****We are on Chapter 330 on p@treon****
The snake creature writhed in pain on the ground, and Tom, in the form of a phoenix, repeatedly attacked its head, leaving wounds. However, the size difference between them was immense, akin to poking someone with a toothpick. Perhaps a toothpick could blind someone, but it wouldn't kill them.
The snake creature, in pain and blinded, lost its sanity. It blindly roamed the chamber, splattering blood everywhere.
Tom circled above its head and transformed into a three-headed dog.
"Boom!"
The massive three-headed dog descended from the sky, smashing onto the snake creature's head with a muffled sound. Tom felt that the head under his paw made a cracking sound, somewhat like breaking a cucumber.
Usually, the snake creature, being an animal with many eyes, was the natural enemy of creatures like three-headed dogs. However, with its eyes blinded, it was just a large piece of spicy strip in the eyes of the three-headed dog.
The snake and the dog struck the ground heavily together. Tom, following the spirit of "take advantage of the enemy's weakness," added a few more paw strikes until his paws were smeared with white goo.
The snake creature ceased struggling, and its life force rapidly dwindled.
Standing on the almost battered head, Tom turned back to human form, quickly placed his hand on the creature's head, and then recorded its form. Immediately after, without hesitation, he transformed into an undead bird, soared high into the sky, maintaining a considerable distance from the dying creature.
Tom knew the tenacity of snake-like creatures, akin to cockroaches. Every year, there were news stories of people being bitten by poisonous snakes, even after decapitating them. The snake creature, also known as the Snake King, demanded caution. Therefore, Tom perched on Slytherin's shoulder, watching the creature below until it ceased making any noise, leaving only occasional twitches of its tail.
However, Tom did not descend. Carefully observing the chamber, he sought to find a switch for the lights—there should be one. After all, the original purpose of the chamber was for teaching, and the current lighting conditions were absurd for a classroom.
With enhanced vision in phoenix form, Tom noticed a layer of grime on the snake-shaped sculptures on the pillars. A thought occurred to him, and considering the style of the chamber, Tom transformed into a serpent-bird and said, "Illuminate!"
There was no response. Tom tried another word.
"Bright!"
This time, Salazar Slytherin's statue responded. A green flame appeared on his index finger, drifting down and landing on the snake head relief on a pillar.
Immediately, flames rose from the open mouths of the snakes on the pillar, rapidly climbing along their bodies. Soon, the snake sculptures on all the pillars turned into fiery serpents—there seemed to be oil between the snake scales. Each snake on the pillars was connected to the ceiling, so the flames spread rapidly. In less than two minutes, all the pillars in the room were ablaze, illuminating the entire chamber.
Seemingly feeling the light and warmth, the snake creature on the ground suddenly writhed again. It blindly raised its upper body, the smashed head looking towards the ceiling, its mouth wide open. This action lasted for a few seconds before it heavily crashed back to the floor, blood and flesh flying.
This top-tier magical creature, if Tom didn't calculate meticulously, would be an absolute powerhouse in the magical world, virtually without any natural enemies. However, due to the lack of information, Tom had manipulated it from start to finish. If Tom had another chance, he might even find it easier.
But the danger in doing so was hard to estimate. If Tom hadn't recorded the complete form of Fawkes, he wouldn't have come here alone.
The snake creature should be completely dead now.
Tom surveyed the chamber. Flames burned brightly, and Slytherin must have prepared high-quality oil, as there was no smell of smoke. Instead, a faint fragrance filled the air. As the flames appeared, the temperature in the room rapidly increased, completely eliminating the eerie, damp feeling—Slytherin, thinking himself the greatest founder, would certainly pursue the ultimate extravagance and grandeur, not creating a lair for villains. Tom suspected that this room was a testament to that. Calculating, Tom estimated that at least a hundred pounds of essence oil was burned this time. The pleasant aroma made Tom feel like it wasn't the scent of oil, but the breath of Galleons.
"Next is to see if Slytherin left anything here."
Actually, it was quite obvious. All the pillars were burning, except for one on which the flames didn't ignite.
Tom landed in front of the pillar, standing for a few seconds. The floor tiles lit up, gradually lifting Tom into the air, allowing him to see the ceiling clearly.
Approximately fifty meters above the ground, the chamber's wall indented here, forming a passage about two meters wide, adorned with ornate railings on the edges—though most of the railings had decayed over the millennia, leaving only some gold and silver decorations intact.
Tom gently landed in the passage. He walked along it to the left side of Slytherin's statue and found a silver door.
