69novels Page 338
Page 338
Chapter 370 The Second Match
The day finally arrived: January 7th, the day of the second match.
After breakfast, Levin and his group went directly to the stadium by the Black Lake.
It was the coldest morning of the dead of winter, and the trees were covered in frost, as if the frost had seeped out.
The sky was azure, like a sparkling mirror. Sunlight shone through it, bright yet cold, shining on the icy lake surface without providing any warmth.
As they arrived at the shore of Black Lake, Levin could see from afar a huge observation deck erected in a semi-circle on the lakeshore—it had taken a whole night to build.
Many students arrived earlier than them, and the rows of seats were already packed with people.
After offering Hermione a few words of encouragement, Zhang Qiu and Luna quickly ran over, hoping to find a good spot to watch the game.
The referees, on the other hand, sat at another table by the water, covered with a golden tablecloth.
Levin led Hermione over.
Ludo Bagman, who had been waiting for a long time, immediately came forward to greet him.
He smiled broadly and acted very enthusiastically: "Levin, Granger, you've come at the right time. Come on over, the competition is about to start. Levin, your seat is here... and Miss Granger, you need to warm up, you'll all be going down to the lake together later!"
Levin nodded to Hermione and watched the girl walk to the center of the arena—which had been transformed into a small dock with a long wooden plank stretching from the lakeshore into the Black Lake.
Then, he took his seat on the referee's bench.
Dumbledore smiled and winked at Levin.
Crouch sat indifferently in his seat, not even glancing at Levin.
Mrs. Maxim smiled gently, as if nothing could spoil her good mood.
Karkaroff surrounded his beloved student, Krum.
Tonks then leaned in and whispered something to Levin.
As it got closer to 9:30, the audience seats gradually filled up.
Ludo Bagman stood up and pointed his wand at his throat.
"A loud and clear voice!"
At this moment, Bagman, who was serving as both referee and commentator, had already stepped to the front of the stage. After clearing his throat and reading out the various precautions for the second match, his expression became more serious. He looked at Levin and the others on the field, and then looked at the audience around him and shouted loudly.
"Last night, we took the warriors' most treasured artifact and placed it in the center of Black Lake this morning. Their mission is to find and bring it back within the allotted time!"
"I need to remind you warriors that your time is very limited; you only have one hour! If you exceed the time limit, the consequences will be severe, and you may lose that treasure forever!"
Illusion magic appeared in the sky at just the right moment.
An underwater scene appeared in the illusion.
Viewers can see a large mermaid village surrounded by many stone dwellings, and occasionally some fish-men with steel forks and ferocious appearances can be seen swimming across the screen.
These mermaids, though possessing human bodies and fish tails, are exceptionally ugly, completely contradicting the image of mermaids in fairy tales.
It's fair to say that any one of the mermaids here could be the lead actress in a live-action version of "The Little Mermaid".
In the very center of the image stands a giant stone mermaid statue, with sleeping hostages tightly bound to its tail.
In the audience, Malfoy's eyes widened in disbelief. He couldn't believe that Ronnie Weasley, whom he had been longing for, was actually among the hostages.
Krum also had a gloomy face. He saw Ronnie too, but the warrior who belonged to her was not him.
When Hibiscus saw Gabrielle in the picture, a look of anxiety appeared on her face.
Although she had personally chosen the person, she couldn't help but worry when she saw her sister in the water, wishing she could jump in and rescue her right then and there.
“Don’t worry, Fleur,” Hermione said reassuringly from beside her. “Levin has made special arrangements for the match; she will be in no danger.”
Hibiscus nodded; she naturally trusted Levin completely.
"Listen up, everyone, our warriors are ready to go. The second event will begin after I blow the whistle. They have a full hour to reclaim what has been stolen from them."
"I'll count to three,"
"one two three!"
Bagman's voice, like thunder, swept across the dark lake and reached the stands.
A sharp whistle echoed in the cold, still air. A burst of cheers and applause erupted from the stands.
Each of the warriors displayed their unique abilities, like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea.
Hermione and Fleur both took off their coats, revealing their form-fitting swimsuits.
Her stunning figure caught Levin's eye.
He quickly waved his wand, and the [Great Holy Light] spell immediately enveloped their vital areas.
A chorus of boos immediately erupted from the audience.
Such a beautiful view, and you're hogging it all?
Hermione has gotten used to the fact that her body sometimes glows when she wears a swimsuit these days.
Hibiscus smiled, especially when she saw that Estelle no longer had that light.
She turned around and blew a kiss to Levin on the referee's bench.
Because she came in first place in the first competition, Hermione was scheduled to go into the water first.
She simply pointed her wand at herself lightly.
From her appearance, the girl seemed to have changed no at all.
