Chapter 184 Don't I want to save face?
Behind the trio, a emerald green magic circle flashed, and a powerful storm rushed towards the exit, blowing away all the Acromantulas in its path.
"Now! Run!"
Aaron roared, and the trio along with Fang immediately bolted for the exit.
But halfway there, a wave of spiders dropped from above, blocking their essential path.
"Stun Spiders!"
Harry and Hermione simultaneously drew their wands, and white light repelled two spiders, but more spiders surrounded them.
"What do we do?" Ron asked anxiously.
"What can we do?" Harry said grimly, "We can only fight to the death."
Hermione nodded silently. Although spells were useful, their effective combat strength was only two people, which was merely a dying struggle against hundreds of Acromantulas.
"You said you'd help us out!" Ron looked around nervously, trying to find Aaron in the spider's den, but with his abilities, he couldn't see through Aaron's Disillusionment Charm.
"Calm down, just hold on a little longer.
This magic is quite powerful, and even I need a bit of time," Aaron said calmly, sounding full of confidence.
"Why do I feel like you're enjoying this?" Hermione asked, puzzled.
"An illusion, it must be an illusion."
Aaron immediately said, but he was indeed very happy in his heart.
He had practiced elemental magic circles for a long time, and he had a good understanding of the power of elementary and intermediate magic circles, but he had never fully unleashed an advanced magic circle. He could only continuously improve his proficiency and shorten the carving time.
Today, he finally got this opportunity. He would use these Acromantulas to test its power.
A few minutes later, Harry and Hermione were panting, constantly using magic was no small burden for them at this moment.
Ron wasn't doing much better. Because his wand was malfunctioning, he could only use his lantern as a weapon to attack the Acromantulas, doing purely physical labor.
But the situation showed no signs of improving. Not only did they not advance, but they were continuously forced back by the dense swarm of spiders, getting further and further from the exit.
"How much longer do we have to wait?" Harry asked weakly. Aaron was their only hope now. Although he didn't want to disturb him, they really couldn't hold on much longer.
"No need to wait," Aaron dispelled his invisibility, turned around, and looked at the trio with interest, "Perfect, you guys have a chance to see something amazing."
As his voice fell, a purple magic circle about a meter in diameter appeared in front of Aaron.
Purple lightning continuously flickered at the edge of the magic circle, illuminating the dark cave. The next second, a powerful bolt of lightning shot forward, leaving behind agonizing screams and scorching black path leading directly to the exit.
"Not bad, the power is about what I expected."
Harry and the trio stared, dumbfounded, at at least dozens of Acromantulas lying on the ground, smoking from the lightning strike.
They had struggled so hard for so long, and their achievements probably didn't even amount to half of what that single moment had accomplished.
"Never mind all that, let's run!" Ron reminded them.
The few of them immediately snapped back to reality and rushed towards the exit.
"Chase them quickly!" Aragog roared, "magic of that power isn't something a child can just casually use. Don't give him time to prepare."
Hearing this, the spiders in the den regained their confidence, moving their eight spider legs and chasing after them, forming a dense black tide of spiders behind the group.
"Damn it!" Aaron cursed, "I shouldn't have come with you guys. Every time I come to the Forbidden Forest, nothing good happens. It's either running or on the way to running."
"I'm actually glad we called you. Otherwise, we probably would have been finished here."
"You still have time to talk? They're catching up!" Ron said, glancing back, immediately turning pale with fright. Two spider legs were less than a meter away from him.
"Aaron, can you use that magic again?" Hermione asked anxiously, "If you can, don't hold back! We can't outrun these spiders!"
"It's easy for you to say! That's an advanced magic circle!
At my current level, it requires at least three minutes of preparation time, but right now, let alone three minutes, even three seconds would be pushing it."
"What about intermediate and elementary ones?"
"Heh, heh!
Those aren't as troublesome, but their power is considerably weaker, completely unable to stop so many spiders.
And do you think we'll have time to cast? Given the current situation, once we stop, we'll be engulfed by the spider tide."
"Then what do we do?"
"Run, run like your life depends on it," Aaron said without hesitation.
He wasn't worried; his physical condition far surpassed ordinary people. If he wanted to, he could shake off the spider swarm in minutes. He was only worried about the few burdens behind him, which forced him to slow down and stay on the same level as them.
After running for a while, Harry suddenly tripped over a tree root, and the spider swarm seized the opportunity to pounce on him.
"Stun Spider!"
Hermione blasted an Acromantula away and quickly helped Harry up, but in doing so, she put herself in danger.
Aaron and Ron, seeing this, also had no choice but to stop.
"This is terrible," Aaron said with a wry smile, "You were running so well, why did you have to trip?"
