Hogwarts Castle, in essence, is a massive labyrinth far more complicated than the Forbidden Forest.
Its interior, aside from the already complex structure of a medieval castle, also contains many magical mechanisms, floating staircases that move according to certain rules, countless fake doorways, and some booby traps originally designed to defend against invaders but now stripped of their lethal elements and turned into simple pitfalls meant only to mess with people.
All of these arrangements have given Hogwarts students endless trouble.
Especially the new students who have just enrolled and are not yet familiar with the castle's layout.
So, when designing the obstacles inside Hogwarts, the tournament committee very naturally treated the castle's structure itself as the first barrier.
For this purpose, they even deliberately adjusted the movement pattern of the floating staircases and issued a gag order to all portraits and ghosts in the castle.
This was, without question, favoritism toward Hogwarts champions like Link and Harry, because even with the committee's adjustments, Link, relying on his familiarity with the castle and his formidable strength, still solved the committee's problem as if he were simply out for a stroll, and directly reached Ravenclaw Tower, where the Triwizard Cup was placed.
Of course, Fleur and Krum no longer had the chance to protest to the committee.
"Stop! Challenger!"
Link had barely arrived at the entrance to Ravenclaw Tower when he heard a deep, booming voice.
Then, a huge creature with the body of a lion and the face of a human slowly stepped out from the shadows, looking down at Link with a proud expression.
A sphinx.
A terrifying monster from ancient Egyptian and Greek mythology.
Its most famous feature is the enormous stone statue still standing in Egypt today, built in its likeness, a lion's body with a human face.
Legend has it the sphinx would stop travelers and demand they solve its riddle. Only those who answered correctly could pass; those who answered wrong would be eaten.
But in reality, the sphinx is a magical creature that truly exists, often active in Egypt and Greece. It is highly intelligent, intimidating in appearance, and often kept by large wizarding families to guard vaults or secret chambers.
For example, Gringotts keeps quite a few sphinxes in its underground vaults, working alongside dragons as guardians.
It was obvious this was the tournament committee's second barrier.
"Challenger, you are already very close to your goal. The fastest way forward is through me. But…"
The sphinx paced slowly, then suddenly raised its voice, "You must answer my riddle! Answer correctly in one try, and I will let you pass. Answer wrong, and I will pounce! If you refuse to answer, I won't harm you, but I will make you leave. So, what is your choice?"
Link could hear the tremor of excitement in the sphinx's voice, it seemed it hadn't played this riddle game in a long time.
But Link only shook his head.
"Ohh…" The sphinx sighed deeply in disappointment. "You don't wish to answer? Then go away and find another path."
"No, I think you misunderstood me. I won't answer your riddle. But I'm still going through."
"Are you joking with me? Do you even know who I..."
The sphinx began to get angry.
But the anger on its face had barely risen before it instantly twisted into terror.
Because Arkam and Yoyo, one large head and one small, were slowly emerging from Link's neck, staring at it with icy eyes.
Link didn't bother wasting more words with the sphinx and simply walked straight toward the staircase it was blocking.
Though sphinxes are glorified in myths, in reality their combat ability is very weak. Otherwise, wizards wouldn't have been able to capture them to guard doors.
Sure enough, as Link drew near, the once-proud sphinx instantly shrank back like a frightened kitten, jumping into a corner, trembling violently, its narrowed eyes staring at Arkam and Yoyo in pure fear.
It couldn't recognize what they were, but its animal instincts told it with absolute clarity, either one of them could kill it in an instant.
As Link's figure gradually receded, the sphinx finally stiffly crawled out of the corner and slowly began to sneak its way toward the outside of the tower.
The shock Link had given it was too great, it was seriously considering running away altogether.
This is the sphinx's biggest flaw.
As a magical creature, it truly is very intelligent, capable of handling complex situations.
But precisely because it is too clever, when facing overwhelming enemies, it has a high chance of fleeing, or even outright switching sides to guide them.
"Wait. Did I say you could leave?"
The sphinx froze mid-step and slowly turned its head toward Link.
"Stay here and do your duty," Link said coldly.
"Otherwise, I'll kill you."
The moment his words fell, an invisible blade whooshed past the sphinx's side, slicing off a chunk of its majestic mane.
The sphinx was terrified.
It hurried back to block the staircase again, adopting a stance of intense focus.
If not for the slight trembling from its fear, it would have looked just like a real, majestic statue.
Satisfied, Link nodded, then continued up the stairs.
He still had things to do upstairs, and until he finished, Harry could not be allowed to arrive.
That said, Link still moved unhurriedly.
It took him nearly twenty minutes to finally reach the top of the tower. There, the committee's third obstacle appeared before his eyes.
It was a mass of golden mist, dazzling under the light of his wand, like vapor rising from mountain valleys at dawn.
But Link was on full alert.
As half a supervisor of the tournament, Link had been given information on nearly all of the obstacles before the competition began.
But Dumbledore had refused to reveal anything about this mist.
From Dumbledore's strange expression at the time, Link had guessed this golden mist was the hardest barrier of the tournament, a deliberate setup to see him humiliated.
