Harvest

The Killing Curse's green light washed over the giant snake, but the Basilisk only paused for a moment. A few seconds later, it came to its senses, enraged, and let out an angry hiss before quickly turning toward Matthew.

Perhaps Matthew wasn't skilled enough with the Killing Curse, or perhaps the thousand-year-old Basilisk's Magic Resistance was too high. Either way, Matthew's curse hadn't inflicted much damage.

Preserved Egg continued shaking his tail, sending more furballs turning into clones. With their eyes closed, the clones charged at the Basilisk. The earlier clones had already taken up positions on the surrounding stone pillars and the Slytherin Statue. Through their eyes, Preserved Egg monitored the Basilisk's every move.

"Matthew, run! The Basilisk's coming, meow!"

Matthew quickly waved his wand and cast the Levitation Charm on his cloak and shoes. With a little push from his toes, the charm lifted him into a glide.

It was a little trick with the Levitation Charm that he'd developed himself. For a while, Matthew had tried to gain the Flying Ability through magic, and this trick let him glide through the air for a short time.

With his eyes closed, Matthew used Magic Sense to find his bearings and flew toward a Preserved Egg clone perched on a stone pillar.

Seeing this, the Basilisk changed direction and charged toward the pillar.

It knocked aside the Preserved Egg clones that rushed at it along the way, but instead of vanishing when struck, each clone split into two.

That was a trait of the Spirit Cat Clone: as long as its magic wasn't depleted, it kept splitting when attacked.

After landing atop the pillar, Matthew waved his wand again and sent several spells toward the Basilisk.

A sharp whistle cut through the air as several Transparent Arc Wind Blades carved bloody lines across the Basilisk's body.

"The wounds aren't deep. They only broke the skin, meow." Preserved Egg reported the results through the images relayed by his clones.

The Basilisk reached the pillar where Matthew was perched, wound its massive body around it, and slithered upward toward him.

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

The Basilisk turned its head and continued lunging at the pillar where Matthew had landed.

After several rounds of this back-and-forth chase, the Basilisk had wound its body around several pillars.

By then, more than a hundred of Preserved Egg's clones had gathered on the ground.

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

Preserved Egg quickly directed the hundred or so clones to swarm the Basilisk's eyes. Its body was wrapped around the pillars, leaving it less agile, and the clones' harassment made it increasingly agitated. It suddenly tightened its coils, snapping the pillars it was wrapped around. Chunks of stone came crashing down on its body.

While the Basilisk was held up, Matthew took dozens of huge steel balls out of his Undetectable Extension Charm Pocket. He'd had them custom-made by Muggles.

He planned to use the steel balls as a medium for his Shapeshifting Technique. It was one of the branches of magic Matthew specialized in, and he'd imagined many different ways to use it.

Matthew pointed his wand at the steel balls on the ground. They joined together one after another. The balls at the front transformed into a huge snake's head, while those at the back became a sharp blade—Great Steel Snake: Shapeshifting Technique Edition.

You're the one! Great Steel Snake!

When the Basilisk crawled out of the rubble, Matthew drove the Great Steel Snake's massive body into a Body Slam, hurling it at the Basilisk.

Crash! The colossal impact boomed through the Chamber of Secrets. The Basilisk was left reeling after being struck by a steel serpent even larger than itself.

The Great Steel Snake continued to twist its enormous steel body around the Basilisk.

When the Basilisk came to its senses, it found itself tightly bound by the steel serpent. It twisted with all its might, trying to break free.

The two giant snakes writhed and rolled across the chamber, crashing into several more pillars.

Seeing this, Matthew flew to the top of the Slytherin Statue to avoid getting caught up in the struggle below.

After landing on the statue's bare head, he moved his wand and continued casting the Shapeshifting Technique on the Great Steel Snake.

The Great Steel Snake wrapped around the Basilisk began to change again. Countless sharp spikes sprouted from its steel body.

The Basilisk, entangled with the steel serpent, was instantly pierced by countless Steel Spikes.

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

Matthew took the Black Fingertip Bone in his left hand, instantly "conjuring" thirty-two Runes in his palm. Six seconds later—

Zzt!

Light blazed in Matthew's hand. The Runes swiftly turned into a bolt of lightning, which poured down onto the Basilisk.

By now, the Basilisk was covered in densely packed wounds. Bright-red blood seeped from them, staining its body crimson.

Countless bolts of lightning entered its body through the wounds, unleashing tremendous heat inside it.

The pain made the Basilisk thrash against the ground.

After the lightning faded, the tempting aroma of roasted meat spread through the chamber.

The massive snake body continued to twitch.

The Basilisk was incredibly tough. These injuries weren't enough to kill it; given a little while, it would be up and moving again.

Matthew didn't give it the chance. He drove the Great Steel Snake's iron blade through the Basilisk's head and pinned it to the ground.

The Basilisk struggled desperately, lashing its tail again and again.

A few minutes later, its movements gradually weakened.

At last, it lay still on the ground. In Matthew's senses, the Basilisk's magical signature had fallen silent.

After confirming that the Basilisk was dead, he used the Freezing Charm to seal its wounds and prevent it from losing more blood. Basilisk Blood was a rare material, too.

He put the lightly treated Basilisk corpse into his Undetectable Extension Charm Pocket, planning to deal with the materials after returning to his original Timeline.

"Reparo!"

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

He raised an eyebrow. The pillars here couldn't withstand much impact, yet they had quite strong Magic Resistance.

He put the broken pillar fragments into his pocket to examine later. He couldn't tell what kind of stone they were made of.

Matthew then searched the Chamber of Secrets carefully, but found nothing left behind by Slytherin or Voldemort.

He left through the Secret Passage behind the Slytherin Statue. It was the passage the Basilisk used to go out hunting, leading straight to the Forbidden Forest outside the castle.

The Forbidden Forest was quiet at night. Matthew didn't linger and headed straight for Hogwarts Castle.

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

The castle's main doors were already closed. To avoid being spotted by the Administrator, he didn't open them; instead, he used the Levitation Charm to fly over the wall and enter the castle.

Fortunately, it was curfew, and he didn't encounter anyone along the way.

As Matthew passed through the Entrance Hall, a voice called down from the Marble Staircase:

"What are you doing, Black, wandering around so late?"