Compared to the struggles of the other school team, the Hogwarts squad seemed much more... entertaining.
After deciding on their route, although a silver-haired "first in the competition" girl continuously protested against this action, the final vote was still unsurprisingly two to one. Seeing the not-so-near exit on the other side and fearing an ambush by the spiders, Fleur could only follow Harry and Cedric's pace—
Soon, they reached the end of the passage. The same stone door, covered in moss, with statues that were barely noticeable at first glance; Harry went up to try and push the door—at the next moment, two colossal statues, draped in muddy moss, suddenly "came to life." The cold, dark stone surface quickly lit up with glowing blue magical runes, like blood vessels pulsating—
Heavy stone fists swung with deadly accuracy, hurtling down towards Harry's head.
The speed was unimaginably fast; Fleur's cry of alarm hadn't even left her lips—
Yet Harry's reaction seemed almost anticipated, as if he had rehearsed it a thousand times. The moment the runes lit up, his body dropped, the movement so fluid as though it was ingrained in his mind. The fist brushed past his raised black hair with a hair's breadth, slamming into the stone wall behind him, causing the entire chamber to tremble twice.
Fleur swallowed the scream that hadn't escaped.
"Back off!"
Cedric's steady voice rang out almost simultaneously as the stone fist swung. His wand leaped into his hand, drawing a smooth arc in the air.
"Impedimenta!"
The invisible barrier didn't directly block the statue; Cedric knew that was futile. Instead, the spell precisely pushed Fleur, who was just behind and to the side of Harry.
The gentle yet firm force caused Fleur, still shocked by Harry's narrow escape, to stumble forward, just enough to push her out of the sweeping path of the other statue's giant stone sword. She stumbled to a stop, a cold sweat breaking out on her back. If Cedric had been half a second slower, she probably... well, since the damned referee was still watching, death was unlikely.
"Potter, on the right! Diggory, we can..."
Fleur wanted to ask for a battle plan, indicating that she could propose one if needed, but as she turned her head, she saw the two Hogwarts champions already in sync, needing no extra communication.
"Elbow!"
Cedric shouted briefly, his wand decisively aimed at the statue poised to strike Harry again, a sharp, powerful spell flashing at the tip, "Petrificus Totalus!"
Though casting a Petrification Curse on a statue might seem abstract, its essence wasn't about transformation. Its true function was to immobilize. The petrifying effect seen on humans was just an external manifestation after impact—the curse's light accurately hit the statue's raised elbow joint, causing the pulsating blue runes to halt briefly—
The statue's punch jerked to a halt like a paused film frame. Though it resumed its movement the next moment, the opportunity was enough for Harry to slip by the statue, eyes sharp like a hawk in the flow state enhanced by ancient magic.
Before the statue could regain its momentum, Harry's wand jabbed with lightning speed at the back of its right knee, the crook of the leg, "Expulso!"
The purple-red light was not for wide-scale damage but condensed into a sharp beam of energy, striking the target point precisely. Unlike the panicked expansive shots of the Ilvermorny champion, Harry's attack was like a scalpel probing a weak spot—
"Boom—"
The muffled explosion echoed only after the light dissipated, with rubble and blue light scattering—the magical rune structure on the statue forcibly fragmented, dispersing power like broken blue arcs flickering in the air. The statue's massive, heavy body wobbled, its movement balance instantly broken—
"Nice!"
Cedric instinctively praised, his wand never pausing, "Glisseo!"
With the wand's touch, the ground beneath the statue turned smooth as a mirror, its already imbalanced stance collapsing entirely. The statue crashed down with a thunderous noise, debris flying, leaving a crater on the ground.
Meanwhile, Harry, having finished at the knee, slipped away, using Cedric's slide; the boy skidded to the other statue's front. Glancing at the giant sword in its hand, Harry deftly dodged, turned, and with his wand reversed, cast an Expelliarmus on his chest—
"What's he doing?!"
The audience before the TV exclaimed in confusion; who attacks themselves in the middle of a fight?
Joyful in battle, even striking oneself?
But the next moment, Harry's actions answered them. Using the momentum from the Expelliarmus, he deftly slipped between the statue's legs, clutching his chest while steadying himself. Harry quickly shouted, "Ced! Weapon!"
Cedric understood instantly, ignoring the fallen statue. With a forceful flick of his wand, he unleashed a beam of red light, several times thicker than before—
"Expelliarmus!"
