Hogwarts and the Holy Grail War

Hagrid carried a crossbow in his left hand, a full quiver on his shoulder, and a lantern in his right hand, and walked slowly along the narrow path in the Forbidden Forest. Fang ran around him in circles, occasionally lowering his head to sniff the traces on the ground.

Ethan followed them quietly not far behind. It was dark inside the Forbidden Forest, and the layers of leaves almost blocked the moonlight. There was almost no light source except Hagrid's lantern. He had to be careful not to step on the dead branches and leaves on the ground and make noises, so as not to alert Hagrid and Fang.

So stealth is the most troublesome thing.

They soon came to a three-way intersection. Fang looked very excited. He ran to the road on the left, turned around and squatted down, looking at Hagrid, barking twice and wagging his tail.

"No, Fang. We're not going this way today." Hagrid shook his head. "There's a nest of thornback spiders over there. Those guys are not as reasonable as Aragog. They're just beasts who don't care about their lives."

"Not to mention that it leads to that place... It's very dangerous for us, it's better to stay away from it." Hagrid muttered as he walked over and grabbed Fang's collar, "Come here, Fang."

Fang let out a resentful whimper from his throat and obediently followed Hagrid to another fork in the road.

Ethan stood at the intersection, watching Hagrid and the lights stagger away into the darkness, then he removed the Disillusionment Charm for himself, released two faint fluorescent lights surrounding himself, and took the fork in the road to the left.

This fork in the road led to the deepest part of the forbidden forest. Ethan walked along the road for almost half an hour. The trees became denser and denser, almost blocking Ethan's way. He had to often squeeze sideways through the twisted and tangled branches and bushes, and the long robe he was wearing was scratched by the low twigs and the sharp thorns on the bushes, leaving several not-so-small cuts.

"A nest of thornback spiders...thornback spiders...ah ha, here we are."

A huge spider web suddenly appeared in front of Ethan, blocking the valley between the two earth slopes and blocking his way. The mucus silk that made up the spider web was extremely thick, as thick as a finger, and densely covered with tiny barbs.

If there is really an unlucky person who accidentally touches this thing, he may never be able to get rid of it in his lifetime.

Several dark shadows appeared behind the spider web. It was obvious that the arrival of Ethan, the uninvited guest, had alarmed the thornback spiders living here.

The thornback spider is a creature very similar to the eight-eyed giant spider, but it is slightly smaller. As the name suggests, the thornback spider has several spikes of different sizes on its back. It is initially determined that they are used to deal with the bites of their natural enemy, the horned beast.

Thornyback spiders are widely distributed in every corner of the Scottish Highlands. They like to live in deep forests or densely wooded areas. They dig a huge burrow under the roots of trees and seal the entrance with spider webs to use as their own nest.

Unlike the giant eight-eyed spider, the thornback spider usually does not weave a web in a fixed place and wait for prey to take the bait. They will actively leave the nest to hunt, and suddenly spray a strong and sticky spider silk at their favorite prey to trap the prey, and then bring it back to the nest to slowly enjoy it.

It is precisely because of this habit that the spinneret, which should have grown at the end of the abdomen and used to secrete spider silk, has moved to the bottom of the thin handle connecting the cephalothorax and abdomen, and the direction it faces has also changed to forward. When they encounter prey, they only need to lift the first two pairs of appendages and tilt the cephalothorax slightly upwards, and the forward-facing spider silk can be ejected from the spinneret.

Really spray spider silk from the belly button.

However, they also lost some of their ability to deal with enemies coming from behind, and could only move their huge bodies to turn around and re-adjust their posture. To some extent, the difficulty of dealing with them was also reduced.

But their speed is not slow either. If you encounter a group of these big insects at the same time, even an adult wizard will be overwhelmed.

But...

"The flames are blazing."

The bright fire ignited the spider webs that blocked the road, and the flammable slime lines were burned to ashes in an instant.

This action also completely angered the machine gunners occupying this place. Just think about it, if the house you have worked so hard to take care of was suddenly burned down by a stranger, no one would not be angry.

Click~click~

The two large poisonous claws kept moving, accompanied by the dull sound of slender long legs moving on the ground, and the blue-gray thornback spiders crawled towards Ethan from all over the nest.

"Oh, you're quite hospitable. How can this be so embarrassing?" Ethan looked at the giant spiders approaching him and smiled unceremoniously, "Good spiders don't block the road. Those that block the road are roadblocks."

The thornback spider closest to Ethan jumped into the air with a powerful leg strength that was not comparable to its huge body, waving the large claws next to its mouthparts, and fell towards Ethan with the force of a mountain. Several other thornback spiders also raised their upper bodies and sprayed their spider silk at Ethan.

"Ablaze (ardere)."

The flaming air wave spread violently in a hemispherical shape with Ethan's body as the center, not only igniting the spider silk that was ejected, but also burning the spider that was spinning silk. The thornback spider in the air was blown away by the scorching flame wave and crashed into a bush full of thorns. After struggling for a few times, it was completely dead.

