"What's happening?! Is it an earthquake?!"
"The ground is moving!"
"Of course! The whole cave is moving... ahhh!"
Screams, panic, chaos.
In an instant, it swept through the entire cave!
The first to enter, Slytherin prefect Gemma Farley, was already standing at the cave exit. She stared in shock toward the depths of the nest, her pupils slightly contracting.
This was... the Toad King had been disturbed?
The next second, she suddenly realized something and whipped her head around. On the originally dark lake surface, pairs of crimson eyes were now visible. Staring straight at them.
The entire toad colony had gone berserk.
"Quick! Run toward the professors!" Gemma shouted, desperately trying to stay calm. She waved her wand and cast a sheet of ice, freezing the tongues shooting toward them in mid-air, feeling her heart pounding.
Damn it! What exactly had happened in the depths of the cave?!
This question was also what all the professors wanted to know at this moment.
"What's going on? Why did the toads suddenly enter a berserk state?! That roar just now... could their king have been injured?"
"That's impossible! Professor Snape is guarding there!"
"The priority is to rescue the students first. Protego!"
The professors hurried into action, rushing toward the cave to protect the students. Professor Flitwick waved his wand, and a mud wall immediately rose from the lake bottom, isolating the toads inside.
In the midst of the chaos, Professor McGonagall instinctively glanced toward the figure still standing at the starting point.
In such an emergency situation, all the professors had forgotten that the only first-year applicant, Ethan Vincent, was still standing on the cliff edge. Similarly, in such an emergency situation, Ethan still hadn't moved a step.
As if rooted there, or... like an audience member watching a drama, quietly observing them.
The night was dim. Most of Ethan's body was hidden in shadow, his face completely dark and unclear.
For no reason, Professor McGonagall shivered. Her sixth sense told her this sudden accident was related to Ethan.
However, how could that be possible? Ethan's portals could only be set within visible range. Everyone knew that. As long as he didn't move a step, there was nothing he could do.
"Ah!"
A scream brought Professor McGonagall's thoughts back. She suppressed her chaotic thoughts and focused her attention on the rescue.
Regardless, Professor Snape was in the cave, so it should be fine.
...
Inside the cave, Snape felt his teaching career... no, his entire life might be coming to an end. Even when facing Voldemort as a double agent, he had never felt this powerless.
"Ahhh!"
"Save me!"
"Croak!"
"Ugh!"
Snape fiercely waved his wand, red light crackling as it knocked aside that cannonball-like tongue. The crimson tongue crashed into the wall with a thud, and heavy stalactites fell in response.
Accompanied by continuous screams, the scene was like hell.
The Toad King was a protected creature. Killing it would mean hefty compensation fees.
"Damn it!"
Snape cursed under his breath, casting sleeping charms while constantly retreating. His hair stuck to his forehead like seaweed, completely disheveled.
But he wasn't the most unlucky one.
"Ahhh! My leg! My leg!"
Ravenclaw's elite, Sean Mike, screamed in agony. He lay on the ground, one calf bent unnaturally to the side, his back covered with fragments of broken stalactites.
Sean desperately tried to get up but couldn't summon any strength. Every breath was accompanied by sandpaper-like pain.
In the rising dust and toxic slime released by the toads, Sean's eyes were red and swollen, tears and snot streaming, barely able to see the path ahead.
He didn't understand. One second everything was going smoothly, he had obtained the spoils, and success was within reach. But the next second, everything was ruined.
Everything he had carefully and cautiously accumulated crumbled to dust with that roar.
More painful than losing was gaining everything and then losing it.
Why was this happening, why?! Had he offended the devil?!
"Save... save me..."
Sean moaned in pain, desperately reaching toward Penelope ahead. Even at this moment, his other hand still tightly clutched his spoils.
The two Slytherin students had already been knocked unconscious. Now he could only count on his fellow Ravenclaw companion!
"Uh, uh!"
But Penelope didn't act immediately. She sat collapsed on the ground, staring in terror at the eyeball on Sean's back, trembling all over.
It was real! This eyeball was real! She hadn't seen wrong... it was actually, truly growing on Sean's back!
But how could an eyeball grow on someone's back?
Perhaps due to the toxic fog, Penelope's mind was in complete chaos, unable to think normally.
Suddenly, with a "gurgle," the eyeball turned and looked at her.
In that instant, Penelope felt all the blood in her body freeze as she stared directly at the eyeball, unable to move. In her daze, she seemed to see that blood-streaked, pitch-black eyeball smile at her.
The next second...
A portal opened beneath her. Before Penelope could react, she fell through. Her final expression was frozen in terror.
"No! No!"
Sean watched helplessly as his savior disappeared before his eyes. He couldn't help but cry out in pain and despair.
Was he really going to die like this? Because of a ridiculous accident?
No, he still had a chance! Professor Snape was still there. Professor Snape would protect him. As long as he held on until the professor finished the battle and took him out, he might even pass the selection and become the final winner!
Thinking this, hope rekindled in Sean's heart.
Sean gripped his spoils tightly in one hand: a black obsidian gold ring. The intricate carvings, the black gemstone as deep as night. Sean had been immediately drawn to it.
At this moment, he couldn't remember any spells. Using one hand to claw at the ground, driven by survival instinct, he desperately crawled forward, hope burning in his eyes.
However, just then, Sean's blurred vision suddenly darkened.
Sean looked up in confusion and saw a pale little hand extending from the shadows beside him. It waved at him in a friendly manner.
...?
Before Sean could react, that pale little hand reached down and grabbed the spoils ring in his hand!
Wh-what the hell?!
Sean tensed his body in terror, but his hand instinctively gripped the ring tightly, not letting that eerie little hand take it away.
No! This was his last hope! It absolutely couldn't be taken away!
As if sensing Sean's resistance, the little hand let go and seemed to give up, retreating.
"Phew..."
Sean secretly breathed a sigh of relief, grinning with a triumphant and manic smile. No one could take away his spoils.
Then, Sean saw the little hand reach out and casually pick up a bowl-sized stone from the ground.
Sean: "..."
His smile froze as he stared at the stone in that hand in alarm.
"No! Don't!"
Bang!
A dull thud.
The stone mercilessly struck Sean's forehead, knocking him down and leaving him lying limply on the ground. Then, the little hand cheerfully dropped the bloodied stone and picked up the black obsidian ring.
After pausing briefly, it quickly withdrew into the portal.
Professor Snape, who had witnessed the entire process: "..."
Ethan Vincent!
It was Ethan who had somehow opened a portal here, and without moving a step, directly reached out and snatched that Ravenclaw student's spoils! And gave his classmate a brick to the head!
"Pff!"
Professor Snape, furious and accidentally struck by the Toad King, spat out a mouthful of blood.
Ethan, Ethan, Ethan!
He knew it... this kid was full of schemes. How could he possibly sit and wait for death?!
Damn it, the one who provoked that brat was probably this smug Ravenclaw fool.
He had been honestly staying in the nest, not provoking him at all! He just wanted to mock him a few times as usual... And he still got caught in the crossfire?!
In front was the berserk Toad King, behind were students lying scattered about.
At this moment, Snape just wanted to shout to the sky:
Ethan, teleport him away too!
[Chapter Complete]
***
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