Chapter 177: Crushing Victory, Landing on Island, and Surprise!

Seeing Ciel gripping his wand and appearing opposite him, Marcus Flint was first stunned, then actually laughed. He hadn't expected Ciel to be so arrogant. Or should he say foolish? In combat with Malfoy, he'd been at a disadvantage, unable even to fight back. Yet he still wanted to duel with himself? In Marcus Flint's mind, he recalled the moment on the pitch when Ciel had crushed him, leaving that humiliating record. He also remembered what his father's letter said about Ciel humiliating and driving him away. Old and new grievances intertwined, making his expression increasingly vicious. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he must give Ciel a painful lesson. At minimum, Ciel should lie in the hospital wing for two months! As for whether he could do it, Marcus Flint had never considered this question. On the pitch, without using wands, Ciel's monstrous strength was indeed unmatched. But now, in a wand duel, he wasn't afraid of Ciel. He was a fifth-year student who'd learnt more powerful magic than Ciel had even heard of! With thoughts turning in his mind, Marcus Flint's eyes gleamed viciously as he grinned malevolently at Ciel. "Since you're challenging me as a teaching assistant. Then naturally I should give you some guidance." He mockingly twirled his wand, appearing completely confident. He even pretended to be magnanimous, saying to Ciel, "Why don't you go first. Let me see what remarkable spells you have." Ciel also smiled. He was too lazy to waste words with Marcus Flint. This Slytherin's various behaviours had already made him quite angry. The next moment, Ciel's wand moved, thrusting forward. A short, rapid incantation emerged from his mouth. "Serpensortia! Conjure the Snake!" Immediately, a cloud of smoke exploded violently, filling the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. In the blink of an eye, the smoke condensed into a five-headed snake that reared up nearly to the ceiling! A hissing sound echoed through the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, plunging all first-year students into terrified silence. The five-headed snake before them was simply too massive! Not to mention those pitch-black, gleaming scales, the flickering forked tongues, and those chilling, elongated serpentine pupils. At this moment, all five snake heads simultaneously fixed on Marcus Flint, looking at him as if he were some mouse they could swallow in one bite. Marcus Flint stood there pale-faced, his pupils dilated, his wand-holding hand trembling. This scene was beyond anything he could have imagined after five years at Hogwarts, only knowing exam cheating and playing Quidditch. His bullying attitude was only effective against wizards smaller than himself. Faced with such a monster that seemed ready to devour people, he was absolutely terrified. Clang. Marcus Flint's wand fell to the ground. He himself collapsed on the floor. The next moment, the five-headed snake slithered forward. Its massive body rolled over Flint's body. Though Ciel's Serpensortia spell didn't create a snake as heavy as its apparent size suggested, this crushing still broke at least a dozen of Flint's bones. Sickening cracking sounds echoed through the classroom, making the little snakes' faces turn pale. Some little snakes wanted Quirrell to take control of the situation. But when they looked toward the podium, they saw Quirrell's face was even paler than theirs, looking ready to faint, as if the monster might scare him to death. In such a state, forgetting about stopping Ciel... not being scared to death would be good enough. In desperation, some little snakes gritted their teeth and gathered courage to say, "Ciel Sprout. This constitutes deliberate harm to a fellow student. You, you must stop immediately, or you'll be punished by school rules!" Ciel showed a confused expression. "Deliberate harm to a fellow student? Did I? "Who did my spell harm?" While speaking, Ciel casually walked forward, "accidentally" stepping on the fingers that Flint had previously used to try to sneak attack Susan and methodically grinding them. This made Flint cry out in pain before completely fainting. Only then did Ciel say in surprise, "Oh my! How is there someone in the blind spot? My spell is too large, creating big blind spots. Rolling over him, I thought it was a speed bump! Why is he lying here? Isn't this insurance fraud?" The little snakes' eyes widened. They never expected Ciel to have such an explanation. They were so angry their lips trembled. "You, how can you fool anyone with this? What normal person would believe you?" The next moment, the little badgers stepped over Marcus Flint's body one by one, making various exclamations and curses. "Oh my! Why is someone lying here? What's he doing lying here? Who could notice him? Did he forget the combat practice rules? The aisle can't have people standing, much less lying down... it's easy to get accidentally hurt!" Susan stomped hard on Marcus, while the beaten and bruised Pansy Parkinson across from her shuddered, as if that stomp had landed on her instead. The experience of