I'm playing a big knife at HP

After another two days of trekking through the jungle, Marciana and Snape came to a large stone house covered in moss and vines.

"It should be here, Casas' laboratory." With her hips on her hips, Marciana looked up to admire the ruins that had been almost damaged by time and the humid environment.It is said to be a laboratory, but the house is actually quite large.This is a building made of gray slate. There are three floors on the ground, and I don't know how many floors are underground. It is protected by a very powerful spell.Even so, plants and damp ruthlessly destroyed most of the buildings, and even a big tree broke the roof and grew out from the right wing.

Snape had already drawn out his wand, and went around the ruins to check the defensive spells on the periphery.

"The defense has almost been destroyed, as expected." He raised his hand and tapped the big tree. "With this level of damage, the magic circle must be left with only fragments."

"So?" She looked at him expectantly.

"If Felius or Professor Babling were here, they would probably have the patience to decipher the remaining magic circles. I obviously don't think it's worth spending such time," he glanced at Marciana with disgust, " Nor do you think you have such knowledge, so" he held up his wand, "strike with your strongest spells."

As he spoke, a large amount of black flames spewed out from his wand, and the flames hit the remaining defensive spells, forming a semicircular shape.Marciana also drew out her wand, and the tip of the wand spit out blue flames, burning the defense of the laboratory together.The two joined forces, and in less than ten seconds, there was a soft "boo" in the air, and the two retracted the magic flames that sprang up due to the disappearance of the defense, looked at each other, and walked towards the ruins.

Although the big stone house is broken, its original function can still be seen basically.The first floor consists of a conference living room, a living room, a dining room, and a small terrace where you can drink tea and enjoy the scenery.The second floor is entirely library and study, and the third floor is several comfortable bedrooms.Marciana and Snape quickly completed the search. The two scavenged the books in the library and the research notes in the study room, and packed them into bags with the Space Expansion Charm cast on them.

Marciana frowned, "Even an ordinary scholar would have such a collection of books—this is not Casas' laboratory, it's just his living place."

"Of course not," said Snape impatiently. "I bet his lab is underground."

"And I bet his study has a secret passage leading to the laboratory." Marciana looked around the empty bookshelves.

"And what made you come to that conclusion?"

"Is this a test, Professor Snape?" Marciana walked to the middle of the room, looked down at the circular pattern engraved on the floor, "When you are doing the experiment, if you need to consult the literature, you are willing to run halfway Hogwarts to the library?"

Snape snorted dissatisfiedly, "Pretty smart."

Marciana ignored him, bent down, pressed her palm in the middle of the pattern, and closed her eyes.After a while, she went straight to a bookshelf in the corner, flicked her magic wand, and "appeared quickly".A mechanism emerged from the wall, she held it tightly and pulled it tightly, the bookshelf folded away like it was made of paper, revealing a narrow door that only allowed one person to pass through, and a breeze blew out from the narrow door.

Marciana was about to take a step when she suddenly realized that her elbow was being grabbed.She turned to stare at Snape, and the wizard in black pulled her behind him and said deadpan, "I'll go down first." He raised his wand, "Lumos," he whispered.A white light glowed on the tip of the staff, and they saw a narrow staircase spiraling down a wall lined with magical torches every few steps.With a flick of his wand, Snape lit the torch closest to him, and the others gradually lit up, illuminating the bottomless stairwell.Snape held his wand cautiously and headed down the stairs first.Marciana looked at the thin figure, smiled, took off her cloak, put it away, and followed.

The stairs were very long, and the air became colder and damper as they went down. Snape was sure that they had gone deep underground.

He looked back at Marciana. Although it was cold, she was not wearing the warm dark gray cloak.Under the cloak, she was wearing leather boots, combat pants, and a black tights—he couldn't tell the specific material, but he could see the runes on the clothes in the firelight.The stairs finally reached the bottom, and the two pushed open a small wooden door and walked out of the stairwell.Marciana felt that she had passed through a very strong and well-preserved magic barrier, thinking that this must be a laboratory.

Behind the barrier is a very dark corridor.Here the magic torches have been destroyed and can only rely on fluorescent flashes for lighting.

