To be honest, aside from the graying hair and the wrinkled face, no one would believe that Newt Scamander is actually a man nearing a hundred years old.
At this moment, Newt is like an agile mountain goat, climbing the steep rock face scattered with thorns and rock fragments with his bare hands—yes, completely unprotected—and quickly hiding himself behind a natural cover formed by rocks.
Then, the old man cautiously poked his head out, his eyes behind the goggles sharp as an eagle's, watching the scene at the bottom of the open cave below.
Just two and a half minutes ago, as Newt was about to continue investigating the situation, he suddenly heard a series of rapid footsteps. Fortunately, he hadn't neglected his exercise all these years, so even though he had just turned ninety-eight this February, he managed to hide himself before those people entered the cave.
In passing, he deftly used magic to erase the traces of his entry.
Now, at the center of the cave, around the discovered remains of the ancient altar, it was brightly lit—a few beams of light emanating from magic wands illuminated everything as bright as day—over a dozen figures dressed in dark brown thick leather armor, wearing masks, appeared in the middle of the clearing. They quickly lit torches, which then extinguished the Lumos.
"Roar—"
Newt covered Lina's mouth, his eyes still unblinkingly watching those people.
The Romanian Forest—Europe's largest Fire Dragon Reserve, as well as a sanctuary for wild magical creatures—such a place, it's one thing for a "private visitor" like him to sneak in, but how on earth did a group of poachers of such exaggerated scale manage to infiltrate? What are they here to steal? Fire Dragons? But aren't those creatures supposed to be accounted for?
And how do they plan to transport them? Unless they can shrink the fire dragons—just like the Ukrainian Ironbelly in his arms, but there should only be one William Richard in the world.
Newt narrowed his eyes slightly, climbing another half step up so he could better observe those people's actions.
Soon, a low growl came from outside the cave; a few more people squeezed through the seemingly tiny cave entrance. Grouped in teams, they were pulling thick, heavy chains with all their might towards the interior of the cave—soon, a fire dragon with deep green scales covering its head, adorned only with two golden long horns on its crown, was forcibly dragged inside.
Romanian Longhorn, Newt instantly recognized this breed of fire dragon—the Romanian Fire Dragon Reserve was established because a large group of these Longhorns resided in this forest, and it was primarily to prevent Muggles from witnessing them that the protection was set up. Later, when many other breeds of fire dragons were introduced, the reserve was officially established.
As one of the few social fire dragons, these creatures were considered one of the most docile breeds and had never been recorded initiating an attack on humans.
But at this moment, the fire dragon's neck was tightly constrained by a heavy collar pulsing with red-brown light. The metal chains those people were pulling were extending from this very collar—Newt frowned, watching them fasten the chains to the dark red "remains."
Then, the man at the forefront seemed to activate some mechanism, and the next moment, the "remains" began to move—
The dark red light began to flow through the crevices in the rocks, the chains stirred, and the fire dragon was gradually dragged towards the center of the "altar."
At this point, the fire dragon seemed to finally sense something, forcefully rallying its spirits (it had evidently been subjected to quite a few Stunning Spells), and let out an angry roar—the chains binding its mouth snapped in response, deep red Dragon Flame spurted from its throat—but the surrounding crowd seemed prepared long in advance and had already withdrawn to a safe distance.
With just one dragon, there was absolutely no way it could escape.
"...but there isn't only one dragon here."
Listening to the cries of the dragon turn into pained whimpers, Newt's tightly furrowed brow slightly relaxed. He set the box in his hand aside and placed the Ukrainian Ironbelly from his arms into his palm.
"Are you ready?"
"Roar!"
Lina understood at once, nodding in agreement. It shook its wings, leaping from Newt's palm into the air like an arrow—were it not for its form enlarging mid-air, it might indeed resemble an arrow; as it stood, however... it seemed more akin to a Dongfeng-5C?
"Boom—"
The suddenly appearing Ukrainian Ironbelly instantly threw the poachers into disarray, let alone the five or six individuals who were smashed into the ground and became utterly two-dimensional.
"Roar!!!"
Lina stood tall, its sharp claws swiping at the disoriented poachers, taking out four in a single swipe—the screams of those slapped into flight finally snapped the rest out of their stupor, and they instinctively reached for their magic wands. Although this fire dragon's emergence was baffling, they were professionals after all.
But then, there was someone even more professional in this cave.
While all the poachers' attention was drawn to Lina, Newt, huddled on the cliffside, leaped into the air—a green-black Swooping Evil emerged from his sleeve, spreading its wings, the air carrying both man and beast gliding swiftly through and colliding into the Romanian Longhorn's head.
As the golden long horn that was about to pierce into his body barely avoided him, Newt exhaled, his magic wand already in his hand, "Confringo!"
The purple-red charm struck the taut chain, the intense explosion nearly tossing Newt off the dragon's head, but the nimble old man flipped back deftly, he laboriously clung onto the dragon's two long horns, barely maintaining stability, "Lina! Retreat!"
True to its reputation as the largest fire dragon in the world, the Ukrainian Ironbelly, despite having been struck with dozens of Stunning Spells, merely had a bit of trouble keeping its eyes open and even settled into a few rolls on the ground, taking out a few more people in the process—upon hearing Newt's shout, Lina threw the poacher in its claws aside, then whipped its tail to knock another into two dimensions before starting to flap its wings.
And the now unshackled Romanian Longhorn also took to the skies; it seemed to realize the human on its head was an ally, even flattening its head to allow Newt to sit more comfortably—but resting on a head full of scales was anything but comfortable.
The two dragons dashed upwards towards the top of the cave, "Deprimo!"
The light of freedom pouring in as the rocks collapsed overhead, but William, seeing this scene, would surely critique, for Newt had made a classic mistake—leaving the roots untouched.
At the bottom of the cave, one fortunate poacher, not crushed to death under Lina, climbed up from the ground, and upon seeing the silhouettes of the two fire dragons flying into the sky, decisively waved his wand—the next moment, the reddish-brown glow sparked at the Romanian Longhorn's collar—
"Roar—"
Crimson blood vessels snaked into the fire dragon's eyes, and it let out a mindless, furious bellow.