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Chapter 1013: Fifty-fourth Choice
🕑 Added 2024-02-07 18:52:28 +0000 UTCSirius had just mentioned that there was a lot of magic left by Grindelwald in this land and asked them to be careful.
Ten seconds later, they met one. It seemed that Grindelwald had really been active in this area in the past and left many traces.
But what was the purpose of this magic in front of them? Why was there a Viking warship and so many arches? What was the significance of all this?
Looking at the haze in front of him and recalling what Harry had just said, Evan speculated an answer.
He felt that there might be one gate among them that could allow them to ride the warship through, entering that special building.
It might have once been Grindelwald's secret base, but now it was spotted by Voldemort because of its confidentiality and security. It was used as a place for him to split his soul and make new Horcruxes. The dying Caresius was inside, currently waiting for rescue.
Things seemed simple, enter the right arch, defeat Voldemort and the statue of the evil god, and rescue Caresius.
But there were too many arches, and Evan couldn't see any difference between them.
Choosing the right arch was really difficult, almost impossible!
"Yes, yes … the Gates of Valhalla!" Dumbledore showed a more interested expression on his face, looking at these arches carefully, his blue eyes shining brightly, "We have to choose carefully; only one gate leads to our destination."
"What happens if we enter the wrong gate?"
"The other gates lead to the other side, Alastor, where we will face death and reach the realm of the dead," said Dumbledore calmly, as if talking about an insignificant matter. "Only one gate will lead to the land of glory, the choice of life or death, the chance is only fifty-fourth."
"Fifty-fourth?!" Harry, Sirius and Moody all looked at Dumbledore in surprise.
They silently counted and indeed found a total of fifty-four arches.
"This magic is not complete. The difficulty has been reduced. The real Gates of Valhalla have five hundred and forty arches," said Dumbledore. "I didn't expect that he would leave such an interesting magic here. It's very In line with the ancient traditions of this area, he gave us the opportunity to choose, and now the decision is in our hands!"
"Sounds pretty good," said Moody in a disdainful tone. "Typical of that guy."
What Dumbledore said matched Evan’s speculation. Grindelwald had left this magic in this remote place. By choosing the right gate, they would reach the building Harry had seen and continue the rescue. However, if they chose incorrectly, they would die instantly, with only a fifty-fourth chance.
And according to Dumbledore, this was still a reduced difficulty version, only one-tenth of the complete magic.
Voldemort could have had victims try one by one until he cracked the magic, but they couldn't afford that.
There were not so many victims, and Caresius was seriously injured, leaving no time for them to break the magic.
Even if a vampire's life span was far beyond that of ordinary people and it was difficult for them to die, it still depended on who his opponent was.
Harry made it clear that Voldemort's new Horcrux, the terrifying evil god in the statue, wanted to actively consume him.
Could it be that so many flesh and blood sacrifices didn’t suit his taste and he desired to start consuming living beings?!
"Harry, do you still remember the position of the Viking warship when you saw it?" Dumbledore asked softly. "It's the corresponding position of the warship, the moon, and the golden gate. I think they are in constant correspondence."
It had been less than ten minutes since Harry woke up from his dream and they arrived here, and the position of the moon had not changed much.
But there was a premise here, that was, the building had to be present here, or there would be no point of reference.
Dumbledore obviously thought so. Evan sensed some traces in the magical energy around him.
In other words, the building Harry saw was superimposed on the space in front of him, and the magic was beyond imagination...
It was like the Undetectable Extension Charm, which was the simplest application of space magic, but it was already a very difficult magic.
Using the Undetectable Extension Charm, a fixed space could be expanded countless times without any visible changes. Therefore, Evan’s bag could hold so many things, and Mr. Weasley's modified car could also accommodate so many people.
This was the simplest space magic. Creating a perfectly overlaid space in real space was much more challenging than using the Undetectable Extension Charm on a fixed object. It was almost impossible to accomplish. Just based on the information presented here, one could deduce how powerful Grindelwald was.
Dumbledore still didn't look at Harry, continuing to gaze at the arches composed of light mist in front of him.
After their brief eye contact earlier, Harry was a bit hesitant to look at him now.
He was afraid that he might lose control and attack the headmaster, as the hatred within him was too terrifying.
"It seems to be this position!" After much hesitation, Harry looked up at the moon, then at the Viking warship, before uncertainly pointing in a direction corresponding to a particular area. He quickly added, "But I can't be sure; I only saw the outline of the ship from a distance.
Although not much time had passed since the end of that terrible nightmare, Harry felt his memory rapidly fading.
He was not sure at all, and couldn't make such a hasty decision. This was almost a life-or-death choice.
Although he felt disgusted, he forced himself to remember hard. But no matter how hard he tried, he could only recall some vague pictures.
After all, in the dream, he was just a statue, placed in an inconvenient position with limited visibility.
Not to mention, there was no light at all in that room except for the dim moonlight.
And it didn't make much sense. There were just too many arches formed by the blue mist, dazzling him.
"Too risky, Dumbledore … too risky, we can't go in," said Moody immediately. "We can't determine which gate is the right one. It could be any of them, and if this is a plot by Voldemort, we might all end up buried here without him even lifting a finger."
Mad-Eye's worry was indeed very reasonable; it could very well be a trap.
Voldemort deliberately lured them here using Harry, taking advantage of the magic left by Grindelwald to kill them.
Dumbledore said nothing. He looked carefully at the area Harry was pointing at, as if discerning the options.
The full moon in the sky was once again shrouded in dark clouds, the voices gradually subsided, and the fear gradually increased in the silence.
Evan, Harry, Sirius, and Moody all looked at Dumbledore, waiting for his decision.
Tension and unease shrouded everyone's mind. Once they entered the wrong gate, they would die immediately. Everyone was thinking about this.
No one here was afraid of death, but that didn't mean they were willing to die in such an unclear and meaningless way.
