Before Glenn could fully relish that peculiar sensation, he realized he had already arrived at his destination.
"So, it really is this place."
Without hesitation, Glenn stopped suppressing the rampaging force of the Obscurial within him and unleashed it entirely.
The black and crimson volatile energy erupted instantly, sweeping through the entire corridor and the surrounding Acromantulas. It revealed a hidden path to the underground level, specifically the dungeon used to imprison dangerous magical creatures captured at Hogwarts.
Last year, the two trolls captured by Quirinus Quirrell to create a diversion were also held here.
Typically, these dungeons were empty. Recently, they might have only housed the cage of Cornish Pixies that Lockhart had used in his first lesson as a so-called "test" for the young wizards.
But now, the scene Glenn saw was vastly different.
The cage holding the Cornish Pixies was still there, but the Pixies inside had been reduced to mere skeletal remains.
The once-empty dungeon had now become a nest for Acromantulas, with sticky white webs hanging everywhere.
From the ceiling, the floor, and every dark little corner, tiny spiders the size of a fingertip were crawling out in droves. Though their paths varied, they all headed toward the same destination.
That was a pile—no, a grotesque heap—in the center of the dungeon, surrounded by webs. It was a massive mound of shredded meat of unknown origin.
The meat mound was enormous, its peak nearly touching the ceiling. Upon closer observation, one could see clear signs of decay and mold, indicating it had been there for several days.
There were no flies buzzing around it, nor were there maggots infesting the rotten flesh.
All of these had become appetizers for the tiny spiders before their main feast.
Even though part of the flesh had decayed, Glenn could still identify the source of the meat.
It was Acromantula flesh.
Glenn estimated that the pile likely required the bodies of a hundred Acromantulas to achieve such a volume.
But that was no longer the most pressing matter.
Because something even more horrifying was happening.
The tiny spiders, upon seeing the rotting flesh in the center, seemed to go mad, quickening their pace and pouncing onto the meat.
They began to feast voraciously.
Something grotesque occurred. As these tiny spiders started consuming the flesh of their kind, their bodies began to grow at an unnatural rate.
Their rapidly growing bodies burst through their exoskeletons, sending blood and flesh splattering everywhere. The mingled blood and flesh blurred the boundaries of individuality among the spiders.
New exoskeletons constantly reformed on their bodies, only to be shattered again.
Growth, rupture, growth, rupture, growth, rupture...
Their eight spider eyes glowed with a chilling red light. The excruciating pain caused by their tearing flesh and breaking exoskeletons echoed throughout the dungeon in their agonized, inhuman screeches.
Yet, they did not stop chewing or swallowing.
As if possessed, they frantically and greedily devoured the corpses of their kind.
Oh, there's no need to say "as if possessed." If Glenn's judgment was correct, this was the effect of a dark curse.
A curse so malevolent that it surpassed even the three Unforgivable Curses in some ways.
Cannibalism.
The spell instilled an insatiable desire in an individual to consume its own kind. If this condition was met, the individual's physical strength would surge at an extraordinary rate, entering a berserk state.
However, this curse came with a price. The individuals whose strength surged would pay the cost of their future growth potential and life force. Once the effect's duration ended, they would immediately weaken and die, reaching the end of their lives.
This was a spell that traded life for brief but immense power. Glenn could only wonder what the creator of this curse had in mind when they invented it.
Perhaps...
Never mind, it has nothing to do with me.
Looking at it this way, the caster's intention was clear. These rapidly growing Acromantulas at Hogwarts were the true main force. Even though their strength was far inferior to those in the Forbidden Forest, they had the advantage of being hidden.
Hermione had mentioned that the tiny spiders she initially found on the ceiling might not have been just leading the way.
They might have been carrying small pieces of meat from the Forbidden Forest and feeding them to other spiders in the dungeon.
This task couldn't have been completed in just a day or two. Glenn quickly estimated in his mind that this operation might have been secretly underway for at least a week.
A week ago, the caster controlled the Acromantula colony through some means, selecting over a hundred of them to be sacrificed as food for their kind. The newly hatched spiders then secretly transported the meat into the rarely visited dungeon at Hogwarts.
As time passed, the amount of meat in the dungeon grew, and the caster finally waited for the right moment to strike—a weekend when most professors were away from Hogwarts.
The caster, sensing the perfect opportunity, launched a full-scale Acromantula attack on Hogwarts. A caster capable of such a spell clearly wouldn't be foolish enough to think that mere Acromantulas could leave the Forbidden Forest and invade a Hogwarts guarded by Dumbledore.
So, their primary goal from the beginning was to infiltrate Hogwarts from within. While the commotion in the Forbidden Forest drew the professors out to suppress the riot, the caster used the cannibalism curse to create a force of Acromantulas that posed a significant threat to the young wizards, wreaking havoc inside Hogwarts and dismantling it from within.
Powerful, ruthless, cunning, and insidious—this was Glenn's assessment of the mastermind.
(Damn, I even made it rhyme. Could I be a genius?)
If Hogwarts had been the Hogwarts of the past, perhaps this person's plan would have succeeded.
Unfortunately, Hogwarts was no longer what it used to be.
"""
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