Hogwarts: My Grandmother is the Queen

Chapter 386 Guarding the Bridge

The first direction he chose was a side road on the left side of the street that had not yet completely collapsed. He ran a few steps along the side road, but the end of the side road was blocked by a pile of collapsed stones.

He heard the sound of an approaching infernal behind him, turned around, pointed his wand at the nearest infernal, and flames shot from the tip of the wand, striking the infernal in the chest.

The flames burst into flames the moment they touched the grayish-white skin, producing a dry crackling sound.

The corpse staggered back a few steps, its chest skin turning charred black, before regaining its balance.

The second infernal had closed in, its arm gripping the hem of Henry's robe.

He swung his wand downwards, and a severing spell struck the Infernal's wrist, severing the hand at the wrist, but the Infernal's body continued to move forward.

He released ancient magic from the palm of his left hand, and green light surged into the torso of the severed-armed corpse, beginning to disintegrate its structure from the inside.

The corpse shattered in the green light, turning into grayish-white fragments that fell to the ground.

Two other infernals were flanking him from both sides. He crouched down and slid under the outstretched arm of one of them, then pointed his wand at the knee of the second infernal. A beam of red light struck the joint, and the infernal's knee bent inward, causing it to collapse and continue crawling toward him.

He bypassed the crawling ghoul and ran back along the side road. When he returned to the main street, there were more ghouls on the street than before.

In the few dozen seconds that he entered the fork in the road, at least a dozen more corpses emerged from the bend at the end of the street.

Henry's eyes quickly swept across the buildings on both sides of the street, searching for a safer way out.

He saw a half-open wooden door about twenty yards to his right, behind which appeared to be a staircase leading upwards.

He moved in that direction, bypassing the three infernals blocking his way. One of the infernals grabbed his left shoulder, and his silver-gray cloak made a slight tearing sound.

He slammed a green light into the corpse's chest with his backhand. The corpse froze for a moment in the green light before falling backward.

He rushed to the wooden door, squeezed through, closed it behind him, and cast a reinforcement spell on the door with his wand.

The dull thuds of the corpse's body striking the wood came from outside the door, one after another, the door trembling inwards but not breaking. He turned and went up the stairs, which spiraled upwards to the top of a three-story building.

He pushed open the door to the top floor and went up to the rooftop.

The view from the rooftop was expansive. Standing on the rooftop, he could overlook a large area of ​​the entire village.

The gray-white sky had mostly faded, replaced by a dark gray-blue. Ghosts were emerging from the square, the streets, and every intersection; countless gray-white figures were spreading to every corner of the village.

But he didn't have time to observe further because he heard a sound coming from the stairwell below the rooftop.

The undead was pounding on the wooden door, and with increasing force, as if the door was about to give way.

He turned and walked toward the edge of the rooftop, intending to find a spot where he could jump onto the roof of the neighboring building. But when he reached the edge and looked down, he saw something even larger than an infernal on the other side of the street below.

The dark silhouettes that moved slowly down the street were about ten feet tall, with thick, muscular bodies and dark gray skin, like huge stones moving.

It's a troll.

Moreover, there were three of them, walking along the main street toward him.

He glanced back at the stairwell; the wooden door was still bearing the impact.

There were giants on the street ahead and undead in the stairwell behind him; he was caught in the middle.

He gripped his wand tightly, and a green light shone from his left palm. He couldn't stay on the rooftop and wait for attacks from both sides to come at him simultaneously.

He made his choice. He turned and took a step forward, leaping off the edge of the rooftop. He fell about two stories and landed on the roof of a low building across the street.

Several roof tiles shattered from his impact, and his body rolled forward upon landing to absorb the force before he stood up again.

On the street below, the nearest giant is turning toward where it fell.

The troll's head was a huge, rock-like protrusion with no obvious facial features, only two dark red cracks running across its face, like two half-open, half-closed eyes.

The giant raised its right arm, its hand gripping a thick stone pillar, which it wielded as a weapon.

