chapter 112

After more than an hour, Severus left the territory of chimeras and passed the Illusion Forest, which was also circled in blue on the map and then he finally reached the territory of half-snakes, half-dragons.

The first half of the jungle, except for the huge number of snakes, almost did not differ from the usual one, but further on, the wizard began to notice an increasing number of holes in the ground of various sizes, and closer to the center, small hills appeared with several holes.

Snape, did not want to attract special attention, so he tried to move covertly, although he still failed to go unnoticed, because there were too many snakes, and some knew how to disguise themselves so well that it was hard for him to detect them himself, so the wizard's collection was replenished with new snakes every minute.

And after almost two hours, Severus finally reached the center of the forest, where there was a huge "mountain", somewhat reminiscent of anthills with dozens of holes of various sizes, starting with a couple of centimeters and ending with almost two meters.

Hundreds of snakes moved around this place, like guards, patrolling the surroundings, and others peered straight out of the holes, inspecting from above, and this is not counting those that hovered in the air thanks to their wings.

Seeing this, Severus wasn't much surprised, after all it was a forbidden part of the jungle, the area marked in red as a particularly dangerous area and the fact that the monsters had intelligence was quite natural.

But how to get through all this, and that also unnoticed, was a real mystery, but under this very "mountain" he felt a magical source and it was definitely something alive, surpassing that lion in volume by almost ten times.

So instead of moving forward, he retreated a couple of kilometers and created a small cover.

In a small dugout created with the help of magic, he took out a table on which several jars of ingredients appeared, and next to it was a cauldron.

"Severus…let's go…there…there's something very dangerous underground, I also feel a suffocating feeling like the day we went to the Basilisk…"

" I know, I can feel it but don't worry, I myself don't want to risk my life against that colossus," Severus replied calmly, looking into the eyes of the excited snake, "Even I'm not sure that I can win against it without giving it my all."

"Then why not! Let's move on, I don't want you to risk your life for me!" Nagini said, looking at him.

"It's not just about you, I need to get an answer to one of my questions," a flame lit up under the cauldron and one of the ingredients on the table hovered over it, "Don't worry, if suddenly my plan doesn't work, then we'll just leave, but I'm sure this won't happen." A tired sigh escaped from Nagini's mouth, but his answer calmed her down a bit, though not completely…

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Preparing the potions took five hours, and after another hour, he placed them around the monsters' lair, and finally finishing with this, Severus returned back to his dugout and looked up at the sky, which was already beginning to darken, Severus folded his hands together and began to quickly whisper something something indistinct, which Nagini could not understand, and after a few seconds he lowered his hands, and the edges of his lips lifted up ...

And at the same time, in the distance, an ordinary snake crawling along a tree felt some strange smell and fatigue suddenly rolled over it, and its eyes began to droop, although it tried to resist, but the struggle did not last even ten seconds, and it fell to the ground from a branch, followed by several more.

No one could stand "on their feet", even the largest individuals and gradually a strange phenomenon approached the "mountain".

Of course, this did not escape those who flew in the sky, but this did not save them either, because a strange force even managed to get to them.

Within half an hour there was not a single snake left to "stand" around the lair. And after that, making sure that the potion had an effect on everyone, Severus headed towards the nest.

Along the way, he also examined the sleeping snakes with wings and to his disappointment, Severus realized that he was still mistaken in his judgments, thinking that that serpent was really going to turn into a dragon, because such a transformation was a priori impossible because of the blood , and these snakes lying on the ground were proof of this.

Inside the lair resembled a real labyrinth with dozens of paths leading to no one knows where, as well as snakes sleeping in them, but due to time constraints, Severus chose a different path, much simpler one and using the basic spell of the earth, he began to dig under him, descending lower and lower, straight to the most powerful creature.

Although Severus had a whole hour, he was in a hurry for the reason that it is not known how much it will act on the monster to which he was currently moving.

The lower Snape moved, the more firm the ground became and the paths were getting less and less.

He had to spend fifteen whole minutes in order to finally reach the very bottom, when a miserable ten meters separated them from that very creature, and even under the protection of a wizard, Nagini still felt terrifying pressure and animal fear, so he had to send her to the rest of the animals, whom he had previously caught.

Before crossing the remaining meters, Severus drank a few potions to enhance reflexes, magic power and physical strength, and after that he activated the armor and used the support spell, which also increased defense and all other attributes to be ready for a surprise attack.

