Chapter 304: In Aragog's Lair

Whatever it was, it had been influencing Ivan through the use of Black Magic, affecting his mind.

As had been said, this unknown creature was awakened the last time Ivan appeared on this hillside and killed countless Acromantulas with fire.

It swallowed the souls of these dead Acromantulas, cast a black magic with the newly recovered power, and marked Ivan's soul. He hoped that Ivan's soul would degenerate, because only then could he engulf and dominate it.

It was also a simple way to make Ivan feel frightened and make him afraid.

Only with endless fear would the mind reveal a weakness and give him a chance.

Ivan remembered the dream he saw last night, those terrible illusions that had vanished and were recovered when his will completely defeated his opponent, and the memories that had disappeared before were immediately recovered.

It was under the influence of those dreams that he had always been unconsciously afraid of this cave. He was afraid to go into it, afraid of those cold, emotionless, red eyes behind the stone door.

This ancient unknown being, hidden deep within the earth, whose evil purpose had prevailed, affected Ivan through fear, reaching into the depths of his soul.

As long as his black magic remained intact, it would be imperceptible all the time and succeed in changing Ivan's character.

Just like now, Ivan did not save Malfoy out of fear of the Acromantulas. This seemingly beneficial and wise decision, in fact, was totally contrary to Ivan's nature and mentality. As a result, his soul had become unstable.

That voice seized the opportunity and continued to lure Ivan.

It waited for the gap in his soul to grow larger and larger until he was completely open to its manipulation.

Like Tom Riddle's diary, that as long as someone communicated with him, the fragments of Voldemort's soul lurking within could affect the user through temptation and magic, and gradually make him gain confidence in it until he dedicated his life to it.

Although the method was different, the principles were the same. But the magic used by the voice was more subtle and strange, and no one could notice anything wrong apart from Ivan himself.

Even Dumbledore, without a thorough examination, would not be able to discover that Ivan had been a victim of Black Magic.

But all his actions were normal, and naturally there was no need to examine them.

Ivan's mind recalled the descriptions he had seen in various books of ancient magic, and he had some guesses as to the identity of the existence hidden deep underground.

However, he was not sure.

The power of a creature that used dark magic was beyond his ability. Ivan did not know how he could break his opponent's magic. Just now, the whisper still echoed in his mind, and he was about to give up completely.

But at the last moment, after something broke inside him, the voice inexplicably disappeared, and everything returned to normal.

Ivan knew that he had completely defeated his opponent. Now, he could feel the weakness of this guy hiding underground, the powerful black magic had consumed the strength he had just regained, he was nothing anymore.

He couldn't even get out of this cave, much less fight Ivan.

Ivan was coming in with a completely different mood. Right now, he was going deep into the cave to see what this being was, and save Malfoy while he was at it.

As for Aragog and the Acromantulas, they were now out of Ivan's sight.

By solving this problem, the Acromantulas that had suffered great losses would return to normal, and the Forbidden Forest could restore its former balance, which could satisfy the needs of the centaurs.

"Mason, come on, it's sinister around here." Urged Crabbe anxiously. "Let's go back and tell the professors to come save Draco."

"There's not enough time, go back and tell the others, I'll go in and save Malfoy." Ivan patted Buckbeak on the head and signaled him back to the castle in front of him.

"What!" Goyle and Crabbe looked at Ivan in surprise, their eyes wide, their faces very strange, and there was a trace of disbelief in their expression.

It was strange that Ivan wanted to go into this cave to save Malfoy, when he was about to leave.

No matter what it looked like, going into this cave was simply seeking death.

Whatever Goyle and Crabbe thought, Ivan no longer spoke to the two guys.

He raised his wand and walked carefully down the gentle slope before him.

"Lumos Maxima!" His voice echoed through the cave.

Under the light from the end of his wand, he stepped into Aragog's lair.

The cave is not as cold as he had imagined, and the gusts of warm wind blowing from deep in the earth dispelled the cold and made it very dry.

In the endless darkness, only Ivan's wand glowed dimly.

He advanced cautiously down the gentle slope, which became gentler until it flattened out. There was nothing around, no Acromantulas, no remains of prey captured by them. The cave was quiet, silent to a suffocating level.

Ivan looked closely around and didn't dare to be the least bit careless.

It appeared to be a naturally formed subway cave. Walking forward for about three minutes, forks and cracks began to appear in the surrounding walls. They were of different sizes.

Click, click, click, click, click...

The great clicks of the Acromantulas began to sound in the darkness. It seemed that they had finally discovered Ivan, the intruder, and a spider began to emerge from the crack.

Without hesitation, he waved his pincers and hurried closer.

Ivan's wand glowed. He did not retreat to defend himself, but stepped forward. He had to hurry to find Malfoy.

Fire was certainly the best way to deal with large numbers of Acromantulas.

There was nothing to burn, but Ivan got away with it.

He used Transfiguration to shift the rocky peaks of the cave, and a stone man staggered to his feet. Then, with another Growth Charm, the Stone Giant quickly grew larger, as tall as the top of the cave, and the entire ground shook.

Although this golem had no attack power, since it was made of hard rock, it had a strong defense. As it got bigger, it was able to block the passage and stop the Acromantulas that were constantly piercing the wall, preventing them from touching Ivan.

The clicks were dense enough to numb the scalp, and the Acromantulas desperately attacked the Stone Giant, leaving him only scratches.

Ivan didn't care about them and continued walking deeper into the cave.

He was becoming more and more certain of his first hunch; Malfoy should have been taken with Aragog.

Although Ivan didn't know exactly where Aragog was, he wouldn't be wrong if he followed the direction where the hot air was coming from.

With Aragog's enormous size, it would be hard to miss.