For a long time, the corridor was silent.
Finally, as if remembering they could breathe, Harry, Ron, and Hermione began to gasp for air. The foul stench that still permeated the hall was a grim reminder that the scene had been real, and the troll lying on the floor had not been an illusion.
"Is it… dead?" Harry asked, his voice trembling slightly.
"Not yet," Dudley said between breaths, "but it likely won't live much longer." Trolls possessed incredibly tenacious vitality. Most of his attacks had landed on its legs, but the final punch to the head had delivered a fatal blow.
As he recovered, Dudley could feel the Beyonder characteristics within him being rapidly digested. The intense battle had pushed his Barbarian abilities to their limit, and combining them with magic had achieved unexpected results, greatly aiding the process. To his surprise, the characteristics from his other pathway were also digesting at an accelerated rate. It was slower than the Barbarian's digestion, but not by much.
Is it because I defeated the troll and protected this place? Dudley mused. By fulfilling a duty to protect his territory, it seemed the potion from his Justiciar pathway was also being assimilated. It was a reasonable conclusion.
The Justiciar characteristic had originally been digesting faster, but after this battle, both were now nearly complete. In two or three days at most, he would finish the digestion for both pathways and be ready to advance to Sequence 7.
He had been looking forward to this. It was at Sequence 7 that both pathways gained their most critical abilities, unlocking their true power.
The Black Emperor pathway's Sequence 7 is Briber. At this stage, Dudley would gain the powerful ability of the same name. Through the act of "bribery," he could achieve several effects: weakening an opponent's strength, a charm-like effect that makes others feel friendly towards him, creating a mystical association, or making an opponent arrogant and reckless.
The foundation for all of this was the act of bribery itself—giving the other party something. While this might seem difficult, the scope of what constituted a bribe was quite broad. Dudley would only need to symbolically give the other party something to achieve the effect, which was incredibly useful in combat. For example, in the fight with the troll, he could have achieved the effect of bribery by simply throwing a stone at it. Whether the troll wanted the stone or was even willing to accept it was irrelevant; the moment he threw it, he could have weakened the troll's attack. That was the power of a Briber.
The Justiciar pathway's Sequence 7 is Interrogator. At this stage, Dudley would gain two very important abilities: Mental Pierce and Pain Whip. The former was a direct attack on an opponent's spirit, while the latter lashed at their mind. Both were powerful abilities that could bypass physical defenses to attack an enemy's very essence.
Back at Gringotts, Dudley had used the Trunsoest Brass Book to temporarily elevate his spiritual form and cast Mental Pierce, which had interrupted the dark-robed figure's Killing Curse and delivered a crucial blow. If he'd had the Interrogator's abilities during the fight just now, a creature like the troll—with its astonishing physical defense but low intelligence—would have been unable to withstand his mental attacks, making the battle much easier.
As Dudley panted, pondering the future sequences, Harry and Ron cautiously checked on the troll. A trickle of blood flowed from its nostrils, and then, it breathed its last.
"It's dead," Ron said with a final sigh of relief. "It's finally dead."
"Hermione, how are you?" Dudley asked, turning to her.
"My foot is a bit injured, but I'm fine otherwise," she said, her voice shaky. "Thank you for coming to save me. If it weren't for you, I might have…" As she spoke, she started to cry again.
Ron and Harry exchanged guilty glances. If they hadn't locked the troll in the lavatory, or if they hadn't argued with her earlier in the day, she would never have been there in the first place.
"You're welcome," Ron mumbled, his face flushing with shame. "Actually… it's my fault too. I'm sorry about what I said earlier."
"No, you don't need to apologize. It's my own problem," Hermione said, shaking her head. She had cared too much about scores, choosing them over friendship. She had thought that earning the most points would win her everyone's approval, but now she saw how wrong she had been.
The corridor fell silent again, an awkward tension hanging in the air.
Dudley watched them, a faint smile on his face, but soon, he frowned. "Does anyone else notice something wrong?" he said, looking around.
"What?" Ron asked, puzzled.
"It's… a bit too quiet," Harry said, also frowning.
"Wait," Hermione said, her eyes widening. "Dudley has been fighting the troll for a long time. Why hasn't a professor come over?"
Hearing this, everyone looked around, a new sense of unease dawning on them. It was true. The fight had been loud and had lasted for several minutes, yet no one had appeared. Professor Quirrell had announced the troll's presence; even if the other professors were busy securing the students, someone should have been sent to deal with it.
Dudley's frown deepened. He felt like he was overlooking something important.
Just then, a faint sound came from the end of the corridor. In the dead silence of the castle, it was unnervingly clear.
"Who's there?" Dudley called out, his voice sharp.
Immediately, he heard hurried footsteps from behind a statue. Malfoy and his two companions appeared, fleeing in a panic without daring to even glance in Dudley's direction. After witnessing the fight, they wanted nothing more than to get away.
"Ah!"
However, just a few steps into their retreat, they let out sharp screams and collapsed to the floor. On their backs, three bloody marks had appeared from nowhere, as if they had just been struck by an invisible whip.
[Chapter Complete]
***
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