After crossing the Forbidden Forest and arriving at the botanical garden, Leonard found Midgard already waiting for him.
"Everything's ready," Midgard said, nodding. "Little Claudia is staying in my room. I've got Marcus guarding the door. Security is guaranteed."
"Keeping a child locked indoors all the time isn't good," Leonard said with a smile. "You should take her out for a walk once in a while."
"Maybe take a look at yourself before you say that," Midgard replied, rolling her eyes. "Should a child be thinking about how to kill dozens of pure-blood wizards?"
She paused, then added, "And Little Claudia still has that horn on her head. How exactly are you planning to take her out?"
"Letting her practice magic should help," Leonard said. "That remaining small horn is probably a residue caused by changes in her magic flow. It can be fixed."
He then looked at Midgard more seriously.
"You should head back once this starts. Don't stay here."
Midgard raised an eyebrow and planted her hands on her hips.
"What? You think I'm a burden?"
"Yes," Leonard said honestly. "Not just you. I'm one too. I don't plan on getting close at all. I'll leave the battlefield to the plants. At most, I'll stay back to make sure no one escapes."
Hearing him say it so bluntly, Midgard could only sigh.
After all, if he was already calling himself dead weight, what could she, dead weight number two, possibly argue?
"Fine," she said with a shrug. "I'll go back and keep Little Claudia company. Those people should arrive in about ten minutes. Get ready. I'm heading back."
"'Those people'?" Leonard said seriously. "They're the second group of visitors to my botanical garden. They deserve a proper welcome."
"Can you act normal for once?" Midgard sighed. "Stop making yourself sound like a deranged serial killer."
"I'm not that bad, am I?"
"Then at least wipe that smile off your face. It's creeping me out."
"…Oh."
Leonard put away his bloodthirsty grin and returned to a normal expression.
"Hurry back. If someone really does escape, it won't be good for you to show up."
"I know. I'm going," Midgard said. "Be careful."
Without waiting for a reply, she Apparated away.
Leonard watched her leave, shrugged, and summoned a small black vortex beside him. Several seeds and two willow branches fell into his hand.
It was time to prepare the "welcome" venue.
Leonard thoughtfully arranged the menu. The main course would be the Whomping Willow, with a generous helping of Chomping Cabbage as the side dish.
Last time, when dealing with Quirrell and Voldemort, half of the Chomping Cabbage had exploded. Plants capable of long-term survival couldn't be wasted like that. For this operation, Leonard planned to rely on temporary plants instead.
These things multiplied threefold the moment they were planted. Even athlete's foot didn't spread that fast. If they ended up as cannon fodder, he wouldn't feel the slightest bit of regret.
Leonard planted the Chomping Cabbage first, watching as each one rapidly split into three and hopped free of the soil. Then he planted the Whomping Willow branches.
This wasn't Leonard's first time cultivating Whomping Willows. In the past, though, their violent temperament meant he often had to strangle them himself before he could even reinforce them.
They behaved as long as Leonard was nearby. The moment he wasn't paying attention, they would lash out violently at anything around them.
That included other plants.
And unicorns.
Because of that, Whomping Willows were never suitable for the botanical garden.
Now that the unicorns had escaped Voldemort's death threat and returned to the Forbidden Forest, Leonard deliberately chose an open area at the center of the garden to plant the willows. With him supervising on-site, planting a few wouldn't be a problem.
The moment the branches pierced the soil, they began to sprout and bud. At the same time, Leonard activated his innate talent.
The possible enhancements for the Whomping Willow appeared before his eyes as vivid images.
The first image showed the willow's trunk transforming into a crystal-like, semi-transparent material. Wizards cast spells at it, but the effects were negligible. The magic couldn't even damage the seemingly fragile bark.
Next came scenes of blades and axes striking the tree. Even physical attacks failed to leave the slightest mark.
This special texture provided astonishing resistance to both magic and physical damage, granting the Whomping Willow unparalleled defensive power.
It was a powerful enhancement. The Whomping Willow was already terrifyingly strong, and paired with near-invincible defenses, it became a monster that couldn't be beaten or broken.
Unfortunately, defensive enhancements weren't particularly useful for Leonard.
After all, when it came to physical attacks, wizards rarely had anything effective to offer. As for magic, that went without saying. His own enhancements allowed him to ignore four spells outright, and the fifth would trigger a self-destruction powerful enough to take the enemy with it.
From Leonard's perspective, boosting physical or magical resistance was nothing more than a waste.
Soon, the second image appeared.
At first, the Whomping Willow's exterior looked unchanged. Then the image shifted into a cross-sectional view, revealing the massive root system beneath the ground.
After enhancement, the roots gained astonishing vitality.
...
They slithered through the earth like enormous serpents. After burrowing deep underground, countless roots spread toward the surface, stopping just beneath it.
Whenever a living creature passed by, the roots would erupt upward, piercing the target and dragging it underground to be turned into fertilizer.
As time passed, countless false Whomping Willows grew from these roots. They were identical to the main body in appearance, the only difference being that they lacked independent root systems and relied entirely on the main tree's vast network for nourishment.
Destroying these fake Whomping Willows was meaningless. The main body could produce more of them in an instant.
"This enhancement… isn't this basically a tree demon matriarch?" Leonard muttered, clicking his tongue.
It was another incredibly powerful enhancement, strong enough to change the course of a war. Yet its practicality was severely lacking.
First, it required time. For the root system to fully spread would take hundreds of days.
Second, this type of Whomping Willow was aggressively exclusive. While its roots actively attacked enemies, they were even more ruthless in draining nutrients from other plants, making it impossible for anything else to survive nearby.
It embodied the Whomping Willow's brutality to the fullest.
The problem was that Leonard didn't just need a single Whomping Willow.
He needed a wide variety of plants.
If he chose this enhancement, he would effectively have to say goodbye to every other species. There wouldn't be a single place left where other plants could grow.
...
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