Chapter 316 — Attack
Malfoy's slightly gray eyes meticulously examined everything before him, scrutinizing every detail—from the carvings on the candles to the mysterious patterns covering the surrounding stone walls, and even the trenches dug around the coffin.
Suddenly, he heard a sharp whistle.
Almost instinctively, Malfoy turned his body sideways.
A chill brushed against his arm, followed immediately by a sharp pain that traveled through his nerves and shot straight into his brain.
He spun around.
What he saw were Fleur's usually cool and aloof deep-blue eyes, now stained with a deep crimson light.
It was immediately obvious that she had lost control of herself.
Yet the red glow flickered intermittently, sometimes fading and sometimes becoming scarlet. Her expression repeatedly shifted between conflicting emotions. Her body trembled violently as she desperately struggled against whatever was controlling her, but her movements continued against her will.
The wand in her hand had been Transfigured into a sharp dagger. Its gleaming blade reflected the candlelight, radiating a chilling aura, while a faint smell of blood spread throughout the underground chamber.
"Stupefy!"
A sharp flash of light erupted.
While Fleur was still struggling against the influence controlling her, the spell struck her directly, knocking her unconscious.
In the final moment before losing consciousness, a relieved smile appeared on her face.
Malfoy had reacted quickly and showed absolutely no mercy.
"Not just Herpo. You're a lunatic too."
He muttered to himself as he clutched the stinging wound on his arm.
As expected, this had to be Salazar Slytherin's handiwork.
As a master of Legilimency, Slytherin's understanding of the human mind—and his ability to exploit people's weaknesses—made this kind of trap entirely plausible.
Anyone who entered the place with impure intentions could easily be driven into madness under his influence. In doing so, he could ensure that the manuscript remained protected.
Even people with relatively firm minds would inevitably be affected to some degree.
Fleur was one of them.
However, it was obvious that she had quickly fallen into a state of hesitation and resistance, desperately attempting to regain control of herself.
Otherwise, Malfoy would not have suffered such a minor physical injury.
She had even Transfigured the most threatening weapon in her possession—her wand—into a dagger.
She had been desperately fighting against the influence.
Unfortunately, she had encountered a true master.
Fleur collapsed to the ground.
The sharp blade slipped from her loose fingers and rolled several times across the floor, producing a series of crisp metallic clangs.
Without Fleur's magic sustaining the Transfiguration, the dagger quickly reverted to an ordinary wand.
Malfoy bent down and picked it up.
He then carried Fleur over to a large, somewhat cold rock on the other side of the chamber and carefully laid her down.
Afterward, he simply disinfected and bandaged the wound on his left arm before walking toward the coffin.
He gently lifted the coffin lid with his wand.
This place was becoming increasingly eerie.
It had to be dealt with as quickly as possible.
Then they could leave.
Everything proceeded swiftly and decisively, without the slightest hesitation.
Inside lay a roll of parchment with a pure-black cover, radiating an eerie aura.
There were no words on the cover.
Despite having supposedly been preserved for hundreds of years, it looked almost brand new. It wasn't yellowed or deteriorated in the slightest, hardly resembling parchment that had been stored for centuries.
Malfoy opened it.
The first line read:
> "I, Herpo, am a wizard of exceptional talent. Some people are jealous of my talent and have used the word 'despicable' to describe me, but I don't mind. Mediocre people always envy geniuses. They simply don't understand how far I have already traveled along that path."
"Arrogant fellow!"
A red annotation had been written in the corner of the parchment.
The crooked handwriting was filled with disdain.
Clearly, Salazar did not agree with Herpo's ideas.
> "Almost everyone is terrified of the Basilisks I created. They fear that I will slaughter them at will. They overestimate themselves. Torturing them would merely waste my time. I want to go farther along the endless road ahead."
> "I want to pursue immortality!"
One could almost imagine an old madman hysterically shouting those words.
"A ridiculous madman."
Another red annotation appeared.
Salazar's assessment remained unchanged.
> "What is existence? I pondered this question. Some Muggles were also thinking about it, and they gave me some inspiration."
> "It is matter and soul, but the latter is dominant."
> "First of all, the body will eventually decay and age. No matter what method is used, the process can only be delayed to some extent. I have searched for many methods, but ordinary human bodies cannot endure for long after transplantation."
Malfoy's lips twitched slightly.
"This guy looks like a scientist."
It was astonishing that such advanced ideas had existed in ancient Greece.
If Herpo had not been a Wizard but an ordinary person, he might have become a philosopher.
After all, Ancient Greece was the birthplace of Western philosophical thought, and even the word philosophy originated from the ancient Greeks.
It wasn't particularly surprising that the despicable Herpo possessed some vague philosophical understanding.
He had even considered organ transplantation.
Malfoy suspected that the greatest obstacle he encountered was probably immune rejection.
If Herpo had been born in the modern era and published research on the subject, he might even have been regarded as a pioneer of organ transplantation.
> "What use are those mediocre people who drift through their lives aimlessly, possessing nothing but a human shell? Their bodies may be healthy, but their minds are impoverished."
> "Only thought, only the soul, can achieve immortality!"
> "I focused my attention on the mind. How can the soul be made immortal?"
> "This is a question worth considering."
> "Can the human soul be split?"
> "If it can be split, can it then be fixed to an object? After all, the body will eventually perish."
> "If a complete soul is to be split, what must be done? What means can be used to induce the soul to divide?"
> "...Murder?"
> "The existence of those mediocre people is destined to serve me. That is their glory. Their sacrifice is necessary for my immortality."
> "I am going to begin the experiment…"
> "First experiment. Subject: ordinary Wizard. Gender: male. Age: approximately twenty. Method of death: Avada Kedavra, the Killing Curse. Result: Wizard died. His soul was successfully split. The first Horcrux was successfully created."
"Unexpectedly smooth."
Even through the translated text and Slytherin's annotations, Malfoy could sense Herpo's genuine excitement.
He could almost imagine the man's triumphant laughter.
> "Second experiment. Subject: ordinary Muggle. Gender: female. Age: approximately thirty. Method of death: Avada Kedavra, the Killing Curse. Result: Muggle died. Soul splitting failed. Horcrux creation failed. Suspected reason: insufficient induction. The soul remained firmly attached…"
> "…"
> "…"
> "Hiss… splitting one's soul is indeed painful. It requires unimaginable torment, and it must involve an evil murder…"
> "The first time was relatively easy. Why did it become increasingly difficult afterward?"
> "Does it have to become more evil each time? It seems I will have to find another method."
> "Seventh experiment. Subject: Muggle. Method: tortured with Crucio and subsequently killed. Result: Muggle died. Soul successfully split. The second Horcrux was successfully created."
> "…"
> "Twenty-first experiment…"
> "The seventh Horcrux was successfully created, but approximately thirty percent of my own soul was consumed."
> "Just as I expected."
> "It has reached its limit. It is impossible to split the soul infinitely. The main soul will become increasingly unstable."
> "The limit is seven times? So be it for now. If I continue, I will go insane. But for now, I have achieved my goal of immortality."
> "…"
The records ended there.
There was no conclusion, no explanation of what happened afterward.
The parchment simply stopped.
An abrupt blank space remained at the end.