As time passed, the Irish team's morale continued to deteriorate.
They had discovered that whenever Lewis spotted the Golden Snitch, one of their Beaters would always fly over and join Lynch in stopping him.
They had originally hoped to rely on scoring goals to win.
But against the two new members of the England team, their traditional advantage had instead become a disadvantage, and the gap in points continued to grow.
When they turned their hopes toward catching the Golden Snitch, they discovered that England's Seeker, Bryce Parkin, was performing exceptionally well today.
The frequency with which she detected the Golden Snitch secretly shocked the Irish players.
They had already given up on overtaking England through ordinary goals.
All they could hope for now was to hold their opponents back and reduce the deficit, then turn the game around by catching the Golden Snitch.
However, every time the Golden Snitch was spotted, it was England who found it first.
Faced with such an opportunity, the Irish players had no choice but to give chase, which in turn gave England another chance to score.
And so, the gap between the two teams continued to widen.
At present, England was leading Ireland by ninety points.
At this rate, England would soon be able to push the difference beyond one hundred and sixty points.
"We're about to break a hundred!"
Ireland's Troy looked at his sweat-soaked teammates, calculating silently.
They could not let England score again.
As the de facto away team, they had been under enormous pressure the entire match.
Once the point difference reached three digits, their morale could very well collapse completely.
Gradually, Troy's gaze hardened, an unyielding flame flickering in his eyes.
He gripped the Quaffle tightly and charged toward England's goal at the fastest speed he had managed since the match began, moving like a gust of wind.
England's Beaters, Dawn and Indira, gave everything they had, viciously striking Bludgers toward Troy in an attempt to stop his advance.
"Troy—oh, my goodness!"
Bagman's voice thundered through the stadium, filled with alarm.
With an unstoppable, fearless momentum, Troy swung his bat and struck the Quaffle at an extremely tricky angle.
He had made up his mind.
Even if he suffered a minor injury, he would score these crucial ten points for Ireland and ignite the passion and fighting spirit of the entire team.
"Beautiful shot—Goo—what a shame!"
Bagman shouted himself hoarse, thinking that the shot was certain to score.
But then Lewis Green suddenly cut in from the side.
It was as though he had predicted the trajectory of the ball.
He crossed paths with the Quaffle and kicked it away into the distance.
Shirella quickly followed.
Once again, it was a one-on-one attack after a long-pass fast break.
"Shirella is one-on-one with the goalkeeper again! Not only has Troy's desperate attempt failed, but he's going to crash into the ground as well!" Bagman cried out.
Tens of thousands of wizards held their breath, watching two completely different scenes unfold at opposite ends of the pitch.
Dawn's strike had been extremely powerful.
It had also struck Troy directly in the back of the head.
The dazed Troy was knocked from his broom and began falling diagonally downward, headfirst.
At the very last moment before hitting the ground, Troy successfully twisted his body around and protected his head before crashing heavily into the ground.
That was the sound of Troy hitting the ground.
At the same time—
A whistle sounded after Shirella scored.
At opposite ends of the stadium, two completely different fates were unfolding before the eyes of everyone present.
The spectators rose from their seats.
Cheers erupted from the England supporters' section, while cries of despair came from the Irish stands.
"Match suspended!"
Mr. Bagman shouted loudly.
The highly trained healers on the sidelines rushed onto the pitch and quickly examined Troy's injuries.
Dawn pulled off her goggles and looked at Troy's right leg in horror.
His right leg was twisted into a bizarre and unnatural position.
She had never expected Troy to risk being struck just to score those ten points.
"He'll be fine. They'll heal him," Lewis said as he flew over to the witch.
"I know. I've been through quite a few situations like this myself. Even if I knew this would be the result, I would still have struck the Bludger."
Dawn looked at Lewis and spoke with a firm expression.
Because the safety personnel on the sidelines had promptly used a cushioning spell on Troy during his fall, his injuries were not particularly serious.
After emergency treatment, he successfully returned to the pitch.
But that did not mean the injury had no effect on him.
In fact, even the least knowledgeable spectator could see that Troy was in significantly worse condition after returning to the game.
