I, Hogwarts Second Time Around.

Chapter 424 My Journey Through Hell

Throughout history, direct, face-to-face conflict has always been considered unwise.

For that heretical god, the truly terrifying ability was that he could easily drive a person insane.

And what's so reasonable about going crazy is that it's all perfectly logical.

He drove the lambs in the pen mad, little by little, through their frantic murmurs. He turned them into evil spirits, causing them to kill each other, and amidst the bloodshed and mad music, their souls would reach ecstasy.

And this—is the snack that the gods love most.

All we will taste are those maddened souls, their laughter in despair—that is the most delicious thing in the world.

What Koyatl didn't tell Ron was that this was actually an invasion with no way out.

She will definitely die here.

She couldn't imagine any possibility of getting out alive.

Once he dies, his goal is achieved.

That would inevitably attract a frenzied attack from Death Eaters, Purifiers, and Dementors, and Ron couldn't possibly face it all alone.

The door key will also be useless here.

The gods who have been banished back to another realm will surely block all the openings in the space within this obelisk.

He can't escape.

Unless you leave now.

"Phew~~~"

As he pondered, Koyatl suddenly felt a chilling wind brush against his face.

The wind was full of moisture, and it carried water stains seeping from the walls.

The slaps felt like they were dripping blood on her and Ron's faces.

"Hurry up!" the witch said impatiently.

She urged him on, striding forward.

Ron was puzzled, but did not refuse. He also quickened his pace.

Not long after.

In the dimly lit corridor, the orange-red flames were replaced by a layer of gray-blue light.

The howling wind from afar became stronger, and the moisture became more abundant.

It looks like someone is splashing water.

The obelisk—has a large hole in it.

The wind is blowing in through the gap.

The whooshing sound was like someone screaming—but upon closer listening, it also had a bit of radio static.

There was a metallic quality to the sound.

Disturbing.

"Damn it." Her pretty face turned pale.

Koyatl's lips, eyes, and nose were being washed by the rain.

After getting wet, the black hair clung tightly to the forehead.

She rubbed her eyes, then cast the spell to avoid the rain.

His scarlet eyes were fixed on the huge gap in the wall.

She swore—just now, when she was looking for an entrance on the outer wall, she absolutely did not see this hole.

So big.

It was three or four feet in diameter; there was no way she wouldn't have noticed it.

In contrast to Ron's cell, the windows for prisoners to breathe were only about the size of two palms. If it weren't for a sudden red light that caught her attention, she probably wouldn't have noticed it.

"How could it be so fast!" she said in a deep voice.

Yes—how could it be so fast!

This far exceeded her expectations.

Koyatl had originally estimated that the obelisk could hold out for another month or two.

But now—it's possible they won't even make it through tonight.

"It's too late," she said again, looking extremely flustered.

"Is the tower crumbling?" Ron whispered to himself, casting a protective spell to shield himself from the wind and rain.

"Is the barrier that imprisoned the Outer God about to collapse?" he asked again, revealing the truth in one sentence.

Ron is actually very smart. The Weasleys' children are all smart; just look at his older brothers.

He was just habitually too lazy to use his brain, after all, he had Hermione, Harry, and Owen around him.

Inside the castle, he didn't need to use his brain at all.

"You just said this tower was very sturdy—and now there's a breach. It must be Death Eaters or those Purifiers sabotaging it."

"Yes, you are very smart," Koyatl said, his fingers twitching slightly.

She grasped her right hand with her left, barely managing to calm herself down.

"I need to be more radical," the witch thought to herself, biting her lip.

His scarlet eyes gleamed with an exotic, sinister light.

That comes from something much older.

Something that has existed since the dawn of humanity.

Calming themselves down, they continued onward.

During this process, the two encountered more and more purgers.

Koyatl called them degenerates, living tools without reason, tools in every sense of the word.

Excavation—battle—birth.

The Purifiers, who had regained their sanity, broke with these degenerates who had been reduced to livestock, and became two separate races.

This made Ron re-examine these repulsive monsters.

Along the way, he discovered that these degenerate individuals were all different. Some had extra arms or legs and were covered with pathologically deformed tumors, while others had degenerated their eyes, noses, and mouths, becoming a kind of vertebrate that relied on sound to determine direction in the dark.

Some of them reverted from bipedal to quadrupedal.

Its skull protrudes outwards like that of a hunting dog, and it has sharp teeth.

Along the way, he witnessed the diversity of species.

You can see many of the characteristics of early human ancestors in these degenerates, such as tails, scales, and even gills.

Deal with them.

Neither he nor Koyatl showed any mercy.

Perhaps, in their eyes, these mutated creatures are nothing more than some kind of 'animal' and cannot be called human beings at all.

Therefore, there is absolutely no psychological burden.

For Ron

So far, this adventure, though bizarre, has not been particularly difficult, and has even been somewhat easy.

