He examined it carefully. It wasn't a construct, just an ordinary suit of armor.
"That boy… did he steal this from the castle? Does Dumbledore know you're doing this?" Grindelwald chuckled, shifting his gaze away from the armor and continuing forward.
As his attention moved on, he failed to notice the faint red filaments that slipped out from the gaps in the armor before retracting again…
As he walked on, he realized the space had turned into a corridor.
Along the sides stood more than a dozen suits of armor like the first, and as he went deeper, plants began to appear beside them.
They looked like ordinary flowers and greenery, nothing like the dangerous Devil's Snare.
After about five minutes, he still hadn't reached the end.
The further he went, the stranger it felt. Why would Wade build such a long corridor inside a tent?
"Something's not right." Grindelwald immediately turned around and headed back.
But to his surprise, behind him was a solid stone wall.
"Well done, boy. Quite the trick," he said in approval.
He raised his wand, and an invisible ripple of magic spread outward from him.
A smile appeared on his lips. "I see."
Then, with confidence, he strode straight toward the wall.
Just as he was about to collide with it, his body passed right through.
When he emerged, he found himself in a familiar place once again.
The beginning of the corridor.
Grindelwald stared at the same suit of armor on his left, recognition flashing in his eyes.
"So it sent me back again? Excellent. A maze like this is perfect for a trial," Grindelwald said with satisfaction.
If even he could get lost, those students would have no chance.
At the moment, Wade hadn't placed any dark creatures or other hazards inside. Once those were added, the difficulty of this maze would increase significantly.
Since this corridor was a dead end that created the illusion of an endless loop, he decided to try another path.
With that in mind, Grindelwald turned to the left.
Sure enough, as he approached, another corridor appeared on that side.
"Not bad… the maze is good, though the difficulty is quite high. It would be more suitable for sixth or seventh-year trials…"
Grindelwald stroked his chin thoughtfully.
Suddenly, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.
"Danger!"
This was the instinct he had honed through years of battle.
Without time to think, Grindelwald bent sharply to dodge.
A longsword swept past his back and struck the wall with a heavy clang.
His Shield Charm activated instantly.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The moment the shield formed, it was struck several times in rapid succession.
Only then did Grindelwald realize that the suit of armor that had been standing quietly against the wall in the other corridor was now attacking him relentlessly with its sword.
"How is this possible? It was just a suit of armor. And there was no trace of magic at all!" Grindelwald was utterly perplexed.
Some of the armor in Hogwarts could move, and a few could even hum tunes.
That was because they carried certain enchantments.
But these suits of armor… Grindelwald had already checked them. There wasn't the slightest trace of magic on them.
He was certain he hadn't misjudged. Otherwise, he wouldn't have carelessly exposed his back to them.
Of course, Grindelwald was no ordinary wizard.
Swish, swish, swish!
Several spells flashed out, and the suits of armor were instantly blasted apart, their pieces scattering across the ground with a clatter.
Just as he was about to turn and leave, the corner of his eye caught something strange. From within the scattered armor pieces, countless fine red threads were extending outward.
These threads connected the fragments together…
And with a series of clinks and rattles, the armor reassembled itself.
"Oh? Now this is interesting." Grindelwald watched with curiosity, making no move to interrupt.
Clearly, these red threads were the reason the armor could move.
"What kind of magic is this? Why can't I detect it?" His curiosity deepened.
He blasted the armor apart again.
After breaking it down, he followed up with a freezing spell.
The spell proved effective. The armor, which had begun to reassemble, was completely frozen in place.
In truth, if he weren't concerned about damaging Wade's intriguing creations, Grindelwald would have simply burned them all to ashes.
It had to be said that these armor-like constructs, while unable to threaten a wizard like him, could still cause plenty of trouble for students.
"Good. At least those Galleons weren't wasted," Grindelwald muttered.
He stepped closer to the fallen armor and began examining the red threads.
After a moment, he realized with surprise that the red threads were not some new form of magic, but living organisms.
"So they're using living creatures to control the armor constructs? This boy… truly a genius."
With biological control, the constructs carried almost no magical signature.
That meant many wizards would overlook them… and be caught off guard.
After a moment of admiration, Grindelwald stepped back into the corridor and continued forward, curious to see what else awaited.
"Hmm? More armor?" he said, freezing the suits along the corridor with a spell.
Just as he was about to change direction, compartments suddenly opened beside the armor.
Each one held a potted plant.
Grindelwald recognized them. They had been placed beside the armor in the previous corridor as well.
"Ha. I knew it. No way they were just ordinary plants."
The moment he finished speaking, the plants began to change.
The flowers, originally the size of teacups, rapidly expanded to fill the entire opening of the pots. Their centers split open into gaping mouths filled with sharp, barbed teeth.
In the next instant, those barbs shot toward Grindelwald like a torrential storm.
"That's all?" Grindelwald activated his Shield Charm. The barbs failed to break through his defense.
But after a while, he noticed something was wrong.
His once impenetrable shield was slowly being eroded.
"Hmm? Poison? Not bad…" Grindelwald cast another powerful freezing spell.
In an instant, the strange flowers stopped attacking.
"Hmm, it's enough to deal with students, but not someone like me… unless you put a dragon in here," Grindelwald said with a light chuckle.
The moment he finished speaking, the temperature around him suddenly surged.
He looked up in surprise and saw a massive fire dragon clinging to the corridor wall, staring at him.
"...."
"Wait… that's not right. Where did you get a dragon from?"
With a roar, blazing dragonfire poured down toward him.
Grindelwald raised his hand to block it. Even for him, a dragon's attack was not something to take lightly.
Dragons might be considered manageable threats, but their attacks were deadly. It usually took dozens of well-trained wizards to subdue an adult dragon.
He felt the pressure on his hand growing heavier and knew he had to take the initiative.
Just as he was about to unleash a powerful spell to subdue the dragon, the space around him suddenly twisted.
The dragon vanished. The darkness receded.
Grindelwald blinked, only to find himself standing inside an ordinary circular tent.
On the ground lay a suit of armor and a strange potted plant.
And Wade stood nearby, holding open a bag, drawing in a dense black mist.
"What… what exactly is going on?" Grindelwald asked in shock. "Was everything I just saw an illusion?"
"Heh~" At that moment, Wade had already collected the black mist and was tightly tying the mouth of the bag.
"It's an illusion, but not entirely…" Wade pointed at the suit of armor and the potted plant. "At the very least… those are real."
"So… what exactly happened?" Grindelwald asked seriously.
An illusion that even he couldn't see through had clearly caught his attention.
"I wonder if you've read Shakespeare's Hamlet… a thousand readers will see a thousand different Hamlets. So… if this is a trial, why can't a thousand challengers face a thousand different trials?"
Wade smiled and gestured to the bag in his hand.
"This is a mist created by combining magic extracted from a Boggart with a few additional spells. Whatever enemy you imagine encountering, it will manifest. The environment works the same way. I call it the 'Lost Mist.' However, it's still incomplete, so I haven't used it in the trials yet. For now, I'm just using it to guard the place… though I didn't expect even you to fall for it. That's quite an honor."
Grindelwald suddenly felt extremely awkward.
Thinking about how he had just been enthusiastically "clearing the trial" while Wade watched from the side…
"Goodbye!"
He turned and left immediately, as if he had made up his mind about something.
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