Homecoming from Hogwarts

"It doesn't seem that hard, does it?"

When Fleur came in front of everyone holding the ball of red light and said this with a smile, Hermione's face turned even redder.

"really--"

Cedric nodded very honestly.
"It seems that this is the backdoor left by Professor Brian. He doesn't intend for us to fight the stone monster head-on."

"We've been fooled again."

Harry said a little annoyed.

As the competition progresses, what is often tested is their wisdom and flexible thinking rather than their martial arts skills.

"let's go!"

Luna took Hermione's hand, who was in self-doubt, and said happily
"Let's go get the keys!"

"Finally I passed another level."

Harry tucked his wand back into his sleeve and sighed as well.

Fleur did not criticize Hermione's 'clumsy' method any more, and followed her out of the secret realm with brisk steps.

"Come on, let's see if it works!"

The group trotted to the huge ice-blue ice block, and Cedric looked eagerly at the red ball of light held by Fleur.

"But what should I do?"

Furong looked at the ball of light, then at the ice, hesitant.

"Maybe just letting the light touch the ice will do the trick."

Said Victor, who just showed off his intelligence.

Furong did as she was told, and under everyone's nervous gaze, she slowly approached the ice with the ball of red light in her hands.

Slip!

The moment the red light ball touched the ice, it was absorbed by the ice!

hiss.
Under the gazes of many delighted people, white smoke began to rise from the indestructible ice, and the thick ice began to melt at a speed visible to the naked eye!

only.
"what happened?"

Harry clenched his fist and hit the smaller ice block hard, but he couldn't move it at all.

And seeing that the ice stopped melting and still firmly sealed the key in the center, the joy that had not yet faded on everyone's faces suddenly froze.

"It seems."

Cedric's expression fell.
"The power of one ball of light is not enough. I can't be lazy. I must complete all four levels of the secret realm."

“If we.”

Victor frowned and looked at the 'Stone Monster Secret Realm' they had just conquered.

"You mean, go kill the stone monster again and see if you can get another light ball like this?"

Harry reacted quickly and immediately understood what Viktor meant.

“But this loophole”

Cedric hesitated.

"We should give it a try anyway."

Viktor confirmed his statement and then looked at Furong.

"I can try with you, Viktor."

Furong said meaninglessly.

As long as you find the trick, dealing with the two stone monsters will be an easy task. It took less than three minutes, and they came out again holding the same red light ball.

But, unfortunately, after sacrificing the red light ball this time, the ice block no longer changed at all.

"Well, it didn't work."

Victor accepted his fate.
"There is no other way. We only have one choice."

Almost five hours have passed since the competition began. This is a great test of their perseverance and everyone is exhausted.

The Warriors also realized that this long schedule itself is a test for them.

"Then, next."

Harry looked at Viktor and Cedric.

"Let's go to my previous secret place."

Victor said,
"Now there are six of us. This makes things a little easier."

The warriors all wanted to end it all as soon as possible, and they had not consumed much energy in dealing with the stone monster before, so the huge group of people rushed into the snow mountain again. Standing on the square under the stone platform, everyone looked at the surrounding environment carefully.

There are three winding paths in total. If the warrior team is complete, one person can guard one path.

"--It started with three house-elves,"

Victor introduced to everyone,
“Emerging from one path, I solved them easily once I figured out what I was supposed to do.

Then about a few seconds later, in addition to the house-elves, goblins appeared on another path. Because they appeared from different directions, it was a bit difficult for me to deal with them, and I couldn't eliminate them before they attacked the lighthouse.

Of course, this is still good. In the third round, centaurs appeared on the last road. They didn't even approach the lighthouse, but stood far away and attacked with ice arrows. I had to get close to kill them. In my previous attempts, the lighthouse would have been damaged by this time. It was the fourth round!"

Victor said angrily,

"House-elves, goblins, centaurs, werewolves, vampires, dragons and so on. Of course, they are not real. They are almost the same size as elves. Their numbers increased suddenly. There are at least dozens of them. They are running around everywhere in the venue. I can't handle them at all. They can destroy the lighthouse with just one attack!"

Harry looked carefully at the paths, observing the intersections where they met the square.

On both sides of the pass were rocky slopes with jagged cones. Harry's eyes were fixed on the snow-covered mountains around him.

"If obstacles are created to block several intersections"

"Useless."

Victor said helplessly,

"I've tried, but those ice sculptures would climb up the hillside and rush into the square, which would only create trouble for me. When the intersection is clear, at least they will gather together and come in through the small path, which will make it easier for me to attack. If the intersection is blocked, they will crawl around and bite at the same time. Digging holes in the ground to create traps will not work either, as they will avoid them."

Furong paced around the stone platform,

"It seems that there is no shortcut to this challenge. Hmm. How long do you think it will take to hold on until the candles burn out?"

"No more than ten minutes."

Hermione said firmly.

Seeing everyone looking at her in surprise, Hermione said nonchalantly,
"It's easy to tell. These red mists that keep our body temperature are only effective for ten minutes."

"So what are we waiting for?"

Furong was eager to try.

"We'll start right away."

Having said that, we still have to make some tactical arrangements.

At this point, Viktor and Fleur were obviously no match for the Hogwarts students who had received more than a year of tactical and strategic training from Professor Blaine.

After a brief discussion between Hermione and four others, the battle plan was quickly finalized.

Furong and Viktor were placed on the stone platform where the lighthouse was located as the last line of defense.

The seriously injured Luna retreated to the second line, wandering around the field and cutting off any fish that slipped through the net.

Harry, Hermione and Cedric each guarded a path into the arena, trying to clear out all the invading monsters and not give them a chance to break through.

Although Victor has made it clear that blocking intersections and setting pothole traps at intersections is not only useless, but also asking for trouble.

But Hermione still found some ways to help.

Boom!

A tall spruce was knocked down, and Hermione released a cutting spell to break the spruce into pieces, and controlled the wooden stakes to form a trumpet-shaped fence at the intersection.

"If blocking the intersection will cause the monsters to run around, then we should tighten the intersection. This will slow down the speed of the monsters passing through and prevent them from falling into chaos due to losing the passage."

"Oh!"

Cedric gave Hermione a thumbs up.

"You're so clever, Hermione!"

Hermione smiled reservedly, then began to help Cedric and Harry make roadblocks.

The preparation process delayed them for a few more minutes.

This resulted in the red mist energy surrounding them being insufficient to support them in completing the next battle.

However, when all members leave the secret realm, some of their arrangements on the field will be "refreshed".

To this end, Hermione came up with an idea.

Let one person stay in the secret realm, and the rest go together to replenish the red fog energy. After the 'main force' comes back, let the person who stays behind go to replenish it.

Although this method did not require much intelligence, the clear thinking still made others praise Hermione's cleverness.

This also restored the confidence of Hermione, who felt that she had suffered a "heavy blow" before.

When Viktor rushed back to the stone platform, Hermione cleared her throat and shouted with full force,

"Open the monster!" (End of this chapter)