The battle in the sky was still continuing.
At this moment, Voldemort had clearly unleashed all of his combat power.
The battle between Link and Voldemort had become unbalanced.
Although Link was already doing everything he could to convert semi-transparent magical flames to carry out slashes, the overwhelming blood-colored thunder dragons were like endless waves, one after another going around the fog sword and striking Link's body.
This scene was like forging iron.
Link was blasted away again and again, and the Fog Armor wrapped around his body kept twisting and deforming.
It became smaller and smaller, and the light it gave off became more and more dazzling.
Not only that, in this state of full firepower, the influence of the Hunters below on Voldemort was reduced to the extreme.
Whether it was the dragon-hunting ballista bolts or the focused barrages of Killing Curse spells released at the right moment, Voldemort only needed a casual wave to set up a thick layer of blood-colored thundercloud to block them.
Then he would continue almost one-sidedly beating Link.
But corresponding to this nearly invincible posture, Voldemort's magic consumption in this state had also reached an astonishing level.
Even for a legendary wizard like Voldemort, this state probably could not last very long.
However, this was obviously not a very important weakness.
Because the magic Link consumed resisting Voldemort's attacks was even greater, and Link's own magic reserves were far inferior to Voldemort's.
It was foreseeable that long before Voldemort's magic ran out, Link would almost certainly be the first to collapse and be killed by Voldemort.
Then without Link as the main attacker, the Hunters and Aurors below might still eventually exhaust Voldemort to death, but they would have to pay the price of near total annihilation.
This situation was clearly something Link did not want to see.
Fortunately, through the already LV5 Super Perception Spell, Link sharply detected another weakness in Voldemort under this state.
BOOM!
Another round of bombardment came from the Hunter formation below.
Voldemort stopped attacking Link and repeated the same method, once again raising a mass of blood-colored thundercloud to block all incoming attacks.
This was one of Link's few chances to catch his breath.
In previous battles, Link would usually use this time to pull away from Voldemort, take a short rest, reorganize the magic power in his body, and repair the Fog Armor.
However, this time a cold smile appeared on the face hidden beneath Link's Fog Armor.
Not only did he not retreat like before, he instead used the surging mist as propulsion and suddenly pressed toward Voldemort.
Link had already discovered it.
Voldemort blocking the Hunters' concentrated fire was actually not as easy as it looked.
Those thundercloud shields that easily swallowed all attacks were temporary defensive methods constructed by Voldemort using a large amount of magic power.
And after performing this kind of defense, Voldemort would fall into a stiffened state, unable to mobilize magic for high-speed movement or to attack Link.
This stiff period was very short, less than two seconds, but it did exist.
This was actually because Voldemort mobilized too much magic in a short time, causing the magic circuits in his body to struggle to keep up.
It was like a computer or phone overheating and automatically lowering performance or shutting down.
It was a form of self-protection.
Link did not understand why Voldemort would have this condition.
After all, since Voldemort already possessed magic power of this scale and intensity, his internal magic circuits should have adapted to such power surging freely.
Unless Voldemort was overclocking.
Or perhaps it was because Voldemort's non-original body was not as good as the original?
Link did not understand, and he did not need to understand.
He only knew one thing.
That this was a weakness that could be seized.
A weakness that could defeat or even kill Voldemort.
Link roared as he rushed straight up to Voldemort.
Seeing this, Voldemort showed a mocking smile.
In Voldemort's eyes, Link was simply seeking death.
Did he think Voldemort didn't know about the weakness of stiffness after mobilizing large amounts of magic?
So what if there was stiffness?
If the stiffness came after mobilizing large amounts of magic for attack, then perhaps Link would have a chance to counterattack.
But this stiffness came after mobilizing large amounts of magic to cast the cloud shield used for defense.
These cloud shields surrounding him could withstand even the Hunters' concentrated fire without losing the slightest bit. How could Link alone possibly break through?
Thinking this, the cloud shields that had originally stood in curved layers at his sides transformed rapidly, turning into a sphere of clouds that tightly wrapped around him.
Hidden within the cloud shield, Voldemort raised his wand with a ferocious grin.
