the historical moment of the catastrophe ahead of time, only causing fate to arrive in this place a little earlier.

The plan is going smoothly.

but.

Helbo, however, found this extremely unacceptable.

"How could this be! How could this be! I'm just a mortal, a wizard, how dare I alter the order of time!" Helbo roared in disbelief.

It is by stealing the power of "mistakes" from fate.

Now, the "correct" destiny is pressing down on us.

This made his divine demeanor appear somewhat precarious under the force of the volcanic eruption.

Tell me! What gives you the right?!

Helbo's voice was filled with anger and fear. His divine demeanor began to crumble, and the divine light around him gradually dimmed, as if the "wrong" power he had absorbed was leaving his body.

Faced with the ancient dark wizard's question, Ian did not answer him, but simply gazed silently at the raging lava. The lava, like a raging torrent, swept everything away. The intense heat seemed to want to devour the entire world, and also to swallow him and the priests.

however.

Just as the lava was about to arrive, a golden light suddenly descended from the sky, enveloping Ian, Cassandra, and the surviving wizards.

That was the power of the brute goddess. As Herbo's paradoxical domain receded and her power waned, she escaped in time and used her divine power to protect the group during the natural disaster.

"You're absolutely insane!"

The goddess's voice was filled with shock and anger.

"This is a suicidal tactic!"

She landed beside Ian. Beyond the golden light, the surging, roaring torrent was like a giant wave rushing down the mountain ridge, swallowing the city below.

"Isn't there you? I always trust my teammates." Ian silently put the prepared items back into his pocket, and smiled slightly, showing his trust in the goddess of brute force.

This greatly increased the goodwill of the seemingly naive goddess.

"My rescue is indeed never too late." The brute goddess was clearly struck to the core by Ian's words, and her original angry expression turned into a sigh of regret for the destruction of the ancient city.

"You came up with this solution... that's really impressive." She didn't hide her amazement at the little wizard's imagination; she had never seen any wizard with such courage and madness.

He actually dared to attempt to manipulate fate and control the turning points of history. Most importantly, he succeeded! This left the "reckless goddess" momentarily speechless, unsure how to evaluate Ian's actions.

She had never seen such a crazy person, nor such a calm madness.

"This is beyond miracles."

The goddess of brute force was no less emotional than Helbo. However, Helbo was undoubtedly the one experiencing the greatest inner turmoil, as he was steadily falling from the heavenly staircase.

"Winning is enough."

Ian looked up at Halbo in the distance. Halbo was still suspended in mid-air, and the divine light around him gradually dimmed, as if his power was being devoured by some invisible force.

His divine features were also beginning to become misaligned.

"No! This shouldn't be!"

Helbo desperately tried to fight back and stop his decline, but his ability to make the result precede the cause, forming a closed loop, was completely ineffective.

He proclaimed himself a god, believing he had transcended the limitations of mortals and could alter the course of history at will. However, when faced with the unchangeable weight of history, he also felt an unprecedented sense of powerlessness.

"Stop! Disappear!" The divine power around Helbo surged, trying to exert its influence. He tried his best to reverse the disaster with his power, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not change the course of the volcanic eruption. He could only watch as the lava, which made it impossible to distinguish between heaven and earth, swept towards him.

The faces on his torso emitted shrieks. This false god, who had merged with countless lives, grew increasingly resentful and terrified, as the dried corpses that should have supported him were now vaporizing into wisps of smoke in the magma.

It wasn't the lava that hurt him, of course.

Instead, the torrent of fate, like an invisible hand, rendered all his efforts futile. Helpo could only do his utmost to protect his two angels.

As long as the angel remains, he still has hope. At this moment, Herpo's divine state is already collapsing, but he is powerless to stop it, because he lacks an angel and cannot truly ascend to godhood.

His body began to crack, like a broken statue.

"I haven't failed yet!"

Haierbo knows.

At this point, I had no choice but to take a desperate gamble.