The dark red flames disappeared on their own after spreading for a distance, leaving a circular burn mark on the surrounding grass, and did not spread to other places.

"Look, I'm just passing through here, why are you trying to kill yourself?" Ethan looked at the thornback spiders that were wrapped in fire and struggling in pain, and shook his head. "But... luckily, I'm a kind-hearted person. I can't bear to see you suffer so much, so I'm here to send you off."

"Split into pieces!"

"Flying sand and flying rocks!"

"Shattered to pieces!"

Spells poured out, and the half-dead thornback spiders were either cut in half, blown into several pieces, or shattered into pieces without leaving any residue.

The scene was so crispy, tender and juicy.

"Thunderbolt explosion!"

A familiar shout came into Ethan's ears from the dungeon beside him, and the subsequent explosion and fire illuminated half of his face red.

Are there other people in the crypt?

The light spot led the way ahead. Ethan raised his wand and walked slowly towards the depths of the dungeon, remaining vigilant. Along the way, he could see scattered fragments of the thornback spider, some of which were still emitting black smoke and looked like they had just been extinguished.

A human-shaped black outline slowly came into Ethan's sight. With a thought, the floating light spot flew in front of the black shadow, but the face reflected in it surprised Ethan.

"Cassandra?"

Chapter 123 Unfair Fate (Update)

"Who?"

The blonde beauty in front of him was like a frightened ferret. She pointed the wand in her hand forward and poked Ethan in the cheek.

"Don't get excited, it's me." Ethan gave a French military salute, "Can you put your wand down first? I feel like my cheek is about to be pierced."

"It turns out it's you..."

Cassandra breathed a sigh of relief, retracted the wand that was poking Ethan's face, and patted her chest lightly.

Fortunately, it was just Ethan, not some other dark wizard.

Um, Ethan?

Cassandra suddenly came to her senses and pointed her wand at the tip of Ethan's nose again: "No, why are you here? Shouldn't you be in Hogwarts Castle? Who are you?"

"I'm Ethan, Gryffindor's special student." Ethan maintained the French military salute and patiently answered Cassandra's questions.

After all, judging from Cassandra's expression, she probably hasn't figured out her situation yet. It's a good thing for her to be more alert in an unfamiliar environment, and there's no need for me to be impatient about it.

"What's in the corridor on the right side of the fourth floor of Hogwarts?"

Cassandra still did not let down her guard and continued to ask questions while slowly backing away.

"A black three-headed dog. I used the Flash Charm on it." Ethan smiled softly. "Are you sure it was me now, Miss Cassandra?"

"Well, it looks like it's genuine." Cassandra nodded, put away her wand with relief, folded her arms across her chest, and asked calmly, "Where is this?"

"This is deep in the Forbidden Forest, Miss Cassandra."

"Forbidden Forest? What are you doing here? Don't you know that students are not allowed to enter the Forbidden Forest?" Cassandra frowned, sleekly avoided talking about her own situation, and naturally began to condemn Ethan's violation. "There are many dangerous creatures in the Forbidden Forest. What if something unexpected happens?"

"Aren't you here too? We both know each other." Ethan curled his lips.

"Who are you talking to?" Cassandra suddenly exploded. "I just accidentally walked into this place! I am different from you who came here prepared!"

"Yes, yes, yes. I accidentally entered the deepest part of the Forbidden Forest. I understand." Ethan nodded in agreement, with an amused look on his face.

"You!" Cassandra was so angry at Ethan's sarcasm that she was speechless, and her hand pointing at Ethan trembled slightly.

Suddenly I wanted to kill this gossipy guy here, since there is no one else here anyway.

No, it seems I can't beat him.

Even more angry.

After teasing the young lady in front of him for a while, Ethan put away his unruly look with satisfaction and asked seriously.

"Okay, I'm not kidding you anymore. What's going on?"

"Why should I tell you?" Cassandra snorted coldly and turned her head away, unwilling to pay attention to Ethan.

He was clearly making fun of me on purpose just now, and he didn't seem to feel any guilt at all. He has a really bad character.

Cassandra's already low favorability towards Ethan was further exacerbated.

"Okay, forget it if you don't want to talk about it." Ethan shrugged and turned to walk out of the nest.

"Where are you going?"

Cassandra took two quick steps to catch up with Ethan, looking like she wanted to start a conversation but couldn't bring herself to do it. Her face clearly said, "Hurry up and say a few words to ease the awkward atmosphere. I'm about to lose face."

"As you said, I am well prepared tonight." Ethan glanced at Cassandra, who was looking confused, with amusement, and calmly gave her a way out. "There are some things I care about that I must confirm clearly. That's why I came to the Forbidden Forest tonight."

"What is it? Is it that red light?"

"Yes, you know this too?" Ethan raised his eyebrows.

"Well, I've heard other people mention it, but I don't think it's anything special." Cassandra smiled disdainfully, "I didn't expect you to be interested in such a vague thing."

"We are free anyway, so we might as well come and take a look." The two men walked out of the dungeon and stood in the center of the valley.

