"Retreat!" Seth no longer held out hope for the unrealistic goal of defeating Thunderbird; even without using Fiendfyre, his regular combat power was beyond their ability to contend with. "Everyone, fall back! I'll cover your retreat!"
Upon hearing Seth's call, everyone awoke from their daze and scrambled backward behind him. After shouting, Seth immediately unleashed several Killing Curses at Thunderbird. He didn't expect these curses to hit; he merely tried to use them to slow down Thunderbird's slaughter. All he could do now was to bring back as many Jacobsen family members as possible, preserving their living forces. For this, Seth had even prepared for sacrifice.
It was quite ironic: the Pure Land Society, as the largest violent organization in Northern Europe, operated with far more ruthlessness than smuggling groups like the Silver Spears. Yet, within such an organization, there was greater unity. If anyone offended one of their members, it would provoke retaliation from the entire family. Conversely, the Silver Spears, which appeared to use relatively softer methods and was more focused on profit, had internal managers who were disloyal and suspicious of each other, each prioritizing their own interests.
At this moment, Seth was ready to fight to the death, so the Killing Curses he cast were both fierce and swift. This somewhat disrupted Thunderbird's attack rhythm, forcing him to conjure an earthen stone wall from the ground to block the assault. The Pure Land Society members were very active in their escape, each mounting a flying broom and rushing backward. Seth also seized this opportunity to mount his flying broom and flee.
"Heh heh, only now realizing it's time to run? Isn't that a bit too naive?" With the Blue Fiendfyre blocking the way, Thunderbird seemed less anxious. He slowly mounted a flying broom and chased after them, casually firing spells along the way, attempting to obstruct them.
The death threat posed by Thunderbird seemed to unleash their potential. Each of them performed various high-difficulty maneuvers on their flying brooms in the air, evading the incoming spells. However, under Thunderbird's dense onslaught, some of them were inevitably hit.
One wizard, who was moving frantically from side to side in the forest, was too hasty in his maneuvers. While evading, the tail of his broom accidentally scraped a tree branch. For wizards skilled in flying, this situation usually only required two seconds to stabilize their balance. But at this critical moment, the wizard who made the mistake was immediately targeted by a shield charm fired by Thunderbird, which shattered his flying broom in one shot.
The disoriented and falling wizard was controlled by Thunderbird, then dragged through the air, following Thunderbird's flying broom, and sped forward for another dozen meters. "Ah!!!" Finally, Thunderbird in the air gave a sharp flick, and the wizard heavily crashed into a thick ash tree. The hard branches on the white tree trunk directly pierced the wizard's chest. Ultimately, he hung like a piece of cured meat high on the tree, slowly losing his last consciousness in the cold wind.
Another family member lost. Hearing the other party's horrific scream, Seth's eyes were so red they were almost seeping blood. He now wished he could tear Thunderbird limb from limb. But the last shred of rationality in his mind told him that Thunderbird behind him was not something he could contend with at the moment. The most important thing now was to save the remaining family members.
Originally, excluding Karkaroff, Knut, the severely wounded, and the wizards who had died in battle, there were only sixteen people, including him, when they launched the attack again. However, after just a few minutes of fighting, nine people had already died at Thunderbird's hands. The efficiency of his slaughter was terrifyingly chilling.
As good fortune would have it, after more than ten seconds of rapid flight, everyone had reached the edge of the Blue Fiendfyre barrier. However, a problem now lay before them: apart from the constantly pursuing Thunderbird behind them, how were they to break through the azure Fiendfyre in front of them?
"Don't slow down! I'll open a path for you!" Seth mustered all his strength and shouted loudly to the surrounding family members against the cold wind. "Finite Incantatem!"
Seth channeled all his remaining magic, disregarding his rapidly charging figure, and solidly blasted the Counter-Spell onto the Blue Fiendfyre barrier. Watching the barrier in front of him get closer and closer yet still not break, Seth still did not slow down. Now, every second they slowed down, their chances of escape diminished by one.
Perhaps Lady Luck finally spared a glance at him; just as Seth and the Pure Land Society wizards were less than ten meters from the barrier, the protective shield made of Blue Fiendfyre finally had a large hole carved into it by his spell. Seeing this, the wizards of the Jacobsen family rushed forward like hungry wolves spotting their prey, adjusting their angles with their eyes closed. To ensure all family members successfully escaped, Seth risked being caught and paused for a moment, simply to maintain the opening in the barrier for an extra second or two.
