Chapter 55: Kilo's Unfinished Words

"Hush, keep it down." Roger urged Hermione to calm down.

"Roger, why is there a troll in the school? It's coming this way! What should we do?!" Hermione was utterly panicked, clutching him tightly and feeling completely helpless.

"Follow me." Roger grabbed Hermione, pressing against the wall as they rounded a corner. With the troll so close, running away directly was not an option.

He glanced at the simulation button; it was too late to leave the library now. Rather than pinning his hopes on a simulation, it was better to cherish every drop of magic and throw himself fully into the coming battle.

"Lift your wand, Hermione! We are wizards, we can control everything!" Roger patted Hermione's shoulder, helping her muster confidence and courage. Hermione nodded, her trembling hand gripping her wand tightly as she glanced repeatedly at the slowly approaching troll.

"It stopped! Should we go find the headmaster?" Hearing the troll temporarily halt its footsteps, Hermione felt a slight sense of relief.

She let out a warm breath, feeling as though her entire body was on the verge of collapse, and the hand holding her wand was trembling faintly.

"Today is Halloween. Except for us and Madam Pince, everyone else must be in the Great Hall." Roger turned his head for a quick look; the troll was foolishly smiling at a portrait.

"I'll find a way to draw its attention. You go find Madam Pince, and have her take you to... to the headmaster and the professors."

Thinking of Dumbledore, Roger couldn't help muttering inwardly. Quirrell hadn't taken any bags; without the old bee's tacit permission, this troll could never have entered.

He became even clearer in his mind that Quirrell's target was the Sorcerer's Stone, compared to which Harry was secondary. Clearly, tonight's Halloween feast had already caught Dumbledore and the others' attention; pulling a stunt like this was not only redundant, it was like hanging a sign that read "three hundred taels of silver are not hidden here."

Roger was more inclined to believe that the headmaster had deliberately let this troll in, and he had simply happened to run into it.

Inside the Great Hall, everyone was celebrating Halloween. Massive pumpkins had been carved into various gruesome faces, floating in the air alongside rows of candles. The ghosts were exceptionally lively on this holiday belonging to them, and even the Bloody Baron wore a smile. Outside ghosts visited the castle one after another, playing their own version of the Headless Hunt.

Harry felt the atmosphere today was a bit desolate, which made him realize that Hermione, who was usually endlessly chatty, was missing: "Where is Hermione?"

"She's definitely in the library with that Slytherin, Roger. I saw them together with my own eyes," Ron said indignantly. "She's practically a traitor to Gryffindor; she could easily have been the first to finish."

"We all heard it this morning. Roger had five points deducted for breaking school rules. If Hermione hadn't let him off, the professor certainly wouldn't have given him any points."

Ron continued complaining without stopping: "If you ask me, she might as well transfer to Slytherin."

Just as they were discussing Hermione, Quirrell burst in and shouted, "There's a troll in the dungeon..."

He looked desperately at Dumbledore, his eyes holding a complex mix of emotions: "I thought you should know, Dumbledore..."

Poor Professor Quirrell hadn't even finished speaking before he was struck unconscious by an inexplicable force, and the little witches' and wizards' screams immediately filled the Great Hall.

As Dumbledore instructed the professors and prefects to calm everyone down and evacuate in an orderly fashion, Roger had to take action.

"Hermione, listen to me. When I say run, you run without looking back!" Roger saw the troll moving again, closing in on them, and said to Hermione solemnly.

"Roger... I... I can't run fast enough..." Hermione was extremely nervous, her voice tinged with tears.

"Don't cry. Wizards don't cry." Roger wiped the corner of Hermione's eye, flashing a bright, sunny smile.

"I've got this. I'll go draw it away..." Roger pried Hermione's grip off him, making her hold her wand just in case.

"If I die and turn into a ghost, I'll haunt you in school every single day. If you don't want me seeing you naked in the bath, go find the headmaster and the professors to save me!"