Glancing outside, Tom saw the panoramic view of the entire chamber. He imagined that when Slytherin finished his affairs in the room, he would walk out, stand here, and overlook the lower levels of the chamber like a deity.
"Ants." This word popped into his mind. Standing so high, it was easy to have the illusion of looking down on the world as if everyone were ants.
Tom turned his head towards the silver door, smooth and without any handles.
He didn't dare to enter recklessly. He remembered a kind of magic in Gringotts that allowed only specific individuals to enter; anyone else trying to do so would be sucked in, trapped inside the door.
If Tom were sucked in now, conservatively estimating, it would take months before someone could release him. During that time, besides transforming into a snake creature and choosing to hibernate, he would have no means of coping.
Thinking of this, Tom raised his hand and glanced at his ring. The fire dragon on it had disappeared, replaced by the form of a snake.
Tom had made this decision after careful consideration. Although the ring had six faces, there were only five empty slots. He was about to transform into five magical creatures and inherit some of their abilities.
He had already recorded the forms of a serpent-bird, phoenix, fire dragon, unicorn, and three-headed dog. To add the snake creature, he had to replace one of them. The serpent-bird might still be useful in the exploration of the chamber, the unicorn had a strong purifying effect on souls, and Tom needed a means of mental defense. The three-headed dog had too much of an advantage in close combat, so it couldn't be replaced either. This left only the phoenix and fire dragon.
The phoenix could undergo rebirth! Tom wouldn't exchange it for anything—even the phoenix recorded later might not have the ability to be reborn, given the system's characteristics. Without the ability to be reborn, what difference would there be between a phoenix and a flying turkey? It would only be good as a nanny.
On the other hand, the fire dragon, while having flight abilities like the phoenix, was comparable to the three-headed dog in magical and physical resistance, and its fire-breathing ability was somewhat lackluster, as Norbert was still a child at the time of recording. Considering all this, Tom replaced the fire dragon with the snake creature.
This was a problem he encountered: as he gradually grew, he encountered more and more powerful magical creatures. He had to learn to make choices.
It was like forming a game team—four positions, generally a main tank, a healer or shield, a support, and a utility player. No one would use a team of four main tanks; they had to consider good cooperation.
Tom stepped back from the silver door. He circled around from another direction, reaching the other side of Slytherin's stone statue. There, he found another silver door.
The exploration of the chamber reached a dead end.
No, there was one more location. Tom looked at the black hole in the statue's mouth.
Tom had always had a question: what did the snake creature eat for over a thousand years?
This magical creature, although long-lived and capable of hibernation, was not an immortal cultivator who could meditate for a thousand years. During its thousand-year slumber, it must have awakened several times to shed its skin. So what did it eat after waking up?
A giant snake over ten meters long couldn't be satisfied with just eating mice! It wasn't possible that Slytherin left a thousand years' worth of provisions for the snake creature.
So, Tom decided to enter the statue's mouth to find out.
The mouth of the statue had also been carefully repaired. Neat bluestones covered the ground, with some snake slime remaining on them. The surrounding walls were embedded with fluorescent pebbles, providing a faint source of light.
Following the stone path, Tom walked for dozens of steps, arriving in a slightly wider hall. Snake skin molts were scattered around, mostly broken into pieces.
It was evident that this was where the snake creature had lived before.
The hall had one entrance and two exits. One exit seemed to lead upwards, while the other led downwards.
Tom entered the upward exit.
This time, the path had a slight slope. The tunnel gradually ascended, and there was another door inside the tunnel that required speaking Parseltongue to open. After passing through that door, Tom walked for ten minutes, unable to see the end of the tunnel. So, he transformed into an undead bird, flying rapidly ahead. After a few minutes, he vaguely saw the light at the exit. Eventually, he flew out of the tunnel, discovering himself in the midst of a dense forest. Tom slightly identified the direction and felt like he was in the mountains surrounding Hogwarts.
It seemed Tom now knew what the snake creature's food source was.
When it woke up hungry, it would crawl out of the tunnel to hunt, eat its fill, and then follow Slytherin's command, returning to the chamber to wait for the heir of Slytherin to awaken. The snake creature likely took the other downward tunnel.
As for that downward tunnel, Tom made a bold speculation: it most likely led to the Black Lake.
You can read 200+ advanced chapters on my P@treon page for just 4$ !!
P@treon.com/young_sunlight
Collection/Tag is : TDDH
(End of this chapter)
**Vote Power stones**