In the secret realm at the top of Mount Olympus, countless silver bats gathered into a wave, standing in front of the surging black fog.
The silver giant also emitted bursts of light, preventing the black fog from eroding and engulfing the building.
However, the black fog seemed endless and was still expanding. The dissipation of the silver light was like a drop in the bucket. It could only slow down its rising speed but could not completely suppress it.
"This is not a solution." Dracula said with a frown.
"I know this is not a solution..." Andros gritted his teeth and said, "But I have been deprived of half of my control over the secret realm. Now I can't even find where Helbo is."
"It's not hard to find, after all, this place is so small." Dracula's eyes moved slightly, looking into the depths of the black fog, "Herbo must be in here, we'll know once we go in and take a look."
"Wait..." Andros grabbed Dracula's arm, "You don't want to go into this black fog, do you?"
He advised: "The dark power in here is too strong. I felt it was unbearable when I touched it a little bit before, let alone actively going deeper!"
Dracula was silent for a moment, then turned his head and looked at Andros as if he were an idiot.
"What's wrong? Did I say something wrong?" Andros asked in confusion. "I know you are very strong, but the power that Helbo suddenly burst out is something I have never seen before. I suggest you don't take the risk!"
"…Have you ever thought that the reason you can't bear the black fog is because of your physical condition?" Dracula said dimly.
"There's no need to poke my wound, right?" Andros immediately looked very hurt. "I know that people like me who live with the body of a patronus are humble, but I can't help it..."
"No, you misunderstood." Dracula's mouth twitched, and he interrupted him, "I mean, have you ever thought about... I'm fighting this black fog here entirely for you. If I were alone, I wouldn't have to care about it at all."
Andros shook his head blankly.
However, the next moment, he realized what Dracula meant.
Dracula suddenly retracted his wand, and his temperament suddenly changed.
The majestic and sacred aura tainted by the patronus spell disappeared, his black and red robe fluttered without wind, and an endless and majestic dark aura surged up, seemingly no less imposing than the endless black fog below.
Andros: “…”
He silently moved a few steps to the side, avoiding the darkness that was so thick that he couldn't look directly at Dracula, and preventing his guardian body from being affected.
"Why didn't you tell me in advance that you could transform right away?" Andros looked at Dracula with disdain. "I've seen you in Patronus form so many times that I almost forgot that you're the darkest one."
"I'll go find Herbo, you hold on for a while." Dracula curled his lips and said casually, "If you feel like you can't take it anymore, just shout, I should be able to hear you."
"Alright, I'm not that weak yet." Andros waved his hand, "Go quickly and come back soon, I'll hold on here for now."
Dracula nodded slightly, leaped down from the chest of the silver giant, and disappeared into the black mist.
…
"It must be very close. The Goblet of Fire should be not far away..."
In the arena of the semi-finals, Harry held up his wand and used a directional spell to determine his direction.
The magic wand told him that he was heading in the right direction. As long as he didn't encounter any dangerous obstacles, he might have a chance to get the trophy of the semi-finals and become the final winner...
Thinking of this, Harry started running.
He ran along the road, and before long, he suddenly saw a light ahead.
The semi-final cup was standing quietly on the exquisite pedestal in an open space a hundred meters away, shining with an alluring light.
Just when Harry thought he was about to win the final victory, suddenly, a dark shadow rushed to the road in front of him from the side fork.
It was Cedric, he got there first!
He was sprinting towards the trophy at full speed. Harry estimated the distance between himself and Cedric, and then looked at Cedric's long legs, knowing that he could never catch up.
Cedric was much taller than him, with longer and better developed legs, and probably a much better physique than him.
Harry slowed down, panting, figuring he had no chance.
This seems to be a good idea, after all the championship still belongs to Hogwarts.
Just as Cedric was about to reach the open space where the Final Four Cup was located, Harry's eyes suddenly changed.
He saw a huge dark shadow outside the hedge on the left, moving quickly towards this side on the intersecting road. Cedric was about to hit it... But Cedric was staring at the trophy and didn't see it at all -
"Cedric!" Harry yelled. "Watch your left!"
Cedric turned his head sharply and saw something beside him.
He was startled and quickly moved to the side to avoid a collision with the thing.
But Cedric had been running too fast before, and the sudden change in his center of gravity caused him to fall heavily to the ground.
Harry was horrified to see an enormous spider crawling over and pressing down on Cedric.
"Stupefy!" Harry shouted, raising his wand.
The spell struck the spider's huge, black, hairy body, but it was like throwing a rock at it. The spider merely twitched, seemingly unaffected.
But at least it had some effect, because the spider's attention shifted, and its eyes moved away from Cedric, and it turned quickly and rushed towards Harry.
"Stupefy! Impedimenta! Flipendo!"
Harry panicked and cast three different spells in quick succession, bombarding the spider with them.
However, it was of no use at all - perhaps the spider was too big, or its magic was too strong for Harry's, the spell had no effect on it, and instead angered it even more.
To his horror, Harry saw eight glowing black eyes and sharp claws, and the spider was already upon him.
The spider lifted Harry into the air with its two front pincers. Harry struggled desperately and tried to kick it with his feet.
His leg touched the spider's claws, but the spider did not react. Instead, Harry immediately felt a piercing pain.
He heard Cedric casting a Stunning Charm on the spider, but his spell had no effect either—the spider opened its pincers again, and Harry raised his wand and shouted:
"Expelliarmus!"
This spell, Harry's best skill, was quite effective.
A Disarming Charm caused the spider's front pincers to release him, but this meant Harry would fall three meters from the ground.