In the next moment, the second statue, unable to dodge, was hit squarely by the spell, causing the giant sword in its hand to fly into the air. Meanwhile, Harry, standing behind it, also raised his magic wand, "Accio!"
Thus, the reverse-directed giant sword immediately flew towards Harry, though there was still an obstacle between them.
The heavy stone sword fiercely struck the energy core on the statue's chest, piercing through with its sharp blade, and the blue magic patterns began to flicker instantly.
Yet, even at this point, the statue still struggled, trying to reach for Harry. The magic patterns on its body flickered, seemingly trying to stabilize the core, but in the next second, as it extended its fingers, the core completely shattered, the blue light dimmed instantly, and the statue hung its head low, losing its mobility—
"Get rid of the remaining one—"
This second statue here was almost "dead," but the first one, which only had its popliteal fossa destroyed, had not lost its mobility. It had struggled to stand up from the pit, and its damaged knee was slowly restored to its original form amidst the pulsating blue magic patterns—
Unfortunately, it didn't have a weapon in hand, otherwise, the two could use their strategy of borrowing power to defeat it once again to clear the level.
But now there were three... two people facing a crippled statue—
Just fight it again.
"..."
However, Harry and Cedric were indeed cooperating smoothly, while Fleur was a bit bewildered. Since being saved by Cedric, the girl had just drawn her wand and hadn't even decided what spell to cast when she realized the act was already finished, and now it seemed like they were entering the delightful phase of "beating the drowning dog"—
Harry and Cedric's cooperation was smooth, efficient, and imaginative, yet it seemed exclusionary. Fleur repeatedly tried to help but couldn't even intervene.
Watching the two on TV handling it with apparent ease, Tessa, who had just been arguing with Bagman, fell silent. After pondering for a while what she should say, she ultimately had nothing to add, as the facts were plain to see—there indeed was a champion who passed this seemingly overwhelmingly difficult competition content—
"No, it's unfair. Clearly, these two are not facing this kind of statue for the first time—"
The headmaster leading the team from the Magic Institute struggled to say, looking at the scenes on the screen, his face turned extremely sullen.
Because on the other side, Yamamoto Senren had already lost the qualification to continue competing—
In the cave, a centaur wearing a yellow vest tugged at his clothes. Although this garment fit well, thanks to magical adjustments aligning perfectly with a centaur's body contour, for a centaur used to being bare and sensing the Forbidden Forest's aura with their skin, wearing clothes was still somewhat uncomfortable—
"It's making my XXX uncomfortable—"
Bain rubbed his chest and muttered words that wouldn't pass censorship.
However, Ronan didn't plan to pay attention to him. Instead, he gestured palms-out towards the two cautious individuals beside him, with a gentle tone, "Calm down, young foals, look at the words on us." As he spoke, he turned around, pointing to a line of words on the back of the yellow vest, "Don't hit me, I am staff!!"
"This human has lost his ability to act, he can't continue in the competition."
Bain looked at the Muggle-like twisted legs of Yamamoto Senren, and stated expressionlessly—in the Magic Realm, such injuries weren't considered severe; aside from some unremovable damage caused by Dark Arts, any external injuries could be remedied by the peculiar yet particularly effective concoctions of the magic hospital's healers—
Thus, under the somewhat bewildered gaze of Abeba Hailu and Daniel Stephens, the two centaurs placed the ashen-faced Yamamoto on their horseback and clip-clopped away from the cave, leaving the air filled with silence.
At this time, having turned to glance at those statues now split in half and no longer moving, Daniel finally breathed a sigh of relief—
"Merlin's mouthwash… how are you now?"
He pressed on the bluish-purple bruise at his waist, gritting his teeth and looking at the silent woman beside him.
"Not good."
Heller appeared somewhat weakened, her dark complexion seemed even a bit pale. She frowned, her arms hanging limply in front of her.
Apparently, the arduous battle just now had caused substantial injuries to both of them; Heller's arms were entirely broken. Although she had just taken the special effect Bone Regeneration Potion provided by the centaurs, setting aside the unpleasant taste during the potion's effect, just the time—if there were more battles beyond the door, she would likely be a burden.
"Open the door."
The silent atmosphere spread like a plague; after a while, Heller tightly shut her eyes, arms crackling with sounds.