Volume 5: The Burning Golden Flame Chapter 343 Firenze
The dragon skin in the eye area was very thin, and John's blasting curse caused the Norwegian Ridgeback's left eyelid to bleed, while also stimulating its ferocity.
It spread its wings and rose from the ground, ignoring the two guardians that had already climbed onto it, and flew directly towards where Jon was.
While collecting the Golden Snitch in the afternoon, Jon also learned a lot of information about the batch of fire dragons that were bought by the referee team of the Triwizard Tournament to be used as competition props.
These dragon species were obviously carefully selected by humans, and most of them were female dragons in estrus. At this time, most of them were violent and restless and difficult to tame, so those Romanian dragon trainers threw them all into the Forbidden Forest and basically didn't take care of them.
It just limits the range to a certain extent so that the dragons will not leave this limited range and thus excessively damage the ecology of the forbidden forest.
In fact, even with such patches, the indigenous people in the Forbidden Forest were still greatly affected by the problems caused by the dozen or so fire dragons.
Just like the group of unicorns that Jon met when he first entered the Forbidden Forest, their original territory was occupied by a fire dragon, and the tribe itself was also attacked. If it weren't for Jon's help, a little unicorn would have died.
If even the unicorns encountered such a thing, one can imagine the situation of other creatures in the Forbidden Forest.
If Dumbledore was still in charge of Hogwarts Castle and Hagrid was still the gamekeeper, they would definitely not allow such a thing to happen. Even if the competition venue was to be held in the Forbidden Forest, dragons could not be allowed in.
At this moment, Jon stood at the very edge of the area defined by the Norwegian Ridgeback, watching it take off and fly away from the valley entrance it had originally guarded, forming a shadow that covered the sky above him.
The boiling dragon blood was dripping onto the ground. The Ridgeback Dragon did not hide its anger at being ambushed. It opened its huge mouth in the air, and sparks burst out of its dark throat!
"roar!"
The dragon's roar resounded throughout the entire forbidden forest. Countless birds flew straight into the sky, and as the sound rang out, the temperature began to rise rapidly!
Orange-yellow flames with dragon magic fell from the sky, and Jon was prepared for this. Before the dragon's breath was spewed down, he activated the levitation spell on the ring and flew into the sky.
Because his size seemed extremely small under the huge body of the dragon, and one of his eyes was injured by John's blasting curse, with blood all over his face, making his vision a little blurred, so the ridgeback dragon that was venting its anger at the ground did not notice the "ant" taking off.
And it was because of this that it caused it a lot of trouble later.
Jon had silently come to the side of the ridgeback dragon, pointed his wand at its other intact eye , and began to use the same method he used to deal with the man-headed sphinx, holding the wand tightly in both hands.
Without using any powerful spells, John directly used his hands to cast a stunning spell.
A beam of bright red light, much thicker than a normal spell, instantly cut through the entire night sky!
At this time, the other intact eye of the Ridgeback Dragon felt a sudden dazzling flash of light that illuminated its entire eye socket. However, when it wanted to take defensive action, it had no time to react, and it didn't even have time to close its eyelids!
This simple and straightforward spell of stunning was cast directly into the eye sockets of the ridgeback dragon. The effect of the spell immediately passed through its eyeballs and spread to its brain!
Suddenly, the dragon's body, which was still spewing dragon breath from its mouth, froze.
It can be seen that it was greatly affected by the spell, and even its wings could not be flapped, and it could not maintain its flight in the sky. But even though it was at its weakest point in defense, it still had no intention of falling to the ground after being hit by such a powerful stun spell from Jon, and was still struggling to keep its consciousness clear.
But Jon obviously would not give it this chance. This time he did not aim at the half-closed intact eye of the ridgeback dragon, but directly at its injured eye. Without any pause or mercy, Jon continuously used the stunning spell, shooting at its wound one after another.
So many stunning spells finally took effect. The ridgeback dragon finally couldn't hold on in the sky anymore. It took a last resentful look at the figure flying in the air, then fell to the ground with a bang, causing the entire ground to shake violently.
After successfully knocking down the ridgeback dragon, Jon did not stop casting spells. He continued to use the stun spell on the fire dragon lying on the ground over and over again, while also finding time to collect the golden snitch nearby.
The fire dragon must be defeated, the centaur must be rescued, and the competition must be taken into consideration at the same time. Jon cannot let this trip be in vain. At least he must get all the rewards he deserves.
Just when Jon had just knocked down the Norwegian Ridgeback, in the valley, Hoss and Cedric quickly found the last group of centaurs remaining in the Forbidden Forest.
Just as Cedric told Jon, there were almost no adult males among these centaurs. Most of them were the elderly, children, women and children. Even among the few remaining men, some had physical disabilities, either missing an arm or a broken finger.
The leader of these centaurs was an adult male centaur with platinum curly hair, surprisingly blue eyes, and a handsome appearance.
His name was Firenze, and he only had one of those beautiful sapphire eyes left. The other was covered by a black eye patch. Cedric knew that the other eye was blinded by the Auror's spell.
When Cedric found them, these centaurs showed no intention of resting. No matter whether they were men or women, old people or children, they all held bows and arrows in one hand and torches in the other, fully armed and ready, as if they were ready to fight a desperate battle with the fire dragons guarding the entrance and exit of the valley.
"What are you doing here, Firenze?"
Cedric, who appeared like the wind riding on Hoss, scared many centaurs. They raised their bows and arrows at the first moment, but after hearing Cedric's voice and seeing the familiar face, they put down their weapons again. It was obvious that they were all familiar with this young student.
