Chapter 115. Mind Language
The room gradually fell under a hush, and the one human and the many beasts all waited for the stone statue that had tormented them to topple.
But as the seconds ticked by, the statue still stood firm, and it was still struggling with all its might, trying to break free of its restraints.
"Ari, something's wrong!" Ari's voice held a note of panic.
"What is it? Didn't you hit it?" Duncan asked.
"We did, but our horns don't seem to be able to pierce it!" Ari shouted back.
Duncan's brow furrowed.
"The final level really isn't so easy to get through..."
"Duncan, I can't hold on much longer.
Can they even do this?" Mori's voice was pained.
The statue's struggles were growing stronger, and Mori felt the hair he had wound around it was close to being torn out by the roots.
"Let go for now, Mori!" Duncan said.
"All right—be careful and keep your distance.
I think this thing's about to go berserk!"
Mori answered, and once Duncan had backed out of the hall, he quickly retracted his hair and dodged to the side.
A dull roar came from the statue's mouth, and the aura around it swelled in turn.
Its longsword swept through the air, leaving afterimages in its wake.
The two Erumpents didn't dare take it head-on now, and they retreated on instinct to the sides, avoiding the slashes of the longsword.
Even if the blade couldn't break through their thick hide, getting hit still hurt!
"Does this thing have a second phase as well?
How are we supposed to get through now?"
Staring at the frenzied statue, Duncan fell into thought.
Surely Gryffindor wouldn't deliberately leave behind an unbeatable statue just to torment students coming to clear the level?
Might the clue to clearing it be on that longsword on the ground?
Duncan thought it very likely.
He had the two Erumpents intercept to create an opening for him, then sprinted over to the longsword.
A chill ran through his palm as he gripped it.
Duncan gave a sharp tug upward, and the sword came free without trouble.
Before he could look it over, Mori's alarmed cry came from the side.
"Duncan, look out—the statue's charging you!"
Duncan reacted on instinct, springing forward.
He rolled twice along the floor and, in a blink, was several metres away.
When he turned back, the statue leapt and came crashing down from mid-air.
The longsword hacked heavy and hard into where he had just been, kicking up waves of force.
It seemed that the moment he took up the longsword, it counted as accepting the trial.
The statue no longer cared about the beasts blocking it—its eyes contained only him.
Both Erumpents hardened their hearts and threw their bodies in the statue's way, wanting the sword's fury to be vented on them instead.
But the statue didn't spare them a glance.
With a single bound it cleared the Erumpents with ease, and the longsword came slashing at Duncan again.
Duncan scrambled left and right through the hall, dodging for dear life.
He crossed blades with the statue only once, and both his forearms went numb from the shock.
Swordsmanship aside, their sheer physical strength simply wasn't on the same level.
And watching the statue move with more agility than him, Duncan found it hard to believe.
"Is this really a stone statue, and not an actual person?"
"Duncan, what do we do?"
Seeing the blade sweep perilously close to him again and again, Mori grew anxious as well.
"Let me think a little longer..."
Duncan forced himself to stay calm, dodging while searching for a clue to victory.
All at once, Duncan's gaze caught an oddity on the statue that he had missed before.
There were deep sword marks on both the front and back plates of the armour.
They didn't look like scars acquired later.
"Could that be the key to clearing it?
Do I have to follow those lines and cut it a few times with the sword?"
Duncan raised his eyebrows, pondered briefly, then made up his mind to try.
In any case, he had no better solution at the moment.
"Pro, open the case and let the Acromantulas out!" Duncan shouted.
"Oh." Pro answered quickly, opened the case, and dived in to fetch the Acromantulas.
By the time Duncan had slipped away from the statue's next strike, several Acromantulas had scuttled out of the case.
Catching this in his peripheral vision, Duncan called, "Spin webs—slow it down for me."
The Acromantulas snapped out of the joy of smelling home and hurried to obey Duncan's orders, spitting out snowy white silk.
When it looked about enough, Duncan lured the statue over and had the spiders entangle it.
Seeing it about to break free right after being bound, Duncan hurriedly called to the Erumpents, "Don't just stand there—ram it!"
Ari and Charlie lowered their heads and charged.
A one-two hit slammed the statue into the wall at the edge of the hall, and it slid down with a crash.
Duncan rushed in right on their heels, picked his spot, and swung the longsword.
He struck true, cutting along one of the sword marks on the statue.
A roar rang from the statue's mouth, and its struggles seemed to weaken—if only a little.
"It works!"
Seeing a real chance to win, Duncan was overjoyed.
He wanted to swing the sword again, but the statue was already close to breaking out.
He had to give it up and retreat to a safe distance.
But now that he'd found the method to get through, what followed was easy.
Duncan kept the Acromantulas weaving webs to bind the statue, then had the Erumpents ram it again, and he would step in to follow up with a cut.
Everything fell into a smooth rhythm.
Human and beasts worked in perfect concert, and the number of unstruck sword marks on the statue dwindled and dwindled.
When Duncan seized his moment and brought down the final blow, the statue went rigid where it stood, frozen in place and motionless.
Ari and Charlie still wanted to lower their heads and charge again, to smash the statue completely.
Duncan hurriedly raised a hand to stop them.
"Wait—you two, don't be reckless.
It looks like it's already over!"
Ari and Charlie reluctantly backed off.
"Duncan, you should've let me smash it to bits.
What if it moves again?"
"You two big oafs—ever think whether you can even—"
Pro, sitting by the doorway, started to gripe, but cut himself off halfway.
He had noticed Ari and Charlie had both turned their heads to look at him, their eyes dangerous.
"You can understand what I'm saying?" Pro exclaimed in surprise.
Before, they had always relied on Duncan to interpret, or on gestures and other means to get their meaning across.
"What do you think, little fellow?
You actually called us big oafs!" Ari huffed, stepping forward with Charlie.
"Ha, I can understand you, too?" Pro's eyes went wide.
But watching Ari and Charlie closing in at a quick pace, he knew this was not the time to ponder such questions.
Pro sprang up and bolted for Duncan.
"Help me, Duncan—these two are going to kill me!"
"That's what you get for mouthing off," Duncan replied.
"I didn't know they'd suddenly be able to understand me..." Pro muttered under his breath.
"What on earth is going on?"
Duncan didn't answer.
His eyes were on the prompt that had just popped up.
[By working together with one heart, you have successfully cleared the difficulty.
The bond between you and your animals has grown closer.]
[Congratulations.
You have obtained the magical skill: Mind Language.]
[Mind Language: You and any animal whose affection for you has reached 100 can communicate with each other and understand one another's speech.]
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