At the corner of the dark passage, the shadows of several people were elongated by the torchlight, swaying with the flickering flames, like ghosts trying to grasp something.
"Vid Gray dared to challenge all of us, he must have set up traps behind. We can't let him lead us by the nose."
Ganesh said calmly: "We must be careful of him or his Poppet ambushing us."
Zahid said: "I know a Spell - Flame Shield. As long as we block with the Fire Shield in front, Gray's Poppet won't be able to break through!"
"Fire Shield?" Natasha's brows twitched as she looked at Zahid with suspicion and asked, "What kind of Fire Shield?"
Outside the Flow Mirror, although the students were full of expectation, many headmasters instantly straightened their bodies, their eyes burning as they watched the screen showing Zahid's curly-haired figure.
Wizards who had experienced war still remembered that Grindelwald had a Spell called "Fire Shield Protection," which was extremely powerful and could instantly burn opponents to ashes, almost becoming his signature move.
Headmaster Adesso glanced at Dumbledore, saw he had no intention of speaking, and proactively asked: "Professor Usha, is that child related to the Witch Pure Party?"
Professor Usha of Akadim slightly frowned, shook her head under the scrutiny of others, and said: "No, they probably aren't... Akadim doesn't have that Spell either, it's estimated Zahid's parents or elders taught him."
Zahid, who was being watched by everyone, had no awareness of being the focus of attention, he scratched his head in confusion and said: "That's the Spell!"
He pointed his Magic Wand towards the front of the passage and clearly said: "Flame Shield!"
"Boom—"
A golden-red flame spurted from the tip of his Magic Wand, spreading out abruptly three or four feet away, spreading into a circular Shield, flames at the edge burning fiercely, occasionally splattering and scorching some of the vine markings on the ground.
Natasha breathed a sigh of relief, secretly relaxed her grip on her Magic Wand slightly, and said: "So this is the Fire Shield."
Zahid dissipated the Magic, exhaled and said: "Save it for critical moments, I can't maintain this Shield for long."
"Actually, I have an idea." Ganesh pointed to the vines on the surrounding walls and said, "Why can't we use these vines to make Shields? Ignite them and not only can we burn Vid Gray's Poppet but also prevent his Magic Spell ambush."
Everyone's eyes lit up simultaneously.
To become Champions of their schools, regardless of whether they excelled in other courses or not, they were at least proficient in Magic Spells, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Several of them worked together, quickly making several Shields large enough to completely defend around them. They used Levioso to suspend them and ignited flames, abruptly raising the temperature around them, and their anxious hearts settled down again.
As they stopped to make the Shields, Harry had already quietly caught up. He heard the "crackling" of burning vines and the voices of several people, cautiously stopped, and stood in the distance peeking secretly.
A very small sand rat had already scampered behind Harry, equally stealthily hiding under several leaves, only exposing its shiny black eyes.
Neither Abby nor the others noticed Harry, nor did Harry see the sand rat two feet away.
As the four walked forward, the man and the rat carefully followed. Some blue birds scattered inside the passage flew back and forth; all knew these were equipment shot by the Flow Mirror and treated them as if they didn't exist.
"Maintain formation, don't rush!"
Abby whispered, gritting her teeth, advancing with her companions back-to-back.
Flame Shield was slowly rotating around them, forming a dense barrier that roasted the damp and cold underground passage to a sweltering heat wave.
"There's a Chamber of Secret ahead!" Olga, who was walking ahead, said: "Be alert, Vid Gray might be inside."
"Leave the Shield to us!" Ganesh said: "Olga, Zahid, Abby, get ready to cast Magic!"
How to gain an advantage the moment they meet, at least withstand the first wave of traps, has long been discussed.
As long as they break the advantage of the Poppet group's attack and have the chance to confront Vid Gray face-to-face in battle, none of them think they will lose to a fourteen-year-old boy.
Ganesh, Samuel, and Natasha, each controlled two Shields to prevent Poppet's ambush; the other three tightly held their Magic Wands, not even planning to utter Spells, ready to throw out their most familiar Spells the instant they saw Vid.
As they were about to step into the Chamber of Secret, the sand rat following stealthily suddenly froze all over, looked up, and gazed at the dark ceiling of the passage.
"Shasha shasha shasha..."
Fragmented sounds came from above, Samuel's ears twitched, and a sense of unease surged in his heart.
He looked at Abby and asked: "Did you hear something—"
At that moment, countless Scorpion Puppets poured down like a black rain, clearly weeds and vines formed their bodies, their shells bizarrely glinting with a metallic sheen in the firelight.
Zahid's pupils shrank instantly, he wildly pointed his Magic Wand upward and shouted: "Flame Shield!"
Flames sprayed out, forming a Shield above them, but the next second, countless Puppets engulfed in flames passed through the barrier, directly falling on them!
Although ignited, the flames' temperature wasn't high enough to instantly burn the Puppets to ashes. Moreover, the Poppet's body wasn't entirely made of plants.
The flames instead enhanced the Poppet's attack power, Zahid, due to being tall, was the first to have a Puppet land on his head, his black curls instantly ablaze, making him scream miserably, frantically trying to swat away the Scorpion Puppets.
The Flame Shield disappeared immediately, more Puppets fell with a crackling sound, clawing and lunging at them.
"Protego—"
Abby's Spell was not completed when several Scorpions fell on her simultaneously; their stingers pierced her skin, waves of paralysis swept over her body.
She staggered, knelt down, and her vision began to blur.
She saw the Scorpion Puppets fearlessly tread over the burning vine Shield, rushing unrelentingly toward the still-resisting Champions;
She saw Samuel trying hard to repel the Puppet before him, but four or five Scorpions were already crawling on his back; Natasha's Magic Wand got snatched by the puppets; Ganesh seemed just as paralyzed; Zahid was the most unfortunate, when he fell his body was still on fire, several Scorpion Puppets even jumped on to help him extinguish the fire.
Olga was exceptionally decisive, using both hands to shield his face, roaring and sprinting madly toward the Chamber of Secret, all Puppets trying to block him were knocked away or crushed underfoot, even when his robe caught fire, he didn't stop.
When a glimmer of hope lit up in Abby's eyes, she saw Olga just charged into the Chamber of Secret, but an iron chain flew from nowhere and wrapped around his ankle, followed closely by a pitch-breaking scream, that red-haired Wizard was hoisted upside down.
"Pop!"
A Magic Wand fell to the ground, rolled twice, and stopped, then was picked up by a passing Scorpion Puppets.
Abby: "..."
She should be in despair, yet perhaps because Olga's last scream sounded very much like a little girl who suddenly saw a cockroach, she kind of wanted to laugh instead.
"Luckily...we let Hope leave with the Golden Egg..."
As this thought flashed through her mind, darkness completely engulfed her.