"We don't have enough food, Cedric." After seeing Cedric appear, Firenze's only blue eye showed joy, but the seriousness and solemnity on his face did not diminish much. "If we continue to wait here, everyone will starve to death. Even if only one person can escape, it is better than everyone dying here."
Cedric saw the pale faces of the horsemen, all of whom were skinny and sallow, and knew that they had been trapped in the valley for half a month. They were not prepared at all for the appearance of the three fire dragons that blocked the exit, and their stored food should have been consumed long ago.
"I've asked someone to help rescue you! He is helping to contain the fire dragon at the exit in the northwest corner of the valley. If we go over there now, we'll have a chance to escape directly!"
Cedric didn't exchange any unnecessary pleasantries or ask any questions. He quickly explained the current situation to Firenze and the others.
Hearing his words, the solemnity on Firenze's face completely turned into excitement.
He immediately called his people and followed behind Cedric and Hoss. Hoss was tactful enough not to go so fast. He would turn around from time to time to look for the little mare he liked and wink at them.
"You contacted Dumbledore!"
While running towards the exit of the valley where the Norwegian Ridgeback was, Cedric glanced at Firenze with an awkward expression as he was expecting him to give a positive answer.
"No, I haven't contacted Dumbledore. After they came to Hogwarts, they were strictly guarded by many Aurors. No one can easily contact them."
In response, Firenze mentioned another name.
"Is that Rubeus Hagrid? If there was a chance to return to the castle, he would definitely come with us, and he would definitely take the initiative to find us in the Forbidden Forest!"
Cedric shook his head again, and this time did not let Firenze continue guessing, but directly told who the person was.
"It's Jon Green."
The centaurs have been hiding in the Forbidden Forest all year round, so of course they don't have many opportunities to learn about the situation in the outside world, so they are obviously unfamiliar with Jon's name.
"Who is that? Someone from the Order of the Phoenix?"
" He is the champion who will represent Dumbledore in this Triwizard Tournament."
"So, he's still just a student?" A centaur who heard their conversation exclaimed, "A student is here to deal with a fire dragon? Are you kidding? Are we going to collect his body now?"
His words made Hoss very dissatisfied. After all, Jon was his "good brother" and he had thought about his marriage. Now he was being talked about in this way, which made Hoss unhappy.
Cedric could understand that the centaur did not have much ill intention. After all, normal people would not believe such things when they heard about them. Even the elite wizards might not be able to fight a fire dragon alone, let alone a student from a magic school.
However, he did not explain much. Any explanation was not as good as the facts before him. After seeing the facts, all explanations were unnecessary and redundant.
Although Cedric only really got to know Jon today, he had full confidence in this boy who had already been famous throughout Europe.
The centaurs' movement speed could not match that of Hoss, who had racial talents, but they were not slow when running at full speed. It took them less than ten minutes to reach the exit of the valley where the Norwegian Ridgeback was stationed. At this time, the huge creature had disappeared.
When Firenze and the others arrived here, they could only see a boy picking out the golden snitch flying around.
The trembling sound of horse hooves trampling on the ground had already attracted Jon's attention. He saw Cedric riding on Hoss's back and leading the way, and next to Cedric was the one-eyed centaur with long platinum hair.
Behind them was a group of old, weak, sick and disabled people. When the horsemen arrived at this intersection, they looked around nervously.
"Where's that damn dragon?"
Jon didn't answer, he just waved his wand behind him and cast a stunning spell.
Following the bright red light that was extremely conspicuous in the dark night, the centaurs saw the Norwegian Ridgeback lying on the grass.
They were surrounded by Aurors in the Forbidden Forest for so long, and no one who survived was a fool.
The fallen fire dragon was naked in front of them, and Jon was the only one there. Combined with what Cedric had said to them on the road, every centaur could guess that this was a somewhat absurd fact.
Compared to other people of his tribe, Firenze remained quite calm.
He was considered a wise man among the centaurs, proficient in astronomy and divination, and knew very well that some outstanding young wizards were so outstanding that their excellence was beyond the imagination of their tribe who had lived in the forbidden forest for many years.
"Hello, Mr. Green, my name is Firenze."
The current centaur chief extended his hand to Jon in a friendly manner.
Firenze.
The name Jon is actually not unfamiliar. In the original book, the centaur in front of him also served as a professor of divination in Hogwarts Castle. His achievements and ideas in divination are very desirable. At least in teaching and educating people, he is much better than his other colleague who uttered the prophecy of the savior.
Jon held out a hand and shook it.
"Hello, Firenze, just call me Jon. Hagrid has mentioned your name to me."
Hagrid did tell Jon about Firenze's name, and told him to ask for help if he had trouble finding the centaur named Parson.
Obviously Hagrid had great confidence in Firenze. He felt that Firenze must still be alive. Indeed, the centaur was alive, but he was missing an eye.
Jon had almost collected all the golden snitches around the Norwegian Ridgeback. He didn't say any extra greetings to Firenze. He just cast another stunning spell on the dragon lying on the ground, and then said that they'd better leave here and find a safe place to talk.
In fact, if Jon didn't think it was too coincidental and strange that there were three fire dragons blocking the centaurs in the valley, he would have had enough patience to skin and drain the tendons of this Norwegian ridgeback.
Every fire dragon can be said to be full of treasures, and is no less powerful than a basilisk.
But if he really wants to deal with a dragon, the process is too troublesome. Moreover, after the game, Jon will have to worry about whether the referee team will give him trouble for this matter. After all, these fire dragons are protected animals.
