The Kael Faction, transformed into a girl, gazed venomously and took two steps forward, intending to follow into that cave.
But recalling the terrifying spell from the young wizard earlier, and Terra’s magic wand in hand, she ultimately gave up the thought of revenge, took a step back and instantly transformed into a white horse, clip-clopping towards the Black Lake.
Inside the cave, it was colder than outside, with some long icicles hanging down from the top, giving off a ghostly chill in the light of the Lumos Spell.
The ground beneath was also very damp, with uneven mud pits already frozen solid, covered with a thin layer of ice.
Terra stepped onto it, hearing the crunching sound of cracking ice, which seemed particularly crisp in the empty cave, seemingly able to travel far.
She lowered her head and saw a series of footprints on the ground that broke through the ice surface and extended into the depths of the cave.
Even if some ice had refrozen, the outline of the footprints remained distinct.
Terra breathed a sigh of relief—on the way, she thought she was being tricked by Peeves!
It seemed this prank-loving fellow was more keen on the misfortune of the person hiding inside the cave rather than teasing her, a Ministry of Magic official for a wasted trip.
Peeves, oblivious to her thoughts, continued singing along the way:
“Filch, old and rickety, Bloody Baron gloomy, Headless Nick pretentious; Fat Friar, silly, Madam Grey floats, Peeves is the real deal, been here for four hundred years…”
The singing was unbearable, and Terra couldn’t help but say: “Shut up, Peeves! You’ll alarm the people inside!”
Peeves smiled broadly and made a gesture as if zipping his mouth shut and indeed cooperatively closed his mouth.
Terra raised her magic wand, letting its glow illuminate the surroundings and continued forward.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
The ice beneath was too thin, thin enough to bear no weight, with every step came the sound of shattering, buzzing in one’s ears.
—Why didn’t anyone make this place a little more comfortable?
Does he keep such harsh natural conditions just so that trespassers think there’s nothing here and turn back?
But if it’s for that purpose… then why leave footprints on the ground?
Terra faintly felt something wasn’t quite right, but couldn’t figure out why.
But…
Now that she’s here, she couldn’t possibly turn back before discovering anything, only able to cast a Quietening Charm underfoot and brace herself to move forward.
Passing through a narrow corridor, the space ahead suddenly opened up, and before Terra could feel happy, her footsteps involuntarily halted.
Before her was a sizable natural cavern, with the cave walls painted with eyes of various sizes, some larger than herself, some as small as a fingernail.
These eyes were engraved on stone, dyed with red pigment, their edges weathered and eroded, evidently left a long time ago.
Goosebumps swept across Terra’s arms.
“Almost there!” Peeves urged again, cheerfully saying, “Just up ahead! Let’s give him a big surprise!”
Terra pursed her lips and quickened her pace.
The path began to slope downwards, with rough stone steps permitting just one person to pass, the ice beneath her grew thicker, and the surrounding rock walls were also covered with ice, emitting a bone-chilling coldness everywhere.
She kept going down, down… walking for who knows how long, until the long steps finally ended, and before her was a piece of pitch-black water, slightly rippling.
Terra raised her wand high and lifted her head.
The cave beneath had a subterranean lake, about only tens of meters in diameter, the water as black as ink, seemingly able to swallow the light emitted by the wand.
And up ahead, in the middle of the lake, seemed to be a huge rock.
Terra looked down again, the lake surface gently rippled with circles of undulations, spreading from the center to the edges, reflecting back upon hitting the rock wall, forming fish-scale-like patterns.
Her heart constricted fiercely.
No way!
There was no wind underground, how was such a regular ripple on the water being produced?
She suddenly looked ahead, listening carefully, there was a very peculiar sound in the air… not the sound of wind, but the sound of an animal breathing.
Slow and low breathing, which might make a sound every ten seconds or so, but certainly existed!
Terra wanted to retreat.
Her foot just stepped back—a
“This is the surprise for you, Ministry of Magic’s honorable!”
A booming shout exploded from behind.
Terra was taken aback, nearly jumping into the lake. She turned sharply and saw Peeves laughing out loud, raising both hands high, holding a firework tube procured from somewhere.
“Stop! Peeves!”
Terra screamed, hurriedly waving her wand, but Peeves had already lit the fuse and forcefully threw the firework tube!
“Whoosh—Boom!!”
Fireworks erupted in the air violently, the rumbling sound akin to a collapse in the mountains, immediately followed by sound waves reverberating throughout the cave, echoes lingering continuously.
A Fire Dragon emanating golden sparks burst forth from the explosion center, flying over the lake surface, spraying gorgeous streams of fire-red, and kept emitting massive explosion sounds.
“Hahaha…”
Peeves laughed so hard in the air, waving his arms wildly and kicking his feet erratically.
Terra was too consumed to bother with that guy, her ears were ringing, her first reaction was to immediately silence that noise.
“Disappear without a trace! Disappear without a trace!”
In the massive explosion sound, she almost couldn’t hear her incantation utterance.
The spell’s glow hit the noisy Fire Dragon in the air, but instead of disappearing as hoped, it suddenly multiplied twentyfold with a “bang”.
“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!”
Continuous explosion sounds erupted, the narrow space filled with Fire Dragons colliding, golden sparks flying all around, illuminating the cave brighter than ever.
Terra stood frozen in place, feeling as if time was suddenly solidified.
She finally saw clearly the “rock” at the lake center—
The raised back was lined with a row of protruding bone spurs;
A large, serpent-like head slowly lifted from between two clawed arms.
It opened its eyes.
Terra’s legs went limp, she staggered back a step, oblivious to the stairs behind her, tripping directly backward, sitting on the cold stone steps.
The creature in the lake opened its mouth, a roar suddenly erupting from that mouth, trembling the entire cave.
The icicles overhead shattered and fell, the lake water surged up, all Fire Dragons were blown back into the water in one breath, only some scattered sparks remained burning, providing faint illumination.
The clamor finally ceased, but Terra’s body didn’t obey her anymore, trembling like a sieve, teeth chattering loudly.
“Wow! Really scary!”
Peeves screamed, somersaulting in the air, disappearing directly through the overhead rocks.
And the monster stood up from the lake, water flowed down from it with a swish, revealing its whole figure—
A serpent head covered with dark green scales, golden vertical pupils devoid of any emotional hues; a body elongated and powerful like a lion’s leopard, with a crocodile-like long tail trailing behind.
It saw Terra, opened its mouth once more, and let out a roar:
“Roar!!!”
Black floodwater fiercely surged from the lake, overwhelming, sweeping towards her.