Hogwarts Raven

Chapter 386, page 385: Entering the Heart of the Evil God

The ghost brides, created by the evil god, may seem to possess intelligence, but in essence, they are merely a part of the evil god.

This is an extension of the will of the evil god. If the ghost brides want to prevent Ian from going to a certain place, it proves that the evil god's subconscious does not want anyone to find that place.

"Is the cellar that hatched the evil god some kind of weakness of the evil god?" Ian couldn't help but speculate, and the subsequent actions of the ghost brides confirmed his speculation.

"Protect the Sanctuary!" A monster formed from the fusion of the Ghost Bride uttered broken syllables. Its main body still retained the upper body of a woman, but its lower body had become a massive base composed of countless tentacles. Ten eyes on five faces simultaneously locked onto Ian, their gazes filled with pure malice.

Ian didn't hesitate to strike first.

"The Divine Edge is Shadowless!"

An invisible blade sliced ​​toward the monster, but vanished just inches from its target—an invisible force field surrounded the monster that could disintegrate conventional magic.

Ian's pupils contracted slightly. "Adaptive Force Field? It can even evolve an unsolvable defense mechanism for this kind of power that should belong to the true form of an evil god?"

The monster gave him no time to think. Its five mouths opened simultaneously, spewing out attacks of different attributes: acid, frost, fire, shadow, and pure mental shock. These attacks weren't chaotic; instead, they formed a perfect blockade, sealing off all of Ian's possible escape routes.

"Comprehensive protection matrix!"

Ian's wand danced rapidly, instantly unleashing seven layers of protective shields of different colors. Acid corroded the outermost physical shield, frost froze the energy deflection of the second layer, flames melted the elemental resistance of the third layer, and shadows penetrated the fourth layer of mental barrier. Finally, the mental impact was barely blocked by the innermost Absolute Domain.

But the protective matrix was also on the verge of collapse. Ian felt his magic power rapidly dwindling; at this rate, he wouldn't last more than three rounds of attacks.

We must change our strategy.

A resolute glint flashed in Ian's eyes, and his wand suddenly pointed to the ground.

"The earth trembled!"

The entire temple shook violently, the fleshy ground was forcibly torn apart, revealing the original stone structure beneath. The ground beneath the fused monster's feet suddenly collapsed, causing it to temporarily lose its balance.

"Now!" Ian seized the opportunity, pointing his wand at the monster's core: "Arcane Disintegration!"

A beam of azure light struck the monster, beginning to dismantle its structure. The monster let out a agonizing shriek, and spiderweb-like cracks appeared on its body. But desperately, the cracks quickly began to heal—the evil god's adaptive abilities had taken effect again, and the monster was rapidly developing resistance to the disintegration magic.

Worse still, the other ghost brides have also begun the fusion process. Three more fused monsters are forming.

"no solution anymore."

Ian gritted his teeth and took out a small crystal bottle from his pocket, inside which rippled a silver liquid—this was the "Magic Overload Potion," an extension of the magic potions he invented at Hogwarts.

This potion can greatly increase magic output for a short period of time, but it has severe side effects, causing diarrhea. Well, for Ian, this is already a significant side effect.

After drinking the potion in one gulp, Ian felt a surge of magical power coursing through his veins. His eyes began to glow silver, and visible energy fluctuations surrounded him.

"Let you taste this!"

Ian raised his wand above his head and began chanting a complex incantation.

"Reality Anchor!"

The surrounding space began to distort, and the fleshy walls and floor gradually faded, as if losing their "realism." The fused monster's movements became stiff, and the adaptive force field around it began to flicker erratically.

"Anchoring complete! Reality ripped apart!"

An invisible crack spread forward from the wand, and everything in its path was conceptually "negated." Fleshy ground turned back into cold stone slabs, the network of blood vessels turned to ashes, and even the fused monster began to disintegrate—the five ghost brides were forcibly separated and collapsed weakly to the ground.

There's no time to rest.

Ian continued to approach his destination.

The effect of the anchoring to reality is fading, and the temple environment is beginning to be contaminated again by the power of the evil god. Several, dozens, even hundreds of ghost brides' vengeful spirits have given up their scattered harassment.

As if drawn by an invisible force, they screamed, twisted, and frantically converged in the direction Ian was heading. The black mist of resentment, the tattered wedding dress, the pale arms, the empty eye sockets… all the elements in mid-air before Ian churned and fused violently, like wax figures thrown into a furnace!
This is clearly a sign of desperation.

