Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 248 The Assessment Concluded Successfully

"A demon that infiltrated the tribe and devoured its members' lives?" Aragok's voice was filled with hesitation and confusion. "My children have never mentioned this to me."

Daphne's lips curled into a mocking smile: "Perhaps they're enjoying it, old spider? They were having a great time eating just now."

Aragog fell silent immediately, even the two large pincers on its head stopped colliding with each other.

After a long while, it finally expressed its agreement in the same slow tone.

It is old, and its control over the tribe is waning. The vast tribe is showing signs of gradually spiraling out of control under its rule. It can still barely maintain the situation by relying on the prestige it has accumulated, but there are many things that are no longer within its control—such as eating the corpses of its dead kin.

Aragog believed that even after his death, he would become food for the spiders, which was the nature of the giant eight-eyed spider!

But things are different now! How can they ignore this anomaly? Just for a piece of their own flesh?

Aragog suddenly turned around, grabbed the nearest eight-eyed spider with his arthropods, and pulled it in front of him.

"Tell me the number of our kind who have recently died suddenly!" Aragog burst forth with an unprecedented aura, sweeping away his previous demeanor of old age.

The spider, controlled by Aragog, couldn't help but curl up all its legs, forming a ball, looking extremely frightened.

After a few seconds, seeing that Aragog did not intend to punish him, the spider tremblingly told him that recently, members of its kind had been dying every day, ranging from one or two to three or four, and this phenomenon had been going on for more than a week.

Aragok felt a wave of suffocation: More than a week?! Don't you have any idea how quickly your kind are dying? Don't you think you're dying too frequently?

The giant eight-eyed spider is an amazing creature with an exceptionally long lifespan. Unless it suffers irreversible serious injury while hunting, it doesn't die for no reason. The number of spiders dying every day far exceeds the normal range.

Now, Aragog no longer had any doubts about what Daphne and the others had said.

It turned its head and asked, "That monster was parasitizing the back of one of my children, wasn't it?"

After receiving an affirmative answer, Aragog gave the order to all the eight-eyed giant spiders to leave the nest.

The old chieftain's words had their purpose; after a brief commotion, the spiders left the nest. Daphne and her companions soon discovered a spider with a tumor on its back—clearly, it was the possessed spider.

Daphne was about to make her move when she lowered her wand again, remembering what had happened after she first blew up that spider.

"Have all the spiders come out?" she asked softly.

Aragog touched the ground with his arthropods and quickly concluded: "There's another one hiding deep in the spider web, heh heh..."

It immediately understood: that must be the culprit.

It decisively ordered its offspring to drag the demonic creature out of its lair and tear it to pieces. At the same time, it turned to face Daphne and the other three, and said in a humble tone, "Please extinguish the flames. The Eight-Eyed Giant Spider clan is not the enemy of the wizards."

While Aragog and Daphne were negotiating, the fire had grown considerably. Now, they didn't even need to do anything; the fire alone could wreak havoc on the eight-eyed giant spiders.

Daphne couldn't help but lick her lips: she really didn't have a good solution; starting a fire is easy, but putting it out is difficult.

She glanced at Nightmare standing beside her, and at Daphne's instruction, Nightmare began running around the wall of fire, keeping the flames contained within a certain area. Then, the four young wizards took turns casting freezing spells on the raging fire, and after some effort, they finally extinguished the flames at the edge of the depression.

The fire was extinguished, and the battle in the spider nest was over. The eight-eyed giant spiders, with their overwhelming numerical advantage, dragged the monster out of the nest and tore it to pieces.

"It seems everything is over." Aragog sighed with emotion—if these young wizards hadn't come, who knows how many more of its offspring would have died!

Therefore, it decided to forgive the young wizards for the killings they had initially caused.

"It's not over yet." Daphne's eyes narrowed. She noticed a small black notebook fall from the spider's body when it was torn apart deep in the spider nest. She believed that was the source of everything.

If that notebook isn't destroyed, then everything else is meaningless.

At this moment, the notebook lay quietly among the fallen leaves and cobwebs, appearing harmless. But it was clear that once the storm had passed, it would stir up trouble again.

After Daphne finished explaining what had happened, Aragog sighed, "I'm too old to deal with such a monster. Please help me get rid of it! I will keep my children in check."

After receiving Aragog's assurance, Daphne led the other three young wizards down into the depression.

The Riddle Diary in the humus seemed to sense the approaching danger. Without hesitation, it materialized Riddle from within the diary.

By this time, Riddle had already been corrupted, his spirit body shrouded in a nauseating black filth, and his eyes filled with a bloodlust and a desire to kill.

It charged at the four young wizards like a wild beast, moving incredibly fast. In the blink of an eye, it reached Astoria, only to be repelled by the protective spell Astoria cast.

Immediately afterwards, Hermione cast a precise Obstacle Charm on the monster, trapping it in place, and several attack spells were immediately unleashed upon it.

Although these spells cannot kill it directly, they can weaken it continuously. Once the life force it draws from the eight-eyed giant spider is exhausted, it can only retreat back into the diary.

Seemingly realizing his predicament, Riddle, who had already gone mad, suddenly opened his mouth and let out a sharp, explosive sound filled with negative emotions. The four people standing near him immediately felt dizzy and their spells were forced to stop.

Seizing the opportunity, Riddle lunged at Harry—not the closest wizard, but instinctively choosing Harry over Daphne, who was closer.

The four were caught off guard by the shriek emitted by the spirit. If nothing unexpected happened, Riddle would have survived and turned the tables. However, the Nightmare, which was not affected by the shriek, suddenly charged forward, pushing Riddle back and igniting its spirit at the same time.

Having exhausted all his strength, Riddle let out a painful scream before his entire spirit turned into a wisp of black smoke and disappeared into the diary on the ground.

And with that, it all came to an end.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

This is the second update. There will be another update tonight, so don't wait, read it when you wake up in the morning.

(End of this chapter)