A huge fire dragon was chained to the ground up ahead, blocking Link and the others from getting close to the four or five deepest vaults.
Because it had been shut underground for far too long, the dragon's scales had already turned pale and loose. Its eyes were a cloudy pink, and both of its hind legs wore heavy shackles. Thick chains ran from those shackles to giant stakes driven deep into the stone floor.
Its massive spiked wings were folded tight against its sides, if it spread them out, they would fill the entire underground chamber.
The dragon turned its ugly head toward them and let out a roar powerful enough to make the stones tremble. Then it opened its jaws and spewed a blast of fire, forcing everyone to retreat several steps.
But strangely, the dragon kept its eyes tightly shut while it breathed fire.
It was clear that doing something like that with such obviously diseased eyes wasn't easy.
Cloudy tears, as thin as little streams, kept flowing from the corners of its eyes.
Among the four people present, aside from Link, the other three were standing this close to such a giant beast for the first time.
Shocked and terrified, they all looked a bit at a loss.
"There's nothing to be afraid of. It's a blind dragon."
Link shook his head and said calmly, "And as a vault guard dog, the goblins have complete countermeasures prepared for it. Ragnok, give me the clanker."
As he spoke, Ragnok's face took on a dreamy, intoxicated expression. As if sleepwalking, he handed a small pouch to Link.
Link pulled out several small metal devices. When shaken, they produced a series of sharp, clear clanking sounds, like tiny hammers striking anvils.
The sound echoed again and again against the stone walls, magnified countless times, so loud that Emily and the others frowned in discomfort.
But the dragon was affected far more.
The moment the clanking began, it let out a hoarse roar and trembled as it backed away, as though it were suffering some unbearable agony.
Even so, Link didn't choose to pass through the entrance guarded by the dragon using this method.
After only a moment, he tossed the clanker aside.
Almost instantly, as the sound vanished, the dragon, previously retreating into the darkness, lunged forward and spat a fierce blast of fire.
Maybe because it was too enraged, the fire was noticeably brighter than before, nearly white-hot.
The tiny clanker melted into liquid metal in an instant under the heat.
But the fire didn't stop. The dragon continued pushing the flames toward Link and the others.
Hiss!
A massive wall of water surged forward at Link's raised hand and instantly doused the terrifying flames that could melt gold and crack stone.
The fire dragon, swallowed in the rolling cloud of steam, let out a powerless, furious wail.
But Link simply turned away calmly and said, "Ragnok, introduce our big friend here."
Without hesitation, Ragnok bowed to everyone and, in a sleep-like, emotionless voice, said, "This Australian Opaleye was placed here by our ancestors to serve as a guardian. It..."
"That's impossible! How could this be an Australian Opaleye?" Sigefin cut in, flustered and angry. "Australian Opaleyes are the prettiest of all fire dragons! Their pearl-like scales are all multicolored, and they're not very aggressive!"
Sigefin pointed at the still-roaring dragon. "Look at that dragon! It's so ugly, and so aggressive, how could it possibly be an Opaleye? Unless… unless you're not feeding it?!"
By the end, his once-certain tone had become a questioning one, and his look of fury was slowly replaced by shock.
"…To preserve its aggressiveness," Ragnok paused like a stuck record, "we usually only feed it once a month…"
Sigefin stepped forward two more steps and pressed, "Then what about its scales and its eyes? Why have they become like this?!"
"…This is normal. After all, it's been locked in here for decades. Its scales and eyes should have atrophied, I suppose? We've seen similar symptoms on Sphinxes too…"
But Ragnok's explanation was cut off again as Sigefin burst out angrily, "And the clankers, what's that about?"
This time, Ragnok paused for an especially long time.
Newlan and Emily seemed to have realized something, and their faces turned extremely grim.
"…It's… the result of our training…" Ragnok stammered.
"We use red-hot swords to strike the dragon at intervals, and at the same time we make that special sound with the clankers."
"Over time, the searing pain of the sword strikes and the clanking sound become linked together in the dragon's mind."
"Later, whenever the clankers ring again, even without real swords hitting it, the old wounds all over its body produce intense phantom pain…"
Before Ragnok could finish, Sigefin ran straight toward the dragon, ignoring the searing heat of the steam.
Under the soft glow of the Lumos spell, he saw the Australian Opaleye's face covered in terrifying scars.
And not just that.
Perhaps because it noticed the longsword on Sigefin's back, the once-fierce Opaleye suddenly let out a shrill, panicked cry, and its attacks became even more frenzied.
"You… you damn bastards!"
Sigefin roared and drew his sword, bringing it crashing down upon Ragnok.
Hum!
A flash of steel, and the longsword plunged into Ragnok's neck, cutting him clean in two.
The smell of blood instantly filled the underground chamber.
And even in death, Ragnok's face remained fixed in that intoxicated, dreamlike expression.
Sigefin gripped his sword hilt tightly, the red glow in his eyes still burning, when Link spoke calmly from not far away, "Means represent the justice being formed and the ideals being realized. A person cannot achieve a just goal through unjust means, because means are the seed and the goal is the tree…"
It was a proverb Sigefin himself had said not long ago.
Link's tone didn't shift much as he repeated it.
But to Sigefin in this moment, it was the cruelest mockery.
Because he had broken his own creed, doing exactly what Link had earlier, becoming the same kind of person as Link.
And yet, he did not regret it.
The goblins' greedy and cruel methods had crossed his bottom line.
He wasn't some dragon lover, nor a saint. But he simply couldn't stand such things.
If it crossed the line, kill it.