This also confirmed Ian's suspicions once again—the evil god didn't just want others to approach the cellar; subconsciously, he wanted to prevent anyone from getting close to the cellar.

All the remaining ghost brides merged simultaneously, forming a gigantic, fleshy monster. This monster almost filled the entire main hall of the temple, with dozens of human faces floating on its surface and hundreds of tentacles like a swarm of wildly dancing snakes. It had no specific form, but was merely a terrifying aggregate that was constantly changing and adapting.

This road is blocked.

The monster emitted a deafening chorus that made the air tremble.

Ian was getting close to the cellar.

"Don't touch it!"

The resentment of billions of souls converged into a soul-shaking roar.

It was no longer human-shaped, but a living mountain of flesh, more than ten meters in diameter, consisting of countless twisted limbs, festering flesh, tangled hair, and countless mouths that opened and closed constantly, emitting desperate cries!

Its "surface" is a writhing, translucent mucous membrane, beneath which countless struggling ghost bride faces can be seen, and a huge, distorted "face" is staring intently at Ian. The features of this "face" are out of place, and its lips open and close, uttering a fused declaration that echoes like hell:

"Blasphemer! This place is an eternal tomb! The true God has descended upon the world, and this is our destiny! Your insistence will only bring deeper despair! Stay! Assimilate with us!"

The moment this fleshy monster took shape, it unleashed a terrifying pressure. It was not a simple physical entity, but a twisted aggregate of resentment and sealed divinity.

Its core strengths are "stickiness" and "assimilation".

Battle is now inevitable.

Ian didn't hesitate for a moment. He rapidly formed hand seals in the air, chanting a variant of Hogwarts' oldest soul-purifying spell. A pale blue, stardust-like magic flowed around him, forming a faint halo—a spell many had intended to use on the Dark Lord, yet which had shone brightly in ancient times.

A condensed, eerie blue beam shot out, striking precisely the gaping maw of the flesh-and-blood monster. Where the beam touched, the mucous membranes sizzled and burned, and the maw instantly rotted away, revealing a deeper cavity beneath, composed of bone and flesh.

It seemed to be working well. However, the damage was fleeting! The surrounding mucous membranes, as if possessing a life of their own, rapidly wriggled and proliferated, instantly filling the damaged area, and even the vanished giant mouth "grew" back in a new location!
Even more terrifying, the purified resentment did not dissipate; instead, it was absorbed by the monster's core, transforming into an even colder, more viscous black energy that eroded the essence of Ian's soul! The light of the spirit body flickered violently, and Ian's consciousness felt a bone-chilling cold and a tearing sensation.

"Useless! Your 'light' only nourishes our 'darkness'!" the fused giant face roared mockingly. The monster's massive body shuddered violently, and countless "tentacles" made of hair and tendons shot out from its surface like a swarm of black venomous snakes, carrying intense assimilation and resentment, strangling towards Ian!
Ian's mind raced. Physical attacks and soul purification were easily neutralized or even backfired; he had to find another way. He abandoned his attack, his spirit instantly retreating backward, while his hands drew a complex circular magic circle in front of his chest, composed of countless tiny runes—this was the space stasis rune recorded in the restricted section of the Hogwarts Library, capable of briefly freezing the flow of space within a small area.

"The Cocoon of Time and Space!"

The magic circle shot out from his hand, transforming into a shimmering silver ring that precisely encircled the onrushing swarm of tentacles. Upon contact, the ferocious tentacles instantly slowed to an extreme degree, as if trapped in millennia-old ice, their subsequent attacks halted.

Now! Ian seized this fleeting opening, his spirit form transforming into a streak of light as he charged toward the west wall once more! The resistance was still immense, but thanks to the precious time he had gained through the "Cocoon of Time and Space," he managed to advance several meters!

"You're courting death!" the flesh-and-blood monster roared in fury. Its massive body suddenly "tilted" towards Ian, like a living mountain of flesh crashing down! The mucous membranes on its surface rippled violently, and countless ghost bride mouths simultaneously spewed out viscous, putrid, black blood of resentment!

These blood droplets congealed in the air into countless tiny, sharp "thorns of resentment," forming a rain of death that covered all possible paths for Ian to dodge!

Ian Apparition.

They attempted to create multiple afterimages in space to confuse the monsters.

However, this monster, fused with countless vengeful spirits, does not rely on sight for perception. It can directly "smell" the aura of Ian's original consciousness! The moment the phantom formed, the fused giant face at the center of the monster precisely "saw" Ian's true form, opened its massive maw, and unleashed a mental shockwave condensed from all the resentment!

