As everyone watched Dudley walk over, they'd already taken out what they'd prepared.
Hermione pulled out several small mirrors from her pockets and handed them to Ron and Harry. These could help them see the basilisk's movements at critical moments without directly meeting its gaze.
Cole and Borgin were also ready. Their gazes fell on that black diary. Knowing Voldemort's soul was inside the diary, looking at it made their spines tingle.
After Dudley placed the diary on Slytherin's statue, he slowly backed away.
Rustle Rustle...
The diary rapidly flipped open, and a trace of black mist slowly released from inside. Instantly, the entire hall began shaking slightly.
"Be careful!" Dudley warned.
Everyone's hearts rose to their throats, their palms slick with sweat, eyes fixed unblinkingly on the diary and Slytherin's statue.
Hum!
The next moment, Slytherin's statue's mouth began slowly opening.
"There's something inside," Harry said, sweat beading on his forehead. They wanted to look but didn't dare.
"Don't look!" Dudley quickly reminded them. At the same time, the Mirror of Erised had already appeared in his hands.
"Aguamenti!"
With a wave of his right hand, large amounts of clear water appeared out of nowhere, spilling onto the surrounding ground, creating a large-scale mirror-like surface area.
Ripples appeared on the Mirror of Erised's surface, reflecting the situation above the water.
Everyone else's gazes had already turned to other locations.
Hiss hiss hiss...
A faint sound came, gradually becoming clearer. Soon, a massive snake head crawled out from Slytherin's mouth.
A pair of enormous yellow vertical pupils like lanterns appeared on the mirror surface.
At this moment, Dudley felt his entire body tighten, as if bound by some strange force, rapidly losing mobility.
"Solar Aura!" Dudley activated the Solar Ring's effect without hesitation, dispersing the evil power that had just invaded his body.
Dudley continued watching the mirror's situation.
At this point, the basilisk had already climbed half its body out from Slytherin's mouth.
This was an extremely massive snake, with a diameter of two to three meters, covered in thick scales. Its head had bumpy protrusions, far more terrifying than ordinary snakes.
Dudley stared at the basilisk's eyes. That strange power invaded Dudley's body again, but the petrification speed had slowed somewhat.
This petrification ability showed some delay after continuously releasing on Dudley.
However, it remained extremely terrifying. Dudley could clearly feel that without taking measures, he could hold out for at most ten seconds before being petrified again.
As for the others, they could barely resist this petrification ability. Although the Solar Aura could help them dispel this evil power, they weren't the Solar Ring's owners after all—the purification power was limited.
"Confringo!" Cole carefully listened to the surrounding sounds. After determining the basilisk's position, he immediately fired a spell.
Bang!
A beam of light shot out, heading straight for the basilisk.
Swoosh!
The basilisk's body twisted slightly, directly dodging Cole's spell.
This spell was fired by feel without aiming. Combined with the basilisk's extremely quick reactions, Cole's spell had no effect.
Bang! A loud crack echoed as Cole's spell hit a nearby stone pillar, splitting it in half.
Hiss...
The basilisk flicked its tongue and suddenly looked toward Cole's direction.
It had been angered by that spell. A pair of huge yellow eyes stared at Cole, making fierce hissing sounds.
Cole's expression immediately changed.
Though he didn't know the basilisk's exact state, he clearly felt his body becoming extremely cold, as if some terrible gaze had fallen upon him.
He knew clearly—the basilisk was looking at him.
At this moment, he absolutely didn't dare raise his head. If he looked up, he would meet the basilisk's gaze, and it wouldn't be simple petrification but direct death.
Swoosh!
The basilisk charged directly at Cole.
It seemed to have discovered this human didn't dare meet its gaze, so it took direct action.
"Imprison!" Just then, Dudley made his move.
Hum!
Transparent liquid of extreme viscosity appeared around the basilisk's body, rapidly solidifying like forming a massive amber, imprisoning the basilisk within.
"Attack now!" Dudley shouted directly.
"Diffindo!"
"Reducto!"
"Incendio!"
Everyone hesitated not at all, immediately firing spells toward where the sound had come from.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Booming sounds echoed through the chamber. Some spells hit the basilisk's body, making huge impacts.
Flames rose up, burning on the basilisk's body. Several of its scales were blasted off, bleeding.
After firing spells, Harry slightly raised his eyes and saw the basilisk's condition from the water's reflection.
"The basilisk has very high magical resistance. Our spells aren't very effective against it." Cole had also discovered the problem and called out loudly to the others.
After that round of spell releases, the basilisk hadn't suffered very serious injuries. The flames could barely burn its body and quickly extinguished.
Explosion curses and crushing curses only shattered its scales without deeper damage.
Unless they could hit all their spells on the same point, they might break through the basilisk's defense. But without daring to raise their heads, spells might not even land on the basilisk, let alone concentrate on one point.
"Keep attacking!" Dudley said with a grave expression.
The basilisk was violently resisting. This creature's strength was tremendous—his imprisonment couldn't trap it for long.
"Kill... kill them..."
Just then, suddenly, a wisp of black gas floated from the nearby diary, wrapping around the basilisk's body.
Instantly, the originally vicious, barely rational basilisk's eyes revealed a trace of intelligence.
Dudley's expression changed.
He immediately took out a dirty, bloodstained cloth from the Mirror of Erised. This was a dark magical item he'd purchased from Borgin before. Once worn on the head, it would slowly drain that person's blood.
Dudley raised his hand and threw the cloth. The bloodstained dirty cloth rapidly unfolded, transforming into a huge curtain that, under Dudley's magical control, fell over the basilisk's head, not only covering its eyes but also having its dark magical power begin invading the basilisk's body.