Chapter 179. Nice Job, Mate!
"Oh yeah, the plan was perfect. Not a single one of them got away!"
"Nofi, our genius! Without you, we wouldn't have known what to do!"
The pixies celebrated in excitement. Some flipped in mid-air, while others flailed their limbs as if swimming through the sky. Basked in the praise, Nofi beamed. It drifted to the center with an easy air, waved its hand, and loudly called for quiet.
"Come on, let's go have a look at the prisoners we caught," Nofi said, taking the lead and flying toward the hanging trio.
"What are you going to do?" Goyle asked in a tearful voice. Unfortunately, the two sides couldn't understand each other's language.
"He's really ugly—much worse than Duncan," Nofi said with a frown, poking Goyle's cheek in distaste. From their point of view, Goyle's pancake-flat face and that huge nose made for a truly singular kind of ugliness.
Seeing all the pixies crowding around him, baring their sharp teeth and pointing, Goyle thought they were going to eat him.
"Mum, save me!" Goyle trembled all over in terror, snot and tears streaming as he struggled and heaved his heavy body about.
"He seems to be scared of us," a pixie said in delight. It leaned in close to Goyle, bared its teeth, and let out a low growl. It even licked its own paw with its tongue, grinning wickedly as if it were about to give Goyle a vicious bite.
Goyle's gaping mouth produced an ear-splitting scream. The branches around them seemed to quiver and clatter under the force of his voice. Then he gave a violent shudder. A hot stream trickled down his body, and Goyle fainted from fright.
"How boring…" the pixie said with dissatisfaction as it folded away its saw-toothed grin. It hadn't even had a chance to show off its scaring skills—no sense of achievement at all.
"That one looks like their leader," Nofi said, eyes narrowing as it looked toward Malfoy not far away.
"He's the one who hurt our brothers last time!" a nearby pixie said excitedly. "And he laughed at us back then!"
"He's hateful!" another pixie said angrily. "As punishment, we should rip up his face!"
"That's right! We can't let him off, or we'd be letting down the brothers who were hurt!" The pixies grew instantly riled.
Facing the mass of pixies swarming toward him, Malfoy burst into tears and shouted, "My father is a school governor! You can't hurt me! If you do, my father will never let you off! He'll have you thrown out of the school and sent to Azkaban! Help! Don't!"
The pixies stared at Malfoy babbling away. They couldn't understand his threats at all and kept rubbing their paws together, drawing nearer with feral grins. Even if they could understand, knowing pixie temperament, they wouldn't have cared. Even if the Minister for Magic were standing here, they'd dare yank him by the ears and hang him from a roof edge.
"Wait," Nofi raised a hand to stop the frenzied pixies. "Duncan would never allow you to tear up his face."
At the sound of Duncan's name, it was like a bucket of cold water poured from the sky. The flames of rage above the pixies' heads were instantly doused.
"So we're just going to let him off easy?" a pixie said, puffing its cheeks in anger, eyes flashing with unwillingness.
"Of course not," Nofi said with a jaunty flick of its hand. "I only said you can't rip up his face. I never said you can't hit him!"
As soon as it finished speaking, Nofi squinted, took careful aim at Malfoy's right eye socket, and swung a fist hard—landing a very pretty hit. Malfoy howled in pain. His eye swelled at once, a dark ring hanging from it, and even his vision went blurry.
Before he could recover from the fright, the other pixies swarmed in as well, their clenched fists pelting his face like raindrops. As time passed, Malfoy's screams echoed through the forest, and his body swung back and forth in the air like a sandbag.
"That's enough, that's enough." Nofi grabbed the shoulders of two of the more frenzied pixies, tipped its head back, set its jaw, and dragged them aside with all its might. "That's about right. Don't beat him to death, or that'll cause trouble for Duncan."
Nofi shouted at the top of its lungs to make sure all the pixies could hear. At these words, the pixies stopped, panting hard. They obeyed Nofi, shuffled aside, and stood in a ring around Malfoy.
By now, Malfoy had long since succumbed to the torment and lost consciousness. His face was mottled blue and purple. His cheeks and eyes were swollen like jutting hills. If you just lengthened his ears a little, he'd be a dead ringer for a pig's head.
"There's another one over there!" a pixie suddenly said, and the others followed its gaze.
Seeing all the pixies looking his way, Crabbe broke into a fearful sweat. His heart thumped wildly. Having learned from Malfoy's example, Crabbe cast a frantic glance around. Then, like a tolling bell, he heaved his body and smashed his head against the trunk beside him in a charging header.
Thud—thud—thud—.
The tree shivered and rustled under Crabbe's blows, and dead twigs mixed with piled snow pattered down. At the same time, Crabbe stared at the big lumps rising on his head… and passed out as well.
"What a coward!" A pixie stepped up and slapped Crabbe twice. Seeing he still didn't wake, it spoke in anger.
Another pixie's eyes rolled, and the corner of its mouth curled into a mischievous smile. "Don't worry. I've still got a way to deal with them!"
"What way?" the other pixies asked, gathering round in curiosity.
"Last time Duncan brought the case into the forest, I secretly took something fun from the work shed."
Nofi's brows lifted slightly. "You shouldn't have done that. There are lots of important—and very dangerous—things in Duncan's work shed."
"I only took something he'd thrown on the floor—something he didn't want. Wait here, I'll fetch it," the pixie said quickly, and turned to fly off.
A short while later, it buzzed back like a little steam airplane—toot-toot-toot—holding a bottle high in its hand. Inside was half a bottle of colorless, transparent, viscous liquid, with bubbles trapped in it, flowing slowly as the bottle moved.
"What's that?" another pixie asked, blinking its big eyes.
"Venom of the Soft-Clawed Land Shrimp!" the bottle-bearing pixie cried in a heightened voice.
"Soft-Clawed Land Shrimp?" Nofi frowned slightly at the familiar name. "I heard Duncan say that if you're bitten by a Soft-Clawed Land Shrimp, you'll be unlucky for a whole week afterwards—whatever you do will fail."
"That's right," the pixie said, grinning as wide as it could. "I'm going to give them a little dose as well!"
"I must say, that's a great idea!" Nofi stepped forward and patted the pixie on the shoulder. "Nice job, mate!"
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