At such a close distance, once the stiffness passed, he could easily blast Link into pieces.
However, in the next moment, the Fog Armor on Link's body, which had not broken no matter what attacks it suffered before and had grown brighter and brighter, separated from Link's body.
As if it had life, it gathered again in front of Link, condensing into another mist clone covered with cloud patterns all over its body.
After exchanging a glance with Link, it turned around and continued rushing toward Voldemort under inertia and the pushing force of sprayed mist.
"Go!"
Link roared, raising the wand in his hand high. A large mass of semi-transparent magical flames suddenly burst from the tip.
The magical flames exploded against the back of the mist clone. The powerful impact struck Link and sent him flying backward, while the mist clone, already shooting forward like a shell, accelerated again and turned into a streak of shadow that slammed violently into Voldemort's cloud shield.
"Hah!"
Link, who had lost balance and was flying backward, stretched out his left hand and suddenly clenched his fist.
"Evaporate! Explode!"
BOOM!
A muffled sound came from inside the thundercloud shield sphere surrounding Voldemort.
The blood-red thundercloud first rapidly expanded, then suddenly exploded.
Countless masses of snow-white steam mixed with terrifying heat burst outward, sweeping across more than half of the Memory Hall in an instant.
The Hunter formation and Auror formation that had just reorganized their counterattack suffered again.
Dozens of Aurors and Hunters at the very front were almost instantly completely cooked by the ultra-high-temperature steam. Amid screams, their flesh rapidly melted away until they finally turned into pools of "mud."
Hunters and Aurors a bit farther away did not fare much better.
Countless people were scalded by the heat released from the sudden burst of high-temperature steam.
For a time, the entire Memory Hall was filled with wailing, and only the D.A. Army formation was spared thanks to Moody's protection.
Link, as the one who caused all this, did not fare well either.
Although he first used the explosive burning of semi-transparent Fiendfyre to widen the distance between himself and the mist clone, and then immediately condensed a specially-made cloud-pattern fog shield for protection, the heat radiation still caused all exposed skin on his head, face, hands, and feet to turn boiling red with severe burns.
Barely controlling the magic power inside his body, Link finally landed inside the Hunter formation.
The moment he landed, he staggered and almost collapsed to the ground.
The continuous fierce battle before and the terrifying explosive strike just now had almost drained every trace of magic from his body, leaving him nearly exhausted.
Emily and the others had already been waiting inside the Hunter formation.
Seeing this, they hurried over to support Link.
But Link pushed them all away, took a bottle of specially made calming potion from his equipment belt and poured it into his mouth to recover some magic power, then said with a serious expression, "Send half the people to treat the Hunters who were accidentally injured. Try your best to save them! The rest stay on alert with me! Voldemort might not be completely dead yet!"
Hearing this, everyone could only force themselves to suppress their anxiety and excitement and spread out to carry out Link's orders.
Emily and Old Klie were so anxious that tears flowed down their faces.
Link himself sat down, adjusting his breathing while watching the still-churning high-temperature steam in the distance.
What he said earlier was not just meant to scare Emily and the others.
Voldemort really might not be dead.
Because if an enemy of Voldemort's level had truly been killed by him, the system would definitely have given some kind of notification.
Yet until now, Link had not received any message prompt.
That alone explained everything.
However, this was not really a big problem.
Link snorted coldly.
He had great confidence in his attack. That was his ultimate trump card.
At such close range, if Voldemort was directly hit by that kind of attack, then even if he did not die, he would certainly be pushed into a near-death state.
———
"Th-this… what exactly just happened? That kind of attack…"
On the D.A. Army position, Sirius stared wide-eyed and muttered in disbelief.
Everything in front of him had gone beyond his understanding.
Just now he had rushed to the very front of the battlefield along with the other unlucky ones.
If Moody hadn't forcibly pulled him back with a spell at the critical moment, he probably would not have escaped the fate of having his flesh melted away.
Hearing Sirius's muttering, Moody shook his head and said, "It's actually simple. Just a steam bomb."
