Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 395 Fierce Battle in the Forbidden Forest

Daphne tugged at the cabinet door, but it didn't budge; it seemed to have been locked by Professor White with a spell.

"Hey, you—" Cedric stood up immediately when he saw that Daphne wouldn't listen to his advice, trying to dissuade the little witch who was too curious.

"Aren't you curious about what's in that cabinet?" Daphne countered. "Maybe it's related to the secret Professor White was discussing at the meeting!"

Cedric fell silent immediately, because he was genuinely curious about what was in the cabinet, and this curiosity had been burning for several days.

His patience had reached its limit, and now that Daphne had provoked him, he was starting to lose control.

Astoria wanted to stop her sister, but after glancing at Rice and seeing that he also looked "interested," she gave up the idea.

It seems that Rice, like himself, is quite curious about Professor White's "secret".

Since everyone wants to see what's in the cabinet, why stop my sister? Even if Professor White comes back later, my sister will be the only one punished, Astoria thought rather cunningly.

It's clear that there's more than one "smart person" in the house; the young wizards, who have developed a strong interest in the things in the cabinet, all hope that Daphne will be the one to reveal the mystery.

Only Hermione retains a sliver of reason.

"This isn't a good idea..." she said hesitantly.

"Is there any rule against this in the school rules?" Rice asked her, leaving the girl speechless.

After Rice made his statement, Daphne became even more unafraid. Moreover, the moment Rice spoke, she suddenly realized: Professor White said those words but did not leave an "absolutely forbidden instruction to open the cabinet," which meant that she was implying that they absolutely had to open the cabinet!

Daphne felt she had seen through everything.

"A kind and understanding little witch like myself deserves a good reward!" Daphne thought to herself, pleased with herself.

Daphne not only thought these things in her mind, but also spoke them aloud.

Cedric, Hermione, and Astoria fell silent, while Rice was enveloped in shock.

"Is it Legilimency, or has someone used a compound potion? Where is the real Daphne?" A series of thoughts flashed through his mind.

But considering that Daphne hadn't had anything to drink for several hours, Rice could only accept the reality: Daphne had really guessed Helga's thoughts.

No matter how winding the path may be, the destination is the same.

After a deathly silence, the young wizards present gradually began to be assimilated, because after thinking carefully for a moment, they found that what Daphne said was actually quite credible.

Seeing that everyone had tacitly approved of her actions, Daphne no longer hesitated and directly drew her wand.

"Alaho Open!" With a crisp click, the cabinet door sprang open.

Cedric was initially skeptical of Daphne's words, but after seeing that the cabinet door could be opened with such a simple spell, he suddenly felt that what Daphne said might be true.

Everyone present, including Rice, craned their necks to peer into the cabinet.

Then they saw a doll dressed in chainmail.

Seeing that Daphne had finally opened the cabinet under her guidance, Rice secretly breathed a sigh of relief: Great! If it weren't for this girl, I would have had to think of other ways. Daphne really helped me a lot.

Daphne, who was closest to the doll, saw it most clearly. She was all too familiar with that chainmail; the moment she saw it, her abdomen began to ache slightly.

Just then, the doll exposed to the air suddenly opened its tightly closed eyes.

In a short instant, the ordinary glass eyeball was shrouded in a layer of blood-red light, making it look incredibly eerie. Just one glance would stir up an unnamed restlessness in one's heart.

Rice jumped up with a start.

He lunged at Daphne from behind, grabbed her by the collar, and shoved her backward. Before the other young wizards in the office could react, he yelled, "Get down!"

Immediately following was a loud bang as something heavy sliced ​​through the air, a deafening crash that shook the castle, and the sound of shattering glass, plunging the office into chaos.

When the group came to their senses, they discovered that a huge sand sphere, almost level with the ceiling, had suddenly appeared in Professor White's office.

The sand sphere emanated an extremely strong magical aura, but Rice was nowhere to be seen.

