Chapter 1010 The Hunting Ground of Death

Hunting is one of the earliest skills that humans have mastered.

From 250,000 BC to the present, more than 95% of the time humans have lived on the earth has been in the hunting age.

Many Muggles may have forgotten how to hunt, but wizards have not.

One of the imaginary enemies of most wizards in school is various magical animals, or... dangerous dark magic creatures - this is the main teaching content of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

But before that, there was no professor to tell everyone how to hunt a 20-30-foot-long basilisk.

Fortunately, the "graduates" present also had the opportunity to learn some relevant knowledge on the spot.

"The basilisk's two most dangerous weapons are instant death when looking into each other's eyes, and its deadly venom——"

While Dumbledore was checking the magic traps around and lighting up the dark gaps between the stone pillars one by one, Newt took advantage of every opportunity to start making up lessons.

"Of course, if there is no direct confrontation, the basilisk is actually not as dangerous as imagined."

"As a snake-like magical creature, it still has innate weaknesses in many aspects of its physical habits, which is important."

"First of all, the basilisk has no ears, or to be more precise, like most snakes, it has no outer and middle ears—"

Newt waved his wand, drawing a lifelike snake-shaped light and shadow in mid-air.

Under the influence of a young mixed-blood Veela, Newt Scamander, who is nearly a hundred years old, has recently acquired a lot of Muggle knowledge.

The most important part is the anatomical feedback results of snakes, and corresponding these theories with his previous anatomy.

What few people know is that Newt had dissected magical animals more than once with the help of his mother before he was in school.

"this means……"

Newt cleared his throat, looked at the confused wizards from the Ministry of Magic, and said calmly.

"Basilisks may be weak in hearing. In terms of their means of sensing the surroundings, they use the sense of smell at the tip of their tongues and the way they sense ground vibrations to locate their prey. These are the two things we will focus on next. Aspects, vibrations, smells.”

"Yeah, I understand... So we need to stay as still as possible and eliminate our own smell?"

Rufus Scrimgeour nodded in realization and spoke thoughtfully.

Just like hunting in the mountains and forests, or tracking some dangerous dark wizards, concealment is an essential ability for every Auror.

"No, on the contrary—"

Newt shook his head, a strange look appeared on his old face.

"In the world of magical animals, the animals with keener hearing in silence are less able to tolerate the stimulation of high pitches; the animals with keener vision in the dark are less able to withstand the hot and strong light..."

"Perhaps the basilisk can easily capture footsteps and even heartbeat tremors, but when the entire site begins to tremble nonstop, like an earthquake, the perception it relies on for survival will actually become an obstacle."

Newt's wand moved, and the originally flat marble floor suddenly began to twist and vibrate, as if there was some monster sealed underneath.

Perhaps advanced transformation and magic disguise are troublesome, but disorderly and pure destruction is obviously much simpler.

"The movement of snakes is very suitable for moving at high speeds on smooth paths, but it is obviously much more difficult for them to move on sharp turns and rugged roads, making the area irregular and vibrating at high frequencies at all times. , which can greatly limit the movement of the basilisk."

As the former interim principal of Hogwarts and professor of magical zoology, Newt introduced him in a gentle manner.

Snakes do not have legs. When they move, they mainly rely on the power generated by the alternate contraction and relaxation of a series of muscles attached to the spine to crawl forward.

Since there is a set of muscles on each side of the spine, one side contracts and the other side relaxes, which causes the snake's body to curve.

This kind of wave-like movement that opens and relaxes can transmit force in opposite positions on both sides of the body from beginning to end.

If this wave motion encounters no obstacles during its transmission, the bends formed by the activities of these muscles will propagate throughout the province without any hindrance.

However, if the ground is uneven or bumpy and narrow, the wave-like motion will be disrupted.

At each contact point, the ground will generate corresponding pressure. Only when this pressure is greater than the sliding friction of the snake can the snake move forward smoothly; on the other hand, since the lung capacity of snakes is generally not as good as other mammals, when it When such high-energy-consuming exercise is performed frequently, the rate of physical exertion will rise sharply.

In nature, badgers prey on venomous snakes, sometimes directly exhausting their prey to death.

The most critical thing is that the movement of the snake's spine is restricted to a certain angle and cannot return at an acute angle.

