Harvest

The green light of the Killing Curse poured over the giant snake body, but the basilisk only paused for a moment. A few breaths later, the basilisk came back to its senses and was enraged. It let out a furious hiss and swiftly turned its head to rush toward Matthew.

Perhaps Matthew's Killing Curse wasn't strong enough, or maybe this thousand-year basilisk's magic resistance was too high—Matthew's curse didn't deal much damage to it.

Preserved Egg kept shaking its tail, more furballs transforming into clones. The clones closed their eyes and charged at the basilisk. The earlier clones had already taken positions on the surrounding stone pillars and the Slytherin statue. Through these clones' perspectives, Preserved Egg monitored the basilisk's every move.

"Matthew, run fast, the basilisk is charging, meow!"

Matthew quickly waved his wand, casting the Levitation Charm on his cloak and shoes. With a slight push from his toes, his body was carried into a glide by the floating spell.

This was a small trick he'd developed himself for the Levitation Charm. For a while, Matthew had tried to gain flight ability through magic. With this Levitation Charm trick, he could briefly glide through the air for a short time.

With his eyes closed, Matthew used magic sense to determine his direction and flew toward a Preserved Egg clone perched on a stone pillar.

Seeing this, the basilisk changed direction and slammed toward the stone pillar.

Along the way, it knocked aside the Preserved Egg clones charging at it, but instead of disappearing after being hit, the clones split into two.

This was the trait of the Spirit Cat Clone—as long as the magic power wasn't exhausted, it would keep splitting after being attacked.

After landing on top of the stone pillar, Matthew waved his wand again and sent several spells toward the basilisk's position.

A sharp sound of breaking air rang out. Several transparent arc wind blades cut bloody gashes across the basilisk's body.

"The wounds aren't deep, just broke the skin, meow." Preserved Egg reported the results through the images sent back by the clone's perspective.

The basilisk reached the base of the stone pillar where Matthew stood. It twisted its giant snake body, coiling around the pillar as it slithered upward toward Matthew.

Matthew cast the Levitation Charm on his cloak and shoes again and flew toward the diagonally opposite stone pillar.

The basilisk turned its head and continued lunging at the pillar Matthew was on.

After several rounds of this chase, the basilisk's body was now coiled around several stone pillars.

By this time, Preserved Egg had over a hundred clones left on the ground.

Matthew said, "Preserved Egg, use the clones to buy me some time."

Preserved Egg quickly commanded the hundred-plus clones to swarm the basilisk's eyes. The basilisk's body was tangled around the stone pillars, making it less agile. Harassed by the clones, it grew increasingly irritable. With a sudden burst of strength, it snapped the pillars it was coiled around, and many stone pillar fragments crashed down onto the basilisk's body.

Taking advantage of the basilisk being entangled, Matthew pulled dozens of huge steel solid balls from his Undetectable Extension Charm pocket. These were custom-made by Muggles he'd contacted before.

He planned to use these steel balls as mediums for his Shapeshifting Technique. Shapeshifting was one of Matthew's primary magic disciplines, and he had envisioned many ways to use it.

Matthew waved his wand at the steel balls on the ground. The balls linked together one by one. The ball at the front transformed into a giant snake head, and the ball at the tail transformed into a blade—Great Steel Snake, Shapeshifting Technique edition.

I choose you! Great Steel Snake!

After the basilisk crawled out of the rubble, Matthew drove the massive body of the Great Steel Snake into a body slam, crashing violently into the basilisk.

"Boom!" A tremendous impact sound echoed through the Chamber of Secrets. The basilisk, struck by the steel snake even larger than itself, was dazed and dizzy.

The Great Steel Snake continued twisting its giant steel snake body, coiling around the basilisk.

When the basilisk came back to its senses, it found itself tightly bound by the steel giant snake. It struggled violently, trying to break free.

The two intertwined giant snakes writhed across the room, rolling everywhere and knocking down several stone pillars in succession.

Seeing this, Matthew flew up to the top of the Slytherin statue to avoid being caught in the chaos below.

After landing on the bald head of the Slytherin statue, he channeled his wand and continued casting the Shapeshifting Technique on the Great Steel Snake.

The Great Steel Snake, still coiled around the basilisk, underwent a new change. Countless sharp spikes extended from its steel snake body.

The basilisk, tangled together with the steel snake body, was instantly pierced by countless steel spikes.

"Hiss!" The immense pain made the basilisk let out a deafening roar.

Matthew took out the black fingertip bone in his left hand and instantly "condensed" 32 runes in his hand. Six seconds later, "Zap!"

Light blazed from Matthew's hand. The runes quickly transformed into a bolt of lightning, the electric light pouring down onto the basilisk.

The basilisk's body was now covered in dense wounds. Bright red basilisk blood seeped from the cuts, dyeing its body red.

Countless bolts of lightning invaded the basilisk's body through the wounds, unleashing tremendous heat inside it.

The pain made the basilisk thrash its body against the ground.

After the lightning disappeared, the tempting smell of roast meat spread through the room.

The giant snake body twitched continuously.

The basilisk's vitality was extremely tenacious. Such injuries weren't enough to kill it. In a little while, it would be lively again.

Matthew didn't give the basilisk a chance. He drove the Great Steel Snake to pierce the basilisk's head with the steel blade at its tail, pinning it to the ground.

The basilisk on the ground struggled in its death throes, thrashing its tail wildly.

A few minutes later, the basilisk's struggles gradually grew weaker and weaker.

Finally, the basilisk lay motionless on the ground. In Matthew's perception, the basilisk's magic fluctuation had fallen into dead silence.

After confirming the basilisk was dead, he used the Freezing Charm to seal its wounds, preventing more blood loss. Basilisk blood was also a rare material.

He stored the slightly processed basilisk corpse into his Undetectable Extension Charm pocket, planning to process the materials after returning to his original timeline.

"Reparo!"

Matthew cast a spell at the stones scattered across the floor, but nothing happened.

He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow—these stone pillars here couldn't withstand impact, yet their Magic Resistance was quite high.

He pocketed the broken pillar fragments to study later, unable to identify what Material Type the stone was.

Then Matthew searched the Chamber of Secrets thoroughly, finding nothing left behind by Slytherin or Voldemort.

He left through the Secret Passage behind the Slytherin Statue, the same tunnel the Basilisk used to hunt, leading straight to the Forbidden Forest outside the castle.

The Forbidden Forest was eerily quiet at night. Matthew didn't linger and headed directly to Hogwarts Castle.

He still needed to find the Merlin Portrait in the Slytherin Common Room to return to his original Timeline.

The castle gates were already locked. To avoid being caught by the Administrator, he didn't open them but used a Levitation Charm to scale the wall and enter.

Luckily, it was Curfew, so he didn't run into anyone along the way.

As Matthew passed the Entrance Hall, a shout came from the Marble Staircase, "What are you doing, Black, wandering around so late?"