Chapter 14: It says its name is Nagini

Tom had just finished speaking when Wade felt the ground suddenly become unstable...

It was clear that the ground was about to collapse!

At the very moment the ground began to collapse, Wade swiftly moved his hands through a simple gesture and silently recited a spell that he had learned from the book.

"Seismic Halt!"

Boom!

The entire living room floor cracked in half, as if it were broken like a piece of chocolate, instantly splitting in two!

Wade and Tom both fell through the crack!

Fortunately, Wade's seismic spell was cast just in time, so neither of them broke their legs from the fall.

"Ah! What just happened!? Ugh! It stinks so much!" Tom roared angrily.

Then Tom couldn't speak anymore, as the foul stench hit him, choking him and making it difficult to breathe, let alone curse.

Wade covered his nose and looked around. The dust from the collapsed floor was slowly dissipating.

The faint light from above illuminated the surroundings just a little, but farther away, it was still pitch black.

However, this was enough for Wade to realize where they were. They had fallen into the sewers!

"Colligite caeli!"

Wade muttered the incantation and cast a bubble-head charm on both himself and Tom. Transparent bubbles appeared over their heads, successfully blocking out the foul stench from the sewers.

Tom, surprised, touched the transparent bubble on his head and looked at Wade with a complicated expression.

"Is this another one of your made-up spells?" Tom's voice sounded muffled from within the bubble, giving it a hollow tone.

"Now's not the time for that, Tom..." Wade said, keeping a wary eye on the surroundings.

Tom closed his mouth and remained silent.

On one hand, Wade's ability to create his own spells made him feel defeated and unwilling to speak.

On the other hand, they were both in danger...

Anyone, or anything, capable of collapsing the ground like that was definitely not something easy to deal with!

Rustle, rustle, rustle~~~

Amidst the swirling dust, a strange sound suddenly echoed.

Feeling extremely uneasy, Tom couldn't help but speak up, "Maybe we should hurry and run..."

Swoosh!

However, before he could finish his sentence, a massive snake's head suddenly shot out of the dark shadow ahead!

The grotesque snake's head opened its enormous mouth, its sharp fangs clearly visible, and lunged toward Tom's head with a terrifying snap!

Caught off guard, Tom was frozen in fear, his legs like they were cast in iron, unable to move an inch.

He could only watch helplessly as the snake's head lunged toward him.

"Protego!" 

Bang!

The grotesque snake's head was suddenly forced back half a meter by Wade's blocking spell!

"Tom! Stop standing there like an idiot! Say something!" Wade shouted loudly.

"Huh? Say... say what?"

Just moments ago, Tom had nearly lost his life from the snake's attack, and now he had temporarily lost the ability to think.

So, he completely failed to react to Wade's words… After all, he was just a child.

At that moment, the giant snake shook its head and charged again.

Bang!

Another obstacle spell struck the snake's head, forcing it back once more.

"Tom! Talk to it!" Wade shouted as he cast a petrification spell.

But the usually successful petrification spell, when cast on the giant snake, was deflected by its dark green scales…

However, with the extra time from the deflection, Tom finally snapped out of his stupor.

"Hissss..." Tom activated his Parseltongue ability once again.

Parseltongue had a controlling effect on serpents, and sure enough, it worked this time.

The giant snake, upon hearing Tom's words, indeed stopped its attack.

However, even though it didn't continue its assault, it still tilted its head and kept observing the two human children in front of it.

"What did it say to you?" Wade asked, keeping a wary eye on the snake as he turned to Tom.

"It..." Tom furrowed his brows. "It didn't say anything!"

"Then what did you say?"

"I... I commanded it to leave! But it isn't!!"

At this moment, the giant snake, flicking its massive tongue, was quietly staring at them.

"I think... maybe we should leave first," Wade suggested.

"I agree," Tom said for the first time, fully agreeing with Wade's suggestion. "But... why didn't it follow the command?"

"Maybe you're still too weak now. Would you listen to someone weaker than you?"

Although Wade's words were blunt and struck a blow to Tom's young pride, he had no intention of dwelling on it further at this moment.

As the two were trying to figure out how to leave the area.

"Hiss~!"

The giant snake suddenly launched another attack!

Wade cast another obstacle curse at its head, but this time, the effect was much weaker than before.

It only knocked the snake's head slightly off course, and its sharp fangs scraped against Wade's shoulder, biting into the ground!

Tom, his face pale, again used Parseltongue to command the snake. "Hiss, hiss, hiss! (I command you to retreat!)"

A trace of mockery flashed in the snake's eyes. It raised its head, seemingly preparing to launch a second attack.

Wade's heart sank. In such a narrow place like the sewer, there was no way to escape from such a giant snake.

It seemed that only the option of either fighting to the death or breaking the net remained...

However, this giant snake's magic resistance seemed absurdly high! Not to mention the lack of a wand!

Wade was ready to fight with all his might.

He had no choice; his time learning magic was still too short. If he had just one more week to study, he wouldn't have been forced into a situation where he had to fight for his life!

At that moment, the giant snake suddenly stopped moving, then began shaking violently!

"Hiss…"

Seeing the snake in front of them suddenly thrashing around, desperately hissing as if possessed, Tom looked at Wade in confusion.

"Did you do this?"

"If I had that ability, would I still need to run away? Stop asking!"

"Let's go now! As long as we get to the surface, we'll be safe!"

"Wait!" Suddenly, Tom grabbed Wade and turned to look at the giant snake, his face full of shock.

"What's wrong?"

"It... it spoke!"

"It spoke? What did it say?"

Wade furrowed his brow. The snake must have said something that shocked Tom, otherwise, Tom—who valued his life so much—wouldn't have stopped like this.

"It says... we should run quickly! It has temporarily controlled itself..." Tom looked at Wade in confusion.

Wade turned his head to look at the giant snake. Indeed, the snake's trembling body had stabilized, but its eyes had become much clearer, completely devoid of the ferocity from before...

"Tom... ask it what its name is," Wade said, looking at the snake thoughtfully.

Tom gave Wade a strange look but still did as he was told.

A moment later, Tom said, "It says its name is Nagini..."