The Duel Begins

Chapter 31 The Duel Begins

"Professor Baker! Professor Baker!"

At six o'clock on Sunday morning, just as dawn was breaking, Professor Baker, who had been feeling listless lately and was sound asleep, was awakened by a series of urgent knocks on the door.

"What happened?"

He rubbed his head, then quickly got up, quickly changed his pajamas into formal attire, left his bedroom, and ran to the office door to open it—the classroom's dormitory was usually located inside the office and separated from the office open to students.

As the door was pulled open, he saw a young face full of anxiety, and he immediately recognized the person as Baron Shafiq, a first-year Slytherin student who had impressed him with his outstanding performance in his class.

"What's wrong, Mr. Shafik? Don't rush, speak slowly and explain things clearly."

He spoke in a gentle tone, trying not to cause the student any additional anxiety.

"My friend Ken, he was sucked into a black crystal ball right in front of me!!" Baron's anxious voice was tinged with tears.

"What?! What exactly happened?"

"We...we discovered a secret room on the eighth floor, filled with many novel magical items...We originally just wanted to explore it, but when Ken picked up a black crystal ball, he...he..."

"He was suddenly sucked in! Like a ball of water, stretched out and then just sucked in... The crystal ball is so heavy, I can't lift it; and I can't open Professor Flitwick's door... Please, you must save Ken!"

"Take me there immediately." Fake Baker was startled by this, then solemnly ordered Baron, before running alongside him, reassuring him, "Don't worry too much. That crystal ball was probably just enchanted with a 'Seal-Stretching Charm' to suck Mr. Ken in. Real dark magic items are almost impossible to bring into Hogwarts. So your friend should be fine, just trapped..."

As they spoke, they had already rushed up the stairs and reached the eighth floor. Baron quickly ran to a section of empty wall and walked back and forth three times, and suddenly a smooth door appeared on it.

"So this is the room."

Fake Baker seemed much more relaxed: "I know this place. The things inside shouldn't be dangerous... Wait, I vaguely remember seeing you here before..."

He frowned slightly, feeling as if he had forgotten something, but he couldn't quite recall it, so he could only put it aside for the time being and focus on dealing with the situation at hand. After Baron opened the door, he followed Baron inside and immediately saw the black crystal ball placed brightly in the center of an open space.

"That's it!"

Baron looked terrified and instinctively hid behind the fake Baker.

Fake Baker stared at the smooth, deep black crystal ball for a moment, feeling a strange sense of familiarity. But he ignored these inexplicable feelings and walked straight forward, taking out his wand to examine the crystal ball carefully.

"It seems to be a prophetic crystal ball, made of an incredibly sturdy material..."

"No, I can't see through it. I can't tell if there's any seamless expansion space inside just by looking at it like this..."

He took a few more steps forward, crouched down, and touched the crystal ball directly with the tip of his wand. But just as he was about to cast a further examination spell, a sudden wave of weakness erupted from within him, engulfing his entire body and making it difficult for him even to stand up…

"poison?!"

Fake Baker turned around in surprise, trying to look at Baron, but before he could do so, he heard a loud shout from behind: "Expelliarmus!"

Years of accumulated combat experience were immediately unleashed. Fake Baker forced out a sliver of strength, leaping up like a locust to dodge the disarming spell. As he did so, he turned around in mid-air and saw Baron holding his wand, pointing it at him with a grave expression.

"Mr. Shafik! What are you doing...?"

Suddenly, a burst of red light erupted from just a few meters away from him, striking his body hard and knocking him backward. At the same time, the magic wand in his hand flew out of his hand and mysteriously disappeared into thin air!

"There's one more person?!"

Fake Baker flicked his right hand, and another wand slid out of his sleeve and was held in his hand. He then waved it forcefully, about to summon a large area of ​​flames to force out the invisible enemy, but suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head, followed by a strong feeling of fatigue that almost made him faint on the spot!

"A curse! Targeting mental power! On the ground!"

Not far away, Avada Kedavra, afflicted with the Disillusionment Charm and having just put away the disarmed wand, was intently observing the fake Beck's reaction, while Professor Beck's voice flashed through her memory:

[As first-year wizards, the biggest difference between you and an Auror, besides the quantity and skill of your spells, lies in your physical and mental strength. A fully-fledged Auror, with abundant stamina and high mental energy, can easily exhaust you without attacking, focusing solely on defense. Therefore, the first thing to do to defeat my fragment is to weaken its physical and mental strength.]

[Poison and curses are undoubtedly the best options. As long as you take the antidote beforehand and cast a counter-curse on yourselves, they won't have any effect on you. However, there's a drawback to doing this: it's too easy to detect. But if done properly, this detection can also be exploited...]

During my adventures, I developed a technique I named "Double Casting"—it allows me to use two wands in battle, simultaneously unleashing completely unrelated spells without interference. This is one of my trump cards that has always enabled me to defeat powerful foes. Therefore, you must knock out my first wand at the start of the battle, preventing me from using this technique, otherwise you will face several times the pressure… Don't even think about ending the fight with a stun spell or something similar right away; the power of your spells is not enough to render me incapable of resistance.

[If I fall into a disadvantageous position, I should first use the Bubble Head Charm to isolate the poison, then use Polymorph to conjure a leash to stick to the ceiling, swinging through the air like an ape to escape the curse of the ground, gaining air superiority while quickly healing myself. In this situation, you need...]

The next moment, the fake Baker's sleeves suddenly unfurled, transforming into several lanyards that shot upwards and firmly adhered to the ceiling. These lanyards pulled his body into the air, allowing him to move nimbly to dodge attacks, giving him time to cast a Bubble Head Charm on his head.

"Mr. Shafik, what are you doing?! Why are you doing this?"

Fake Baker looked down at Baron on the ground and asked in a deep voice. Baron remained silent, constantly changing position while firing harmless little curses upwards.

Suddenly, several powerful spells shot out from behind a pile of debris, heading straight for the fake Baker, but he used the rope to maneuver and dodge them.

"I've been on guard against you for a while now!"

Fake Baker scoffed, "A precise and cunning spell... So it seems you coerced Mr. Shafik into bringing me here to ambush me? Is Hogwarts really that easy to infiltrate? Looks like I'll have to report this to the Headmaster afterwards..."

"Who are you? A follower of Ethred? A Death Eater? Or a subordinate of another dark wizard I've killed?"

The invisible man gave no reply, but silently fired one powerful spell after another at the fake Beck, seemingly unconcerned about the loss of energy, forcing the not-yet-fully-recovered fake Beck to dodge in all directions.

"Like a rat."

He snorted coldly, a glint of light flashing in his eyes: "Looks like it'll take some effort to find you."

(End of this chapter)