The girl beside him was very much to his liking, because Hermione always went easy on him and gave him pointers on his fighting, while Koyatl had no such requirements.

She was decisive, taciturn, ruthless, and beautiful.

The battles are a feast for the eyes.

If it weren't for the lingering resentment stemming from his previous conflict with the girl, it would mainly be due to her sister's situation.

Perhaps they could get closer.

------

The carnage lasted for about ten minutes.

The corridor ahead seemed to stretch on forever.

Koyatl told him that the obelisk was a giant structure with a diameter of two hundred feet and a height of about five hundred to six hundred feet.

Half of it has collapsed, but the other side still stands on the island, which is quite spectacular.

Ron was also convinced of the tower's immense size.

Since leaving the prison, they had been groping their way forward in this damp corridor, filled with the smell of the sea and some kind of rotting corpse, for about half an hour.

They appeared to be walking up or down a spiral corridor.

There must be more than one such corridor inside the enormous obelisk.

Because if there were only one path, they would have already seen the collapsed part of the tower.

Instead of being stuck in this treacherous passage with no end in sight.

Ron wanted to slow down.

He walked with faltering steps, and some fruit alone could not truly provide him with warmth and sustenance.

The bag was completely empty.

That was his only food.

The surrounding scenery remained unchanged, and hunger and exhaustion assaulted his brain, making his steps increasingly unsteady.

Sometimes, he wonders if he's dreaming.

Only in dreams do such endless roads appear, wasting one's energy and spirit.

He somewhat understood why Harry dreamt of sweating profusely and shouting.

Because he was not as good as Harry, he couldn't even shout.

He could only painfully lift his foot and then put it down again.

The pain of reality tormented him, and at some point, he began to slowly immerse himself in his own fantasies.

He imagined a vast sea of trees ahead, with each ancient tree in the forbidden forest having a diameter of three feet.

The leaves of the trees, which block out the sky, obscure the sun or the moon.

That's why the road ahead of him was so dark.

He would miss the rugged wilderness stretching from Hagrid's cottage to Hogwarts.

The trees, the fields, the air—everything was so free and fresh.

There, he could shout, he could run, and he didn't have to bend over like a gnawed rat in a dark corner.

Slowly, the calm black lake began to ripple.

Ron felt as if he were following the devil. A strong desire welled up from the bottom of his heart. He didn't care whether what he was seeing was a dream or an illusion, nor did he care who he was, what he was, or where he was. He just wanted to recite the spell he knew and chant it—and he would be freed.

Yes—that curse will bring a chilling green light.

"What's wrong with you?"

The prolonged silence caused the girl in front of him to stop in her tracks.

After dealing with a degenerate.

Her attention fell on the boy behind her.

Ron looked quite strange at that moment.

His face was as shiny as if it had been coated with wax, his eyes were staring straight at her, and a strange smile appeared on his lips.

His whole body leaned forward unconsciously, his arms hanging down, like someone's puppet.

In an instant, the witch understood everything.

She almost immediately tackled Ron to the ground, then pulled a bottle of potion from her pouch and poured it into his mouth.

It was accompanied by a violent cough and heavy breathing.

The whispers in the darkness ceased.

Ron's eyes, which were beneath her, regained their clarity.

"You should learn Occlumency." She pinched Ron's chin, carefully observing the boy's reaction.

He got up again after about ten seconds.

"I..." Ron rubbed his head, sitting up wearily. "What happened to me?"

"You have been bewitched by the Outer Gods," Koyatl said succinctly.

"This is its most powerful ability; within a certain range, all intelligent life will be slowly bewitched and driven to madness. Ultimately, they will meet their end in mutual slaughter."

"Brain Occlusion can resist this kind of mental intrusion, provided that the magic of the Outer God has not completely invaded your body."

"Do you have anything to eat?" Ron asked.

The stimulant in his mouth once again made him feel excited, but this time he knew very well that it was all an illusion and that the effects would wear off soon.

"Food?" Koyatl was taken aback, then began rummaging through his pouch.

A moment later, she took out half a loaf of bread and a third of a bottle of milk that she had finished drinking from her package.

"That's all," she said.

She came here with the belief that she was going to die.

How could she possibly prepare food in advance? She used all the limited space in her waist pouch to store various magical items.

Ron didn't complain; in fact, he didn't have the energy to complain at this point.

He took the half-eaten bread, and swallowed it whole along with the milk.

After feeling slightly full, the soreness in his limbs seemed to ease somewhat.

"Hermione always carries around all sorts of food and tents," Ron said, puzzled.

"."

Koyatl's crimson eyes narrowed slightly, then he spoke with a half-smile, "Yes, the perfect Miss Granger always foresaw everything, but she just didn't foresee that you would be captured by the Death Eaters and almost starve to death. Do you want to give me back my bread? That way you can achieve the feat of a wizard starving to death."

