Nagini

The moment Tom finished speaking, Li Weide felt the ground turn unsteady beneath his feet...

Clearly, the floor was about to collapse!

At the very instant the ground gave way, Li Weide rapidly moved his hands through a simple gesture and silently recited an incantation.

"Shock Absorption Speed Reduction!"

"Boom!"

The entire living room floor snapped in half and collapsed instantly, like a bar of chocolate violently broken apart!

Tom and Li Weide fell straight through the crack! Fortunately, Li Weide had cast the Cushioning Charm in time, so neither of them broke their legs in the fall.

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

Then Tom could no longer speak, because the foul smell rushing at him choked him so badly that he could barely breathe, much less curse.

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

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

Still, it was enough for Li Weide to realize where they were. They had actually fallen into a sewer! "Gathering Air Above!"

Li Weide silently recited the spell and cast a Bubblehead Charm on both himself and Tom. Two transparent bubbles covered their heads, successfully blocking out the stench of the sewers.

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

"Was this another spell you guessed your way into?" Tom's voice came from inside the Bubblehead Charm, muffled and stuffy.

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

Tom shut his mouth and said nothing more.

On one hand, Li Weide's ability to develop 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 so easily collapse a floor, whether human or something else, was definitely not something easy to deal with!

"Rustle, rustle, rustle..."

Amid the dust filling the air, a strange sound suddenly rang out.

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

Before he could finish, however, a huge snake head suddenly shot out from the darkness ahead!

The savage snake head opened its bloody jaws, its sharp fangs clearly visible as it lunged straight for Tom's head! Caught off guard, Tom was terrified stiff. His legs seemed cast from iron, rooted firmly in place, unable to move at all.

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

"Obstacles Galore!"

"Bang!"

Li Weide's Obstacle Jinx knocked the savage snake head half a meter back! "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 react to Li Weide's words at all...

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

"Bang!"

Another Obstacle Jinx struck its head, knocking it back once more.

"Tom! Talk to it!"

Li Weide shouted as he cast a Petrification Charm.

But the Petrification Charm that had always worked so well struck the giant snake and was deflected by its dark green scales...

Still, that brief delay was enough for Tom to finally come back to his senses.

"Hiss, hiss, hiss..." Tom used Parseltongue again.

Parseltongue had a controlling effect on snakes, and this time, it indeed worked.

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

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

"What did it say to you?" Li Weide asked, watching the snake warily.

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

"Then what did you say?"

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

The giant snake flicked its enormous tongue as it stared silently at them.

"I think... 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 right now. Would you obey the commands of someone weaker than you?"

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

Just as the two were considering how to get out of there—

"Hiss!"

The giant snake attacked again! Li Weide struck its head with another Obstacle Jinx, but this time, the effect was much weaker than before.

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

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

A hint of mockery flashed through the giant snake's eyes. It raised its head, seemingly preparing to attack a second time.

Li Weide's heart sank. In a narrow 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: fight to the death...

But this giant snake's magical resistance 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 its entire body began trembling violently!

"Hiss..."

Watching the giant snake suddenly howl like it had gone mad, Tom looked at Li Weide in confusion.

"Did you do this too?"

"If I had that kind of ability, would we need to run?! Stop talking! While we have the chance, let's go! As long as we get back to the surface, we'll be safe!"

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

"What is it?"

"It... it spoke!"

"What did it say?"

Li Weide frowned. The snake must have said something deeply shocking to Tom, otherwise Tom, who treasured his life so much, would never have stopped.

"It said... we should run quickly! It's 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 had become much clearer, completely devoid of 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 did as he was told.

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