being pinned down and beaten by Susan had nearly traumatised her. It hurt so much. And the enraged little badgers were simply like madmen! Pansy Parkinson never wanted to provoke Hufflepuff again. At this moment, Ciel shrugged innocently. "You see. None of us could see him. Lying in such a place... isn't that Marcus Flint's own problem? Do you have any objections?" Before he could finish speaking, Malfoy interrupted sharply, "I have no objections whatsoever. I can testify that Marcus Flint was already lying there on his own. How can anyone be blamed for that?" Malfoy also stepped on him. "Who could see him? Anyway, I didn't see him either." As this foot came down, Malfoy felt refreshed. The Flint and Malfoy families didn't get along anyway. Marcus Flint often made snide remarks to him. Taking advantage of Ciel's momentum to give him a kick... satisfying! At this time, Ciel's gaze fell on the other Slytherin students. The little snakes shuddered, completely losing their previous arrogant attitude. "No objections. No objections..." They thought about it. Having objections would end too badly. Since Marcus Flint was already unlucky, this bit more wouldn't matter. Let him suffer a bit more. Then, one by one, the little snakes hurriedly stepped on the unconscious Flint and fled the classroom. Malfoy was the last to leave. Before leaving, his gaze swept over the five-headed snake coiled in the classroom. His eyes were full of burning enthusiasm. This spell was too cool! He must learn it and use it to Ciel's level! After Malfoy left, the little badgers finally exhaled and calmed down from their tense combat state. Everything they'd just experienced seemed like a dream. Only now did they react. "So we won, right? Definitely! I beat my Slytherin opponent until he cried! I knocked out his front teeth!" Susan even boldly displayed her swollen fists, declaring confidently, "I definitely gave that ugly Pansy Parkinson a makeover. I should charge her for beautification services!" Then the little badgers suddenly all laughed. In previous Defence Against the Dark Arts classes, they'd mostly lost in combat practice with other houses. This made them lack confidence. But after this fight today, their faces obviously showed rich confidence, no longer as timid as before. "I think Slytherin isn't really that impressive. They're all self-important types. If you fear them, they get cocky and strong. But as long as you go head-to-head with them, they become weak. Hufflepuff is still the strongest. But the strongest is still Ciel." Their gazes all fell on Ciel. Having missed Defence Against the Dark Arts for so long, they'd thought Ciel might need some time to catch up. But now it seemed... where was that necessity? Ciel was simply omnipotent! At this time, Ciel also cancelled the Serpensortia spell. Looking at the little badgers' burning gazes and their equally bruised faces, Ciel said helplessly, "After talking for so long. Don't you hurt?" Following Ciel's reminder, the pain on the little badgers finally surged up, making them grimace and wince. "Ahhhh! It hurts! My face is swollen too! So beating others makes you hurt too... next time I'll be gentler when beating Slytherins!" Ciel looked at their appearance with amusement. A thought arose in his mind. At this rate, what would these little badgers be like in seventh year? They'd probably be very different from their appearance in the original story. Besides cultivation, Ciel couldn't do much at Hogwarts. He didn't care about Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin. The actions of the hero trio were also unrelated to him. His only hope was that Hufflepuff could quietly become better and better. With a smile on his face, Ciel quietly turned and left the classroom. At noon, in the Potions classroom, Harry, Ron, and Hermione hurried out, leaving Snape's venomous sarcasm behind. Ron's face was full of urgency and expectation. He couldn't wait to know what had happened in Hufflepuff's Defence Against the Dark Arts class, especially Ciel's performance. For some reason, being able to beat Ciel in one subject would make Ron very happy. Hermione was somewhat worried. "Those Slytherins. They'll definitely be ruthless. They're already like this when practising with us normally. Not to mention facing Ciel... they almost hate him to death. I hope Ciel doesn't get hurt..." Ron also added, "Yes. Right, getting hurt would be bad." You could see he was trying hard not to let his lips curl up. Just then, passing through the crowd in the corridor, they heard waves of discussion. "So tragic. Dozens of broken bones. I heard he needs several months of recovery. The key is it's really embarrassing... if it were me, I wouldn't want to come to school." Such discussions made Hermione's face pale. Ron urgently joined a gathered crowd, asking, "What happened? Who got hurt? Ciel? Merlin's beard, did Slytherin strike so hard? Those dark wizard brats!" Ron gripped his wand as if wanting to immediately find a Slytherin student for a duel. But the next moment, the news from the crowd was like a bucket of cold water poured over him. "Slytherin? No, no, no, you've got it