And finally, with one movement, he destroyed the wall and abruptly jumped out, pushing himself away from the air ... But, as soon as Severus found himself in the cave and examined the almost empty space that opened up, not counting the shining crystal located in the center of the room above the bloody pond, as well as the snake three times larger the one that the wizard had caught earlier, he was slightly hung up, because the snake was not sleeping, instead it was squinting and calmly watching him.

Oddly enough, Severus did not feel any threat from him, but only a fraction of curiosity.

'Still, the decision of not to kill or take anyone along the way was the right one, although it's strange that the potion didn't work,' even though at first it seemed to Severus that this was just a ordinary magical snake, but after taking a closer look,

"Have you seen enough, Human?" the voice of the magical creature, although it sounded quite calm, but in such a "small" cave, it was very loud and even somehow menacingly loud.

"More than, for the first time I see such a dragon, the rest were more like some kind of wyverns, but you are the closest to the real one, although only halfway," although the creature lying in front of him was very strong, perhaps not even inferior to him. But Severus did not show weakness and also spoke in a rather neutral manner.

"Sounds like you've seen real dragons?"

"I once met one."

"But it sounded like more than one…"

"Who knows, maybe not one," Severus answered with a slight smile, looking straight into the creature's eyes, while thinking 'I can't even read its superficial thoughts, I hope it doesn't come to a battle.'

"If we compare our strengths, how inferior am I to them?" The creature asked in an interested voice, and in the next moment a terrifying aura escaped from its body, completely "flooding" the cave and, as if in waves, trying to break through Snape's barrier, which was automatically activated at the moment of the "attack".

As if not noticing his "attack", which was mainly aimed at testing strength, Severus "thoughtfully" stroking his chin, answered "Most likely, you wouldn't be able to stand in front of it."

"No wonder, I shouldn't have expected anything less from an ancestor who could once become a real dragon." The half-snake-half-dragon's voice was full of pride, as well as admiration, "But, we have moved away from the topic, why did you come here, human ?"

"I wanted to take a look at the blood pool, or rather, at the skeleton that rests at the bottom," Severus did not hide his goal, although now he could be fifty percent sure that the blood really belonged to a real dragon, because the creature emitted a dragon aura, very weak, but still and he is sure because he has seen one in past.

"I need to make sure of something"

Hearing this the creature's eyes darkened and it rose its head.

"You, a human, want to touch a sacred place with your dirty hands and even see the skeleton of our ancestor?!"

"Uh-Huh, and in return I will return your son to you," and a transparent screen hung over his hand, on which a snake was depicted tied to a column.

"SO IT'S YOU…!" the body of the creature was swallowed by a blood-red aura, and the whole cave shook from the incredible pressure emitted by the enraged monster, because, although decades had passed, it could still easily recognize its child, which it considered to be eaten by some monster, after the snake ran away.

"No, I found him behind the barrier, my task was to kill him, because he intended to capture the entire forest and destroy the pets of magic, so I rather saved your child from the curse, after which he would definitely die on the spot," Severus spoke quite calmly, without even changing his face, but at the same time he took out his sword and touched the blade.

Looking closely, the half-serpent-half-dragon did not see a single scratch on the body of its "cub", and although it was consumed by rage, it still thought clearly and quickly subdued his anger.

"And you would like to use it in exchange for your request?" snarled the magical creature, narrowing its eyes unkindly.

"Yes"

"Are you not afraid that after you return my child to me, I will kill you?"

"You may be the strongest in this place, but if we have to fight, then I have a better chance of winning, you should have understood this right away, how we met, and even if I can't defeat you," a crazy looking smile appeared on Snaps's face as he continued "I'll take everyone with me," but that smile quickly disappeared as he continued "And I'm not going to do business without a contract."

But instead of answering, laughter was heard throughout the cave, from which the cave trembled again.

"You think that some kind of contract will be able to limit me?!"

"Mine, yes, but just in case, it is also signed with your son, at my death, he will follow me," and the laughter stopped in the same second, "I will cancel it, after I leave this place, this can also be included in our contract."

"As I see it, you have time to prepare?"

"Actually, no, your son is still a madman, so I had to restrict him to such a contract so that he would not attack me and my people."

"Hehehe… I see… but… " The monster's eyes turned purple, "Did you really think you could CONTROL ME like this?!" and in the next moment, a violet beam escaped from its mouth, rushing straight at the Severus…

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Thank you.