But this action brought Seth a fatal disaster. Thunderbird behind him was not slow; after rushing close, he fired two Impediment Jinxes at him. Seth, whose eyes were only on the lives of his family members, was hit head-on. The enormous impact directly slammed him into the nearby Blue Fiendfyre barrier. "Ugh ah!!!" After crashing into the barrier, the fiercely burning azure flames instantly enveloped Seth. He was utterly unable to resist the intense heat and could only let out a series of agonizing screams.
"The Silver Spears! The Pure Land Society and the Jacobsen family will never rest until you are destroyed!" Seth, on the verge of being incinerated, mustered his last bit of magic and let out a furious roar, like a curse.
"Hmph, that's exactly what I want, for you and the Silver Spears to be at each other's throats. Otherwise, why would I let some of you go?" Alan, playing the role of Thunderbird, sneered. However, before Seth finally dissipated, he couldn't help but praise him admiringly, "I didn't realize you old geezer were truly loyal. You'd rather sacrifice your own life to cover their retreat than not save the others."
"Jacobsen… family…" In the last moments before his consciousness dissipated, Seth's mind was still fixated on his family. Perhaps being able to save the remaining family members at the crucial moment was his last shred of comfort.
Watching Seth dissipate before him, Alan couldn't help but rub his chin and ponder, "Just escaping the Blue Fiendfyre barrier won't get rid of the anti-Apparition jammer I set up elsewhere. But how should I deal with the remaining people? It doesn't seem right to just let them go so easily." After a brief thought, a cold smile appeared on Alan's face. "Alright, let's just make it easy for that wimp Karkaroff. It'll also pave the way for his principal position."
At this moment, the six Pure Land Society wizards who had rushed out of the Fiendfyre barrier were all biting their teeth, their eyes filled with tears. They had all heard Seth's final desperate cry. But at the same time, they also knew that this was the time Seth had bought for them with his life. So, even though everyone hated the Silver Spears and Thunderbird to the core, they now had no choice but to use all their strength to escape.
"No! Even after escaping the Fiendfyre barrier, we still can't Apparate! What do we do next? That bastard will catch up to us very soon!" One Pure Land Society wizard's face turned grim after failing to Apparate, and he looked at his companions.
"We must still be within the range of the Blue Fiendfyre's influence. We probably need to escape further before we can Apparate," another wizard suggested.
"What about Karkaroff and Knut? We can't abandon them!" Although the Pure Land Society wizards committed all sorts of evil, they always valued loyalty. Someone immediately asked about the remaining family members.
"The place where they retreated isn't far from here. Let's go meet up with them first and see if we can Apparate there. If not, we'll take them with us and escape!" a wizard suggested.
"Good!"
"Let's do it!"
His suggestion immediately received everyone's approval. They immediately adjusted their direction and rushed toward the location where Karkaroff and the others were tending to the wounded.
In fact, given the current situation of these Pure Land Society wizards, choosing to split up and escape would have a higher success rate, and it would also draw the enemy's attention away from the wounded. However, these people were accustomed to acting as a group, and subconsciously, they had no concept of abandoning their companions and dispersing to escape. Coupled with their intense emotional upheaval at the time, they were unable to think rationally.
Not long after, everyone spotted Karkaroff and the others from the air. At this moment, Karkaroff and Knut were feeding potions to the wounded. The three wizards who had died in battle had also been collected by them, ready to be taken back to the family for burial at any time.
The group of six quickly lowered their flying brooms, leaping and running off their brooms, then quickly shouted to the others, "Hurry up and pack up, we need to leave here immediately!"
"Leave? What does that mean? Why are there only a few of you? Where's the principal?" Knut and Karkaroff exchanged confused glances, then approached the group with bewildered expressions.
"We encountered an unstoppable enemy, Principal Seth…" A Pure Land Society wizard briefly and urgently recounted the previous events to the two, even shedding tears uncontrollably when he spoke of Seth sacrificing himself to cover their retreat.
"What? So many of you couldn't stop that Silver Spear? Even the principal…" Knut stared at everyone in astonishment. He couldn't comprehend that the principal, whom he considered invincible, could one day be killed.
*Seth is really dead?* Compared to Knut's incomprehension, Karkaroff was even more shocked at this moment. He knew the hint Alan had given earlier, which meant that the Pure Land Society's expedition today would definitely not end well. But he hadn't expected Seth to just die like that. Although the Pure Land Society's offensive had been blocked earlier, the situation was clearly in their favor, wasn't it? Karkaroff had even doubted the accuracy of Alan's intelligence before. But how long had it been? They had probably retreated here for less than half an hour, so how did the news of Seth's death suddenly come out? Could Alan be able to prophesy?