Chapter 346: The Key to the Secret Treasure of Gryffindor

"What's that red balloon?" asked Hermione.

"No doubt it's the magical object left behind by Gryffindor." Sirius replied, "That's the Secret Treasure Key you've been talking about."

"How is that possible?" Ron's eyes widened and he said incredulously, "That place is almost a thousand feet off the ground. How can we get up there?"

Carried by the evening wind, a thick dark cloud slowly approached from the distance.

A few seconds later, the platform at the top of the temple was completely submerged in darkness, and the starlight was blocked by the clouds, even the moon could not be seen.

In the darkness, only the soft red light above the Temple and the exceptionally bright Mars in the distant night sky could shed some light, bringing a ray of light into the world.

No one spoke; the atmosphere was tense and depressing.

Harry's heart was pounding so hard. Staring at the red light, he suddenly thought of the monsters hiding in the Temple.

He seemed to hear their voices; they were asking for flesh and bones....

As the dark cloud drifted past and the stars returned, everyone was secretly relieved.

"Gryffindor left the object this high..." Harry tried to calm his mood and held out his hand before continuing. "If I use a broomstick, I can fly. There shouldn't be any problem."

"The premise is that the centaurs will allow us to do this." Hermione was still looking for Ivan's location. "This is the centaur colony, not Hogwarts."

"If I don't use a broomstick, how do I get up there?" asked Harry. "Or maybe, on the Hippogriff, Buckbeak, you can fly there..."

"This is all out of the question." Sirius pointed to the red glow in the clouds, explaining, "No flying magic or flying creatures are allowed above this Temple. There are only two ways to get there. Either it could be transmitted through the final test left by Gryffindor, or up the stairs below."

Looking at the huge, dim silhouette of the statue in the distance, Harry grunted.

Climbing the stairs exposed to the clouds sounded absolutely horrifying. It couldn't be done at all.

In fact, the only way to get the item was to pass the final test.

...

Ivan slowly followed Magorian. Under the starlight, he felt as if he had arrived in a fairytale world. Before that, he had never seen anything more beautiful than here.

Everything was like a dream. Under the many bright stars, the torchlight in Magorian's hand paled in comparison, becoming insignificant.

The faint magic slipped away, and Ivan was eager to catch the traces of magic. He concentrated and found that the energy emitted by the stars was being absorbed by the magical array carved into the Temple platform, and they were all converging to the central position through a complex pattern.

In front of Ivan, there was a huge statue silhouette rising into the clouds.

Following the faint magic, Ivan realized that they all converged into a glowing red entity at the top.

Undoubtedly, that was the key to the Secret Treasure of Gryffindor.

There he felt an unprecedented magical power.

Ivan stopped suddenly. This power was too strong, and beyond anything he had imagined. He had only ever felt comparable magic from Dumbledore.

This was the Treasure Key of Gryffindor, the Power of Legendary Magical Items!

Moving excitedly forward, the faint statue in the night became clearer and clearer. Ivan thought that was originally part of the Temple, but it wasn't the case....

It was a statue of a centaur warrior, whose tall body stretched up to the clouds.

He had a bow and arrow in his hand, and there were many strange ornaments on his body that looked like planets. It looked very strange.

Strange as it was, the statue was barely comprehensible.

The centaurs valued the predictions of the stars. Perhaps they wanted to exaggerate the significance of the planets revolving around their species by putting this statue in this place.

What Ivan could not accept was that the statue split down the middle, and appeared to be naturally worn and cracked.

But the cracks were not smooth, and it looked like there was something else hidden inside, about to come out of the centaur's body.

There were other monsters in the centaur's body, would he see those horrible monsters down below?!

It was so terrifying that Ivan didn't look at the Gryffindor Treasure Key, which glowed red on top of the statue, but kept looking at the crack.

There, he saw a huge purple tentacle....

"What is that?" Ivan couldn't help but ask, feeling increasingly uncomfortable.

"A thousand years ago, it was the most sacred Temple of the Centaurs, enshrining the spirits of the wisest elders and mightiest warriors of the colony."

As if answering Ivan's question, an old voice slowly echoed, "Centuries ago, this place became an evil place to worship an evil god. The ancestors of the centaurs and countless stars were acquired by the evil god. He claimed to be the God of the Forest and spoke to us in the void."

A very old centaur slowly emerged from the darkness under the statue, with a long beard that could be dragged to the ground and deep wrinkles on his face.

"Now, this statue is just a soulless stone, and it is of no importance." He approached Ivan with Magorian's help and said quietly, "That evil god desecrated the most sacred place for centaurs. Although he and his followers were finally defeated by our ancestors, we could not destroy his statue by all means. We could only change his form..."

Hearing this, Ivan knew why he had always felt that the statue looked so strange.

It turned out that they had rebuilt a statue of a centaur out of that of an evil god, but the essence remained unchanged.

"Human, you defeated the Acromantulas and earned the recognition and friendship of the Centaurs." The old man said slowly, "According to the ancient agreement, you may try to meet the last challenge of the Founder of the castle. If you pass, you can take what he left behind."

Ivan nodded. He had known that a long time ago.

"Unlike humans, centaurs have their own principles and methods." The old man turned with difficulty and looked at the red halo above. "This magical object with powerful magic is not complete. It had been destroyed by the followers of the evil god and they took a part of it. If you are the chosen one who appears in the stars, we will send the strongest warriors to help you get that part back..."

Ivan had a bitter smile on his lips and didn't know how to answer her.

He should thank him for his help, but he couldn't be happy with the idea of facing the evil god.

As Sirius said, it was all the problem of the centaurs themselves.

Now, thanks to Gryffindor's Secret Treasure Key, they passed it entirely to him.

What good were a few strong centaurs compared to a very dangerous and unknown evil god?

But Ivan had no way to refuse. To get the Key, he had to face the challenge.

Perhaps this was the last challenge the Gryffindor himself had left behind, not this illusory challenge!