Unfortunately, the Corrosion ability's effective range was quite limited—only about ten meters in radius. This forced Dudley to approach Voldemort in order to use Corrosion to affect his mind.
Not far away, Harry and the others watched Dudley walk toward the basilisk, all involuntarily holding their breath.
The basilisk's speed was very fast. The distance of less than ten meters could be covered in the blink of an eye. If the basilisk suddenly launched an attack, Dudley might not even have time to react.
Harry's group gripped their wands tightly, ready to rescue Dudley at any moment.
But they didn't dare raise their heads. They could only keep their heads down, judging the basilisk's situation from the water's reflection below, whilst constantly being careful not to meet the basilisk's gaze, or they'd be petrified.
Swoosh!
Suddenly, Voldemort launched an attack on Dudley.
He controlled the basilisk to open its massive jaws and bite at Dudley.
However, Dudley saw the attack coming through the Mirror of Erised just in time. He stomped down hard and launched himself forward, matching the basilisk's speed.
It's important to note that a Baron of Corruption possessed more than just Distortion and Corrosion abilities. Upon reaching this rank, Dudley's physical body had undergone a fundamental transformation. His strength far exceeded that of normal humans—he could level an entire building with a single punch.
Bang!
The basilisk's head crashed into the floor, carving a huge hole in the ground.
Its body coiled, and its tail lashed toward Dudley.
"Distortion!" Dudley's eyes narrowed as he directly distorted the basilisk's attack direction.
Swoosh!
The basilisk's tail swept past Dudley's side, breaking a stone pillar not far away.
"Dudley! Run!" Everyone cried out in alarm.
They wanted to cast spells to attack the basilisk, but at this moment Dudley was too close to it. They were afraid their spells would hit Dudley and didn't dare randomly release magic.
Whilst dodging, Dudley loudly spoke in Hermes.
"Petrification is prohibited here!"
Dudley pushed out with his right hand. An invisible wave burst from his body, causing some indescribable change in the surroundings.
Having successfully advanced to Baron of Corruption by bribing Voldemort, Dudley no longer needed to continue pretending.
As Dudley's voice fell, the entire Chamber hall trembled slightly. The prohibition order officially took effect.
Harry and the others still didn't know what had happened. They only heard Dudley say something in a language they couldn't understand—the same language Dudley had taught them for silent casting, but they couldn't understand what Dudley had just said.
As for Borgin and Cole, both knew this was a spell Dudley had cast, but they didn't know its meaning.
"Everyone, you can now check the basilisk's condition through water surfaces and mirror surfaces without being petrified."
"But don't look directly at the basilisk's eyes. Its gaze can still kill."
Dudley said loudly.
The basilisk's ability to kill with its eyes was very powerful. Dudley's prohibition order could barely affect it, so he could only settle for second-best and prohibit the petrification ability.
Hearing Dudley's words, whilst others were still hesitating, Harry had already used the mirror in his hand to look at the basilisk's eyes.
"Sure enough, no petrification!"
"Reducto!"
After discovering he wasn't petrified, Harry immediately used the mirror's reflection to fire a spell at the basilisk.
The others, seeing this, also tried it and discovered the basilisk's petrification had indeed failed.
"What kind of ability is this?" Voldemort was shocked.
He felt invisible shackles appear around him, disabling part of the basilisk's abilities.
Voldemort was currently one with the basilisk, and this feeling was very clear.
"Crawling is prohibited here!" Dudley once again spoke loudly in Hermes whilst simultaneously pushing out with his right hand.
Hum!
The invisible wave came again. The basilisk that had been rapidly crawling on the ground immediately began slipping beneath its body. No matter how it twisted, it couldn't continue forward—it could only continuously bend and straighten in place...
Consecutively using two extraordinary abilities with a large prohibition range caused Dudley's spiritual power to deplete much more than usual.
At this moment, Voldemort's heart was filled with shock.
His research into magic had already surpassed the absolute majority of wizards in this world. He'd even reached the pinnacle, yet facing the magic Dudley had just displayed, he knew nothing.
He could keenly perceive that the two sentences Dudley spoke possessed some bizarre ability that could make the surrounding environment change according to his way.
This wasn't changing the environment but changing the fundamental rules of magic itself.
From the basilisk's situation, this rule seemed to make petrification magic completely ineffective at this moment. No matter how Harry and the others looked at the basilisk's eyes through water or mirror surfaces, petrification couldn't produce its proper effect.
And the basilisk's current situation of rolling all over the ground but unable to advance was very much like the basic ability of crawling had also been prohibited.
This ability was not only strange but also terrifying.
Panic appeared in Voldemort's heart, and this panic kept deepening because an uncontrollable situation had emerged...
But at the same time, another dark thought also grew in Voldemort's mind—if he could seize Dudley Dursley's body, wouldn't he also be able to possess this ability?
Once this thought appeared in Voldemort's mind, it became unstoppable.
Although the basilisk was powerful, it was ultimately just a vessel and couldn't unleash his powerful magic.
Because the basilisk couldn't cast spells and could only rely on its own magical abilities to fight, this was actually a huge weakening for Voldemort.
He needed a human body. Even if he couldn't get Dudley Dursley's body, he needed to use Dudley Dursley's body to realize his resurrection plan.
The more Voldemort thought about it, the crazier he became. He even ignored the dangerous situation he currently faced. He stared greedily at Dudley, wanting to immediately take this boy's body for himself...
Spells continuously fell on the basilisk's body. Having lost its petrification ability and mobility, the basilisk was now just a target.
However, its scales possessed strong magical immunity, causing spells hitting it to only produce a small fraction of their power.
What exactly did he do...
Borgin looked at the scene before him in shock.
The basilisk couldn't crawl anymore, and its petrification ability had also failed. These two abilities alone were already terrifying, but what made Borgin feel even more fearful was that Voldemort hadn't chosen to escape but was staring greedily at Dudley. Was this still the meticulous, decisive Voldemort he knew?
Why did the current Voldemort give him the feeling of having no brain?
"Avada Kedavra!"
Suddenly, a green light shot out directly, heading straight for the basilisk.