Chương 53: Chapter 52 - Cavern Challenge. 

[Chapter Size: 3500 Words.] 

Third Person POV 

Forbidden Forest. 

... 

... 

Severus continued descending the stairs as blue flames began erupting from the torches mounted along the walls above the corridor. 

"Hey, did you know about this place?" Severus asked Fawkes, who let out a negative chirp. 

"But do you know if there are places like this around Hogwarts? Or inside the castle? Do you know if the headmaster is aware of them?" 

Fawkes conveyed her intent, informing Severus that, in a way, there were places like that, hidden by magic, and that the headmaster had entered some of them in an attempt to unravel their secrets, but had almost never succeeded in finding them, discovering only a few over the decades. 

'This is related to ancient magic. The headmaster doesn't have an affinity for it from what I've noticed, although he has managed to master a small part of it. But he achieved that through traditional magic, not something innate within him like what you possess. What you saw in the water is certainly a direct clue that you are different from the headmaster,' Articuno explained through their mental link. 

"I understand... Let's keep going. Now let's see what's in there." 

Severus no longer cared about anything else. It didn't matter what he would find—he would uncover the secrets of that place one way or another, even if he disappeared from Hogwarts before the night was over, since he had no idea how long he would remain away. 

Finally, a gate appeared before him, covered in blue symbols. 

"Can you see these symbols?" he asked, but received only negative responses from both phoenixes. 

Even so, despite their denial, he stepped inside. 

The chamber was empty. As Severus moved forward, using a small flame to illuminate the room beyond the blue firelight, he noticed something on the wall at the far end. As he drew closer, particles began disappearing from the surface, revealing a mirror... or at least, that was how he could describe it as he saw the light and his blurred reflection upon it. 

'What are you seeing?' Articuno asked, as he also couldn't see anything. Even Fawkes seemed confused. 

Severus approached, touching the surface. He could see his own reflection, though still blurred; it didn't seem to be much more than an ordinary mirror. It was as if he could see another place through it, making out shapes that did not exist within that room. 

"There's something on the other side," he said, feeling his hand sink deeper into the surface, causing it to ripple like water. He pushed a finger into it, as though it were made of some strange liquid. 

'A portal?' Articuno suggested. 

Severus merely showed a faint smile. "Let's see what's on the other side." He said immediately, pushing his entire hand through. 

"You can go back if you want." Whatever was on the other side, he would be the one to discover it. 

In his world, there were not many things like this, not many secrets—at least, no more than those he had encountered during his adventures in the far north, in Asshai by the Shadow, or even in Valyria. And he knew he was always rewarded, whether with treasures, knowledge, breathtaking sights, or simply the thrill of the unknown. 

At that moment, he could even consider himself a true Gryffindor adventurer. 

Neither of the two phoenixes objected or showed any intention of leaving. They remained steadfast at his side. 

Severus began crossing the portal. First, his entire hand was swallowed. Soon after, the rest of his body followed, disappearing completely into its depths, followed by the two phoenixes perched on his shoulders. 

The world spun for an instant before Severus found himself inside a massive cavern. Looking around the entire place, he noticed a large stone structure and a bridge stretching out before him. Far below lay a lagoon, or at least that was the best way he could describe it, glowing with an intense blue hue. Some kind of magical algae could be seen shining beneath its surface. 

Severus looked around, pleased with the place for a moment. The mirror was gone. It was as though he had appeared out of nowhere atop that platform, and there was no exit behind him. 

"Interesting..." He was excited by the magic of this world, immediately intrigued by the teleportation that had brought him directly to that place. 

The two phoenixes also observed their surroundings, but had nothing to add. They merely acknowledged in silence that they had never seen a place like that before. 

Severus walked to the edge of the platform. "Well... let's keep going." 

The three of them crossed the bridge. 

There was no sound besides the echo of a few droplets falling from the cavern ceiling. There seemed to be some kind of stream flowing above them, perhaps coming from the lake on the surface. Severus wasn't entirely sure. In any case, he continued to the end of the bridge, where he found an enormous door. 

He didn't even need to get very close before a loud click echoed through the chamber and the door slowly began to open. 

