Hogwarts: Lacus doesn't want to be a witch who destroys nations.

Lux skillfully put on a thick cloak, stuffed Lumi into the wicker basket at her waist, and filled her pockets with rock-skin cakes she had taken from the banquet hall.

She felt that this thing was as hard as bricks and could be used as a weapon if necessary.

Lux slipped out of the castle with practiced ease and headed straight for the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Lux took a deep breath, pulled the drowsy Lumi out of the basket, and whispered into its little ear, "Lumi, do me a favor, call out twice to summon the white horse."

Lumi made a "pop" sound in dissatisfaction, as if complaining about being disturbed, but still raised her head and made a peculiar whistle towards the dark depths of the forest. The sound was not loud, but it was extremely penetrating.

Before long, a faint hoofbeat, like bones scraping the ground, came from afar.

The moonlight struggled to penetrate the dense canopy, outlining a tall, gaunt figure. The white horse, the Thestral that only those who had seen the dead could see, appeared silently before Lux.

Its empty eye sockets stared at Lux.

"Hey, little white horse." Lux greeted him with a grin, patting the white horse's neck, which still felt cool, smooth, and a little rough.

"Long time no see, I've missed you terribly! The moonlight is lovely tonight, how about we go for a drive and pick up something while we're at it?"

The white horse flicked its long, bony tail and let out a low neigh, as if complaining about why it hadn't come to see it for so long.

"Oh, don't be so petty!" Lux tried to decipher the white horse's body language. "How about I get you some fresh carrots, or scratch that itchy bone on the back of your neck?" She tentatively reached out her hand.

The white horse seemed to think for a moment, and finally, it slightly bent its forelegs, gesturing for Lux to come up.

"That's great!" Lux deftly flipped over and mounted the white horse's cool, bony back.

Lumi poked her head out from the wicker basket in her arms, curiously examining the skeleton: "Little sister, this guy's diet must be terrible. He's as skinny as a stick. I, Lumi, am much plumper than him!"

"Stop talking nonsense and hold on tight!" Lux squeezed her legs together. "White horse, let's go! Take me to find something particularly eye-catching or unique in this forest, especially something that doesn't feel like it belongs here."

The white horse did not respond, but it began to walk.

Its movements were silent, yet it moved effortlessly among the tangled roots and drooping vines, seemingly blending into the shadows themselves. Lux gripped the protruding part of its neck bone tightly, feeling the night wind rush past her ears as the Forbidden Forest scenery rushed past her.

They passed through familiar areas covered in moonflowers and glowing moss, the same places where they had previously searched for unicorn hair and poisonous tentacles, and also crossed several swamps.

Along the way, Lux tried to concentrate and sense the "rune fluctuations" indicated by the system, but found nothing except for the mixed life force and faint magical remnants of the Forbidden Forest itself.

"Could it really be at the bottom of the lake?" Lux was a little disappointed.

Just then, the white horse slowed down and stopped in an area that almost no one had ever set foot in before. The trees here were older and thicker, and their bark was covered with a thick layer of dark blue moss that emitted a faint glow.

A strange, sweet fragrance filled the air, mixed with the smell of earth and decay; smelling it for too long could make one feel a little dizzy.

Most strikingly, not far ahead, on the ground, grew a patch of extremely vibrant mushrooms that emitted a faint blue-purple glow. These mushrooms varied in shape, some resembling twisted antlers, others like half-open umbrellas, forming a near-perfect circle that created an eerie pattern in the darkness.

The white horse stopped at the outer edge of the mushroom circle and stopped moving forward.

It lowered its head, staring at the glowing mushrooms with its empty eye sockets, and emitted a very faint, almost wary, low hum.

"Hmm? What's wrong, White Horse?" Lux noticed White Horse's unusual behavior.

"These mushrooms... are there something wrong with them?" She tried to sense them carefully, but apart from the faint magical light emanating from the mushrooms themselves and that peculiar sweet fragrance, they didn't seem to have any special energy.

Lumi poked her head out of the basket, sniffing hard with her little nose: "Hmm... this smell... it's sickeningly sweet, a bit like rotten fruit mixed with honey. It makes my head spin a little after a while... Little sister, our king said that mushrooms that look too fancy aren't good mushrooms!"

Lux stared at the glowing mushroom rings, which resembled a mysterious entrance in the darkness.

