"Attack now!" Dudley shouted.
The others had already seen Dudley's actions through the water's reflection and raised their heads to look at the basilisk, launching a fierce attack.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Spell after spell shot out rapidly. What surprised Cole and Borgin was that Harry, Ron, and Hermione's combat effectiveness was no weaker than theirs.
The three attacked simultaneously, almost all using silent casting. Only the tips of their wands continuously burst with light, but not a sound could be heard from them.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Thunderous sounds echoed through the great hall. Various colored lights exploded on the basilisk's body.
Although the basilisk had high magical resistance and many spells couldn't take full effect, there were just too many spells.
At this moment, it was like a target, nailed in place, being ravaged at will.
Most critically, the basilisk's most powerful weapon—its eyes—was currently covered by the bloodstained cloth, so they didn't need to worry about the basilisk's gaze for now. In this situation, they cast spells with almost no reservations.
Dudley didn't attack again. His spiritual power was continuously outputting to maintain the imprisonment's strength.
The dirty cloth on the basilisk's head was becoming increasingly vivid. The blood within the basilisk's body was being extracted by the cloth in an extremely bizarre manner.
Suddenly, Dudley felt a massive force surge within the basilisk's body. The transparent amber imprisoning the basilisk was disintegrating.
"Be careful!" Dudley shouted.
The moment they heard him, everyone immediately stopped their magical attacks and lowered their heads without hesitation.
Bang!
The next moment, the basilisk broke free from Dudley's restraints, violently twisting its body and directly breaking a nearby stone pillar. Large amounts of rubble fell in all directions.
The basilisk's head rose high, flinging away the obstructing cloth, then its gaze fell upon everyone present, its eyes full of murderous intent.
"Tear them apart! I'll tear you all apart!"
"Kill!"
Harry heard the basilisk's whisper and immediately called out. "Be careful, it's about to attack."
Harry's voice had barely fallen when the basilisk's massive body began moving, charging directly at Cole.
Don't let the basilisk's large body fool you—its speed was not slow at all. In the blink of an eye, it had already reached Cole's side.
Swoosh!
Its body twisted slightly, and its tail struck toward Cole like a whip.
Cole's expression changed drastically. While rapidly fleeing, he also cast a protective spell on himself.
Bang!
Cole's body was directly swept away. The protective spell shattered instantly, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
"Whip!"
Just as the basilisk prepared to continue its pursuit, Dudley struck again.
An invisible whip fell from above, striking the basilisk's head.
With a snap, a bloody mark appeared on its forehead, but under the protection of its powerful scales, the basilisk hadn't suffered serious injury.
Intense pain caused the basilisk to hiss and turn to look at Harry and the others.
It wanted to find the person who'd just attacked it.
"Don't worry about them. Kill this one first!" From the black mist wrapped around the basilisk's body came a low, hoarse voice. The others only heard hissing sounds and couldn't distinguish what the voice was saying.
"Voldemort says to have the basilisk ignore us and kill one person first," Harry said.
At this moment, he was like a simultaneous interpreter—any sound Voldemort made couldn't escape his ears.
Hearing this, Cole ignored his injuries and quickly got up to flee.
The basilisk indeed no longer paid attention to Harry and charged straight at Cole.
This person's spells were very powerful—they had to be dealt with first.
Dudley observed the surrounding situation through the Mirror of Erised. Even if he met the basilisk's gaze, he could directly dispel it with the Solar Ring.
However, with Voldemort's soul currently possessing the basilisk's body, this creature that originally only knew killing now had some intelligence, making it less easy to deal with.
"Mental Piercing!"
Dudley launched a mental attack, condensing his mental power into a transparent spear that shot directly at the basilisk.
The next moment, the basilisk suddenly trembled all over, opened its mouth wide, and roared angrily.
Its soul had been wounded, causing it to temporarily lose control of its body.
"Attack!" Dudley immediately gave the order to continue attacking.
Although the situation was critical, it was still within Dudley's control. No unexpected situations beyond his expectations had occurred yet.
Therefore, he temporarily didn't use those final trump cards but continued attacking to wear down the basilisk.
The basilisk endured severe soul pain, constantly twisting its body. Many surrounding stone pillars were crushed to powder under its body—one could see how terrifying its destructive power was.
Suddenly, Dudley's expression changed.
He noticed that in the basilisk's originally yellow eyes, a trace of dark red had appeared, like a stain invading the basilisk's pupils and continuously spreading.
The basilisk that had been struggling in pain rapidly calmed down, coiling its body again and observing everyone present.
"You're not Harry Potter!" A hoarse voice came. The basilisk's gaze fell on Dudley. This time it was no longer Parseltongue, but English.
Hearing this voice, everyone felt a chill through their bodies.
They all knew clearly that this voice came from Voldemort.
"Dudley Dursley!" The basilisk's mouth slowly spoke human words. One could hear that it harbored deep resentment toward Dudley.
If the basilisk had facial expressions at this moment, it would certainly be a ferocious face grinding its teeth.
No one dared raise their heads to look. They could only keep their heads down, stepping backward.
A basilisk, plus Voldemort's soul—the terror level of this battle had exceeded everyone's previous expectations.
Especially Borgin—he felt Dudley had deceived him.
Had he known Voldemort's soul was also here, he wouldn't have come even if beaten to death.
"And an old friend!" The basilisk's gaze fell upon Borgin, making him instantly feel like he'd fallen into an ice cave.
Then it withdrew its gaze and looked at the real Harry Potter.
"Today, you will all die here," Voldemort said in a hoarse voice.
His power was recovering. Everything was developing in a good direction.
Just then, Dudley suddenly reached out.
"Accio diary!"
Swoosh!
The diary placed on Slytherin's statue immediately flew up, falling toward Dudley's hand.
The basilisk's pupils contracted. It immediately turned and charged toward the diary.
This diary absolutely could not fall back into Dudley's hands.
Seeing this, Dudley's gaze grew solemn. His right hand turned, and the diary directly smashed toward the basilisk.
"It's yours!"
As Dudley's words fell, his extraordinary ability activated.
Bribe!
The next moment, the basilisk opened its massive jaws and swallowed the diary in one gulp.
There was no place safer than inside the basilisk's body.
However, Voldemort was somewhat puzzled. Dudley had clearly held the initiative—why would he give up the diary at the last moment and throw it to him?
This made him feel considerable goodwill toward Dudley, even a sense of intimacy.
At the same time, Dudley took a deep breath, an expression of satisfaction appearing on his face—that was the refreshing feeling of the Briber potion being completely digested within his body.