Chapter 115: Chapter 115: The Chamber and the Snake Creature
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After ensuring that the only possible witness had left, Tom transformed into the Bird-Serpent and roamed near the sink. Eventually, beside a copper dragon-shaped faucet, Tom spotted an exquisite little snake.
"Open!" Tom naturally said, but what came out of his mouth was no longer human speech—it was the hissing sound typical of snakes.
"Hesha-Hassah!"
Immediately, there was a sound of mechanisms starting behind the sink. The table with the mirror, which covered the sink, gradually floated up, revealing a dark hole. Then, the sink started to spread out. They watched as the basin slowly disappeared from view, revealing a deep and bottomless pipe, large enough for a person to enter.
Tom brought the roosters and slid into the pipe.
The pipe twisted and turned, descending at a steep slope for some time. Tom judged that he was now in the deepest part of the school, deeper than the underground classrooms and the rooms hiding the Philosopher's Stone.
No one knew what secrets Hogwarts hid beneath its surface. Over the centuries, many generations of brilliant wizards had left countless mysteries here.
Soon, the angle of the pipe turned horizontal, and Tom slid out from the opening, landing on the ground.
Outside the pipe was a spacious tunnel. Tom pulled the small cart a few steps, and he heard a crunching sound beneath his feet: the ground was covered in small animal bones. However, these rodent-like creatures were most likely not the snake creature's food over the years.
A snake creature could grow up to fifty feet long. As a colossal creature, even if small animals were eaten, they would be digested along with the bones. It was impossible for skeletal remains to be left behind. Snakes had extremely efficient digestive systems, often leaving almost nothing behind from scales to bones within a few days. The only thing that might be left was fur and feathers.
But it wasn't strange to find small animal carcasses in the sewer.
"Illumination!"
Tom could see the surroundings clearly now. Judging from the traces left behind, this tunnel had also been meticulously constructed in the past. However, due to long-term neglect and being underground, it looked extremely dilapidated.
Tom passed through several circular arches, turned around a bend, and finally saw a colossal object in front of him.
It was a snake shed skin, coiled on the ground, already desiccated and decayed. It seemed to have been shed for quite some time.
Looking at the snake skin full of insect eyes, Tom felt a bit nauseous.
The snake skin was luminous green, and even though it was dried up, the vibrant color from its earlier days was still visible. Tom estimated the length of the snake creature based on the skin's length. This snake creature was at least thirty feet long. Tom wondered what such a large snake had been eating over the years.
Tom walked around the snake skin and continued forward, turning one bend after another. Eventually, at the end of the tunnel, Tom saw a wall with two entwined snakes carved on it, their eyes four large emeralds.
It was evident that Salazar Slytherin had been very meticulous and had invested a considerable amount of resources when building the Chamber.
Tom continued to use Parseltongue to open the door.
The entwined snakes separated, and along with them, the wall behind them split open, revealing a massive room.
The room was filled with many snake statues, arranged in two rows on either side of the room. The lighting in the room was extremely dim, and the only source of light was the glowing eyes of the snake statues, emitting a green fluorescence. The ceiling soared high, and when Tom looked up, he couldn't even see the roof.
The room was permeated with a mysterious, luminous green atmosphere, and various statue pillars cast eerie shadows across the room.
"Illumination!"
The tip of Tom's wand emitted a beam of light, dispelling the darkness a few steps ahead, making the atmosphere less sinister.
Tom, aided by the wand's light, slowly walked to the end of the room. There, a statue that matched the height of the room stood, integrated with the back wall. It seemed like the statue was carved out of the wall itself.
The statue portrayed the monkey-like aged face of Salazar Slytherin, with a sparse and long beard that almost reached the hem of the statue's robe—this was the likeness of Salazar Slytherin.
The founder of Hogwarts had an ugly appearance. Tom felt that taking on this appearance was likely the result of the misuse of dark magic. Dark magic twisted a person's mind and soul, eventually leading to a distorted face and features.
Tom looked back at this grand chamber. Despite the poor lighting, he believed there must be mechanisms inside that could illuminate the space.
The initial purpose of constructing the Chamber was to have a place where he could teach his students magic that the other three founders disapproved of. Slytherin and the other founders had differences from the beginning. The other three giants were unwilling to teach dark magic to their students, but Slytherin was passionate about it.
