Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 473 They really took the game to a whole new level.

After Cedric, the remaining contestants were also attacked one after another.

A few individuals were caught off guard and knocked unconscious by the spell, thus losing their competition prizes, but most contestants escaped this final calamity.

After escaping a sudden attack, the threat to the athletes on land decreased significantly. For the underwater athletes, successfully reaching the shore was not a difficult task.

If all else fails, several people can pop out at the same time!

An individual might attract the attacks of a dozen or so spells, but if they show themselves alongside others, it's a completely different story. Some lucky individuals might not even be hit by a single spell.

The pace of the match became unpredictable once the competitors on the shore began attacking those in the water.

Logically, the players who were ambushed should have been extremely angry, but most of them did not retaliate against the players on the shore after they got ashore.

Perhaps they didn't want to cause any unnecessary trouble, perhaps their classmates were among those who participated in the ambush on the shore, or perhaps they wanted to use these people to help them eliminate some competitors.

In short, the competition reached a bizarre equilibrium. The competitors on the shore would attack those who surfaced without hesitation, but once those competitors were on land, they would tacitly stop to avoid provoking public anger and retaliation—this resulted in dozens of people coming ashore after Cedric, but only one competitor was knocked unconscious, and that person was knocked unconscious by Cedric!

Cedric was dumbfounded as he watched the game take such an unexpected turn.

"If only I had taken them all down!" He couldn't help but slap his thigh, filled with regret.

In his view, these despicable people had no right to continue participating in the competition!

His Hufflepuff classmates, who were surrounding him, offered words of comfort.

"It's alright, who would have thought these people would do this?"

"Why worry so much? Consider this a test from the competition!"

"It would be good to have them help eliminate competitors."

Listening to the cacophony in his ears, Cedric couldn't help but sigh.

The thought of competing against these people who had resorted to underhanded tactics in the upcoming matches made him feel annoyed.

Just as Cedric was feeling regretful, the long-standing stalemate on the field was broken by a Durmstrang student.

Before him, all the swimmers who successfully made it out of the lake would go to the referee for verification and to complete the race. But he was different. After successfully getting ashore, he didn't rush to the referee. Instead, he stood on the shore and watched.

The contestants on the shore immediately became alert: Could this kid be trying to get revenge?

To their surprise, the Durmstrang student took two steps forward and joined the hunters' group on the shore!

This surprised even the contestants who were already waiting on the shore. After they came to their senses, joy appeared on everyone's face.

It's great that they're willing to join! More people mean more strength, and besides, this person has already cleared the level, so they won't be competing with them for the level completion treasure chest. It's practically a win-win situation with no investment.

The audience was shocked: Could this really be done? But when they saw that the referees not far away were not making any moves, they realized that this kind of crazy operation was actually within the scope of the rules.

The principals sitting on the judges' table were far less united than the students had imagined. In fact, they had discussed what had just happened.

"Kakalov, what a fine student you've taught!" Seeing Durmstrang's men join the hunters' group, Mrs. Maxim couldn't help but make a sarcastic remark about Karkarov.

Karkaroff chuckled. "I didn't teach him to do that; it was a brilliant idea he came up with on his own. And as far as I can see, he didn't seem to have broken any rules, did he? He's just coming to our side for verification a little later!"

Since the athlete who stayed on the shore to stop those who entered the lake and completed the race did not violate the rules, then this Durmstrang student is even less culpable. After all, there is no rule forcing students to finish the race immediately.

After Karkaroff said this, the other principals fell silent.

Some people are unable to refute Karkaroff now because they didn't speak up before, while a few principals are simply unable to because their students are currently among the hunters.

Soon after, a shark's head emerged from the lake.

The hunters attacked one after another, but the Durmstrang student threw out an Ironclad Charm, giving Krum time to react.

Krum was startled, but he reacted quickly and rushed ashore, shaking off the pursuers.

The audience stared wide-eyed at the student's actions once again.

The principals also realized the advantage of this model: the "own people" who stayed in the hunters' group could cover their fellow students as they made it ashore!

As the competition progresses, more and more competitors join the fray, making it increasingly difficult to secure a spot. However, having some allies within the team at this point can drastically alter the outcome.

Moreover, since the eight major magic schools have the most contestants and the strongest forces they have formed, this may be the best opportunity for the eight major magic schools to join forces to eliminate other individual contestants!

From today onwards, only contestants from the eight major magic schools will remain in the championship.

The thought of such a benefit silenced the principals. They all hoped to use this opportunity to weed out some people and reduce the intensity of competition.

There are still nearly a hundred people who haven't been eliminated yet; that's far too many.

It's safe to say that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the game will likely unfold in this direction.

However, the accident still happened.

Having observed the mermaid village for a long time without seeing any new methods, Rice decided to stop watching. He began to rise to the surface, gradually moving away from the mermaid village.

On his way back, he also saw two beautiful silver figures.

Daphne and Astoria swam slowly together a short distance ahead. In the depths of this black lake, the two girls' figures resembled those of mermaids from mythology, even more so than those of other mermaids.

The two swam slowly, not because they were bad swimmers. Any wizard who had mastered the flow of magic would not have such trouble. Even without a water-based domain, they could still use magic to propel themselves.

The two of them fell behind because they were playing around.

Since there's no rule that finishing earlier in this race results in a higher score, why not take the opportunity to have some fun in Black Lake? Just make sure you get back before the one-hour deadline.

After hearing her sister's suggestion, Astoria readily agreed, and the two even figured out a way to communicate underwater.

At that moment, Daphne used her magic to write a line of words in front of her: "The academy's lounge is at the bottom of Black Lake. Shall we go take a look? I haven't seen our lounge from the outside yet."

