Nagini

Tom had barely finished speaking when Li Weide felt the ground beneath them turn unstable...

Clearly, the floor was about to collapse!

At the instant the ground gave way, Li Weide swiftly traced a simple gesture with both hands and silently recited the incantation.

"Cushioning Charm!"

"Boom!"

The entire living room floor collapsed in two as though a bar of chocolate had been violently snapped in half!

Tom and Li Weide fell straight through the crack!

Fortunately, Li Weide had cast the Dampening Charm in time, so neither of them broke a leg in the fall.

"Ah! What the hell happened? It stinks!" Tom roared furiously.

Then Tom could no longer speak, because the stench rushing into his face choked him so badly that even breathing became difficult, let alone cursing.

Covering his nose, Li Weide looked around as the dust kicked up by the collapsing floor gradually settled.

The faint light shining down from above illuminated the area a little, but farther away, everything remained pitch-black.

Still, it was enough for Li Weide to realize where they were. They had actually fallen into the sewers!

"Bubble-Head Charm!"

Li Weide silently recited the spell and cast a Bubble-Head Charm on both himself and Tom. Two transparent bubbles enveloped their heads, successfully blocking out the sewer stench.

Tom touched the transparent bubble over his head in surprise, then gave Li Weide a complicated look.

"Is this another spell you guessed your way into?" Tom's voice came through the Bubble-Head Charm, muffled and hollow.

"Now isn't the time for that, Tom..." Li Weide watched their surroundings warily.

Tom shut his mouth and said nothing more.

On one hand, Li Weide's ability to research magic on his own made him feel deeply frustrated, and he did not feel like talking.

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

Whatever could make the floor collapse so easily, whether human or something else, was definitely not something easy to deal with!

"Rustle... rustle... rustle..."

A strange sound suddenly came from within the clouds of dust.

Overwhelmed by unease, Tom could not help saying, "Maybe we should hurry up and run..."

However, before he could finish, an enormous snake head shot out of the darkness ahead!

The ferocious head opened its bloody maw, its sharp fangs clearly visible as it lunged straight for Tom's head!

Caught off guard, Tom was terrified senseless. His legs seemed cast in iron, rooted to the spot so firmly that he could not move at all.

He could only watch helplessly as the snake head bit toward him.

"Impediment Jinx!"

"Bang!"

The ferocious snake head was blasted half a meter back by Li Weide's Obstacle Charm!

"Tom! Don't just stand there like an idiot! Say something!" Li Weide shouted.

"Huh? Say... say what?"

Having just been attacked by the giant snake and nearly lost his life, Tom had temporarily lost the ability to think.

He could not process Li Weide's words at all...

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

"Bang!"

Another Obstacle Charm struck its head and knocked it back once more.

"Tom! Talk to it!"

As Li Weide shouted, he cast a Petrificus Totalus.

But the Petrificus Totalus that had never failed him before bounced off the giant snake's dark green scales...

Still, that brief delay gave Tom enough time to snap out of it.

"Hiss hiss hiss..." Tom activated his Parselmouth ability once again.

Parselmouth had a controlling effect on snakes, and this time, it really worked.

After hearing Tom speak, the giant snake indeed stopped attacking.

However, though it did not continue its attack, it kept its head tilted as it watched the two human children before it.

"What did it say to you?" Li Weide asked, keeping a wary eye on the snake.

"It..." Tom frowned. "It didn't say anything!"

"Then what did you say?"

"I... I ordered it to leave!"

The giant snake flicked its huge tongue, silently staring at them.

"I think... maybe we should leave first..." Li Weide said.

"I agree." For the first time, Tom agreed with Li Weide's suggestion so readily. "But... why didn't it obey my command?"

"Maybe you're still too weak. Would you obey the orders of someone weaker than you?"

Li Weide's blunt words dealt a heavy blow to Tom's young heart, but he had no mind to dwell on it now.

Just as they were figuring out how to leave...

"Hiss!"

The giant snake attacked again!

Li Weide hit its head with another Obstacle Charm, but this time, the effect was far worse than before.

It only knocked the snake's head slightly aside. Its sharp fangs grazed Li Weide's shoulder as they bit into the ground!

Tom's face went pale as he once again commanded the giant snake in Parselmouth. "Hiss hiss hiss! (I order you to retreat!)"

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

Li Weide's heart sank. In a cramped place like the sewers, there was no way they could escape from a giant snake like this.

It seemed there was only one path left—to fight to the death...

But this giant snake's resistance to magic seemed absurdly high!

Li Weide was already prepared to risk his life.

There was no helping it. He had studied magic for far too short a time. If only he had been given another week to learn, he would not have been forced into such a desperate situation!

Just then, the giant snake suddenly froze, then began trembling violently all over!

"Hiss..."

Watching the giant snake before them suddenly thrash and hiss as though possessed, Tom looked at Li Weide in bewilderment.

"Was this your doing too?"

"If I had that kind of ability, would I need to run? Stop talking! Let's go while we can. Once we get above ground, we'll be safe!"

"Wait!" Tom suddenly grabbed Li Weide and turned toward the giant snake, his face filled with shock.

"What is it?"

"It... it spoke!"

"What did it say?"

Li Weide furrowed his brows. The snake must have said something that shocked Tom greatly, or Tom, who valued his life so much, would never have stopped.

"It said... we need to run quickly! It's only temporarily managed to control itself..." Tom looked at Li Weide in confusion.

Li Weide turned to look at the giant snake. Sure enough, its trembling body had steadied, and its eyes were much clearer now, entirely lacking the viciousness from before...

"Tom... ask it what its name is." Li Weide looked at the giant snake thoughtfully.

Tom gave Li Weide a strange look, but he did as he was told.

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