Though I Backstabbed My Teammate, I'm a Pure Basilisk!

Damn it... Without time to deal with Gormlaith, Sean immediately fled down the corridor, gripping the Phoenix Tail tightly and channeling his magic into it.

Although this strange Basilisk appears friendly, it would probably turn into a murderous monster in front of the Parseltongue!

Something unexpected happened to Sean: Phoenix didn't appear!

He stared wide-eyed in disbelief. This couldn't be right!

The Phoenix has the ability to teleport; if it summons him, the target can arrive in an instant!

The Basilisk had completely retracted into its body, and Sean could even hear the sharp sound of its hard scales scraping against the stone floor.

Dave sensed Sean's emotions. Its once dark, round eyes turned scarlet again, and the red cracks on its tail, resembling a mesh, began to glow red.

"Don't open your eyes! Use your instincts to keep watch!" Sean shouted, and then his left hand turned into black particles, Obscurus dark power surged wildly!

Sean closed his eyes tightly, gripped his wand in his right hand, and without any hesitation, unleashed the Killing Curse at the only entrance.

Avada Kedavra!

His killing intent was at its peak, and the terrifying green light shot out without the slightest pause.

Sean heard the explosion of his Killing Curse hitting the wall, but he didn't dare open his eyes to aim, and fired another Killing Curse.

Still no hit on the target, only the sound of an explosion. The Basilisk did not seem to attack Sean immediately.

What's going on... Does this thing even know to avoid direct confrontation?

Gormlaith's maniacal laughter rang out. "Hahaha! You filthy Mudblood! You dare to lay a finger on Lord Slytherin's treasures?"

"You will die here, and no one will even be there to collect your body!"

However, something unexpected happened to Sean.

"You!"

After a scream, Gormlaith's sharp, piercing laughter abruptly stopped, and there was no further sound from the Stone Chamber. All that could be heard in Sean's ears was Dave's rapid, low breathing.

A series of events unfolded in a short span of time, leaving even Sean completely bewildered.

At that moment, a low hissing sound rang out; it was the Basilisk's voice.

Sean still held his wand, but he noticed something strange: after Gormlaith's voice disappeared, the High-Precision Sneakoscope that had been glowing and spinning stopped.

That Basilisk really meant no harm? Sean's mouth dropped open in astonishment.

His Parseltongue was only slightly improved; this language magic automatically translated the snake language into words Sean could understand, like having an instant translation device installed in his brain. However, he could only understand two words.

"... The Parseltongue... safe..."

Seeing that he did not react, the Basilisk let out a brief hissing sound.

"...go back..."

Immediately afterwards, the sound of scales scraping against the ground echoed in the Stone Chamber again. Dave, who was standing to the side, calmed down, and even his scarlet round eyes turned back to black.

"It conveys the same meaning as before." Dave scratched his bony head with his paw, making a screeching sound.

"What does that mean... Huh? It went back inside?"

That's what I mean.

After conveying his thoughts, Dave even boldly stuck half his head out and then told Sean about the situation.

"It went back inside, and that brainless woman turned black."

Upon hearing this news, Sean opened his eyes. He poked half his head out, just like Dave had done, and was surprised to find that, just as Dave had seen, the Basilisk had shoved its front half back into the water.

Just moments ago, a dark figure fell to the ground and floated in mid-air, just like Edmund was petrified that day.

Gormlaith was stared at directly by the Basilisk!

Sean stared incredulously at the Basilisk —could there really be snakes in this world that weren't controlled by the Parseltongue?

The Basilisk had just turned around at lightning speed, collapsing several nearby shelves, but otherwise it had not caused any damage.

Sean even had a ridiculous feeling— the Basilisk was shrinking back so quickly not to attack him, but to attack Gormlaith who was speaking in the Parseltongue.

"This is a ghost..."

For the first time, Sean felt the world was so surreal.

Not only did he fail to summon the Phoenix, but the Basilisk, which should have been controlled by the Parseltongue and become his enemy, instead became the 'bane of evil'...

Wait a minute... Sean remembered that just over ten minutes ago, he had learned a few passages of the Parseltongue recorded in Ales's diary, and he had even pronounced the syllables correctly, but the Basilisk hadn't attacked him then.

