Chapter 456 The Nun and the Spider (8,000-character chapter!)
"Who am I? Where am I?"
"Did I see this tree just now?"
"Why did the forest path we promised disappear just as we were walking?!"
Elena looked blankly at the dense forest around her that looked similar to before. Except that the ground seemed to be slightly tilted downwards, the trees were still as lush as before, and there was no sign of them leaving the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts.
That's right, she got lost again.
Faced with this familiar feeling, Elena's heart was completely calm, even a little...
(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻
Who the hell can still laugh when they are about to starve to death! Hundan!
At the beginning, she did chase the two unicorns in the direction where they disappeared.
However, after only a minute or two of chasing, Elena instantly realized a problem. With her short legs, it was still a bit unrealistic to chase those lively [Scottish One-Horned Aries] in the dense forest.
.
Fortunately, just as she was about to return the same way, she saw a vague forest path.
Recall this tip from Hogwarts Gamekeeper Rubeus Hagrid:
"When you walk in the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts, as long as you don't deviate from the path, it's usually difficult to get lost and you won't encounter any danger."
Therefore, Elena decisively gave up the Unicorn Plan and chose [Plan B] - to follow the teachings of the elders and find the path automatically.
But every path a person takes always has a starting point and an ending point.
At worst, if you walk a little in both directions, you can always successfully return to the entrance to the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts. If you are lucky, you will succeed once. If you are not lucky, you will just try one more time.
However, the premise for this is...
This path must be the path taken by mankind...
Looking at the poop of unknown magical animals and the scattered footprints in front of her, the corner of Elena's mouth twitched.
Only then did she suddenly realize an important issue - judging from the frequency of human wizards' activities in the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts, most of the vague forest paths in the Forbidden Forest are usually not the place where human activities occur.
The footprints left behind.
"Don't panic, it's not a big problem, just go back the way you came."
Elena exhaled calmly, narrowed her eyes slightly, and tried to distinguish her own footprints on the ground illuminated by the wand. However, with her current size and weight, she could not leave any traces in this dense primitive jungle.
What obvious traces.
After she stopped and turned around a few times, she couldn't even tell which direction she was coming from.
Elena hummed softly, gradually calmed down, and thought carefully.
There are various groups of magical animals living in the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts. Most of them have a certain degree of intelligence. As long as they encounter any of these creatures, most of them can find a way to communicate well and let them help lead the way.
She may not be able to see the legendary Thestrals, but in addition, there are unicorns, trolls, hippogriffs and other species that can communicate. Of course, the most ideal among them is one with a complete social system.
Horse tribe.
At this moment, Elena suddenly heard a strange rustling sound coming from a place on the left, roughly ten feet above the ground, as if something was touching the branches and leaves in the forest, accompanied by
There is a clicking sound.
In fact, these sounds are not obvious, and most of them are mixed with the wind in the Forbidden Forest.
However, for some reason, it sounded particularly abrupt to Elena's ears, like ripples suddenly blooming in the calm water. She even roughly sketched the size of the other party in her mind for the first time.
"Hi, Good Evening."
Before the opponent could pounce down from the sky, Elena turned around first, raised her wand and said with a smile.
"Dear... Mr. Spider."
This is a giant spider that is as big as a horse pulling a cart. It has eight ridiculously long, hairy long legs. The front two legs are a pair of large shiny black claws. It emits a burst of sound when it opens and closes.
A faint clicking sound.
There is no doubt that this is a specialty of the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts, the Acromantula tribe.
Facing the wand that was so close at hand, the spider that had quietly lurked to the upper left of Elena and was about to pounce down suddenly froze, and a hint of fear flashed in its eight terrifying black eyes.
As a magical creature living around Hogwarts Castle, it is well aware of the power of these human wizards - even if it is a human cub, it is quite a terrifying threat when her wand is aimed at it.
.
The most important thing is that it can vaguely sense the malice hidden in the little thing in front of it.
"Hello, would you like to know how to get to Hogwarts Castle..."
Elena's eyes were firmly fixed on the big furry spider in front of her, without any fear. Every experienced hunter knows that when facing an unknown creature in the jungle, turning around and running away is always the worst thing.
options.
When you have a firearm in your hand, calmly locking onto the opponent is the most correct option.
For wizards, the magic wand also has the same effect - powerful impact and lethality, which will repel all ungrateful beasts at the first time. Humans walking upright are giants from the perspective of most animals.
In fact, if the opponent is a creature that has never eaten humans, the result of this confrontation is usually...
