Harry's evasion was evidently just the beginning; his crouching wasn't merely a simple dodge—
Using the centrifugal force from twisting his body, the boy crouched with his left leg like a spring filled with power, suddenly exploding off the ground. A purple shimmer appeared around him, making his movements even faster—his entire body shot forward like an arrow, advancing instead of retreating.
"Sectumsempra!"
As he charged along the ground, Harry roared, his wand darting out like a snake's tongue, slyly targeting not Alexander's torso or head—in the absence of learning a counter-curse, that could easily be fatal—so Harry chose the opponent's calf tendon as his target!
Thus, the invisible blade flashed through the air—
"Ugh—"
Alexander let out a painful yell; his massive frame suddenly lost balance, though the Achilles tendon adorned with blue runes wasn't completely sliced through, the deep pain was enough to make this tower-like man stagger, crashing heavily against the slick stone wall.
The clash happened in a split second; as Alexander fell, Harry's body stopped abruptly with an unphysical move and retreated, successfully evading Fleur's ensuing charms. After steadying himself on the opposite side, Cedric cast several Iron Armor Spells, appearing at Harry's side to block Fleur's successive attack charms—
"I really didn't expect—"
Cedric glanced over the middle between them and spoke to Harry, his tone apologetic as he had been somewhat careless, assuming this was the talk segment considering the floating cameras among them.
"It's not your fault, I didn't expect it either."
Harry grinned, rubbing his slightly numb arm; Fleur's charm still affected him, if not for the "Flow State" enhancing his reflexes beyond usual, he probably would have really fallen into the hands of the two—
Harry looked at Fleur with fear in her eyes, revealing a "hernia" of a smile.
As the two exchanged glances, Alexander's savagery was thoroughly incited by the pain in his calf.
He roared, slapping the stone wall with both hands, straightening his body by force—ignoring the severe pain in his left leg, the man charged at the just-steadied Harry like a rampant bear, his arms spread wide, the runes glowing brightly; his tactic was crude—
Using his size and strength advantage to engage in close combat, even if he took a few spells, in order to keep Harry pinned and create an opportunity for the mage Fleur behind.
"But borrowed power needs to be repaid—did you really think I was unprepared?"
Cedric sighed, lightly pointing his wand. The blue light on Alexander's body suddenly retracted, the crucial connections in his rune were directly wiped away, his charging momentum weakened tremendously, while Harry also waved his wand, reciting clearly and quickly, "Expelliarmus!"
The target was not Fleur but Alexander in front—
Of course, it wasn't meant to remove the warrior's hand in hand-to-hand combat, rather, it made this Disarming Spell more like a powerful Repulsive Force Field, Harry's arms blocked in front of him, using the force exploding from Alexander's body, retreating rapidly by several steps—
At the same time, this force also entirely dissipated Alexander's charging momentum, like he hit an invisible wall, with a "thud" sound.
"Giving you a chance to surrender, we don't intend to kill everyone—"
Cedric shouted, planning to show some magnanimity as the host.
"Ha, I believe it."
Fleur instinctively pulled the corner of her mouth; she was panting heavily, leaning with Alexander who was slightly short of breath and appeared somewhat listless due to the disappearance of runes, the two who initially attacked now found themselves in a dire situation, surrounded from all sides, while above them, cameras continued broadcasting everything faithfully—
Suddenly, a sharp spine pierced through it, causing the damaged magic electronic components to emit a slight "crackling" sound.
In the narrow cave, this faint, small disruption was entirely amplified—
"What in the…"
Harry instinctively looked up, then his previously cold expression due to the Magic State was inevitably tinged with surprise.
...
Somewhere in the dense forest, William slightly tilted his head, and Kabuda on his shoulder promptly stuffed the lens into the pocket on its belly, ending the filming.
In the clearing before them, dozens of goblins of various shapes were sprawled in disarray on the ground, tightly bound by some sticky, faintly glowing magic ropes, even their mouths were sealed, only able to emit angry "mm-mm" nose sounds—
The Three-Headed Trolls were taken down together, like three fleshy mountains, wrapped tightly with thick vines like a zongzi, one of them even had half a Wolf Fang Club growing on its rear…
Or was the Wolf Fang Club emerging from its rear?
Anyway, it's 18+.
"Hmm… looks quite familiar indeed."
William temporarily ignored the restrained "spoils," with his brow slightly furrowed—could it be remnants of Lanlock? Is that guy truly Lanlock rising from the ashes? But this thought only made a round, William quickly shook his head, denying this speculation—
Unlike. These Magic Rune Alchemy Armors given to him are very different from Lanlock's crude engravings; they appear more intricate, yet carry a cold, damp, and decaying feeling, as if seeping from a tomb.
