'Tch, that enraging curse...'
As a champion born of Veela blood and highly skilled in magic related to mental force, Fleur had naturally sensed the "enrage dragons" curse on the cloak the very moment she received it.
'Making students who haven't even graduated fight a Ukrainian Ironbelly one-on-one... what on earth are this year's organizers thinking?'
Fleur casually tied up her inconvenient long hair into a ponytail and tucked it behind the cloak, then performed a neat roll to avoid the dragon's first burst of fire. Next, she thrust her wand forward, a flash of silver glimmering in her eyes as her lips began moving in a steady chant.
"Hrrrrr..."
As she cast, the dragon—which had been just about to swing its claws forward after seeing its breath attack dodged—suddenly froze for a moment. Its gaze turned slightly unfocused as it stared at Fleur's chanting figure. Much of the savagery in its eyes faded at once, and even those fearsome vertical pupils seemed on the verge of softening...
"ROAR!"
But that state lasted only an instant.
The dragon gave its head a violent shake, scattering sparks from between its fangs. And when it lifted its head to glare at Fleur again, the fierce look had completely returned to its eyes. It seemed the dragon had realized its mind was being affected by her, so after letting out an enraged roar, it blasted another stream of dragonfire at Fleur, then kicked off violently with all four limbs and charged at her like a speeding train...
"Isn't this just directly countering me?"
Seeing that her innate magic had barely worked at all, Fleur frowned again and cast a Shield Charm to block the surging flames, then accelerated out of the way so the dragon's charge missed.
"This is troublesome. Even if I ignore controlling the dragon to charge the egg, if I still can't use my innate magic by the second stage, then that dragon will dominate the skies and wear me down. I can't be sure I'd win a contest of attrition against it..."
Just as she was thinking, a patch of green light suddenly appeared on the ground not far from her—that was the sign that a "fragile pillar" containing various items was about to rise.
...
Boom!
"A potion... Invigoration Draught? I don't need this. A Veela's mental strength far exceeds that of ordinary people..."
From then on, Fleur began weaving among the frequently appearing pillars while dealing with the dragon, gradually collecting the items hidden inside them. She had already made up her mind. Since she would eventually complete the first stage anyway, she might as well save these potentially useful tools for the drawn-out battle between herself and the dragon. After all, she had no idea what else might be hidden in those pillars. What if one of them contained some unexpected surprise?
"Red light... the charging pillar is here!"
"Over here! Over here! You stupid dragon... breathe fire! Good, good, yes... huh?!"
"You can even miss a shot like that?! Are you blind?!"
"Don't come over! Stop! Damn it... Impedimenta!"
Bang!
"It seems Miss Delacour's plan has run into a setback!"
After a disappointed sigh rose from the stands, Ludo Bagman's commentary rang out again.
"She also seems to be trying to guide the dragon's position so it breathes fire at the charging pillar, but compared to Mr. Ken earlier, she appears to have missed a few factors—the dragon only needs to shake its head slightly while breathing to make the stream of fire curve through the air and circle around obstacles. That in itself is one of the difficulties of this task... That last breath attack almost grazed the edge of the pillar!"
"The dragon has stopped breathing fire... it's charging! Straight at the charging pillar! Will it destroy it?"
"A beautiful Impediment Jinx! She successfully slowed the dragon's advance! She only needs to hold on for two more seconds and the pillar will retract—looks like Miss Delacour is about to gain some advantage... oh, no!"
"The dragon turned and lashed out at Miss Delacour with its tail! Although she dodged it, that pillar may not be able to withstand a blow like that—ah, what a pity, Miss Delacour has also lost her first pillar, and it was already retracting... Perhaps she should have added one more Full Body-Bind Curse on the dragon. I'd wager that would have delayed the tail sweep long enough for the pillar to retract safely afterward..."
"Damn it!"
The moment Fleur heard the ominous sound of something collapsing in front of her, she clenched her teeth hard in frustration. But all she could do was retreat for the moment and continue tangling with the dragon.
What followed was another round of alternating blue and green flashes, as fragile and sturdy pillars rose one after another from the ground, yet the crimson charging pillars were nowhere to be seen for a long time. The chance of those appearing was clearly much lower than that of the other two types.
"Wait... what's this?"
When the dragon smashed open yet another fragile pillar, Fleur grabbed the floating little ball of light with practiced ease. She had already curled her lips in annoyance when she saw it was yet another potion bottle, but after reading the label, she froze.
"...Dragon Breath Simulation Potion?"
"Pour the entire bottle over a charging pillar, and it will count as one dragon breath attack, completing one charge of the golden egg... There's actually something this good?"
"???"
Outside the arena, Avada stared at the text displayed on the barrier and silently produced three question marks in his mind.
There's actually something this good?
Why didn't I know about it?
I opened at least a dozen pillars earlier. How come I never got anything like that even once? So all the bad luck in the world really did decide to stick to me alone?
"At last, red light is appearing on the ground again—the second charging pillar is finally about to emerge! Can Miss Delacour seize this opportunity? Wait... why is she leading the dragon in the opposite direction?"
Even Barty on the platform was baffled by Fleur's perplexing move. Only after carefully confirming her actions did he continue his hesitant commentary.
"That's right... the opposite direction. She's not just trying to open up distance between the dragon and the pillar... Could it be that she's waiting for some other opportunity? But doesn't she have a bottle of charging potion? Why not use it now?"
"At the very least, the pillar has retracted safely, which means the opportunity is still there... Oh! Miss Delacour seems to have tripped over something? Fortunately the dragon wasn't charging in at that moment..."
"Just as expected! Look, she's begun summoning mist across the arena as well—trying to stall for time? I'm sure she's secretly preparing something... but what could possibly be more important than completing a charge? She's already lost one pillar!"
That thick mist covered the arena for nearly twenty minutes.
And during that entire stretch of time, Fleur did nothing but use the fog to keep evading the dragon's attacks. She paid no attention at all to the pillars continuing to rise from the ground. During that period, crimson charging pillars appeared several more times, and each time she merely guided the dragon away from them, making sure it would not smash into one, and then ignored them again. The sight was so uneventful that quite a few people in the audience had even started yawning.
"What is she trying to do?"
Baron asked Avada in confusion. "Is she planning to wear down the dragon's stamina? A human trying to outlast a dragon physically??"
"That shouldn't be it. Based on what I know of her, her style ought to be straightforward and aggressive—something rather like Gryffindor, really. I thought she'd go for a more direct solution."
Even Avada was puzzled, but out of respect for this fellow champion and temporary ally, he did not rush to a conclusion.
"Let's keep watching. She definitely has her own plan."
(End of Chapter)