"Hey! Don't run away! They're all petrified!"
Elena shouted anxiously, and quickly followed the fleeing spider. The wand in her hand occasionally cast spells, trying to keep the Acromantula behind and ask questions.
road.
She has already lost a unicorn once. If she misses the big spider she finally encountered again, she doesn't know when she will be lucky enough to encounter a living magical animal again. After all, the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts is really too big.
Big.
Compared with the previous failed chase, this chase process was obviously much easier.
Although the big spider relied on its eight long legs to easily throw Elena away, the gradually changing environment around it became the most eye-catching signpost, guiding Elena to continue moving forward.
As the girl moved forward, the ground was gradually sloping downwards, and the surrounding trees became sparser and sparse. Many tree trunks showed an unhealthy gray color, as if they had been eroded by some pests, and the branches and leaves were covered with white spiders.
net.
After chasing for about five or six minutes, Elena came to the edge of a wide depression.
The trees that were originally in the depression have been cleared away, and a few spiders crawl from time to time on the ground covered with thick fallen leaves. When you step on it, you feel like walking on a thick carpet in a common room. In the center of the depression under the starlight,
It is a terrifying sight that is enough to scare most people.
spider.
They are not like the common little spiders that crawl away in a hurry, but each one seems to be the size of a domestic pig, with eight eyes and eight legs, dark and hairy, and waving its big black claws and clicking.
The clicking Acromantula.
What a huge group of people...
Elena narrowed her eyes, glanced around at the densely packed giant spiders in the depression, and shook her head with sigh.
Biological invasion, even in the magical world, is indeed a problem that cannot be ignored.
According to the records in "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", the Acromantula is a huge, ferocious spider; an adult spider's legs stretch to both sides, and the span can reach fifteen feet. It is a high-risk carnivorous magical creature with certain intelligence.
.
The most important thing is that a female Acromantula can lay up to a hundred eggs at a time, and the hatching time only takes less than three months - the Acromantula group in the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts lives a life of
For nearly fifty years, if it were replaced by an ordinary primitive jungle, there might be only overflowing giant spiders left in the forest.
The giant spider that escaped from Elena was now a little bit below the steep slope, next to a misty hemispherical giant spider web in the center of the depression. Its companions surrounded it, and the movers made noises to each other.
There was a clicking sound, as if they were whispering something.
Accompanied by the "complaints" of the giant spiders (as Elena guessed), the Acromantulas turned around one after another, their eight fierce black compound eyes looking up and down at the little human witch who appeared on the edge of the depression, exuding
An increasingly unsettling atmosphere, and the only thing stopping them from attacking is...
"People! Aragog! People!"
Elena vaguely heard such a sound from the noisy opening and closing of large claws not far away.
Obviously, as a community of magical animals with strict hierarchies, the elders really need to make decisions when facing such unexpected situations, and this is exactly in line with Elena's appeal - she just came to find a guide.
Soon, a giant Acromantula the size of a small elephant emerged from the misty hemispheric spider web. Its body and legs were black with gray, and each of the spiders on its ugly head with big pincers
His eyes were covered with a layer of white haze.
There is no doubt that this is the pet [Aragog] kept by Hagrid, and he is blind.
"What's going on?" Aragog said, his two large claws moving rapidly.
Compared with those ordinary Acromantulas, its voice is much clearer and thicker than those of small spiders.
"People! Aragog! People!"
The spiders gathered around Aragog excitedly waved their large claws, making clicking sounds, and pointed at the little silver-haired witch standing in a daze at the edge of the depression.
"Is it Hagrid?" Aragog shook his big claws in confusion, and his eight milky white eyes looked blankly.
"No, it's a stranger."
"Then kill him!" Click, click, the giant Acromantula said impatiently.
"Don't disturb me with this kind of thing, I'm sleeping..."
However, before Aragog could finish his words, a crisp spell sound suddenly came to mind from the edge of the depression.
"Ex...plosion!"
boom!
With the deafening roar, several trees around Elena were lifted up by their roots, and debris was thrown around. The shock wave caused by the explosion swept through the entire depression, causing all the Acromantulas to subconsciously stop their activities.
The sound of big pincers.
"I am Hagrid's friend, don't be afraid, I come with kindness and peace."
Elena looked at the mute effect brought by the spell and nodded with great satisfaction - bullying the weak and fearing the strong is a characteristic of most creatures. Showing strength appropriately before reasoning is the best communication.
Way.
Click, click, click, click, click...