In this moment, the innocence he'd grown up with, raised in a wizarding family, then attending Hogwarts, always surrounded by goodwill, living a smooth life, had now changed.
Now, he could understand Link's actions a little.
"Do you have anything you want to say now?"
Link asked at an unhurried pace.
In response, Sigefin said nothing. Instead, he dropped to one knee before Link in a knight's salute, exactly like the night he joined the D.A. Army, although this time there was something different in it.
Link clearly understood Sigefin's answer.
He smiled lightly, and an invisible force lifted Sigefin back to his feet.
A D.A. coin spun through the air in Link's hand, glowing faintly but sharply red.
Moments later, dozens of figures in black combat uniforms flew down from above the cavern and landed silently behind Link.
When no more figures appeared in the air, Link finally spoke to Krell at the front, "Is everyone here?"
"They're here, but the team stationed outside seems to have messed up," Krell said with a dark expression.
"We just received word, they managed to capture Barty Crouch Jr. alive, but he released the Dark Mark at the last second. Diagon Alley is in chaos now, and Gringotts has gone into lockdown."
Link frowned.
This was what people called "plans can't keep up with changes."
With that stunt Barty pulled, Link didn't know whether the Death Eaters would come, but the Ministry's Hit Wizards and Aurors definitely would.
Thankfully, Link had left enough buffer time.
The plan wouldn't become a joke, yet.
Taking a deep breath, Link ordered, "Split off a team to break the anti-Apparition charms here. Everyone else, follow me."
Without looking back, he walked toward the passage behind the dragon.
The hunters split into two groups, one stayed behind to cast spells, the other followed Link.
Roar!
Seeing them approach, the crippled Australian Opaleye howled in fury.
Sigefin felt a stab of pity.
He knew what the Flamel family dealt in, so he could naturally guess that the people gathering here were likely experienced Flamel hunters.
Some of them were probably elite dragon hunters.
And with a fire dragon blocking the path, their methods would be obvious.
But surprisingly, the brutal scene he imagined never happened.
As they got closer, the hunters made no move at all. Instead, it was Link who slowly raised his hand.
In the next moment, a sky-shaking pressure burst out of Link, forming an almost tangible force that crashed down onto the Opaleye.
Its shrill roar stopped instantly.
Like it had seen a natural enemy, the dragon trembled, curled up in a corner, and whimpered nonstop, like a beaten dog.
This sudden scene stunned everyone, Emily, Newlan, Sigefin, and the hunters alike.
Newlan and Sigefin were especially curious.
But even though the pressure on them was far weaker than on the dragon, it still made their chests tighten with awe, they couldn't even speak.
Such was the overpowering effect of the title "Dragon-Slayer."
It did nothing in a real fight against actual powerful opponents, but for dragons and other weaker creatures, it was unbelievably effective.
They bypassed the dragon and went deeper until several massive stone vault doors finally appeared.
Link knew this place well.
They had scouted it many times beforehand, and more importantly, the innermost vault belonged to the Flamel family.
So even without a goblin guide, they easily arrived at the door of the Lestrange family vault.
"Forgive me, Lord Link Flamel."
Sigefin suddenly spoke, sounding guilty.
This confused Link. He turned and asked, "What are you apologizing for?"
"I looked into it before coming. Only goblins can open the underground Gringotts vault doors, and the goblin who could have opened this door, I killed him…"
"You mean Ragnok? He couldn't open it anyway. He didn't have the clearance." Link smiled.
"No one understands goblins better than goblins themselves. They know exactly how greedy their own kind is. Do you think they'd let every goblin have access to all the vaults?"
He didn't wait for Sigefin to answer before continuing, "Of course not. Only Gringotts executives have permission to open all vaults. As for guides like Ragnok, they can't open even the lowest-security vaults on their own. They only receive temporary permission to open a specific vault when a client comes to withdraw something."
Sigefin and Newlan nodded repeatedly.
This was the kind of knowledge only people who dealt closely with Gringotts, or worked inside it, would know. To them, it was all new.
But after listening, a new confusion rose on Newlan's face.
He frowned and asked, "In that case, how are we going to open this door? Gringotts vault doors are usually made of obsidian and mithril alloy, with duplication charms, replication charms, and other defensive spells on them, not to mention automatic alarms if attacked."
Link's smile turned strange.
He didn't answer directly. Instead, he snapped his fingers.
Two hunters stepped forward.
Each held a mug-sized cup. Raising their wands, they splashed the contents onto the vault door.
A tremendous amount of water, far more than the cups could possibly hold, washed over the door. As soon as it touched the surface, it produced sharp corrosive hissing noises.
"The special cleansing potion from the Thief's Downfall."
Link chuckled. "Just like Ragnok explained earlier, this stuff washes away all magical disguises, including Polyjuice and Disillusionment Charms. It doesn't work as well here, but it's still enough to wash off the alarm spells and protective charms. As for the obsidian and mithril alloy… burn it to nothing."
He raised his wand as he spoke.
As he uttered the spell, a flame, black with a faint hint of transparency, almost gray, appeared at the wand tip.
The flame drifted downward. Fed by a massive surge of curse power, it swelled instantly, transforming mid-air into a huge flame serpent as thick as half a meter.
A wave of scorching heat swept over them, forcing everyone back.
Newlan slapped his head twice in panic, he felt like his hair was about to be roasted off by the heat alone.
The flame serpent silently roared at the sky, then coiled itself around the vault door.
The heat that had been spreading outward suddenly contracted, all of it compressed against the door under someone's control.
[T/N: I have started doing another fanfic— "Frieren: A Journey of the Demon King". It is a quite relaxing and humorous read, give it a go. Have a great read~]