Lucas felt a tugging sensation in his navel and he was immediately pulled into a vortex.
This was his second time experiencing space magic, and with his magic sensitivity increased several folds, he could sense it better this time.
As they vanished from the arena, Lucas opened his eyes and saw on a space full of nothingness. But he could feel a peculiar magic in the surroundings.
Despite knowing it was not the time to curious, he couldn't helping chancing upon absorbing some.
To his surprise, he actually succeeded. The new type of absorbed magic was under his control, ready to be used within a 20-30 minute window.
And then, he was thrown out, appearing in a small, dark clearing where they could barely make out their surroundings, both of them landing perfectly on their feet, wands drawn.
The first thing Lucas felt was the coldness. His Beaubatons Champion robes were not thick enough to block this.
Then he heard sharp snaps of more people landing not far away, along with whispered conversations of the aurors nearby, which was somewhat reassuring.
Fleur wordlessly waved her wand in front of her eyes.
They started glow a faint yellow as she blinked, her head swerving to get a quick survey. She then proceeded to repeat the action for Lucas, who felt his vision suddenly brighten as a warm sensation travelled through his eyes.
He checked his surroundings. Thankfully, they weren't welcomed by Giant blood-thirty spiders right away. Still, there were cobwebs in the nearby trees, occupied by small spiders. But along with this, Lucas also saw the traces of the monitoring equipment in their surroundings, along with guiding signs.
Looking up, he saw that the area above them was covered in cobwebs blocking all sunlight, which looked pretty damn unsettling. A spider scuttled over Fleur's leg, causing her to gasp, her leg jerking furiously to get it off.
"Do we take the easy way?" Lucas asked in a whisper.
With such a long time to prepare and the help of lab ladies, they obviously had found relatively easy and risk-free ways to complete this task.
But their opponents were not simple. If Aiden and the Durmstrang Champions pulled off straight up high-level magic to bulldoze through, Lucas and Fleur's so-called 'wittyness' would only get them so far.
Not to mention the questions that will arise: If the task was supposed to be secret, how did they already know these methods? Are they professional acromantula hunters or something?
Lucas still thought it better to use it if Fleur was so scared.
Fleur drew a shaky breath and closed her eyes for 5 seconds. And then, she answered with her actions. Her wand hand started to twirl, casting several spells on them in quick succession.
Silencing
Scent Erasure
Non-stick
Surround Scent
Fire Resistance
Advance Fire Resistance
And so on. Meanwhile Lucas broke off a nearby tree stump and brought it to Fleur, who transfigured it into a metal sword.
She then cast two more spells on it. The edge of the blade grew red-hot, producing a searing sound. And with the next spell, it started to produce a low hum as a blade started to vibrate at a high frequency - quickly silenced by Fleur with another spell.
All this only took 20 seconds. Throughout this time, Lucas did not cast any magic of his own. He had limited magic which was reserved for… bigger things.
At most, he had added his own absorbed transfiguration magic to the sword, to make the blade extra sharp and sturdy.
At last, Fleur cast a perfect disillusionment charm on the both of them before closing her eyes. Suddenly, the air around them shifted and Lucas's breath no longer came out foggy. Their clothes started to flutter lightly as the air around them grew hot.
The tip of Fleur's wand lit up - and then white-hot flames started to pour out without an end, causing a commotion in the peaceful spider society.
Fleur raised her wand and the flames bent to her will, surrounding them in a protective semi-sphere.
Seeing this, Lucas smiled. Fleur was too competitive. So much so that even bringing up the easy way vanished her fear.
But then again, with such powerful magic at her disposal, she is indeed more than worthy enough to compete with them head on instead of resorting to the easy ways.
"Let's go!"
With everything set, they started to run - Straight in the direction indicated by the glowing sigils on the trees.
In the arena- -
"AND WHAT MAGIC IS THAT?! The Beauxbatons Champions are taking action! They are rushing head on into the Nest! And… What am I SEEING? All the webs are being burned off by the fire! In case anyone does not know - Fire is considered one of the weaknesses of Acromantulas! It seems like nothing can stop them!"
The audience cheered as they saw Fleur and Lucas run into the dense jungle. With fiery flames revolving around them, the webs in their way vanished into smoke, along with the unlucky smaller spiders which couldn't escape in time.
"I do NOT know what kind of magic that is, but it definitely comes under the Master class. Imagine trying to duel HER! Fleur Delacour is showing everyone exactly why she was chosen to be the Champion! On the other hand… Castillin does not seem to have used any magic AT ALL."
The size of the spiders started to get bigger, and the webs thicker, almost reaching waist length. But still, nothing changed as the Spiders still tried their best to run away.