Moreover, Lanlock is dead—really dead. He can confirm that even a Soul Artifact couldn't save that guy plunged into the Secret Vault.
"Chirp, chirp!"
Kabuda's cry interrupted William's thoughts. He reached out and took a blue pebble from the Niffler, then Lupin's somewhat anxious voice emerged from it.
"Is there trouble on Harry's side? Camera broken?"
William frowned, listening to Lupin recount the events—an external champion's collusion, Harry and Cedric's allies' betrayal at the last moment… He didn't really care about these matters between the champions, as long as they didn't break the rules—
Even if Harry and Cedric lost, so what? A lack of skill is just a lack of skill. After all, he was too busy setting up the television channel and hadn't even opened the betting pool—
Just then, with a soft "whoosh," a pure white Guardian God—a mature doe—rushed from the darkness, striking the light shield before William. The next moment, Snape's anxious voice sounded—
"William!"
The doe's face showed a human-like urgency, and Snape didn't even subconsciously elongate his tone, enough to show his concern—
"Something happened, Barty Crouch is dead… the older one, right in the alley of Hogsmeade—the Mad-Eyed Man conveyed the news; the Ministry of Magic has already intervened. Barty Crouch Jr. abandoned his disguise—Harry and the others are absolutely not safe, you must… damn, the signal's bad… be careful…"
The Doe Guardian God burst into light particles and vanished, and the Forbidden Forest fell silent again.
"Ah…"
William blinked, yet showed no intention of getting up due to Snape's warning. He held Kabuda in his hand, rifling through its pocket and extracting a pile of pebbles inscribed with blue runes. Picking and choosing, he couldn't help but mutter, "Damn it, we'll eventually have to invent something like a magic phone—"
Finally, he picked one up, placing it by his ear, "Hello." William greeted.
"Si-Sir…"
Fudge's hesitant voice came from the pebble.
…
"Did I see those things right?"
In the cave, Cedric raised his head—the remaining three did the same, murmuring as they looked at the scene overhead.
"We shouldn't be wrong, unless we all are seeing things—"
Harry's voice was urgent. He looked at Fleur and Alexander, whose faces were grim, "I'm sure these aren't part of the Tournament, because the referees clearly told me the Acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest had been cleared—of course, it's up to you whether you believe it or not, but do you still want to fight?" As he spoke, Harry's wand was already pointed overhead—
"Expulso Maxima! (The Blasting Curse)"
A purplish-red ball of light exploded overhead, directly blasting apart the Spinybacked Orbweaver trying to ambush, and this spell was like stirring a hornet's nest… no, more like a spider's nest, the previously lurking spiders, attempting to approach stealthily, instantly fell into chaos. Looking around, everyone could only see their vision filled with hairy spiders—
"Damn!"
Fleur cursed articulately, and Harry didn't give them a chance to refuse, directly provoking the spiders.
Despite those creatures not looking capable of withstanding many spells, in this situation, sheer numbers could bring about a qualitative change.
"Protego Diabolica! (Fire Shield Protection)"
Cedric's wand pointed upward, dark yellow flames instantly enveloping the four of them, initially intimidating the spiders.
But only moments later, with those large pincers moving rhythmically, their ferocity seemed to be awakened by something, charging at the four regardless of the flames' ability to sever limbs. Yet, these creatures continued to pounce relentlessly—
The dark yellow flame barrier swayed violently, while burnt spider remnants quickly piled up around the flame, the acrid smell spreading rapidly.
Sweat beaded on Cedric's brow. Maintaining such powerful Flame Magic rapidly drained his magic power, "Damn it, have they all gone mad?" The customary composure on the boy's face finally disappeared as he growled between gritted teeth.
"Holding on here is just waiting for death! We need to break through!" Harry rapidly scanned the direction of the exit—though it was equally blocked by spider shadows.
Fleur gripped her magic wand tightly, her face drained of color. Alexander, enduring a leg injury, tried to sweep away a large spider that had crossed the fireline with his sturdy arms, the curses tinged with Siberian flavor drowned out by the spider horde's screeching, "Cooperate!" Cedric's voice stood out amid the spiders' explosions, "The exit is right there, we must join forces to clear a path!"
"Pah! No way!"
Alexander roared, actually punching toward the nearest Harry. However, the man's body, having lost the rune's support, was somewhat unsteady. Harry easily dodged, releasing a Blasting Curse, opening a small gap amid the spider horde on the stone wall, causing rubble and some small spiders to fall.
A desperate shadow began to loom—the exit seemed impossibly far away.