Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 261 A Battle Spanning a Thousand Years (Part 1)

Rice's heart was pounding: if he had believed the nonsense that "free-range parenting allows students to grow faster" and hadn't prepared that life-saving necklace for Daphne, Daphne would be dead by now.

No one could withstand that terrifying spell without being prepared, and he was no exception.

He was familiar with the source of the spell's magic; it was in the style of his old friend. This puzzled Rice, who wondered what had happened to her—could she be experiencing the same symptoms as Ravenclaw? That would be too much of a coincidence.

The three of them retreated little by little to the edge of the stone gate. By this time, Rice had already built several layers of defensive magic in front of him. Even if the figure reappeared to attack, he was confident that he could block its attack for Daphne and the others.

Seeing its "prey" trying to escape, the figure no longer hid and appeared directly, unleashing a powerful attack spell at Rice.

This time, Rice witnessed the entire process of the figure appearing: it emerged directly from the sand on the ground.

boom!

A spell flew in like a shooting star and crashed heavily onto the multi-layered defensive spells that Rice had erected. While Rice was struggling to maintain the defensive spells, he mobilized his own domain and erected a wall of mud in front of him.

The two-pronged approach was extremely effective. The spell launched by the shadow figure was already at its limit after shattering Rice's carefully constructed defensive magic. It crashed into the mud wall, only splashing up a mud flower.

"You two go out first and return to town. I'll catch up with you in a bit." Without giving Daphne and Astoria a chance to say anything, Rice pushed the two out of the hall and waved his hand to close the stone door again.

He wanted to drag the figure here to prevent it from chasing after him.

He couldn't guarantee that the monster before him would remain confined to the main hall. If it managed to escape, it would be a pursuit. Once things reached that point, casualties would be inevitable—and he would have a difficult time ensuring the safety of his two students during the retreat.

But fighting a positional war here is different. Even if we pay some price, we can still keep that monster in the sand here. Once Daphne and the others are far away, it will be easy for us to find a chance to escape.

After Daphne and Astoria were pushed out of the main hall by Rice, they looked at the closed doors, their faces extremely grim.

"Rice!" Daphne couldn't help but shout at the door, simultaneously punching the stone door hard. The force of the door's rebound numbed her hand, but she was completely unaware of it.

It's happening again...

I can't help in any way.

Daphne couldn't help but think: If she had blocked that spell with a brilliant defensive spell, would she have been able to stay and fight alongside him?

"Sister, go up quickly, don't let Rice's efforts go to waste." Astoria grabbed Daphne's arm and earnestly advised her.

The spell she had just cast made her realize that this level of combat was completely beyond her and her sister's capabilities. Rice was just buying them time; they were helping him by hurrying out.

Her sister's words jolted Daphne awake. She took a deep breath, preparing to leave. But when her eyes swept over the stone door in front of her, she froze: she remembered that Rice had blasted a large crater into the door, but why had that crater disappeared?

Daphne looked down and found that the floor was flat again, and an ominous feeling rose in her heart.

She quickly looked up and found that the two stone statues, which had been behaving themselves, now had red eyes—their destroyed eyes had automatically regenerated.

"Astoria, watch out!" she cried out, and at the same time cast a defensive spell in front of herself and her sister.

Astoria also noticed the anomaly of the kobold statue. She immediately cast a defensive spell while pulling her sister away.

At this moment, the two statues had come to life and were brandishing their spears, thrusting them at the two men.

Buried deep underground and isolated from the air, and protected by magic on its tip, the bronze spear was as sharp as when it was first forged. It pierced Daphne's defensive magic with a single strike, before being barely blocked by Astoria's spell.

Seeing this, Daphne and Astoria no longer hesitated, immediately using their flight magic to speed away from the ruins. The two stone statues followed closely behind, their steps heavy.

"Why are they chasing us?!" Daphne couldn't help but yell.

"Nonsense, use your brain!" Astoria retorted, casting a barrier spell behind her while vehemently criticizing her sister.

These two statues are for deterring thieves! How could they possibly just give you a whack and let you go? They'd at least chase you to the palace gates, right?

Although the two statues appeared to move somewhat slowly, their ten-meter height allowed them to take a long stride, keeping them firmly "biting" behind the two women and preventing them from creating any distance between them.

The obstacle spells had almost no effect on them; they seemed to be able to overcome the resistance caused by the spells with just a little effort.

Astoria steeled her heart, turned her head, and unleashed the attack spell stored in the bracelet.

Watching her sister unleash the spell stored in the bracelet, Daphne felt a pang of sadness: her necklace was destroyed, otherwise she could have joined her sister in unleashing attack magic... But at the same time, she was also somewhat relieved, realizing that the spell attached to the necklace had saved her life.

Rice never seemed to mention it, but it was clear that her necklace had a hidden function.

But the necklace was already destroyed... Daphne's feelings were extremely complicated.

Astoria's spell struck the kobold statue on the left with pinpoint accuracy, and with a deafening roar like an earthquake, the kobold statue was blasted in two.

The collapsed statue also blocked the path of another statue, allowing Daphne and Astoria to distance themselves from it.

Seeing that it seemed unable to catch up with the two intruders, another stone statue took a javelin from its back and threw it at the two of them, but the two girls who were good at flying easily dodged it.

……

While Daphne and Astoria were locked in combat with the kobolds, Rice was caught in a fierce battle.

The figure no longer lurked, but stood openly in the center of the hall, unleashing various attack spells at Rice.

Rice also took the opportunity to get a clear look at the face of the person opposite him. Although he looked a bit old, he was absolutely certain that it was the face of his old friend Helga Hufflepuff.

The only difference is that she is a clay doll.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Update here~

I'll continue writing the next chapter. You guys go to sleep first. If I don't see it when I wake up in the morning, I'll update it tonight.

(End of this chapter)