The Basilisk kept changing its escape route in the pipes, and Victor, who was chasing it, could only see its tail disappearing around a corner. The inability to speed up the chase was incredibly frustrating for Victor.
The pipes weren't straight, and if he flew too fast, he wouldn't be able to react. He had just accidentally crashed into and broken a stalactite.
"Helena!" Victor realized that he might not be able to catch up to the Basilisk at his current speed, so he yelled out. A ghostly blue figure immediately flew out from his chest. He couldn't stop in the pipes, but the Swooping Evil, with its flexible body, could definitely do the job!
"Block that disgusting snake for me!!!" As soon as the command was given, Helena flapped her wings twice and quickly flew toward the Basilisk. Soon, she flew through a different pipe and got ahead of the snake, instantly growing in size to block its path.
Victor, seeing this, immediately began to cast a spell.
"Dragon Emperor Roars!"
A huge, high-pressure pillar of wind instantly rushed down the pipe toward the Basilisk.
BANG!!!
The young wizards eating in the Hogwarts Great Hall felt the first tremor. But unfortunately, the pillar of wind didn't hit the Basilisk. Because Helena had blocked its path with her poisonous breath, the Basilisk, sensing the threat, moved back a few meters and then escaped up a pipe leading upward.
Victor and Helena immediately gave chase, one wizard and one Swooping Evil pursuing in parallel along the pipes. Helena spat out a jet of breath, hitting the Basilisk's tail and the rest hitting a stone wall. But that was enough to make the Basilisk feel pain, and its escape speed instantly slowed down.
Victor seized the opportunity to cast another spell: "Zero Freezing!"
A blue magic circle lit up, and an intense cold spread along the pipe, instantly freezing the struggling Basilisk in place and creating icicles hanging from the pipe.
"Phew, finally got it!" Victor temporarily breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at the long ice sculpture at the end of the pipe. He rubbed his aching forehead. He had crashed into the walls a few times from flying too fast, and his clothes were torn.
However, just as Victor was about to go and retrieve the Basilisk, the sound of cracking ice suddenly came from the pipe, and he looked up in astonishment. The ice on the Basilisk's body began to turn into stone and fall off in chunks.
"What the hell?!" Victor was filled with questions at this sight. He didn't remember the Basilisk having the ability to petrify itself in the original story?! But he couldn't worry about that now. He had to subdue the Basilisk first and study it later.
So, Victor began to cast an even more powerful spell: "Dragon Emperor Roars!"
A golden pillar of fire burst out of the pipe, directly blasting the entire Basilisk, and its huge body crashed against the cavern wall with a loud bang. But at the same time, because it was still covered in ice and stone, the high-temperature flame did not cause any substantial damage to the Basilisk.
At this point, the young wizards in the Hogwarts Great Hall were already evacuating under Professor McGonagall's command.
After being blasted against the wall, the Basilisk's scales shattered, and blood began to ooze from its mouth, nose, and body as it let out a pained roar. But at the same time, its animal instinct to flee continued to drive it to escape.
Victor saw the Basilisk still moving its body and trying to crawl upward, instantly rolling his eyes and deciding not to hold back anymore.
A brilliant ice-blue magic circle lit up.
"Ice Tide!"
A massive wave of cold air instantly froze the entire Hogwarts plumbing system. However, while Victor's spell successfully trapped the Basilisk, it also caused immense trouble for the students who were using the toilets. Could you imagine a sudden blast of cold air coming out while you were in the middle of using the toilet? Especially for those students who were doing a number two!
Under the power of the Great Magic, the Basilisk was frozen once again, but it was still using its innate ability. The ice on its body began to petrify and fall off again. However, Victor no longer wanted to waste any more time. He charged forward, and with a single iron fist, he blasted the Basilisk, along with the pipe wall, out of the building. The bright sunlight immediately shone into the dark pipe.
Victor looked at the huge hole in front of him, twisted his neck, and said, "Running?! Keep running! Let's see where you can run now!"
"Mr. Dreyar?" Professor McGonagall's voice suddenly came from outside the hole. Victor heard the voice, passed through the dust cloud, and immediately saw Professor McGonagall standing in the corridor with a shocked expression on her face. He scratched his head sheepishly.
"Sorry, Professor McGonagall! I didn't expect this Basilisk to be so fast! I apologize for interrupting everyone's lunch."
"This… was that a Basilisk that just flew out?!" Professor McGonagall, upon hearing that such a dangerous magical creature was involved, felt her blood pressure soar.
"Huh? Didn't Professor Dumbledore tell you?!" Victor was a little confused. The old bee should have at least informed Professor McGonagall, the Deputy Headmistress, about the attack on Filch and Mrs. Norris last night.
"He didn't tell me anything. He went to the Ministry of Magic early this morning!" Professor McGonagall said. "You better explain what this Basilisk is all about!"
