Chapter 527 Chapter Title: A Buried Temple
"What do you think, Evan?! Harry, Ron, and Hermione seemed to really like them, they just hatched!" Hagrid said proudly. "I've been thinking. You can raise them yourselves this year. We can turn it into a great project!"
From Harry and Ron's sarcastic expressions earlier, Evan doubted that they actually liked these Blast-Ended Skrewts.
The three of them must have only said that because they didn't want Hagrid to be sad.
"How did you get these Blast-Ended Skrewts?" Evan leaned in and looked at the group inside the box. One skrewt's tail suddenly exploded, and sparks flew everywhere. He quickly stepped back, furrowing his brow, and said, "This should be a new magical creature. I've never seen it in any book before."
"Yes, it's a new breed, a hybrid of the Manticore and the Fire Crab. I called them Blast-Ended Skrewts. Aren't these little ones cute?!" Hagrid waved his hand and seemed very pleased that Evan asked, "You know, it's not easy. The Manticore barely lets any creature get close. It's even harder to get them to 'work together' to reproduce. It took me nearly 60 Fire Crabs this summer to succeed."
It was difficult to imagine how Hagrid did it.
While all witches and wizards were off to the Quidditch World Cup, the man was tending to a Manticore and a group of Fire Crabs. He went to great lengths to get them to mate and give birth to offspring...
Those Blast-Ended Skrewts were not cute but terrible, absolutely dreadful!
A ban on Experimental Breeding had been enacted, prohibiting the creation of new types of magical creatures.
The ban was strictly enforced by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures at the Ministry of Magic. It was illegal for Hagrid to do it.
But looking at his happy face, even if Evan were to tell him, he wouldn't care.
Hagrid was now completely immersed in the joy of obtaining the skrewts, just thinking about how to raise them.
If Hagrid found them the right food, these dangerous skrewts could quickly grow and cause harm to all living beings around them.
They had inherited some of the characteristics of the Manticore and the Fire Crab, making them even more dangerous.
Of course, this was no issue at all for Hagrid.
Recalling his past experiences, whether the dragon, Fluffy, or the Acromantula, they were not much safer than the Blast-Ended Skrewt.
They were all cute babies in Hagrid's eyes.
Last semester, Evan had almost exterminated all the Acromantulas in the entire Forbidden Forest.
Influenced by the basilisk's venom, they had become more malevolent, and their bodies had started to grow abnormally, turning into purely Dark creatures.
However, Evan spared Aragog and handed him over to Hagrid. Without the evil god's supply, the ancient spider wouldn't survive long.
During this time, Hagrid had been busy taking care of the weakened Aragog, and had no energy to think of anything else.
Unexpectedly, as soon as Aragog's health improved, he produced many potentially more dangerous Blast-Ended Skrewts! Evan sighed, giving up trying to persuade Hagrid, and turned his attention to what he had just uttered about the Manticore.
"Where did you find the Manticore?" Evan inquired. "This magical creature is very rare."
The Manticore is a highly dangerous beast with the head of a man, the body of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion. More precisely, it is a monster with a red lion's body, human face, human ears, and blue eyes. Both the upper and lower jaws have three rows of sharp teeth, and the end of the tail is that of a scorpion with a deadly sting that can be shot in any direction.
This magical creature is native to Greece and is very rare and extremely dangerous. It is one of the most perilous magical beasts known to date.
The skin of a Manticore repels all known enchantments, making it extremely challenging to subdue a Manticore with magic. It is known to speak like a human and is considered a sentient beast.
But due to its violent nature, it was not granted the status bestowed upon goblins and other similar creatures. It is recorded in magical history that a Manticore once killed 30,000 Muggles for food.
In ancient Persia, it was hence called the "Manticore," meaning, the "man-eater"!
This dreadful and malevolent creature is also regarded by non-magical folk as a mythical symbol of tyranny, disdain, and envy.
In the world of magic, they are magical beings created by ancient wizards to guard treasures.
As remnants left behind by ancient wizards were gradually explored and excavated, the Manticore became increasingly rare.
According to reliable records, its last appearance was in 1296.
A Manticore attacked a person, and they let it go because everyone was too afraid to approach it.
Since then, the world of magic had never seen a Manticore again.
Thus, Evan was astonished when Hagrid mentioned that these Blast-Ended Skrewts were a breed of Manticore and Fire Crab. He had no idea where Hagrid had found a Manticore!
"In the deep swamp of the Forbidden Forest, there is one," said Hagrid, rising. "It's its territory, no other creature dares to come close. Except for hunting, it never wanders too far, as if guarding something."
Is the deep swamp in the Forbidden Forest?
Evan still remembered the swamp. Eight hundred years ago, Okegiga, the greatest warrior in Centaur history, discovered a large relic buried in the mud. It was an ancient and mysterious temple.
The top was covered with dense swamps, and the interior was a vast and tranquil rotunda. It was quietly overgrown with many magical plants, and the marble walls were engraved with complex magical symbols and ancient magical inscriptions.
The floor was covered with various magical patterns and lines, just like the top of the Temple of the Moon.
At the speed of Okegiga, the Centaur, he had to gallop for over 20 minutes in this empty hall to reach the center!
There stood the dreadful statue that could conjure the god of evil terror into the real world.
Hagrid mentioned that the Manticore might have been used to guard something. It could be that sunken temple. When he thought about it, Evan decided to go there and take a look. There might be something related to the evil god.
With the statue of the evil god in Voldemort's possession, this exploration was even more necessary.
The Temple was buried under the swamp mud and had not been discovered by wizards and the Ministry of Magic. Only Okegiga had been there 800 years ago, and it was likely that the place had not been destroyed, making it highly valuable for exploration.
In addition to the evil god, ancient sorcerers might have left other treasures.
Even if there was nothing, just because the temple was a relic left by ancient sorcerers, it was worthwhile for Evan to visit.
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