Chapter 74: Aragog
Cyrus didn't know how long he had been in the animal's claws.
All he knew was that the darkness seemed to suddenly recede a bit, and he saw that the ground covered with fallen leaves was now densely covered with spiders.
He turned his neck and found that they had reached the edge of a wide hollow that had been cleared of trees. The dark clouds in the sky parted a bit, and the stars illuminated the horrifying sight.
Spiders!
They were not like those little spiders that hurriedly crawled through the fallen leaves below, but each one was as big as a cart horse, with eight eyes and eight legs, dark and hairy, and they were huge monsters.
The giant spider holding Cyrus and the others walked down the steep slope towards a misty hemispherical spider web in the center of the depression, surrounded by its companions. After they saw what it was holding, they all excitedly moved their large claws and made a clicking sound.
The spider released its claws, and Cyrus' wand flicked gently, landing smoothly on the ground like a cat. However, Harry and Ron didn't have this ability. The two of them plus a dog hit the ground at his feet heavily.
Fang cowered in fear, as if he was pretending to be dead. Ron and Harry's mouths were wide open, as if they were screaming silently, and their eyes bulged outwards.
Maybe it would be easier for him to pass out now than to be awake.
"Are you okay?" Cyrus asked in a low voice.
"fine..." Harry managed to mutter.
"What do you think? We will die!" Ron's voice was hoarse.
At this time, the spider that brought them over made a loud noise, and Cyrus heard that it was actually speaking human language. The language was not easy to hear because the spider clicked and moved its large claws every time it spoke a word.
However, as magical animals, Acromantulas can speak and have considerable intelligence. Cyrus even suspected that they might be a little smarter than Hagrid.
This could easily be classified as a demi-human. You must know that even the fire dragon cannot speak.
"Aragog!" it shouted, "Aragog!"
Cyrus looked intently and saw a huge spider very slowly emerging from the misty hemispherical spider web. It was even larger than the average Acromantula, almost as big as an elephant!
Its body and legs were black with gray, and each eye on its ugly head with big pincers was covered with a layer of white.
It is blind.
"What's going on?" it said, its two big claws moving rapidly, making a clicking sound.
This is a very strange feeling, and Cyrus can't help but think that they are talking very fast, like some rappers from his old world.
"Human," said the spider that had just grabbed Cyrus.
"Is it Hagrid?" Aragog said, coming closer, his eight milky white eyes looking blankly.
"It's a stranger."
"Kill them, I'm sleeping..." Aragog said irritably. He was already very old, and now his rest time far exceeds his activity time. A few unknown strangers are not worthy of him waking up.
And it doesn't eat humans, these guys aren't even food to him.
When the spiders around heard this, they couldn't hold it any longer.
Every time Hagrid came here, their hearts longed for his flesh and blood, but their leader Aragog would not allow them to harm Hagrid.
How ridiculous!
Acromantulas will eat human flesh and blood while they are alive!
Click, click, click, spiders' claws were moving everywhere in the depression.
Harry and Ron's hearts seemed to leave their chests and jump out of their throats. They subconsciously grabbed Cyrus, as if expecting "Mr. Riddle" to give them some courage.
Cyrus did not disappoint them. He looked around at the spiders in the cave and counted their number. Facing so many monsters, Cyrus actually didn't feel any fear at all.
But after all, they were spiders, and it still made him feel uncomfortable when he looked at them.
He took a step forward and said calmly:
"We're friends with Hagrid."
The noisy spiders suddenly stopped, and Aragog also hesitated.
"Hagrid has never sent anyone to our hollow before," it said slowly.
"Hagrid is in trouble," Harry mustered up his courage, his breathing coming in ragged gasps, "that's why we're here."
"Trouble?" said the old spider. Harry thought he could hear concern in the clicking of the claws.
"But why did he send you?"
Harry thought about standing up, but decided to stay on his stomach; he didn't think his legs could support the weight of his body.
"Let me explain, Harry." Only Cyrus was still standing. He looked proudly at the spiders surrounding them. Although such a large number of spiders made him feel a little uncomfortable, it was not Fear, just disgust.
Harry was visibly relieved to hear Cyrus' words.
"The Chamber of Secrets has opened again. They believe that Hagrid recently released something to harm the students. They took him to Azkaban." Cyrus briefly explained the situation, without mentioning his own affairs of course.
He believed that if Aragog knew that he was "Riddle", he would not be able to say a word, and his descendants would immediately pounce on him and bite him to death.
Aragog moved his claws angrily, and the sound was echoed by the large group of spiders on the hollow ground; it was like applause, but this applause made people's hair chill and was nauseating.
"But that was many years ago," Aragog said angrily. "Many, many years ago. I remember it very well. It was because of that that they took him out of school. They believed me to be that monster! But I didn't harm anyone! It was the monster that lived in what they called the Chamber of Secrets. They thought it was Hagrid who opened the Chamber of Secrets and let me out."
"So... you didn't come out of the Chamber of Secrets?" Harry had a layer of cold sweat on his forehead, but he still couldn't help but ask.
If what Aragog said was true, wouldn't it mean that Mr. Riddle was simply mistaken?
Hagrid is indeed not the culprit, and the monster has nothing to do with Hagrid.
He couldn't help but look at Cyrus, and found that Cyrus was also frowning at the moment, and he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
"Me!" Aragog said, his large claws opening and closing angrily, as if he wanted to bite something to death.
"I was not born in a castle. I come from a faraway land. A traveler gave me to Hagrid before I hatched from the egg.
"Hagrid was just a child at the time, but he looked after me, hid me in a cupboard in the castle, and fed me crumbs scattered on the table. Hagrid was a good friend of mine, and he was a good man. It was he who protected me when I was discovered and held responsible for the death of a girl. I have been living in the woods ever since, and Hagrid comes to visit me often. He even found a house for me. I have a wife—Mosag. You see how prosperous our family is, all thanks to Hagrid..."
Cyrus raised his head and looked around, unable to help but agree with its words.
Thousands of Acromantulas are actually the offspring of Aragog and Mosag. Sure enough, the reproductive abilities of the species raised by hybrid master Hagrid are no joke.
Of course, Cyrus naturally hopes that the number of them will be as large as possible.
Only when the nutrients are sufficient can the fruits be abundant!
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