He gathered ancient magical runes in his eyes, staring intently at Ian with eyes like starlight, intending to attack and forcibly transform Ian into an angel.

"Be careful!"

The Brute Goddess sensed Helbo's intentions and stood in front of Ian, her body radiating golden light. Ian, feeling that Helbo's power was still penetrating the Brute Goddess's influence, decisively chose to fight back.

"Soul-stealing!"

Of course, the only thing he could rely on was magic.

but.

Magic may indeed have limitations when fighting against gods, but Helbo's soul is just that of a wizard. Ian, who saw through this, met Helbo's gaze.

next moment.

An invisible force collides.

Helbo was guided by Ian into the world of his subconscious. The volcano was gone, the apocalypse was gone, the roaring had disappeared, and an unprecedented peace filled this strange space.

Towering skyscrapers, bustling streets with traffic and hurried pedestrians—no one knows what they're busy with, perhaps not even themselves.

"Huh?" All of this was unfamiliar and bizarre to Helbo. He had never seen anything like it before—giant beasts made of steel and glass, roaring mechanical vehicles, and people dressed in strange clothes. A look of shock flashed in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by astonishment and joy.

Helpo stood in the middle of the street, his eyes filled with shock and ecstasy.

"This is...your world of thought?" He threw his head back and burst into maniacal laughter. "What a foolish act! You actually dared to pull my soul back into your consciousness!"

"You think that just because you've reached the pinnacle of human magic, your soul has the power to challenge me? How utterly laughable! You have no idea how much suffering and hardship I endured in the underworld!"

"My soul is a thousand times, ten thousand times stronger than yours, you... you're courting death!" His laughter echoed through the street, followed by the little wizard's voice and response.

Ian's voice came from all directions: "I don't think so. There are real cases that have proven to me that here... on my turf, I am more powerful than ever before."

The calm, flat voice was impossible to discern from its origin. Helbo searched among the diverse crowd around him, but couldn't find Ian hiding among them.

"Want to play hide-and-seek with me?"

Helbo sneered, completely disregarding Ian's response. He immediately attacked, attempting to destroy this space with his soul power, then seize Ian's body and forcibly transform him into the final angel of the Ascension God. Wherever that power went, it carried a terrifying aura.

A thousand years of resentment and greed are like a ferocious beast.

"Disappear, all of you!"

His tone was arrogant.

however.

His expression quickly froze. The reason was simple: amidst the eruption of terrifying soul power, he was horrified to discover that his rampaging soul power couldn't harm this space in the slightest.

Neither skyscrapers nor street dust can be shaken in the slightest. It's like a stable world where no external force can alter its order.

The latest novel is first published here!

"This is impossible...impossible!" Herpo's voice trembled slightly. "How could my thousands of years of accumulated soul power not be able to shake you?"

He was horrified and roared wildly, his voice filled with resentment and anger, as well as fear and unease that he tried to conceal. For the second time, this legendary dark wizard had experienced an impossible and eerie feeling.

"What have you done to me! Where am I! You can't possibly have a stronger soul than me! Impossible! My soul surpasses all legends!"

With eyes blazing with fury, Hailbo questioned loudly.

Faced with his hysteria.

"Who knows?"

Ian's voice suddenly rang out, seemingly coming from all directions. Helbo tried again to follow the voice to find Ian's soul, but instead heard the sound of flapping wings.

The voice was deep and powerful, like the flowing sound of destiny.

"You!! How could you be a bird!?" Helbo looked up in horror and saw a raven perched on a telephone pole, its eyes bloodshot and cold.

The perplexing questions in my mind remained unanswered.

because.

Before Ian could speak.

Helpo's soul began to change—he looked directly into Ian's soul like a sun god, yet he clearly lacked the sun god's resilience.

At the beginning.

Helbo's eyes began to crack silently, and soon the cracks spread throughout his body, as if his entire soul was being torn apart by some invisible force.

"I..." Helbo felt an unbearable shock. His mind went blank, and he raised his hand to touch his face. The nose on the snake face fell into his hand first.