wrong. This time, they took a big fall with Ciel." The following news made Ron almost doubt his ears. "Ciel summoned a five-headed snake as tall as the ceiling. Fifth-year Marcus Flint didn't even cast one spell before fainting? All the Slytherins present bowed their heads in submission, not daring to voice any objections..." Ron stood there stunned, his expression completely frozen. His wand-gripping hand lost all strength. Then his face suddenly burnt hot and turned completely red. Previously, he'd been smugly pleased that Professor Quirrell called him a Defence Against the Dark Arts genius, telling everyone about it. But if he was called a genius, what was Ciel? Ron suddenly deflated like a frost-bitten eggplant. His original desire to compete with Ciel vanished without a trace. Hermione seemed relieved, her lips slightly curving upward, her mood immediately improving. At this time, Ciel, who had returned to the greenhouse, had already put this trivial episode behind him. Various thoughts floated through his mind. "The plants in the greenhouse just need time to pass before harvesting rewards. The first phase of Sprout Island development is complete. Various magical skills have basically reached bottlenecks. Future development depends on Puking Pastilles. The sooner the better! Also, it's getting closer to the end of the school year... the fight for the Philosopher's Stone will become increasingly fierce. But none of this concerns me, and I don't want to get involved. From now on, I'll just farm and study magic. But this requires completely resolving the two-faced spy's matter, at least ensuring he has no time to trouble me. Drear Island is the best opportunity." The plan Ciel had been considering for a long time floated through his mind. After carefully calculating once more, Ciel took a deep breath and wrote a line on the parchment. "Senior, I caused quite a commotion in the castle today. With students injured, the professors will probably be busy for a while. Tonight is our best chance to explore that island." On the other side, seeing the text appearing on the parchment, Voldemort's eyes blazed with intense light. "It seems today the Philosopher's Stone will fall into my hands. Dumbledore, you old fool, you schemed against me, but you never dreamed I'd still find the Philosopher's Stone's true hiding place. When you see me return in full strength to Hogwarts... I'll give you a big surprise!" Quirrell quickly congratulated him while also breathing a sigh of relief. After so much effort, could he finally get the Philosopher's Stone? Recently, Quirrell had been feeling uncomfortable, as if something in his blood was silently eroding him. But when he tried to sense it carefully, there seemed to be nothing. Quirrell thought this might be a manifestation of the unicorn curse. But once he got the Philosopher's Stone, all problems would no longer be problems! At this time, Ciel directly arrived at Sprout Island through a Portkey. He brought the Invisibility Cloak and Shadow Thorns. Even house-elf Eugene would act together with Ciel under the Invisibility Cloak. Ciel also brought a one-time Portkey. By this count, Ciel had four methods of escaping Drear Island. Even if one method failed, he wouldn't be helpless. He also brought all the potions Snape had given him, just in case. He had several vials of prepared blood on him as well. After carefully checking the condition of his broomstick, wand, Invisibility Cloak, and other items one final time, Ciel blew the whistle to summon the Kraken. "Tonight, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named will come to the North Sea. Everything will be as we agreed... you guard that place. When the time comes, I'll create an opportunity for you." The Kraken's tentacles swayed slightly before diving back into the depths. At this moment, Ciel, with all these preparations, flew swiftly toward the previously discovered location of Drear Island. Half an hour later, a mist appeared before him. Within the mist swirled dangerous magical power. Ciel circled outside the mist for a while. He wrote final words on the parchment, tied it to a stone, and threw it into the depths. "Senior. I've found the weakness in this island's protective magic. Deep underwater, the protective magic greatly weakens... you can pass through there to land on the island. I'm leaving the parchment here to guide you. I'll go to the island first to draw away the dangers above. Time is urgent... come quickly!" The next moment, Ciel cast a Bubble-Head Charm on Eugene, hid his broomstick among some hidden rocks nearby, then dived underwater with Eugene. The so-called protective magic weakness he told the two-faced spy wasn't fabricated... it was indeed what the Kraken had told Ciel. But besides this sentence, everything else was Ciel's surprise for the two-faced spy. Drawing away the dangers on Drear Island for the two-faced spy? Dream on! The two-faced spy had recovered so well and was so strong... shouldn't he be attracting the Quintapeds' attention for Ciel? Ciel not only wanted to use the two-faced spy to attract Quintapeds but had also prepared a bigger surprise on the