A dozen seconds later, as the empty chamber was completely refilled, the bottom of the Black Lake gradually returned to peace.
Victor, on the other hand, had already found the entrance to the rock cave that the merperson leader had spoken of. He looked at the cave entrance, which was about half the size of a basketball court, and went straight in. But as soon as he entered, he found that the space inside was much larger than he had imagined. Whether he looked forward or down, it was an endless blackness.
As he slowly went deeper with a sense of curiosity, Victor discovered that this so-called Great Chasm was actually just a giant underwater cave. It was simply given the name "Chasm" by the merpeople because it was large enough.
As he walked down the uneven cliff toward the bottom of the valley, he could gradually see some unknown glowing plants growing on the rock walls, and from time to time, large schools of small fish would surround them.
"These look like firefish! Don't these things live in the Indian Ocean? How did they evolve into a freshwater species here?!" Victor looked at the small fish in front of him, which were orange-red all over with black stripes.
They were a magical fish species that could absorb phosphorus-containing organic matter and store it. When a firefish was in danger, it would spray the phosphorus-containing substance stored in its body. This substance would glow in the water and spontaneously combust when it came into contact with air, which was why it had such a special name.
Victor's descent was very fast, but even so, it took him several minutes to reach the bottom of the Great Chasm. Along the way, he saw many other fish that, just like the firefish, should have only existed in the ocean.
Standing at the bottom of the Great Chasm, he could see nothing but dilapidated boats, wooden crates, and iron objects covered with countless aquatic plants.
"How did these things get here?!" Victor was very confused by the scene in front of him, which looked like a recycling center for old junk.
Logically, the Black Lake was an inland lake. How could the wreckage of large sailboats that were used at sea appear in such an unrelated place? Furthermore, there were things like anchors. Even if there was a tsunami, it would be difficult to bring these things up from the bottom of the ocean!
With these questions in mind, Victor continued to move forward. Even with the presence of many glowing plants, he still had difficulty seeing what was in front of him. And so, he raised his hand and conjured a huge ball of light, which instantly illuminated the entire Great Chasm.
In an instant, a huge object hundreds of meters away came into view, nestled among countless pieces of old junk. It was long and slender, shaped like a spear, with more than a dozen thick tentacles, its front covered with suckers the size of a dinner plate. The size of the giant squid in front of him was comparable to Godzilla's.
"Oh my, are you the legendary Kraken?!" Victor looked at the huge, sleeping figure in front of him and suddenly remembered a rumor. He didn't know where it came from, but the rumor was that Godric Gryffindor hadn't died but had turned into the giant squid in the Black Lake to protect Hogwarts.
At the time, Victor had thought it was a joke, but this scene in front of him made him have to believe that the legend might be true.
What giant squid in the Black Lake is this big? The largest one I've ever seen was at most four or five meters long, including its tentacles! And there's probably a passage leading to the sea at the bottom of this Great Chasm, and all this wreckage was pulled back here by the giant squid in front of me?
But those were all side topics…
Victor slowly walked forward and found that there was indeed a crooked marble tombstone under the giant squid, covered with a lot of gray-green sediment. To be honest, if he didn't look closely, he would have thought it was just an ordinary rock.
Without startling the giant squid, Victor slowly walked to the tombstone and wiped away the sediment. He could clearly see a name carved on it: Godric Gryffindor.
He didn't expect the process of finding the tomb to be so much smoother than he had imagined. However, just as Victor was about to crouch down and check if the ring was there, a huge tentacle swung at him.
Bang!!!
A very muffled sound echoed in the water. The giant squid's tentacle seemed to hit some kind of resistance about a foot away from Victor and was instantly bounced back, creating a shockwave.
Victor looked up at the now-awake giant squid and tried to comfort it. "Big guy, I'm just here to get something. Can you go back to sleep, please?"
But it was clear that the giant squid didn't understand him. After stabilizing its huge body in the water, its thick tentacle attacked again.
Victor could only let out a helpless sigh at this. He then activated Heavenly Body Magic: Extreme Gravity. A magic circle with a twisted pattern instantly appeared above the giant squid's head, and an extremely strong gravity slammed the giant squid to the ground.
Thump!
Looking at the "pancake" giant squid, Victor turned and began to work on finding the ring again. He first put his hands together and bowed in front of the tombstone. Then, his eyes instantly turned into a strange white, and he used a X-ray Vision magic.