Why? Was it because it didn't die after being stared at, or because of its extremely high Magical Creature Affinity?

Sean looked at the emerald green snake and a strange feeling suddenly rose in his heart.

His intuition was always accurate when facing Magical Creatures, and now, his intuition told him that this Basilisk was very friendly to him.

Sean's lips twitched slightly. The Basilisk friendly as to help others fight against the descendants of Slytherin... Salazar Slytherin would probably be so angry he'd come back to life if he heard this...

He hesitated for a moment, then finally pulled out Ales's diary. Sean felt he wouldn't be able to sleep well again until he figured out what was going on today.

After spending more than two hours, Sean's proficiency in Parseltongue had reached 1500/10000. He could clearly feel that the learning difficulty had increased significantly, and his proficiency, which had been soaring at the beginning, had gradually stagnated.

"However, although he can't say many words, he should be able to understand the basic meaning..." Sean muttered a few words, then gestured to Dave.

He wanted to hear what the Basilisk had to say.

Dave flew above the Basilisk and poked it with his claws, communicating with its animal instincts.

Sean then hid in the corridor once again.

This time, the Basilisk moved much slower. It obediently shrank back and closed its orange-yellow eyes tightly.

"Hiss..."

"Hiss..."

"Hiss..."

This time, Sean finally managed to understand the Basilisk's meaning, albeit with some difficulty.

"I just attacked that Parseltongue, you're safe now."

"I think I understand what you're thinking, but I won't attack you."

"After I was born, I received orders from my master that if any Parseltongue enter the Stone Chamber, I can attack them."

Sean: "..."

"..."

"What the heck?"

Did the Basilisk receive instructions from its master to attack the Parseltongue?!

The creature in front of them was clearly highly intelligent; it could even understand Sean's concerns.

"Although you can do it a little, you are not Parseltongue — Parseltongue don't have a pleasant scent, not even their masters."

A pleasant smell? Sean touched his cheek, which was still stained with blood. Coupled with not having showered for a week, Sean felt like a moldy pie.

Is Magical Creature Affinity? His three pets often describe him as 'smelling good'.

"Who is your master?" Sean stammered, hissing.

"I don't know his name, but he raised me. By the way, his voice sounds a lot like the voice I heard earlier."

The sound just now, wasn't that a projection of Slytherin?

Slytherin sent the Basilisk to attack the Parseltongue? Sean's mind went blank for a moment.

That's unrealistic... Could it be that Slytherin secretly returned to Hogwarts and went insane?

Or perhaps the Basilisk's owner wasn't Slytherin at all, but someone else in disguise, with the sole purpose of completely sealing off the secrets of this Stone Chamber.

The secret... Sean looked toward the Pensieve.

"Has that hidden room ever been opened?"

"Yes," the Basilisk replied.

"Who?"

"I."

"You?"

"Yes," the Basilisk nodded cheerfully, "In order to hide those three people."

Those three skeletons?

Sean pressed, "Why?"

"This is what my master taught me: hide the corpse so that the newcomers will lower their guard, which will make it easier for me to launch a sneak attack."

Sean froze on the spot. He hadn't expected that the skeleton in that compartment was actually moved there by the Basilisk.

"The master said that the body could not be thrown into the lake because the creatures at the bottom of the lake would tell on us, so we could only hide it there."

"So, you killed all three of them, and no one else came in after that?"

"Yes, only these three people came in, and then no one came for a very long time, until you came in—I'm sorry about that day, I was like a snake staying here the whole time, and I forgot to close my eyes."

After a hesitant conversation with the Basilisk, Sean learned that after the Basilisk hatched naturally, Slytherin, or rather, someone disguised as Slytherin, returned to raise it, gave it an order, and then never came back.

For so many years, the Basilisk had stayed in the Stone Chamber by itself. It didn't even know that there was another one of its kind in the castle. This fellow usually only went out to hunt fish in a small area. He would sleep when he was hungry, and go out to hunt when he was too hungry to sleep.

And so, the Basilisk lived alone for so many years, and apart from those three unlucky guys, it never met anyone else until Sean entered the Stone Chamber.

The place where Slytherin hid his treasure became the Basilisk's hiding place.

