The entire logistics office hall was silent.
Almost everyone in the group was holding their breath, extremely tense.
Only the Hunters from the Hunter Corps looked completely relaxed and unconcerned.
Because they firmly believed that Lord Flamel would solve any problem standing in their way.
In a way, they weren't wrong.
Because it didn't take long before Link came up with a solution and immediately put it into action.
He lightly flicked his wand, sending out countless invisible blades that instantly chopped the nearest Silver Corpses into pieces.
It was like stabbing a balloon with a needle. The action immediately set off explosions among the surrounding Inferi. Then the force of those explosions reached the ones farther away, creating a chain reaction.
Explosions echoed one after another. Thick dark green poisonous mist and corrosive acid almost covered the entire logistics office hall.
The already nervous members of the British Ministry of Magic were badly frightened.
Moody and the experienced Aurors and Hit Wizards especially knew from experience that explosions of this strength happening this often were enough to blow apart the entire logistics office hall, or even bring down the French Ministry of Magic itself.
Moody reacted the fastest.
The moment the explosions started, he rushed into the Hogwarts group, holding up a small goblet-shaped Portkey, ready to force his way through the French Ministry's anti-Apparition barrier, which had already been raised to its maximum strength.
The other Aurors and Hit Wizards all raised their wands, preparing to cast Shield Charms and Protective Enchantments to defend everyone.
But before they could do anything, everyone was shocked to find that the poisonous mist and acid shooting into the air never reached them. They had been blocked by a thick, semi-transparent magical shield wall.
The poison and acid mist had clearly been mixed with something that had a magic-breaking effect similar to the Matagot cats. The moment it touched the shield wall, a harsh sizzling sound rang out, visibly eating away over half of the shield's thickness.
Even so, the shield wall remained standing before everyone. Other than becoming thinner, not a single crack appeared.
As the acid slowly flowed away and their view became clear again, everyone realized in surprise that walls like this didn't just stand in front of them.
Centered around the entire logistics office hall, identical magical shield walls protected every key magical node, including the entrance to the Minister's Office, preventing the whole hall from collapsing from the corpse explosions.
"Ohhh, !"
After a brief silence, deafening cheers erupted from the crowd.
Nearly everyone waved their arms and shouted, amazed by Link's strength.
But amid all the cheering, Moody still stood frozen with the goblet-shaped Portkey raised in his hand.
Strictly speaking, most of the people cheering now were simply celebrating without really understanding.
They were too weak, and the gap between them and Link was too great. They knew he was powerful, but they had no real sense of just how powerful.
It was like everyone knew the richest person in the world had a lot of money, many houses, and hundreds of billions in wealth. But hearing those numbers stirred no emotions because, in the end, all that information became one simple conclusion in their minds, the richest person in the world is very rich.
Only when you explained it by saying his wealth could buy several B-2 bombers or countless hamburgers would people truly understand what those numbers meant.
Moody was different.
As a legendary Auror who had captured countless Death Eaters and lived through both of Voldemort's rises to power, he had more than enough strength and experience to understand what Link had just done.
Using protective magic to confine explosions on such a massive scale to such a small area while keeping both the people and the building almost completely unharmed,
That wasn't something you could achieve through clever tricks or smart planning.
It required pure power.
Or rather, overwhelming magical power.
To be honest, Moody had only seen magic that abundant once before, from Dumbledore in his youth, at the height of his strength.
As for the present, considering what age had done to Dumbledore's body, he might still accomplish the same feat with the Elder Wand. But if he put aside the Elder Wand and relied only on his own magic, then in this regard, Dumbledore probably wouldn't surpass Link anymore.
Most importantly, Link was still young.
A young man around twenty years old already possessed such terrifying power.
How strong would he become when he reached his physical peak in his thirties or forties?
Moody couldn't even imagine it.
Meanwhile, Link had already controlled his magic to ignite a cluster of Fiendfyre inside the sealed logistics hall.
The concentrated poisonous gas and acid left behind by the Inferi explosions were themselves highly energetic substances and extremely flammable, one of Fiendfyre's favorite "foods."
In almost the blink of an eye, blazing white flames spread across nearly the entire logistics office hall.
Another wave of cheers rose from the crowd.
Some Aurors and Hunters also began checking and preparing their equipment.
They all knew the poisonous gas and acid blocking their way would soon be completely burned away.
Then they would continue forward toward the final destination, the Minister's Office.
Once they captured it, they could announce to everyone that they had conquered the center of power of the French magical world and completed the first stage of this revenge plan.
It would be an achievement their families could be proud of for hundreds, even thousands of years.
But as the Fiendfyre burned hotter and hotter inside the hall, Link, standing at the very front, frowned more deeply.
The Hunters around him were confused at first.
But once the poisonous mist cleared enough for them to see, their expressions became even more dramatic than Link's.
Their eyes were filled with shock.
Because through the semi-transparent magical shield, they saw a "giant" nearly ten meters tall, its head almost touching the ceiling.
The giant stood in the sea of Fiendfyre, fighting the various monsters formed by the flames.
It should have been a one-sided battle.
Yet every swing of the giant's arms released bursts of bright blue magical light.
Under those pure blasts of magical power, any Fiendfyre beast that got close was instantly shattered into countless sparks.
The battle had fallen into a strange stalemate.
Still, this wasn't completely unbelievable.
