Several small carts had already been dispersed by the various forks in the tunnel. As some of the most senior employees, Griphook and a few other goblins were responsible for the deepest vault, which was also the location of the most important entrusted objects.
A fire dragon was watching this group of goblins.
Its massive body was covered in scales, but years of confinement underground had caused these scales, which should have been tight and vibrant, to become pale and loose. The long years of living without sunlight had caused the fire dragon's eyes, which should have been blood-red, to degenerate, becoming cloudy and slightly dull, a morbid pink. Its two hind legs were shackled by heavy fetters, the thick chains attached to huge stakes driven deep into the stone floor. Its wings, covered in thorns and capable of being used as weapons when necessary, were restrained at its sides. A rough estimate would reveal that if it could spread them, they would be enough to fill the entire room.
The dragon glared at the goblins with some resentment, but it was to no avail.
The goblins took out some small metal instruments from their bags, shaking them to produce a loud and crisp tinkling sound, like a small hammer striking an anvil.
The dragon, which had still been fierce just now, immediately lost its momentum upon hearing this sound, shrinking back in fear, its whole body trembling slightly.
Who says wizards don't understand science?
Isn't this just a use of conditioned reflex?
Painful punishments were inflicted on the dragon when it was young, accompanied by the tinkling sound. After the dragon matured, these psychological shadows were also etched into its bones.
Even so, the hoarse roars that the dragon emitted out of fear still made the goblins dizzy.
The goblins slowly groped their way to the vault door. One goblin placed a finger on the wood, and the vault door disappeared, revealing an opening. The cave was filled from floor to ceiling with rare treasures. Needless to say, there were mountains of gold coins, pure gold goblets, standard longswords and armor, pelts of various strange animals with spines or drooping wings, and precious magic potions of various colors with unknown uses.
It was said that after the goblin rebellion was suppressed, they lost the right to use wands. A problem that could be solved with a flash of light now required them to use lamps to illuminate dark places.
But in fact, this was fundamentally putting the cart before the horse. They, who were naturally gifted, often did not need to use wands to cast spells, but perhaps they had almost forgotten their talents now.
A leading goblin looked at them and said, "Same rules as always, be careful not to let other parts of your body touch these things, otherwise you all know the consequences." With that, the goblins simultaneously took out a pair of gloves from their pockets and put them on.
For these treasures of great value, it was necessary to add another layer of insurance. Each item here was enchanted with the Fiendfyre Curse and the Gemino Curse. The combination of the two curses produced a geometric increase in power. If anyone tried to steal wealth that did not belong to them, the scalding gold or other valuables would endlessly replicate and grow, leaving the thief with two ways to die: being burned to death or crushed to death.
The goblins, who dealt with this year-round, had also specially made many special gloves, covered with strange patterns. The unique goblin craftsmanship and materials could avoid triggering the curse, making it easier for them to manage these items.
Griphook looked around. Almost at first glance, Griphook saw the small golden cup that Malfoy had described to him.
"Two finely crafted pure gold handles, the body of the cup engraved with symbolic exquisite carvings, with a badger engraved on it."
"You don't need to bring it to me, I only ask you to 'destroy' it."
Taking it out and destroying it were completely different in difficulty. Even if he relied on temporary chaos to barely take it out, the subsequent investigation would inevitably reveal his secret because every business of Gringotts was registered.
And Malfoy's requirement for destruction was only one: "Let the liquid in this bottle touch the golden cup."
Griphook didn't know what the liquid he had in his pocket was,
But he only knew that he only needed to do what Malfoy said. He said it was revenge, then it was revenge. It was said that the Lestrange family's collection was in this vault. These pure-blood families were too deeply entangled, and he was too lazy to care.
He couldn't act under the public gaze. Griphook could only slowly count these treasures, waiting for the right time to act. That golden cup, shining brightly under the three spotlights, represented Gryffindor's sword in Griphook's eyes.
Griphook tried his best to control his breathing, so as not to let the surrounding goblins see his nervousness.
Even if he wasn't taking it away, this was ultimately damage to the employer's property, and it was impossible to do it openly.
Besides, who knew what was in this bottle? He had heard of something called liquid bomb in the Muggle world.
Having already decided to act, Griphook became even more cautious.
