The shocking heat pouring out from that half-transparent flame forced everyone to keep stepping back.
John grabbed his burned hair tips and stammered, "Th… this… what kind of flame is this?"
The entire minister's office fell silent. No one present could give John a clear answer.
Not even Old Barty, who had seen the most, could.
And precisely because he had seen so much, the shock he felt right now was actually greater than anyone else present.
He simply could not understand how this "fragile" magical flame in front of him could release such intense heat.
Judging only from the faint magical aura leaking from it, this should actually be a highly condensed cursed flame similar to Fiendfyre.
But since when could curse power, this absolutely dark force, produce such a "holy" flame?
And with such high controllability, so stable, even able to be casually kneaded and played with in one's hand?
And the power was too exaggerated, wasn't it?
Old Barty even had a feeling that as long as Link wanted, the heat that flame in his hand could release instantly might directly kill every living being in this office except Link himself.
Even an experienced old wizard like him would not have any chance to escape.
Smack!
Link lightly clapped his hand, and the flame in his palm that made Old Barty shiver was extinguished.
The high temperature in the minister's office quickly began returning to normal under the constant-temperature equipment after losing its heat source.
This made Link nod in satisfaction.
After some initial testing, he roughly understood the power he now held.
It was about what he had estimated before. After the curse power represented by the Sectumsempra Spell was upgraded to LV8, his entire power level rose by another big stage.
Right now, even just using highly condensed Fiendfyre, his combat strength was several times what it had been before.
Not to mention other combat methods that could be developed on this basis.
Besides that, the improvement in curse power purity, amount, control strength, and upper limit brought Link even more benefits.
[Avada Kedavra LV5 obtained!]
[Fiendfyre Spell LV5 obtained!]
[Cruciatus Curse LV5 obtained!]
[Soul-Summoning Spell LV3 obtained!]
Looking at the multiple notification lines flashing across his data panel again, Link comfortably let out a long breath.
Almost all spells he knew that were driven by curse power had leveled up in this upgrade. He even obtained a soul-summoning spell he had never studied before, directly at LV3.
This almost proved that his control over curse power had reached an astonishing level, enough to bypass wand and spell assistance and freely produce spell effects at will.
This was nearly the level of a legendary mage.
Not only that, Link felt the black magic now unified at the theoretical LV5 limit was not truly the real limit.
If his Sectumsempra Spell could continue leveling up, these spells might break the LV5 cap directly without needing golden skill points.
'What kind of crazy effect is this?'
Link now somewhat understood.
This was the correct way to use the system inside him.
As long as he specialized in one branch and invested all resources into a single spell, other spells sharing the same power origin would also improve as that spell leveled up.
And maybe, if he raised one spell to the true limit, even spells from different power systems might level up too.
This was simply outrageous.
Unfortunately, achieving this was almost impossible.
After all, Link had been in this magical world for several years already.
During these years, except for specially upgrading the Replenishing Charm, almost all golden skill points he obtained were invested into the Sectumsempra Spell.
Even so, he had only raised it to LV8.
So what exactly was the true level cap?
LV10? Or LV15?
How many golden skill points would it take to reach that level?
And how long would he need to earn that many golden skill points?
Especially since the main storyline was already nearing its end.
This was destined to be an immeasurable massive project.
Taking a deep breath, Link slowly stepped out from behind the desk.
Emily and the others had recovered from their earlier anxiety. Their eyes now showed excitement and joy.
They were not fools. They could naturally see Link's power had gained another huge boost.
Although they could not understand what exactly had happened, that did not stop them from feeling excited.
After all, what Link represented now was the dreams and interests of all of them.
In other words, Link's power was basically their power.
Newland was trembling with excitement.
As a dark wizard who also specialized in curse power, he felt he saw his own future in Link.
If he continued following Link forward, could he also obtain such great power?
Of course, this wish was truly unrealistic and very unlikely to come true.
But dreams were always like that, weren't they?
The only one not so happy was Fudge.
To be precise, his mental state was already on the edge of madness.
Link's sudden appearance as the mastermind behind everything, plus the terrifying power Link just showed, which in Fudge's eyes was no weaker than Voldemort or Dumbledore, had completely crushed his sanity.
Facing Link walking slowly toward him, he almost crawled and rolled into the corner cabinet.
Like a child hiding under blankets because of fear of ghosts.
Yet even that could not ease his fear.
His body shook violently, even making the whole cabinet tremble.
Link frowned at the cabinet and said, "Find a way to make him normal again. After tonight's matter ends, we still need him to hold a press conference."
"Yes, Lord Flamel!"
Old Barty bowed respectfully to Link, then pulled out his wand and walked straight toward the shaking cabinet.
Link smiled slightly and continued to the others, "Let's go. Let's check on our comrades. They should already be getting impatient."