After seeing her sister's writing, Astoria was also quite moved.

In the past, they always stayed in the lounge and looked out at the view from the bottom of the lake. Now that they had the chance, how could they not change their perspective?

After calculating the time and finding that they still had plenty of time, the two changed direction and swam downstream.

However, after swimming for a while, the two discovered a serious problem: they seemed to be lost.

Finding those few small windows in the Slytherin common room at the bottom of the vast Black Lake is no easy task; it's almost like finding a needle in a haystack.

Just then, the two heard a voice.

"The lounge is this way."

The two of them bristled like cats whose tails had been stepped on.

Hearing such a sound underwater was indeed a bit frightening. The two of them reached for their wands at the same time, but they quickly recognized the source of the sound.

【Rice?!】 Daphne deliberately added two punctuation marks to convey her feelings.

"Yeah, you two really aren't afraid of missing the final deadline!" Rice teased the two carefree sisters.

It would be hilarious if they missed the competition deadline because they were so engrossed in searching for the lounge window underwater.

"It's alright, I brought a timer. It will ring automatically when it reaches fifty minutes!" Astoria pulled a gold pocket watch from her pocket, indicating that she had taken foolproof safety measures.

Daphne chuckled, indicating that she would just follow her sister.

Seeing that Astoria was still as reliable as ever, Rice's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled back down.

The two looked at Rice, who moved freely underwater as if he were no different from when he was on land, and a hint of envy flashed in their eyes.

Rice couldn't do anything about it. Unless one possessed a water-based domain, no one could be like him.

"Come with me, I'll show you the view from the lounge." Rice gestured for the two to follow behind him.

For Rice, finding the lounge was much easier than getting his bearings.

He swam towards the castle for a while, and then quickly found the location of the lounge by the message transmitted from the water.

After choosing a direction and swimming in that direction for a few minutes, several ornately decorated floor-to-ceiling windows came into view.

The windows have a simple, old-fashioned design, and the frames are full of traces of time.

"Here it is. Don't get too close, it's enchanted." Rice waved to the two of them, indicating that they could go up and take a look.

He went to great lengths to acquire those large panes of glass in the Slytherin common room. While glass may be cheap in modern society, these floor-to-ceiling windows were undoubtedly top-tier luxury items back then.

Many of the pure-blooded wizards who were assigned to Slytherin House, who were initially quite boisterous, fell silent after seeing the window of the common room.

Large, transparent panes of glass!

This was quite a sight at the academy back then.

Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, Daphne and Astoria could clearly see the interior of the lounge.

Armchairs, fireplace, marble floors...

Those familiar furniture and decorations become novel again through this special perspective.

However, it wasn't very interesting after all, and the two of them lost interest after watching for a while.

[It's time to go back.] Astoria took out a timer, indicating that time was running out.

"Okay, let's go." The three of them floated towards the surface of the water together.

A few minutes later, the three of them poked their heads out of the lake.

The moment he peeked out, Rice sensed something was wrong, and then he saw a dozen spells hurtling toward him.

With a wave of his hand, he created a wall of water in front of him, and the next second, more than a dozen ripples appeared on the water wall.

He intercepted all the spells fired by the hunters on the shore.

"Oh? That's interesting." Rice quickly understood their intentions and sincerely remarked that they had truly found the right way to play the game.

If he were just an ordinary contestant, he would have done the same.

Astoria's eyes lit up. She felt she should hurry up and join the group.

Since they can intercept opponents here, it means the referees allow this tactic! This is a great opportunity to eliminate other contestants! Once we pull this off, the match is practically won!

However, before Rice and Astoria could make a move, Daphne struck first.

She rushed ashore like lightning, and the spells aimed at her either missed or were blocked by her defensive magic.

Once she reached the shore, the hunters all stopped, but Daphne showed no sign of stopping. Her hands turned crimson, and the heat from her every move caused fluctuations in the air as she unleashed a barrage of spells.

The hunters were caught off guard, and several of them were sent flying by Daphne's spell.

This was the first time they had ever encountered someone like this!

Doesn't she understand that we're trying to relieve her stress?

Just as they were preparing to retaliate, they suddenly found that the ground beneath their feet had become scorching hot.

"What's going on?"

"Get out of here immediately!"

The once orderly formation on the shore instantly became chaotic.

Watching Daphne rush ashore and start fighting, Rice and Astoria both sighed in unison.

What else can they do? Since Daphne has already gone in, the two of them can't just stand by and watch, can they?

Rice casually unleashed a few disarming spells, knocking away the wands of the contestants who tried to retaliate. Astoria also helped her sister take down a few opponents.

Next up was Daphne's solo performance. In front of the entire school and the principals of the other seven magic schools, she knocked down one by one the contestants who had attacked her from the shore and threw them into the Black Lake.

Any resistance is futile in the face of her. Those who are lucky are simply knocked unconscious by her spells, while those who are unlucky will get punched!

"This, this—" Karkaroff stared in disbelief.

When he discovered that Daphne had stolen his student's treasure chest and thrown it into the lake, he couldn't sit still any longer.

"Albus, shouldn't we—"

"That doesn't violate the rules of the game, does it?" Dumbledore said with a smile.

"But, but—" Karkarov felt his vision blurring: as time passed, quite a few Durmstrang students had infiltrated the hunters by the lake! If this little girl continued to fight like this, Durmstrang would only have Krum left in the next match!

"Looks like this little girl has a brilliant idea too!" Mrs. Maxim added timely, causing Karkaroff to faint and collapse into his seat.

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.

Here's the update, goodnight everyone!

See you at midnight tomorrow night!

(End of this chapter)