Harry's legs couldn't bear the weight of his body, and he felt a pain and collapsed to the ground.
But there was no time to care about the pain now. Without thinking, he pointed his wand at the spider's lower abdomen and used the stunning spell again.
At the same time, Cedric shouted the same spell.
The two spells combined seemed to have an effect that neither spell had: the spider fell to one side, crushing a hedge and sprawling its long hairy legs across the ground.
"Harry, are you all right?" Harry heard Cedric shout. "It didn't fall on you?"
"No," Harry gasped.
He looked down at his legs, which were bleeding. There was some sticky substance on his torn robe, which was secreted by the spider's claws. He didn't know whether it was poisonous or not.
Harry tried to stand up, but his legs were shaking too much to support his weight, so he leaned against the hedge, gasping for breath and looking around.
"We should be safe now, right?" Harry asked weakly, closing his eyes.
However, he suddenly heard Cedric's unbelievable voice -
"Kowalski? Have you been here for a long time? Why didn't I see you pick up the trophy?"
Harry opened his eyes and looked towards the open space where the Final Four Cup was.
At this moment, John Kowalski stood in the area where the light was shining, looking at Cedric intently.
"John Kowalski?" Harry was startled.
He saw that John's expression was very wooden, and his face with a mustache no longer looked funny, but rather a little scary.
Harry felt a sense of uneasiness in his heart.
This expression seems to be very similar to the one when Krum used the Cruciatus Curse to torture Cedric...
"Expelliarmus."
As if to verify Harry's guess, the next moment, John suddenly raised his wand without Cedric noticing.
Cedric's wand flew out and was caught by John, who then threw it far away.
"Kowalski, what are you doing?!" Cedric looked at the scene in shock and asked angrily, "If you want to take the trophy, you can just take it directly. There's no need to do it with me, right?"
John still said nothing, but raised his wand again.
Harry didn't care about his leg injury at this time. He stood up with the help of the hedge, pointed his wand at John and shouted:
"Petrificus Totalus!"
John glanced towards Harry, and calmly used another spell to block Harry's full body petrification spell -
"Protego."
Harry knew that he was no match for John alone, so he quickly turned to look at Cedric.
"Cedric, go get your wand!" he shouted, "This person is definitely not John, or he is controlled by someone else... We can't just sit there and wait for death!"
Upon seeing this, Cedric quickly realized the situation and knew that this "John"'s goal was no longer to win the trophy of the semi-finals. Instead, he was more likely to cause harm to them like Krum!
However, no matter how well Cedric performed in class, he did not master advanced spellcasting abilities such as wandless casting.
Then he looked at Harry again and winked at him.
Harry nodded knowingly and pointed his wand at the one John had just tossed aside.
"Cedric's wand flies (Accio Cedrid)!"
The extensive practice of the Sling Charm before the first task was not in vain. After performing the Sling Charm, Cedric's ash wand immediately flew up and flew towards Harry.
Harry opened his hand, trying to catch the wand and throw it back to Cedric.
However, at this moment, another huge figure suddenly appeared, blocking Cedric's wand and Harry.
Harry's eyes widened as he saw another huge spider crawling over from the fork in the hedge on the right.
As for John in the open space, he took his index finger and thumb away from his mouth - he had just whistled, and it seemed that it was this whistle that made the spider hear his command.
"Oh no, he can also control magical creatures!" Harry's face turned pale.
The same went for Cedric. He watched helplessly as the huge spider crawled towards him step by step, but he could not think of any way to resist.
At the same time, John raised his wand again...
Suddenly, a light appeared!
A short red cloak fell from the sky and blocked the spider!
Harry's eyes widened as he saw a thin, even boneless hand firmly grasping the spider's front claw.
The next moment, the hand flipped over and easily knocked the spider, which was taller than a floor, to the ground, as if it was as easy as knocking over a small beetle.
Only then did Cedric and Harry have time to look at the figure that fell from the sky -
This looks like a petite girl with a very heroic look.
Her hair is half black and half white, she has a pair of red eyes, and she is wearing a short cape and a long dress that is black on the outside and red on the inside.
The person who came was Selena who arrived in time. She thought she just needed to take it easy here, and the other professors would solve the safety issues of the contestants.
However, without anyone casting the red spark, she was the only one who could hear the movement in the center of the maze.
Serena clapped her hands and spread them out in front of her chest.
A group of bats with white flames burning on their bodies fluttered out and landed on the big spider.
In the blink of an eye, the spider's huge body was burned to ashes.
"Phew - I'm awesome. I learned his secret in less than two years!" Looking at the spider's disappearing body, Selena laughed and boasted happily.
"Um... that, lady," Harry suddenly reminded, "there is still one person's problem that has not been solved. By the way, please don't treat John the same way you treat spiders..."
Harry thought for a long time but couldn't figure out which professor this was. Wasn't the security guard Professor Dracula? Why did such a young girl come here
As Harry reminded him, John raised his wand indifferently.
"Stupefy."
A red beam of light shot out and hit Selina's back heavily.
"Look out!" Harry shouted in horror.
But the next moment he shut his mouth.
Selina was hit by a stun spell, but she acted as if nothing had happened. She turned around angrily and looked at John.
"You little wizard aren't very cute!"
Harry and Cedric watched her as she flashed in front of John and slapped him on the head.
John fainted.
"Huh, now it's solved." Selena clapped her hands.
Harry swallowed secretly.
"Well, he's not dead, right?" he asked in a low voice.
"Of course. Do I look like such a violent person?" Selina asked viciously, baring her sharp teeth.
Harry and Cedric silently looked at the spider, which was completely destroyed, and shook their heads at the same time.
…
…