Perhaps some smaller snakes are not obvious in this regard, but if it is a behemoth like a basilisk that can easily reach tens of meters, then its ability to turn at sharp angles may not even be as good as Muggle pilots in the air. Certain aerobatic maneuvers.

"Destroy the venue and turn it into the wizard's home court... He is indeed Mr. Scamander."

Under Newt's brief explanation, Scrimgeour and the others quickly understood and took out their wands and began to cast environmental magic.

The originally smooth and smooth marble floor became ferocious, with countless grotesque bulges and folds turning up.

Irregular concavities and convexities also appear on the surrounding stone pillars, and the ground is covered with easily deformed gravel and crude drum heads, which can vibrate at any time.

It has to be said that as the top master of magical animals in the wizarding world today, Newt has once again given young people a practical lesson.

And with Kingsley's additional proposal, they even went one step further with Newt Scamander.

They built some hidden bunkers in the tumbling folds of rock formations, as well as carefully camouflaged huge stone thorns, just like thorn traps surrounding the hall.

If the basilisk dares to swim and attack recklessly in the hall, then it will definitely realize what human beings' despicable hunting wisdom is.

At the same time, while waiting for the wizards from the Ministry of Magic to perfect the "thorn trap", Newt also took out some water jars that looked a little bad.

There was an unknown red liquid flowing in those jars, and the spicy and pungent smell could be smelled even from a distance.

As Newt directed the wand little by little, he applied them to every corner of the hall.

The crimson liquid gradually adsorbed on the broken marble surface like dried blood, exuding a hot smell that made people feel hot and couldn't help but want to escape.

"Don't worry, these are specially processed snake-repelling and cold-repelling potions that are harmless to the human body -"

Newt Scamander said calmly, and before Scrimgeour could ask, he took the initiative to hand over one of the cans.

"Didn't I just say that? The basilisk's perception also relies to a large extent on its sense of smell. Usually when you see them sticking out their tongues, they are capturing the various smells in the air - this is also the most difficult to restrict. Therefore, at the request of Professor Dumbledore, the Potions Professors of Hogwarts prepared a batch of highly irritating potions. If you just smell it, it will be lucky. If you accidentally lick it... …”

"...Yes, how about it?"

Scrimgeour glanced at the crimson potion in his arms that exuded the aura of death, and swallowed subconsciously.

After this hunt, he roughly understood the difference between himself and those top wizards.

Environment, potions, information... Even without magic power and magical skills, the two wizards Newt Scamander and Albus Dumbledore can easily use their wisdom and understanding of various knowledge to The extremely dangerous beast was at his fingertips.

"I don't know, but - maybe it will burn? Of course, it's just a metaphor."

Newt Scamander recalled what a certain little devil said when describing it, shrugged and added.

"Of course, these are mainly restriction methods, not the main means of attack - how to deal with the basilisk depends on Professor Dumbledore's ideas. I have never been particularly good at Defense Against the Dark Arts. student."

The very strange thing is that although Dumbledore spent most of his time teaching Transfiguration before becoming the Headmaster.

However, Dumbledore happened to take Defense Against the Dark Arts for a while while Newt was in school.

Although Dumbledore was removed from this course as Grindelwald later started a wizarding war in Europe and even the world, in Newt Scamander's mind, Dumbledore has always been a master of dark magic. Professor of Defense, not Transfiguration.

"Well, Professor Dumbledore, what are we going to do next..."

Scrimgeour and the others stood there, subconsciously looking at Dumbledore who was checking the magic trap not far away.

However, Dumbledore did not answer them immediately, but took out a roll of parchment from his arms.

The old man tapped his wand on the parchment. After looking at the parchment carefully for about ten seconds through his half-moon glasses, he put the parchment away again and turned to look at the people behind him who had almost finished decorating. "Hunting Place" undergraduates and graduates.

"It's very simple. I will summon the basilisk later, and then everyone can cast spells at different locations in sequence."

Dumbledore said with a gentle expression, his voice seemed to contain reassuring magic.

"However, a little extra explanation is that, except for me, you all have to close your eyes to cast the first round of the spell. As for the signal to release the spell, it is the final sound of my spell - wait until I After giving the instructions, you can recite the incantation toward the front together."

"But Professor Dumbledore, if we close our eyes, how can we..."

Scrimgeour glanced around the spacious and vast hall of the secret chamber, seeming to find it a bit strange.

