Chapter 404 The Obscure and the Mark of the Deathly Hallows

( ) In a seemingly inconspicuous shack in the west area of ​​Jackson Trade Square.

Probably to prevent people from seeing the light, the only two windows in the house were also tightly covered by curtains. Even so, there was only one oil lamp with a weak flame in the shed.

The faint light cannot drive away the darkness, making the room look gloomy.

At a small round table slightly lit by an oil lamp, sat two ordinary-looking men and women. The two of them seemed to be in their early twenties, and at most they would not be more than thirty years old. It stands to reason that they should be the age of stability and activity.

But for some reason, even though they were talking, their tone of voice was faintly filled with some inexplicable gloom.

"...What should we do? We can't find the target anywhere, should we...should we 'go home' and report the situation to the master?" The woman said softly, looking a little uneasy.

"No, we can't just go back like this... search again... search again..." Although the man seems to be older, he is more timid than the woman, "otherwise the master will whip us again The...no...absolutely don't..."

As soon as the woman heard the word "whip", her whole body shook, and she habitually gnawed her nails. All of a sudden, there was an unpleasant rattling sound in the quiet shed.

"...where should we find it?" After a while, the woman withdrew her fingers and said to herself, "Mike and the others haven't come back yet... Could it be that they also encountered that terrifying spider?"

"No, it won't... Didn't we escape too?" The man shook his head vigorously and said, "Although the big spider is very powerful, there is no way to make us completely immobile...We can still escape by giving up part of our strength." .”

"Then why...why haven't they come over?" The woman took a deep breath, and then began to bite her nails again.

Because of her habit of relieving mental stress, her nails have been pitted and pitted. Not only that, the fingertips of almost every finger are covered with new wounds and old wounds, which looks quite terrifying.

"Let's look for it again...you can go anywhere..." the man shrank his neck and said, "We can't stay here and wait anymore, we have to go back when noon arrives tomorrow... search again... Look again..."

"Wait a little longer..." The woman suddenly covered her chest, a little cold sweat dripping from her forehead, "The time is almost up..."

"Ah... um..." The man followed her words,

He touched his chest subconsciously, then nodded silently.

In the darkness of the shed, the man and woman became quiet again, only the sound of the woman biting her nails from time to time was still echoing inside.

Time passed bit by bit, and they still haven't completed the task yet, but right now they can only curl up on the stool and tremble slightly as if waiting to die.

New York time, three o'clock in the morning.

The two of them who had been silently waiting for something with their eyes closed, suddenly tightened their muscles and held down their chests almost at the same time.

Their faces gradually became distorted, their clenched teeth let out one after another suppressed howls, and their breathing became short and heavy.

If you look carefully, you may be able to see that under the faint light, their foreheads, backs of hands, and necks, every part of their exposed skin has bruised veins. Their sweat slid down their cheeks to their chins and dripped down in drops.

They seem to be enduring extremely severe pain!

But even so, they still didn't dare to utter too much mourning. They kept restraining themselves, just to not expose their hiding place.

Because they know that if they are accidentally exposed, what awaits them will be endless punishment. For them, the master's whip is ten thousand times more terrifying than this timed pain!

Ten minutes later, the two collapsed weakly on the dusty, dirty ground, but they didn't care. They were just thinking - there are only nine hours left until noon tomorrow!

After a little slowing down, they immediately got up and took off their respective hoods from the shelf beside them. After fastening their cloaks, they blew out the lamps, and walked quickly to the shed door.

"I'm going to the North District and the East District. You search here first, and then go to the South District—" The woman roughly allocated the search area, and then they began to split up.

...

On the other side, Maca, who was also searching for Sirius, had sent out all the alienated acromantulas that were left around.

And he himself was not idle, but was conducting door-to-door searches with the little guys.

However, when he transformed into the Animagus form of a hummingbird and jumped out of the chimney of a house, he did not continue to fly to another house as before, but stayed in the air for a few seconds .

Immediately afterwards, he rushed straight in a certain direction without hesitation.