As Marciana walked, she tried to sense whether there were hidden entrances on both sides of the corridor.Suddenly, she bumped into Snape's outstretched arm.Marciana took a half step back, and found that Snape was standing there frozen, holding her back with one hand, while lowering his head and looking at his feet as he slowly backed away.The floor in front of his toes disappeared without a trace, and there was a black hole in front of him, and it was impossible to see how deep the crypt was.A broken brick was accidentally kicked into the hole by Snape, and it took several seconds before there was a soft click.

"Why is this?" Marciana frowned, "It is said that crypts are not common in Wales."

Snape cleared his throat, "I think it's because..."

Before he finished speaking, his figure suddenly disappeared. Marciana turned pale with fright, and immediately waved her wand and cast a levitating spell: but she only lifted a few floor tiles before falling, and Snape had already fallen into the crypt up.

Snape didn't feel good when his feet were empty, but he didn't panic.

He can fly after all.

He adjusted his posture, his robe puffed up, and glided to land.To be honest, he didn't fall too far. He illuminated the surroundings with his wand, and found himself standing on a rough and uneven hill. Yes, the semi-circular pattern—was it made by the washing of water?He increased the output of magic power, and the light ball at the tip of the staff illuminated tens of meters around him.

Snape felt that he might be a little dizzy from lack of oxygen, because... how should I put it...he felt as if the stone ground under his feet was moving.

There was a rumbling sound like rubbing against rocks, and Snape saw a huge flower bud rise before his eyes.To be precise, a stone pillar as thick as several people's arms rose from the ground, and there was a bud-shaped... head on the top of the stone pillar?The bud turned to him, and suddenly split into four petals, revealing a black mouthpart, and lightning crackled on the four petals.

Snape understood that the scaly pattern under his feet was not a pattern - it was scales.

"I'm going to kill Dumbledore when I go back." Snape thought blankly, but he knew better that he might not be able to go back alive.

He backed away quickly, laying down layer after layer of defense, the "flower" let out a roar, the sound was treacherous and terrifying, like the sound of the wind in the depths of a cave, a bolt of lightning hit the place where he was standing, the defense was like paper The same was torn apart.

Snape quickly jumped off the monster's body and found a large rock to hide nearby, which was soon shattered by another bolt of lightning.What a mistake, he thought, all the books and notes they collected were on Marciana, and now she had no reason to come to his rescue.Unlucky enough, I didn't expect to die here.

But it doesn't matter, he thought, what's the difference between dying here and dying at the hands of the Dark Lord.I hope the boy of the Potter family survives — anyway, there are enough people to protect him, not least him alone.

Suddenly, the "flower" turned its back upwards, spewing out bolts of lightning, and the lightning flashed to illuminate the top of the crypt, and there was also a small falling figure.The figure landed on the "calyx", holding a long sword with blue light in both hands, it inserted forcefully into the gap between the scales on the monster's neck, and pried it hard again, the monster hissed and roared, and his body rolled over.

"Snape!" Magic carried her voice to every corner of the crypt, "Where are you?"

Snape quickly threw a Fire Charm.Marciana stuck the long sword tightly in the monster's body, held the hilt of the sword in one hand to barely maintain balance on the rolling monster, and pulled out a broomstick from the luggage with the other hand.She stepped on the broomstick, pulled out the long sword with one hand, and flew towards the direction of the fire.

Snape saw her nimbly avoiding two lightning breaths and stopped in front of him, "Come up!" Without her urging again, Snape quickly stepped on the broom, she kicked off the ground, and the two flew straight to the top of the cave , rushed out of the big hole he fell in, flew out of the collapsed stairwell, and rushed straight into the forest before stopping.

The two wizards jumped off their broomsticks and watched in a daze as the ruins of Kasas's laboratory collapsed into a pile of rubble and stones before their eyes, and were swallowed by the huge hole in the ground.

"If my Protection of Magical Creatures class was not in vain," Marciana pointed to the black hole in the ground from which there was a loud rumbling noise, and turned to Snape, "that thing is a giant sandworm."

"I can see that too," Snape replied dryly.

"But how could it be?" Marciana paced back and forth, "Giant sandworms don't exist in the UK...it's not even a European species! Our climate is not suitable...it can only survive in the desert!"

"That's Kasus' experiment," Snape replied, "I saw a sign on it."

