Chapter 288 286 Under the Ice Maze

Chapter 288 286. Maze Under the Ice

It was now the end of March, and Jon and the others were only four or five miles away from the pole.

The range of extreme daylight has been expanded here, so there is no intention to wait until dark, and it is impossible for it to get dark.

Gabrielle was shrouded in an invisibility cloak and took Nick with her, flying towards the direction where the dementors were guarding.

After they left, Jon did not act rashly. He used the invisibility cloak made of the Disguise Spell given to him by Eric and put it on himself.

Due to the lack of long-distance communication methods and the fact that the North Pole is a place where it is easy to get lost, he has no idea of ​​doing anything else at this time. He just needs to wait for Gabriel and Nick to come back. .

Gabrielle and Nick wore invisibility cloaks and easily passed the defensive circle of the dementors. They continued to fly forward and soon saw an area not far away where more than a dozen tents were stationed.

That was their destination.

"Why don't these people just go home during their break?"

Under the invisibility cloak, Gabrielle asked quietly.

"Don't they have that kind of magic that 'pops' and disappears again?"

Nick explained to her in a low voice.

"The teleportation range of Apparition is limited. The farther the distance, the higher the possibility of disintegration. The distance between the North Pole and the UK is far beyond this safe range. Therefore, for the sake of insurance, even if you have rest time, leave This is the safest decision.”

Not to mention going to school, Gabrielle didn't even open a magic book during her time at Hogwarts, and she didn't even understand some of the terms Nick spoke.

"What is a split?"

"It's just that your head has teleported to the designated place, but your body has not followed."

Gabrielle looked shocked.

"Won't you die directly?"

"The magic power will maintain the connection between different parts of the wizard when the body is separated, but this connection cannot last long. If the body cannot be restored in a short time, the wizard will really die."

Seeing that the group of tents was getting closer and closer, Nick warned softly.

"Okay, we are not here for class. Now if I don't speak first, you should stay silent and look at my gestures to communicate."

Gabrielle, who had made the promise, behaved very well. She grabbed the invisibility cloak with her two little hands to prevent the cold wind from blowing the cloak away. Even though she was still a child, she knew the importance of things.

Soon, they drifted into the tent group. After entering, they found that there were not as many tents as they had seen in the distance. There were only a dozen tents, and most of them were erected around an area. , and two tents were left alone on one side.

The tents surrounding a circle were obviously ordinary tents, and the entrances were not closed. Gabriel and Nick could clearly see a wizard holding a wand sitting in each tent. Their attention was basically focused on the area surrounded by them, but from the outside, there was something different about the snow-covered ice surface.

As for the two separate tents on one side, people would come in and out every once in a while, and those who came out would directly use apparation to leave. Nick could clearly hear the voices of many people talking from inside.

This is obviously the resting place for the Death Eaters who patrol outside. Both tents have been cast with traceless stretching spells, allowing any number of Death Eaters to rest inside.

Judging from this situation, those Death Eaters who were in ordinary tents and kept vigilant with their wands were acting very special.

Nick directed Gabrielle, and the two ghosts walked around the Death Eater's station. After confirming that there were no other discoveries, they set their sights on the snow surrounded by tents.

"Could they also use the invisibility cloak to hide something?"

After walking a little away from the station and Nick indicated that he could speak, Gabrielle made a wild guess.

Nick did not respond to her words immediately. He was lowering his head in deep thought, as if hesitating about something.

The Death Eaters' actions were so obvious, and he could certainly tell that there must be a problem in the area surrounded by tents, but no one could guarantee whether it was a real problem or a bait.

If they get close, will there be any danger of triggering an alarm?

But after thinking about it again and again, Nick decided to find out what happened. They couldn't give Jon any useful information just by going back like this.

However, he still had to take necessary protective measures. He asked Gabrielle to hold the invisibility cloak behind him, while he hid under the cloak in front, and then cautiously approached the area in the middle of the tent.

It took them nearly half an hour to wander around the open space. During this time, the Death Eaters were staring at them, but no one saw through the invisibility cloak.

Gabrielle also looked very nervous. After all, she was being stared at by so many enemies, and she was still just a child. At least she couldn't get her palms sweaty in her ghost state, otherwise the wind might blow her invisibility cloak off if her hands slipped. .

After searching everywhere but finding nothing, Nick turned his attention to the ice beneath them.

He frowned and thought, and then gestured downward with Gabri. Gabri quickly understood what he meant.

If there is no problem on the ice, then the problem is likely to be under the ice!

After determining the next reconnaissance target, Nick still took the initiative to go down, while Gabrielle rode on his neck with the invisibility cloak, and the two ghosts carefully sneaked into the ice layer on the ground.

After they went down, they could only see that there was extremely solid ice everywhere around them. This ice field at the North Pole has a lot of permafrost, which has not melted for tens of thousands or even millions of years from ancient times to the present, so some ice layers may be frozen with some strange things.

But the ice layer where Nick and his friends are now is shallow, surrounded by some very clean ice blocks, and they didn't see anything special.

After sneaking under the ice, Nick did not stop. He was extremely cautious and still did not let Gabrielle take off the invisibility cloak. The two still hid in the invisibility cloak and began to scout this area in the ice layer.