Harry forced a smile, on the verge of tears, saying, "That's just how the Forbidden Forest is at night; it's normal not to see the path clearly."
"Instead of explaining, you should think about how to deal with the current situation!" Aaron took out his second wand. "Just a warning, protect yourselves. If I get too carried away, I might not be able to look after you."
The trio and Fang looked at the spider tide surrounding them, and despair inevitably welled up. Before, there was an exit, and to prevent their escape, there were only more spiders in front. But now, Acromantulas were everywhere—front, back, left, and right—and stretched as far as the eye could see. This was no ordinary predicament.
Abe, however, showed disdain in its eyes. If only its master had given the order, it could instantly giant-size, and a single breath of dragon fire would surely incinerate a large number of them.
Just then, a high-pitched but intermittent sound suddenly rang out, and two bright lights pierced through the spider swarm, falling upon the group.
The Weasley family's car, dragging its battered body, forcibly crashed a path through. The Acromantulas had never seen a car before, but seeing their badly battered kin, they could judge its power and immediately chose to retreat.
The car stopped in front of the group, and all four doors opened simultaneously.
"Wow! I'm starting to like this car," Aaron shrugged and got into the driver's seat.
"Bring Fang."
Harry reminded him while getting into the front seat. Ron, meanwhile, picked up the trembling Fang and, along with Hermione, got into the back seat.
Once everyone was in, the car doors closed automatically.
The magic car didn't need Aaron to do anything; it could drive itself completely automatically.
The engine roared to life very quickly, the car knocked over more spiders, crashing through the dense forest until it suddenly stopped at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
After getting out of the car, Ron started uncontrollably throwing up. After a while, he weakly stood up, "Following the spiders, following the spiders.
When Hagrid gets out of Azkaban, I'm going to kill him."
"I'm sure Hagrid thought Aragog wouldn't hurt his friends, and we thought so too," Hermione said, looking at Aaron guiltily, "I wish we had listened to you from the start. We didn't find anything, and we almost lost our lives."
"That's the problem with you guys, always looking at the bright side of things," Aaron said exasperatedly, "When the situation gets critical, I still have Abe to save me. With its current strength, it can fly with one or two people.
But what about you? You're lucky to be alive tonight."
Harry suddenly thought of something, paused slightly, and looked directly into Aaron's eyes, "At this point, it's about time you told us the last clue, isn't it?"
Aaron was taken aback, then scoffed, "Didn't I tell you?"
"I'm talking about the possible final location of the Chamber of Secrets," Harry explained, "We've checked the common room; it can be ruled out.
The Forbidden Forest is also impossible; the Basilisk is the natural enemy of the Acromantula. Aragog and his children couldn't possibly hide right next to their natural enemy's mouth.
As for the Black Lake, if the Heir of Slytherin were from Slytherin House, it would be possible, because the Slytherincommon room is built beneath the lake, making it incredibly convenient to summon the Basilisk.
But we've already confirmed that the Heir of Slytherin is a Gryffindor, so the Chamber of Secrets cannot be in the Black Lake."
Aaron raised an eyebrow, "I have to admit, you're a bit smarter than I thought.
However, I still have to apologize; I don't plan on telling you the final location."
"Why?" Hermione frowned in confusion, "Hogwarts has already had several attacks. Even if you have some unspoken difficulty, can it really be more important than the lives of the students?"
"This…" Aaron deliberated for a while, then frowned slightly, "Alright! Do you remember the water stains that appeared at the crime scene on Halloween Eve?
No one was mopping the floor then, so where did the water come from?"
"The lavatory," Hermione immediately said, "Only the lavatory is possible, and Madam Norris was attacked very close to the lavatory."
"Exactly.
From what I know, Myrtle was the student killed by the Basilisk fifty years ago. She died in the lavatory."
"So, that's why you didn't want to tell us?" Harry asked, surprised.
"What else?
I'm not afraid of going anywhere else, but that's the girls' lavatory! Don't you two boys feel even a tiny bit awkward when you go there?"
Harry and Ron exchanged glances, then lowered their heads, blushing.
No matter what they thought in their hearts, they absolutely couldn't admit it outwardly; their reputation was at stake.
"Seeing you two like this, I think you should understand my predicament.
The girls' lavatory is one thing, but there's also a female ghost in there who's after my body. That place is a hundred times scarier than a dragon's den or a tiger's lair for me. Who wouldn't panic?!"
"Then you could have just told us and let us help you find it!" Hermione said.
"Heh! Heh heh!
One moment I was so badly tricked by you, and the next moment I'm supposed to tell you the last clue that defends the bottom line of my dignity.
Do you really think I'm that cheap in your eyes?" Aaron sneered, "It's not about making steamed buns, it's about saving face. Don't I have any pride?"