Slap! Slap! Slap!
The sound of a palm "gently caressing" someone's face echoed from deep within Lynn's trunk.
The slaps came in a steady rhythm, slow and deliberate, as though someone were tapping out an unfamiliar tune. Each strike landed squarely against skin with a crisp crack, reverberating through the spacious interior of the trunk.
But the Death Eater receiving Lynn's "affection" clearly did not appreciate it.
His head was knocked from side to side like a ball in the wind, yet he showed no reaction at all. His eyes remained tightly shut, his breathing steady. He looked as though he had fallen into a deep sleep.
Lynn narrowed his eyes and stopped.
"Aha! Choosing the hard way over the easy way, are we?"
His tone was thick with impatience.
He took half a step back, drew his wand from his sleeve, and pointed it at the Death Eater named Credian.
"Crucio!"
A powerful Cruciatus Curse struck Credian instantly.
His body snapped upward like a bamboo strip released from extreme tension. He bounced from the ground, his back arching through the air until only his head and heels remained pressed against the floor.
His mouth fell open as a muffled cry of agony escaped his throat. His eyes flew wide, his pupils shrinking to pinpoints as the whites of his eyes filled with blood.
"Oh, you're awake?" Lynn's voice came from above, carrying a faint smile. "Why did you stop playing dead?"
Credian's mouth remained open, but he could not speak.
His body was still twitching. The heart-piercing pain came in waves, flooding every nerve in his body.
He wanted to say, Was I playing dead? You knocked me unconscious!
But the words caught in his throat, producing only a stream of meaningless sounds.
Lynn did not care what he was thinking.
He turned and flicked his wand.
A crimson beam shot from its tip like the crack of a whip, striking the next Death Eater with perfect accuracy.
"Argh—!"
The man bounced off the floor, clutched his head, and curled into a ball. His body shook violently, his teeth chattered, and veins bulged across his forehead.
Lynn did not stop.
A third crimson beam.
Then a fourth.
A fifth.
A sixth.
One Cruciatus Curse for each person, just to make sure they were awake.
Every spell struck with full force, making the Death Eaters bounce from the ground while screaming in agony.
Edgar and the other two watched from nearby, completely stunned.
As the effects of the Cruciatus Curse gradually faded, the Death Eaters crawled back to their feet, their bodies still trembling.
Their faces were pale, their foreheads drenched in sweat, and their lips had turned purple. They looked as though they had just been dragged from the water.
Lynn stood before them with his wand in hand.
His expression was calm, but his cold eyes swept across each person as though he were choosing his next target.
"Do you know why I spared your lives?"
His voice was not loud, yet it echoed through the empty trunk, carrying a pressure that made their scalps tingle.
The Death Eaters exchanged glances, then shook their heads in unison.
"Crucio!"
Bang! Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang!
The crimson light of the Cruciatus Curse jumped between the Death Eaters, shooting from Lynn's wand like a lit fuse.
In the blink of an eye, the men who had only just crawled to their feet collapsed again, their bodies curling into balls as they writhed in pain.
Lynn put away his wand and looked at the figures on the ground with a helpless expression.
"Idiots!" he shouted. "It's because you're still useful to me, of course!"
He paused, as though giving them time to process his words.
"I am someone who believes in making the best use of everything."
He said it so matter-of-factly that treating Death Eaters as tools seemed like the most natural thing in the world.
Then Lynn pointed toward the masked Edgar and the other two behind him.
"Your mission is—" he drawled, "to use every means at your disposal to defeat these three."
Several Death Eaters looked up simultaneously, following his finger toward the three silver-masked figures.
Their gazes lingered on the trio for a moment before turning back to Lynn.
They could not understand what he was planning.
He was making Death Eaters fight three children who did not even appear to be adults?
What kind of arrangement was that?
"If you can do it," Lynn continued, "then perhaps I might consider letting you go."