So, the original function of the Chamber was a place to experiment with these forbidden arts.
However, it was a massive undertaking and had to be kept secret from the other partners, so it took a long time. Slytherin's mindset changed during this process. After completing the construction, he became more ambitious, and the rift between him and the other three grew larger.
This statue represented his mindset. None of the other founders had giant statues built for themselves in the school. This statue required everyone to look up to see his face, or they would only see the soles of his feet.
Tom came to the statue, transformed into the Bird-Serpent, and looked up at the face of Slytherin's stone sculpture hidden in the darkness. He opened his mouth and hissed.
"Speak to me, Slytherin—the greatest of the four founders of Hogwarts."
Tom decided to summon the snake creature here and then kill it. Ridell wanted to open the Chamber, right? Tom would leave a Chamber without a snake creature for him to open.
Tom also planned to check the library for any unique spells that could be triggered when someone entered a room. If he could place such a spell in the Chamber, he could lie in wait: Ridell would willingly walk right in.
The face of Slytherin's stone sculpture moved, and its mouth slowly opened, forming a black hole.
Tom took the opportunity to release the roosters from their cages.
Now, there was a rustling sound inside the statue's mouth. Tom transformed into the shape of a phoenix. Tom remembered very clearly that looking into the eyes of the snake creature would bring death.
However, this direct gaze had to be face-to-face; indirect gazes would only result in petrification. Wearing glasses wouldn't solve the problem—Moaning Myrtle died wearing glasses, but the lenses didn't save her. The key to survival was to see it through another medium: water, mirrors, camera lenses. The lethality of the snake creature's gaze transmitted through a medium would decrease, changing from instant death to permanent petrification.
Of course, if you were a ghost, the snake creature's gaze would only petrify you, as it couldn't kill something that was already dead.
Magical creatures like Fawkes were immune to the deadly gaze of the snake creature.
So, Tom decided to confront Slytherin's snake creature in the form of Fawkes.
A deep green giant snake emerged from the statue's mouth. Tom saw its yellow eyes, glowing like small lanterns. In the instant it came out of the statue, Tom released the roosters. However, an unexpected incident occurred. The roosters, attracted by the sound from the statue, were all looking in that direction. As a result, when the snake creature came out, before they could make a sound, they died from direct eye contact with the creature.
"I should have covered the roosters' eyes!" Tom's plan had a loophole, but fortunately, he had a backup plan: the form of Fawkes.
He swiftly flew towards the snake creature. Tom saw that the snake creature's body was luminous green, indicating a highly venomous species. It had the thickness of an oak tree trunk and a length exceeding ten meters. It had completely crawled out of the statue and coiled its body on the ground.
Seeing Tom flying towards it, the snake creature raised its upper body, and its huge head swung rapidly with Tom's dance. Although the size difference between Tom and the snake creature was like that of a person and a crow, the snake creature lacked the nimble hands humans had. Faced with Tom's attack, it could only brandish its dagger-like fangs menacingly, making a terrifying hissing sound, attempting to intimidate the phoenix and force it to retreat.
But in Tom's eyes, this was just a show of force. Although the snake creature was a type of snake, it lacked the astonishing reflexes of its kin. In the view of Tom, transformed into an immortal bird, every movement of the snake creature seemed like slow-motion.
"Burst!" The snake creature's upper and lower fangs fiercely collided, a force that could pierce even European medieval knight armor. However, this fierce bite only tore through the air.
Tom dodged the creature's lunge. At this point, the upper body of the snake creature had already extended, but after missing its target, its body involuntarily stiffened. Tom seized the opportunity, swooping down. The golden beak of Tom struck the eye of the snake creature. Although the creature instinctively closed its eyes, the phoenix's beak still pierced through its eyelids, blinding one of its eyes.
A jet of black blood sprayed out, splattering on the ground. The chamber now looked like it was raining. The snake creature went into a frenzy, its tail wildly swinging and slamming into the ground, leaving cracks on the marble floor. At the same time, its head moved even more rapidly, but only created more openings. Thus, seconds later, its second eye was pecked blind.
The black blood of the snake creature spurted onto the ground, emitting a foul odor. The once vivid yellow eyes were now gone, leaving two pitch-black cavities.
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(End of this chapter)
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