Bagman listened to Percy Weasley, who was sitting beside him, chattering non-stop, before he continued, "Um, this is an interesting strategy by Beauxbatons. The Spiders can neither see them nor smell them, and… they're burning away the web so they can't sense their presence through webs as well! Brilliant indeed! And very bold!"
"But can they keep this up?!"
Inside the VIP seating Hermione had already stood up from her seat, anxiously watching the broadcast. "What are they doing?! What about the stealthy approach?!" She whispered harshly to Adeline, who was standing right beside - equally anxious.
"They're going straight for the nest using the fire. And this approach is faster and more showy."
"But… Isn't it much more risky this way? Why not use the easy approach we researched?"
"Because… my brother and Lestrange would also not use easy methods. It only means one thing - They're trying to win." said Adeline, frowning.
"You mean 'Fleur' wants to win?! Lucas should not have just gone along with her." said Hermione through gritted teeth.
Fleur and Lucas actually kept it right until they reached a clearing where there were no trees. And yet, the complete surroundings were filled with webs. In the depths, they barely make out a huge structure made out of pale yellow cartilage.
"MAKE IT…. STOPPP…."
Everyone in the arena felt a chill when they heard that screeching voice that sounded like multiple knife scraping at once, forming into words.
"That must be… B-Bone Queen Skraal…" said Bagman.
Thousands of eyes peered through the darkness. And then, all hell broke loose. Webs were fired at them from all sides, trying to douse the flames. At the same time, huge silhouettes emerged from the darkness.
They moved with an incredible speed. One moment, they were just a silhouette, in the next, their sizes seemed to enlarge - one of them was already bursting through the web - jumping them.
Sixteen bloodthirty eyes peered into the fire, and two mandibles that clicked continuously - sounding like dry sticks snapping in a graveyard.
Its body was made out of black shiny chitin covered in bony white armor, the size reaching that of a small car.
Fleur's fire fluttered as she suddenly jolted. And her reaction was justified, as everyone in the audience got a jumpscare as well.
"Wha–! H-HOLY MERLIN! T-THAT'S HUGE!" Bagman managed to stammer out. "FLEUR'S FIRE SEEMS TO BE ALMOST GONE! ARE THEY GOING TO FORFEIT?!"
At this moment, there was a sharp "click".
And then - the Spider's head fell off.
Lucas's figure appeared into view at the same time, standing above the flaying car-sized corpse of the spider - a red-hot blade humming at high frequency tightly clutched in a single handed grip.
"WHAT?! CASTILLIN HAS SLAIN THE ARACNID! WITH A SWORD! THAT SCENE SEEMS STRAIGHT OUT OF THE GOBLIN WARS!"
"FLEUR! NOW!" Lucas yelled at the top of his lungs.
This seemed to successfully snap the veela out of her fear as her fire blazed again, trailing a path straight through the maze of webs, right into the spider's lair.
Time seemed to slow down as Lucas entered flow state.
'What a mess,' he thought, even as all the spiders in the vicinity locked their gazes onto him. Fleur had actually froze when she heard Skraal's voice.
They were supposed to burn straight through into the Queen's nest, completely undetected but when Fleur stopped burning the way forward, it gave the spiders the opportunity to swarm them.
He had been yelling for Fleur to snap out of it, but of course, with the silencing spell on them, she couldn't hear him.
And when her fire protection completely gave out, he knew the task was over if the Arachnids got any closer.
So, he had to absorb his stealth spells and take action. Good news: Fleur has at least cleared a path, and she is still undiscovered. Bad news: He has been exposed and Fleur does not seem to be in a condition to continue.
'Fuck it, then….'
Lucas's muscles suddenly outline his robes.
"I'll just solo the rest."
Only a split second had passed in silence after Lucas exposed himself. And then, the Spiders and Lucas both acted.
He jumped off the large Acromantula's corpse and landed on the path Fleur had cleared, immediately breaking into the sprint for the cave.
Another car sized spider landed right in his path with a loud thud that he felt to his teeth, its mandibles stabbing into him.
But Lucas did not retreat, nor did he try to dodge. He was far past that point. One second of delay could cause him to be swarmed from all sides.
He channelled his magic into the sword, increasing the vibration frequency. At the same time, the muscles on his hands flexed, almost bursting his sleeves.
The blade flashed, and three of the Aracnid's legs fell off, causing it to lurch forward. Lucas footed its face and jumped, passing the monster and continuing his run.
From the cave in front of him, a massive shadow slowly emerged.
" A HUMAN!… KILLL!!!!"
…..
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