Chapter 163: Acromantula

For a period after that, John had been preparing. Now that he had mastered various spells, what he needed to prepare for next was how to deal with those unknown traps or magical creatures.

He had flipped through quite a few books, and Hermione had also helped him organize a lot of relevant information.

But there was still a lack of practice...

So.

"You say you want to go into the Forbidden Forest to practice against magical creatures?"

In the evening, in Hagrid's hut, John found Hagrid, who was baking rock cakes.

He stated his thoughts.

And Hagrid looked at him in disbelief.

"Yeah, so I wanted to ask the Professor if you know the general distribution of magical creatures in the Forbidden Forest."

John nodded while curiously picking up a freshly baked rock cake.

He took a bite.

Crack!

John felt his teeth tremble and almost break; this cake was ridiculously hard.

"The Forbidden Forest is not a place to mess around, John. The creatures inside aren't very friendly, especially at night."

Hagrid looked at John and said seriously.

"That's why I came to you, the most severe father of magical creatures, the gamekeeper of Hogwarts!"

John's words made Hagrid feel embarrassed.

"You, you cut that out."

"Last time you went in with me, you snuck off and disappeared, making me search for you in the Forbidden Forest for half a day, and I almost got treated as an intruder by the centaurs!"

Hagrid first touched his nose in embarrassment, but immediately reacted and put his hands on his hips, saying.

"Times have changed, Hagrid, I'm not the same as I was last year!"

"And when I enter the maze, what if I run into magical creatures I haven't seen before and don't have the experience to deal with them?"

"Besides, this time I came specifically to seek guidance from you, the expert, how could I run around?"

Hearing John's words, Hagrid scratched his head.

He couldn't help but think, you kid can even subdue a dragon, would you be afraid of those little things?

But later he felt it made sense.

John would sooner or later have to face the dangers in the maze.

He knew that some time ago, Dumbledore had him catch several adult Acromantulas and throw them into the maze.

That thing was a 5X-rated creature just like a dragon, although its individual strength was not as good as a dragon, it won by having large numbers and strong toxicity; a moment of carelessness could lead to an irreversible situation.

If John ran into them in the maze and got bitten because of carelessness, that would be bad.

Hagrid hesitated for a long while before sighing and finally nodding in agreement.

"Alright John, I agree."

"But you have to listen to me and not act alone."

John naturally patted his chest to guarantee, "You got it, old buddy!"

Afterward, Hagrid tidied up, took a lantern and a huge crossbow, and led John into the Forbidden Forest.

The last time he came to the Forbidden Forest was to see the dragons.

But because those dragons were arranged at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and the dangers nearby had been cleared, they hadn't run into anything.

Now it was different.

The Forbidden Forest was full of strange auras.

From time to time, rustling sounds came from the canopy above.

"Strange, where are Aragog's children?"

Hagrid led him along the way, but they didn't run into anything, and then he started talking to himself strangely.

"Who is Aragog?" John asked curiously.

"Oh, my old friend, an Acromantula."

???

John was clearly stunned.

Can you be friends with an Acromantula?

"Oh John, don't make that face, Aragog is my old friend, and Acromantulas are also very cute."

If he hadn't seen them in the guidebook, John would have almost believed him.

"However, if you run into them alone, you still have to stay vigilant; their venom can paralyze a person in three seconds."

Hagrid's words had just fallen when the leaves above their heads suddenly started rustling.

But there was no wind blowing.

So this sound was not the sound of wind blowing through leaves.

Several wet, slippery silk threads slowly hung down from the depths of the canopy, and one Acromantula after another suddenly appeared.

Scarlet compound eyes flickered in the dark, and eight legs covered in bristles slowly crawled down along the spider silk, surrounding the two.

Hagrid immediately raised his crossbow, and John also quickly pulled out his wand.

"Don't attack yet, John."

Hagrid shouted hurriedly.

"Aragog! It's me! Hagrid!"

Then he shouted loudly toward the depths of the spider swarm.

Those Acromantulas that had surrounded them stopped their movements and then retreated a few steps one after another.

"Hagrid, old friend, so it's you."

A low and hoarse voice came from the depths of the forest, accompanied by heavy footsteps.

A huge Acromantula slowly appeared, its eight eyes on its forehead glowing in the dark.

It slowly came to Hagrid, gently touching Hagrid's palm with its front limbs, as if greeting him.

Hagrid and this Acromantula named Aragog greeted each other, and then he started introducing John.

"By the way, this is John, my uh... student."

"Speaking of which, Aragog, what's going on with you, arranging these children here."

Speaking of this, Hagrid scratched his beard, his face showing confusion.

"Old friend, an accident happened here two days ago, several of my children died here, so I brought my children to guard here, wanting to see if I could wait for the murderer."

Aragog's voice was low and slow, its eight eyes blinking slightly.

"Accident? What happened?"

Hagrid frowned and asked suspiciously.

Aragog shook its huge head and continued.

"My surviving children only told me that two wizards were fighting here."

"One of them came to hunt my children, and the other tried to stop him."

"They fought in the forest, spells splashing everywhere, and in the end, the hunter was repelled, but my children also paid the price."

Hearing Aragog's words, Hagrid frowned.

Someone actually dared to break into the Forbidden Forest to hunt Acromantulas.

"Aragog, does that surviving child know what they look like?"

Hagrid asked immediately, but Aragog still shook its head.

"No, it's still too young, its intelligence isn't fully developed, and I only pieced together a vague outline of the event from its fragmented words."

Hagrid had to give up, but his expression remained serious.

"Aragog, take your children back, I will handle this matter."

Hagrid turned to the Acromantula and said.

Aragog gave Hagrid face, nodded, let out a low cry, and those dense Acromantulas retreated one after another.

The night wind blew through the treetops, rolling up a silent chill.

"Professor, are we still looking for monsters to practice with?"

John stood by obediently without speaking, and only asked after the Acromantulas were all gone.

"Uh... yes! But don't look for Acromantulas for the time being, they shouldn't be provoked recently."

Hagrid finally came back to his senses; he was here to help John find monsters to practice with.

He had originally wanted to find an Acromantula for him to practice with, but then this happened.

Hagrid looked around and whispered: "Let's change places first."

The two left the area quickly, walking quite a distance before Hagrid spoke again.

"You remember the structure of those spiders, right."

"Remember, the most vulnerable parts of an Acromantula are the joints and their abdomen."

"Of course, if your aim is good, attacking their eyes can also work, but I don't recommend doing that, it's too cruel."

Since he couldn't find an Acromantula to practice with, Hagrid simply told John about the weaknesses and ways to deal with those Acromantulas.

Good grief, he was just standing up for the Acromantulas a moment ago.

Now he was teaching John how to deal with them.

Hagrid's tone was contradictory, yet full of professionalism.

He said the simplest method was to use the Stunning Spell to attack their joints; if one shot wasn't enough, use more.

Or use the Impediment Jinx to knock them away, and use the Stunning Spell to attack their abdomen.

Levitation Spells, Knockback Jinxes, Binding Curses, etc., were useless against them because their carapaces were too thick, making it difficult for spells to have an effective effect.

If you run into a group, it's best to run for your life.

Of course, for John, it wouldn't be that troublesome.

Just like dealing with a dragon, just conjure a bunch of stone people, let the stone people entangle them, and then he could use spells to strike accurately from a distance.

But John still nodded and noted down Hagrid's words.

Although he was confident, he was not arrogant.

When facing the first two tasks, he had also made full preparations, understanding the habits and weaknesses of enemies he would encounter such as dragons, merpeople, and Grindylows.

This time was naturally no exception. ===== CHAPTER 164 =====