Chapter 142. Love-Struck Kray
"Do you know him?"
Olivia frowned as she observed the ugly-faced man in the pit and asked in surprise.
"Mm."
Duncan nodded.
"He's my Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, Quirinus Quirrell."
"How could he be here?
And how did he become like this?"
After hearing Duncan's words, Olivia was even more shocked.
"He was probably accidentally injured by the lightning I called down.
As for why he's here, only he himself would know."
Duncan spoke as he controlled Quirrell's body to roll over, then untied the turban on the top of his head.
Olivia looked along and her eyes couldn't help but go wide, bursting out with another cry of alarm.
At the back of Quirrell's head there was a huge concavity; even the skull had caved in, looking extremely horrifying.
"Has Lord Voldemort already fled?
Judging by this, he doesn't seem to have been gone for very long."
"I don't know if he ran back to the forests of Albania again, or if he found another host here."
Duncan stroked his chin and thought silently.
Olivia moved her lips, hesitated for a long time, and said, "Is this man really your professor?
He looks like a monster!"
"If you say he's a monster, that's close enough."
After finishing his inspection and finding no additional clues, Duncan continued, "Let's go.
Don't bother with him.
We still have to hurry to the gorge!"
"Mm."
Olivia nodded slightly, moved her disdainful gaze off Quirrell, and followed Duncan into the distance.
Not long after they left, dense cracks appeared over the surface of Quirrell's corpse's skin; then the entire body collapsed with a boom, as if every drop of moisture had been drained away, turning into a heap of grey powder that slid into the gaps among the wet, fallen twigs and leaves at the bottom of the pit.
At the same time, a swirl of black mist surged up from not far away, carrying an icy chill, and howled off into the distance.
Meanwhile, after they had gone some distance, Duncan suddenly felt a wave of cold; his body shivered uncontrollably.
His brow furrowed into three vertical lines, and his gaze flashed towards the place that felt wrong to him; he raised his wand.
But all he could see were leaves rustling in the wind and a few birds flirting and squabbling—nothing unusual.
"What is it?"
Seeing Duncan's alert posture, Olivia lifted her wand as well, watching the direction he was looking.
"Nothing.
Maybe I'm too on edge."
Duncan shook his head, put away his wand, and continued towards the gorge, following Kray high above.
Along the way Duncan kept thinking about Voldemort.
The aura he had sensed just now was somewhat like Voldemort's.
Had Voldemort really left, or was he hiding in the dark, waiting to deliver a killing blow at a critical moment?
"Look out!"
Olivia suddenly warned loudly.
A small, compact pistol twirled once between her fingers, and she fired quickly.
A deformed animal screeched and leapt down from between the branches.
Judging by appearance alone, it looked a bit like the offspring of a monkey and a frog.
Its green skin had stripes, smooth and hairless; there were webs on its hands and feet; its four limbs were long and flexible, suited to moving in the forest.
And, uncomfortably, short horns grew from its head; its big mouth always seemed to be wearing a grotesque grin, full of razor-sharp teeth.
The air round struck the creature; its body rapidly swelled into a balloon; after dropping some distance, it slowly drifted upward again.
At the same time, startled by the sudden sound, Duncan looked at the "balloon" bobbing about and hurriedly thanked Olivia.
"It's nothing.
But what kind of animal is that?
It looks so ugly!"
Olivia frowned, staring at the creature in mid-air.
"Tree-Monkey Frog," Duncan said.
Seeing the pustule on its head flashing a scarlet light, he carefully pinched the Tree-Monkey Frog's false limb between two fingers, slowly dragged it along, and only after stuffing it into the case did he breathe out in relief.
"When the pustule on their head senses danger it will flash, and in an emergency it can even burst, spraying the enemy in front with a faceful of thick goo!"
"Ugh…
What a terrifying animal!"
Thinking of that scene, Olivia felt gooseflesh rise over her skin.
"But as long as you understand them, you won't suffer that horrifying moment," Duncan said with a smile.
"In fact, all magical creatures are like this.
If you don't understand them, you'll find them frightening; once you understand them, you'll find them adorable."
"Maybe…"
Olivia said.
"But I will never find that one called the Tree-Monkey Frog adorable."
"They're actually rather interesting," Duncan shrugged, then tipped his head back to locate Kray and continued forward.
When they were almost to the gorge, Kray, flying above, suddenly let out a shout: "Duncan, get up here and look—this scene is spectacular!"
"Huh?"
Duncan raised his eyebrows, swung his wand, and the branches of a big tree at the side drooped down into stairs, bearing him up into the sky.
His sight passed over the undulating sea of forest to the distance: he saw a huge gorge, steep and narrow as if chopped out by a great axe.
In the centre of the gorge, a Thunderbird with a body even larger than Mori's was darting about within, crying again and again and diving to attack.
Nundus were leaping back and forth across the sheer rock walls, roaring in anger, treating wizards as mortal enemies and hurling themselves forward to fight to the death again and again.
There were also Graphorns, mountain tyrannosaurs, and several other magical creatures galloping through the gorge, hunting Newt and the others who had entered it.
The entire gorge had become a veritable magical-creature playground; any beast a normal person could name could have its traces found here.
But perhaps because they were berserk, the magical creatures were not using their innate abilities; otherwise the battle would already be over.
"No wonder we didn't encounter many crazed magical creatures in the forest.
So they had all gathered in the gorge."
In his heart Duncan prayed for Newt and his companions, hoping that under the siege of such numbers of magical creatures they would remain temporarily unharmed.
Olivia climbed the stairs behind Duncan and stood close beside him.
Seeing the situation towards the gorge, she hurriedly and anxiously said, "Duncan, what should we do now?
There are so many magical creatures there, and those hateful wizards on top of that.
Mr Scamander and the others may not be able to hold on for long.
We have to hurry and go help them!"
"Don't worry.
I'll go right away to help them.
They should still be holding out."
Duncan nodded.
"Right—where do we go from?
I've been here before; I know there are two small paths," Olivia said quickly.
"No.
According to our agreement, I'm the one who goes."
Duncan shook his head.
"Hurry and get back into the case.
Prepare more healing potions.
When the fighting is over they'll definitely be needed.
That's also an extremely important task!"
"All right.
I'll get potions ready that everyone can use.
You must all be careful and come back safe…"
Olivia bit her lip and nodded, not arguing any further.
She knew that if she followed she might become a burden.
She returned all the tools to Duncan and bent down into the case.
Duncan closed the case, waved for Kray to lower a bit so that he could climb onto his back, and go straight by air to the gorge.
But Kray's eyes were vacant as he gazed at the gorge, staring at the Thunderbird ceaselessly circling and weaving high above.
His wings beat on instinct, and he muttered, "Duncan, did you see it?
It's so beautiful…"
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