He also had to try to clear himself of suspicion.
He didn't want to lose this job either.
Time passed by, and there were fewer and fewer things to count. He didn't have much time left, but the more this was the case, the more Griphook knew he couldn't rush. He still maintained the same efficiency as the other goblins, carefully counting.
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck Griphook's mind.
"Travers, oh my god, look at the gold coins under your feet, you touched them," Griphook suddenly threw a goblet he was counting on the ground and said in a panic.
"What?" The goblin called Travers was also startled when he heard this. With a jolt, the gold coins he was counting fell onto his trouser leg.
Disaster began to happen.
"No!" Travers watched in despair as the gold coin began to replicate. Ignoring the pain brought by the burning, he tried hard to shake off piles of replicas from his trouser leg.
Apart from Travers, no one knew if there were really gold coins under his feet before.
He was obviously in a panic now and couldn't bother to investigate all this.
"Let's go! We'll come back after the curse effect ends." The leading goblin made a decisive decision and was the first to rush out of the door.
If Malfoy were also present, he would definitely "praise" him, saying that this goblin's behavior was similar to that of a Mr. Fan.
"Don't leave me!" Watching his former colleagues running ruthlessly towards the door, Travers shouted in despair, hoping someone could help him.
The place where the gold coins had fallen just now was his trouser leg, but at this time, it was impossible to tell how much fabric was left. In the blink of an eye, it had been melted away by the high temperature. These gold coins, which only had shape but no practical use, seemed to be rooted on his legs. The sound of rustling came in waves, which was the sound of gold coins falling, but whenever a pile of gold coins fell to the ground, more gold coins would be generated.
The scorching high temperature made the goblin scream, and rolling heat waves spread from his surroundings. No one was willing to rescue him, because it was likely to cost their own lives.
In the blink of an eye, besides Travers and Griphook, no one was in this room anymore. The gold coins continued to roar like a sea, filling this empty room. Travers, this poor goblin employee, was almost unconscious from being baked by the high temperature.
A look of intolerance appeared on Griphook's face, his eyes filled with struggle and hesitation.
However, things had come to this point, and the arrow was on the string, and had to be fired!
He took out the glass bottle that Malfoy had prepared for him. After aiming, he threw it hard at the golden cup.
The rustling sound covered up the crisp sound of the glass breaking. The pitch-black basilisk venom immediately seeped into all parts of the golden cup.
Griphook felt that he was also hallucinating from the scorching high temperature.
Because he heard a desperate and shrill howl, the bone-piercing cold made him tremble violently. Even though it was now a terrifying scorching zone, he still felt that trace of soul-piercing curse and unwillingness.
Griphook staggered towards the almost unconscious Travers, using his small body and slender arms to slowly drag this innocent victim out of the sea of gold coins. Undiminished conscience prompted him to save this victim.
Ten meters.
Five meters.
One meter.
This distance was enough to be called the distance between hell and heaven for the two goblins.
At this critical moment, several belated goblins finally reached out a helping hand outside the door, pulling them both out of the original cave and quickly closing the opening.
"Huff huff." Griphook, who had survived the disaster, covered his chest and gasped for breath.
"We have to report this accident to the director as soon as possible." The leading goblin seemed to have just come back to his senses and hurriedly ran out, while the other goblins cast disdainful glances at him.
He ran faster than anyone just now. Now that the person has been rescued, he is probably too embarrassed to stay here.
The remaining goblins enjoyed this rare moment of survival, and the dragon at the entrance spat out a mouthful of turbid air and yawned, silently mocking these scurrying goblins.
"Crack."
A trace of wailing came from the hole behind him, and a crack visible to the naked eye was rapidly expanding. Through it, one could vaguely see the dazzling golden light.
"No, damn it!" The remaining goblins cursed in unison, and then rolled and crawled, and began to flee in a hurry again, but fortunately, they found it earlier and it gave them enough time.
When the last goblin completely left the underground, the crack in the doorway suddenly expanded, and a torrent of gold poured out, carrying irresistible power and monstrous heat towards the tunnel.
Merlin is above, now may be the moment when this wealth-loving dragon hates gold coins the most in its life.
For more chapters
patreon.com/Jackssparrow