HP: The Root of Everything - The Magician

Tichy was all set to go. This time, he didn't want to linger and planned to retreat quickly after retrieving the camera.

The weather forecast says it's going to rain.

After it rains, the water level in the swamp rises, and some aquatic creatures become more active.

Following a route that felt both familiar and unfamiliar, Teach Carr hurried through the reeds. Just as he was about to reach the location where he would place the camera, a rustling sound that sent chills down his spine reached his ears.

"Is this... the sound of some kind of reptile rubbing against the ground?" Upon hearing the unusual sound, Teach immediately stopped and lay down in the damp mud, trying his best to hide himself and avoid the danger of being exposed.

The rustling sound grew louder and closer. Detic held his breath, not daring to utter a sound.

With a frantic scan, Teach spotted a large, sleek black shadow gliding through the reeds.

Its scales reflected a cold, eerie light.

[An anaconda? It's an anaconda?] Although he could only see part of its body, Teach still managed to tell that the massive, sliding creature was an anaconda.

"It's huge! Just one section of its body is as wide as two adults tied together. The total length must be ten or twenty meters long," Teach was horrified by the sight.

He dared not move, not at all, lying there in the cold mud, not daring to move a single finger.

It wasn't until much later, when the temperature had risen from morning to midday, that Teach dared to swallow the saliva he had been holding back and began to breathe heavily and rapidly.

When he could no longer hear any sound, and when the surrounding reeds were eerily quiet, Teach dared to move his already cold and stiff body and slowly crawl toward the camera location ahead.

After getting the camera, Teach immediately ran back. The appearance of the enormous, magical anaconda had left him no time to linger; he only wanted to return to base as quickly as possible.

The base has machine guns, explosives, and a defensive perimeter. There are also giant trees nearby that you can climb to take cover; that's where it's safe.

As Teach ran out of the reeds, the overcast sky began to rain.

The rain intensified rapidly within seconds, and the water level in the reed beds rose quickly as well.

Fortunately, Teach had set up the base on high ground and taken ample waterproofing measures.

As the water level rose, the tranquility of the reed beds was shattered. Teach looked back and could clearly see large swathes of reeds, two or three meters tall, swaying violently.

Rainy days like this present a great opportunity to explore the amazing creatures lurking in the reed marshes.

Teach hurriedly returned to the base, put down the important camera, picked up a sniper rifle equipped with an infrared display scope, nimbly climbed up a giant tree, set up the gun, and began to observe.

At first glance, the enormous anaconda they had encountered earlier appeared in the magnifying glass. After seeing its full size, Teach roughly estimated its length, which was well over twenty meters.

[My goodness, even some of the dragons in Harry Potter aren't this long!]

Teach stared intently at the magical anaconda, but then a dry, hoarse roar rang out, and another equally enormous anaconda appeared in their field of vision.

When the two anacondas met, they both revealed their ferocity towards each other.

Is this... a territorial dispute?

After Teach asked the question in his mind, he saw the two anacondas charge forward, then entangle and suppress each other, and begin to bite.

Faintly, Teach seemed to hear the metallic clang of scales colliding.

[Is this the magical snake-like creature with a body comparable to a 'dragon', whose scales are as hard as steel?] This discovery made Teach Carr's face turn extremely ugly.

To verify the facts, Teach placed his finger on the trigger and pulled the sniper rifle as a clap of thunder sounded.

Under the cover of thunder, the bullets accurately struck the scales of the magical anaconda.

Through the scope, Teach saw a dented wound on the anaconda, with a little blood seeping out.

This result is very good for Teach, better than he imagined.

He thought that 7.62mm sniper bullets couldn't penetrate his defenses at all.

But Teach wasn't too happy yet. He could see that the largest caliber bullet for sniper rifles these days was only 14 millimeters. For a magical anaconda that was around twenty meters long, that 14 millimeters was negligible.

Without a barrage of bullets or a barrage of artillery shells and rockets, Teach didn't think he could kill the two snake-like creatures in front of him.

After analyzing the situation in his mind, Teach stopped focusing on the territorial struggle between the two giant snakes and turned his attention to other creatures.

[As expected, I was right; there really are crocodiles in this swamp. And they are adult crocodiles that are nearly ten meters long.]

However, the crocodiles in this swamp are different from those outside; they have three bony horns on their flat heads. If these crocodiles were a little larger and more rounded, they would look exactly like the Triceratops from the Cretaceous period.

When Teach Carr first entered the world of magic, this corner of the swamp in the Dark Forbidden Forest opened his eyes to a whole new world.

Seeing these two magical creatures before him, Teach didn't believe that there were only a dozen or so creatures in the Harry Potter film series.

The rain lasted for seven or eight hours, and Teach also observed from the giant tree for seven or eight hours.

After dark, the rain stopped.

After the rain stopped, the two magical anacondas ceased their fighting and retreated, disappearing into the depths of the swamp.

Only the triangular crocodile remained, swimming and hunting in the murky water.

Unfortunately, Teach didn't see the 'Ball-Escape Bird' anywhere in the heavy rain. Frustrated, Teach returned to the base, changed out of his soaking wet clothes, and turned on the camera to watch the recorded footage.

A ballerina poked its head out from the reeds and began to run merrily in the mating grounds. Soon after, more ballerinas swarmed out and ran together.

"This scene is absolutely spectacular," Titch Carr commented while watching the video.

After the ball-running bird has displayed its running prowess in front of the female, the lucky one wins the right to mate. The other birds, dejected, begin to search for food in the surrounding area to replenish the energy they have expended while running.

At that moment, Teach stared intently at the images in the camera, not missing a single detail.

A ball-eating bird, while foraging for food, approached the trap.

It stood on the trap, and with a single beak, the mechanism was triggered, and the large net sprang up instantly, completely enveloping the bird.

But the next second, something amazing happened.

Although startled in the large net, the ball bird remained calm. A burst of fluorescence emanated from its body, and then it vanished into the net in an instant.

Then, it suddenly reappeared on the reed ground ten meters away.

"Ten meters away?" Teach drew a preliminary conclusion from the footage, but shook his head, unsure.

So Teach continued to look at the other traps.

Finally, with all the traps triggered, the distances of the Ball Bird's 'Flash' varied, but none exceeded ten meters.

With so much data on the traps, Teach was certain.

Among them, the Ball Bird's 'Flash' ability to ignore obstacles and close the ability made Teach Carl very envious.

After watching the video, Teach learned the location where the escape birds had fled back to their nest. He then sat down by the fire with a furrowed brow, his eyes gradually becoming lifeless.

He was thinking, trying to figure out how to catch them.

Shooting from a distance with a sniper rifle?

No, if we kill one, they'll all get scared and run away.

Ambushing and blasting with explosives?

[That won't work either, I need to dissect and study it; the shredded meat from the frying is useless.]

To be poisoned to death?

[That won't work either; poison would damage their flesh and nerves, rendering it useless. Besides, it's unknown whether the poisons I bought outside will even work on magical creatures.]

Teach came up with various methods, but he rejected them all.

It causes severe headaches.