In an instant, Avada felt an unprecedented amount of pressure.
Right now, only a barrier and a stretch of ground that, for a dragon, could probably be crossed with ease separated him from that giant beast wrapped in a heap of outrageous rules. Around him were spectator stands laid out like a stadium, where hundreds, perhaps thousands, of faces gazed down at him with all manner of emotions in their eyes...
At the far end of the arena, the castle-sized and terrifying Ukrainian Ironbelly crouched there idly. Perhaps because of the chains on its wings, it was in a particularly foul mood. Its vicious vertical pupils were fixed tightly on Avada standing opposite it, while its nearly ten-meter-long tail lashed violently back and forth, the fierce wind it stirred flattening a huge patch of grass behind it in neat rows...
"Are you ready?"
The professor beside him watched as Avada, with somewhat pale hands, fastened the cloak's clasps one by one, then gave his wand a hard flick out from his sleeve before asking the question.
"...I'm ready."
Cold air filled Avada's lungs, then quickly spread up to his head, helping him calm every last emotion and stray thought. Since it had already been temporarily confirmed that this stage held no additional hidden danger, then what he needed to do now was unleash two hundred percent of his strength and intelligence, and do everything he could to clear this monstrous challenge!
And there was one more thing he could not stop worrying about—the rules stated that the golden egg would play a crucial role in the third task.
And according to his predictions, the point when the pure-blood families' painstakingly laid schemes would fully erupt was very likely to coincide with the third task. It was even possible that the third task itself was part of the trap. Since they were already seriously planning to kill Dumbledore, then what reason was there not to make use of ready-made hostages like the champions, or ready-made tools for draining strength and attention like the tournament tasks?
So even if only for the sake of breaking the pure-blood families' plot, he had to obtain a one-hundred-percent-complete golden egg, then pry out every secret and every use hidden within it, securing as much initiative as possible!
"Then please pass through the barrier and enter the arena."
Seeing Avada's composed expression, the professor nodded lightly, then pointed to the barrier in front of him, which had now become passable. "The match will officially begin the moment you are fully inside."
"Mm."
Avada answered, gripped his wand tightly, and stepped through the barrier without the slightest hesitation. The moment he did, he immediately sensed the structure of the barrier behind him strengthening at once—he and the enormous dragon had now been imprisoned together within it.
"ROAR!—"
In the very next second, a terrifying roar exploded in the distance. Earlier, the "provoke dragons" curse on the cloak had been blocked by the barrier, but the instant Avada crossed through, it began to take effect. The muscles in the Ukrainian Ironbelly's limbs visibly swelled, easily propping up its colossal body over twenty meters long and possibly weighing more than a hundred tons. Countless sparks surged from deep within its roaring maw, and the waves of heat that followed even twisted the air itself...
"...Let's begin."
Avada tilted his head, making his neck crack loudly, and met the dragon's savage vertical pupils without the slightest fear. Spell after spell meant to enhance himself began to pour from his slightly lowered wand, and reassuring waves of strength rapidly spread through his entire body.
Then, almost in the very next second, he felt the ground beneath his feet begin to shake distinctly.
That hundred-ton beast had already started moving, charging straight toward him on all fours. Even from dozens of meters away, he could vaguely feel a wave of foul-smelling wind pressure rushing toward him...
"Impedimenta!"
A Banishing Jinx? No—an Impediment Jinx imbued with more than ninety percent of Avada's mental strength slammed heavily into the dragon's front left leg as it charged. In an instant, it ruined the beast's heavy and fragile balance, causing the Ironbelly to crash sideways to the ground with an earth-shaking roar. Outside the barrier, the spectator stands immediately erupted. The barrier blocked out the sound from outside, but Avada knew that strike had probably won him quite a bit of applause...
'Not that it does me much good.'
He shot a quick glance at the golden egg floating high in the air. Then, before the dragon could get back up, he rapidly flicked his wand. First he cast a Bubble-Head Charm on himself, and then he conjured a thick swath of white fog laced with an irritating smell, blanketing the area where the dragon stood. He himself also hid within the mist.
He needed to buy time.
Everything in the arena had now been magically reinforced, so his favorite tunneling style, as well as Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration trick for dealing with the basilisk, were both useless here. The Disillusionment Charm was also inconvenient to use publicly. So the only thing he could do for now was create some temporary obstacles to stall the enraged dragon, while probing the things most important to him in the first stage—the stone pillars, and the dragon's breath.
How tall and wide were those pillars? Did they differ in appearance? Could they be influenced by his own magic? How many could appear at once? What exactly did the light signals look like? And how, precisely, could he guide the dragon into breathing fire instead of simply pouncing on him...
Clarifying those questions was the true key to fully winning this match.
What he did not know, however, was that the outside was even noisier than he had imagined...
"A brilliant opening blow!"
"Ludo Bagman," acting as commentator, was red-faced with excitement. He swung his arms wildly as he shouted himself hoarse, because if he did not, the already deafening spectator stands would drown him out completely. "Did you see that? Mr. Ken directly knocked down a hundred-ton Ironbelly with his own power! And it's wearing armor! It seems Mr. Ken's personal strength, not just his intelligence, is far beyond the ordinary!"
"What will he do next? Look—he doesn't seem to intend to press the advantage. Instead, he's summoned a cloud of fog and thrown the dragon into confusion. There's no need to worry, everyone—our barrier has a visibility-clearing function, so you can still clearly see what's happening inside the fog... Oh, and the fog seems to have some kind of smell to it. You can see the dragon coughing. No wonder Mr. Ken cast a Bubble-Head Charm on himself..."
"The Ironbelly is starting to breathe fire! Merlin's beard, worthy indeed of the largest dragon of them all—how far did those flames reach? Eighty feet? A hundred?"
Just as "Bagman" had said, the Ironbelly's fire had a terrifying range. After all, the dragon itself was sixty feet long. And naturally, such a massive stream of flame swept over the area where Avada stood as well—and was, of course, blocked in time by his Shield Charm...
"What powerful fire..."
Feeling the pressure transmitted through the Shield Charm, Avada could not help knitting his brows. "Still, at least I finally baited out its breath attack... What's the main trigger? The irritating smell? Or does losing sight of the target make dragons default to indiscriminate attacks? I need to test all of this before any charging pillars appear... Hm?"
Suddenly, his magical perception picked up a disturbance underground.
That made him shift his gaze slightly in that direction, and then he saw a circular glow lighting up there—about a meter across.
Green.
(End of Chapter)