After a brief surprise, a series of sounds of spider claws opening and closing resounded in the depression. Obviously, this attack alone could not make these guys who were not particularly intelligent understand what Elena meant.
In that case...
Elena glanced at Aragog, who was hesitant and did not continue speaking for the time being, and the corners of her mouth rose.
"Explosion Maxium!"
"Explosion Maxium!"
"Explosion Maxium!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Art is always the best way to settle disputes. If once is not enough, then just increase the intensity and do it a few more times.
In less than a few seconds, with Elena as the center, almost all the surrounding trees fell down. The power of the curse opened large pits in the soil, and the entire depression was filled with a faint earthy smell.
taste.
And just as Elena expected, the spiders around finally calmed down.
Elena is not naive enough to think that the Acromantula is such a friendly and harmless magical creature. She can let them send her out of the Forbidden Forest through simple verbal communication - this point was almost revealed in the original book.
Spider's Ron and Harry did a pretty classic mistake demonstration.
"That's enough! Human cub! What the hell are you going to do!"
Aragog waved his claws angrily and let out a deep roar.
"As you can see, I'm lost."
Elena spread her hands and said with a smile.
"So I hope that a kind and reliable creature can send me out of the Forbidden Forest and back to Hogwarts Castle for a Halloween dinner - that's all. You know, I'm going to starve to death now."
"Lost? So, Hagrid didn't send you here..."
Aragog clicked and danced his large claws and said slowly.
"So actually, can I understand that you are an uninvited guest who has taken the initiative to break into our territory...right? You should know that this area belongs to the territory of the Acromantula tribe."
Um?!
Elena narrowed her eyes slightly, why didn't this old spider react at all?!
According to common sense, after witnessing the destructive power she displayed, Aragog, who has close to human intelligence, should not make unwise choices for a bit of flesh and blood, unless...
"Don't you think that...just making a loud noise can force the Acromantula tribe to surrender, give up the fresh human flesh that comes to your doorstep, and even serve you wizards like slaves?"
Just...a loud noise?!
Elena looked around at the ground, which was almost like a bombing site, and her cheeks twitched.
Isn't this old guy blind?
Doesn't this level of curse still prevent it from seeing reality clearly?!
While thinking this, Elena's eyes slowly fell on the old spider's white eyes...
Emmmmm…
Damn it!
I almost forgot, this old spider is blind now!
"Sorry, poor human cub, you can't go anywhere..."
Not far away, Aragog said slowly, and his large claws made a dangerous clicking sound.
"Wizards are indeed scary, but this is not Hogwarts Castle. You can deal with one or two by yourself, but you will never be able to resist my hundreds of children. Stay here and be our holiday gift...
…”
Following Aragog's voice, the clicking sounds around him gradually started to sound again.
The rustling sounds became more and more intensive, and countless spiders seemed to be surrounding me from every corner.
Elena sighed softly, suddenly realizing the failure of communication this time.
Under Aragog's instigation, the Acromantulas gathered from all directions and slowly moved towards her inch by inch. A few steps behind her, the spiders formed a solid line.
Towering copper and iron walls.
Countless big black claws opened and closed back and forth, making a clicking sound. Hundreds of pairs of vicious eyes were shining on those ugly black heads. Each spider's eyes were flashing with excitement and bloodthirsty.
look.
Looking at the spider's hard black hairs full of barbs, Elena, who was getting hungrier, felt a sense of irritation and nausea.
"Explosion!"
Elena's face turned cold and she waved her magic wand without hesitation.
boom!
The powerful explosion spell effortlessly blew the "Spider Wall" in front of Elena into pieces. The spider's green, sticky blood splashed out and flew everywhere.
Thump, thump.
Several broken spider corpses fell heavily to the ground.
Compared with most high-risk magical creatures, the danger of Acromantula is more reflected in its venom, as well as its powerful reproductive ability and intelligence, but it has no pure physical and magical resistance.
any advantage.
After all, they are just large arthropods after all.
In order to obtain extraordinary sensory capabilities, they even sacrificed their external carapace, only covering the body with a thick layer of black down. Their defense is even more fragile than that of many ordinary animals with rough skin and thick flesh.
Some.
However, facing the good effects brought by the magic spell, Elena's face became more and more solemn.
Strictly speaking, this is the first time she has faced dangerous magical animals alone.
After witnessing the Acromantula with her own eyes, Elena finally realized why Newt Scamander defined them as five-star dangerous magical animals in "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them".
Although the Acromantulas were dead the moment their bodies were torn apart by the curse.