"Don't you dare!" Roger's dark humor brought a smile to Hermione's face. She watched as Roger leaped out, using a Levitation Charm to hurl a statue at the troll.

"Hey big guy, over here! Come and catch me!" Roger shouted and danced, waving the wand in his hand.

Seeing the tiny creature fleeing swiftly before it, the troll twisted its foul, dark, oversized feet. It stomped heavily onto the floor, charging after them. Its heavy club swung angrily, smashing the statues and suits of armor on both sides of the corridor to pieces.

"Roger?!" Hermione blamed herself for being useless, feeling completely powerless against the troll.

"Hermione, close your eyes!"

Lumos! The very first spell he had mastered, and the one he trusted the most. His abundant magic made casting Lumos even more effortless for him, the tip of his wand igniting like a tens-of-thousands-of-watts incandescent bulb, bathing the entire corridor in a brilliant white light.

"Hey big guy, come on, can you see me?"

The troll's eyes were a blank white, seeing only a tiny black dot jumping around over there. Hearing the human's loud shouting in its ears, it was completely enraged, letting out a roar and launching a death charge toward Roger.

"Impedimenta!"

Roger cast a spell at the troll, but as described in the books, a troll's skin possessed excellent magic resistance. The spell struck its body with zero effect.

"Damn it!"

It rushed forward like an enraged rhinoceros. Roger hurriedly rolled and dodged, avoiding it by a hair's breadth. The troll shook its dimwitted little head, sweeping its club horizontally around the surroundings.

First strike, second strike, third strike! Roger dodged continuously, but the troll's onslaught grew increasingly fierce.

It swung its club repeatedly, covering a wide and massive area. If Roger hadn't dazzled its eyes, he would have long since been pounded into minced meat.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Roger seized the moment to launch a sneak attack on the club in the troll's hand. The club paused in mid-air, but was still gripped tightly in its fist.

"Oh man, I knew I couldn't rely on that!" Roger rolled away ignominiously, using the Levitation Charm to manipulate a warhammer from the wall.

The fine-iron warhammer smashed heavily onto the troll's head. It didn't smash its little skull to pieces, but merely caused it to stagger momentarily.

"Old bee, I'm not letting this go!" Roger cursed inwardly; that heavy blow had inflicted virtually zero damage on the troll.

"Hermione, run!" Taking advantage of the troll being stunned, Roger shouted at the top of his lungs to Hermione.

Hermione ran out from behind the statue, her immediate reaction being to wave her wand in an attempt to launch a sneak attack. A young wizard's magic might work on a puffskein, but against a behemoth like this, one could only outsmart it, not overpower it.

"Go!" Roger growled lowly. Hermione struggled to put her wand away, scattering a trail of crystal-clear tears across the corridor.

The troll rubbed its battered head, gazing dazedly at the little bug below. Roger continued throwing objects using the Levitation Charm; initially, it tried to block them, but later it simply ignored them.

Having recovered its vision, the troll wielded its club sluggishly yet with immense force. The wind whipped up by the wooden club stung Roger's face. If the dragon blood within the Tranquil River hadn't strengthened his physique, he would have long since been immobilized and smashed into pulp. But he wasn't having an easy time of it now either; compared to physical exhaustion, his situation was growing increasingly dire.

This corridor was not wide, and its end was a dead end blocked by mosaic windows. If the troll were to charge straight at him, it could crush him to death. Fortunately, its tiny brain wasn't sharp enough to direct its body into another death charge.

It approached step by step, brandishing its club, leaving Roger with less and less space to maneuver and dodge.

"I can't drag this out any longer!" Roger checked his remaining magic, then looked at the space behind him. There were few options left to him.

Outside the window was a sheer cliff; he lacked Neville's talent, so jumping out of the building was immediately ruled out. Only two paths remained: trap it, or simply kill it!

"沼泽现形!"