https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-639-The-Location-of-the-Heart-of-Steel/13685836/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-641-Breaking-Free-from-the-Water/13685838/
Chapter 640: Ambush
Weed-Rich Water. The murky green algae swayed like countless serpents, forming a dark underwater forest. Tiny fish darted through the tangled fronds. Wade returned to this place at lightning speed, his eyes fixed on the pitch-black water below the aquatic vegetation. He exhaled silently.
His tail flicked. He parted the dense curtain of algae, gliding through the narrow cracks downward. The tip of his wand erupted with five or six glowing orbs, illuminating the surroundings as brightly as midday.
After descending nearly a hundred meters, the remains of several stone statues finally came into view. Most of their bodies were buried in the silt, their surfaces coated in moss and water plants—nearly impossible to recognize as what they once were.
Wade pressed on, until he was close enough to see them clearly. His initial assumption shattered. These weren’t multiple statues. They were fragments of a single, colossal figure—one that bore no resemblance to the Stone Turtle Jabari had mentioned. Instead, it reminded him of the mythical Hydra.
The monstrous entity lay buried in pale silt, its three heads and half of its arched spine exposed. Time had carved countless holes into its surface, and the scale patterns were nearly erased. Yet the serpent mouths remained open, revealing rows of jagged, needle-like fangs.
Judging by its size, if the statue had been whole, it would have required the entire Great Hall of Hogwarts to contain it.
Suppressing the urge to examine every crack and detail, Wade circled the creature, his glowing orbs casting light into the hollows and fissures of the nine-headed serpent monster.
Suddenly, his movements paused.
A short, silver-gray sword rested silently in the gap between two vertebrae. Just six inches long, it bore no trace of rust.
He swam over, extended his arm, and retrieved it. After a moment of careful inspection, he slipped it into the pouch at his waist.
Almost immediately, the pouch trembled violently, as if stuffed with a large rat.
After a few seconds, it stilled.
Wade pulled open the pouch and glanced inside—then retrieved the contents.
A disc, the short sword, and a red gemstone cylinder combined into a compass. Once assembled, it shrank to the size of a palm, easily held in one hand. The silver-white needle trembled slightly before settling on the symbol of Taurus.
At their current position, it pointed directly toward Hogwarts Castle.
Wade chuckled, tucked the compass back into his pouch, and shot upward—once back on land, this round of the Tournament would be over.
The algae parted to either side. The glowing orbs danced beside him as the shoreline came into view, even catching the faint glint of a streaming mirror reflecting light.
“Splash!”
A sharp surge of water struck from the side. Instinctively, Wade twisted sideways. His body snapped into a tight arc, and a long spear tipped with icy light barely missed his tail, leaving a shallow scratch on his scales.
His gray pupils widened instantly. His direction shifted in a flash. All surrounding sounds blurred into a distant hum, except for the attacker—clear as crystal.
It was a knight statue, long buried beneath the sea floor, its armor still draped in deep green moss. The rusted greatsword cleaved through the water toward him!
With a powerful flick of his tail, Wade surged forward, his wand raised.
“Thunder Explosion!”
The knight’s chest and head erupted in a burst of debris—but the sword only hesitated for a split second before swinging back toward him.
His tail coiled with the current, and the Merpeople moved with impossible agility, as if capable of teleporting through the water. Compared to the crushing pressure of the lake’s depths, Wade felt astonishingly light.
“Split-into-Parts Spell!”
He burst through the algae, circling behind the knight. The spell’s light struck the statue’s back, and with a thunderous crack, it split clean in two. Debris scattered. The stone sword flew loose, plummeting toward the lake bottom.
Before Wade could recover, the water around him surged violently. More stone figures closed in.
A three-headed dog lunged from the darkness, jaws wide, slamming toward him with brutal force.
A massive stone turtle surged up from below, snapping at his tail.
From above, a gargoyle dove in, claws extended, aiming to rip him apart.
At the same time, twin red beams of magic lanced through the darkness, converging on the Merpeople in the center.
In a flash, Wade flipped his wand, pointing it at himself.
“Vadiwasi!”
Instantly, he shot forward like a bullet, carving a path through the waterweed.
The three attackers were too slow. The stone turtle and the three-headed dog collided head-on, limbs shattering. One dog head tumbled through the water.
The gargoyle lagged behind. Its claw smashed the second dog head apart—but it was struck by magic in turn, its arm and wings exploding in a burst of stone.
Wade didn’t stop. He swung his wand again.
—Ink Spray Spell!
A spell commonly used when crafting feather quills, now unleashed like a squid ejecting its entire ink sac. Black liquid exploded outward, instantly turning the entire lake into a pitch-black void.
As light vanished into the darkness, a figure hidden among the algae reacted instantly. With a burst of magic, they launched themselves forward, streaking toward the shore.
Another shadow was struck by the flying dog head. He sank beneath the surface, then shot upward with desperate speed.
The third figure hesitated—then swiftly retreated, pulling distance, while waving his wand to summon several broken stone statues to his side.
Suddenly, a vortex of water surged. The figure ordered the gargoyle to intercept the threat—only for the two to collide violently.
Before she could breathe, the algae behind her twisted sharply, wrapping around her from head to leg like a serpent. Then, a violent tug ripped her wand from her grip. She watched helplessly as it was snatched away.
The remaining two statues stiffened, their movements as if rusted. The algae wrapped around them tightly, dragging them deep into the lake floor.
The one who animated the statues beneath the lake was Kitajima Tachihana, of the Magic Institute. Trapped in the algae, she peered through a crack, seeing a streak of motion speeding through the water in the darkness.
Her black hair fanned out in the lake. She looked up—and saw Adam Cagni, the Ilvermorny Champion, already nearing the surface, suddenly caught by a rope that appeared out of nowhere. He was yanked beneath the water with a violent jerk.
Then, countless strands of waterweed surged upward like hands from hell, grabbing his limbs, thighs, arms, head, neck, and abdomen.
He struggled desperately, but was dragged down, deeper and deeper—until he hung in the lake beside Kitajima Tachihana.
His wand was taken by Wade. The two stared at each other, their eyes filled with dread and helplessness.
Who would have thought? The Wade Gray, who had relied so heavily on his magic puppet in the previous tournament, could still fight so fiercely in the water against multiple ambushers.
They looked upward. Through the dappled light, Wade shot toward the shore like an arrow.
Clementine Durand was the first to escape. Drenched and gasping, she collapsed onto the shore, her wet hair clinging to her face, dripping water. She turned her head, panting, and saw Wade’s head break the surface.
She suddenly raised her thumb, grinning.
(End of Chapter)
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