"So are you going back now?" Ethan turned his head and asked, "Anyway, I won't change my plan. If you want to go back, I may not be able to take you back."

Anyway, there is no danger on the way back, and nothing should happen to her if she goes back alone.

"I really have no choice. I'd better go with you." Cassandra crossed her arms over her chest again, showing her ladylike demeanor. "Let me make it clear first, I'm not worried about you getting into trouble. I'm just a little curious, so I'll just follow you to find out what's going on."

"You just said you weren't interested." Ethan complained mercilessly.

Cassandra realized that her logic was contradictory, her face turned red, and she said angrily, "Shut up!"

"..."

Ethan suppressed the smile on his face, turned around silently, walked to the spider web on the other side of the valley, and pulled out his wand.

"The flames are blazing."

The spider web was burned clean, revealing an unobstructed road behind.

"If you want to come, just follow me," Ethan said without turning his head, "that way we can take care of each other."

"Just you? Who needs your care?" Cassandra was harsh in her words, but her body was honest and followed Ethan closely.

They turned right at a three-way intersection and came to the small lake that Hagrid had mentioned. In the distance, they could see a dim red light flashing somewhere on the grass opposite the lake.

"That's it..." Cassandra rubbed her eyes, and after making sure that it was not her hallucination, she tugged at Ethan's robe and exclaimed in a low voice.

Ethan nodded and made a gesture to keep quiet: "That should be right... Stay alert and follow me."

Ethan and Cassandra squatted in the bushes on the left side of the lake and moved slowly. They moved to the opposite side of the lake and stopped in a bush near the grass, pulling at the leaves to peek outside.

From the other side of the lawn where the red light was flashing, two guys in black robes embroidered with red snake patterns slowly walked over, looking very dissatisfied.

It was Ethan’s old acquaintance, the Fire Snake Party.

"How long have we been guarding here?" asked minion A listlessly, his face as wrinkled as a bitter gourd.

"About half a month." Minion B sighed, "They've been gone for a week. I don't know when it will end."

"I would say that brat is not trustworthy at all. He is so nervous all the time. How can he get anything done?" Minion A said bitterly, "I really don't know why that adult trusted him so much and actually let him be the overall commander of this operation."

"There's nothing we can do. After all, he has a high affinity, and he's the only one who's familiar with Hogwarts." Minion B sighed again, "This is fate, an unfair fate."

The two minions complained as they stopped by the bushes where Ethan and Cassandra were hiding, unbuckled their belts in front of their faces, and revealed their enoki mushrooms.

Ethan/Cassandra: ...

Chapter 124 This brother looks very familiar

"WDNMD, I can't stand this anymore!!"

Ethan suddenly jumped out from the bushes where he was hiding. His right hand clenched into a fist with a shining silver light, and hit minion A on the chin with a True Rising Dragon Knife, causing him to spin nine and a half times in the air with a splash of water and fly ten meters away.

"You actually urinated and defecated anywhere. Do you have any sense of public morality?"

Ethan stood in front of the bushes with a disgusted look on his face, with his hands on his hips, pointing at the unconscious minion A in the distance and harshly reprimanding him for his uncivilized behavior.

Well, being nearly peed on was not enough to make Ethan jump out. He could just dodge to the side. The main reason why he chose to stand up and punch him was that this bastard's enoki mushrooms actually had cauliflower growing on them!

My pure eyes are almost blinded, okay?

"There is an enemy!!" After a brief brain freeze, Minion B finally reacted and let out a shrill cry. Without even bothering to pull up his pants, he took out his wand and pointed it at Ethan.

"What do you want to do? My companions will be here soon. If you know what's good for you, put down your wand and surrender. We can spare your life." The hand holding the wand of minion B trembled slightly. He tried to intimidate Ethan in a cowardly way. With his other hand, he held up his pants and pulled them up. The enoki mushrooms under his crotch kept swinging in Ethan's sight due to the force, and the water splashed.

"Collapse!"

Ethan was in no mood to waste time talking to him. He flew over and kicked him in the crotch, then turned around and slapped him in the face with a whip kick, sending the little bird to see Merlin on the spot.

"I thought you were pretty patient." Cassandra emerged from the bushes and looked at Ethan's distorted face with a playful expression. "I didn't expect you to be so impatient."

Although the scene was indeed eye-catching, compared to the displeasure and disgust of being offended, it was not a loss to see this guy lose his usual calmness and break down his defenses.

I can only say that it is just a strange old pleasure.

"You'll get numb even if you stomp on it." Ethan rolled his eyes at Cassandra, and the wand on his sleeve slipped into his palm. "You heard it just now, right? He said he has a companion. You'd better hide quickly. Leave this to me."

"I told you, I don't need you to take care of me." Cassandra raised her wand and stood beside Ethan, ready to fight. She looked unhappy. "I'm not a pretty face."

"I didn't say you were a vase. It's just that this isn't a show between students. You should..." Ethan looked at Cassandra, who was dissatisfied with being looked down upon and refused to communicate. He covered his temple with his right hand helplessly. "Okay, just don't scream like a little girl later."