Chapter 117

Leaning his hand on a tree growing nearby, a sigh of relief escaped the Snape's lips, because he managed, one might say, at the last second, to escape, because exactly a minute later, a terrifying aura reached that very place, Severus had no doubt that it was a monster of a rank higher, which the current him would not have been able to touch, let alone run away from and he would have definitely turned into its dinner. 

"Damn… it was too close… but now I'm sure that in addition to the lesser devils, there is also a creature of a higher rank that is from me, even if I become an 'Archmage', I am not sure I can win against it." Snape muttered ironically as he directed his gaze towards the centre of the forest, "And what should I do...? Even if I consume the heart of the Treant King, the maximum I can achieve is the rank of "Archmage"

The creature that stared at the Prince, like the previous one, also had two horns on the sides, but it was completely naked and more like a skin-covered skeleton, this one had a body dotted with steel muscles, and in its red eyes, in addition to the animal instincts inherent in every devil, it had one more thing- the mind. 

Its gaze seemed to be studying Severus, watching the young man's every move. At that moment, only one thing pleased Severus and that was the huge distance separating them, because almost immediately he recognized this creature, the image of which was also in the book that he read in the previous world and this creature was not inferior in strength to the peak "Archimages". 

And even now, he felt the fear on a mental level that the monster was trying to instil in him, but Snape's will was much stronger, and also the mind played an important role in the past of the peak "Archimage", which helped to neutralise the impact from the monster. 

A minute later, the creature narrowed its eyes in displeasure, realizing that the "attack" hadn't worked.

"Human… age… under… chi… and we won't kill… eat you… " his hoarse voice sounded gloomy, every now and then he stammered, as if his throat was not meant to used for human speech. 

"You won't kill me anyway," Severus snorted with a grin, trying to give himself confidence in his voice, "And why would I surrender to you? Maybe you want to kill the only person who could still scratch your brother?"

"Get…chi…knee or die…"

"How did you get into this world, who sealed you?" Severus asked several questions again, seeing how the eyes of the monster grew brighter every second, "I see, then you won't answer, then there's nothing to talk about with you," and without waiting for another mental attack that the creature was preparing for, Severus burned the mirror at the same moment, "So, I was not mistaken, but there's nothing to rejoice here, first I need to understand how much more this barrier can withstand and, if possible, strengthen it, but for this I need to at least rise to the rank of "Archimage" , because with my current powers, it's just impossible…"

***

It took Severus about an hour to get back to the "anthill", where all the snakes had come to their senses for a long time and patrolled the surroundings, as before the arrival of Severus, but not one of them tried to attack Severus, who was heading towards their house, after all, the Serpent King had already warned them in advance about this. 

The passage that Snape had previously made had not been sealed yet, so he used it to quickly get to the very bottom and once inside the lair, he simply jumped into the hole, the bottom of which was not visible. At the same time, a thoughtful half-serpent-half-dragon looked up, from where he felt the familiar aura of a person.

"So you were still able to survive, huh…" a disappointed sigh escaped from the snake king's mouth, from which the house elf standing nearby almost jumped out of the blue. 

"It sounds like you aren't happy about it," Snape flew out of the hole in the ceiling, caught in a gust of wind as he landed and lowered to the ground. 

"Sir!" almost sobbing, the little house elf squeaked joyfully, running up to Snape with a box in her hands, Snaps in response warmly smiled and stroked her head. "I'm fine."

"Why should I be happy? If you died, then I would no longer have to see your impudent face and the contracts would end."

"Sounds logical," taking the artifact from the hands of the elf, Severus moved it to the wallet and put his palm on the top of the house elf, "Tell Nagini that I'm fine, and I need to talk to this snake." 

"Y-yes! Nelly is very happy that the Air was not hurt!" Nodding silently, the Prince moved her inside the spatial artefact with the others and looked up at the Snake King. "I saw them."

"And what do you think, Human?"

"They are very dangerous, even with your current strength, the maximum you can defeat is only the weakest of them, and the one who killed your father… you can't even leave a scratch on him," the monster didn't take these words very close to heart, because he already understood this better than anyone else, although, deep down, he still felt sadness that he himself could not avenge his father.

"Is it clear what you intend to do next?"

"I will go back to the outside world."

"What about those creatures?"

"Nothing yet, but first I want to strengthen that barrier so that I have more time to think about further actions, because after the fall of the jungle, the outside world will be the next target of these creatures."

"So you also think that someday they will be able to break out…"

"It will happen, but I can't say the exact time," Severus said in a much more serious voice, shifting his gaze to the crystal, "That's why I wanted to study them and understand how much longer they will last," 

"Although, according to the dim light emanating from the crystal, it will only be enough for a couple more centuries and then it will run out of power, but to be sure, I need to see the rest, as well as find the core of that barrier, it should be located near it, and to find it, I need to use the search spell and stealth, at the rank of Archmage, so that they definitely won't find me, "and Snape again looked towards the gloomy muzzle of the snake," But while you can relax, I think that barrier will last a couple more years for sure, and for now I can prepare , and if the rest of the crystals are in the same state, then you don't have to worry about an imminent breakthrough,but I would still look at the rest ... "

The half-serpent, half-dragon, was not a fool and understood the hint, and it also felt that the person standing in front of it was not lying, there was no need for him to do this, because, as Severus himself said, the next goal of those creatures after the jungle will be precisely the territory beyond the barrier.

"Contract?"

"I have nothing against it," and a red parchment appeared in Snape's hand, at the sight of which a tired sigh escaped the snake's mouth, yet in one day, there were too many upheavals…

***

 Inspection of the rest of the crystals did not take long, because thanks to the presence of the Snake King, who personally volunteered to guide him to everyone, it only took one night. 

In total, nine such artefacts were scattered throughout the forest, not counting the one in the lair of snakes, and the guardians were a variety of monsters: foxes, stone giants, a huge worm at the bottom of a swamp in a forest of chimeras, a tribe of werewolves, strange birds and even plants, to which were the hardest to get through, because, although they had a mind, but only at the level of animals, therefore, among magical creatures, they had no allies and they attacked everyone who entered their territory, and the rest of the crystals rested at the bottom of the river, flowing through all the jungle, in various parts of the forest, but they were also guarded by monsters.

The crystals themselves, with the exception of the one in the lair of the stone giants, were in more or less good condition, they could still be enough for a couple of centuries, and the first one could only provide magic to the barrier for another ninety years due to the huge number of chips and dents left someone, therefore, for safety, Snape had to add protective charms so that he could definitely hold out for at least this time. And by the morning, having finished with the inspection, they returned back to the bloody pond and Severus began to prepare for departure…

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