Marciana was dumbfounded, and shook her head after a while, "Now we finally know how Tibias Casas died."

"He deserves it, I have to say," said Snape savagely.

"The body length is 100 to 150 meters, roughly in line with the size of the giant sand worm when it is [-] to [-] years old. Casas probably smuggled the larvae to the UK..."

"Then he found his little pet was growing a little too fast." Snape continued mockingly.He tapped the broomstick with his fingers: "We have to go back."

"What?" said Marciana in disbelief. "No!"

"We have to go back. I saw the collection of books in the Casas laboratory, in the crypt, protected by a spell."

"Maybe... maybe we should contact Newt Scamander..." Marciana bit her lip. "He may have a way to take that giant sandworm away."

Snape rolled his eyes mentally.

"Miss LaRosa," said Snape patiently, "Marciana. She's dying, a slow, painful death."

Marciana looked up.

"Tell me, what do giant sandworms eat?"

"Grit..." Marciana murmured.

"What do you think this giant sandworm can eat?"

She already understood it completely, closed her eyes, rubbed her temples with her thumb and middle finger, "Mud...the Welsh soil is too wet, and moisture is a deadly poison to giant sandworms...it has been poisoned chronically. This also Explaining its aggressiveness, giant sandworms are generally fairly peaceful creatures."

"It is a miracle that it can live for so many years. According to my observation, it is very close to death. Once it dies, the water in its body will become..."

"The water of life," she answered in a low voice, "is so poisonous that it will kill all living things in the nearby forest and leave the land barren for hundreds of years."

Snape nodded.Marciana shook her head, "Okay. Its weakness is fire, and I'm responsible for breaking its scales, and then we use flames to destroy its nerve center, giving it a quick and painless death."

"Sound plan."

She glanced at him, "Tell me this has nothing to do with the fact that the water of life is a precious potion ingredient."

Snape didn't answer, just shrugged.Marciana stepped on the broom angrily, "Come on."

They covered their bodies with spells and sneaked back into the crypt.This time it went well, Marciana used her long sword to pry open a scale on the giant sandworm's neck, and the two condensed the magic flame into a thin line, quickly burning through the giant sandworm's nerves.Within tens of seconds, the giant sandworm fell silent.

The moment it calmed down, Snape put his wand on its head and released its magic power, only to find that Marciana had already stretched her magic power into a thin film, completely covering the body of the giant sand worm over a hundred meters long.The moment the giant beast lost its life, most of its body turned into fine sand and fell to the ground.Marciana raised the magic wand in her right hand, and retracted the five fingers of her left hand, and the dots of light in the air flew to her palm, condensing into a water ball the size of a basketball, and lightning flashed from time to time in the clear and transparent liquid.

"Water of life." Snape handed over the large crystal bottle that had been prepared, and the water ball got into the bottle, and he quickly plugged the bottle.The black-robed wizard raised the bottle to his eyes, admiring the lightning in the liquid without blinking. "Fascinating."

Marciana knelt down and grabbed a handful of fine sand, "...I'm sorry." She took out a small bag and put the sand in it. "What are you doing? The sand turned from the corpse of the giant sandworm is just ordinary gravel." Snape reminded her in a good mood.

Marciana rolled her eyes, left the black-robed wizard and walked forward, "I'm going to find Kasas's collection of books. Just give you and your eau-de-vie some private space?"

They managed to find what was left of Tibias Casas' library, where most of his dark art tomes and experimental notes were kept, and as Snape had said, they were fairly well preserved.

So far, the task of the two has been successfully completed, and they can go home.

When camping that night, Snape noticed Marciana LaRosa draw her sword again.She held a sword in one hand and a stone with radiant light in the other. She sharpened the blade of the sword carefully under the firelight. Her long eyelashes ran along the corners of her upturned eyes, casting a small shadow on her face. It can even be called quiet.Her black braids were a little loose, and a few strands of hair fell on her cheeks, making her look a little softer.Snape briefly forgot about the times he lived in.He knew that there were many wizards in the past who used long swords, and it was said that Merlin held a sword in one hand and a staff in the other.Godric Gryffindor even passed down a sword, which is in the hands of Dumbledore.But he had never seen a modern wizard with a sword, and he didn't even know that there were wizards who were proficient in swordsmanship.

