LRAB Chapter 162 Unexpected Battle and Footprints
Chapter 162 Unexpected Battle and Footprints
Chapter 162 Unexpected Battle and Footprints
The Forbidden Forest was crisp and clear on the weekend, still carrying the familiar scent of earth. Karen, Wesley, Fabian, and Ernesto, fully armed and wands gripped tightly, cautiously ventured deeper into the forest, following the safe route they had repeatedly confirmed last semester. They had several purposes for entering the Forbidden Forest this time: to continue searching for areas that might contain special, stable magic or rare materials—though this wasn't a strict requirement; to test the results of their recent training in the relatively safe daytime environment, and if they encountered a controllable threat, to practice their skills; and simultaneously, to keep in mind Hagrid's mention of the centaur prophecy and Karen's lingering anxieties about the unicorns, searching the Forbidden Forest for any unusual signs. This last point was primarily Karen's intention.
Karen walked at the front of the group, concentrating on observing the changes in the surrounding magic.
They advanced slowly, gradually deviating from the familiar path after passing the area of moonshine moss they had discovered earlier, and entering an area where the trees were denser and the sunlight could not penetrate as much. The surroundings became quieter, and the birdsong seemed to have thinned out.
"Stay alert, visibility is getting worse here," Ernesto warned, his sharp eyes scanning the surrounding canopy and bushes.
"Understood." Wesley gripped his wand tightly, his face no longer showing his usual playful smile, but rather the focused concentration he displayed during practice.
Karen's gaze swept across a patch of soft, humus-covered clearing ahead. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.
His pupils contracted sharply. A faint, nauseating, fishy smell filled the air.
"Stop! There's something here!" His voice was low and urgent, carrying an undeniable warning.
Almost as soon as Cullen finished speaking, Wesley, Fabian, and Ernesto scattered as if by reflex, their wands instantly pointing in different directions, forming a standard triangular defensive formation that shielded Cullen slightly behind them. Their movements were clean and efficient, without the slightest hint of panic, demonstrating the solid results of their recent intensive training.
Just then, a deafening roar filled with pain and rage erupted from behind the bushes not far ahead! Then, a huge, clumsy figure crashed through several small trees and scurried into the clearing!
It was a forest monster! It stood nearly twelve feet tall, its skin a filthy grayish-green, covered in warts and grime. Beneath its sparse, mossy fur, its small eyes were sunken, flashing a red light of pain and madness.
Most horrifyingly, on its left knee, a deep, gaping wound was gushing blood. The flesh around the wound was torn and rolled back, displaying an unnatural dark purple color, as if corroded by something. It dragged a huge, filthy wooden club in its hand.
With each step, he screamed in pain due to his leg injury, his foul-smelling saliva splattering everywhere.
Karen's heart skipped a beat. How could a forest monster be here? And so badly injured? The dark purple corrosive marks on its wounds—he sensed something ominous. But now was not the time to think!
"Troll! Wesley, attack the head! Fabian, control the wound area on the left leg! Ernesto, maintain formation, prepare to defend! Its skin is magic resistant, attack the eyes and wound!" Karen gave the orders quickly, her voice calm and clear. She then handed the bat over to Wesley and the others, using this troll as a real-world test to evaluate their training results. At the same time, she slightly raised her wand as a final precaution.
"Understood!" Wesley showed no fear. He took a deep breath and, before the troll could fully regain its footing, his wand shot out like lightning: "Concentrate!" A thick beam of red light did not strike the troll's hard body, but instead aimed precisely at the troll's small eyes, which were sunken deep in its folds!
A burst of red light exploded near the troll's brow bone. Although its power was largely weakened by its thick skin and bones, the close-range impact and intense light still caused it to roar in pain. Instinctively, it raised its massive arm to shield its eyes, its movement noticeably slowing for a moment. Dragging its injured leg, it angrily turned towards Wesley, its huge wooden club whistling through the air as it lunged forward.
"Stop it immediately!" Fabian's voice followed, without the slightest tremor. He didn't choose to bind the ankles, but instead pointed his wand precisely at the wound area below the troll's left knee!
"Y-Y-Y!!!" The excruciating pain caused the giant to let out a mournful cry that was distorted in tone, and the movement of raising the wooden club instantly became deformed and stiff. The pain from the tightened wound was far beyond imagination, especially since the corrosive power seemed to be squeezed even deeper.
Its massive body shook violently, losing its balance.
"Disarm you!" Ernesto's spell came immediately, but the target of the spell was not the troll itself, but the wooden club in its hand. Taking advantage of the troll's pain and inability to hold its weapon, he directly knocked the wooden club away.
The troll went completely berserk; the excruciating pain had driven it utterly mad, and all it wanted was to tear everything in its path apart. It desperately tried to raise its injured leg again, intending to stomp on its target.
"Alright, let's end this, Wesley!" Karen's voice was resolute.
Wesley's eyes narrowed. Seizing the moment when the troll was wide open from the agony of its loss and its stance on one leg, he drew his wand in a sharp arc, channeling all his power into it: "Shatter to pieces!"
This time, the target was no longer the head, but the exposed wound!
A blinding white light slammed into the center of the wound!
*Pfft!* *Snap!*
A sickening cracking sound rang out. The Shattering Curse exploded inside the troll's knee! Blood, shattered bone fragments, and mangled flesh splattered everywhere!
Karen casually cast an Ironclad Charm to block the filth from splashing onto them.
"Ming-yi-yi!!!" The forest monster let out its final, desperate cry, like a giant tower whose pillars had been severed.