"Rice? Where are you?" Daphne shouted.

"Here." Rice's slightly muffled voice came from inside the sand sphere.

"Great, I'll do it right away—" Daphne drew her wand, a faint red light emanating from her other palm. She was going to rescue Rice, who was trapped inside the sand sphere.

"Don't worry about me, you all go after that puppet immediately! We absolutely cannot let it escape Hogwarts—this is extremely important! Use any means necessary, at any cost! I'm fine here!"

"But—" Daphne wanted to say something more, but Rice inside the sand sphere made her act immediately.

Astoria was the first to react, rushing to the window that the doll had smashed through. She found that the doll had landed on the ground as lightly as a large bird and was running wildly towards the Forbidden Forest.

"Go quickly! I'll join you after I've dealt with this spell!" Rhys urged repeatedly in her ear. Without further hesitation, Astoria jumped out through the hole in the window.

Hermione followed closely behind, running to the window, taking a deep breath, and jumping out.

Seeing that Hermione and her sister had started moving, Daphne could only suppress her worries about Rice and jump out of the window through the hole, just like them.

Cedric: ? ? ?

He rushed to the window and saw them floating in the air, approaching the fleeing doll at incredible speed. Cedric gasped: How come all three of them know flying magic?!

A hint of embarrassment flashed across Cedric's face, because he seemed to be the only one present who didn't know flight magic.

It seemed to be a side effect of the domain; in any case, he was "stuck" to the ground and couldn't fly at all. Even though his magic manipulation was already as fluid as flowing water, he still couldn't fly into the sky using flight magic.

"Sigh..." After sighing, Cedric jumped straight out of the window.

However, the moment he touched the ground, it seemed to turn into liquid, causing Cedric to "sink" into it.

With most of his body submerged in the soil, Cedric sped towards the Forbidden Forest like a swordfish.

Once all the young wizards present had run off to chase the puppet, Rice stopped acting. He activated his domain at full speed, causing the moisture in the air to adhere to the surface of the sand, quickly eroding it completely, and freeing himself from the sand sphere.

"Amazing." Looking at the wet sand that had solidified into clumps on the ground, Rice offered heartfelt praise to the doll that Helga had created.

This sandball binding magic alone is enough to kill most wizards.

Wizards without a domain will be directly trapped and at the mercy of others, while wizards with a domain will need some time to break it—it can even hold them off for three to five seconds, making it a truly remarkable control spell.

It's important to understand that once trapped by the sand sphere, the expansion of the domain is quite slow, while the wizard outside remains undisturbed. This gives them a few seconds of advantage, which is of strategic value.

Even if the puppet's owner didn't have a domain, those few seconds would be enough for him to escape. With this one function, it truly deserves to be called the strongest puppet; my efforts that night weren't in vain.

Ironically, this domain was more powerful on the puppet than on the cultivator; the man was doing worse than the puppet.

Rice casually cast a Vanishing Charm, cleaning up the wet sand on the ground, and then used a Restoration Charm to restore the messy office to its original state.

After doing all this, Rice walked to the window and quietly watched as the four people and one puppet chased each other into the Forbidden Forest.

"It's time for the children to perform," Rice thought, as she patched up the hole in the window.

……

"Obstacles are numerous!"

"Thunderous explosion!"

"They'll all be petrified!"

As Daphne and her two companions flew rapidly at low altitude, they cast some simple spells on the doll.

I don't want to destroy the doll, I just want to slow it down a bit.

But the girls' efforts were in vain, because several semi-transparent shields appeared around the doll, blocking all their attacks.

Sensing that someone was chasing after it, the blood-red light in the doll's eyes intensified, and a sword blade extended from its palm, igniting with raging flames.

"Just how many armor-piercing charms does it have on it?!" Hermione couldn't help but complain after yet another of her spells was deflected. "And if this keeps up, we'll all get expelled!"

