Seeing the pair of yellow vertical eyes, Spider Queen Senasa looked despair.
"No!" accompanied by a sharp scream.
The Spider Queen fell to the ground in an instant with reluctance. The densely packed eyes seemed to be covered with dust and became extremely dim. Her breath also dropped sharply and she became extremely weak.
"Huh? Not dead yet!" Sylas raised his eyebrows, a little surprised.
The Spider Queen was not dead even after looking into the eyes of the basilisk. Could it be that because Herpo was still a child, the Death Eye's power was not strong enough? Sylas could only guess.
But it also showed how powerful the Spider Queen was. After all, other spiders would die instantly if they were stared at by the basilisk.
Seeing that the Spider Queen was not dead, Sylas had no intention of sparing her life. He directly summoned the divine spear Aegros and stabbed it hard into the Spider Queen's head. The sharp spearhead instantly pierced through the Spider Queen's defense and then burst out with a destructive force, crushing the inside of her body into pulp.
The Spider Queen died instantly and completely.
Thranduil looked at the spear in Sylas's hand, and a hint of envy flashed in his eyes.
"They say no one can withstand the spear of Gil-galad and the sword of Elendil. Aegros and Narsil are indeed worthy of their reputations."
The status of the Divine Spear Aeglos among the elves was equivalent to that of the Holy Sword Narsil among humans. It was no wonder Thranduil was envious of such a magical weapon that embodied the craftsmanship of the Noldor elves.
However, at this time, Sylas and the others had no time to discuss about the divine spear.
With the death of the Spider Queen, the other giant spiders instantly became leaderless, chaotic, and disorderly, fleeing in panic. Naturally, the elf warriors would not miss this opportunity and began to chase and kill them.
As for some of the giant spiders that escaped back to the nest, Sylas simply asked the basilisk to hunt them down or force them out.
Thranduil watched the spiders fleeing in panic as the basilisk chased them and could not help but sigh to Sylas, "I really don't know how you managed to tame such a powerful and dangerous creature. It is so powerful at such a young age. When it grows up, I am afraid it will be as powerful as a dragon."
"Your Majesty Thranduil, thank you for the compliment!" Sylas smiled and shook his head. He knew his own business. The basilisk looked very scary and dangerous, with deadly eyes and unpredictable venom. But in fact, it had a very fatal weakness: the crowing of the rooster.
A rooster could make a basilisk flee in panic, and the crowing could cause fatal damage to it. Like the thousand-year-old basilisk in Slytherin, even after living for so long, it was still afraid of roosters, to the point that the soul fragment of Voldemort possessing Ginny Weasley had once ordered the killing of Hagrid's rooster.
Therefore, before the basilisk's fatal flaw of being afraid of rooster calls was solved, it was just a half-defective product and could not be compared with a dragon at all. On this point, Sylas would have liked to consult Saruman. He remembered that after Saruman's blatant betrayal, the wizard had specially bred orcs that were not afraid of sunlight. If Saruman could do something similar, perhaps the basilisk's weakness could be eliminated. By then, the basilisk would have no flaws and would be a truly powerful weapon.
The elven warriors spent a day and a night chasing the fleeing giant spiders in the dark forest. Except for a few that escaped, all were wiped out. The ones remaining in the nest were either killed by the basilisk or finished off by the elves after fleeing.
In this way, Mirkwood once again belonged completely to the Woodland Kingdom. Thranduil was delighted and announced a grand banquet would be held to celebrate the victory upon their return.
Before returning, Thranduil, wishing to thank Sylas and the basilisk Herpo, had the elven warriors gather all the giant spider corpses and hand them to Sylas. Under Herpo's guidance, Sylas followed the web-lined passage into the lair and began collecting the scattered corpses into a space bag.
The spider's nest was massive, like a maze, and after much searching he finally reached the hatching room. It was a vast underground cavern lined with webs. Inside were massive egg sacs, each filled with tens of thousands of spider eggs. Sylas drew in a cold breath at the sight. If these were allowed to hatch, Mirkwood would face another disaster.
Fortunately, the basilisk's venom had already poisoned them. Herpo had bitten each egg sac and injected a single drop. Even that small amount, once dispersed inside, killed all the eggs. Sylas couldn't help but give Herpo a thumbs-up for his ruthless efficiency. No wonder the Spider Queen had been so furious.
