Chapter 341: Manticore (2 in 1)

Chapter 341: Manticore (2 in 1)

"It's true that I created that Chamber of Secrets, but so many years have passed since the castle was built that the structure and facilities inside should have been renovated and refurbished an unknown number of times long ago."

The old, monkey-like Slytherin whispered from the walls of Dumbledore's headmaster's office, which were hung with portraits of past headmasters.

"However what I am sure of is that the location I gave to this young girl at the beginning was not wrong, the entrance to that chamber I had designed at the beginning was a circular movable sliding portal that could be successfully entered by simply uttering open in Parseltongue."

In the face of Slytherin's words, Dumbledore simply waved his hand.

"I have not doubted that there was a problem with the information you provided, Salazar. There are many possibilities for Hermione not finding the entrance, besides he already knew you had joined us in the first place, so naturally he would have guessed that you would be able to give us the exact method of entry and location of the Chamber of Secrets, and with the vigilance, he has shown over the years; if that Chamber really did hold something that very important to him, then he would certainly have made some changes."

Hermione looked at Dumbledore with an unwavering gaze.

"So, are we going to keep looking? Professor."

At this, Dumbledore said with a nod.

"Of course, the more he hides, it would mean that there is greater value to this place we are trying to find, but it would also mean that the risk you would face personally would be much higher, and since he was able to change the location of the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, he would have already made some different preparations in the Chamber."

"I'll be ten thousand percent more vigilant." Hermione said in a soft voice.

Dumbledore looked on with a slight smile.

"And I certainly never questioned your abilities, Hermione, but I think the other piece of information you got last night might be more worthy of your time to explore. You said you saw a boy on the map who had left the castle privately through a secret passage?"

Hermione didn't hesitate for a moment to nod her head.

***

"Petrificus Totalus!"

The red beam sliced through the kindled trees and grass in the surrounding area, leaving a stream of magic in the air!

Jon once again shifted his upper body sharply, dodging the spell from Emil, while stepping forward and casting a spell in return.

"Expelliarmus!"

Emil was dodging too, but he was not dodging the attack with anywhere near the ease as Jon.

As soon as the shield charm he had been maintaining on his body shattered, he reapplied another layer of protection at the first opportunity, but even then, he didn't dare to take another of Jon's spells any longer easily.

The power of Jon's spell was so great that even after it had shattered his shield charm it didn't stop, and the aftermath of the spell nearly knocked him to the ground.

He took an awkward donkey's roll on the grass covered with ash, which was a messy process, but it allowed Emil to avoid Jon's spell and put some distance between Jon and him.

But Jon had no intention of letting him off the hook, taking another step forward while casting the spell and never stopping to put pressure on him with his mouth.

"I've fought many Death Eaters, including the aunt and uncle you despise, but to be honest, compared to them, your spell casting is too crude, the timing of your spell is not right, the speed of your recitation is not quick enough, and even the swing of your wand is not decisive. So not even one of your spells made me feel the pressure of needing to make a defence, is that what you have gained from having studied magic for three years longer than me?"

"Stupefy!"

Emil gritted his teeth and flushed red, as he resumed his counter-attack against Jon, with obvious indignation on his face.

The difference between the two was not only in terms of spells and magical power but also in terms of experience in wizard combat.

The gap between Emil and Jon was not bridged by passion or anger, Jon had steadily overwhelmed him and if Emil did not find a way to escape, it was only a matter of time before he was defeated.

The Manticore was already in a state of extreme agitation as Jon recited the incantation, and hissed as it leapt up from the ground, swinging its body sideways, trying to fling its tail so that the toxic sting on it could reach Jon's calves.

However, the next moment the wind blew, and a roar of pain erupted!

The ground, the trees, the grass, the rocks, even the burning dragon flame, were all split in half by an invisible edge of the swords at that moment!

The Manticore's own thick fur, which could even rival that of a dragon in terms of magic resistance, blossomed with countless bloodstains. The scarlet blood instantly stained its entire body, and the residual magic from those wounds continued to deepen and corrode, and almost every second that passed, the wounds on the creature's body would get worse and more blood would flow out!

The huge injury caused it to look at Jon with resentment, then turned back and went into the bushes.

The Manticore was certain it would not survive unless it could find a wizard behind it who could help it counter the Invisible Sword Curse.

If it had actually killed that boy now, then the whole situation would have been much simpler as they would 100% help it, now it could only leave it to chance.

This enhanced version of the Invisible Sword Curse drained a lot of Jon's stamina.

It was a spellcasting technique he had learned from a forbidden book in his ring during the summer holidays, increasing the flux of magic to the spell by holding the wand in both hands together, as a way of giving the spell an extremely powerful boost of magic.

It is very practical to use with ranged damage spells such as Invisible Sword Curse, but because of the high consumption and the long casting time, it is not too practical in a real one-on-one battle.

But it's much more effective when dealing with extremely resistant magical creatures like this one, especially if Jon has the advantage in terms of aerial combat.

Otherwise, Jon would not have played such a child game with Emil and would have used a killing curse to force the Manticore or other enemy to come out.

The appearance of such a dark creature also confirmed Jon's suspicion that in the Forbidden Forest, Voldemort's own territory, he would not be unprepared.

At least the current situation showed Jon that Voldemort still had some regard for the outcome of this tournament, otherwise, how would he possibly care about Emil and Draco's lives given his character?

Jon thought as he picked up a few golden flying snitches from the ground that had been destroyed by the dragon's breath, trembling with metal wings but no longer able to fly, something that Emil had dropped when he was rolling around.

Putting them into his pocket, Jon was ready to get down to business about the tournament, there were only so many dragons in the Forbidden Forest in any case, and as long as Emil wanted to keep improving his results, then they would run into each other again sooner or later.

Jon blew a whistle and soon Hoss appeared beside him with a naive look on his face.

"Come on, let's start with the Norwegian Ridgeback we marked out this morning first, one at a time."

The rules for this task to seize golden flying snitches from a dragon might have taken a lot of work and brainpower for other champions participating without the ability to fly, but for Jon, there was no great risk at all.

After all, he could fly himself, and he could also use his ring to seize the magic in alchemical items.

As long as he flew up and got close to those golden flying snitches, and used the second gem in his ring to absorb the magic power on those golden flying snitches, he would be able to catch those things with incredible ease.

And the dragons posed no threat whatsoever at all to Jon either with the restriction imposed on them.

So from the very beginning, after learning the rules of the first task, Jon didn't have much concern. As long as he competed normally, it would be easy to get a high score in this task. The only thing he needed to take into account was whether Voldemort might set up any arrangements against him in the Forbidden Forest itself.

Because of this, Jon had made plans to find Emil and try him first, and if there was an arrangement to be made, the odds were that it would be on him higher.

Now that it had been confirmed that the arrangement consisted of nothing more than magical creatures, Jon could let loose.

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