Although the afternoon had been bright and sunny, by nightfall, several dark clouds had drifted over, obscuring most of the moon.
Through the cloud layer, only the rough outline of the moon was visible. The stars in the sky had also hidden themselves away, and the brilliant Milky Way was blurred, its splendor concealed from view.
The night breeze rustled the treetops, and the occasional rustling of birds and beasts echoed through the woods.
In the darkness, the Forbidden Forest possessed a chilling magic, like a deep underground cavern that made any explorer wishing to step inside shrink back in fear.
Lynn had transformed into a daddy kangaroo. Three small heads popped out of his pouch. The fourth-dimensional pocket had excellent extensibility, so even with Neville, Harley, and Cho poking their heads out together, they weren't squeezed head-to-head.
It did look a bit comical to have three heads sticking out of a stomach, but after draping the Invisibility Cloak over themselves, Lynn's figure vanished completely into thin air.
It was a complete disappearance—no footsteps, no shadow. He was floating in mid-air.
Telekinesis buoyed Lynn's body, granting him the power to soar freely through the sky. He was fast, too; if he accelerated with full force, a broomstick might not necessarily catch up to him. Lynn's telekinesis lacked explosive power, but its sustained output was very strong and stable.
"Flying above the woods like this... Lynn, can you actually see what's down below?"
Harley reached out and poked Lynn's stomach. "Lynn, you actually have abs!"
"I'm very disciplined, okay? I go for a morning run for an hour every day."
Lynn knocked on Harley's little head. "Now is not the time to think about that."
"Will that guy really come tonight?"
Neville's eyes were fixed on the forest below, trying to see through the gaps in the leaves.
"He definitely will."
Harley nodded seriously. "That guy didn't succeed last night—Nimue's mother got away. The probability of him attacking again is very high. I trust my intuition."
"I don't know the reason, but to dare attack a unicorn, this guy must be facing something life-threatening. After all, unicorn blood carries a curse if it isn't given willingly."
"Maybe that guy is about to die?" Cho added from the side. "The most widely known power of unicorns is that their blood can extend life. That's why poachers target them. for someone who is already on the verge of death, even if it means being cursed, the chance to live would drive them into madness."
"Quirrell's condition has been really bad lately. I feel like it's very likely him," Neville whispered.
"Here he comes."
Lynn, who had been floating quietly in mid-air, suddenly stopped moving. The three children immediately shut their mouths, craning their necks to look down.
The scene before their eyes suddenly blurred. Lynn, originally above the Forbidden Forest, instantly flashed into the woods. A streak of flowing silver light was currently dashing through the trees at high speed.
It was a beautiful, large silver horse. Its horn glowed with a milky white radiance in the darkness. Nearby, several other silver figures were running, attempting to cover the unicorn, but as a mass of black mist rolled and surged forward, the companions trying to protect it were forced away, whinnying in distress.
The unicorns enveloped by the black mist bucked and jumped constantly. The horns on their heads erupted with piercing light, but the black mist clung to them like maggots on a bone, blinding them. The intense irritation and pain sent the unicorns into a panic.
The unicorn running at the very front was left alone. Behind it, the rolling black mist turned into a tidal wave, surging violently as if to drown its figure.
The rapid sprint caused the unicorn's barely healed wounds to tear open again. Silver blood splattered across the dark Forbidden Forest, leaving a conspicuous trail of spots.
But the black mist behind it was too fast. After driving away all the interfering unicorns, the mist caught up to the lone unicorn in a matter of seconds.
Lynn's figure flickered in rapid succession. The quick screen transitions made the three children peeking out feel a bit dizzy. The benefit of teleportation was that it didn't stir up the wind; the black mist chasing the unicorn ahead had absolutely no idea there was a tail sneaking along behind it.
"What do we do now? How can we stop this guy?"
Harley spoke with some urgency. "Think of something, Lynn. Can you pour the Draught of Living Death into this guy's mouth?"
"If that doesn't work, you could fly up and pour it down. Pretend it's raining; he definitely won't notice."
"Possible, but we have to make this guy stop first."
"See that black mist?" Lynn motioned for Harley to observe more carefully. "The mist's form is almost intangible to physical objects. Whether it's tree trunks or bushes, they pass right through it. The Draught of Living Death might not be effective on someone in this state."
"We can only wait for him to stop."
"But—"
The chase ahead suddenly ceased. A sharp brilliance, like liquid mercury, flashed past. A gruesome cut, deep enough to see bone, appeared on the unicorn's body. With a mournful cry, the already injured unicorn was flung dozens of meters away, smashing heavily into a patch of low shrubs.