Her intuition told her that there was a reason why the white horse brought her here. This place itself was very strange, and perhaps the clues to the runes were hidden nearby.

Or are these mushrooms some kind of marker?

She dismounted and cautiously approached the mushroom circle, maintaining a safe distance.

She pulled out her wand and whispered, "Reveal your true form!"

A soft golden light shot out from the tip of the staff, sweeping across the area. Under the golden light, the fluorescent glow of the mushrooms became even brighter, as if they had come alive, with fine blue threads flowing inside.

The sweet fragrance in the air seemed to have become even stronger, yet no unusual magical fluctuations or rune traces were detected.

"That's strange..." Lux frowned. "Aside from the mushroom itself having some magical fluctuations, there's nothing else. White Horse, you brought me here just to see mushrooms?" She turned to look at Thestral.

The white horse paced restlessly, its hooves gently pawing at the blue moss-covered soil. Its empty eye sockets remained fixed on the dark depths behind the mushroom circle, as if a being lurked there that even it, a long-time resident of the forbidden forest, was unwilling to easily provoke.

Lux's heart skipped a beat. Something that could make a Thestral, a beast who had seen countless deaths, feel fear?

What level of monster would that be? A Dementor? A basilisk? It can't be Grindelwald himself hiding inside eating mushrooms.

"Hey sis, I have a bad feeling about this..." Lumi's voice rang in Lux's mind, tinged with obvious tension. "There's something staring at us in that dark place... its eyes are really creepy!"

Lux swallowed, feeling a dryness in her throat.

She gripped her wand tightly, a faint glow gathering at its tip as she tried to dispel the darkness ahead.

But the light seemed to be swallowed by thick ink, illuminating only a few steps ahead. The deep darkness remained unmoved, adding to the eeriness.

"White Horse, what's inside?" Lux asked in a low voice, subtly taking a step back, moving further away from the mushroom rings that emitted a sweet, cloying aroma.

The scent is indeed a bit overpowering after a while; it makes me feel dizzy.

The white horse did not answer, but let out another short, low neigh, which carried an almost warning meaning. It even turned slightly to the side, as if to signal Lux to leave quickly.

Lux mustered her courage, took a deep breath but almost choked on the sweet scent, then suddenly raised her wand and hurled a light-transmitting singularity at the darkness.

The darkness remained silent, save for the rustling of leaves in the wind and the fleeting glimmer of light. The white horse impatiently swept its tail across the ground.

Just as Lux was pondering whether she should change her strategy, such as having the white horse scare the thing inside out, a sudden change occurred!

In that impenetrable darkness, two eerie green lights suddenly appeared without warning!

The light was cold and sharp, like two poisoned daggers, piercing straight towards Lux!

Immediately afterwards, an indescribable stench, a mixture of rotting leaves, swamp mud, and the stench of some ancient creature, assaulted Lux's senses, instantly overpowering the sweet scent of the mushrooms and nearly killing her on the spot.

"Ugh...cough cough cough!" Lux's eyes watered from the stench, and she backed away repeatedly. "What is that stinky stuff?!"

Accompanied by a stench, a huge, distorted silhouette slowly emerged from the darkness.

The thing was extremely tall, almost reaching the tree crown. Its body was bloated and covered with wet, sticky, dark brown scales that resembled tree bark, with rotting water plants and silt hanging on it.

Its limbs are thick ancient trees, but what is most terrifying is its head, which is a tree-bump-like structure covered with moss and vines, and a pair of eerie green eyes are embedded in the gaps of the tree bump, full of primal savagery.

"My God!" Lumi screamed from inside the basket, "What is this thing?! A thousand-year-old tree spirit that has come to life?!"

Lux was also stunned. This thing looked too abstract. There was no record of this kind of thing that would make you lose sanity in the Hogwarts magical creatures textbook!

It looks like the illegitimate child born from the Bowtruckle and the Troll after they drank a love potion.

"roar--!!!"

The monster let out a deafening roar, and a foul stench swept over Lux like a shockwave, making her cloak flutter wildly and almost causing her to lose her footing.

It took heavy steps, each one causing the ground to tremble slightly, as it charged towards Lux and the white horse!

"Holy crap! It's really here!" Lux's scalp tingled, her adrenaline surged, "White Horse! Get out of here! Run!"