"Strange..." Severus immediately expanded his senses, using his warg abilities to identify any living being nearby. Even humans could be detected that way, just as he had managed to affect the dark wizards near the Leaky Cauldron some time ago. 

There wasn't a single living creature there. Even so, he could sense an incredibly dense magic. An ancient magic. 

"Be careful." He said to the two phoenixes, who remained on his shoulders the entire time. They seemed to be creating some kind of protective barrier around him, prepared for anything that might appear. 

The three of them passed through the doorway and looked into the enormous hall beyond. It was far larger than the previous one. There was no bridge, nor any water. Only a gigantic circular hall carved into the heart of the cavern. 

Small alcoves lined the walls, and within them rested statues. There were at least forty of them. 

Severus narrowed his eyes as he examined them. They were fully armored knights, clad in complete suits of armor, wielding swords, and carved entirely from stone. 

"So that's it..." Even so, he didn't pay them much attention for the moment. 

On the opposite side of the hall stood a large ornate basin. It was covered in runes and supported by an equally elaborate pedestal. 

Fawkes let out a soft trill. 

"A Pensieve?" Severus heard and was surprised; it was the first time he had ever seen one. 

He slowly approached, never taking his eyes off the statues. He was certain there was some kind of mechanism, challenge, or trap in that place. 

Just as he was about to reach the Pensieve, he sensed something. He stopped immediately. 

He extended his hand and touched a completely transparent surface. It was a type of glass so thin and invisible that it would have been impossible to notice with the naked eye alone. 

Severus slid his hand across the barrier, feeling the full extent of the obstruction. 

It prevented anyone from approaching the Pensieve. Beyond the barrier, below a small ornate staircase, there was another passage leading into yet another chamber. 

It was at that moment that the security system of the room was finally activated. 

No one would ever set foot in that place without triggering its defenses. Touching the glass barrier was enough to set off a sharp sound that echoed throughout the cavern. 

The statues quickly began to move. One after another, they raised their swords before leaping directly from the alcoves in the walls, landing along the edges of the hall, dropping to one knee to absorb the impact before rising again with their swords held high. 

"So that's how it is..." Severus murmured, while the two phoenixes also prepared themselves for battle. 

"Let me test a few things first." 

The first statues charged. 

Eight of them had already jumped down, and four of them, coming from every direction, advanced straight toward him, while the other thirty-two remained motionless in their alcoves. Severus believed those were only the first wave. 

Immediately, he drew his wand back before thrusting it forward. 

"Bombarda Maxima!" 

The next instant, a flash the size of a basketball shot toward the first knight statue. 

It exploded instantly. 

The blast also knocked down three other nearby statues. Some managed to dodge to the side, while the one struck directly shattered into countless pieces scattered across the floor. 

The others were damaged. Two lost an arm, yet they still picked up their swords and rose to their feet once more. 

Severus watched the scene with satisfaction. At that moment, a bluish-white beam shot from Articuno, striking one of the statues. 

It began to freeze solid. A few seconds later, it exploded into countless fragments of ice and stone. 

Severus turned his gaze toward the swords lying on the floor. Immediately, several of them rose through his telekinesis, spinning a few times in the air before pointing toward the two statues that had been damaged by the Bombarda. 

Using his wand to strengthen his telekinesis, the swords shot forward like spears. They pierced through the chests of both statues and pinned them to the ground. 

Even so, they continued trying to move. Severus simply pulled the swords free with telekinesis using his free hand. He made the blades spin once more before hurling them at the heads of the two statues with another movement of his wand as he brought it downward to reinforce the telekinetic attack. 

This time, the statues finally stopped moving. A moment later, they crumbled apart completely. 

"It seems they have a damage threshold. Once they reach that limit, they simply fall apart..." 

He looked to the side. The other four statues were already advancing, their swords raised. 

At that moment, Fawkes joined the battle as well. 

The phoenix launched several fireballs from above, striking one of the statues. It was completely engulfed in flames and continued burning until it had taken enough damage to begin breaking apart. 

"They're not living beings... They're just magical constructs." 

The other three were already closing in, and Severus made a sweeping ninety-degree arc with his wand as a massive wall of ice began rising from the ground, forcing the statues to go around it. 

At the same time, he cast Accio on one of the swords carried by the stone knights on the other side. He stopped the stone sword in front of himself and quickly used Transfiguration to turn it into a steel sword with a wooden hilt. 

