Chapter 342: Hideous Statues
"What's going on?" asked Sirius loudly, pulling out his wand and running off.
Harry and Hermione, who were walking ahead, turned around and looked at Ron with concern.
They didn't know what had happened, but Ron's shout made them feel sick. They couldn't help but think of Sirius' warning that the Centaur Temple was not safe. They drew their wands and raised their vigilance.
Magorian stood still, and looked eccentrically at Ron, who had fallen to the ground.
He looked hesitant, but did not intervene.
"Adentro.... inside...those statues are all monsters," Ron said shakily, pointing to the dark room half-hidden by the stone door ahead.
"Monsters?" Sirius eyed him suspiciously, then turned his eyes back to Ivan.
Ivan nodded and motioned for Sirius to be ready. Then he quickly waved his wand, and a yellowish light the size of an egg flew out of its tip, and moved forward, striking the stone door before him instantly in the darkened room.
The next second, the glow of the light illuminated the entire room.
Everyone took a step forward. When they saw what was inside, they couldn't help but gasp.
They looked very surprised and couldn't help but take a few steps back.
"This, what the hell is this?" said Harry in surprise.
Unexpectedly, in this old narrow room, there were many statues of strange creatures. They were all the same. They looked strange and hard to describe. They were hideous creatures like deformed insects, about five feet long.
Their bodies were blue-grayish rock, occasionally revealing pinkish hues.
Most striking were the huge crustacean-like bodies, with several pairs of giant dorsal fins or slender wing organs, six arthropod clusters.
What was spooky was that there was a complex green ellipsoid covered with a large number of short tentacles where the head was supposed to be.
Underneath the tentacles were all the holes in the head and orbit. The muscular membranes above were like the eyes of a fly that had been magnified countless times; extremely repulsive.
Looking carefully, they could see through the cyan tape that the inside of the monster's head was a gray fleshy core.
It was like a huge tumor that mutated out of nowhere.
With their breathing, the tumors seemed to shake, but when they looked carefully, it was just an illusion.
These statues looked shocking. They looked as if they had not moved for centuries. They were covered in thick dust, but they were still alive.
In fact, they seemed all too real, as if they were alive.
Ivan thought of the people who had been petrified by the Basilisk last year. These statues looked just like them. He couldn't help but think, `they're all alive, just petrified.'
That wasn't a good thought, but obviously it wasn't just Ivan who thought it. The faces of the others were equally grim, and Hermione involuntarily moved closer to Ivan.
Holding her cold little hand, Ivan felt her inner turmoil and tension.
Imagine, in the ancient, mysterious, dark Temple of the Centaurs, the small, dark, unknown rooms were filled with statues of such evil monsters. What kind of a feeling would it be if these nightmarish things suddenly appeared in front of you?
It was horrible to the extreme. No wonder someone was so shocked.
After his extreme shock, Ivan was glad that they were statues and not living monsters.
Otherwise, the consequences would have been absolutely unimaginable.
He gasped, wondering what they were. He had never seen anything like that in any magical book - was it the magical creation of an evil dark wizard?
Sirius was also very surprised, apparently learning about them for the first time. He turned around to hide Ivan, Harry, Ron and Hermione as fast as he could, pointed his wand at Magorian in front of him and asked, "What are these statues over there?"
"You know that our ancestors believed in an evil god, who drove powerful tribes into madness and destruction. These monsters were left behind by those exiles who went astray at that time" Magorian said slowly, and his voice was much slower than usual. "When it was at its height, the centaur colony was beyond your imagination. What you see now is only a small part of it."
"Only a small part?" Ivan looked at the ancient wall and saw dozens of rooms in front of him. If only they were filled with such monsters.....
Then he thought again that what he saw was only a part of it.
This Temple was much larger than he had imagined. No one could guarantee how many hidden rooms there were or how many such monsters remained.
And since it was created by the so-called evil god, would there be only one type of monster, or would there be other types?
"I don't care if they are banished or not. Since you still have these things, you should be responsible." Sirius was determined and didn't put down his wand, "I need an explanation; otherwise, I won't let the children behind me take any more risks."
"Unlike humans, we will never shirk our responsibilities!" shouted Magorian. "If any of you can pass the final test and obtain the magic item left by the Founder of the castle, then he is the one chosen by the stars. The old man will explain it to you and give you all the details."
"We won't go any further until you've made everything clear..." Sirius roared and answered him as loudly as he could.
His face was blue and his wand was still glowing brightly.
"As you wish, Sirius, you are not the one chosen by the stars and fate. You have been tested twenty years ago." Magorian said fearlessly, his eyes sweeping slowly over Ivan, Harry, Ron and Hermione. "As for you four, either you go ahead and learn the truth through the test, or you go back and reject the friendship of the centaurs, and leave our Forbidden Forest forever. It's your choice, humans."
Ivan, Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at each other, wondering how to answer him.
Sirius, standing in front of them, gasped violently, seeming to want to rush up and fight him.
Ignoring Sirius' eyes, Magorian went upstairs and closed the open stone door, then took a few steps forward and stopped.
He turned around and looked at the four of them proudly, waiting for everyone's decision.