"Uh..." Ron, supporting himself against the wall, slowly got up, an awkward smile on his face. "No—that's not what I meant. You saved my life, I thank you. I just meant that Hermione always keeps those things on hand, in her bag with the Infinite Stretch Charm. You have one too, right? Maybe."

He smacked his lips, unsure of what to say next.

Um—he was just trying to say that since she had a pocket with an infinitely expandable magic, why didn't she prepare something as important as food?

"Heh—" Koyatl sneered, "I have something more important with me."

She glanced at Ron's empty milk bottle, reached out, and snatched it back immediately.

Then he turned around and continued walking.

"No, I didn't. Actually, Hermione isn't that great either." Ron quickly followed. "She's always meddling in everything and is so arrogant. We all say she's the next Professor McGonagall."

Ron felt he was being a bit dim-witted. He tried his best to cover up the lie—but it seemed to be getting more and more complicated. Luckily, Owen wasn't there—otherwise, he would definitely have punched him.

"I have no interest in your campus life," Koyatl said coldly, leaving no room for compromise. "Think about what we're about to face. Miss Granger has already confronted the Outer Gods and saved several countries. She has far more experience in this area than I do."

"Don't you wish you were her right now?"

"No—" Ron replied decisively. Well—to be honest, for a moment—he actually hoped that Owen would come to save him.

"You're great. Perfect." The boy scratched his head, unable to think of anything to say in response. He couldn't very well go against his conscience. Because deep down, he felt that Hermione seemed to be more capable.

After stammering for a while, Ron finally found a breakthrough: "You're prettier than Hermione."

He said, "To be honest, you are superior in both figure and appearance."

"Heh." Koyatl's sneer intensified. "There's nothing left to compare, so you can only talk about superficial things like appearance? How disappointing."

"I..." Ron was like a rooster with its neck being squeezed, unable to speak and unable to swallow his words.

The girl in front of him seemed to have lost interest in discussing appearance with him.

She quickened her pace, and Ron ended the awkward conversation.

"Sigh," he sighed.

Women, I really don't understand what they're thinking.

His good friend Harry wasn't around at the time, and no one was there to guide him.

What Ron didn't know was that Harry's level might be even lower than his. They were about evenly matched.

If Hermione were there, she would definitely shake her head, indicating that she had never seen such a stupid boy.

Ron should have said he didn't like her at all and hated her a lot, or bluntly said he was ugly or something like that.

Instead of speaking so tactfully.

Girls can't stop talking about these roundabout, ambiguous things.

However, this discussion was not entirely unintentional.

The relaxed atmosphere seemed to dispel something—like happy memories can defeat Dementors.

Happy experiences seem to be able to ward off the mental interference of external gods.

At least Ron no longer heard the whispers in the darkness.

About ten minutes later.

After killing the seventh Purifier, their mission as road signs was complete.

The two finally walked out of the corridor.

They arrived at a cave—yes, Ron could only use that word, not the entrance—or the hall.

Because stalactites are everywhere here, and the water accumulated on the tower walls washed away the sediment, it took an unknown amount of time to create this scene that resembles a cave.

The floor tiles were uneven, with bumps and depressions everywhere; you couldn't find even a foot of flat ground.

The cave was filled with the stench of blood.

This made Ron frown repeatedly.

Because he saw four wooden stakes standing around those walls.

A person was tied to each of the wooden stakes.

The lights were too dim for him to see the faces of the figures clearly, though he could make out their outlines.

"Fairy or wizard? Choose one."

Koyatl pulled him along, and the two hid behind the stalactites at the entrance.

Beside the wooden stake stood two dark wizards, their limbs intact and without any strange deformities; they were likely Death Eaters.

They were talking in hushed tones.

Not far from the two Death Eaters were three goblins.

The fairies were wrapped in long robes, obscuring their faces, but their short stature and exposed, sharp ears still gave them away.

"A fairy, perhaps?" Ron said, gazing into the distance and adjusting his mindset.

Those two Death Eaters were clearly not to be trifled with. It wasn't that he was cowardly and deliberately let Koyatl take the danger, but rather that Ron knew the difference in their strength.

Koyatl is better than him.

This is the best way to deal with it.

"Okay." The girl nodded, then looked ahead. "Prepare—you should understand that we must kill or subdue them at the same time."

Ron's wand had already begun to gather magic power.

The tip of the staff shone with a bluish-black light.

The power from the ancient star Genggu is surging and emerging.

"I know perfectly well." Ron nodded.

"Okay," she said. "Then—" The girl stared at the two dark wizards in front of her.

He was also watching Ron out of the corner of his eye.

Seven or eight seconds later, once his magic had been gathered, she decisively made her move.

"Let's do it."

"Avada Kedavra." A ghastly green light instantly illuminated the entire cavern.