Chapter 754: Trap (Edited)

Chapter 754: Trap (Edited)

Dumbledore had tried the summoning spell on his first visit, but it had only alerted the inferi at the bottom of the lake.

This time, unaware if it was the owner of the locket who had arrived or if the liquid in the pillar had been emptied, the locket obediently flew out of the stone pillar and headed towards the lake's shore under the influence of the summoning spell.

"Nya!"

(`Д´)

Fish pushed Dumbledore towards Harry and then leaped and grabbed the locket with his hands as it attempted to fly away.

"Avada Kedavra!" A flash of green light spanned the width of the lake and flew towards Fish, who was still in the air.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry struggled to hold onto the still groaning Dumbledore as he raised his wand to intercept the killing curse.

Red and green shimmered for a moment before the green killing curse suddenly shot out, and Voldemort roared furiously from the lake's shore, "How is this possible?!"

Harry looked in the direction of the sound but could only see darkness. The cave seemed to have been enchanted in some way, causing visibility to be so low that even Fish could only faintly see a pair of glowing red eyes in the distance.

"Voldemort, you coward! Aren't you the Dark Lord? Do you only know how to sneak around? Come and fight Fish if you dare! You're a coward who can't even defeat Harry!"

(ΦДΦ)

Fish dropped back to the ground and tucked the locket into his pocket, taunting the pair of red eyes in the distance.

Voldemort was now too far away to leave a savage mark on him.

"Hmph..." Voldemort was not amused by Fish's provocation and sneered, "If you want to fight me, wait until you make it out alive!"

As he spoke, the lake, which had been as calm as a sheet of black glass, suddenly boiled as if on fire, and heads and white hands emerged from the black water, men, women, children, all with sunken and sightless eyes: a mass of corpses emerged from the dark waters.

At the same time, the green boat, which had been resting quietly on the shore, rapidly sank to the bottom of the lake. If they wanted to leave now, they had to enter the lake filled with corpses.

"Incendio!"

Harry remembered what Dumbledore had said about dealing with the inferi, and he immediately raised his wand and conjured a ball of burning flames that engulfed the inferi that had climbed onto the island.

The flames frightened the inferi, who instinctively tried to avoid them, crashing into each other in a dizzying pile-up.

However, when the flames reached them, they did little harm.

Voldemort, of course, knew their weakness, so he not only kept them in the lake but also cast a fire-resistant spell on them. Thanks to their inability to think, if not to be burned by fire, they still instinctively avoided the flames, allowing Harry to protect himself and Dumbledore.

Fish, who had transformed into a white tiger, continued to wield his bright red claws, tearing apart the foolish corpses.

But that didn't last long because somehow the Voldemort on the lake's shore had done something, and the inferi suddenly ceased to fear the flames Harry had conjured and charged at the three of them.

"Sectumsempra!"

Harry waved his wand, shredding the attacking corpses, and then shouted to Fish, "Fish! Bring some water from the lake; it seems that no other liquid is allowed here!"

Dumbledore finally regained consciousness after being unconscious for a while, but he continued to scream for water. Harry had previously attempted to use the Aguamenti spell, but he discovered that the water vanished as soon as it was conjured. By the time he tried to fetch water from the lake, the Inferi had gone berserk, forcing him to retreat to Dumbledore's side and do everything he could to protect him.

"Roar~!"

(=`Д´=)

Fish responded, spinning around, striking several Inferi with his tail, and then crouching down, clearing a perimeter around him. He quickly transformed back into his human form, taking out a drink bottle from his pocket and instantly vanishing the liquid it contained.

Fish swiftly unscrewed the cap and jumped to the lakeshore, waving his wand to repel the attacking Inferi while pouring the dark water into the bottle.

Once the water was in the bottle, its color normalized, only slightly cloudy and greenish. After a quick spell to ensure that the water wasn't poisonous, Fish leaped toward Harry and Dumbledore with the bottle.

Using a spell to repel the constant flow of Inferi, Fish controlled the debris while handing the bottle to Harry.

Due to the small size of the island, Fish couldn't use many of his broader spells. He attempted to conjure his Patronus but failed...

After Voldemort suffered a loss, it was naturally impossible not to target Fish's Patronus Charm, and he had secretly arranged an anti-Patronus enchantment here.

Fish didn't exactly know what was happening, but he assumed it was probably Voldemort's doing.

However, after confirming that the lake was harmless, Fish had already thought of a solution...

"Are you the only one who can get help, nya?! Kanaloa! Help me beat these guys!"

(`Д´)

With Fish summoning allies, several tentacles as thick as tree trunks emerged from the lake. With a few swipes, the island was cleared of Inferi. Then the black water stirred as if something was happening, and the waves continued to surge.

After a few moments, the lake calmed down, and half of Kanaloa's head emerged from the water. Fish immediately submerged his head in the lake and communicated with her.

On Harry's part, Dumbledore finally regained consciousness after being given some water from the lake.

Although it was still obvious that he was weak and as pale as the Inferi, he managed to tremulously rise with Harry's assistance.

"That protective mechanism... was cleverly designed, after all," Dumbledore leaned on Harry and breathlessly said, "It would have been impossible for a single person to accomplish... You did well, very well..."

"Albus! Are you okay, nya?"

=(?ω?)

Fish, who had finished communicating with Kanaloa, jumped back with droplets of water on his head and cast another round of healing spells on Dumbledore along the way. "Voldemort seems to have escaped again, but Fish got the locket, nya!"

"You have it? I can't believe it's really here..." Dumbledore seemed to be anticipating Voldemort's arrival as he warned, "Let's leave this place then, but be cautious, Voldemort might have some other wicked traps prepared outside."

Both Fish and Harry nodded with serious expressions. Harry didn't need to say that only the army of Inferi had given him something to think about, and Fish was truly cautious when entering the fray.

Not to mention...

The constant use of healing spells on Dumbledore and the summoning of Kanaloa to assist from a distance had truly taken a toll on him, and Fish was already feeling the discomfort he had experienced after forcefully using [Serenity] or transforming into a white tiger.

But he didn't show it and instead silently joined Harry to help Dumbledore reach the lake.

Kanaloa extended a tentacle and lifted the three of them, carrying them to the other side of the lake.

"Thank you, nya!"

(ΦωΦ)

Fish stroked Kanaloa's tentacle. "When Fish returns to school, I will summon you again."

Kanaloa touched Fish's head with her tentacles, then slowly sank to the bottom of the lake.