"Impressive." Looking at the clumped wet sand on the ground, Rhys offered sincere praise for the puppet Helga had modified.
That sand-sphere binding spell alone could instantly defeat most wizards.
Wizards without domains would be directly trapped, left at the mercy of others. Even those with domains would need to spend some time breaking free. It could even restrain him for three to five seconds. It was truly an exceptional control-type spell.
One had to know that after being trapped inside the sand sphere, the expansion of one's domain became extremely slow, while the wizard outside would not be affected at all. That alone could secure several seconds of initiative, making it strategically valuable.
Even if the puppet's owner did not possess a domain, those few seconds would be enough to escape. With such a function, it truly deserved to be called the strongest puppet. His efforts that night had not been in vain.
What was rather amusing was that this domain, when installed on the puppet, was actually more powerful than when it had been on that Sectet Order's Mage. That man had truly been outclassed by a puppet.
With a casual Vanishing Charm, Rhys cleaned the wet sand from the floor, then used a Restoration Charm to return the messy office to its original state.
After finishing all this, Rhys walked to the window and quietly watched as the four students and the puppet chased one another into the Forbidden Forest.
Now it was time for the children to perform, Rhys thought, casually repairing the broken window as well.
…
"Impedimenta!"
"Expulso!"
"Petrificus Totalus!"
Daphne and the other two flew rapidly at low altitude while continuously casting simple spells at the puppet.
They were not trying to destroy it, only to slow it down a little.
But the girls' efforts were futile. Several semi-transparent shields appeared in succession around the puppet, blocking all of their attacks.
Sensing that someone had caught up, the blood-red glow in the puppet's eyes flared brilliantly. A blade extended from its palm, blazing with fierce flames.
"Just how many Shield Charms are installed on that thing?!" After yet another spell of hers was deflected, Hermione could not help complaining. "Also, if this keeps up, we're all going to be expelled!"
"Rhys said to spare no cost. No matter what, we have to deal with this puppet today. At the very least, we have to keep it here until Rhys arrives," Astoria replied, ignoring Hermione's complaints and only responding to her worry about being expelled.
Since Rhys had said so, they would rather be expelled than let this puppet leave Hogwarts. That was what it meant to spare no cost.
Daphne did not join her sister and Hermione's conversation. Her eyes were fixed tightly on the blade and the flames dancing along it, as an unpleasant memory surfaced in her mind.
"Watch out!" Realizing what was about to happen, Daphne immediately warned her two companions to beware of the puppet's long-range slash.
Daphne's warning was perfectly timed, because before her words had even finished, the flames on the puppet's sword peeled away from the blade, forming a three-foot-long crescent of fire.
With a flick of its hand, the puppet sent the crescent flame slashing toward Daphne and the others.
The flaming blade rapidly expanded in midair. By the time it reached the three girls, it had already grown to more than ten feet long.
The three of them jointly erected defensive magic in front of themselves while dropping toward the ground in an attempt to evade the fiery slash.
Boom!
The flaming blade slammed heavily into their defensive spells, shattering them apart. However, its power was also completely worn down by the triple layers of magic, dispersing into scattered sparks.
At that moment, a flash of silver streaked through. A dagger shot out from the sparks, heading straight for Hermione.
While launching the long-range slash, the puppet had also secretly thrown a concealed weapon, intending to deliver a vicious killing blow the moment their guard relaxed.
At this moment, Hermione was caught in the brief stiffness that came with changing her movement. The situation was extremely dangerous.
Seeing this, Daphne and Astoria were just about to activate the defensive magic built into their magical items to save Hermione, when a clump of earth suddenly flew up from the ground and struck the dagger with perfect accuracy, knocking it away.
The three girls looked down and discovered that Cedric had arrived as well.
"Thanks!" Although Hermione still had life-saving trump cards, she nevertheless thanked Cedric.
The crisis was resolved, but the puppet used those few seconds of delay to dash into the Forbidden Forest.
Cedric did not hesitate. He directly manipulated the earth to carry himself forward into the forest. Before setting off, he also prepared a clump of earth for each of the three girls.
With them, everyone's speed moving through the forest would increase considerably.
Daphne and Astoria both stepped onto the mud clumps, letting the soil wrap around their feet. Hermione, however, did not do the same. Instead, she rose further into the air.
"I'll guide you from above and provide support," Hermione's voice came from the sky.
Daphne and Astoria exchanged a glance and nodded, thinking Hermione's plan was a good one.
Thus, the four of them launched their pursuit of the puppet through the Forbidden Forest.
Not long after entering the forest, the puppet realized it had made a mistake. The ground of the Forbidden Forest was tangled everywhere with interwoven roots and thick undergrowth, making it difficult for it to build up speed.
The thick trees also became natural cover for the young witches and wizards, preventing its long-range slashes from being used effectively.
Although Hermione, floating in the air, had her line of sight obstructed by the dense branches and leaves, she could still judge the puppet's approximate position through the flow of magic and use area attacks like the Blasting Curse to keep it in check.
Under the interference of so many factors, the distance between Cedric and the others and the puppet continued to shrink. A few minutes later, Cedric even directly overtook the puppet, tunneling through the ground to reach a position ahead of it.
The puppet swung backhandedly, slashing out a blade of fire, then blocked the spell Hermione dropped from above with a Shield.
At that moment, a figure appeared directly in front of it and immediately fired a "Reducto," which struck the unprepared puppet head-on and blasted it flying.
The one who rushed ahead of the puppet to launch the ambush was naturally Cedric. After landing the hit, he did not hesitate in the slightest and directly manipulated the earth to wrap tightly around the puppet that had fallen to the ground.
"Did it work?" Daphne also arrived. She gripped her wand in one hand, while the other was wrapped in a mass of crimson magma.
Cedric's expression was grave as he slowly shook his head. He could feel the agitation within the soil. That puppet possessed a domain.
____
12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI