Hogwarts: My name is the Unforgivable Curse...

Chapter 354 Long-horned Water Serpent

As the dark shadow rapidly approached, Avada finally managed to make out its full appearance—it was a serpentine creature about thirty or forty feet long, covered in hard, black scales. It looked somewhat like the basilisk he had seen two years ago, but it was clearly not as ferocious, and it did not possess that kind of evil, deadly black magic.

However, what's most striking is that its enormous head, which is not much different from that of a typical snake, is topped with a pair of curved horns resembling those of a ram, making the entire snake look completely out of place...

A long-horned water snake.

Avada recognized the enormous black shadow at a glance—a magical creature of XXXX, with a wide variety of species and extremely diverse abilities, making it very difficult to deal with.

In his memory, the Longhorn Water Serpent, like the Thunderbird, could alter the weather within a certain range, creating torrential rain, gales, and thunderstorms. It also possessed stealth abilities, a degree of shapeshifting, and even the power to hypnotize. Its physical strength was among the highest of magical creatures, even ranking among the strongest in the XXXX-level classification. The reason it wasn't classified as XXXXX-level was simply because its aggression wasn't considered high. However, since this Longhorn Water Serpent had been chosen as the final boss of the Triwizard Tournament, Avada was certain its temperament wasn't as good as its peers…

Let's test the waters first.

Avada frowned, raised his wand, and unleashed another icicle aimed at the horned water serpent that was eyeing him with predatory intent. The icicle first froze directly onto his massive body, then, under Avada's Transfiguration, transformed into thick steel chains that spun around, binding the serpent tightly in just a few seconds before it could even mount a fight, leaving it no chance to resist.

"This will only buy us a little time, if I remember correctly..."

Sure enough, in the next moment, a hint of mockery seemed to flash in the cold eyes of the long-horned water snake. Then, without warning, its body shrank, flicked its tail, and nimbly swam out of the chains. Then, as if melting, it slowly dissolved into the dark waters...

Transform, become invisible.

Avada frowned slightly, simultaneously activating his Occlumency spell to guard against any potential mental attack. What troubled him wasn't the horned serpent's current abilities—after all, any form of invisibility was detectable by his magical senses unless someone could directly conceal their soul—but rather the fact that, in his magical senses, the horned serpent was moving around him at an incredible speed, while simultaneously gathering power, preparing a spell that was giving Avada a real headache…

"I can't interrupt it... I'll just block it for now."

Layers of ice crystals continued to condense around Avada, quickly assembling into a hollow sphere that enveloped him. Then, under the effect of a transformation spell, the surface turned into a layer of solid glass. The next moment, a large arc of electricity suddenly flashed in a body of water not far from Avada, before quickly dissolving into the water!

If Avada hadn't created an insulating sphere for himself in time, that electric shock would have been enough to knock him unconscious—and this was in water hundreds of meters deep!

Moreover, such attacks are extremely difficult to interrupt—partly due to the terrifying speed of the longhorned water serpent, and partly because the water itself is an environment that is very unfriendly to wizards.

The water not only greatly reduces the power, range, and speed of the spells, but also makes the wizard's movement and aiming more strenuous. Furthermore, water itself is not easy to deform; turning it into ice is somewhat easier, but freezing enough ice is a laborious task...

It is precisely for these reasons that the magical society still has a very limited understanding of aquatic magical creatures. Basically, only animals that prefer to live in relatively shallow waters can enter the wizards' field of vision, while the deeper waters are still unknown. For most wizards, being attacked by an XXXX-level magical creature in the water is enough to be a nightmare!

Moreover, according to the plan, he hadn't even reached the part where Barty and his group were plotting their scheme yet. In other words, this long-horned water serpent was actually a challenge arranged by the Triwizard Tournament organizers, with Dumbledore and the others' consent...

"Is this the inevitable hurdle for all warriors, or am I the only one getting this treatment? I wonder what Hibiscus would do if she encountered this thing, considering she was eliminated by several Grindylows in the original story..."

While inwardly grumbling about the pressure emanating from the long-horned water serpent that was even greater than the iron belly of Ukraine, Avada spent a few seconds casting an insulation curse on himself before dispelling the polymorph. He immediately felt a not-too-great shock to his Occlumency spell – the long-horned water serpent's hypnotic magic.

"No, I need to show some real skill. Otherwise, who knows how long this will drag on..."

While Avada continued creating ice crystals and using polymorph to transform them into various items to restrain the water snakes, he also diverted a portion of his mental energy to silently analyze the magic that was broadcasting his battle footage—he needed a brief gap to escape the audience's view so he could use some less conventional spells…

"Mr. Ken is in bad luck—his ghost ship is guarded by the most formidable long-horned water serpent!"

On the lakeside, Little Barty continued his loud commentary: "Clearly, in such a disadvantageous environment as water, even a powerful warrior like Mr. Ken would find it extremely difficult to deal with a long-horned water serpent. At least, the trick he used against the fire dragon is no longer effective... However, he has also demonstrated a remarkably high level of shapeshifting, using the ubiquitous water to freeze into ice as his shapeshifting material, and fiercely battling the long-horned water serpent..."

"Oh, Mr. Ken seems to have created a thick blob of ink—is he trying to block the water snake's vision? Ladies and gentlemen, don't worry, our broadcast magic can see through invisibility and obstacles. For example, this long-horned water snake has actually been invisible the whole time, but we can still see it clearly... Hmm? Why has the screen gone completely black?"

"It's lit up again—try to understand, after all, our broadcast magic has a certain delay, and the reaction might be a little slow... but it's only for a second or two, isn't it?"

Unbeknownst to Barty and the other viewers, in that brief moment of complete blackout, Avada had already aimed her wand firmly at the horned water serpent. The serpent's pupils dilated briefly before slowly focusing again, and its movements became slightly stiffer than before. If anyone had noticed these details, it wouldn't have been difficult to guess what kind of magic had caused this effect—

"The soul leaves the body!"

(End of this chapter)