"Rice said we have to do whatever it takes. Anyway, we have to get rid of this doll today, or at least keep it here until Rice comes." Astoria ignored Hermione's complaints and only responded to her fear of being fired.

Since Rice has said so, they would rather be expelled than not keep the doll at Hogwarts; that's what they're willing to do at any cost.

Daphne didn't join in her sister and Hermione's conversation; her gaze was fixed on the blade and the flickering flames, and a not-so-pleasant memory surfaced in her mind.

"Watch out!" Realizing what was about to happen, Daphne immediately warned her two companions to be careful of the doll's long-range slash.

Daphne's reminder was very timely, because before she finished speaking, the flame on the longsword in the doll's hand detached from the blade, forming a three-foot-long crescent-shaped flame.

With a flick of the puppet's hand, a crescent-shaped flame flew towards Daphne and the others.

The flaming blade expanded rapidly in the air, reaching a length of over ten feet by the time it reached Daphne and the other two.

The three of them worked together to cast defensive spells in front of them while falling towards the ground in an attempt to dodge the fire blades.

boom!

The fire blades crashed heavily into the three people's defensive magic, shattering it into pieces. However, the power of the fire blades was also completely worn away by the triple spells, turning into scattered sparks.

At that moment, a flash of silver light appeared, and a dagger flew out from the sparks, heading straight for Hermione.

While launching the telekinetic slash, the puppet also secretly threw out a hidden weapon. Its purpose was to deliver a ruthless killing blow while the group relaxed slightly.

Hermione was in a frozen state after changing her movements, and the situation was extremely urgent.

Seeing this, Daphne and Astoria were preparing to use the defensive magic built into their magical items to rescue Hermione, but a clump of dirt suddenly flew up from the ground, accurately hitting the dagger and knocking it away.

The three of them looked down and found that Cedric had also arrived.

"Thank you!" Hermione, though she had her own trump card to save her life, still thanked Cedric.

The crisis was averted, but the puppet took advantage of the few seconds that the group was delayed to run into the Forbidden Forest.

Without hesitation, Cedric manipulated the soil to propel himself into the Forbidden Forest. Before setting off, he prepared a lump of soil for each of the three girls.

With these, everyone can run much faster in the forest.

Daphne and Astoria both stepped into the mud, letting the mud cover their feet. Hermione, however, did not do this; instead, she flew a short distance into the air.

"I'll guide you from the air and provide support along the way," Hermione's voice came from the sky.

Daphne and Astoria exchanged a glance and nodded, agreeing that Hermione's idea was good.

The four of them then began a chase with the puppet in the forbidden forest.

The doll ran into the Forbidden Forest and soon realized it had made a mistake: the forest floor was covered with tangled roots and shrubs, making it difficult to accelerate.

The thick trees also served as natural cover for the young wizards, rendering their telekinetic attacks ineffective.

Although Hermione's view was obscured by the branches and leaves of the trees while she was floating in the sky, she could still determine the approximate location of the doll by the flow of magic, and then use area-of-effect attacks such as the Explosion Charm to restrain it.

With so many factors interfering, the distance between Cedric and the puppet decreased rapidly. A few minutes later, he even overtook the puppet and sneaked ahead of it underground.

The puppet swung a fiery blade backhand, then used the Ironclad Charm to block Hermione's descending magic. At that moment, a figure appeared directly opposite it, raising a hand to unleash a "Shattering Bone" spell, which struck the unsuspecting puppet head-on, sending it flying.

The one who rushed in front of the doll to launch a surprise attack was naturally Cedric. After successfully striking, he didn't hesitate at all, directly manipulating the soil to completely cover the doll that had fallen to the ground.

"Did it work?" Daphne arrived as well, the girl holding a magic wand in one hand and her other hand enveloped in a ball of crimson lava.

Cedric's expression turned solemn as he slowly shook his head—he sensed the restlessness in the soil; the puppet possessed a domain!

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 is here, goodnight everyone~

(End of this chapter)