Chapter 135: The Statue of Salazar Slytherin, and the Battle with the Basilisk

The passage leading into the Chamber of Secrets didn't seem to be designed for humans. As Lynn and Irina slid down, they felt like they were rapidly descending a dark, slimy, never-ending slide.

Along the way, they could see many pipes branching off in all directions, but none were as wide as the one they were in. Their pipe twisted and turned constantly. After an unknown amount of time, they finally landed on the ground. 

The previously near-vertical pipe had become horizontal, and Lynn and Irina flew out of the opening. They simultaneously waved their wands, casting a Hovering Charm on themselves to gently land on the damp floor.

Swoosh! Lynn raised his left hand, and a ball of flame appeared in his palm, illuminating their surroundings. It was a wide stone tunnel, wide enough for four or five people to walk side-by-side. 

The area was very dark and damp, with moisture covering the floor and walls.

"Watch your step!" Lynn warned in a low voice. The floor was slippery, and even a small misstep could cause them to fall headfirst.

Irina nodded slightly and followed Lynn forward. After taking a few steps, they discovered the ground was littered with bones of small animals, likely remnants of the Basilisk's prey over the years. Irina walked carefully, avoiding stepping on the animal bones.

After rounding a corner, Lynn and Irina simultaneously stopped in their tracks. Illuminated by Lynn's flame, an enormous snakeskin lay before them.

This was an enormously large snakeskin, its outer surface shimmering with an eerie green glow. It coiled on the stone floor of the tunnel. From the sheer size of this skin alone, Lynn and Irina could estimate that the Basilisk must have been at least a dozen meters long.

"This is excellent alchemy material, give me a moment," said Lynn, summoning a silver engraving knife into his palm.

Regardless of whether for legal alchemy or formation alchemy, this snakeskin was an extremely precious material. For formation alchemy, this shed snakeskin itself already had extremely high physical and magical resistance. Whether used to craft alchemical armor or other defensive products, it was an excellent raw material. Lynn might not even need to inscribe other defensive formations onto it for its defenses to rival those of other renowned alchemists' defensive products.

As for legal alchemy, as mentioned before, legal alchemy could rather unreasonably extract certain special attributes from materials, even symbolic attributes embodied within them. Therefore, if Lynn used the Basilisk's shed skin as a raw material for legal alchemy, the resulting product could very likely inherit the Basilisk's Petrifying and Killing curses! A terrifying ability rivaling the Avada Kedavra!

Lynn continuously waved his knife, slicing the massive shed snakeskin into dozens of equal-sized pieces before stuffing them into his canvas bag.

After completing this, Lynn finally gestured for Irina to proceed. Past the giant snakeskin, they rounded countless more turns until a solid wall blocked their path.

Two entwined serpents were engraved onto the stone wall, their eyes inlaid with glistening green gemstones. 

Without waiting for Lynn, Irina stepped forward and replayed Harry's Parseltongue command to "open" using her Two-Way Mirror.

"Ssssah..." 

An eerie hissing sound rang out. The two serpents entwined on the wall separated, and the wall slowly split open, the halves sliding apart to reveal the space ahead.

Beyond this wall, the area suddenly opened up into a vast, dimly-lit chamber. Lynn and Irina found themselves in an enormous shadowy square, filled with towering pillars carved with intertwined serpents, supporting the ceiling to prevent the chamber from collapsing.

Lynn and Irina instinctively crouched slightly, listening intently for any sounds. However, apart from the hollow yet resonant echoes of their footsteps in the eerie chamber, there was no other noise. 

Soon, they reached the far end of the chamber. As they moved parallel to the last pair of pillars, an enormous statue tall enough to reach the ceiling suddenly loomed before them.

Looking up, they saw a massive, monkey-like face, ancient and monkeyish, with a sparse, very long beard that nearly dragged along the statue's wizard robe hem. Two gray, gigantic feet stood on the chamber floor, each one even taller than Lynn and Irina.

There was no doubt - this statue depicted one of the founders of Hogwarts, Salazar Slytherin himself!

They understood that the cursed Basilisk was lurking behind Slytherin's statue. However, standing before them was the image of the great wizard Slytherin, who had accomplished the remarkable feat of establishing Hogwarts.

The two gazed silently at the towering statue of Slytherin. After an unknown period, Lynn suddenly moved.

With a wave of his hands, countless golden threads wove together in the air, gradually forming one alchemical formation after another.

In less than five minutes, three alchemical formations had been crafted, hovering around Lynn's body. Although the number of formations had already reached Lynn's usual limit, he did not stop, crafting even more around him. 

Lynn's right arm flickered with immense, indistinct magical fluctuations - he was clearly drawing power from the Philosopher's Stone using his Divine Authority ability. The vast magical power sustaining these alchemical formations also came from the Stone.

When the number of formations around Lynn reached ten, he finally stopped, his right arm trembling slightly. The magic flowing through his body was now infinitely close to his physical limit. Lynn's body was like an immense wand, absorbing the Stone's power to sustain these formations.

It seemed he had reached his limit! Lynn sensed his own body - while drawing power from the Stone at a higher rate, sustaining ten alchemical formations simultaneously was already his absolute limit.

"Let's proceed!" Lynn gave Irina a slight nod.

(End of chapter)