The mastermind behind Hogwarts

Chapter 46 First Steps into the Secret Chamber

"Why isn't he usually this brave?" Moriarty sighed, rubbing his forehead. "He's really overexcited. I'll go down and check on him."

"Liberate the skies, let the stars call to our bodies and minds, Dimoaka!"

Moriarty chanted silently and flew into the pipe.

"Ahhh—ah!" Marcus's scream echoed through the pipes. Moriarty felt as if he were wearing headphones, and the 3D surround sound made him truly feel the vibrations in his left and right ears.

"Fly, Marcus!" Moriarty shouted forward. "If you can't, adjust your position and glide down."

About two minutes later, Moriarty heard Marcus's intermittent voice: "Sir... I... will... try..."

Moriarty was amused. Fortunately, although the pipe had a steep slope, it was winding and spacious inside, so Marcus was not in any danger. Moriarty then stopped worrying about him.

Marcus slid down very, very deep beneath the school grounds until the winding pipes became horizontal, and he emerged from the opening, landing with a plop on the damp ground.

Moriarty flew over at that moment, "Flashing lights!" Moriarty stretched his staff around to observe the surrounding environment.

Marcus scrambled to his feet, staring at the dark, sticky walls, stammering, "Sir, this...this is the secret room?"

"Obviously not." Moriarty increased his magical output, and a faint blue light flashed at the tip of his staff, casting their shadows on the wall.

Marcus then saw a dark stone tunnel, the ground littered with the skeletons of rodents, water droplets clinging to the walls, and a damp, chilly atmosphere surrounding it.

"Let's go," Moriarty said, taking a step forward. "Remember to pull out your wand."

The two continued onward, the road becoming increasingly winding. Suddenly, a shadow appeared ahead, and Marcus instinctively uttered a spell: "Expelliarmus!"

"Snap!" The red light seemed to pierce through the shadows and hit the floor.

"Don't panic. I think it's just the basilisk's shed skin." Moriarty smiled slightly, which reassured Marcus. He then used a "Flash of Light" and cautiously stepped forward.

The light shone on a bright green snakeskin, and even though he was mentally prepared, Marcus was still startled. He controlled his trembling legs and swallowed hard. "Sir, this snakeskin is so big. That snake monster must be at least twenty feet long."

"While its size is certainly a terrifying factor for the basilisk, another factor is its lifespan. For such an ancient monster that has lived for thousands of years, its survival skills and combat instincts far exceed the imagination of ordinary people, so it is best to be careful."

Moriarty subtly reminded Marcus that, in his opinion, Salazar's ancestor's basilisk had been spoiled and probably hadn't had enough to eat for thousands of years.

Marcus obediently nodded. After Moriarty took the snakeskin, the two continued forward, passing one bend after another, until they finally found a solid wall standing in front of them.

It is engraved with two intertwined snakes, their eyes inlaid with large, sparkling emeralds.

"Ding! Ding!"

Moriarty struck the emerald repeatedly with his staff. Without even uttering Parseltongue, the two snakes separated, the stone wall split in the middle, and disappeared after sliding to both sides.

"Let me go ahead of you, sir." Marcus seemed to have all his strength drained away after saying this, but his eyes were full of seriousness.

Finally, he's showing some manly spirit. Moriarty was pleased, but he didn't show it. Instead, he said, "Courage without wisdom is recklessness. Proving yourself requires true courage, not recklessness."

Marcus seemed to understand, but he kept his promise, gripping his wand tightly and slowly stepping down the stone wall.

They stood on one side of a long, dimly lit room. Many stone pillars, carved with coiled and intertwined serpents, rose high, supporting the ceiling that dissolved into the darkness above.

Marcus breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing no sign of the basilisk, and turned to look at Moriarty, only to find that his master had already gone deep into the room.

