Staring blankly in the direction Cedric had left, after a moment, the Weasley twins were the first to explode.
"That guy just stole all the spotlight!"
"Exactly! He's the one who petted the unicorn, he's the one who rode the Hippogriff, and if we let him play the hero again, who's going to recognise our Potter?"
"Come on, let's go deflate his ego!"
Tearing the badge from their chests and throwing it on the ground, George and Fred stretched their limbs, preparing to rush into the mist and fight that monster to the death.
Behind the two brothers, Wood also tore off the badge from his chest, threw it aside, and showed a handsome smile on his face.
"If we have to let a fourth-year junior do this kind of thing, it would be too embarrassing."
With that, he also drew his wand, eager to join the Weasley twins' battle.
Watching the actions of those three housemates, a flash of determination crossed Harry's eyes.
He also placed his hand on the badge at his chest, planning to tear it off in one go.
But just then, a somewhat mocking female voice rang out in the corridor.
"What are you going to do by following him? Get yourselves killed?" Gemma crossed her arms, coldly looking at those Gryffindor blockheads who threw their badges on the ground and planned to rush over.
Did this group really not plan to use their brains before acting?
"He used an item before going to lure the Sphinx away. What items do you have? What? Planning to rely on your friendship and bonds to forcibly defeat an XXXX-class creature?"
"You've all taken Care of Magical Creatures. You should also know that the reason Sphinxes are XXXX-class isn't because they're as difficult to tame as other XXXX creatures. They're purely classified one level down due to taming difficulty!"
"Having stayed in the castle so long, your spirits are already at their limits. Going over now, besides adding two more dishes for the Sphinx, what else can you do?"
"You!"
The already explosive George and Fred immediately drew their wands upon hearing this, preparing to give this damned Slytherin woman some colour to see.
"What? Want to fight?" Gemma also drew her wand, her expression looking very cold.
"Stop arguing. This is the opportunity Cedric fought for us." Percy somewhat headached as he stopped the impending battle, looking toward the direction Cedric had left.
The roaring sounds from there were getting farther and farther away. Cedric's luring was very effective. Now, the staircase leading to the first-floor corridor should already be clear.
"We should go to the Great Hall."
"Ah..."
The Great Hall doors were slowly pushed open as nine young wizards entered the Great Hall, then looked together toward the centre.
The mist covering the Great Hall limited visibility, but in the centre of the Great Hall, a platform emitting a hazy glow was not obscured by the white fog and could be seen clearly from far away.
Walking to the front of the platform and looking at the centre, there were ten slots carved there. The size and style of the slots were very similar to their badges.
"These slots should be for us to place our badges?" Even as she spoke, Gemma was the first to remove the badge from her chest, pressing it into one of the slots.
Silver-white light shone, and this light was getting brighter and brighter as the other young wizards placed their badges in.
Until Harry stuffed the last two badges into the slots, accompanied by a soft click, the badges burst with dazzling light, projecting a huge portrait in mid-air.
In that portrait, dozens of magical creatures were arranged in a row from left to right. They stood or sat in different poses, but all were incredibly lifelike.
The appearance of those magical creatures was very familiar to the young wizards, because they were all the illustrations from "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them".
But before they could carefully observe the details, the huge image quietly shattered, turning into countless fragments scattered on the ground, emitting a faint fluorescence in the white mist.
"So the final challenge is a jigsaw puzzle?"
Looking at the puzzle pieces scattered all over the ground, Wood asked in confusion.
Percy nodded. "Should be, but with so many pieces, it would take at least ten minutes to put them together."
"Let's start putting it together quickly; try to finish before our spirits are completely exhausted." With that, Gemma crouched down, starting to identify the puzzle pieces scattered on the ground.
But just then, a voice very familiar to everyone rang out from nowhere.
"Piertotum Locomotor."
As the words fell, the sounds of heavy objects hitting the ground rang out one after another in the young wizards' ears. The Great Hall floor began to shake, the trembling constantly intensifying. At the same time, the sounds of swinging chains and scraping armour also reached their ears.
"What's... what's happening?"
Hearing the commotion around them, Penelope nervously looked around. But the mist was still blocking their vision, preventing them from seeing anything.
"Piertotum Locomotor... I think I've heard of this spell." Percy frowned deeply, searching his mind for information about this spell, but couldn't quite remember for the moment.
Without hesitation, Harry directly pulled out the inferior Philosopher's Stone from his pocket and crushed it hard.
The dark red gem quietly shattered, turning to powder that flowed from Harry's palm to the ground. The next second, an invisible wind spread outward in all directions with Harry as the centre. Wherever it reached, all the mist disappeared. In just moments, Hogwarts' Great Hall reappeared in the young wizards' sight.
And now they finally saw the culprits behind all that shaking and strange sounds.
Suits of armour gleaming with metallic lustre had somehow fallen from the walls or ceiling. They gripped weapons in their hands, advancing slowly, each step causing violent tremors.
At the Great Hall entrance, the gleam of armour kept flashing, as if all the armour in the entire castle had come alive at this moment, rushing toward the Great Hall.
Looking at those continuously advancing suits of armour, Percy swallowed, tension beginning to surge in his heart.
Although there were only about thirty suits of armour in the Great Hall now, countless more were pouring in through the entrance.
This number would be very troublesome to deal with.
However, after Harry crushed the Philosopher's Stone, without the erosion of the white mist, their spirits also began to gradually recover.
Plus, those suits of armour moved very slowly. It wasn't completely impossible to fight.
Confirming this point, Percy forcibly suppressed the tension in his heart and spoke softly.
"Harry, you and Ron work on the puzzle. Leave these things to us!"
While Percy was giving commands, Wood had already drawn his wand.
"Expelliarmus!"
A dark red spell flew toward the nearest knight, knocking the lance from its hands and sending it flying to crash in a nearby open space.
Shaking his fist, Wood's face showed a trace of excitement.
"After solving puzzles for so long, it's finally time for what I'm best at!"