The black mist transformed into a blurry human silhouette. He slowed his pace, drifting forward unhurriedly.
This shadowy figure seemed to maintain a guard and wariness toward the unicorn, which appeared to have lost the ability to move. Just as he approached, a beam of blinding white light burst from the dying unicorn's horn. The shadow dodged rapidly, narrowly escaping the counterattack filled with rage and despair.
He was a seasoned hunter; he knew what kind of struggles prey would make in their final moments.
A silver blade manifested from the air again. Only now could one see clearly that it was a blade resembling mercury, forming rapidly in the void.
Faint, indistinct sounds seemed to echo in the dark woods—hoarse whispers that made one's blood run cold.
"That guy is going to kill the unicorn mother! Lynn—"
"I know."
"Here's the Invisibility Cloak. Neville, do you remember the spell I taught you earlier?"
"Yeah!" Neville nodded vigorously. "I remember it clearly."
"I'll buy you some time. Here's the cloak."
"Harley, you and Cho stay in the pocket."
As Lynn pulled Neville out, he pushed the two small heads back down. "I'll see if there's a chance to use the Draught of Living Death. This guy plans to kill the unicorn first and then take its blood. We can't let him succeed."
"But at the same time, we have to teach him a lesson!"
Inside the four-dimensional pocket, Neville, covered by the Invisibility Cloak, completed his transformation into the "Ultimate Move Belt." To an adult, the gold and red skin-tight suit might look incredibly shameful, but at a chuunibyou age, this outfit was super cool—flashy and eye-catching, looking somewhat like a leather suit with Iron Man's color scheme.
Lynn clamped a mask onto his face. It didn't even have eyeholes, but his X-ray vision could completely ignore such obstructions. To be honest, he really didn't want to expose his identity.
A black cloak covered his entire body. Floating slightly off the ground, Lynn looked somewhat like a Dementor, the hem of his cloak swaying gently like a ghost.
Just as the mercury-like blade slashed viciously toward the despairing unicorn...
The unicorn, which had no strength left to resist, vanished in an instant.
If not for the pool of silver blood proving it had just been there, one would have certainly thought they were hallucinating.
The mercury blade sliced deeply into the ground, splashing up silver droplets. The sudden disappearance of the prey caused the shadowy figure to instantly go on high alert.
"Who?!"
The shadow's gaze swept around. Then, under the sparse moonlight, he saw a black-robed monster floating in mid-air. The monster held a long scythe, silver beads of blood dripping from its blade.
This scythe-wielding figure did not speak; it merely moved slowly and quietly through the air, like a Reaper patrolling its territory.
The pitch-black mask suddenly turned toward the direction of the shadow. With no visible facial features, the face of profound darkness made even the shadow pause in surprise.
He watched as the Scythe Reaper suddenly raised the strange blade in its hand. An unintelligible, raspy voice rippled through the dark Forbidden Forest.
The Forbidden Forest had always been restricted ground at Hogwarts. No one knew exactly how many secrets were hidden in this mysterious, dark forest. People had witnessed traces of werewolves and vampires here, and others had seen countless scarlet specters in the woods. Buried beneath the soil of this forest lay the corpses of thousands of wizards.
The massacre from a century ago had stained every corner of the Forbidden Forest red. Every year, legends of forest monsters circulated among Hogwarts students, constantly adding terrifying tales to this place.
The story of the Forest Reaper had begun circulating decades ago. Many Hogwarts students believed in it firmly. That senior student who had erased his own name had added too many mysterious stories to the Forbidden Forest, and after being passed down by word of mouth, parts of his image had morphed into the legend of this Forest Reaper.
Fifty years ago—a period not too long, yet not too short, after that senior disappeared—such stories were particularly popular at Hogwarts. Almost every student knew a little something about it.
And today, the legend of the Forest Reaper had its first eyewitness.
The moment the Forest Reaper raised his scythe high, a scalp-numbing power of darkness suddenly rose from behind him.
No! It wasn't darkness, but Chaos—an indescribable dark color mixed from countless colors stirred together in confusion.
Neville, with a dried Mandrake leaf in his mouth, was the speaker of those difficult, raspy whispers earlier. Wearing the Invisibility Cloak, he floated behind Lynn, playing the role of the spirit behind him.
When he recited the long incantation in full, the Ultimate Move was fully activated at that moment!