Perhaps the first thing that all those who have undergone this magical transformation lose is their nose.

"I don't understand..."

Helbo only had time to mutter to himself.

next moment.

His entire soul completely disintegrated, becoming nourishment. In reality, Ian slowly opened his eyes and saw the brute goddess beside him, her face filled with worry, as if she were trying to enter his subconscious.

"I think you'd better not do that."

He chuckled softly.

"You really do have a big secret!"

As the goddess of brute force watched as Helbo's "divine form" was completely swallowed by lava in the distance, she also learned that Ian was the winner of the soul duel. This made her breathe a sigh of relief, but her expression was also complicated.

"I hope this third miracle didn't disappoint you." Ian was helped to his feet. By this time, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius was nearing its end.

The entire city was buried under volcanic ash and lava, its former prosperity completely swallowed up and vanished. Cassandra walked over and tugged at Ian's sleeve.

"Thank you, my Lord."

She still didn't blame Ian for the disaster, and thanked him on behalf of the hundreds of priests who remained. The little girl seemed to have matured considerably overnight. The priests, on the other hand, were all weeping and grieving; their homes, their families, their dreams had all vanished in that moment.

"The living must continue to tell the stories of the dead," the rough goddess comforted the priests, though she too was filled with sorrow at her own powerlessness.

"The story doesn't have a happy ending."

Ian also felt a little regretful.

Upon hearing this, the brute goddess revealed a world-weary look in her eyes.

"No story has a happy ending; there are always regrets and pains within them. The important thing is that you did save so many people, and perhaps many years from now, what happened today will be sung about."

"It might become...some kind of fairy tale." She looked at the little wizard beside her, her tone wistful and meaningful, while the priests calmed down.

A song began to play.

It was as if they were praying for the souls lost in this disaster.

"You should go too..."

Ian nodded to Cassandra.

The little girl immediately joined the ranks of the survivor priests. Her voice was clear and ethereal, especially moving in the sorrowful atmosphere, like a beam of light piercing through the darkness.

"The person you're looking for, and your friend, it seems they've been buried along with Helbo's ambitions..." The brute goddess saw Ian staring at the ravaged mountain below.

She tried to comfort Ian.

but.

He hadn't finished speaking.

She then noticed that something was starting to happen to Ian.

"What happened?"

Ian himself was somewhat taken aback. His eyes suddenly began to glow, and then magical runes lit up his entire body, as if his consciousness had been pulled back into the world of thought.

"This is……"

Ian saw it.

The previously blurry image began to clear. Some ancient and powerful force was growing within him, not from nowhere, but as if it were flowing from somewhere.

That is... the power of paradox.

Ian was somewhat incredulous at this gain. Meanwhile, in reality, golden runes covered his body, and he was radiating a faint glow.

On this land ravaged by disaster, a new, unprecedented legendary wizard is about to be born. The fluctuations of that power even made the brute goddess tremble with fear.

"How can this legendary property be so powerful!?"

She stared wide-eyed, speechless.

In the sky.

The thick ash kicked up by the volcanic eruption was suddenly dispersed, and the volcanic ash in the real world gradually settled. The chariot of the sun god rolled across the sky, and he silently descended to his daughter's side.

"You crazy girl, don't you even know who you've chosen?" The appearance of the sun god went unnoticed by any of the priests, but his voice startled the brute goddess.

"What's going on?"

She swallowed hard and looked blankly at her father.

"A natural disaster that could be brought forward—haven't you realized the problem yet? My child, this moment is the turning point in history, the true torrent hidden beneath the destruction of Pompeii." The sun god glanced at the little girl Cassandra not far away, then at Ian, a profound light flashing in his eyes.

"It is... a hymn that leads, the ancient gods to awaken."

Amidst the post-apocalyptic ruins.

The infinitely radiant sun god is restraining his own light.

His deep, resonant voice echoed softly.

(End of this chapter)