He was skilled at such transformations and could work with virtually any type of metal thanks to all the knowledge of metallurgy he had acquired in his previous life. He still wasn't capable of manipulating goblin steel or Valyrian steel, much less the magical ice of the White Walkers, for obvious reasons. 

Even so, he was certain that, once he mastered his abilities further, he would be able to conjure spears and swords of ice exactly as the White Walkers did with their ice-nature magic. As for the other magical steels, he would have to think of a solution in the future. 

But now was not the time. It hadn't even been two months since he had arrived in this world, and there were still countless abilities he needed to develop. 

In any case, he turned his attention back to the battle. 

"Leave the rest to me," Severus said as he placed his wand against the sword. Runes quickly began to reform at the center of the blade. One after another, they started glowing red. 

When he finished, the entire sword began to emit a crimson glow. A moment later, it became completely wreathed in flames. 

Severus smiled faintly and assumed his fighting stance. By the time the three knight statues finally made their way around the wall of ice and charged at him, he was already prepared, wand in his left hand and sword in his right. 

The first knight closed the distance quickly, stepped forward, and delivered a powerful downward slash with its stone sword. 

"Protego." 

The first strike hit his shield, causing the statue to stumble back several steps in a daze. 

Another charged, and Severus dodged by spinning his body to the side, allowing the stone sword to slam into the ground. Taking advantage of the opening, he gripped the hilt of his own sword with both hands, keeping the wand against the handle, and delivered a vertical slash. 

The blade cut completely through the statue's outstretched arm with remarkable ease. 

The stone sword fell to the ground. 

At that moment, the third statue charged. Severus raised the hand holding his wand and made a simple gesture, as though he were pushing something away. 

Telekinesis violently hurled the knight to the side, forcing it to stagger several steps backward. 

The first statue, which had been stunned by the Protego, was already back. Severus immediately crossed swords with it. 

The impact made him slide back a few inches. "Damn... I should've expected that." The strength of that stone golem was tremendous. 

Even so, Severus couldn't help but smile. It had been a long time since he had felt physically weaker than an opponent. 

And that didn't worry him. On the contrary, it excited him. 

The two phoenixes noticed it immediately. Articuno remained perched atop the wall of ice, carefully observing the battle, while Fawkes beat her wings overhead, following every movement of the statues. 

Severus immediately planted his feet firmly on the ground and charged at the statues, two of them still armed with swords and the other without its hands. 

He spun his sword, deflecting the first attack. Then he blocked another slash from the second statue, moved his wand, and turned the ground beneath the first into mud, causing it to sink and become trapped, unable to move again with its feet buried, while the third statue, even with one hand missing, still tried to strike him using only its remaining stone arm. 

Severus parried the blow and held it there. At the same time, he pulled the sword lying on the ground toward himself with telekinesis. 

The next instant, he transfigured the sword into a sponge wall. The statue's broken stone arm struck the sponge, losing all its momentum before being pushed back and falling to the ground. 

A moment later, the sponge returned to the form of a sword. Severus spun on his heel. He still had the first enemy's sword locked against his own. But the enemy he had buried didn't stop attacking, throwing its sword at him. He managed to dodge it, even while it remained trapped in place and its sword was still grinding against his opponent's blade. 

With some effort, he shoved back the knight whose sword remained locked against his and quickly sliced through its neck. His blade flared with burning flames. The statue collapsed to the ground and immediately shattered into pieces. 

Without wasting any time, Severus drew the other swords scattered throughout the hall toward himself and launched them at the knights who were still trying to get back up. 

The blades pierced through their bodies. One after another, they also began to crumble apart. 

When the last one fell, new sounds echoed through the walls. From above, more statues began leaping down. A dozen knights landed heavily upon the floor. 

Severus dismissed the wall of ice. He remained standing in the center of the hall, while the two phoenixes also prepared themselves, circling overhead above him. 

A single command was all it would take for both of them to attack. But Severus wanted to test something else first. 

He raised his wand while keeping the sword in his other hand. Small flames began to appear above the tip of the wand, spinning around one another until they formed a blazing sphere. 