A stone pillar fell from the sky, crashing down on where he was. He rolled to the right and forward, the pillar striking the spot where he had just landed, roof tiles shattering and flying everywhere, and a corner of the roof collapsing.

He maintained his balance amidst the rubble, pointed his wand at the troll's leg, and a beam of light enveloped in green light shot out, striking the outside of the troll's knee. However, the troll's leg skin was as hard as stone, and the light only left a light mark on it, causing no obvious damage.

The troll's second attack was even faster than the first; the stone pillar swept horizontally, covering almost the entire width of the roof.

Unable to dodge on the ground, he could only leap backward, landing from the edge of the roof onto the street.

As he landed, the ini were closing in on him from both sides of the street. There were giants in front of him, ini on his flanks, and the building he had crashed into behind him; he was now almost completely surrounded.

He concentrated the ancient magic in his left palm, channeled it into the dark wooden staff, using it as a conductor, and then used his other hand to gather magic power on the staff, casting two spells simultaneously in a very short time.

A green arc of light shot out from his left hand, bypassed the horde of undead, and struck the chest of a giant.

Another flame erupted from the tip of the wand, forming a wall of fire in front of the horde of Shadows.

When the green light struck the giant's chest, the giant's steps faltered briefly, and a dent the size of a bowl appeared on the surface of its chest.

The wall of flames blocked the path of the undead. The grayish-white bodies hesitated for a moment in front of the flames. Several tried to force their way through, but were burned by the flames and quickly lost their ability to move.

He seized the opportunity, turned around, and ran north along the street.

After he had run about fifty yards, he heard the heavy footsteps of the giant behind him; it was chasing him around the wall of fire.

Another giant monster appeared from a side street on the north side, blocking his way.

The giant creature stood in the middle of the street, its arms outstretched, as if to block his way.

He didn't stop. He channeled all his ancient magic into the tip of his wand, and as he approached the trolls, he leaped forward, his body flipping in the air, and a bright green beam shot from the tip of his wand, striking the second troll in the head.

The instant the beam struck the giant's face, a burst of intense light erupted from the dark red crack.

The troll tilted its head back, swayed, and spread its arms to the sides as if it had lost its balance. He swept past the troll's outstretched right arm, his body brushing against the troll's waist, and landed on the ground behind it.

After landing, he continued running forward, past the unbalanced giant, and headed north along the street.

A fork in the road appeared ahead, and he chose the right one.

The houses on both sides of the fork in the road are better preserved than the previous buildings, with no obvious cracks in the walls and the roof tiles are mostly intact.

After running past several houses, a bridge appeared in front of him on the street.

It was a low stone bridge spanning a dry riverbed.

The bridge is about ten feet wide and has stone railings about half a person's height on both sides.

He ran onto the stone bridge, stopped in the middle, and turned around. All three giant monsters appeared on the street behind him, walking towards the bridge.

Behind the giant were an unknown number of undead corpses, their grayish-white figures moving between the buildings on both sides of the street, like a slowly rising gray tide.

He gripped the wand in his hand, and the green light in his left palm returned. He knew this was probably the final scene of this trial, and he needed to guard the bridge.

The first giant stepped onto the bridge.

Its footsteps landed on the stone slabs, making a heavy thud, and the entire bridge surface trembled slightly.

Henry fired the first spell, enveloped in green light, at the bridge surface in front of the troll's left foot. The stone slab shattered, revealing a hole about two feet wide.

The troll stepped into the pit with its left foot, leaned forward slightly, and braced itself against the bridge railing with its right arm to stabilize itself.

After its right foot landed firmly, it pulled its left foot out of the hole and continued forward.

Henry's second spell struck the railing on the right side of the bridge, shattering it into pieces that scattered across the bridge, forming a low barrier.

The giant had to go around those obstacles, which slowed its progress.

Taking advantage of this brief moment, he spread a layer of low-intensity ancient magical energy on the ground in the center of the bridge.

That energy won't take effect immediately, but if the troll steps on it, it will trigger a brief energy release.

