The second round took place at the Black Lake.
The Ministry had built a massive crescent-shaped viewing stand beside the water. Countless Hogwarts students sat as spectators, along with some parents and Ministry officials. In front of this large stand was a judges' platform and a diving platform where the contestants would enter the water.
The three champions walked onto the diving platform, each wearing specially made tight-fitting shirts and shorts. Their wands were stored in holsters strapped to their right thighs, while their left thighs had small square leather pouches containing potions or alchemical items.
The crowd erupted in cheers.
Especially for Sean. Most spectators were Hogwarts students and British wizards, so they naturally supported their own champion.
Fleur took out her alchemical items and put them on her face and back. Breathing apparatus and propulsion devices she'd created under Madame Maxime's guidance. Simple stuff, but it just needed to work during the competition.
She glanced at Sean. They nodded to each other, then looked toward the Black Lake, waiting for the competition to officially begin.
Sean took out his prepared potion from his left pouch. It'd allow him to move freely underwater.
"Contestants prepare! First to enter the water is Hogwarts champion Sean Bulstrode. Five minutes later, Durmstrang champion Viktor Krum will enter. Seven minutes later, Beauxbatons champion Fleur Delacour will enter. Take your positions. Champion, enter the water!"
Hearing Ludo Bagman's words, Sean immediately drank the potion in his hand and jumped into the water.
The icy lake water hit him like a slap. His mind went blank for a moment. At the same time, he felt his body tingling all over. He reached up to scratch, only to discover somehow his body surface had grown a layer of very fine, almost invisible scales, while his feet had become flat and webbed together like a fish tail.
Gurgle gurgle gurgle...
Large amounts of bubbles emerged from both sides of his neck.
Sean reached up to touch and found gills had grown on both sides of his cheeks, while his hands had also developed webbing. Just then, he felt his back clothing seem to tear open. Looking back, he discovered three large fins had grown on his back. With slight movement, his body propelled forward, swimming a great distance.
Not bad. The effort spent researching hadn't been wasted.
With the transformation complete, Sean didn't delay. His back fins moved again, his hands and feet controlled direction, and like an arrow wrapped in white water currents, he shot forward.
The potion brought more than surface changes. His senses transformed too.
Underwater vision and hearing went without saying. During his forward swimming, Sean even felt he possessed quite a keen underwater smell.
Following the clues from the golden egg, Sean continuously dived deeper.
Finally, he encountered the first obstacle. A place hiding large numbers of Grindylows!
The Ministry rated Grindylows two-star, but that was for shallow water or surface conditions. In deep water, their danger level rose dramatically to three-star.
Grindylows were deformed aquatic magical creatures. They had fish-like heads similar to merpeople, with four short horns total on the left and right sides of their foreheads. Grindylows had long, powerful fingers that were very brittle and easily broken off. Their lower bodies had eight octopus-like tentacles that could entangle enemies or prey.
These creatures were highly aggressive. One or two weren't much, but in large numbers they became very dangerous.
As soon as Sean entered the dense underwater plants, he felt many things approaching him.
Without hesitation, Sean immediately drew his wand and waved it at the water plants around him.
A massive water current instantly formed, rolling outward around Sean and directly sweeping away the water plants and Grindylows hiding within them.
He had no intention of continuing to tangle with these creatures. Moreover, if Sean chose to completely eliminate the Grindylows here, that'd be clearing the path for those behind him. He'd never been a saint who sacrificed himself for others.
Bang!
His powerful physique brought amazing underwater speed. The position where Sean had just been seemed to explode with water, making a banging sound as his entire body shot forward. Several Grindylows tried to intercept him midway, but he directly knocked them aside, smashing them bloodily against the lake bottom.
With such speed, the Grindylows naturally didn't dare approach again. They could only watch helplessly as Sean left.
Before long, the Grindylows felt water currents ahead. A creature with a shark head, half-shark and half-human, rapidly approached. This was Krum, who'd also discovered traces of Grindylows, so he charged through recklessly, his head full of sharp teeth being his best weapon. The Grindylows had thought they could vent their anger but still ended up taking a beating from Krum.
This meant when Fleur arrived, she encountered very few Grindylows trying to block and cause trouble. Even those that did come out to bother her were somewhat injured, so she easily dealt with the remaining Grindylows and continued deeper into the Black Lake.
The Black Lake's depth was extremely surprising. Sean felt he'd already reached an amazing depth, yet there was still only endless lake water. He still hadn't reached the abyss mentioned in the golden egg clues!
The golden egg clues mentioned a place called the abyss. There stood a mermaid temple guarded by large numbers of merpeople and mermen, and the treasures that the three champions needed to find were inside the temple.
As Sean went deeper, he discovered he was being stalked.
This time it was three Kelpies. The Ministry rated these magical creatures four-star dangerous. Kelpies could change into any shape, but most commonly used their horse form with broad-leaved cattail grass as manes. They ate humans, but not human organs, so after attacking humans they often left behind bones and organs.
At this moment, these three Kelpies were approaching Sean in horse form, their blood-red eyes filled with desire for flesh and blood!