Chapter 128: Protecting the Rooster (Patreon)

Vader took out the cloth bag containing the rooster and deliberately hesitated for a moment.

“Helping him solve his problems doesn’t mean solving them for him. I happen to want to see what he’s capable of and how he performs, and this seems like a good opportunity.”

“You…”

At that moment, the mouth of the Slytherin statue opened, revealing a massive black void.

A gigantic creature crawled out of the darkness and crashed onto the stone floor, causing the entire Chamber to shake violently.

“Don’t look into the Basilisk’s eyes!”

Harry hurriedly turned around, panic written all over his face.

“Run, Ron! Take Ginny and run!”

Vader’s pupils widened slightly, and he looked genuinely stunned.

A moment later, he shook his head in disappointment and opened the cloth bag.

“Hiss! Kill them!”

Riddle gave the Basilisk its command in Parseltongue.

“Parseltongue won’t save you, Potter. It only listens to me.”

The Basilisk’s enormous body scraped against the damp floor, producing a deep, rumbling sound.

Lockhart dropped to his knees, rolled his eyes back, and promptly fainted.

Then the rooster crowed.

Its cry echoed throughout the Chamber.

The Basilisk, which had been preparing to attack, suddenly reacted as though it had seen something terrifying. It trembled violently and began shrinking backward, every inch of its body shaking uncontrollably.

The rooster crowed again.

The Basilisk let out an agonized hiss and began thrashing wildly across the floor.

“A rooster? How do you have a rooster?”

Riddle angrily cursed.

“I clearly ordered Ginny to kill every rooster near the castle!”

“You may have forgotten that I’m not a Hogwarts wizard.”

Vader shrugged.

“I was also surprised that Dean Griffin’s secret weapon was a rooster. But looking at the Basilisk’s current condition, I think I understand why.”

“The rooster’s crow is deadly to a Basilisk.”

Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

“Enzo, your dean must be an incredible prophet.”

“I don’t know about that.”

Vader smiled faintly.

“But as far as I know, there isn’t much that Dean Griffin doesn’t know.”

“Damn it! Make it stop!”

Riddle was furious and panicked at the same time. He raised his hand and fired an Exploding Curse at the rooster.

The rooster’s cries were causing far too much damage to the Basilisk. If this continued, forget attacking—the Basilisk might not even survive another thirty seconds.

Boom!

An invisible barrier blocked the explosion.

The flames and shockwave failed to harm the rooster.

Riddle stared suspiciously at Vader before suddenly releasing a torrent of fierce flames from his palm.

Vader swept his wand across the ground.

Clear water surged upward in front of him, condensing into a thick Water Shield.

The flames slammed into the shield, easily breaking through two-thirds of its thickness. Water splashed everywhere, releasing huge clouds of white steam.

Just as the flames were about to break through completely, they suddenly became unstable.

The thick column of fire split into several smaller streams, drastically reducing its power.

In the end, it failed to break through the Water Shield.

“Who exactly are you?”

Riddle’s expression darkened.

“I believe I already introduced myself.”

“You have impressive magical talent. You’re almost as good as me.”

Riddle’s killing intent intensified.

He then pointed toward the serpent-shaped statues lining both sides of the hall.

As his magic flowed into them, the statues suddenly came alive.

Dragging their heavy stone bodies, they began crawling toward the group.

“What do we do? We’re surrounded!”

Ron’s voice was filled with fear.

“What do you think?”

Riddle sneered.

“They won’t be frightened by the rooster’s cries.”

“What’s there to panic about?”

Vader remained perfectly calm.

“Just fly. Those statues can’t fly.”

“No, wait—we can’t fly either!”

Harry nearly cried.

“Then smash them.”

Vader looked at them.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t learned even a single offensive spell.”

“Expelliarmus!”

Harry steeled himself and fired a Disarming Charm.

The red light struck one of the serpent statues and knocked it several meters backward.

“What else can you do?”

There was a hint of surprise—and disappointment—in Vader’s voice.

Harry felt slightly embarrassed.

“I’m only a second-year student! And our Defence Against the Dark Arts professor for both of these years has been someone at Lockhart’s level.”

“Then increase your attack speed.”

Vader raised his wand.

Red flames condensed into numerous fireballs that shot forward at incredible speed, blasting apart several of the nearest serpent statues.

“Or increase the power of your magic.”

Vader demonstrated again.

A massive wave of flames erupted from the tip of his staff, sweeping across the Chamber and clearing away a large number of serpent statues.

Harry stared wide-eyed, completely speechless.

Do you even hear yourself?

That just now was my strongest attack.

If I were as powerful as you, I wouldn’t have been thinking about running away in the first place.

Roar!

At that moment, the Basilisk suddenly released a violent roar.

Its scales began cracking apart across large sections of its body. Its flesh swelled grotesquely, while fresh bloody wounds appeared across its body, making the creature look even more terrifying.

“That damned rooster!”

Riddle was furious and humiliated.

A ghostly green light appeared at his fingertips.

“Avada Kedavra!”

Vader immediately pointed his staff at one of the serpent statues and controlled it, sending it flying toward the green light.

Boom!

The stone statue shattered into pieces.

The rooster began crowing even more enthusiastically.

“No! You won’t!”

Riddle roared and swung both hands.

All the broken stones scattered across the floor shot into the air and hurtled toward them like a dense barrage of projectiles.

“This is the end.”

Ron spoke in despair.

Vader raised his staff high into the air.

The magic crystal at its tip burst into dazzling silver-white light.

A massive bat-shaped Patronus appeared above him, spreading its wings and forming a silver-white barrier.

The incoming stones shattered into dust the instant they struck the barrier, scattering harmlessly onto the ground.

“A Patronus Charm?”

Riddle gritted his teeth.

“That’s impossible! The Patronus Charm is only supposed to defend against Dementors!”

“The local wizards really are rather rude.”

Vader spoke calmly.

“Patronus magic is one of the oldest and most powerful forms of defensive magic. It is indeed the natural enemy of Dementors, but that doesn’t mean it can only defend against Dementors.”

“The ancient Greek wizard Andros once summoned a giant-shaped Patronus.”

“You don’t seriously think his Patronus could only defend against Dementors, do you?”

“This spell consumes a considerable amount of magical power, but as one of the oldest defensive forms of magic, it has many uses. For example…”

Vader slowly raised his wand and pointed toward the serpent statues closing in around them.

The bat-shaped Patronus flapped its wings and transformed into a streak of silver light, circling rapidly through the Chamber.

Every serpent statue it passed shattered into pieces.

“See?”

“Attack is also a form of defense.”

Riddle’s expression became grim.

He had not fully resurrected yet, while the Basilisk was already on the verge of death.

And on the other side stood a genius wizard whose strength was almost equal to his own.

He had to turn the situation around.

Otherwise, even if he achieved a true resurrection, escaping the Chamber of Secrets would be extremely difficult.