The words struck the Death Eaters like a bomb.
Let them go?
Really?
They looked at one another, seeing the same thing in each other's eyes.
Hope.
"Do you understand?"
Lynn suddenly raised his voice.
"Understood..." Six weak replies came from the ground.
Lynn frowned.
"Haven't you eaten?" He raised his wand. "Cruci—"
"UNDERSTOOD!"
Six roars erupted at once, making the nearby shelves tremble.
Only then did Lynn nod in satisfaction.
"Good. Very spirited."
With a wave of his wand, six wands flew in from the distance and landed firmly in the hands of the Death Eaters.
They were their own wands.
Each man recognized the subtle scratches and signs of wear on the wood.
The Death Eaters stood shakily, looking down at the wands in their hands before lifting their heads to stare at Lynn.
They could not believe he had returned their wands so easily.
Was it a trap?
Had the wands been tampered with?
Or did Lynn simply not believe they could defeat those three children?
Credian stood at the front, gripping his wand until his knuckles turned white.
His eyes shifted from Lynn to the wand in his hand.
Something changed in his expression.
His arm suddenly snapped upward, the tip of his wand cutting a lightning-shaped path through the air as it aimed directly at Lynn.
"Avada Kedavra!"
Green light burst from the wand.
Lynn did not dodge.
He did not move.
He simply stood there with his hands in his pockets, his expression unchanged.
The green beam struck his chest.
Thud.
The sound was dull, like a stone falling into water.
Then Credian froze.
His eyes widened. His mouth was still open, as though he wanted to say something, but no words came out.
His body fell backward stiffly, hitting the ground with a heavy thud and kicking up dust.
His eyes remained open. His mouth was still twisted around the final syllable of the incantation.
But he was no longer breathing.
Lynn looked down at Credian's corpse.
"Tsk, tsk."
He clicked his tongue, walked over, and bent down to retrieve the fallen wand. He twirled it lightly between his fingers.
Then he turned to the remaining five Death Eaters and spoke as though he had just remembered something.
"I forgot to mention that I modified these wands." He casually tossed Credian's wand in his hand. "They automatically determine the direction in which a spell is cast."
He paused, looking at the five terrified faces before him.
"As for the Killing Curse..." he added, "it will definitely be released toward the caster."
Several Death Eaters swallowed hard.
The sound was loud enough for Lynn to hear.
They looked down at the wands in their hands. They no longer saw weapons, but venomous snakes capable of biting them at any moment.
Thank goodness they had not acted rashly.
That was the shared thought in all their minds.
Lynn clapped his hands and casually tossed Credian's wand aside.
"All right. Stop standing around. Get to it."
With that, he vanished from the spot.
Only Edgar's trio and the five Death Eaters remained, staring at one another.
The area was silent for several seconds.
"Split up! Don't let them support each other!"
A raspy voice came from among the Death Eaters.
The speaker stood at the very back, his hood pulled low and his face obscured. However, judging by his position and tone, he appeared to be the group's leader.
The Death Eaters immediately scattered.
Two closed in on Edgar.
Two moved toward William.
One blocked Ollie's path.
Edgar was caught between two Death Eaters.
Left and right.
Front and back.
"Expelliarmus!"
The Death Eater on the left attacked first.
A red beam shot straight toward Edgar's chest.
Edgar did not use the Shield Charm.
He abruptly ducked, allowing the Disarming Charm to fly over his head.
Then he kicked off the ground and shot toward the Death Eater on the left like an arrow.
The man clearly had not expected him to charge forward and froze for a fraction of a second.
That fraction of a second was enough.
Edgar had already reached him.
He did not cast a spell.
At this distance, the time needed to speak an incantation would have been enough for his opponent to dodge.
Instead, his fist smashed directly into the Death Eater's wrist.
Bang!
The man's wrist went numb, and his wand flew from his hand.
His eyes widened.
What kind of fighting style was this?