Without Lux even needing to remind him, the white horse had already turned around the instant the monster roared.

It burst forth with astonishing speed, hurtling off like an arrow shot from a bow.

Lux clung tightly to the protrusion on its neck, feeling as if she were about to be thrown off balance. The wind howled in her ears, and the trees on either side rushed past, almost becoming blurry afterimages.

The monster behind them roared angrily and pursued relentlessly. It was huge and rampaged through the dense forest, easily snapping trees as thick as bowls with a loud "crackling" sound, like a logging machine entering the forest.

"Little sister! It's catching up! It's catching up!" Lumi screamed frantically in the basket, her little paws desperately clawing at the vines. "That big foot is about to step on my butt! Help!"

Lux glanced back and saw the monster, like a moving hill, carving a messy path through the forest, rapidly closing in.

Those eerie green eyes, like will-o'-the-wisps in the darkness, were fixed on her!

"No! At this rate, I'll be crushed into a meat patty!" Lux's mind raced. She swiftly drew her wand and unleashed a spell on the relentlessly pursuing monster: "Translucent Singularity! Binding of Light! Obstacles! Shatter!"

A series of spells instantly formed in front of the monster, but the monster only paused slightly before ramming its massive head, covered in thick scales, into the ground.

"Bang bang bang!"

The monster's speed was hardly affected.

"Damn! With such high magic resistance, it's still immune to crowd control!" Lux was dumbfounded; this thing was ridiculously tough.

Just as the monster's massive claws, accompanied by a foul stench, were about to strike, Lux, in a moment of quick thinking, waved her wand again at the patch of blue moss covering the monster's feet: "Yugardim Leviosa!"

It wasn't that she didn't want to lift the monster, but rather that the monster was clearly overweight, and Lux's current levitation spell couldn't lift it at all. So she aimed at the soft soil beneath the monster's feet.

"Pfft!"

The monster stepped onto the muddy ground that had been levitated by the levitation spell. The immense weight, combined with the momentum of its forward movement, caused it to slip, and its massive body instantly lost its balance, crashing forward with a thud.

"BOOM—!!!"

With a loud bang, the monster's massive body crashed heavily to the ground, crushing a large patch of bushes and saplings, and splashing mud and decaying leaves everywhere.

"Well done, sis!" Lumi shouted excitedly.

"Now! White Horse! Hurry!" Lux urged.

Seizing this precious opportunity, the white horse increased its speed again, like a ghost blending into the night, leaving the dazed and roaring monster far behind in just a few breaths.

The white horse only slowed down when the terrifying roar and the sound of trees breaking could no longer be heard.

It stopped on a relatively open forest path, its empty eye sockets scanning its surroundings warily.

Lux, still shaken, slid off the white horse, her legs buckling, and she nearly collapsed to the ground.

She leaned against a large tree, panting heavily, feeling her heart pounding so hard it felt like it was going to jump out of her throat.

"My Merlin... what the hell was that thing..." Lux patted her chest, still shaken. "When did this kind of thing appear in the Forbidden Forest?"

Lumi poked her head out of the basket, muttering with lingering fear, "That scared me to death... That thing was so awful... Lux, let's not come to this awful place again, okay? We can't risk our lives just to find runes!"

Lux didn't answer immediately; she looked at the white horse.

The white horse still warily watched the direction they had come from, its expression clearly indicating that it had no intention of taking her any further into that area.

"It seems the path into the Forbidden Forest is blocked right now." Lux wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, her wet hair plastered to her face, looking disheveled. "Trying to break through without taking any damage is just suicide."

She looked up and through the sparse branches of the Forbidden Forest, she could see the outline of the castle tower in the distance and, even further away, a vast body of water shimmering in the moonlight.

"The Great Lake..." Lux murmured to herself, "If the Forbidden Forest is impassable, then that's all that's left."

Although it's inhabited by mermaids, has eerie flames, and is bound by Hogwarts' prohibitions...

But compared to the giant tree-bark monster deep in the Forbidden Forest that drains your sanity, the mermaids seem quite handsome.

"Let's go, White Horse, Lumi." Lux took a deep breath and climbed back onto the White Horse's cold, bony back. "Take me back to the edge of the castle. I need to plan my trip to the bottom of the lake."