get-shopping Chapter 183, Section 182: Fierce Battle with Dumbledore!
Chapter 183, Section 182: Fierce Battle with Dumbledore!
Chapter 183, Section 182: Fierce Battle with Dumbledore!
In the corridor.
The torchlight flickered faintly.
Outside the window, a light rain was falling, the raindrops constantly pattering against the glass, making a soft and rhythmic sound that contrasted sharply with the tranquility of the corridor.
Ian turned his head upon hearing this.
He then saw a boy who was about sixteen or seventeen years old.
The boy wore a well-fitting Hogwarts uniform, his robes neat and crisp. His handsome face had a slightly youthful look, and his confident and composed demeanor carried an extremely rare air of high spirits.
Although the man's face no longer bore the deep lines of time, and he lacked a thick beard and messy hair, Ian still recognized him from his refined and distinctive features.
"Albus Dumbledore." He had witnessed the old headmaster and Grindelwald's youth in the old headmaster's memories, which was why he was so certain of the identity of the person in front of him at this moment.
They're only a few years away from adulthood.
The changes in appearance were not very obvious—of course, if one had to point out any difference, it would be that Ian sensed a unique quality in this younger version of the old headmaster.
It's not just the composure of a genius.
There's also a sense of... disdain.
His polite and gentle smile carried an invincible and irresistible sense of pressure—an indescribable aura that the over-100-year-old principal might no longer possess.
At this moment.
The young wizard finally understood why his old headmaster had such a powerful following back then, even attracting the Dark Lord Grindelwald to become a devoted fan.
"Unfortunately, my ancestral home isn't in Chengdu, so you can't bewitch me." Ian's gaze fell on Albus Dumbledore's hand, where a wand was held in his still quite smooth little hand.
A jet black stick.
It is very different from the Elder Wand.
It has a mysterious quality reminiscent of the wands commonly used by "dark wizards".
"I knew it."
The young wizard felt he had seen concrete proof that the White Lord existed. He had also studied wand making extensively, so he was quite knowledgeable about wands.
"You look like you're trying to challenge me? What are you up to, kid, sneaking into Hogwarts?" The dashing Albus Dumbledore stared intently at Ian.
He raised an eyebrow slightly, a hint of surprise in his expression, his deep blue eyes brimming with interest. Perhaps the still-young principal hadn't seen anyone willing to challenge him in quite some time.
"My Occupy Central technique is so advanced, how could you read my mind?" Ian was also somewhat surprised, as he had indeed had such a thought in his mind just a moment ago.
The old principal couldn't beat him.
What about the younger version?
Unexpectedly, this idea had barely formed in my mind when it was already seen through by the other party.
"I quite dislike Legilimency, or rather, I find it rather annoying, so the only reason I can read your mind is because I'm observing your eyes."
The young Albus Dumbledore spoke softly, seemingly uninterested in why Ian, dressed in a Ravenclaw robe, had infiltrated the place. He casually raised his wand and scratched his chin.
"Green eyes are rare... but even rarer is that I can observe your eyes so clearly... even professors rarely look me in the eye for such a long time." Young Albus Dumbledore had soft, slightly messy reddish-brown hair, exuding the unruliness and vitality unique to youth.
His hair, now neatly styled, fell gently across his forehead, slightly obscuring his clear, intrigued eyes.
"I thought I would only hear such arrogant words from another old man, but now I think I understand who he is imitating in his way of speaking."
Ian gripped his wand tightly, looking somewhat eager to try.
"So, is that okay?"
He seemed to be extending an invitation, yet also issuing a challenge. Facing the young wizard's increasingly bright gaze, the young Albus Dumbledore narrowed his eyes slightly.
"A duel always requires some stakes, doesn't it?" He maintained his relaxed and cheerful demeanor, his gaze falling on Ian's elder wand.
"I won. You tell me your purpose in infiltrating Hogwarts. Perhaps I can even receive another special contribution award for dismantling some evil organization that uses child witches to carry out criminal plans." The young Albus Dumbledore spoke softly, his tone gentle, but his powerful confidence was overwhelming.
"What if I won?"
The young wizard even doubted that the young Albus Dumbledore had ever thought about this question.
"Oh?"
This is not.
Upon hearing Ian's question.