The giant stepped on it. As its right foot landed on the layer of energy, a burst of green light erupted from the ground, enveloping the giant's calf and ankle.

The giant lost its balance again, and this time it fell forward, its huge body crashing onto the bridge with a dull thud.

New cracks appeared on the bridge surface, but the overall structure of the bridge did not collapse. The giant lay on the bridge, its body still twitching, unable to stand up for the time being.

The second giant has already stepped onto the bridge.

It bypassed its fallen companion and advanced toward Henry's position. It moved faster than the first one, gripping the pillar more tightly in its hand, and when it was about ten feet away from him, it suddenly thrust the pillar forward, aiming to pierce him.

Henry dodged to the right, the stone pillar whizzing past his ear, creating a strong gust of wind.

He pressed the green light from his left palm onto the surface of the stone pillar, and the green light spread along the texture of the pillar, covering the entire surface.

The giant tried to loosen its grip, but its fingers were entangled in green light and it could not break free from the stone pillar.

It let out a low growl and swung the stone pillar forcefully, trying to shake Henry off.

Henry's left hand remained on the stone pillar. Using the force of the giant swinging the pillar, his body was thrown to the side, rolled once on the bridge, and then regained his footing.

The wand was pointed at the troll's right shoulder, and a beam of light enveloped in green light shot out, striking the troll's shoulder joint.

The dark gray skin cracked under the green light, and a dark liquid seeped from the cracks.

The troll's right arm began to become less flexible; its range of motion decreased significantly, and the speed at which it raised its arm also slowed down.

It took a step back, trying to create some distance, but the bridge was too narrow, and its back was almost touching the railing.

Henry didn't give it time to regroup. A second green light surged from his palm, striking the same spot on the giant's chest and deepening the dent.

The giant leaned back against the railing, which, unable to bear its weight, began to bend inward.

The stone railings cracked and splintered, the fissures spreading rapidly along their length. The giant's body tilted backward along with the railings, trying to regain its balance, but its right arm could no longer provide sufficient support.

The railing broke, and the giant, along with the shattered railing, plummeted off the bridge and into the dry riverbed with a thud.

The third giant stopped at the bridgehead, as if observing.

Henry stood in the middle of the bridge, his wand pointing forward, the green light in his left hand still shining.

His breathing was more rapid than usual, and sweat beaded on his forehead, but his gaze remained fixed on the giant creature at the bridgehead.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something moving in the riverbed under the bridge. Several enormous eight-eyed spiders were moving along the rock walls on both sides of the riverbed towards the bottom of the bridge. Their eight legs moved alternately on the surface of the rock wall, making a fine scraping sound. Two or three of them had already begun to climb up the bridge pier.

Henry's gaze sharpened slightly. He had been focused entirely on the giant on the bridge, neglecting the space beneath it.

Those eight-eyed giant spiders must have crept down from the lower reaches of the river during his battle, waiting for the right moment to launch their attack.

He observed their behavior and then made a decision: he could not remain on the bridge.

With limited space on the bridge, he had no way to retreat if the troll and the spider attacked simultaneously. He needed to move from the bridge to the ground on the side of the river, where it would be easier to create distance and adjust his position.

He pointed the tip of his wand at the giant monster at the bridgehead and unleashed a blinding burst of light.

The giant creature was momentarily blinded by the bright light; it tilted its head back slightly and raised its arms to cover its face.

Henry turned and ran towards the middle of the bridge through the window, climbed over the still intact railing, and slid down the stone wall on the side of the pier.

His boots scraped two white marks on the rock face as he landed at the bottom of the dried-up riverbed, where soft sand and gravel lay beneath his feet.

The moment he landed, the first eight-eyed giant spider had already climbed from the side of the bridge pier to the bottom of the riverbed.

Its eight eyes reflected a dull luster in the dim light, and its chelicerae spread out as it moved swiftly toward him.

Henry dodged the spider's first attack by sidestepping it, and pointed his wand at the spider's side, a beam of green light striking its third pair of legs.