The unicorn was in the crucial stage of giving birth. Upon seeing the swarm of Acromantulas, fear flickered in her eyes, but her body could no longer move.
"Chiu–chiu!"
With Ho-Oh's sharp cry, the flames around her blazed even more brilliantly, forcing several Acromantulas to instinctively retreat.
Ho-Oh had clearly detected the danger early on. On her own, she might be able to drive these Acromantulas away, but she would not be able to both fight and protect the unicorn at the same time—
which was why she had summoned her master here for help.
Flames were the thing spiders feared most.
A cold chuckle came from the enormous spider, and the retreating Acromantulas halted their steps.
"Little wizard… blame your misfortune."
The voice of the Acromantula was ancient and raspy, like an old tree about to splinter.
"I promised someone I wouldn't eat humans anymore, but my children are under no such restriction."
"After all… you're the one who broke Dumbledore's rule and entered the Forbidden Forest."
Wayne's eyes lifted slightly, his wand appearing silently in his hand.
"You must be Aragog, right?"
"You know me?" The massive spider—Aragog—sounded faintly surprised.
"I'm a friend of Hagrid's."
"Hagrid's… friend…" Aragog fell silent for a moment, then took a single step back.
"Even if you are his friend, I cannot help you. You've delivered yourself to my children—no one can save you."
"I think you've misunderstood," Wayne shook his head.
"What I meant was…"
"For Hagrid's sake, if you leave now, I'll spare you and your children."
"Oh?"
Aragog let out a chilling laugh.
"Does Hogwarts teach arrogance as a subject now?
I'd like to see how you intend to 'spare' us."
The clicking of countless legs filled the air as all the Acromantulas surged forward, their green-glowing eyes burning with hunger.
For anyone with arachnophobia, this would be a waking nightmare—
thousands of eyes locked on their prey.
"Venom… pedipalps… legs… even the spinnerets."
Wayne raised his wand and smirked.
"I've just realised—there's nothing on an Acromantula that isn't useful."
Aragog's tone turned icy.
"Kill him!"
Sssk–!
Countless strands of web shot from Acromantula mouths, sticky and near-impossible to break free from once caught.
Webs were a spider's most efficient weapon for hunting.
"Incendio!"
A blazing fireball erupted from Wayne's wand tip, swelling rapidly before exploding with a resounding boom!
A ring of fire burst out from around Wayne, surging in all directions.
The moment the webs touched the flames, they burned to ash.
The closest Acromantulas screamed in agony as the fire consumed them, filling the air with the stench of charred flesh.
But instead of frightening the others, it only made them more frenzied.
Spiders were ruthless predators—ones that would even devour the bodies of their own kind.
Wayne had just given them fresh meat.
Phtoo!
If webs were useless against fire, they still had venom.
Corrosive venom hissed as it hit the ground, sending up choking, toxic fumes.
Wayne quickly cast Protego Maxima, then glanced at the unicorn under Ho-Oh's protection.
With Ho-Oh there, the poison wouldn't touch them.
He pointed forward, speaking a single word:
"Fulmen!"
Crack!
Lightning crashed down from the heavens, striking the Acromantulas and dancing across the fiery battlefield in a storm of sparks.
This combined attack had a name Wayne himself had given it—
The Thunderfire Blade.
With his shield holding strong, Wayne charged wand-first into the swarm.
"Confringo!"
"Bombarda Maxima!"
"Petrificus Totalus!"
"Fulmen!"
Brilliant bursts of magic erupted from the tip of Wayne's wand — thunder rolled across the forest, and with each peal came screams. The Acromantulas fell in swathes.
With his Dynamic Perception, even in the pitch dark, not a single strand of web or drop of venom managed to touch him.
"Damn it—why is a little wizard this strong?!"
Aragog retreated while cursing. "Stop! Stop right now! We'll spare you — and the unicorn! Just stop!"
His heart was bleeding. Every spider here was his child. Yes, he had fathered tens of thousands over his lifetime, but watching a young wizard tear through his offspring in front of him was agony all the same.
"You still don't understand your situation, Aragog." Wayne flicked another Confringo, blasting a deep crater into the ground, leaving nothing but scorched remains of nearby spiders. He sneered,
"It's not about you sparing me. It's about whether I spare you."
Zzzzt!
An enormous web of lightning fell from the sky, casting an eerie blue glow across the forest. Any spider that touched it was instantly torn apart by the raging current, their bodies scattering in pieces.
Their tough carapaces and sticky silk meant nothing before the crackling electric mesh.
"I yield! Little wizard — what will it take for you to let us go?" Aragog pleaded, barely containing his pain. He hadn't escaped the lightning unscathed — one of his legs had been severed.
"Mmm~!"
"Mmm~!"
In the midst of slaughter, the soft whimper of a young creature pierced the chaos.
Wayne's advance faltered. He turned to see a newborn unicorn nestled against its mother, suckling gently. The mother nuzzled the foal affectionately.
The tender scene cooled the fire of his killing intent.
Aragog, ever the cunning old spider, sensed the shift in Wayne's mood and quickly pressed his advantage:
"Little wizard, this is all my fault. You've slain many of my children already.
For Hagrid's sake, let us go. If you return to the Forbidden Forest in the future, I promise — we'll never trouble you again.
And we won't take revenge on the unicorns, either."
In just a few minutes, hundreds of Acromantulas had been slain — and not one had laid a hair on Wayne.
Aragog had no doubt that if the boy was given enough time, none of his brood would survive.
"That's it?" Wayne scoffed, idly cleaning his ear.
"You see a small wizard and think you can eat him. Now you can't win, and you want to run?
The world doesn't work that way."
He snapped his fingers. Another bolt of lightning crashed down, killing a cluster of spiders.
Then, with a sweeping motion, he conjured an even larger lightning web — vast enough to blanket the entire clearing. The gaps between threads were slightly wider this time, but with the size of an Acromantula, passing through would still mean losing a few limbs.
As for Aragog, at his size… being reduced to a hundred pieces wouldn't be difficult.
"What do you want?" Aragog growled.
Wayne walked toward the unicorns. Wherever he passed, the surviving spiders scrambled desperately to flee.
Legends claimed that unicorns would only approach and allow themselves to be touched by pure-hearted maidens, making them entirely uninterested in men — or, as Wayne thought with amusement, "the ultimate anti-simp creature."
But Wayne carried the gift of Beast Affinity, and more importantly, he had just protected both mother and foal. The unicorn mare showed no resistance, even greeting him with a gentle call.
Seeing the little one drink contentedly, Wayne smiled and stroked its still-damp coat.
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