However, through the secret eyes of the live stream, viewers could notice that Hermione's skin had become somewhat translucent.
At the same time, tiny water droplets surrounded her body, just like the rings of Saturn.
“Miss Granger didn’t use the standard answer, the [Head-Bubble Spell], but instead used a mysterious spell on herself… Oh, news from the judges’ bench, this spell is called [Heart of Flowing Water], created by one of our judges, Levin Green!”
Upon seeing that the magic came from Levin, Bagman began to boast:
"The effect of this spell is to transform a part of one's body into a water element, which allows the caster to better adapt to the aquatic environment. After all, what can adapt to underwater better than water element itself? Even fish can't do that. It's a truly amazing spell!"
Hermione leaped into the water and landed gracefully.
As she entered the water, the [Great Holy Light] spell that Levin had cast on her was canceled and instead cast on the illusion in the live stream.
This way, Hermione in the water won't turn into a giant light bulb.
Under the tracking of the secret eye, the girl's swimming posture was extremely strange - her whole body seemed to be pushed forward by a current of water, and no one knew how this current of water was generated, because she did not move her legs very forcefully.
Many people speculate that this is the power that the semi-water elementalization granted her.
The second one to go into the water was Furong.
She used shapeshifting magic to transform her lower body into a fishtail, with gill slits faintly appearing behind her ears.
This half-Veep originally planned to use the [Head-Bubble Charm], but with Levin's guidance, she naturally had more options.
The beauty-conscious Hibiscus naturally gave up on the [Hair-Bubble Spell]. In her opinion, this magic was both ugly and inconvenient.
Unlike now, she fell into the water, swaying her fish tail and swimming around, as beautiful as a mermaid.
No, not the mermaid from the Black Lake, but the real, fairytale-like mermaid.
The third one is Harry. Since he couldn't learn the Bubble Head Charm no matter what he tried, he chose to use the Gillscapula. He tore open the bottle containing the Gillscapula and stuffed a clump that looked like a gray-green rat's tail into his mouth and swallowed it.
Suddenly, his whole being changed; gills split open at the base of his ears, and webbed feet grew between his fingers and toes to facilitate swimming.
Both adapted to underwater changes, but his transformation was far uglier than that of the hibiscus.
But there are those even uglier than him.
Both of Beauxbatons' players, Krum and Polyakov, also used body shapeshifting techniques, intending to transform themselves into sharks.
However, due to poor technique, it could only be transformed by half.
The young wizards in the stands all showed expressions of disgust. Although the magic looked powerful, they had to admit that they looked really ugly.
The entire body below the neck is human, except for the head, which has become a shark's head. This is the complete opposite of Fu Rong, whose upper body is human and lower body is fish, making viewers want to change the channel.
The advantage, however, is that it's enough to move around underwater—at least you still have gills, right?
In the end, only Estella obediently used the [Bubble Head Spell] according to the standard answer.
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The image shows the mermaid hibiscus.
Chapter 371 Black Lake Ecology
Once all the young wizards had entered the Black Lake, the lake became completely still.
Unlike the first match, in this match, although everyone was on the shore of the Black Lake, the actual match took place underwater, so the spectators on the water couldn't see anything at all.
For a moment, everyone could only crane their necks and stare at the live broadcast of the illusion in the sky.
Heaven knows why the stands were built next to Black Lake, just so everyone could catch a glimpse of the warriors entering the water?
Even Bagman noticed this, so he boasted about Levin once again:
"I've heard that the Triwizard Tournament organizing committee shouldn't have included Mr. Levin Green because he'd be biased towards Hogwarts. To me, that's the most foolish thing to say. Look at what Mr. Green has brought us—the most obvious example being this live-streaming system—"
His tone was incredibly enthusiastic, and his analysis was logical and well-founded: "Thanks to the live streaming system provided by Mr. Green, we were able to track each contestant through the Arcane Eye and see their performance in the water through illusion magic. But can you imagine what the competition would be like without this system?"
What would happen if there were no live streaming system?
The audience couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
"That's right. Without the live stream, we would just be sitting there dumbfounded, staring at the empty surface of Black Lake, feeling the cold January wind for an hour!"
As the audience followed Bagman's lead and thought further, they immediately realized something was amiss.
What idiot came up with this competition format?!
The idiot stroked his long white beard, looking embarrassed.
He was too hasty; he certainly hadn't considered this when he designed the competition.
"It's fair to say that Mr. Green's live streaming system saved the Triwizard Tournament—at least this second match," Bagman exclaimed, echoing the sentiments of the audience. "So, let's pay tribute to Mr. Green 710 for saving the Triwizard Tournament!"
"oh oh!!"
"amazing!"