Hogwarts doesn't need a savior

Just when Lin En was puzzled, Euphemia behind him also came over carefully, turned on the fluorescent light, and illuminated the last area.

Lynn, who was lost in thought, saw the whole picture here.

The statue just now is not the main body or the only thing, but a decoration of a hidden black beam.

There are eleven more black stone pillars like this.

The statues on each pillar are different, some old, some young, some male, some female, some with smiles on their faces, some with a majestic presence without even being angry.

It is these twelve pillars that support this huge palace - Lin En did not count it in detail, but it is probably much larger than the labyrinth palace excavated in the north of Crete.

Their material seemed to be quite similar to those that made up the walls of the corridor, or perhaps it was due to some special coating that seemed to absorb light, making the environment here still dim.

And in the middle of the twelve stone pillars, guarded by the gods, is a gigantic python - each of its scales is made of black metal, using craftsmanship far ahead of its time.

The sturdy and huge snake god was coiled on a tall stone base, with two dazzling gems, one red and one blue, forming his eyes. They conveyed a bright and cold look, and looked lifelike.

Countless statues of all sizes kneel beside it, with vivid expressions, paying homage.

"So this is the goddess... I thought she was some amazing person, but she's no different from those idiots."

Putting aside the doubts in his mind for the moment, Lin En looked at the big snake with a sneer, his eyes full of murderous intent.

"Or are you one of them?"

The moment they looked at each other, the silent snake seemed to suddenly come back to life, the ruby ​​sparkled and the sapphire exuded a cold and deep color like the Black Lake in Hogwarts.

In an instant, Lynn felt some kind of magical power stirring, flowing outside his and Euphemia's bodies, as if trying to awaken something in their bodies.

The irresistible and seductive music also echoes in my heart, conveying a certain temptation and attraction.

But this huge creature, whose identity was unknown, made a wrong calculation. The two people's bodies did not contain the backup it had expected - those tiny insects.

Without this most crucial move, the rest of the moves would be of no use at all and instead expose their pale nature.

Without the filter and enchantment of "God", this place is just a huge and empty space, which has the shape of a temple but looks like a rough draft or even a cave.

Euphemia was only in a trance for a moment, and returned to normal under the protection of the Purple Shirt Rune. She vigilantly hid most of her body behind Lin En, holding her wand and guarding her surroundings.

"There's something fishy about these two gems," she said.

"I know, but don't worry. Let me observe their magic and this guy's background."

Lin En said softly, and was about to take a closer look when he heard a barely audible sound coming from somewhere.

"click"

Then, another magical power appeared out of nowhere, but it was not to assist the big snake's magic, but to rush forward like a hungry tiger pouncing on its prey, completely dispelling the big snake's magic power.

After doing all this, it disappeared without a trace, as if it had never appeared, mysterious and hidden.

"This magic power..." Lin En pondered, his eyes lit up, "It seems that the senior didn't fall for it in the end."

Chapter 415 Slytherin's Message

Although he lost the opportunity to directly experience the magic of the giant snake statue due to the intervention of the mysterious wizard, Lynn did not feel any regrets. Instead, he walked around with great interest.

After making sure that he could not find any clues left by the other party on the sacred pillar, he refocused his attention on the giant snake that had run out of tricks and returned to silence.

The two gems, one red and one blue, still glowed faintly, but had lost their magical power to bewitch the body and mind.

Around the giant snake, the rock pillars carved with ancient gods seemed to have lost their magic and become simple and even crude.

In this huge cave, it is the murals on the walls that seem more timeless at this moment - they are wrapped in some strange magic, escaping the baptism of the long river of time, and only a few have fallen to the ground and been eroded and worn away into powders of various colors.

Euphemia was a little wary of these things and just watched from a distance, but Lynn walked closer without a care in the world, even getting only a few centimeters away from the wall, carefully observing every piece of information and brushstrokes in the mural.

The strokes here are divided into different stories, and each part corresponds to a deity carved on a stone pillar. The Lady of Nature standing at the end of the first level of the underground palace is also among them.

However, this earth mother in Minoan mythology is the lowest-ranking god here, and her legend is the shortest, only briefly mentioned.

The one that received the most attention was the goddess that Lin En saw when he first entered the door. She carried the power of chaos and time. The carving itself was the most delicate, and was even closer to the giant snake than the other eleven pillars.

War, navigation, royal power, reproduction, art... God's power covers all aspects. It is revered, worshipped and offered to by people, and also brings protection to believers.

This is the most common mythological story. It is not rare. It is different from others only because it is complete and ancient.

