The scene inside the bathroom was truly terrifying. A hideous troll, standing fully four meters tall, stood right in the center of the room.
Its skin was dull and lusterless, gray as granite, and its massive body resembled a giant boulder topped with a small, bald head the size of a coconut.
Its short legs were as thick as tree stumps, ending in flat, rough, calloused feet.
The stench radiating from its body was disgusting enough to make one retch.
Hermione shrank into the corner opposite the troll, looking as if she might faint at any moment.
Although Hannah was also terrified, she still stood firm, shielding the "little beaver" tightly behind her.
The troll was closing in on them. As it walked, it smashed the sinks, tearing them right off the wall.
Because the situation was truly critical, Harry had no choice but to take a desperate gamble. He grabbed a metal faucet and threw it with all his might at the back of the troll's head, hoping to attract its attention.
Fortunately, the troll's brain wasn't very sharp. Harry's clumsy method had some effect; it stopped just a few paces away from Hermione and Hannah.
Of course, this meant all the danger had now shifted onto Harry and Ron.
The troll turned clumsily, blinking its small, stupid eyes, trying to see what had made the noise.
Its ugly little eyes landed on Harry. It hesitated for a moment, then began walking toward him, raising the wooden club in its hand as it moved.
Ron suddenly remembered a few little tricks a certain "Professor Dumbledore" had taught them a while back.
He shouted anxiously to Harry from the bathroom doorway, "Hurry! Lie down! Hold your breath and play dead!"
Glancing at the incoming troll, Harry knew his two short legs could never outrun it.
Even though he still harbored doubts about the method Kyle had taught them, it was a case of treating a dead horse as if it were alive—a last resort.
He was closest to the troll. There was a way out, but he couldn't run fast enough to reach it.
Lie down, hold breath, play dead—he did it all in one smooth motion.
The troll's scorching breath washed over Harry, scaring him so badly that, despite keeping his eyes squeezed shut, he almost couldn't resist the urge to jump up.
Luckily, the troll eventually moved its head away from Harry.
It stepped over him, looking toward the stupid marmot, Ron, who was still blocking the bathroom doorway and throwing stones.
The stones Ron threw didn't do much damage, but they were highly insulting. The troll roared again and began closing in on Ron.
At that moment, Harry did something very brave, but also very stupid.
He leaped forward violently, wrapping his arms around the troll's neck from behind, intending to put the troll in a cross armbreaker.
However, Harry discovered that the strength in his arms was nowhere near enough to make the troll budge even an inch. He could only hang from the back of the troll's neck in a very awkward posture.
If Harry had a knife in his hand, he could have given the troll a fatal backstab.
Unfortunately, he didn't.
He could only use his short, non-potent little broken stick—his wand—to give the troll a nasopharyngeal swab PCR test.
When Kyle arrived at the scene, he was greeted by this ludicrous sight:
A troll with a wand stuck up its nostril was howling in pain, twisting its body and waving the wooden club in its hand wildly, trying to shake Harry off its back.
Driven by the will to survive, Harry, hanging from its neck, could only hold on for dear life.
Meanwhile, Ron, who didn't even know the Levitation Charm, stood dazed to the side.
He was trying to make himself extremely angry, hoping to unleash a magical riot and throw a punch capable of piercing a fifty-meter-thick steel plate to beat the troll to death with his bare hands.
Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!
Just before the troll's club could smash the two little witches to death, a massive earthen wall rose from thin air, protecting them in the nick of time.
Kyle's hands formed seals incessantly. In an instant, he followed up with Earth Release: Earth Flow Swamp, turning the ground beneath the troll's feet into a large pit of mud, causing the lumbering giant to sink halfway into it.
Kyle sprinted to the two little witches, whose legs had long since gone soft from fear. Scooping one up in each arm, he whisked them away from the dangerous girls' bathroom in the blink of an eye.
As for Harry... let him hug the troll a little longer. He seemed to quite enjoy the intimate contact with it.
Who knows, maybe Harry could publish a book later called Walking with Trolls or something.
Kyle crouched down and checked the condition of the two girls. Fortunately, he found no external injuries; they were just suffering from excessive shock.
After confirming they were indeed unharmed, Kyle drew his wand, turned around, and went back into the bathroom.
Moments later, Kyle's shout rang out from inside.
"Ryūjin no ken wo kurae!"
Next came the loud crash of something heavy hitting the floor, followed by the sound of a certain Savior retching in disgust.
"Urgh!"
"Don't puke on me!" Kyle's voice sounded full of disdain.
After a chaotic commotion, Kyle reappeared at the bathroom door, dragging a blood-soaked Harry.
Once Kyle let go, Harry sprawled out on the corridor floor, retching again.
The other three in the corridor, seeing Harry covered in dripping blood, were dumbstruck with terror. Their brains seemed to crash, leaving them standing there foolishly with their mouths open.
"He's fine, that's all troll blood," Kyle explained airily.
After returning to the bathroom, he had used a water whip to pull Harry off the troll's back.
The stupid troll was stuck in the Earth Flow Swamp, unable to move; the more it struggled, the deeper it sank.
Kyle had simply used Sectumsempra to easily decapitate the defenseless troll.
Sectumsempra was the strongest attack spell Kyle currently had mastered.
However, it had one downside: it tended to make the scene too bloody, just like now.
A chaotic mess of footsteps approached from the distance; the professors had finally arrived.
Professor McGonagall arrived first, followed closely by Snape, with Quirrell bringing up the rear.
When the older catgirl saw Harry lying face-down on the ground, covered in blood and collapsed from the exhaustion of vomiting, her heart seized.
"No!"
The scream was terrifying; Kyle had never dreamed Professor McGonagall could make such a shrill sound.
Professor McGonagall stumbled forward and threw herself onto Harry.
Just as she pressed her ear to Harry's chest to hear if the Savior still had a heartbeat, Harry weakly raised a hand.
"Professor McGonagall, I'm still alive."
Professor McGonagall's grief instantly turned to joy, and she frantically began checking Harry for injuries.
Snape also breathed a slight sigh of relief internally. Only then did he cast his gaze toward the door behind the young wizards—
Thick waves of the scent of blood were wafting out from inside continuously.
Quirrell followed Snape into the bathroom. He took one look at the headless corpse of the troll, let out a feeble whimper, sat down on a toilet, and clutched his chest tightly.
Snape looked at him with a cold sneer.
Quirrell was grieving too superficially; like an untalented actor, Snape could see through it at a glance.
Out in the corridor, after confirming that the blood on Harry came entirely from the troll and that he only needed treatment for a few minor scrapes, Professor McGonagall finally calmed down.
After quickly inspecting the state of the troll's corpse, Snape emerged from the bathroom and shot a piercing glare at a certain Little Demon King who was still comforting the little girls.
He wouldn't mistake the spell Kyle had used to kill the troll even if it killed him. Back then, Kyle had tricked him into teaching it by falsely claiming it was Dumbledore's order.
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