I stayed a bit behind the groups, so that I didn't attract too much attention, because I was dressed like everyone else — in a black robe, boots and sturdy leather pants. No, I didn't even think about being fooled and thinking that my "masters" didn't notice me, but if they decided to just watch, let them — it would be less work for us later, because we would have time to reduce the defensive forces.
Moving to the right flank, I decided to support one of my groups of men, those who came to Britain with Maggie and Lizzie, and who now work almost exclusively for me, only occasionally accepting small contracts from outside. The three of them were not doing well, but they were well pinned down.
I took a springy step away from the blue beam to the left, raised the protego with my right hand and tanto, shielding myself from stone chips, and used the same shield to knock aside the incoming Reductor. Very "average" in terms of saturation, but the shield dissipates. As a precaution, I send back a few Petrificus Totalus and an Expelliarmus, which hits the masonry without causing any damage. What am I, a fool to personally bring the ceiling down on my head?
A few more steps forward, swinging left, right, missing the stray "Expulso" and "Incarcerous" that flew in from somewhere off-center. Stop, step back. A cold blue beam flew in front of his face, hitting the wall and covering it with frost. A few steps forward again, Protego, another, a weak Stupefy into the hand of one of the enemies, and his limb sagged and his wand slipped from his weakened fingers.
Summoning spell, and here I have two wands. A bright yellow bolt of lightning struck the column behind which the short, shouldered, ugly man was hiding, but part of the discharge caught his partner, who had been shielding him. He was jerked and twisted, the sleeve of his work uniform went up in smoke, and the wizard himself jumped with a desperate jerk behind the column, where his boots, shaking with convulsions, stuck out.
Disgusting looking, dirty boots. Just for fun, I send Immobulus (paralyzing) to the feet, but so that it only affects the lower part of the body, followed by a powerful Ferula (a magical splint applied to a broken limb). I've invested a lot of energy, so it's still hard to pull off my joke. A few more steps and I am standing next to the mage, who barely had time to cover his comrades with shields and exchange rays of "good and happiness" with the enemy.
I take a pretty powerful bundle of stun and repel on my shield, the following "Reductor" intercepts the wizard standing next to me, although my "Protego" could take it as well. A pair of wizards behind us wasted no time, and a powerful water stream was sent into the enemy, flooding several meters of space around the column, another, and then an equally powerful bolt of lightning. Much more powerful than the one I had used earlier.
Bright sparks instantly spread greedy snakes across the water, catching up to their victims almost immediately. There was a desperate scream, then a shriek and howl, cut off on a high note, and I saw two more souls go into the cage and two more enemies die. My allies, on the other hand, sent a stream of fire into the water, and in a few seconds a cloud of steam rose over the whole place, under which the group moved to the column and the cabinet beside it.
The wooden cabinet itself is not a very good defense, but one of the group of wizards immediately burns a small chain of runes with a wand, which does not even need to drink much, just activate a short pulse, and then the enchantment for strengthening, non-destruction and non-combustibility powered saturated magical background. Several beams immediately hit our shield, but they were useless, and especially dangerous "Bombardas", "Reductor" and "Expulso" were received by the shields. Yes, the shield would collapse immediately, but together. Unless Hellfire was used, you could take cover here for quite some time.
The battles continued in a similar fashion: the defenders were gradually pushed back, while ours slowly but surely advanced. They were not without injuries and wounds, but they were immediately covered and protected until the wounded retreated and hid in a safe place, usually a column or a fortified piece of work furniture.
It is here, I remind you, very substantial and of imposing size. One of the five Aurors would usually take one of the tables, fortify it with runes and charms, and then use it as a battering ram: cover the table, go forward, smash the enemy's defenses, attack without stopping. No, the enemy was not completely stupid, and "Finite Incantatem" flew into the table, but it was impossible to break the rune chains with nullifying charms, but the enemy managed to set the table on fire, apparently the Aurors did not protect the wood from fire, or not so well.
As a result, the shield burst into flames, the shock of the explosion was absorbed by two Protego, but they missed the wave of sticky flame, so the table caught fire, and a few seconds later the rune enchantment came off, probably because the runes were damaged. The next Confringo finally flipped the table over, and the Expulso that followed created a cloud of dangerous shrapnel. Several wooden splinters grazed the mages, lodging one in the leg, another in the shoulder and side, and a third had his cheek ripped open.
The men immediately hid behind the column and began applying my first aid medical seals, while their comrades desperately held their defenses until help arrived. Thus a new frontier was taken, and the enemy had less and less room to maneuver, and their forces were greatly reduced.