"It is indeed the architectural style of Slytherin, in line with the style of our ancestors." Moriarty looked around at the scattered stone pillars, which were similar in structure to the twelve stone pillars in the Great Hall of the castle.

"As for this statue..."

Moriarty craned his neck, fixing his gaze firmly on the dark wall behind him, where a statue as tall as the room itself was pressed against it.

"An old, monkey-like face, a sparse, long beard? Is this what my ancestor really looked like?"

Moriarty stroked his chin with interest. How interesting. It wasn't like he hadn't seen Salazar's face before, and even if Salazar was old and nearing the end of his life, he wouldn't have turned into this grotesque mess.

As confirmed earlier, the secret room was built by Salazar himself; it's impossible for anyone to fake it.

This makes the statue intriguing.

Marcus made a fair remark: "Unless Salazar intentionally made his statue unsightly, I can't imagine that such a monstrosity would be created based on your heroic figure!"

The enormous stone face suddenly moved. Its mouth opened, growing wider and wider until it formed a huge black hole. A massive, jet-black creature burst out of the hole and crashed violently to the ground.

The floor trembled, and Marcus, who had been so courageous just moments before, collapsed to the ground like a punctured balloon, his wand nowhere to be found.

"The basilisk is coming! Don't look it in the eyes, run!" Moriarty shouted a warning. Marcus scrambled to the other side, yelling hoarsely, "Sir, you go first, I'll distract it, go!"

"Commendable loyalty," Moriarty nodded. He continued, "Use the flight charm to get behind it!"

"Unsealed, no, liberated! Oh my god, heavens..." Marcus's tongue seemed to be tied in knots, and he mumbled incoherently, unable to utter a complete sentence. His face turned as white as a ghost.

The basilisk wouldn't wait long for Marcus; it opened its blood-red maw and lunged at him!

"Ah—" Marcus shouted again, and gradually he found himself floating. He opened his eyes, looked around, and found Moriarty beside him, looking at him with a smile in his eyes.

"To become my follower, you must possess two fundamental qualities: loyalty and courage," Moriarty said solemnly. "Congratulations, Marcus Flint. You have passed the test I gave you."

Marcus's pale face flushed crimson, and he exclaimed excitedly, "Sir, it's an honor! I..."

Moriarty interrupted him abruptly: "From now on, just call me Master—that's what my servants and men call me. From now on, I will invest a great deal of resources in you. You can write to your father and tell him that the Flint family is about to rise again."

A loud hissing sound came from beneath their feet. The basilisk had spotted them, raised its body, and its two golden eyes, like giant headlights, surveyed the sky.

Moriarty pointed his staff at the ground, "Whispering Serpent!"

The hissing of serpent language mingled with ancient Latin, and the basilisk seemed to recognize the language, but its body was entangled by countless ghostly snakes.

A ghostly serpent climbed onto the basilisk's head. The basilisk glared angrily at the ghostly serpent, and the serpent was petrified.

Moriarty knew that the basilisk's eyes could kill anyone or any animal that made eye contact with it in an instant, even though the basilisk was not a real snake, it was petrified rather than vanished.

A flash of inspiration struck Moriarty: perhaps improving the level of the Whispering Serpent could be achieved by "absorbing the magical power of serpentine magical creatures"?

But now was clearly not the time for contemplation. Moriarty landed behind the Basilisk, avoiding eye contact, and said in a low, slow Parseltongue, "My name is Moriarty Slytherin, a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin."

As Parseltongue spoke, a silver and a green light emanated from Slytherin's staff, intertwining in the air and outlining Salazar Slytherin's appearance.

The moment the basilisk saw Salazar, its constantly writhing body tensed up as if electrocuted, then relaxed, and Moriarty withdrew the serpent.

"Hiss, hiss!" The basilisk's voice softened considerably.

"Hiss hiss hiss, hiss hiss?" Moriarty communicated with it.

Marcus stared in disbelief at the man and the snake, wishing he were a snake spirit himself.

(End of this chapter)