As the Forest Reaper's scythe swung down, a pillar of dark red light—with visual and sound effects that looked absolutely authentic—erupted instantly. In that split second, a shield of mercury texture sprang open. The shadow figure was equally frightened by this imposing chaotic power.
He had never heard of, nor seen, this kind of chaotic magic. At least among wizards, there was no such spell.
With no time to think, and daring neither to expose himself nor consume more power, the shadow figure grabbed the pool of unicorn blood along with the surrounding soil and grass the moment he deployed the mercury shield. The rolling black smoke split into over a dozen parts and fled without looking back.
Only after the shadow figure escaped did Lynn finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Good thing we scared him off."
The mercury shield had vanished. The Dragon Slave spell's visual and auditory presence was quite astonishing, but in reality... this thing didn't have the city-destroying lethality seen in Slayers. After all, it was a parenting toy; as long as the effect looked impressive, it didn't pursue any destructive power.
Even if you wrote "Matter-Annihilating Black Hole Punch" on the card, the fist wouldn't actually be able to kill anyone.
"So cool!"
Neville lowered his voice, his whole body trembling with excitement. "That move just now was so cool!"
"What was so cool?"
Harley popped her little head out. "Did I miss something?"
"It's the belt!"
Neville's face was a bit flushed from excitement. "That move just now was so cool!"
"Dragon Slave!"
"Hiyah!"
He struck a pose. "It was a world-destroying strike!"
"But where's the world destruction..."
Harley poked half her body out, reaching up to hook her arm around Lynn's neck to climb out, then plonked herself down in the crook of his arm. "It's clearly just a small pit."
She pointed to the bare bushes ahead. "It just blew the leaves away a little bit."
"But it was really cool just now!"
Neville explained frantically, then canceled his transformation and handed the belt to Harley. "Harley, just try it and you'll know. I didn't lie to you."
"Alright, alright."
Lynn waved his hand, telling them not to get too excited yet. At the same time, he let go of Harley and helped Cho out of the pocket. "Are you guys forgetting something?"
"Is Nimue's mom okay?"
Compared to Harley, Cho was a bit more steady.
"She shouldn't die."
Several figures flashed away from the spot, appearing the next second in a grassy clearing. A herd of unicorns was gathered there, and upon seeing them, they couldn't help but become alert.
"I sent her here just now."
Lynn spoke calmly, knowing the unicorns could understand him. "A Dark Wizard wanted to kill her earlier. I transported her here."
"We've met before. Hagrid brought us here."
The unicorns, understanding Lynn's words, lost their previous tension and defensiveness. They parted to open a path, allowing the group to see their companion lying on the ground, heavily injured.
A small golden unicorn was kneeling on the ground, emitting low whimpers and licking the wounds on its mother's body.
"I'll go notify Hagrid to come here. He'll heal you."
Lynn squatted down and stroked Nimue's mother's slender neck. "Don't worry. That guy probably won't come here to take risks again. He got your blood, and we scared him off too."
"Wait here a moment."
Lynn stood up and walked over to Harley and the others. "I'll send you back to the castle first, otherwise it'll be hard to explain. I can handle the night wandering alone; otherwise, Gryffindor will lose triple the points, and Ravenclaw will get dragged down too."
"Don't worry, she can hold on. Unicorns have stronger vitality than you think. Right now, it's just excessive blood loss. They have strong resistance to Dark Magic, especially under the moonlight. We'll come see her together tomorrow during the day."
Lynn looked toward the castle. Immediately, the figures of Harley and the other two vanished one after another. Lynn had sent them back to the entrance of the Room of Requirement. It wasn't curfew yet, so there were students coming and going at the entrance.
The next moment, Lynn appeared at the door of Hagrid's hut and knocked it open.
On Hagrid's table lay a large bow taller than a person, and a quiver full of arrows the thickness of an arm. He had been prepared for tonight as well, but he hadn't expected the shadow figure's methods to be even more secretive than imagined.
"Hagrid, the unicorn is hurt badly. You have healing medicine here, right?"
"Lynn... How did you... You went into the forest?" Hagrid stood up suddenly, his expression tense. "It's night! The forest is dangerous! Very dangerous!!"
"I can fly."
Lynn floated up a few feet. Hagrid looked at him, dumbfounded.
"I'll admit my mistake to Professor McGonagall later, but right now, we have urgent business."
"Right!"
Hagrid didn't hesitate. He grabbed the bow and arrows and a satchel, then immediately rushed out the door. He sprinted through the woods; small trees as thick as a bowl snapped upon impact, unable to slow his pace for even a second.
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