But his sacrifice was not without reward.
Although one of Ireland's key figures had been badly injured, their subsequent attacks became even more ferocious.
They were like a wounded wolf.
But Lewis was not afraid.
Under his command, England responded calmly.
After introducing his tactics into the national team, he had already effectively sidelined captain Avery and become the team's actual tactical commander.
Facing this kind of Ireland, Lewis chose to avoid their sharpest attacks.
He ordered the players to compress their formation and play zonal defense and flexible defense within their own half.
Another tense and fiercely contested ten minutes passed.
Ireland finally scored two more goals.
But England also scored once through their long-pass fast-break counterattacking strategy.
Ireland's wave of attacks had been contained.
Their frenzied offensive could not last forever.
And everyone could see that once they could no longer maintain their assault, England would launch a full-scale counterattack.
Another ten minutes passed.
The England supporters began cheering wildly.
Just as expected, once Ireland's offensive momentum finally ran out, Lewis led England in a counterattack.
England was now leading by one hundred and thirty points.
Victory was within reach.
The ferocity of the match had reached a level none of the spectators had ever witnessed before.
Both teams' Beaters showed absolutely no mercy.
Dawn and Connolly in particular were practically fighting like madmen, swinging their bats and attacking opposing players from every possible angle.
Dawn was especially fierce.
As a witch, she did not have a particularly powerful build.
But at this moment, she was like a crazed tigress.
Swinging her bat, she charged straight toward Moran, who was carrying the Quaffle, successfully stopping her advance.
Moran glared at Dawn resentfully.
But Dawn paid her no attention, deliberately presenting the back of her head to Moran before hurriedly flying away to escort Shirella.
The next moment, Shirella successfully stole the Quaffle.
She seized the opportunity without hesitation.
She completely ignored the Bludger flying toward her.
With Dawn there, she had nothing to worry about.
The two of them were not going to collide, after all.
All she had to do was attack.
Attack.
And attack again.
Shirella successfully broke through the Irish defensive formation and unleashed a powerful shot.
Goal!
The England supporters erupted into thunderous cheers.
The stands became a sea of roses.
This successful goal dealt a heavy blow to Ireland.
They had been thoroughly beaten.
Only two goals separated them from defeat.
When the referee blew the whistle again, Ireland's Chasers immediately organized another offensive, struggling desperately like drowning men fighting for survival.
Driven by sheer determination, Ireland finally scored another goal two minutes later, bringing the deficit back to one hundred and thirty points.
They had proven that the fighting spirit of the Irish had not yet been broken.
The Irish spectators all rose to their feet, cheering and jumping as they formed a massive green wave.
Just then, Bryce Parkin received another signal from Lewis.
She suddenly shot upward.
In the eyes of the spectators, she became almost a silver phantom, darting rapidly through the sky.
The Irish Beaters went completely berserk and pursued her with all their strength.
Two Bludgers whistled through the air.
Parkin barely managed to dodge them and continued speeding toward the Golden Snitch.
Only a few meters remained!
Irish Beater Quigley summoned every ounce of strength he possessed and struck an incoming Bludger directly toward her, attempting to stop Parkin.
Just when it seemed that another attempt to end the match would fail, Lewis stepped forward.
Riding his Firebolt, he shot directly between Parkin and the Bludger.
He did not dodge.
The Bludger slammed into him head-on.
A deafening gasp erupted from the stands.
Cho Chang covered her mouth, as though she were watching herself on the pitch.
Lewis's eyebrow seemed to have been smashed open, and blood streamed down his face.
But at the same time, behind him, Parkin raised her right hand high.
The Golden Snitch fluttered its wings weakly, struggling helplessly in the palm of England's Seeker.
"She's caught it—Parkin has caught it!
"Lewis Green has once again played a crucial role! He isn't merely the team's ace scorer; he's also the Seeker's protector!
"The match is over!
"England has won!"
Ludo Bagman shouted at the top of his lungs.
After taking a massive lead over Ireland, England had also secured the Golden Snitch first, bringing the match to an end.
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