After withdrawing from the front line, Minerva McGonagall's first concern was naturally the state of the battlefield.
"It's... this bad?"
Because she had been focusing all her attention on the enemy before, it was only now that Minerva McGonagall realized how severe their losses had become in such a short time.
She had thought they could buy a little more time.
But from the look of things, they had either underestimated their opponents or overestimated their own strength.
As she drank down potions to restore her strength and heal her injuries, Minerva McGonagall observed the battlefield.
First, what entered her sight were, of course, the stone soldiers, the most numerous force on the battlefield and also the one that had suffered the heaviest losses, along with those slimy, buck-toothed ghouls.
Although they were low-level combatants, their inability to feel pain or fear made them the perfect cannon fodder.
At the very least, part of the reason they had managed to hold on until now truly had to be credited to those stone soldiers.
Next came the mid-level forces: Werewolves, Death Eaters, and Giants.
The Giants served as "tanks" and main attackers, while the Werewolves, who could not be touched even once, had practically turned into assassins. These two were probably the enemies that gave Minerva McGonagall and the others the greatest headache.
Especially those agile Werewolves.
Although they had abandoned the powerful weapons of wizards and turned directly into beasts that only knew how to tear and bite with their claws, making them slightly less threatening in one-on-one combat, once they appeared on the battlefield with companions covering them, their infectious claws and bites instead became one of the most terrifying methods on the field.
Not to mention that Minerva McGonagall's side did indeed lack enough mid-level combat power to counter these enemies.
That was the main reason they had been forced back step by step.
Fortunately, what allowed Minerva McGonagall to breathe a great sigh of relief at this moment was that the wizarding alliance led by Lucius Malfoy had perfectly filled that gap.
Their appearance had stopped the earlier decline right before the square at the gates of Hogwarts.
"Minerva!"
"...Lupin?!"
"How's the situation? Is that... Lucius?"
Just as Minerva McGonagall had recovered some of her strength, Remus Lupin arrived with the members of the Order of the Phoenix.
And the moment he was about to ask about the situation, from the corner of his eye, he saw a figure that was surprising at first, yet felt reasonable once he thought about it.
After all, young Malfoy had "disappeared" inside Hogwarts.
...
"Minerva..."
Boom, boom, boom!
Just as Lupin was about to say something else, a series of magical explosions rang in his ears, followed by the loud laughter of the Werewolf leader.
"Oh my, if it isn't little Remus. It's been such a long time."
The instant he heard that voice, Remus Lupin, who had been able to remain calm just moments ago, changed expression at once.
His features twisted, his fists clenched tight, and his eyes, glaring straight ahead, filled with bloodshot fury. "Fenrir... Greyback!"
Anger, fear, hatred.
It was hard to imagine how Remus Lupin could speak a single name with such a complicated tone.
Harry Potter, who had also appeared on this battlefield, had not yet recovered from the fierce battle unfolding before him. In the next second, he was startled by the change in Remus Lupin and the intensity of his emotions.
If he had not known that tonight was not the full moon, he would have thought that Professor Lupin was about to turn into a Werewolf right in front of him.