In an alley not far from the house just now, he saw a figure in a cloak running furtively to the other end of the alley.

He was very familiar with the magical reaction of that figure, but even though he was familiar with it, he almost missed it.

That strangely weak magic fluctuation is too hidden! If he hadn't been paying attention since just now, maybe he would really let the other party slip by under his nose.

After stalking her in her Animagus form for a while, Maca landed quietly on the roof of a house and took human form again. Immediately afterwards, he put a disillusionment spell on himself, and then quickly chased after him.

He still doesn't know how to turn the Obscure in the form of black fog back into a human form, so he can only use a sneak attack before the other party notices, and strike first.

That person didn't run fast, he caught up with him immediately after a few steps, and decisively threw a rather powerful body-binding spell at that person.

The spell took effect, and the other party stiffened all over, and fell silently in the dark alley, without any time to react.

"...When it didn't turn into black mist, isn't the resistance to magic spells the same as that of ordinary people?" Maka stepped forward quickly, turned the person lying on the ground over, and lifted the The opponent's hood, "...a woman?"

The woman couldn't even move a finger under the effect of the body-binding spell, only the pair of eyeballs could move around. Maca didn't hesitate any more, Dang even stared at the opponent's eyes and cast a Legilimency spell.

But in just a moment, he immediately frowned and subconsciously shook his head.

"What's all this?" Maca frowned and whispered to himself.

The woman hadn't practiced Occlumency, and his Legilimency had worked—probably.

That's right, Maca can only use the word "probably" to describe it, because when he read the memory of the other party, what he felt was a large area of ​​chaos and unspeakable pain and fear.

Legilimency is more than just flipping through someone else's memory, it also enables the caster to empathize with the subject's emotions and emotions.

But what Maca felt from the brain of the woman who was lying on the ground in front of him was a vague and distorted confusion, as well as a bone-deep fear.

That feeling almost occupied most of the woman's heart, making it difficult for Maca to read a clearer memory.

And the clearest picture that Maca obtained through this Legilimency is a dark dungeon full of wailing, and a silhouette of a figure whose upper body is hidden in the darkness.

"...So that's the case, is it really so?" Maca narrowed his eyes and said thoughtfully, "But who could that person be? Greenwald's remnants? A staunch supporter? An excellent researcher ?”

He lowered his head again, took out the veritaserum and poured some into the woman's mouth, then stretched out his staff and waved lightly at the woman's face.

"Answer me, where is Sirius Black?"

"……do not know."

"What are you doing here?"

"The search for Sirius Black."

"Do you have any companions for this operation? Where are they all?"

"There are a total of four people in this operation. Joshua is currently searching in the West End. The whereabouts of Mike and Andrew are unknown."

"Why hunt down Sirius Black?"

"This is an order."

"Where is your stronghold?"

Maca kept asking questions, but when he asked about their stronghold, the woman froze under the effect of Veritaserum.

Although she kept opening and closing her mouth, there was only an indistinct "clack" sound in her throat. It seemed that some kind of fear from the depths of her soul was trying to prevent her from telling the truth.

"I'll ask again, where is your stronghold?"

"exist--"

Maca frowned and repeated the question again, but he never thought that the other party just managed to squeeze out a word, then immediately widened his eyes, and let out a hoarse growl from his throat.

And her face became distorted again, as if she was enduring great pain.

At the moment when the abnormality suddenly appeared, Maca suddenly sensed some kind of magic power fluctuation from black magic. And the source of those strange fluctuations lies in——

"...chest."

There was no time for him to avoid anything, he quickly unbuttoned the other party's cloak tie and outer robe, and then pulled down the collar of the shirt inside.

On the skin full of scars on the opponent's chest, a deep brand pattern is emitting a dark purple light. And around the brand mark, a large number of dark red veins extended from it, revealing an evil aura faintly.

"The mark of the Deathly Hallows," Maca stared at the branded pattern, wondering secretly, "...What is Greenwald planning?"