But their heart-stopping giant claws were still biting the empty air crazily with all their strength, as if they had pounced on Elena... This was a terrifying gregarious carnivorous creature.
Compared with most magical animals, spiders do not have strong physical combat capabilities.
However, the toxicity contained in their fangs is still a danger that cannot be ignored.
The Acromantula's rapid onset of venom will allow most wizards to take her to another world before they can get any effective medical treatment - be cautious, and there won't be much of a problem in the end.
Without any hesitation, Elena took the initiative to activate the Deathly Hallows pendant given to her by Grindelwald.
The iron armor spell from the first generation Dark Lord emerged and enveloped Elena's body. It was actually quite difficult to break through this layer of magical protection with just the physical attacks of those big spiders.
But there is no doubt that the old blind spider was right about one thing.
The wizard's wounding spell alone is obviously not as effective when facing a huge group of Acromantulas as it is when dealing with other magical animals - there are simply too many of them.
Even if a gap had just been blown up, in less than five or six seconds, the black spider swarm at the rear had filled in again. The endless spider swarm did not care about one or two unlucky spiders that died.
"When I go back, I must learn a few large-scale attack spells."
After killing dozens of spiders with explosive spells, Elena sighed and put down the wand in her hand.
Under such circumstances, the spells taught in the lower grades of Hogwarts are almost ineffective.
This is no longer a situation that a low-level wizard can handle.
Fortunately, besides being a wizard, she also has another profession...
Elena raised the corner of her mouth and silently took out the metal cross necklace that Father Benitez asked the house elf to give her on her birthday not long ago, with an eager look in her eyes.
As a novice nun, when magic cannot eradicate evil, she has another option.
Use the cross to save the dead!
"Get bigger quickly."
Elena tapped the metal cross necklace in her hand with her wand and whispered.
As the spell was recited, Elena felt the magic power in her body quickly flow towards the metal necklace in her hand.
The next moment, a giant metal cross that was half a head taller than her appeared in the forest clearing.
The originally slender necklace has now turned into a metal chain as thick as the girl's forearm, wrapped around Elena's arm, shining with a cold metallic luster under the starlight of the Forbidden Forest.
"Rua! Rua! Rua! Rua! Ruaaaaaa..."
Elena moved her wrist and looked around at the densely packed Acromantulas. A touch of extremely dangerous joy appeared on the corner of her mouth. She pulled up the metal chain in her hand and made a series of pleasant sounds of metal friction.
"No matter how many weaklings come, they are just trash... Now, it's time for the protagonist to appear."
Click click click!
An Acromantula moved its long legs and waved its huge pincers. At the same time, the front half of its body leaned forward and aimed its deadly mouthparts at the little silver-haired witch who had stopped to fight back with her magic spell.
"well--!"
Elena sighed and waved her arms easily.
The giant metal cross rose into the air, whistling and smashing the spider's giant claws that were stretched out in front of it without any hindrance, smashing the acrosantula into a puddle of flesh.
[Three hundred and sixty-degree attack without blind spots] - Someone once used this term to describe the spider's movements.
However, at this time, this sentence may be more appropriate to describe Elena.
“Boom boom!!!”
The giant metal cross carried an unstoppable momentum, carrying the bodies of several Acromantulas, and hit the ground heavily, creating deep pits. At the same time, it also broke several more spiders around it.
Root arthropod.
As the gravel and soil flew across, Elena tugged hard on the chain in her hand, her eyes focused, and the cross rose up again and swept across a half arc, smashing the heads of all the dozens of eight-eyed spiders on the left who were preparing to escape.
flat.
Bang!
Countless shells shattered again, followed by the viscous spider body fluids spilling out.
The entire Eight-Eyed Spider Hollow has now almost become a spider cemetery. Countless half-dead spiders are huddled in every corner. The spider barrier that surrounded Elena has long since collapsed and turned into spiders all over the ground.
wreckage.
Blunt weapons are always the top life-harvesting tools in primitive hand-to-hand battlefields.
Click click click click…
Click click click click...
In the face of absolute power, even wild beasts will feel fear, let alone the Acromantula that already possesses some wisdom. Faced with this one-sided, no-sleight-of-hand massacre, the Acromantula group
Started to retreat and flee.
"Want to run away now? Then try your luck... Ha——"
Elena glanced at Aragog, who had retreated into the depths of the spider web, put the chain in his hand to the longest position, took a deep breath, and used all her strength to pull the giant metal cross whizzing past the depression.
The tight iron chain was like a sharp blade, cutting off most of the bodies of the escaping Acromantulas, and the Acromantulas that were directly hit by the cross at the end were directly turned into a pool of black.