At the same time, a ring of wind began to surround the flames, causing fire and air to spin together at high speed. Severus still didn't have much control over the wind, but that was precisely what he had trained during the summer holidays. 

He wanted to create a fireball. No... He wanted to create an explosive version of it. 

The flames alone wouldn't be enough. He needed to produce something similar to a Bombarda Maxima. Something more powerful than a Bombarda Maxima. 

He needed something that would cause an explosion. If he compressed the air to the extreme before ignition, he would create a momentary vacuum and a pressure differential capable of multiplying the force of the detonation. 

If he could achieve that, he could generate a much greater explosion, since he would be surrounding a fireball with a layer of highly compressed air, creating pressure far greater than that of the surrounding atmosphere. That would certainly produce an enormous shockwave throughout the area. 

The fireball wrapped in swirling wind began spinning faster and faster. It became completely crimson until both elements finally stabilized. 

The sphere remained floating before the tip of his wand, shining intensely. 

Severus merely drew his wand back before stepping forward, as though delivering a thrust, while keeping his sword resting upon his shoulder. 

The next instant, the crimson sphere shot forward. It flew far faster than any spell he had ever cast before, striking the exact center of six knights. 

The moment it hit, a blinding flash engulfed the cavern. Immediately afterward, a gigantic wave of energy exploded outward in every direction. 

The compressed fire, upon coming into contact with the atmosphere, finally released all of its stored energy. The entire area erupted into thousands of fragments. 

The ground cracked and exploded. The statues were hurled away as their bodies were completely torn apart, while those closest to the center of the blast were reduced to dust. 

The next moment, the entire cavern shook. Even Severus had to conjure an ice shield as countless chunks of shattered stone were launched in every direction. 

"Deal with the others!" Severus ordered. He didn't want to lose the feedback he had just gained from that spell. 

The two phoenixes immediately flew off to engage the remaining six knights on the other side of the hall. 

Severus began analyzing the results in his mind. It was the first time he had managed to cast that spell in its complete form. Ignoring the beams of fire and ice the two phoenixes were launching at the knights, he dismissed the ice shield and walked toward the site of the explosion. 

At the center of the hall was an enormous crater. 

"Certainly... perhaps it's ten times more powerful than a Bombarda Maxima." 

When he had asked Lady Lyanna to cast some of the most powerful spells she knew, he had only wanted a reference for the true power of the wizards of this world. 

The strongest spell she possessed had been Bombarda Maxima. 

After learning it, Severus came to understand how it worked, and he knew there were even more powerful spells in existence, especially among the Dark Arts. 

Even so, they were not as devastating as he had imagined. 

Among the dark spells he had come to know, the only one that truly caught his attention was Fiendfyre. After all, that curse was capable of consuming an entire city. 

Which was rather disappointing compared to the others. Bombarda Maxima, at best, was only capable of creating an explosion with a radius of about five meters. It could crack concrete, shatter wood, or even destroy brick walls. 

But what Severus had just accomplished far surpassed that. His explosion had spread in an almost perfectly circular pattern. 

Not even the concrete had withstood the impact. He cast a Bombarda Maxima himself immediately afterward, watching as the explosion only slightly cracked the ground near the glass barrier, which didn't even seem to care about the attack. 

"The range was twice as large... But the force of the impact is much greater. It even generates a shockwave. Interesting... So this is what a true fire explosion really means," Severus reflected. 1

A simple fireball would never reach that level of power. But by combining fire and wind to compress the air and create a vacuum before the detonation... It was perfect. 

He waited patiently while the two phoenixes destroyed the remaining statues. They didn't have much difficulty. 

The knights were far too slow. The next moment, another twenty statues began leaping from the alcoves in the walls. 

Apparently, this would be the final challenge. No other alcoves remained occupied. 

Severus raised his wand once more. Wind and fire began swirling again before the tip of the wood, forming another sphere the size of a basketball. 

A smile slowly spread across his face. At the same time, he readied his sword. 

"This will be excellent training." 

His smile became even more satisfied. 

After all, those statues were far better than the combat dummies he had previously found to train against. 

The next instant, he fired the spell. At the same time, he ran in the opposite direction as the explosion erupted. 

Articuno charged alongside him. Soon, the sounds of battle echoed throughout the cavern once again. 

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