Because Lupin had used Human Transfiguration to disguise his original appearance, Black Zetsu failed to immediately recognize the man before him as Kyle's teacher upon seeing him.
This resulted in Black Zetsu showing no mercy whatsoever when manipulating the Animal Path to strike, resorting right off the bat to the Cruciatus Curse—one of the three Unforgivable Curses.
Seeing signs that the Animal Path was reaching a disadvantage, Black Zetsu frowned...
Wait, did Black Zetsu even have eyebrows?
Apparently not.
Sensing that his partner's mood seemed slightly off, the corners of Guruguru's (Afei's) mouth curled up slightly. "Need some help?"
"No need," Black Zetsu refused coldly.
Restricted by magic power, the Animal Path's inherent combat strength wasn't particularly high to begin with; it relied far more on using the various modified magical creatures created by Kyle to engage in battle.
Outside the village, the Animal Path rapidly pulled back a great distance from Lupin under the guidance of magic, before snapping its hands together.
"Summoning Technique!"
Amidst a cloud of white smoke, a swarm of giant Acromantulas charged out, their large pincers clicking rhythmically as they surged toward Lupin like a dark, rushing stream.
A jet of eerie flame poured forth from the wand in Lupin's hand, forming a wall of searing, rolling fire between himself and the Acromantulas.
Rain from the sky was still pattering down endlessly, evaporating under the intense heat of the flames into a vast shroud of white steam that blanketed the entire battlefield.
Lupin had already harbored the intent to retreat. Just as he prepared to cast Disapparition to escape while the enemy's vision was obscured by the water vapor, a familiar sensation crept up his spine.
An Anti-Disapparition Jinx!
Now things were truly troublesome. A wry smile touched Lupin's face.
After summoning the Acromantulas, the Animal Path didn't proceed to summon other magical creatures; instead, it drew its wand once more to launch an attack toward Lupin.
Because of the vaporized steam, visibility was poor for both sides, but the Animal Path possessed a cheat-like support ability in the form of the Rain Tiger at Will Technique maintained by Deva Path.
With Black Zetsu acting as an intermediary to feed the perception radar from Deva Path back to the Animal Path, Lupin's general position was entirely under the Animal Path's control.
It simply needed to fire off large-scale spells to relentlessly carpet-bomb that blind spot in perception.
One Reductor Curse after another shot out from the Animal Path's wand without a single pause. For a moment, it sounded as though endless thunderclaps were crashing down across the flat ground.
Amidst the cloud of muddy water blasted into the air by the Reductor Curses, Lupin held his wand vertically before his chest, maintaining a powerful Shield Charm around his body.
A vast amount of mud splashed against the spherical, translucent defense barrier, only to slide off helplessly, making the barrier created by the Shield Charm look like a giant chocolate sphere.
Inside the defense barrier, Lupin's expression turned somewhat astonished. Is this really the level of a core member of the Akatsuki organization?
Back when he was teaching at Hogwarts, he had witnessed countlessly many times the explosions produced by the Father-Troublers—mainly Fred, that demolition maniac—when testing new weapons in the Forbidden Forest.
The explosive power of a lump of explosive clay casually molded by Fred was far greater than the Reductor Curses cast by the mysterious wizard before him.
How on earth had such a weak group of people managed to conquer a nation's Ministry of Magic?
Holding his wand in his right hand to sustain the defensive magic, Lupin raised his free left hand and pointed far into the distance behind him.
Utilizing wandless Transfiguration, a chain burst out from the soil, wrapping precisely around his waist at the exact moment Lupin dispelled his Shield Charm, yanking him violently backward.
The instant the defensive barrier vanished, the Animal Path also detected Lupin's sudden movement.
However, before it could raise its hand to shift the target of its spell further away, a red flash streaks through the air and struck its shoulder.
A surge of overwhelming force washed over it. The Animal Path was completely unable to hold onto the wand in its hand, which went spinning through the air directly toward Lupin.
Seeing the Disarming Charm take effect, a smile broke out on Lupin's face.
However, in the next second, his smile froze.
"Summoning Technique!"
Disregarding the mud on the ground, the Animal Path slammed its palm heavily against the earth.
On both the left and right sides of the Animal Path, two more bursts of white smoke erupted.
If you can't beat them, call for backup.
Once the white smoke cleared, Lupin could clearly see that what the Animal Path had summoned this time were not magical creatures, but two figures likewise clad in black robes adorned with red clouds.
Summoned before him were none other than the Human Path and the Hell Path.
Lupin's pupils shrank. Two more core members of the Akatsuki organization have arrived.
However, he quickly felt a wave of relief. If the enemy only possessed this level of combat strength, he wouldn't even be afraid if there were five of them.
The problem was that this was their home turf; he couldn't stand around so foolishly and fight them so close to the village.
Although for reasons unknown he hadn't seen any other wizards emerge from the village despite fighting the Animal Path for so long, remaining here was definitely out of the question.
With that thought in mind, Lupin reached back and pulled a flying broomstick out from a pocket expanded with an Undetectable Extension Charm.
After blocking several incoming spells from the enemy, Lupin mounted the broomstick without a moment's hesitation and began his strategic retreat.
"Pursue," Black Zetsu ordered tersely.
Upon receiving the order, the Animal Path immediately snapped its hands together once more, summoning three strangely shaped giant birds to launch the pursuit.
A black shadow whistled through the air above the sea of trees. The air displaced by the high-speed flight of the broomstick formed shockwaves that swept across the treetops, shaking the leaves into a rustling cascade.
Right after the first dark shadow zipped past, three more dark shadows came whistling through the air in close pursuit.
As though he had eyes on the back of his head, Lupin raised a hand without looking back, deflecting several incoming spells from behind.
Although there was still a considerable distance before they caught up to him, Lupin knew this couldn't go on.
If the broomstick he was riding were a Firebolt, or even a Cleansweep 2000, he could guarantee he wouldn't be overtaken.
But how could a penniless teaching fellow like him afford such a fine broomstick?
Even though Dumbledore had misappropriated a bit of Hogwarts' public funds—no, sponsored some activity funds out of his own pocket for Lupin before he left for Romania—it was only enough for Lupin to live a slightly better life here in Albania so he wouldn't end up on the streets.
He couldn't even dream of owning something like a Nimbus.
Riding a antiquated Comet broomstick, he would be overtaken before he could even break out of the Anti-Disapparition Jinx's boundary.
Spells streaks through the sky once again, shooting rapidly toward Lupin. Because the enemy's firepower was overly dense, relying solely on the Shield Charm rendered it impossible to block completely.
Lupin had no choice but to maneuver the broomstick, swerving left and right continuously to dodge the incoming beams of light, while stealing moments to turn back and launch counterattacks.
With a sudden turn and strike, Lupin's Reductor Curse successfully hit one of the three pursuers.
Amidst a deafening roar, the opponent along with the bizarre giant bird beneath his feet were engulfed in a blinding flash of light, plummeting straight down into the sea of forest below like a falling meteor.
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