Many of the Aurors and Hunters present, as long as they had Professor-level strength, could do something similar if they ignored the cost to their own magic.
They just wouldn't last long, usually only one or two seconds.
After all, Fiendfyre was ultimately just cursed magical fire. Although Link's extremely pure curse magic greatly increased its destructive power, its explosive force still wasn't especially outstanding. Wizards at the top level of the magical world could still block it for a short time.
What truly shocked the veteran Hunters wasn't that.
It was the giant's appearance.
It wasn't a real giant at all.
It was an enormous mountain of flesh stitched together from countless corpse fragments, barely held in the shape of a human.
Its body was covered in corpse spots and rot. Countless arms and legs stuck out from its skin, along with large tumors packed so closely together they almost covered its entire body.
Many of those extra limbs could move on their own and actually fight. Even the blazing white Fiendfyre was smashed apart by the wildly swinging grafted arms.
As for the tumors, they never stopped writhing.
Only when the Fiendfyre finally broke through the giant's defenses and got close enough did the bright firelight reveal the human faces growing from the tumors.
The faces belonged to people of all ages, from old men covered in wrinkles to babies still young enough to cry.
The only thing they all shared was endless agony.
Although none of their screams could actually be heard because their bodies no longer had the organs needed to make sound, that silent suffering was even more painful to witness.
Even the veteran Hunters, who had long grown used to bloody and tragic scenes, broke out in goosebumps.
"That's a Stitch Butcher," Krell said with an ugly expression. "A war weapon that was very common around the eleventh century. I saw one when I was young on the battlefield between the Death Eaters and the British Ministry's Aurors. Voldemort made it. He was a genius when it came to creating Inferi."
"But the Stitch Butcher I saw back then was much smaller, only about five meters tall. And normally, because wizard corpses are so valuable, Stitch Butchers are made from Muggle corpses.
"But this one is different.
"It's made entirely from wizard corpses. Even the souls are locked inside those human faces.
"Only something like this could use magic so often. After all, it's carrying so many 'batteries' inside it."
Hearing that, Newland, who had quietly moved beside Link without anyone noticing, shivered and said with a trembling voice,
"My God... how many wizard lives did this take?"
Krell narrowed his eyes and estimated from experience.
"At least three hundred. A lot of each corpse can't actually be used during construction, so there's a lot of waste."
"Wugh..."
A strange sound escaped Newland's throat as he muttered,
"How many people are there in the entire French magical world? Even if every employee of the French Ministry of Magic died here, they'd still need another hundred or more bodies, wouldn't they?"
This time, Krell said nothing.
He couldn't bear to tell Newland that the French Ministry of Magic never had that many permanent employees.
By Newland's calculation, the number of ordinary wizard corpses brought in from outside was probably another two or three times greater.
Krell shook his head and looked toward Link.
Compared to Newland, Link remained much calmer. His expression hadn't changed in the slightest.
But the Fiendfyre inside the logistics hall became more and more violent.
The blazing white flame beasts launched endless attacks at the giant every second.
That alone proved Link's emotions were far from as calm as his face suggested.
"All units, pay attention."
"Destroy it."
Link spoke softly.
Those cold words, filled with killing intent, reached the ears of every British wizard present.
Almost everyone immediately raised their wands and prepared to attack.
Even the members of the Order of the Phoenix, who had clearly said before that they wouldn't help Link fight anyone except the Shadow Men, did the same.
The next moment, the magical shield wall blocking everyone's path quietly disappeared.
Wrapped in his mist armor, Link took the lead.
He vanished from where he stood and rushed straight toward the Stitch Butcher like a blur.
The blazing white Fiendfyre along the way attached itself to his body, actively heating the moisture inside the mist armor.
The Hunters and Aurors were equally excited.
Earlier, they had been forced to stay together in formation against the Matagot swarm because there were simply too many enemies, and the Cat Lady's speed and magic-breaking ability completely countered wizards.
That was why these elite wizards, who usually specialized in special operations, breakthroughs, and assassinations, had no choice but to huddle together and defend.
But now their enemy was a Stitch Butcher, a huge target that clearly wasn't very mobile.
It was the perfect target for them to show their strength.
Almost the moment Link charged forward, the Hunters, led by Krell, drew both their wands and their miniature dragon-hunting crossbows. With loud battle cries, they turned into streaks of black mist and rushed ahead.
The Aurors beside them refused to fall behind and mounted their broomsticks.
Even the Durmstrang students, led by Krum, charged forward at a run.
As for the remaining Hit Wizards and the Order of the Phoenix, they firmly held back the Hogwarts students, who also wanted to charge, while providing heavy fire support from the rear.
At the same time, Link, who had rushed out first, finally reached the Stitch Butcher.
The mist armor around him, already swelling and turning red, suddenly separated from his body, taking on a human shape. It tightly grabbed one of the grafted arms on the Stitch Butcher's shoulder, then exploded.
BOOM!
The massive explosion and the superheated steam instantly swallowed the entire Stitch Butcher.
Under Link's precise control, the steam that should have spread wildly outward instead stayed tightly wrapped around the Stitch Butcher, remaining under extremely high pressure.
A deafening scream, sounding both like an infant and an ape, burst from within the enormous white cloud of steam.
The Stitch Butcher was now like a pork knuckle being cooked inside a pressure cooker, enduring high temperature and crushing pressure every second.
And that was only the beginning of the attack.