Everyone nodded and followed behind Link down to the second-floor atrium of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
At this moment, more than fifty D.A. members gathered from Hogwarts were stationed on the second floor of the Ministry, curiously visiting various offices.
Right now, aside from the Auror Office and Wizengamot administration, other areas like the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office and the office for investigating and confiscating fake defensive spells and protective gear had all been opened to them.
This extremely generous permission greatly eased the psychological pressure caused by long waiting.
After all, ordinary students rarely had a chance to freely tour the Ministry of Magic like this.
These D.A. members were recruited by Link at Hogwarts under the reason of rescuing Harry and had voluntarily come to the Ministry.
But actually, aside from a few close friends of Harry like Neville and Luna, more people came mainly because of Link.
Some of them could not even be considered official D.A. members, only reserves at most.
The reason was that Link had recruited many former Inquisitorial Squad members and promised to forgive their mistakes during Umbridge's period after this mission and accept them into the D.A.
This was quite a helpless decision.
Compared with the D.A. Link previously formed without rejecting anyone, the Inquisitorial Squad chosen carefully by Umbridge clearly had stronger ability.
Considering the scarce population in the magical world, Link had little choice but to allow them to turn over a new leaf.
Of course, Link was not foolish enough to recruit too many of them.
Among the main D.A. members, former Inquisitorial Squad members could never exceed one fifth.
This was a strict rule. If there were more, they might form their own faction and revive the old squad inside the D.A. structure.
But for now, these former squad members showed better quality than veteran D.A. members.
Just like right now.
When Link and his group stepped out of the elevator, almost all former squad members immediately stood up and bowed to greet him. That was a habit formed during their squad days.
In contrast, the other D.A. members were more natural and lively.
They were equally excited seeing Link, but their excitement showed more in crowding around him and chattering nonstop.
Some were still "visiting" other offices.
Link gave Cedric a look, signaling him to gather all D.A. members.
After everyone assembled, Link smiled and said, "Everyone, we've found Harry's location. I think it's time for us to set off."
As soon as he said this, waves of cheers erupted from the crowd.
Young students were like this.
They were fearless like newborn calves, unaware of consequences and easily stirred up.
After such a long wait, they were already impatient.
Often this trait pushed them toward death.
Fortunately, Link was not one of those bad conspirators.
His main purpose in bringing the D.A. here was to train them.
If their first battle opponent in life was Voldemort, maybe they would be less timid on future battlefields.
Thinking this, Link waved his hand, and the gathered crowd began moving in batches toward the elevators.
Next, they would take these elevators directly to the lowest level of the Ministry.
And wait at the entrance of the Department of Mysteries.
At the same time, Old Barty, who had stayed behind to handle Fudge, hurried over to Link's side.
He bowed respectfully, then spoke quickly, "Lord Flamel, Minister Fudge has returned to normal.
Also, Scrimgeour is getting impatient.
He has sent me three messages already asking why everyone was ordered to gather and stand by.
Should we find an excuse to stabilize them for now?"
Hearing this, Link raised his brows slightly, lips curving up, "Tell him, tonight, we're going to eliminate Voldemort!"
"Wh… what?"
Old Barty stammered.
His expression looked like he had not heard clearly.
Not only him, Emily and the others around Link had similar expressions.
They truly could not understand how Link could say such terrifying words so casually.
For them… no, for most people, eliminating Voldemort was something they had never even imagined.
It was simply too outrageous.
Seeing their expressions, Link's smile grew brighter. He slowly said, "What are you all shocked about?"
"You don't actually think Voldemort is unbeatable, do you?"
"Wake up. In my view, Voldemort is ridiculously weak."
"Remember, even Grindelwald, who once threw all Europe into panic, was captured alive by the American Ministry of Magic."
"And they only used their own Auror force."
"And now? How many people do we have?"
Hearing this, Old Barty and the others' shock eased slightly, though disbelief remained.
Link continued, "There are 173 Aurors participating in this operation. Many were emergency recruits and not very capable, but over 40 are elite Aurors whose combat ability matches Hogwarts professor level."
"Also, Krell brought 51 top hunters who work perfectly together, carry heavy hunting gear, and have combat strength comparable to Aurors from the Second Wizarding War era."
"Plus nearly sixty D.A. members here."
"And most importantly, I've already informed Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix about what's happening here."
"Once battle breaks out, I guarantee they will appear."
"With such strong forces, even if Voldemort really brings all his Death Eaters into the Department of Mysteries, what can he do?"
After hearing this, Cedric and the others' breathing grew heavier.
Because they suddenly realized it really seemed exactly as Link said.
The power they now held had already far exceeded Voldemort's.
And if that was true, eliminating Voldemort…
That achievement might let all of them enter magical history as heroes.
"Let's go!"
Link pulled out his wand, flicked it in the air, turned toward the elevators and walked off.
"We're going to create a miracle!"