inevitable exit route, after the two-faced spy had exhausted much strength on Drear Island. Of course, if the two-faced spy was sufficiently cautious and proceeded step by step, Ciel's arrangements would be easily detected. So Ciel deliberately emphasised time urgency. With Voldemort's desire for the Philosopher's Stone, plus his long patience, making Voldemort believe Ciel had been completely seduced by power. In this game, Ciel had calculated everything... he was absolutely confident! Several minutes later, in the pitch-black depths, Ciel saw the protective magic on the seabed ahead. Compared to the surface, the protective strength here was much weaker. Though it could still target Quintapeds, preventing them from escaping Drear Island, its strength against wizards was insufficient. Ciel swam forward. A feeling of sinking into mud came over him. But for his physique, such obstacles were nothing. Moments later, Ciel and Eugene, wrapped in the Invisibility Cloak, passed through the protective magic. An oppressive atmosphere that made one's hair stand on end rushed toward them. The air seemed filled with ominous magical power. Ciel had experienced Acromantulas' ferocity, but before this island's permeating eerie magic, Acromantulas seemed like nothing. "This is Drear Island, infested with Quintapeds." Ciel held his breath and cast a Bubble-Head Charm on himself too, avoiding any problems with the island's air. After eliminating all possibilities of accidents, Ciel threw over a dozen test tubes containing his blood far across the beach where he and Eugene had landed. As the tubes shattered, the abundant vitality contained in the blood spread through the air. Instantly, the originally quiet Drear Island suddenly filled with strange rustling sounds and voices that sounded like human speech but were extremely eerie. Soon, a monster two or three people tall, covered in red fur, using five human hands as "feet", burst from the bushes toward where the blood scent was strongest. Then Ciel's pupils contracted sharply. Eugene also covered his mouth to avoid making sounds of shock and fear. From the monster's red fur, a deformed human head extended, greedily licking the blood scattered on the beach. Even having read countless descriptions of Quintapeds' strangeness and horror in texts, Ciel still felt chilled all over. He couldn't imagine what kind of Dark Magic Transfiguration could transform humans into such monsters. Worthy of being Quintapeds... among all XXXXX-rated magical creatures classified by the Ministry, they ranked highest in danger. Even Newt Scamander didn't keep these things! But now, Ciel looked at the increasing number of Quintapeds gathering on the beach, his eyes showing a sinister expression. He hoped the "greeting gift" he'd prepared for the two-faced spy would satisfy him. Then Ciel led Eugene slowly deeper into Drear Island. Not long after they moved, the seawater began bubbling again. Quirrell's large form surfaced. In his mind rang Voldemort's ecstatic voice. "We're through. Simply effortless. Ciel, this little badger, is really reliable! Quirrell, quickly get to the island and find the Philosopher's Stone!" But just then, he felt Quirrell's body stiffen. "Ma-Master... Something seems wrong. On the shore, why are so many people looking at us? They, they're drooling?!" Voldemort was also stunned, quickly taking control of Quirrell's body. The next moment, seeing the scene before him, even Voldemort's pupils contracted to the extreme. On the beach ahead, dozens of Quintapeds were extending their heads, staring greedily at him! Before the two-faced spy could react, Quintapeds began jumping into the sea one by one. "Meat... Meat!" Quirrell let out a terrified scream. "Master, it's a trap, a trap! This must be a trap to lure us here! Ciel Sprout deceived us!" Voldemort gritted his teeth. "No, no! How could the little badger deceive us? Ciel is still loyal. It's Dumbledore! Only Dumbledore could do something so sinister!" Then Voldemort felt quite fortunate. Good thing he'd recovered enough strength through Ciel's blood. Though not at his peak, it was barely enough to handle the current situation. "Dumbledore. You sinister, cunning old fool, you never dreamed how much strength I'd recovered, did you? I want the Philosopher's Stone... no one can stop me!" Then Voldemort gripped his wand. Terrifying magical power erupted from the wand tip. Flames. Black flames that seemed to burn the entire beach soared skyward, condensing into monsters as hideous as the Quintapeds! This spectacle was clearly felt even by Ciel, who had moved far from the beach. More and more Quintapeds were rushing toward the beach. Ciel finally exhaled softly. The commotion Voldemort created could probably attract most of the Quintapeds on the island. This made his own mission much safer. He and Eugene quickened their pace toward the island's centre. When they emerged from the forest near buildings where island wizard families had once lived, Ciel's gaze became intensely heated, falling on a dense patch of round, plump fruits. His hands under the Invisibility Cloak clenched tightly. Puking Pastilles... found them.