Hearing this, not only Sirius but also Lupin and the others turned to look at Moody in confusion.
They had naturally seen steam explosions before.
In the Hogwarts alchemy classroom, explosions happened several times every month, including steam explosions.
But how could those so-called steam explosions compare to the one just now?
The difference in power between the two was so great that there was no comparison at all.
Looking at the doubtful faces in front of him, Moody sighed and continued explaining, "That kid Link Flamel developed a lot of water-control spells through research into the Sustained Charging Spell, right?"
Everyone nodded.
Especially Lupin.
He could be considered Link's mentor, and he had witnessed Link's development of the Sustained Charging Spell from the beginning.
"It's just that the water-control abilities Link Flamel showed before always lacked offensive power."
"Most of the attack methods he developed relied on low-temperature damage or directly controlling moisture in the human body, which were either indirect or vicious attack methods."
"Over time, you formed a fixed impression of his abilities. But who ever said his water-control ability could only be used that way?"
"In fact, high-temperature steam is also another form of liquid. Since that's the case, he can naturally control it."
Moody continued, "That Fog Armor Link Flamel created earlier was actually made of an enormous amount of water vapor plus a specially-made cloud-pattern layer."
"The complex cloud patterns embedded on the surface of the Fog Armor strengthened its overall structure and also restrained the water vapor inside."
"Not only that, inside this Fog Armor, besides water vapor, there was also a large amount of black-purple electric current condensed from curse power."
"You may have already noticed earlier."
"During the previous battle, the more attacks Link Flamel's Fog Armor endured, the brighter the light it gave off."
"This was actually caused by the water vapor inside the Fog Armor constantly rubbing rapidly against the black-purple electric currents under external impacts, generating high temperatures."
"Those high-temperature water vapors naturally wanted to escape, but the complex cloud patterns on the outer layer of the Fog Armor remained sealed, trapping them all inside."
"This caused pressure inside the 'container' to keep building up, rapidly reaching a terrifying level."
"Once that pressure reached its limit, Link threw out the Fog Armor like a shell using the intelligent properties of Fiendfyre, and then detonated it!"
After saying this, Moody even made an explosion gesture with his hand toward Sirius and the others.
This startled the onlookers.
Ron, who had come over halfway through, immediately hid behind his older brothers George and Fred.
Harry and Hermione looked at Moody with surprised expressions.
The two exchanged a glance, and finally Hermione spoke, "Professor Moody, how do you know all this? Things like steam explosions and pressure seem to be… seem to be…"
"Muggle knowledge, right?" Moody said somewhat proudly. "More precisely, it's called physics."
Harry and Ron nodded blankly.
Moody continued, "I know what you're wondering. Kids raised in wizard families usually know nothing about Muggle knowledge, right?"
"But that's only because they don't want to learn. In fact, there are quite a few wizards who are proficient in Muggle knowledge, and learning more Muggle knowledge has many benefits."
"At least it can make you a bit smarter, unlike certain fools."
As Moody spoke, he cast a sympathetic glance at Ron, who was trembling behind George and Fred.
This scene made Harry and Hermione laugh.
But on the other side, Sirius could not laugh at all.
His whole body felt cold, and cold sweat even appeared on his back.
Such a terrifying attack had really been released by Link alone.
Then what kind of scene would it be if Link threw one of those steam bombs into Hogwarts or Number 12 Grimmauld Place?
Sirius could not help shivering.
Only then did he finally react.
The one hit by that attack just now was Voldemort.
Then it was fine.
Thinking of this, Sirius suddenly felt happy again.
On the other side of the battlefield, Scrimgeour was also sincerely pleased.
But he thought further than Sirius.
Unlike the Hunters, who had supported almost recklessly, Scrimgeour had already started adjusting the Aurors' positions and troop distribution on the field when Voldemort cast the second wave of area attacks, trying to preserve the Auror force as much as possible while still providing limited support to Link.
For example, he had sent part of the Aurors to protect the students at the D.A. Army formation.
And now, the facts proved that this decision had been extremely correct.
Smiling and nodding, Scrimgeour could not help turning his head toward the Hunter formation.