And this time, they soon made a discovery!

Under the ice in the middle area surrounded by the Death Eaters, they found a secret passage in the ice!

The tunnel was obviously dug out by humans, and according to Nick's judgment, it was reinforced with special magic to prevent the tunnel from collapsing or being frozen again.

Such a discovery made them all very excited.

Instead of leaving immediately, Nick and Gabriel continued to go deeper along the secret passage.

They agreed with Jon before setting off. No matter what happened, they would return within five hours. Now there was plenty of time, so they could explore deeper.

They floated along the winding secret passage for about ten or twenty minutes, and then encountered a fork in the road.

The power to choose the route forward was given to Gabriel by Nick. The little girl pointed with her fingers and finally chose the road on the left.

After deciding the route, they continued to move forward, but within a few minutes, they encountered another fork in the road, and this fork led to three different directions.

This made Nick frown even deeper. He finally felt that this was not a secret passage under the ice at all, but a maze!

There were no road signs or any information. If it weren't for the ghost, anyone who came here would inevitably get lost.

They didn't choose to stop here. This time they chose the middle road to go down. Soon, there were constant forks in the road, which confirmed Nick's guess.

This is indeed an underground maze. If there is no map, it would be extremely difficult to find the right way in such a complex environment.

Even if Nick took advantage of the ghost and didn't reach the end after floating for more than an hour, he started to take Gabrielle across the ice and wandered around, but there were no more valuable discoveries.

They could only see that this maze was really huge. At their speed, they could at least cross the urban area of ​​a Muggle city, but they still didn't find a completely blocked road.

After confirming this, Nick didn't plan to continue floating with Gabrielle.

They wanted to take this news back to Jon and let him decide how to make the next choice.

After deciding to return, they went straight up and tried to float out of the ice, but they flew for half an hour. Just when Nick almost thought that something went wrong and they had been teleported to other places, they finally returned to the ground.

Only then did he realize that he and Gabrielle had actually gone so deep under the ice!

Back on the ice surface of the Arctic, they floated around for a long time before finally finding the direction again with the help of the Dementors, and then returned to the starting point where they separated from Jon.

"They are guarding a huge maze. The maze is in the ice layer underground. Gabrielle and I have been floating together for a long time and have not tested how big this maze is."

Nick told Jon about their discovery.

While listening, Jon took out the map that Grindelwald gave him at the beginning.

It clearly marked the end of their journey, and the location of the end was the maze described by Nick.

After telling the discovery, Nick also gave his own judgment.

"According to the information on the map, there is a high probability that it is our destination, but we cannot rule out that this is actually an illusion created by the Death Eaters."

"Their defensive target is a little too clear. Under such a defense, anyone with eyes can see what they are protecting and where the target is, so I decided that it is possible that this so-called maze is actually a trap."

After listening to him, Jon folded the map again and put it in his pocket.

"In fact, your two guesses can also be combined. That maze is our destination, and the purpose of these Death Eaters is also not to protect that maze, but to capture or kill me."

Nick didn't understand Jon's words, but this was normal, because whether it was the students or the ghosts on the ship, they didn't know what effect Jon's torn contract from the tower had achieved.

It is also unknown who he killed on the sea that day.

"Aren't the things here very important to the Dark Lord?"

Jon shook his head and explained what Grindelwald had said to him privately before.

"When it was the Death Eaters who appeared on the sea looking for us at that time instead of the Dark Lord himself, it meant that this point in the North Pole was not that important to him, or it was possible that he had already transferred the important information in advance. Things were taken away.”

Nick thought about Jon's words, and after a moment he continued to ask.

"So what are you going to do?"

Jon patted the falling snowflakes on himself.

"What else can we do? We have all come here, why don't we just go back in such despair? Haven't you already confirmed that there is no one in that maze? This proves that these Death Eaters themselves do not dare to go deep into it. They You’ll also get lost in it, so there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

As he spoke, he patted the pocket on the robe that was sewn secretly on the chest. There was a feather inside that was emitting warmth.

"And we have a guaranteed means of escape, so we can definitely go for it."

Jon is of course the absolute mastermind in this team of one person and two ghosts. Now that he has made a decision, Nick will no longer have any doubts. Instead, he begins to change his mind and think about how to enter that room safely. A labyrinth under the ice.

"The entrance to the maze is sealed on the ice, but Gabrielle and I still remember where it is. However, the Death Eaters guarding there are very vigilant, and their base camp in the Arctic is next to them. Once something happens, Their support will come quickly."

"These Dementors are easy to deal with." Jon looked up and looked at the tall black figures wandering in the distance. "The Patron Saint can drive them all away, but after that we have to move fast and we can't give them any chance." Death Eaters have too much reaction time."

Jon said with some regret.

"It's a pity that we didn't bring the Firebolt. Otherwise, we would have accelerated with all our strength and tried to rush over from here, but they wouldn't have had time to prepare."

As long as he wanted to get past these dementors, he couldn't remain hidden. The movement caused by the Patronus Curse was too great, so Jon could only find a way at speed.

"Approximately how thick is the ice at the entrance to the maze?" he then asked.

Nick thought about using the blasting spell that Jon usually used to make a measure.

"Two blasting spells, or three crushing spells, are enough to penetrate that ice."