But above the myth, at the end of every mural, the image of the snake god appears, overlooking all living beings, including the gods, from a more condescending posture.

Includes a nature lady holding a black snake.

At the end of the unfinished story, her courtyard disappeared from Crete and never appeared again, except that she came outside the temple of the Serpent God and became the twelfth god.

The form of God changed from beasts and objects to humans, but here it changed back from humans to beasts. This is a phenomenon that goes against common sense.

Lin En was a little annoyed. The mural he saw was not complete. Many key parts were missing, especially the part related to the myth of the snake god himself.

He was basically certain that this invisible "snake god" was probably one of those false gods, and was much older than the era in which Herbo lived.

But this is not enough, he wants to find out the origins of these strange lives - his intuition tells him that in the ancient times when humans were still primitive and ignorant, the false gods might not be so cautious.

"The gods are bewitched wizards, and the other chosen ones are Muggles?" He murmured to himself, stroking the blank wall, and stretched out a hand behind him, "Fei, give me the crown, I feel something is wrong."

-----------------

Outside Sofia, Bulgaria.

The agile black figure shuttled through the woods at high speed, faster than a cheetah, with silent footsteps. With a small cloth bag in its mouth, it ran quickly to the outside of a wooden house.

Regulus was waiting outside the door. When he saw it finally return, he leaned over and touched its smooth and somewhat hideous head, and said gently, "Well done, Willis."

He was responded with a purr full of intimacy. This was a fully grown leopard cat from the North American plains, brought specially from the hills behind Ilvermorny to help out. Even Newt, who was well versed in the care of magical animals, was full of praise for its condition.

After some affectionate moments, Regulus took the cloth bag handed to him by the cat-leopard, opened it, and the smile on his face slowly froze.

"Willis, go play in the woods for a while." After arranging the cat and leopard, he hurried back to the house, carefully closed the door, and hurriedly walked into Moody's room. "Something happened at the World Cup, just a few hours ago."

In his haste, he did not notice that the locket he had worn on his chest for a long time was emitting a faint magical power.

"Something happened?" Moody looked at him calmly, took the short message of only a few lines, and knew the whole story at a glance, "It seems that our opponent is a little more cunning than we thought. Haven't you contacted Lynn yet?"

"Not yet. We haven't been able to contact him and Euphemia since Saturday morning. Maybe they are somewhere that can block the transmission of magic and signals." Regulus said.

"Since Saturday morning...it's been four days." Moody held the letter, thinking about something for a while, and then said, "Okay, I see. Newt may need help with something, so please go there again."

"I'll be there later," Regulus said calmly.

-----------------

The outside world is in turmoil, but beneath the deep sea there are hidden waves amidst the calm.

The concept of time does not seem to exist here, and it seems that something mysterious has disturbed it, rewriting the flow of time and space inside and outside the ruins.

In their opinion, from the time they entered the temple to now, it has only been half a day at most.

At this moment, Lin En, wearing a crown, was examining everything in the temple with extremely sharp eyes, from the strokes to the pillars carved with statues, to the coiled snake.

He did find some anomalies - the mural on the wall was not as intact as it should be, even though many key parts had been damaged.

They were protected by a magic that was clearly different from this place, as if it was specially designed to guide and escort those who came later.

Lin En also saw the source of the previous foul smell at a glance - right under their feet, there was not only dust accumulated for hundreds and thousands of years, but also the corpses of countless tiny flying insects, and the smell came from them.

It wasn't just the smell of decay, but magic as well, just as evil as these strange lives.

"No wonder I always felt that the giant snake was ridiculously weak, so this is the reason." Lin En, with a clear mind, sighed softly and walked to the back of the giant snake statue under Euphemia's puzzled gaze.

The world in his eyes was no longer what the naked eye saw, but there were traces of flowing magic power. Following these clues left behind, he discovered subtle mysteries.

That was the source of the magic that had helped them dispel the evil power before, and it was the same source as the magic that appeared on the mural.

It was not deliberately hidden, but casually attached to an ordinary statue - if there is anything special about it, perhaps it is that it looks the oldest.

This is a deity in the image of an old man, but he does not appear to be kind and gentle, but rather murderous, which is a complete contrast.

Standing in front of the statue, Lin En said admiringly: "Is this how they took over their statue? What a genius idea." His admiration came from the heart.

Before he finished speaking, as if specifically in response to him, or as if activated by the magic power overflowing from the hawthorn wood wand, the silent statue began to tremble slightly, and wisps of white mist emerged.

It doesn't seem right to call it mist, but it is not a spiritual body or a soul either. Instead, it is like a message that is slowly transmitted via magic power.