A piece of meat, twitching and falling on the spot.
"Hoo, ho..."
Elena gasped and looked around the suddenly quiet surroundings, her face relaxed.
After such a long battle, even she was quite exhausted.
The armor spell given to her by Grindelwald had long since expired, so during the subsequent battles, her clothes were inevitably scratched by the claws or joints of some spiders, exposing large areas of snow-white skin. (Picture,
It really happened this time!)
Fortunately, since she learned the healing magic word [UR], this kind of simple trauma doesn't have much to do with her except for the pain - as long as she doesn't die on the spot, she can rely on magic to heal it.
Heal it yourself.
This is why she has the confidence to wander around the Forbidden Forest alone.
Compared to Elena, whose health bar has no upper limit as long as the blue bar is not empty, almost all the creatures in the Hogwarts Forbidden Forest are almost dead if they take a serious basic attack from her.
.
This time...
It's finally over...
Then, there is one last goal left...
Elena dragged the giant cross stained with spider bodily fluids and walked slowly towards a misty hemispherical giant spider web in the center of the depression. The sound of the metal chain scratching on the ground was like the scythe of death.
of coldness.
Aragog was only blind, but his hearing and sense of smell had not been lost. The ten-minute killing feast was enough for him to understand what a terrifying demon king he was facing.
In its impression, even the existence known as the "Dark Lord" more than ten years ago was not as terrifying as the little witch in front of it - compared to dying from strange magic, this one-sided death
The massacre made him even more heartbroken.
"Respected human wizard, wait a moment! I am Hagrid's friend."
Click, click, click, the old spider said anxiously, and Elena felt that she seemed to hear a bit of helplessness and trembling from the clicking of the big claws.
Hearing such a hilarious reversal of lines, she couldn't help but feel a little emotional - wouldn't it have been better to have done this earlier?
Elena shook her head and said softly.
"But that doesn't cover up the fact that you cannibalize people, right?"
"No! Absolutely not! You are the first! Hagrid is my good friend and benefactor! Although I have the instinct to attack others, out of respect for Hagrid, we have not hurt anyone after so many years.
people."
"Oh? Really..."
Elena actually didn't know what to do with this big spider that didn't speak much.
In the past decades, Hogwarts has never had a student die in the Forbidden Forest.
If the spiders were really eating people, Albus Dumbledore and many professors at the school would have eradicated them long ago.
Therefore, strictly speaking, it has indeed upheld its oath and has not actively harmed humans - but this is just like the oath branded on the back of her hand, there are too many loopholes in it.
Although in the original plot, these Acromantulas eventually joined Voldemort's camp and attacked Hogwarts together, that all happened after Aragog died.
Of course, the most important thing is that if this old spider is really killed, Hagrid will definitely become famous in an instant, right?
After all, it is one thing to fight back in self-defense, but it is another thing to break into a house and kill a spider.
"What you said seems to make some sense..."
Elena stopped, looked around at the spider corpses around her, and nodded thoughtfully. The price seemed to be quite profound.
Hearing Elena's footsteps stop, the old spider hiding behind the mist of the spider web calmed down a little, and the clicking sound of its claws was no longer as rapid as before.
"As you can see, I am already a spider that is too old to move."
After Aragog hesitated for a few seconds, he answered carefully, "Restraining my sons and daughters from attacking Hagrid is all I can do. Facing those younger and more powerful descendants, I
It’s hard to be more…”
"Don't worry, I'm a reasonable person."
Elena smiled slightly and took out her wand to restore the giant metal cross to its original size, while cleaning off the spider slime on it.
"As you can see, I was just defending myself...Although the method may be a bit extreme, it was because I was hungry and wanted to go back quickly, so I used a bit more force."
"No problem! I'll take you back to Hogwarts right now!" Aragog said emotionally, and the clicking sounds almost became one. "If you are worried, I can take you back in person."
"There's no rush for now."
Elena touched her hungry belly, looked around at the spider graveyard and the broken legs, and shook her head meaningfully.
"What I need now is some dry firewood. Can you ask your children to help collect some..."
"Dry firewood?" Aragog replied with some confusion, "No problem, are you a little cold..."
"Coldness is just one aspect."
The little mixed-race meiwa shook her head, licked her lips gently, and showed a devilish smile.
"What's more important is that after strenuous activities, I'm a little hungry..."
———
———
A big chapter of eight thousand words!
I am confident enough to ask for a monthly ticket! I wrote this plot in one go without any fragments. I hope you all like it~