Serpent of Etna

"Truly incredible..."

Manus muttered, though he was not overly shocked.

"Ashwinders are born from magical fires left to burn out of control for too long. Strictly speaking, they have no standard size; it merely depends on the scale of the magical fire itself."

The most common way an Ashwinder came into being was when Floo Powder was added to a fireplace and no one dealt with it, allowing it to burn continuously until an Ashwinder emerged.

How large could an Ashwinder born from the little magical fire in a fireplace possibly be?

Usually, though, no one would forget about a large-scale magical fire long enough for it to produce an Ashwinder.

What truly surprised Manus was that this Ashwinder seemed rather old—Ashwinders only lived for an hour. After laying their eggs in some hidden corner, they would fall apart and turn to ash.

Ashwinder eggs gave off tremendous heat, and since they were laid in deserted corners, they could easily cause fires. That was the main reason Ashwinders were rated XXX in danger.

Manus carefully observed the Ashwinder and found familiar traces of power upon it: the power of the Ember Dragon Heart.

He seemed to know where the Ember Dragon Heart from the past had gone. This was probably also the reason for every abnormality in this Ashwinder.

"Hello, I mean no harm..."

As he thought, Manus tried to establish communication with the Ashwinder deep within the cave. Fortunately, he had never forgotten the Parseltongue he had learned before.

After its initial wariness, Manus, skilled in both psychology and magic, quickly began conversing with the Ashwinder. Mainly because he had seized upon one of its sore points.

"Your eggs appear to be somewhat malnourished."

After carefully examining the clutch of eggs it was guarding, Manus took out the Ember