The sound was deep and muffled, pounding relentlessly, its thunderous rumble sounding both strange and terrifying.
Marina hugged her arms and shivered again.
—Maybe the lake bottom is too cold? Her clothes had been soaked through and had yet to dry, causing her to shiver involuntarily.
She tried to comfort herself this way, but inexplicable fear still gripped her throat, making it hard to breathe.
“What exactly is that sound?” Her voice rose uncontrollably in a sharp tone.
“Look here,” Vid stood up and walked to the window, saying to her, “We have big trouble.”
Marina’s legs were still a bit weak, her intense fatigue making her want to lie down and rest for a while, but she still stumbled to Vid’s side to look out the window.
With just one glance, her pupils suddenly constricted, almost unable to believe what she saw.
Outside the window, mere feet away from them, the murky lake water rolled and roiled, emitting an angry roar.
And in the distance, at the center of the lake, a massive beast was continuously stirring new huge waves.
“What is… what is that?” Marina asked tremulously.
“I’ve heard it’s called Avek, an ancient beast capable of unleashing floods.”
Vid said, “It seems your friend, Miss Terra Lewis, has awakened it.”
“Terra?” Marina opened her mouth in disbelief, saying, “Why would she do that?”
Vid shrugged, “Who knows? I thought you might give me an answer.”
As they spoke, through the window, both of them saw more than a dozen brooms cutting through the dim sky, flying toward the tumultuous lake center.
Professor McGonagall flew at the forefront, her dark green robe fluttering fiercely in the wind, advancing with indomitable momentum.
Marina was stunned, “Are those the school’s professors? Are they going to seek their deaths? Wait, where are you going?”
She saw Vid wave his magic wand at the window, and a broom whizzed through the air, stopping steadily in front of him.
Vid turned to look at her, saying, “Since you’re awake, rest here. Just to be safe, it’s best to go to a higher floor. I have things to do.”
“Wait! Wait!”
Marina grabbed his sleeve urgently, saying, “Do you know what you’re saying? Avek… I remember Avek is invincible in water, immune to blades and guns, ordinary weapons can’t harm it!”
Vid said, “But we’re not ordinary people, we’re wizards.”
“Wizards aren’t enough! You’re not Dumbledore!!”
Marina spoke quickly, “Listen to me, the best approach right now is to lift the restrictions on Apparition and the Floo Network at the school, so everyone can evacuate first and seek help from the Ministry of Magic!”
“If Dumbledore can return in time, that’s obviously optimal! If Dumbledore isn’t here, it should be the Aurors fighting!”
“Everyone here are professors and students, including several of us from the Ministry of Magic who aren’t skilled in combat!”
“What you should do is persuade Professor McGonagall not to act impulsively, and to make the most rational decision!”
“Are you… are you listening to me? Do you understand the seriousness of the situation now?”
Marina doubted whether Vid was asleep with his eyes open; otherwise, why could he remain so calm in such a dire situation?
Vid glanced at her, ensuring Marina had no other intentions, then smiled slightly.
“Lift the Apparition restriction? That won’t work.” He said, “Our biggest threat now is the Avek before us; if we remove the restriction, who knows what will happen.”
“What will happen?” Marina didn’t quite understand, murmuring, “Of course, there will be safety!”
But Vid had already released her hand, mounted the broom, and flew toward the Black Lake.
Marina stood there, watching that figure turn into an increasingly smaller black dot, and also watching those dozen black shadows flitting around the giant beast, the colorful spell glow slicing across the night sky, instantly vanishing.
…
The wind above Black Lake sliced like knives against the face, and the humidity in the air was likely already at one hundred percent.
Vid flew for only a brief moment before feeling his face covered in a layer of fine, hairy water droplets, even his eyelashes felt heavier.
He wiped his face with his hand, finding solace in adversity—fortunately, he didn’t wear glasses; if he were Harry, he probably wouldn’t be able to see right now.
Vid cast a waterproof and anti-moisture spell on himself and flew for a while, finally able to differentiate the figures of the professors ahead.
“Confringo!”
“Defodio!”
Spells rained from the sky, striking the beast’s body, making it roar in pain:
“Roar!”
Avek’s slit pupils swept over those daring to offend it in the air, instantly awakening the buried wrath from the past. Its thick tail lashed fiercely, surging massive waves skyward.
“Splash!”
A column of water rose like a cannonball, slamming heavily on several of them, making their brooms shake violently. Madam Hooch even fell from the sky along with her broom!
She clung tightly to the broom handle, flipped with a sharp waist twist in mid-air, barely mounting the broom again, and finally rose again just before falling into the water, with a major drift, avoiding another water column’s attack.
“Scatter!”
Professor McGonagall shouted loudly, her voice overpowering the howling wind: “Don’t cluster together, attack from different directions!”
The brooms scattered like fireworks, and spells came from all directions.
“Stupefy!”
“Power Relaxation!”
“Incendio!”
The lights descended, mostly blocked by the water, with some landing on Avek seemingly having no effect at all, not even making it turn its head.
Suddenly, Professor Flitwick waved his magic wand, and a blazing red light shot out from its tip, aiming straight at Avek’s eye.
Swells rose like a fish opening its mouth wide, swallowing the spell whole.
Seizing this opportunity, Snape dove from the other side, his black robe billowing in the wind like giant black wings.
His magic wand pointed at the beast’s belly, a purple light shot out swiftly, instantly tearing open a long, narrow scar, the beast’s blood gushing forth.
Avek roared, suddenly diving into the water, the surface rising with a rumble, ascending tens of meters high, then exploding open with a boom.
“Ah!”
Charity Burbage from Muggle Studies couldn’t dodge in time, struck by a descending water column, knocked off her broom and spiraled down, falling straight toward the whirlpool center below.
The beast hid underwater, opening its massive mouth, leaping toward Charity Burbage ready to bite!
“Charity!”
Exclamations rang out from all directions, seven or eight spells simultaneously shot at the beast, creating wounds of varying sizes on its body with a series of splattering sounds.
However, given Avek’s size, those wounds were like being cut by a small knife; though painful, they were far from lethal.
Driven by a thousand years of wrath, Avek completely ignored the surrounding small flies, single-mindedly intent on devouring its first prey.
Just then—
“Boom!!!”
A blazing white light suddenly appeared, enveloping it from head to toe, seemingly penetrating through the entire colossal entity in an instant!