Under the tombstone, there were no bones or coffins. The base of the tombstone was actually a thick, solid piece of marble with simple carved patterns. Over the years, it had been buried in the sand, with only a part of the tombstone sticking out. However, at the place where the base connected to the tombstone, there was a square-shaped gap the size of a fist, and the ring was actually lying inside it.
And so, Victor used magic to dig out the entire marble tombstone from the sand. He came to the tombstone and pulled out the only movable piece of marble, and a ring with a blue gem and a pair of eagle wings on both sides of the gem revealed itself.
Victor picked up the ring and looked at it carefully. He found that the pair of eagle wings on the ring looked very much like a setting. Recalling what Helena had said last night, that Rowena Ravenclaw had made this ring and Gryffindor's ruby ring into a pair, he thought that this setting was probably for the ruby gem.
Victor put the ring away.
The process was much smoother than he had imagined. He had originally thought that he would have to face some twists and turns to find the ring in the Black Lake!
But now that his goal had been achieved, it was time to go back. This gloomy Great Chasm was not fun at all. There weren't even any herbs or ingredients.
After straightening Gryffindor's tombstone, Victor released the pressure on the giant squid. As expected, the tentacle attacked again. But looking at the squid's tentacle so close, to be honest, he had initially thought about cutting off a piece to take back and make into a stir-fry. But when he remembered the legend, he shook his head and decided against it.
After all, whether this giant squid was Godric Gryffindor himself or not, there was still a possibility that it was once a human. Even if it was only a "beast" now, Victor, as a human, couldn't get past that mental hurdle.
And so, Victor used Teleportation Magic and instantly disappeared from the Great Chasm, leaving the giant squid to roll in the mud like a mad beast before it slowly fell back into a deep sleep.
Back at Hogwarts, Victor immediately went to Dumbledore's office. The old bee wasn't there, but Helena was already waiting as they had agreed.
"Victor!" Helena flew over with a look of anticipation and asked anxiously, "Did you find the ring?"
"Mission accomplished!" Victor said with a smile and took out the ring, placing it on a desk.
"That's wonderful!" Helena leaned in, a big smile on her face as she looked at the blue gem ring. She reached out to touch it, but unfortunately, her hand went right through it.
Victor looked at the beautiful lady's regretful expression and felt helpless in his heart.
Shaking his head, he then walked over to the glass case that held the Sword of Gryffindor. He took out the sword and then turned to Helena and asked, "Helena, is there anything else you want to say to your father?"
"No, I've already said everything I needed to last night!" Helena shook her head with a look of relief.
"Then in that case, I'll take the gem out!" With that, Victor took out the ruby gem from the guard of the Sword of Gryffindor. The sword once again flowed like a liquid, and after a short while, the empty space on the guard was completely filled in. He then gently placed the gem onto the eagle wings of the ring, and as expected, it fit perfectly.
Victor picked up the ring and immediately felt an inexplicable power coming from his hand. He suddenly felt that his body and mind were much more relaxed.
"How is it?" Helena asked, looking at Victor's face.
"It seems your mother's knowledge of alchemy was quite high. This ring has the same ability as the diadem to keep a person's mind clear. Additionally, it also retains the alchemical runes that can activate the defensive magic in the ruby gem." With that, Victor directly activated the defensive magic on the ring, and a semi-transparent red protective shield instantly enveloped him. "With this kind of strength, it can probably block one or two Avada Kedavra curses. It's a shame that it has to be actively cast, but for a thousand-year-old technique, it's already very impressive!"
Victor put away the defensive magic and then asked Helena, "What do you want to do with this ring? To be honest, it's not appropriate to put it back in the Bronze Tree Palace."
"You can keep it for now. Hold onto it for me!" Helena said. "My mother's dying wish was for the two rings to be reunited, and that wish has now been fulfilled. And as my mother's successor, you have the right to possess this ring!"
"All right then, I'll hold onto it for you for now. Whenever you want to see your father, you can come and find me again!" Victor nodded and then put the ring on his hand. He didn't put it away, after all, there was no reason not to use an extra piece of defense. Besides, this ring wasn't a Horcrux like Ravenclaw's diadem!
And so, on the first day of the new term, the ring that symbolized the love between two of Hogwarts's founders was worn by Victor. And in the future World Magical History and Political Ethics class, a love story about Godric Gryffindor and Rowena Ravenclaw would be added to the curriculum…
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