"It's commendable that you can find the backup plan I left behind."

The old voice echoed in the empty temple.

The thin figure slowly condensed and turned into an old man with a bald head and facial features like a vulture.

"What is this...?" Euphemia's eyes widened and she covered her mouth as if she had seen a ghost.

She recognized the identity of the person in front of her.

“I should have thought of it earlier. You are the only one who is proficient in black magic and knows all the twists and turns here. You are also a powerful wizard who has appeared in the last thousand years.” Lin En’s expression was a little strange, as if he wanted to laugh but was too embarrassed to do so, so he could only force himself to keep a straight face.

The person who appeared in front of them was none other than the founder of Hogwarts, whose appearance he had once teased.

Salazar Slytherin, the most elusive legendary wizard in the Middle Ages, a master of dark magic who was difficult to distinguish between good and evil.

Chapter 416: The Killing Snake

"...Are you the descendants of Helga and Rowena? It's not surprising. They asked you to come here?"

The Slytherin, who had come into being, had a sharp gaze and immediately recognized the golden cup beside Lynn and the crown on his head, and spoke in a stiff tone.

At this moment, he is not like a ghost, nor is he a solid spiritual body like Rowena, nor is he a soul body like Helga, but an intermediate form between memory and voice, with magic as the carrier.

Lynn, who had received many secrets from Rowena, could see that this was an ancient magic that had been lost for a long time. It stored information in spells, attached a little memory, and stole magic power from unknown sources in the temple as a backup. This is how it has survived thousands of years to this day.

The method was somewhat similar to the technique Rowena used to use her own statue, but it was much cruder and had Slytherin's own style.

Simple and crude, using force to suppress others, quite domineering.

At the same time, it can be said to be very vivid, and his eccentric and strange personality is well preserved.

"It's not them, it's Rowena." Lynn said calmly, "She told us that there is ancient magic and secret existence here, which may be related to the strange things you dealt with in the past."

"We were..." Slytherin's eyes changed slightly, "It seems that she trusts you very much."

"Not to me, but to Euphemia. She is the one who got Rowena's inheritance."

"You are a good candidate. No wonder Rowena asked you to come here." Slytherin said, "She was the one who suggested that we come again after we have achieved something, but we didn't find the opportunity in the end, so I came here alone. As expected, there is indeed something strange here."

"You are the one who protected these murals, right?" Lynn asked.

"Yes, they are also the clues I left for you about these monsters and their origins."

"What do you know?"

"I don't know much more than you, but I can be sure that some of the gods here come from different places. I can recognize some of them, such as the Greek and Egyptian gods - it's a mess." Slytherin's tone was cold, and his words were full of contempt.

Lin En could see that he was extremely disgusted with the monster that was causing trouble here.

"And in terms of age, some are even older than the myths of these civilizations themselves," he added.

"You're right, that's exactly the problem." Slytherin was a little surprised, "It seems you have done your homework?"

Without waiting for Lin En to answer, he continued, "According to Rowena's speculation, these things may have appeared earlier than the recorded history of wizards, so many myths centered on them were created, but they gradually disappeared later."

"So... they are actually trying to control humans through faith?" Euphemia asked.

"That's not necessarily the case. Perhaps faith itself will be helpful to them, but you need to find the answers yourself." Slytherin said, "All I can provide you is the information here and my own guesses."

"Then why do you still want to stay here?" Lin En frowned slightly, "You can just destroy this place and investigate it yourself."

"Because I am already very old, too old to have time to investigate these things." Slytherin made no secret of his condition. "After I leave here, I will look for a way to prolong my life. Perhaps you will see me again in the distant future."

"It seems that we haven't heard from you for at least a thousand years." Lin En shook his head.

"If you fail, it will be a pity." Slytherin's tone did not reveal much regret, "But if there is no one who can truly conquer death, even the strongest wizards will eventually die. You are luckier than me. You have such power at such a young age."

"Both Rowena and Helga came to terms with death in some way, at least leaving a lot behind," Lynn said.

He was responded with an amused look from the Slytherin.

"I know what you want to say, young man." He said teasingly, "I can see that you are a very greedy and ambitious person." His eyes were fixed on the magic book next to Lin En, "Even more ambitious than me and Rowena."

Lynn did not refute. He looked at him calmly, waiting for the legendary wizard's response.

After a silent look, Slytherin raised the corner of his mouth slightly, smiling in front of the two for the first time: "Since you want to know more, then go find my descendants and my most precious legacy - I can't be sure what I will think when I die, but there must be the final answer there, and it may even be related to everything that happened here."

The illusory right arm slowly rose and stretched out towards Lynn.