What a magical story...

The Basilisk in front of him was already smarter than Dave (in fact, Sean thought it was even smarter than Crabbe and Goyle), but because he had always lived alone, he was actually quite simple-minded.

Yes, although it sounds strange, Sean could sense that this Basilisk, who almost killed him, was actually quite simple-minded...

Sean thinks that if he were to write a book called "Days and Nights with a Basilisk," it would definitely be a huge hit!

However, the current news has confirmed another thing for Sean: the Pensieve is actually not dangerous.

According to the Basilisk, the box had never been opened except when it crawled out of the box itself.

When Sean asked if he could take the treasure, the Basilisk replied, "Whatever makes you happy."

Its only orders were to attack the Parseltongue and guard the treasure? Those don't exist—the master never said that anyway.

This piqued Sean's curiosity, and he took out the High-Precision Sneakoscope.

First up is Gormlaith, who is close to the petrified statue; the ghost of this cruel witch still has an expression of unbelievable terror on her face.

Sean brought the Sneakoscope close to Gormlaith, and then the Sneakoscope slowly began to rotate.

Even though she has been petrified, Gormlaith has not been erased; her frozen mind still harbors malice towards me...

Sean nodded thoughtfully, then brought the Sneakoscope closer to Dave, but made no move.

That makes perfect sense. Dave and I are on the same page; he poses no threat to me whatsoever.

Sean brought the Sneakoscope closer to the Basilisk, and the Sneakoscope began to rotate slowly again.

I understand. Although the Basilisk meant me no harm, its abilities are unique, and it could easily harm me if I'm not careful. However, since this wasn't its intention, the Sneakoscope will only rotate slowly.

It's worth noting that when Gormlaith first woke up, the Sneakoscope was shining and spinning wildly.

It seems that the rotation range of the Sneakoscope represents the degree of malice that a person or thing harbors towards you.

Sean held the Sneakoscope close to the Pensieve, without rotating it.

It seems there's really no danger... Sean, still not entirely at ease, took out another item.

Unstable Coin (Purple): A Divination tool. State your question and toss the coin. Heads represent affirmation, tails represent negation. Remaining uses: 5/5 (Note: The coin's orientation is affected by weather, mood, and luck; it often lands upright. Moderate Divination is beneficial, but superstitious Prophecy are harmful to health.)

This thing was something he got from the last Lottery Draw, Sean had never used it because of its unstable effects. Moreover, before this, because of the three skeletons, he instinctively thought there was something wrong with the Pensieve, so he didn't want to use the Unstable Coin.

However, we can give it a try now.

Sean gripped the coin, silently thinking: Entering the Pensieve in the hidden compartment of the Slytherin Stone Chamber would endanger my life.

Then he tossed the coin and let it fall naturally.

The coin made a crisp sound as it hit the ground, and after swinging back and forth for a while, it slowly came to a stop.

The flip side!

That means there is no danger to one's life if one enters the Pensieve.

Worth a try...

Sean took a deep breath, stood in front of the Pensieve, and then buried his head in it.

After feeling weightless in the darkness for a while, Sean stepped onto the dark stone path.

Before us was a huge Stone Chamber, and at the very center of the platform stood a colossal statue.

This is Chamber of Secrets...

Then, Sean saw a figure ahead—it was Salazar Slytherin.

"Remember my gestures and incantations."

After saying that, Slytherin immediately began demonstrating the spell.

However, Sean discovered a serious problem: Slytherin's intentions were good; he wanted to leave behind more knowledge. But—all he demonstrated were Ancient Spell!

Runes Talent, Sean talent was like a ghost, aside from a moment of dizziness, he didn't learn much at all.

More than a dozen Ancient Spell with a proficiency level of only one appeared on his panel...

This is a huge loss... Sean was on the verge of tears. You might as well have taught me some Dark Arts...

After demonstrating the spell, Slytherin put his hands behind his back and looked at his statue.

"This is the final gift—the secret of Hogwarts."

His voice was full of seriousness, and Sean's eyes lit up, and he unconsciously stood up straight.

"The castle is based on magic, and it is itself a powerful Magical Item! And I will tell you how to draw upon the authority of Hogwarts Castle."

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