"Uh… Professor, now doesn't seem like a good time to explain this," Victor said, pointing at the Basilisk that was rolling around on the lawn not far away, letting out pained roars. "Shouldn't we deal with this snake first?! You go and protect the students behind you!"
Although Professor McGonagall was very angry at this moment, she knew what was most important. She left him with that one sentence and tried to go and deal with the Basilisk, but in the next moment, she was stopped by a hand.
Victor said with a grin, "Professor, leave the heavy lifting of dealing with the Basilisk to me. You just stay here. It will be over quickly!"
With that, before Professor McGonagall could react, he charged forward.
"Overgrowth!"
Victor cast a spell, and a green magic circle lit up under the Basilisk. Dozens of thick vines burst out of the ground, instantly holding the Basilisk firmly in place on the lawn. The Basilisk struggled fiercely, activating its petrification ability again, and three of the vines began to break.
"Giant Hand!"
Victor didn't give the Basilisk a chance to struggle. A giant rock hand emerged from a brown magic circle and slammed into the snake's torso. In the next moment, the Basilisk let out a mournful cry and instantly passed out.
The entire battle was over in less than twenty seconds. Then Victor waved to Professor McGonagall in the corridor behind him and shouted, "Professor McGonagall, it's done!"
Professor McGonagall ran over at the sound, and when she saw the unconscious and wounded Basilisk, she breathed a sigh of relief. But in the next moment, she looked at Victor with a stern, angry face and said, "Now, Mr. Dreyar, I believe it's time for you to explain?"
"Ah ha ha ha!" Victor let out a dry laugh and then began to explain the entire sequence of events.
On the other side, the young wizards hiding in the distance suddenly heard that everything had gone quiet, so a few of the more daring Gryffindors decided to sneak over to check out the situation.
"Is that Victor Dreyar and Professor McGonagall?" one of the young Gryffindors looked over from a distance. "It seems like everything is fine, but what is that long green thing?"
"It looks like a very big snake. Is it a magical creature? Should we go and take a look?"
"Forget it. We should go back and tell everyone first. If we go over there without permission, I'm afraid Professor McGonagall will skin us alive if anything happens! Don't forget, there are still end-of-year evaluations!"
"Alright, let's go back first!" With that, the young Gryffindors started to return the way they came.
At the same time, Victor had already quickly and simply recounted the events.
"… and that's what happened!"
After listening to the entire story, Professor McGonagall felt not only her blood pressure rising but also a splitting headache.
"You're telling me that to stop the Basilisk from escaping, you used a spell to freeze the entire Hogwarts plumbing system?"
Victor nodded proudly. "Yeah!"
Professor McGonagall suddenly felt a rush of blood to her head and stumbled.
"Whoa, Professor! Are you alright?!" Victor quickly reached out to support her.
Just then, the other professors of Hogwarts finally arrived.
"Mr. Dreyar, what in the…?" Professor Flitwick, who had been given a pair of flying shoes by Victor, was at the front. Just as he was about to ask what had happened, the paralyzed Basilisk immediately caught his attention.
"Oh, my goodness! Is that a Basilisk?!" As he spoke, Snape and Professor Sprout also arrived, followed by a huge crowd of young wizards, all craning their necks, their eyes filled with curiosity.
"Severus, I'll leave this to you. I think I need to go to Poppy," Professor McGonagall said, rubbing her temples, and then she was helped toward the hospital wing by a few Gryffindor girls.
Snape, who had taken over command of the situation, also stared at Victor with a grim expression.
"Dreyar, what in Merlin's name happened? Why is there such a massive snake in the school?"
It must be said that this incident was a big deal. Such a huge Basilisk, a 5X-class extremely dangerous magical creature, suddenly appeared from inside the school and was seen by so many students. There was no doubt that the front page of tomorrow's Daily Prophet would be filled with news of a Basilisk at Hogwarts, and the Ministry of Magic would definitely use this incident to their advantage!
"I have to explain again…" Victor sighed helplessly and then quickly and simply repeated the story. At the same time, the young wizards standing not far away began to stir. Many of them had just heard the professors' conversation.
"My God, is that a Basilisk?! Dreyar took down a 5X-class magical creature all by himself?"
"That's insane! But where did this Basilisk come from? I see a huge hole over there. Has it been living inside the walls of Hogwarts all this time?"
"Gasp… putting that aside, can you even eat a magical creature called a Basilisk?"
"..."
Amidst the students' heated discussions, the three professors had finished listening to Victor's summary and were temporarily silent.
Although the incident had caused a great commotion, at least the threat of the Basilisk was gone for now. If another incident like the attack on Filch and Mrs. Norris were to happen again, honestly, Hogwarts wouldn't know how to handle itself.
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