Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 54 Professor McGonagall's Judgment

"Takes a sharp turn for the worse" is the most apt description of the battle situation.

The berserk giant stopped dodging Daphne's attacks and, at the cost of a new wound on its chest, lashed out at Daphne with its club. Had Daphne not been skilled enough at flying, she would have suffered a great loss.

Even though she dodged the blow, the negative effects of the mistake weren't eliminated, and she immediately lost the initiative. The troll's attacks became increasingly fierce, and Daphne was struggling to defend herself, constantly on the run.

This is where the drawbacks of using flight magic become apparent. In order to avoid the giant's attacks, Daphne can only focus all her attention on controlling the flight spell, leaving her almost no room to fight back.

However, such a fierce attack could not last. The speed at which the troll swung its wooden stick gradually decreased, and Daphne finally found an opportunity to create distance between herself and it, pointing her wand at it.

Unexpectedly, the wooden stick in the troll's hand, which had already slowed down, suddenly accelerated, forcing Daphne to hastily cast a defensive spell. Several hexagonal transparent shields appeared in front of her, forming a barrier.

Daphne's skill in defensive magic was clearly inferior to that in flight magic; the barrier she deployed was shattered by the troll, and she crashed into the wall of the corridor.

The next moment, the troll grabbed her ankle with its free hand and lifted her upside down.

"Help me!" Daphne instinctively looked at Rice, hoping to get his help, but her panicked and anxious gaze met a pair of cold eyes.

Rice stood there quietly, his hands tucked into the sleeves of his robe, like a spectator.

The phrase "standing idly by" couldn't be more fitting here.

After meeting Rice's icy gaze, Daphne instantly regained her composure as if she had been doused with ice water.

Wind blade!

The troll's head, the size of a cocoa bean, was directly opposite her. Taking advantage of the troll's momentary lapse in attention after its attack, Daphne raised her wand and cast an attack spell on its head.

The wind blade formed by the spell swept horizontally, striking the troll's nose bridge. The wind blade severed its nose bridge, ripped open its two eyeballs, and almost cut off half of the troll's head.

The same two-inch wound produces drastically different effects when it's cut on the back versus on the head.

The troll flung away both the wooden stick and Daphne, then futilely clutched the wound on its head, letting out a deafening scream.

Still shaken, Daphne used all her strength to regain her balance after being thrown off, then flew backward several dozen feet, putting distance between herself and the giant. She stood at a distance, waiting for the dying giant to release the last vestiges of life from its body.

After seeing Daphne escape danger and kill the troll, Rhys released the wand he had been hiding under his sleeve. However, he maintained his indifferent demeanor on the surface.

The giant crashed onto the floor like a collapsing hill, making a deafening noise.

"Congratulations on passing this practical training." Rice applauded Daphne.

Daphne stood there, stunned, for a moment before she realized: Rice really hadn't saved her?!

"This is your practical training exercise. I told you to complete it independently." Rice spread his hands, indicating that he had already made it so clear, so why would you ask such a question?

Daphne sighed. Even though she had made it very clear beforehand, she still held a sliver of hope, thinking that because of her special place in Rice's heart, he wouldn't really let her be devoured by the giant.

result……

The truth was cruel to her; perhaps Rice teaching her the spell was just something she did on a whim.

"It's time to go." Rice's expression changed. He pulled his wand from his sleeve, cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself and Daphne, and then ran away from the "crime scene" with her. Before leaving, Rice also used his wand to exhale a puff of smoke, destroying any traces they had left at the scene.

Watching Rice's actions, Daphne suddenly narrowed her eyes: Where did this guy just pull out his wand from?

Less than a minute after the two left, Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick arrived.

"Minerva, I heard—"

"I heard that too, look there."

The two professors easily discovered the giant's corpse, and upon seeing the scene, they both frowned.

"This troll was just killed, no more than five minutes ago." Professor Flitwick, seemingly oblivious to the stench emanating from the troll, squatted down beside it and began examining its corpse.

Based on the temperature of the corpse, he determined that the giant was very "fresh".

"Reveal quickly!" Professor McGonagall made a quick decision, attempting to use magic to recreate what had happened here a few minutes earlier.

A phantom faintly appeared in the air, but just as it was about to take shape, a cloud of smoke suddenly billowed out of the corridor, disrupting its formation.

"We've been interrupted." Professor McGonagall sighed. The wizard who killed this giant was indeed no ordinary person. She carefully examined the giant's corpse, hoping to glean some useful information from it.

Judging from its size, the slain giant was clearly an adult, killed by a spell like a cutting curse, with the fatal wound on its face. However, the wounds on its body were too shallow; such shallow external injuries could only be fatal to a giant if they hit its head, while hitting other parts of its body would only provoke it.

Professor McGonagall fell into thought.

Slowly, the image of the wizard who killed the troll appeared in Professor McGonagall's mind: facing the approaching troll, the man was not nervous, but instead casually cast a few spells, leaving several wounds on the troll's body. When it was enraged and charged at him, the man then casually used a cutting spell to reap the troll's life.

They are a formidable opponent.

After sharing his speculation with Professor Flitwick, Professor Flitwick also narrowed his eyes.

"To dare to do this requires extraordinary skill and audacity. The only reason someone like this could be lurking in Hogwarts is for that one thing." Flitwick reminded Professor McGonagall that something extraordinary was hidden in the corridor on the fourth floor.

Professor McGonagall's expression immediately turned serious.

"How this giant got in is also very suspicious. In all these years, nothing like this has ever happened before. If it was let in by someone, then it means that there is more than one force that covets that stone and has infiltrated Hogwarts."

A sense of unease lingered in Professor McGonagall's mind; she was actually somewhat dissatisfied with Dumbledore's arrangements.

When the Philosopher's Stone was stored in Gringotts, someone tried to break in and steal it. Dumbledore, knowing that someone coveted the Philosopher's Stone, still moved it to the school, which was simply playing with the students' safety!

Professor McGonagall decided to have a good talk with Dumbledore.

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 delivered, second update tonight~

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(End of this chapter)