Taking a deep breath, Link tried analyzing the mist with heightened perception charms and mental power.
But the result wasn't good.
The mist was not ordinary vapor but pure condensed magic, making his water-control abilities useless. Spells like Whirlwind Clearing couldn't disperse it either.
The worst part, though it was entirely magical, his perception charms couldn't sense its details at all. It was as if wrapped in a shielding spell.
Glancing at his watch and knowing he couldn't waste more time, Link hesitated briefly, then gritted his teeth and stepped into the golden mist.
Bzzzz!
A violent buzzing exploded in his ears, instantly destroying his hearing.
Not only that, his vision, touch, and even sense of direction all fell into chaotic disarray.
It was as though he were trapped inside a constantly twisting space, waves of chaotic magic pressing down on his body and mind, filling his head with overwhelming dizziness.
"Ughh!"
Link gagged immediately.
Strangely, the bile he spat didn't fall to the ground, but floated, drifting up and down in midair.
"Dumbledore, you vicious bastard! You actually set up such a powerful Confundus Charm!"
Link cursed through his pain.
The golden mist was nothing more than an extremely advanced Confundus Charm, and not just any, this one had been cast personally by Dumbledore.
Its sole purpose, to scramble the intruder's five senses, creating a kind of super "lost-in-the-maze" effect.
That might not sound so bad, after all, being lost doesn't cause actual harm, just delay.
But for Link, it was disastrous.
Because he had long made a habit of keeping his perception charm running constantly, like a passive ability.
And when that collided with the chaos of the Confundus Charm, the disorientation was magnified infinitely.
"Goddamn Dumbledore!"
Realizing this, Link cursed again, quickly shutting off his perception charm.
At once, the dizziness and ringing in his ears subsided. The twisting, rotating world around him gradually stabilized, eventually solidifying into an upside-down world.
It was still uncomfortable, but far better than before.
And compared to that twisted space, breaking through this upside-down world was much easier.
Suppressing his nausea with Occlumency, Link closed his eyes, wrapped himself in water mist, and hurled himself forward.
Bang!
He slammed directly into a wall.
Thanks to the water sphere protecting him, he wasn't hurt, but he looked thoroughly disheveled.
Still, he had finally broken out of the golden mist.
He pulled a special calming potion, orange soda flavored, from his belt, chugged it down, and immediately felt better.
Tossing the empty vial aside, he turned back to glare at the golden fog, cursing Dumbledore as he walked deeper into the corridor.
"Damn it, Dumbledore! Just you wait! I'll go find Rita Skeeter and have her write the nastiest article about you! You old, venomous bastard! You ought to be pelted with eggs…"
The curses echoed through the empty corridor.
Meanwhile, the arena outside was filled with laughter and cheers.
The audience had just watched Link's entire run through the castle via the alchemical hummingbirds.
Even though the hummingbirds couldn't perfectly show what he experienced, it was obvious to everyone that he had suffered greatly in that golden mist.
What none of them expected was that Link would start cursing Dumbledore the moment he escaped, and not stop, going on and on.
"That's our Link!" Cedric exclaimed with genuine admiration.
Everyone knew Dumbledore's usual manner was very kind, and he would never take offense at something like this. That was why people dared to laugh.
But still, to actually do it? Only Link had the guts.
Of course, not everyone was laughing.
Among them was Rita Skeeter.
She had enjoyed her partnership with Link, she made good money, and under his strict orders, she had stopped writing smear pieces about Harry Potter and Hermione, thus avoiding her downfall at the hands of the Ministry.
She truly liked Link as a big client.
But now things were different.
Writing hit pieces on Dumbledore wasn't new to her, and everyone with half a brain knew what those were about.
But to do it openly now? Wouldn't that be handing Dumbledore a reason to crush her?
Thinking this, Rita broke into a sweat, her eyes darting nervously toward Dumbledore.
She thought surely he would be offended at being insulted so publicly.
But when she saw his reaction, she was dumbfounded.
Dumbledore was not angry at all. He was laughing, laughing even harder than most of the audience, like a child delighted by a prank well played.
Rita's expression twisted strangely.
And a bold thought slowly rose in her mind, 'Dumbledore really doesn't care… Does that mean this job is open? And judging by how furious Mr. Flitwick looks, I bet he'd pay extra for the article… This could be huge business!'
Her eyes lit up.
Writing hit pieces was her specialty. Especially hit pieces on Dumbledore.
Unfortunately, her hopes were destined to collapse.
Link's cursing lasted only a few minutes.
It was just venting his frustration, not a genuine desire to ruin Dumbledore's reputation.
After all, that would be going too far, and besides, for now, he and Dumbledore were still allies against Voldemort.
Soon after he stopped cursing, Link reached the very top of Ravenclaw Tower, on a platform near the eagle-headed knocker of the Ravenclaw common room.
There, placed on a wooden stand in the center, gleaming in the moonlight, was the trophy symbolizing the Triwizard Tournament's final victory.
But one last problem remained, between Link and the Cup stood dozens of suits of armor and more than a dozen stone statues.
And Link knew very well, all of them were alive.
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