The young Albus Dumbledore simply chuckled. "Say what you want. I'd even let you make me run around Hogwarts naked."
His slightly teasing tone made it seem as if he had never even considered such a possibility.
"I take this to mean that you'll agree to do anything for me, so it shouldn't be a problem, right?" Ian's eyes flickered slightly.
"Of course you can understand it that way!" The young Albus Dumbledore answered without hesitation, clearly not as cautious as he would be nearly a hundred years later.
"good!"
Ian was extremely excited.
"Let's go to the Room of Requirement."
He made the proposal.
after all.
If the duel were to take place right here in this corridor, who knows how much damage Hogwarts would suffer? Ian considers Hogwarts his buddy and doesn't want to do anything to harm his buddy.
"You also know about the Room of Requirement?"
When the young Albus Dumbledore heard Ian's suggestion, he was visibly taken aback. This was one of the school's secrets that many Hogwarts students and even professors were unaware of.
He only came into contact with that room by chance.
"I'm not some infiltrator, I'm a legitimate Hogwarts student, though of course, I'm different from what you imagine." Ian noticed the increasingly curious look in the young Albus Dumbledore's eyes.
"If you want to know the truth, you'll have to defeat me." After saying that, the little wizard couldn't wait to transform into a wisp of white mist and rush towards the floor where the Room of Requirement was located.
No wonder he was in such a hurry.
The only reason he has trouble is that he rarely encounters equally matched opponents.
This means that Ian rarely has the opportunity to clearly analyze his own strength. Perhaps he can find his shortcomings and weaknesses by fighting against a young Albus Dumbledore.
"Dumbledore's race, it seems I, Prince, have won..." Ian was initially quite pleased with his magic, but when he arrived on the eighth floor, he found that the young Albus Dumbledore was already standing in front of the Room of Requirement. He was stunned, and swallowed back the words of pride that were on his lips.
"Created magic?"
The young Albus Dumbledore looked with some curiosity at Ian, who had grown into an adult.
"How come you ran so fast?"
The young wizard was quite depressed.
When he set off, the young Albus Dumbledore was still in the same place.
"It seems you don't know Hogwarts as well as you think you do," the young Albus Dumbledore chuckled, not directly answering Ian's question.
He may have enjoyed being a riddle-maker since he was young, and the fact that he lived to be over a hundred years old without being killed is probably all thanks to his strength, which few wizards dared to challenge.
"Laugh a few more times now, you definitely won't be able to laugh later." Ian was also full of confidence in winning. He was neither a gentleman nor the kind of person who would rather lose than have any regrets.
Therefore.
The Guardian Charm will be Ian's trump card.
Don't talk about whether it's insidious or not.
The limit of magic might only be nine levels, nine ranks, but that is not the limit of a wizard. The young wizard has always believed that he has more tricks up his sleeve than a nine-rank wizard—this is something that anyone who knows him can predict. It's just a pity that the young Albus Dumbledore is now obviously completely unaware of Ian.
"Confidence is a good thing, but... kid, excessive confidence might destroy you." The young Albus Dumbledore had no idea what he was about to face.
He chatted casually with the little wizard as they stepped into the reconfigured Room of Requirement. As they wished, the Room of Requirement seemed to come alive, quickly transforming into a vast arena surrounded by towering stone walls, with a spacious battle area in the center.
It was covered with soft, fine sand to reduce the impact during a duel. Of course, this meant little to a wizard, but at least it did give the impression of a duel.
"Are you ready?"
The two stood at opposite ends of the arena, the distance between them just right.
They each raised their wands, the tips pointing lightly to the ground, as if paying homage to this ancient magical land, an essential preparatory step before the duel began.
"You must bow before the duel."
Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!
The young Albus Dumbledore smiled and reminded Ian.
He was the first to demonstrate.
however.
When he looked up, his expression faltered slightly.
"Why is the way you're holding your wand so strange..." The young Albus Dumbledore noticed that Ian's outstretched hand made it look as if he was holding the wand between his fingers.
He had never seen anyone so... pretentious as to grab a wand.
"Excuse me, when you mentioned bowing, I instinctively thought of an old friend." Although Ian said this, he did not change the gesture of holding his wand.
"To be honest, I don't usually duel with kids your age." The young Albus Dumbledore nodded, not noticing anything strange in Ian's words.
He simply stared at Ian with deep, unfathomable eyes.
"However, you are clearly an exception... Although you look to be no older than a first or second year student, I sense a feeling about you that makes my heart flutter."
"That's something that piques my curiosity." With that, the young Albus Dumbledore and Ian performed their dueling salutes together, and then, almost simultaneously, he and Ian raised their wands.
"Eliminate your weapon."
Both of them cast spells simultaneously. However, the young Albus Dumbledore ignored the young wizard opposite him, and also ignored the young wizard raising his wand to point at him.
He pointed his wand to the left, to a patch of sandy land where no one had been before. The disarming charm's surging red light suddenly burst forth in the air.
It looked like it had collided with some kind of force.
It was indeed a collision between two curses.
Amidst the surging red light...
The other spell, seemingly hidden in the air, also revealed its color. The red lights collided, sparking dazzling sparks, like two shooting stars violently colliding in the air.
A powerful magical energy permeated the air, causing even the surrounding air to tremble. The fine sand on the ground trembled slightly, as if the earth itself was shaking in response to this magical duel.
"You're really insidious."
The young Albus Dumbledore chuckled as he stared at Ian, who had finally revealed himself. Meanwhile, the Ian he had ignored vanished into thin air.
"Hiss, this is the first time someone has seen through my trick." Ian maintained his magic output, and the light of his disarming spell began to press down on the young Albus Dumbledore.
The former principal now.
Clearly, it hasn't reached the limits of magic in the human realm.
On this point.
The little wizard has a huge advantage.
but.
The young Albus Dumbledore remained unfazed. As Ian's disarming spell hurtled towards him, he simply swung his arm to redirect the magic elsewhere.
"Boom!"
A large section of the stands was affected and suddenly exploded. Fortunately, there were no spectators on it, otherwise they would have been reduced to dust and debris along with the stone stands.
"If you treat me like any of those mortals you encounter, I think you'll lose miserably." The young Albus Dumbledore cast his spell very quickly.
Almost immediately after redirecting Ian's magic elsewhere, he cast another spell, and a surge of red flames rose into the sky like a giant wave, pressing down on Ian as the spell was being cast silently.
"A Journey Under the Blazing Sun!"
Ian was no less formidable. Although he had been cunning, he might have had some pride in his heart when it came to a real fight, and he chose to confront the young Albus Dumbledore head-on with the same type of magic.
All I saw was...
Flames intertwined and collided in the air, producing deafening roars and crackling sounds, as if two angry forces of nature were clashing against each other.
They danced and bloomed in the air, like a grand fireworks display. The heat was intense, and even the air seemed to be ignited, becoming scorching and distorted.
The stone walls surrounding the arena appeared exceptionally hard and austere under the glow of the flames.
"What immense magical power... it's terrifying. Even now, I don't possess such unique magical power as you, so... please answer me seriously."
As the two flames tore at and devoured each other, the outcome gradually became clear. However, after Albus Dumbledore's flames were swept away and engulfed...
The young man, with his exceptional figure, had no change in voice. He walked out of the sea of fire unleashed by Ian unharmed, holding a magic wand as if strolling leisurely.
His eyes were gleaming.
It resembled a small boat amidst the firelight.
It appears to be on the verge of collapse.
Yet it still stubbornly resisted the onslaught of the flames.
"My junior, no, let me think, perhaps I should call you my apprentice from the future... are you a silent one who has successfully escaped fate?"
The words are not surprising and die endlessly.
When this question was asked.
The young Albus Dumbledore looked noticeably more serious.
Those eyes were fixed intently on the young wizard with an extremely serious expression. It's understandable that he would misunderstand; after all, as a wizard whose magical abilities had grown from an extraordinary age, the young Albus Dumbledore found it hard to believe that a normal young wizard could possess far more magical power than Ian at his age.
Fight Ian.
Feeling the terrifying magic emanating from Ian.
The young Albus Dumbledore clearly perceived the vast difference between a lake and the sea. However, he didn't care about that, nor did he care about the traces of Ian's magic.
At this moment.
He only cared whether Ian's unusual magic was as he suspected.
It was a glimmer of hope... a chance that he could see.
(End of this chapter)