Sylas collected all the egg sacs and preserved them with a freezing spell, both as snacks for Herpo and for potential potion use. By the time he had finished packing the corpses, several space bags were full. The giant spiders' venom filled dozens of barrels, most collected by the elves. The body of the Spider Queen was kept in its own bag; her venom was even more precious, filling an entire bucket. Sylas also extracted and preserved her nerves, valuable for making wand cores suited for attack and dark magic.
After everything was done, Sylas returned triumphantly with the elven army. The elves held a grand celebration banquet. Sylas, Elrohir, Elladan, and Arwen were all honored guests, with Sylas seated at the same table as Thranduil.
"Sylas, today, thanks to you and your basilisk, we achieved a great victory and reclaimed all of Mirkwood. The Woodland Kingdom and I are grateful!" Thranduil raised his glass in toast.
"A toast to you! A toast to our greatest contributor!" The other elves smiled warmly, raising their glasses to Sylas with respect.
Sylas raised his own and replied, "Your Majesty Thranduil, you are too kind! Everyone here, including the elven warriors, contributed greatly. We should all honor them!"
The banquet lasted a full month. In the end, Sylas politely declined Thranduil's repeated invitations to stay and returned to Weathertop with Arwen, Elrohir, and Elladan. Legolas remained in the Woodland Kingdom for now, as the southern forests needed restoration and strategic planning after the spider threat was eliminated.
Returning to Hogwarts Castle, Sylas finally breathed a sigh of relief. The elves, with their eternal lives, saw nothing unusual about a month-long banquet, but Sylas was weary. Arwen went to the treehouse to visit the young eagle Thorondor, while Elrohir and Elladan went to the library to read books. After meeting with the butler Edward, Sylas went alone to the cellar dragon's lair.
Smelling Sylas's scent, Smaug instantly woke from his slumber and looked at him warily. His body instinctively shifted to block most of the treasure, as though guarding it from a thief. Just when he was about to complain about being poor, Sylas cut him off before the words could leave his throat.
"Okay, I'm not here to ask for money this time!" Sylas rolled his eyes at him in annoyance. "On the contrary, I'm here to give you money!"
Hearing this, Smaug swallowed the words he was about to say and eyed Sylas suspiciously.
"Really?"
"Really."
As he spoke, Sylas took out a space bag and tipped it over. In an instant, dazzling gems and diamonds spilled out, forming a small hill as tall as Sylas. These were gifts from Thranduil as thanks for helping recapture Mirkwood.
Seeing so many jewels, Smaug's attitude changed immediately. He showered Sylas with flattery and praise while discreetly moving all the jewels toward himself. Sylas ignored the greedy dragon's behavior and left the cellar.
He went first to the potion room, where he refrigerated the giant spider venom and some spider eggs he had collected. Then he headed to the 30th floor in the middle of the tower, using the Traceless Extension Charm to expand a room until it was the size of several football fields.
After arranging the interior, he turned it into a miniature giant spider nest draped with webs. With a wave of his wand, he kept the entire room dim, allowing only moonlight to filter in. Then he placed a large egg sac containing giant spider eggs into the nest, leaving them to hatch slowly.
When he finished, he locked the room magically and hid the entrance. This would be the breeding ground for giant spiders, serving as both a food reserve for Herpo and a source of spider venom in the future.
On the second floor, he went to the innermost wall and said "Open" in Parseltongue to a small silver snake design. The snake came alive, bit its tail, and turned into a door knocker. Sylas pulled it, revealing a hidden door.
Inside was a space as large as a football field. He poured out the giant spider corpses from several space bags until they piled into a mountain. Carving runes on the walls and channeling magic into them, he made the air icy cold.
Then he went to the far wall and spoke "Open" again in Parseltongue to a larger silver snake design. The snake coiled into a circle, bit its tail, and transformed into a stone door that opened to a massive pipe leading downward. Sylas didn't go further, knowing it led to the basilisk's lair inside the mountain.
He took out the suitcase containing Herpo and opened it. A bloated basilisk slithered out, its belly nearly stuck in the opening.
"Master, it's so cold!" Herpo burped and shivered in the chilled air.
Sylas looked at him speechlessly and pointed at the spider corpses. "When you're hungry, just come here for food. Understand?"
Herpo's tail thumped against the floor in excitement. There was enough to last him a long time, and the more he ate, the faster he would shed, grow, and strengthen.