"Calibrated shooting, and fixed attack angle——"

Dumbledore said softly, as if he had anticipated Scrimgeour's question in advance, and said with a slow smile.

As the old man spoke, he raised his wand and lightly moved it towards the tall statue of Salazar Slytherin not far away.

The next moment, a golden-red light spot appeared on the face of the Slytherin stone statue.

"Before summoning the basilisk, we can first use the straight line light spell to mark the direction of our spell - and then use the petrification spell to temporarily fix the angle of the arm. After the spell is activated, your magic power should be able to automatically remove the pain on your arms. Those crude magics.”

Dumbledore explained lightly, as the wand moved back and forth in the chamber, leaving afterimages of light spots in various places.

"Here's the first set. The spells are timed to coincide with the end of my notes."

"Here is the second group, release when you hear the weight hit the ground."

"This is the third group..."

Before arriving in the Slytherin Chamber of Secrets, Elena and Grindelwald deduced an extremely detailed battle plan for him.

Perhaps Dumbledore didn't really trust these two demon kings in other matters, but in this kind of magical battle where many people are hunting, the cooperation between the Goblin Queen and the first-generation Dark Lord is indeed the most trustworthy plan - Dumbledore Lido would not make a mistake in this kind of thing.

The importance that "Prophet" Elena showed in this also made Dumbledore silently add a lot of weight in his heart.

Magic traps, magic potion weakening, segmented shooting, magic firepower network...

With so many combinations of punches, as the last one to attack, he naturally had no idea of ​​holding back.

Not to mention…

After Dumbledore roughly arranged the personnel in each group, he took out a small package from his arms and threw it high into the air in the distance.

A giant cobweb that was grey-white, sticky, and as dense as a thick white germ carpet spread out on the stone face of Salazar Slytherin.

From a distance, it looks like it is wearing an airtight spiderweb mask. Perhaps after the basilisk breaks through, it can use its bite force and brute force to break free of the "spiderweb hood" that falls off its head, but it absolutely cannot Open your eyes for the first time and send out a death glare.

Even in the worst case scenario, it would take at least 2-3 seconds for the basilisk to knock away the cobwebs in all directions.

According to Elena and Grindelwald's estimation.

Three seconds.

The wizards present can almost release at least two rounds of magic volleys.

Not to mention the full spellcasting of Dumbledore and Newt.

If this still fails to make the basilisk lose most of its combat effectiveness and directly cause serious injuries or even death, then they can start to think about escaping.

Of course, if it still has the energy to escape back.

Or if you run away from somewhere else, it will be another derivative battle plan.

After the final confirmation, Dumbledore used the "real-time communication" ability of the academy to transmit the signal to enter the battle upwards.

"Now everyone, close your eyes and cast two spells before turning around and opening your eyes -"

Then, Dumbledore took a deep breath, lifted his steps and walked between the deformed and weird stone pillars.

He stopped in front of the towering stone statue, looked up at the face of the Slytherin statue hidden high behind the spider web hood, opened his mouth, and made a hissing sound - although no one understood what he was saying, But everyone knows the "human" meaning of that passage.

[Speak to me, Slytherin—the greatest of the Hogwarts Four]

Behind the invisible cobwebs, Slytherin's huge stone face moved.

Its mouth opened, and opened wider and wider, eventually forming a huge black hole.

Something moved in the statue's mouth.

Something rustled upwards from the depths of the statue.

Finally, just when everyone's nerves were tense and on the verge of breaking, they heard the strange muffled sound of a heavy object hitting the cobweb, and Dumbledore's somewhat surprising, energetic and full of energy. The sound of power.

"Fainted!! Group 1!"

Along with Dumbledore's chanting, more than ten beams of crimson light lit up in the dark secret room.

A huge object suddenly fell to the stone ground, and people felt that the secret room was even shaken violently.

Like a drop of water dropped into boiling oil.

The next moment, the entire secret room trembled more violently, almost all the gravel collided and trembled, and the marble floor twisted and swayed crazily, like crazy rock tentacles, twitching and hitting crazily in the narrow space.

In the noisy, chaotic, trembling vibrations, people could vaguely hear the painful and terrifying hissing of the giant snake.

as well as.

Professor Dumbledore's calm voice sounded like a calm voice in his ears.

"Group 2! Continue!"

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Great! Big chapter!