Huff… huff… Allen leaned against a stone pillar, panting heavily, while Valor, equally exhausted, perched on his shoulder.
For some reason, the basilisk that Harry had killed with a single sword seemed so resilient in their hands. Even though they had taken it down without major injury, the time and energy expended could have killed a dozen basilisks for Harry.
Allen glanced at the short sword in his hand and then at Valor beside him, and it all made sense.
His weapon was just an ordinary magical blade, whereas Harry had wielded a Gryffindor sword enhanced to +13. Similarly, a phoenix with poison-neutralizing and auto-attack abilities easily outclassed… well, everything.
"Ah!"
Allen cried out in pain as Valor pecked sharply at his ear. When he turned to look, Valor shot him a disdainful glare.
"Alright, fine. Not your fault, got it, " Allen muttered, fishing out a pouch of owl feed from his pocket and placing it in his palm. He set his hand on his knee, and Valor hopped down from his shoulder, happily pecking at the food.
Allen poked Valor on the head with a finger. "Why do you, a crow, love owl feed so much?!"
Valor glanced at him, unimpressed, and continued eating until it was done, then returned to Allen's shoulder.
"Alright, buddy, let's see what we've gained this time. Hopefully, all this effort yields something good. At least let it complete the Snake Woman's inheritance for me, " Allen stood and briskly approached the basilisk's corpse.
The creature had died a gruesome death. Allen had decapitated it, and its body was riddled with wounds, some from magic, others from Allen's sword and Valor's sharp beak and claws.
But none of that mattered. Allen couldn't cook it into a meal, but the system was more than satisfied with the corpse. The scars didn't matter, it was signaling that it needed this body for Allen.
The moment Allen placed his hand on the serpent, a purple light began to swirl across the corpse. Where the light passed, fine, visible threads formed, tightly binding the body.
Once the threads absorbed the largest section of the serpent, they leapt to other fragments. In an instant, the threads enveloped the entire corpse, yet they still weren't satisfied, they climbed the surrounding columns, built by Slytherin himself.
Finally, even Slytherin's statue wasn't spared. After binding everything, the magical threads gripped the statue at the far end, holding it tight.
Then, a massive network of blinding purple light spread across the entire area, forming a thick, radiant curtain, dazzlingly beautiful.
But after a brief moment of awe, everything fell silent. The massive basilisk corpse became pristine white bones, and the pillars and statues lost their mysterious aura, becoming dull and lifeless, as if weathered by time.
A sudden wind blew from nowhere, and the massive statue, once firmly against the wall, toppled with a CRASH, raising a cloud of dust. Allen quickly raised a shield to protect his eyes from the flying debris.
A falling stone hurtled toward him, but he caught it steadily and, with a slight push, shattered it like tofu, almost as if even stone had lost its vitality.
A moment of silence passed before Allen shouted, "System! You better show yourself!"
Despite all this commotion, the system didn't upgrade, didn't unlock any inheritance, and didn't even complete the Snake Woman's inheritance, which needed only 0.1 more fragments!
After months of hard work, the lazy system had snatched the loot and run!
No matter how loudly Allen called, there was no response.
In the end, keen-eyed Valor solved the problem.
Its meaning instantly reached Allen. When the dust cleared, at the basilisk's head's former location appeared a stunning purple gem. Even though nearby magical light had been obliterated, the gem reflected the moonlight seeping through a crack, shining brilliantly.
Allen approached in three quick steps. After the system issued a reassuring prompt, he carefully inspected the gem, but no magic could affect it.
Finally, Allen picked up the gem, and the system announced:
"Congratulations, Acquisition: Eye of the Vanguard!"
[Eye of the Vanguard, One-time-use item]
[Three seconds after crushing the gem, a phantom of the Great Canyon Vanguard will be summoned from the void. It will persist until faced with a threat to its life, with immense destructive power capable of devastating buildings. Using it consumes massive amounts of mana.]
••┈┈┈┈┈༓┈┈┈┈┈•••
Allen stared at the strategic tool, deep in thought.
He had hoped the Snake Woman's inheritance would unlock during this mission. With some luck, he might even unlock a skin to access deeper layers of the inheritance.
Of course, any additional unexpected gain wouldn't hurt, the Rat's inheritance was possible, too, since it lived in the sewers like the basilisk.
Yet, even the Snake Woman's inheritance didn't unlock. Clearly, the system hadn't considered the basilisk a true snake.
Fine. A chicken egg hatched by a lazy toad is hardly related to a snake, even if you drag comets into the story, it's only called a basilisk because it looks like a snake, not due to any bloodline.
Problem explained, but Allen wasn't concerned with that.
He had to admit, though the Eye of the Vanguard only summoned a phantom, it was a formidable weapon, especially for demolishing buildings.
Yet, if all went normally, Voldemort and Allen wouldn't engage in a siege battle, Allen certainly wouldn't allow him to occupy Hogwarts and attack it himself.
So… why did Allen need the Eye of the Vanguard? To blow up the school?
He pondered this but ultimately tucked the gem away with a complicated expression. One day it might come in handy. Even if not, collecting it was worthwhile.
Meanwhile, Dumbledore, still searching his office for something, suddenly stopped.
For some reason… he felt a chill on his back…••┈┈┈┈┈༓┈┈┈┈┈•••
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