The massive body, carrying a terrifying weight, crashed forward! The huge wooden club flew out of its grasp, slamming into the ground with a dull thud. The troll clutched its shattered left knee, convulsing and whimpering in agony amidst the decaying matter, utterly incapacitated, left only with the gasps of death.
Then Ernesto cast a few more spells on the troll's head, and the forest clearing instantly fell silent.
The four quickly calmed their breathing, their vigilance still heightened. Wesley shook his slightly numb wrist, grinned, and exuded a triumphant air: "Done! This big guy's hide's pretty thick, but his weakness's obvious." Fabian breathed a sigh of relief, his face still a little pale, Ernesto's wand still pointing at the fallen troll. Karen strode forward, checking the troll's condition while carefully scanning its wounds and remaining traces of magic.
"Even without our attack, it wouldn't survive long," Karen said in a deep voice, his gaze fixed intently on the ominous dark purple corrosive marks deep within the wound. "This wound—has the aura of dark magic."
"Dark magic?" Fabian and Wesley both frowned. Ernesto also approached, examining the strange wound closely.
"Take care of what's in front of us first," Ernesto advised. "It's no longer a threat. Karen, what did you discover when you initially stopped?"
Karen then turned his attention back to the spot that had initially alerted him. He walked to where the troll had emerged and crouched down. On that patch of humus, besides the fresh marks of the troll's struggle, there were also several sets of even earlier, enormous footprints!
The footprints were ugly and deformed, far exceeding the length of a forearm, with the soil rolled up at the edges and the humus trampled into a pulp. More importantly, a faint but murky, viscous, dark yellow-green magical residue lingered around these footprints, emanating a dry stench of decay, sweat, and rock dust, completely different from the stench of the forest monster!
"There wasn't just one. Before we encountered it, another giant passed through here! Judging from the shape and size of these footprints and the lingering scent, this isn't a forest giant, it's a mountain giant!"
"Mountain trolls?!" Fabian exclaimed in surprise. "They usually live in desolate, high-altitude mountainous areas far from human habitation! How could they appear in the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts?!"
Ernesto's expression also turned unusually grave. He crouched down to examine the enormous mountain monster footprints closely: "Yes, they are larger, the toes are wider, and the residual aura is different. The footprints are fresh, and the residual aura is still very clear. They should have left here no more than half a day ago." He looked in the direction the footprints extended, which led to the oak forest area deeper into the Forbidden Forest, where the light was even darker.
Karen stood up, his face unusually serious. He carefully traced the murky magical traces left by the mountain troll's footprints, as well as the subtle marks left by trampled and broken bushes and low branches. "It went that way," he pointed deeper into the Forbidden Forest, "and the wound on this wound on its leg has tear marks from the mountain troll's claws! That mountain troll attacked it!"
"Mountain trolls attacking forest trolls?" Wesley's eyes widened. "Aren't they the same kind? Although they're both stupid..."
But they usually don't attack each other, right?
"The two cannot be considered the same kind; they will indeed fight when they encounter each other," Ernesto stated decisively. "But the appearance of the mountain troll in the Forbidden Forest is abnormal in itself! And the black magic corrosion on the forest troll's wounds—this is definitely not a fight between ordinary trolls!"
Karen's thoughts began to race. Two trolls, one of which was a mountain troll that shouldn't have been there at all. They appeared in the Forbidden Forest. In the original story, on Halloween Eve, Quirrell deliberately let a troll into the basement of Hogwarts Castle to create chaos!
"Kilow," Karen murmured the name to himself. He was almost certain that the appearance of these two giants was no accident!
They were most likely brought in by Quirrell! At least the mountain troll was probably his doing. The mountain troll's attack on the forest troll was likely to clear territory or create panic? Perhaps the forest troll was also part of the plan, but went out of control due to injury? For what purpose? A unicorn?
Quirrell's claim is more than just about the Philosopher's Stone! They may have already begun preparations for hunting unicorns in the Forbidden Forest!
The appearance of two trolls, especially the powerful mountain troll, might be intended to create greater chaos and attract Hagrid and the professors' attention? Or does the mountain troll itself pose some kind of threat to the unicorn? Karen wasn't sure, but the mountain troll's appearance at this time and place was definitely related to Quirrell! The dark magic marks on the forest troll's wounds were irrefutable evidence!
"Karen? What's wrong? Look at your face." Fabian keenly noticed Karen's unusual silence and seriousness.
Karen quickly suppressed his thoughts. He couldn't tell his roommates about his suspicions regarding Voldemort and the unicorn yet. He took a deep breath, pointed to the two types of troll tracks on the ground, and said in a heavy tone, "I'm just thinking, a forest troll, a mountain troll that shouldn't be here, and traces of dark magic—this can't be a coincidence. There's a huge security threat in the Forbidden Forest; there might be a dark wizard there."
"Whatever the reason," Karen said firmly, her gaze sweeping over her three roommates who also realized the seriousness of the problem, "these two trolls, especially the mountain troll whose whereabouts are unknown, appearing in the Forbidden Forest is a huge threat in itself."
Whether it's the creatures in the Forbidden Forest, the students who might have wandered in, or even the castle itself, we must return immediately. I will then report this directly to Headmaster Dumbledore! And this forest monster also needs to be dealt with.”
"Agreed!" the three said in unison.
They took one last look at the forest gorilla on the ground and the enormous mountain gorilla footprints that stretched into the dark depths, then turned without hesitation and, following the path they had come from, cautiously and swiftly retreated from the Forbidden Forest at a much faster pace than before.