"Is that goblin work?" he heard himself ask.

"Well," she took out a clean soft cloth and wiped the blade carefully, "I spent all my savings for several years."

"It appears that you were doing... pretty lucrative work during your years in Europe."

The black-haired witch turned her head and showed him a mysterious smile.

Snape looked at her, "It is generally believed that a wand is sufficient for attack and defense in a duel."

"They really think so," Marciana carefully inspected the blade against the firelight, "the spell works very well. For most people, having an extra weapon makes it easier for them to distraction."

"But you don't think so?"

"For some people, cutting potion ingredients with a knife will still cut their hands."

Snape, thinking of his students, was forced to agree.

"Why choose the sword?"

"Not something else, a hot weapon?" She rested her chin on her crossed fingers and looked at him with a smile, "You are right, in theory, guns can also be converted into weapons that can penetrate magic defenses. "

She put the sword on her knee, and slowly traced the magic lines on the sword with her fingers. "The goblins have been making swords for hundreds of thousands of years, but they are not familiar with guns. They can probably do it, but I certainly can't afford the price they want." She shrugged.

Poverty was such a straightforward and practical reason that Snape couldn't answer it.

"Do you really think you're better off with a sword than with a wand?"

"I also use a wand. A sword is useful for a sword." She suddenly turned her head and looked at him with cat-like eyes. "I heard that you are very good at black magic. I think...you are also good at fighting."

Snape snorted haughtily.

"Do you want to practice? You use a spell, I use a sword, let's test it in actual combat."

Snape felt that this way of fighting at the slightest disagreement was too straightforward and rude, too... Gryffindor, but he really wanted to know how she used cold weapons.

Without answering, he drew his wand and stood up.

Marciana stood opposite him, holding the sword in her left hand, with the point of the sword pointing down. They bowed slightly to each other, turned their backs, and each took five steps to stand still.As soon as she turned around, Snape threw several offensive spells at her in rapid succession.Marciana rushed towards him while dodging almost without pausing.Snape's aim was always good, but his spells were either dodged by her or parried by her raised sword.With a distance of only ten steps, she came to him in a few seconds.Snape immediately blocked it with the Iron Armor Curse, but Marciana raised her sword, the magic pattern on the sword lit up with blue light, the blade directly pierced through the magic defense, barely stopping at his neck.

"That's it." She smiled, and Snape noticed a small dimple at the corner of her mouth.

He narrowed his eyes, "Come again."

In the second round, Snape continued to distance himself, looking for cover.This time it took Marciana more than half a minute to finally completely dodge the black smoke he released that followed her like poisonous snakes (under the cover of night, the black mist snakes could hardly be seen with the naked eye!), The close ended the fight.

In the third round, Snape used the Disillusionment Charm to hide his figure and started a sneak attack.Marciana was surprised to find that the wizard was a very worthy opponent.His magic is changeable and extremely unpredictable. More importantly, it is almost impossible to use a method that has been used on him once - he can always quickly find a way to deal with it, and is more cautious than the last time.If it weren't for being able to judge the position and prevent attacks through the fluctuation of magic, she would definitely not be able to win without magic spells.

Marciana could hardly hide her excitement when they finally sat down in front of the campfire again, panting.Granted, Snape wasn't a well-trained Auror, but he was stronger than most of them.Marciana had spent a lot of time studying black magic and had fought many dark wizards, but she had never heard of many spells used by Snape.Most importantly, his fighting style is as insidious and elusive as his character.Marciana looked at Snape, his face flushed from exercise, his dark eyes gleaming.Marciana couldn't help lowering her head and smiling: she knew that she was not the only one who was happy to see Lie Xin tonight.

On the second and third nights, they decided to continue to "practice".By the time they left Snowdonia Forest, Snape had been able to fight Marciana for a few minutes, and Marciana had to use spells to assist in the fight.Snape insisted that his temporary disadvantage was solely because he did not use the powerful dark magic, but he also had to admit that the years since leaving Aurus had not made Larosa slack or weak: the witch It's tougher than ever.

The author has something to say: the giant sandworm belongs to "Dune" and "Dark Soul 3".

bgm=CrystalPeak, fromHollowKnight, please eat together.Highly recommend all of HollowKnight's soundtracks.