"Zizzizi~"

The invisible sound waves struck Ian's heart like a giant hammer!

The flesh monster, having gained the upper hand, pressed on again, with the toppled mountain of flesh and the rain of death closing in, threatening to completely devour and assimilate Ian.

At this critical moment, a crazy plan took shape in Ian's mind. He no longer resisted the corrosive influence of the Spikes of Resentment. When the first Spike of Resentment pierced his spirit body and began to greedily absorb the magic power of this "otherworld," Ian, with all his remaining will, desperately unleashed his last and most forbidden magic.

Reverse pollution!
He wasn't attacking the monsters, but rather using himself as a "conductor" to instantly reverse the flow of the pure magic belonging to the young Hogwarts wizards that the ghost brides were absorbing during the assimilation process, and forcibly inject a tiny "concept" that he had previously imprinted on the spirit body—"freedom".

This concept, like a highly poisonous seed, mixed in with pure magic, traveled upstream along the "roots" of the thorn of resentment, instantly corrupting the flesh and blood monster that was absorbing the magic!

"Ugh—!" From the mouths of the countless ghost brides in the contaminated area, the roars of resentment no longer echoed uniformly, but instead carried a faint, individual yearning for and confusion about "freedom"! This tiny "dissonance," like a discordant note thrown into a perfect symphony, instantly triggered a violent tremor in the monster's core!
The tremor lasted less than half a second, but for Ian, it was a golden opportunity! He seized the momentary stagnation and chaos caused by the monster's internal "conceptual contamination," completely dismantling the accumulated, poised power within. The monster let out a painful roar, attempting to sever its infected tentacles.

This did indeed cause real damage to the monster. However, because Ian's strength was somewhat suppressed in this place, he was unable to completely subdue the monster in one fell swoop. Therefore, the monster did not completely disappear from the world, and a bizarre existence formed by the combination of pure death energy and the flesh and blood of an evil god attempted to be born.

"Another evolution?"

Ian felt an unbearable headache.

Fortunately, the bombing just now bought Ian some time.

He had no intention of engaging in a prolonged fight.

He knew he had to race against time.

Ian seized the momentary sluggishness and chaos caused by the monster's internal "conceptual contamination" and charged towards the wall leading to the cellar, which was completely covered in flesh and blood.

The thick biological tissue pulsated like a living wall.

The original stone wall was no longer visible. The flesh was thickening at a visible rate, and countless painful faces appeared on its surface, as if screaming silently.

"Get out of my way!"

Ian Prince stood before the wall completely covered in flesh and blood, a resolute determination rising within him. There was no time to hesitate; the terrifying aggregate behind him was reforming, and every second of delay meant another battle with the filth. So he tore a passage through the Fiendfire.

The wall of flesh shrieked mournfully under the intense heat, its tissue rapidly carbonizing and flaking off. But chillingly, the burned flesh was immediately replaced by new tissue, the healing rate almost matching the rate of destruction. The entire wall pulsated as if alive, resisting any attempt to penetrate it.

“Not enough!” Ian gritted his teeth and took out the last three bottles of potions from the inner pocket of his robe—his most precious reserves, originally intended for emergencies.

And now it seems like that unforeseen moment.

After downing three vials of potion, Ian's eyes flashed with a terrifying silver light. He raised his wand again, and the wall of flesh was finally torn open, barely wide enough for a person to pass through.

Through the opening, Ian saw a bottomless darkness beyond, emanating unsettling energy fluctuations. Without time to hesitate, Ian leaped into the opening.

"Do not!!!"

An angry roar came from behind.

He plummeted downwards, surrounded by writhing tunnels of flesh and blood. The walls were riddled with pulsating blood vessels and nerve bundles, and viscous liquid dripped continuously. The air was thick with the smell of rust and some indescribable organic odor. Ian felt as if he were passing through the digestive tract of some enormous creature.

The thought sent chills down his spine.

The fall seemed endless. Just as Ian began to wonder if he had fallen into some kind of spatial trap, a faint light suddenly appeared below.

He adjusted his posture, preparing to meet the impact.

"Buffer Spell!"

Just before landing, Ian managed to cast a spell.

He crashed heavily onto some soft and elastic surface.

Although he had avoided serious injury, he still felt his bones protesting. Ian struggled to his feet and found himself in complete darkness, with only the tip of his wand gleaming faintly.

The surroundings were eerily quiet, but within that silence, Ian could hear a certain rhythmic sound.

"Dong Dong Dong~"

Like the rhythm of a heartbeat.

(End of this chapter)