A wizard using his fists?
Edgar gave him no time to react.
He grabbed the Death Eater by the collar, yanked him downward, and drove his knee upward at the same time.
His knee struck the man's stomach solidly.
The Death Eater doubled over with a muffled groan.
"Stupefy!"
Edgar's other hand held his wand, its tip pressed against the man's waist as he cast the Stunning Spell at point-blank range.
At that distance and angle, there was no chance to dodge.
The Death Eater's eyes rolled back, and he slumped forward limply.
The Death Eater on the right watched his companion fall, and his expression changed.
"Diffindo!"
A cutting curse shot from his wand, aimed directly at Edgar's back.
Edgar lunged to the right.
The spell grazed his shoulder and struck the wall behind him, blasting a large crater into it.
Fragments flew everywhere. Several hit his back, making him wince.
But he did not stop.
He kicked off the ground again and charged forward.
The Death Eater instinctively retreated.
But Edgar was too fast.
For every step the man took backward, Edgar took two forward.
Before the man could even raise a Shield Charm, Edgar's wand was already pressed to his chest.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
The spell sank into the Death Eater's body.
His body instantly stiffened, and he fell backward like a plank, frozen in the very posture of retreat.
Thud.
Edgar gasped for breath.
His body was trembling—not from fear, but from the physiological aftermath of the adrenaline rushing through him.
He looked down at his fist.
His knuckles were scraped and bleeding from the earlier punch.
But he had no time to deal with it.
He turned and looked toward the other two battles.
William's situation was completely different from Edgar's.
His opponents were two tall, thin Death Eaters. Their movements were erratic as they shifted left and right, making it impossible to tell from which direction they would attack.
The Death Eaters were in no hurry to strike.
William stood where he was, unmoving.
His fingers lightly brushed across his wand as his mind raced.
He knew many spells.
He could cast every one of them.
And he could cast them well.
But he did not know which one to use.
Countless what ifs spun through his mind.
Each one made him hesitate for another second.
The Death Eaters clearly saw through his hesitation.
One of them smirked and suddenly raised his wand.
"Diffindo!"
The spell flew straight toward William's face.
William reacted half a beat too slowly.
He leaned to the side, and the spell grazed his ear, burning away several strands of hair.
His ear flared with pain. He raised a hand to touch it, and his fingertips came away stained with blood.
The other Death Eater did not give him time to think.
A second spell was already flying toward him.
"Diffindo!"
This time, William did not dodge.
He flicked his wand.
"Protego!"
A translucent barrier formed before him.
The spell slammed into the Shield Charm with a dull impact.
The barrier flickered but did not break.
However, the force of the impact still pushed William back two steps, his feet carving shallow furrows into the dirt.
His physical condition was too poor.
Although the Shield Charm had blocked the spell, the impact alone was enough to make his arms go numb.
The first Death Eater raised his wand again.
William knew he could not hesitate any longer.
At the same moment, the Death Eater's wand came down.
"Impedimenta!"
An invisible force surged from the tip of his wand and struck William.
His feet dragged across the ground as he was thrown backward like a leaf in the wind, slamming into the wall behind him.
Bang!
His back hit the wall, and the pain made his vision go dark for a moment.
One of the Death Eaters was already walking toward him.
"Little boy," he said in a raspy voice, "have you still not decided which spell to use? Do you want me to—"
"Expelliarmus!"
William's wand snapped upward.
A red beam shot from its tip.
The spell came from below at an extremely tricky angle, slipping beneath the Death Eater's Shield Charm before it could extend downward.
It struck him in the lower abdomen.
His body curled up instantly, and his wand flew from his hand, bouncing twice across the ground.
The Death Eater clutched his stomach, his face turning pale...
---
Happy Reading. Be sure to leave a review!!!
Join my P@treon to receive extra updates daily and read up to 75+ chapters ahead.
P@treon: patreon.com/mrfanfiction140