Chapter 56: The Third Task

In a certain mansion, it was there in one of the rooms. Its size was that of a baby. However, its face was far from the adorable existence of a baby. It had no hair, and its skin was pale blue. Its nose was crushed as if forcibly cut into, and its eyes were red, indicating that it was not human. Overall, it gave the impression of a snake-like entity.

It spoke.

"Is the preparation for the ritual going smoothly?"

From the small and ugly being on the bed, a man prostrated in response to its words, trembling as he answered.

"Of course... We have secured the necessary materials, location, and completed the creation of the magic potion. The spell is also perfect. All we need now is blood..."

"Blood is naturally expected to be prepared. What I asked about is not that. I asked about you yourself. Are you prepared to sacrifice your body?"

The man trembled even more. There were three essential things for the ritual he was planning. One of them was his own body.

(I don't want to... I hate pain... I want to run away from here... I want to live even if I have to become a rat... But... If I run away from here, I'll definitely be killed...!)

"Of course... I am prepared to sacrifice myself."

"Then that's good. Rest for a while. Prepare the usual medicine."

The man bowed deeply and left the room. The ugly being fell asleep while contemplating its own resurrection plan and what lay beyond.

(How disgusting it is to have to rely on such a rat-like trash. But that's only for a little while longer. There were some unexpected things, but there should still be no problem. Rather, most people's eyes should be focused on him. Even Dumbledore didn't look at him normally. He might be at the resurrection ritual, but there should be almost no interference. He might be interested in the ritual but he shouldn't interfere with it. As long as that faithful one brings Potter over... After that, once again...)

The being had no doubts about its own resurrection or its subsequent rule.

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On the day of the third task,

As Leo was having his usual breakfast, Flitwick approached him.

"Mr. Taylor. The families of the representative players have been invited. Please come this way."

When he was led into the room, his parents Erskine and Ferris were waiting. The other representative players were also enjoying conversations with their families after a long time and receiving encouragement.

"Oh, Leo, you've arrived. It seems like you're doing something flashy. You can continue to do something even more surprising. I'll allow it!"

"You, don't say such things too much. Rather than that..., isn't there something you want to report? You know, what happened with Hermie-chan?"

Ferris asked happily. She had known about the relationship between the two through Hermione's parents a long time ago, but she wanted to hear it again from her son's mouth.

"Ah, that matter. As you seem to know already, Hermione and I have become lovers."

"Hee~hmm. Is that so? So, who confessed first? How far have you gone? And where is Hermie-chan!?"

"Ferris, calm down. Even though mom is like this, we're supporting the two of you. Of course, I am too. I agree with the marriage... but you have to take responsibility."

"Yes. Should I go and greet Hermione's parents as well?"

"Hermie-chan's family is also okay with marriage until then. Rather, looking at the relationship between the two of you, it's late for you to become lovers. We've been feeling uneasy all this time. Let's celebrate together once this school year is over."

"I'll let Hermione know as well. With the prize money for winning, we can have a grand party."

"Hey hey, are you already feeling like you've won? But that's my son for you."

"Don't ignore me, Erskine."

At Leo's declaration of victory and his father's attitude of taking it for granted, Cedric's father Amos Diggory approached Erskine.

"Your son seems to be very excellent and wonderful, but the one who will win is my son Cedric."

Cedric next to him seemed to want him to stop, but Amos's bragging about his son continued. He seemed to be quite a doting parent.

Erskine also seemed to know this and was dealing with it by listening casually.

Afterwards, time passed as the representative players and their families enjoyed themselves.

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In the Quidditch stadium within Hogwarts, a place where teams from each dormitory have heated battles every year. Now, it has transformed into a maze with hedges several times the height of a person. One look and it's clear, the third task is a maze.

The competitors enter the maze in order of their scores from the first and second tasks, and whoever overcomes various obstacles to get the championship cup first is the winner. The representative players have already arrived at the stadium and are waiting at the entrance of the maze for the start time. The audience is already full. Everyone is looking forward to the final battle.

"Ladies and gentlemen! The final battle of the Triwizard Tournament, a competition between three major magic schools, is about to begin!

With Bagman's declaration, the excitement in the venue reached its climax.

"From now on, we will ask the representative players to search for the championship cup hidden in this huge maze. The first person to get the championship cup is the winner. We will have them enter the maze in order of their scores from previous tasks. Now, first up with 89 points! The irregular representative, Leonard Taylor!"

Leo steps forward and approaches the maze. His appearance is his usual uniform, but there's one difference. He's wearing a jet-black cloak over his uniform. As Leo approaches the entrance of the maze, he speaks to his cloak.

"Let's go, Ku. Is everything okay?"

"Neural connection, magic connection, disguise for clothes and cloak, all are fine."

A voice comes back from Ku in his cloak. But it's not audible to anyone around him, it's a voice sent directly into Leo's brain.

He enters the maze. As soon as he does, the entrance is covered by hedges. He activates a detection spell but it's naturally interfered with as expected. It would be possible to break through it, but this time he decided to solve the maze in a different way.

"Well, let's give it a try."

The difference in points between Leo and Krum in second place is 9 points, with a 20-second difference per point, which means he has a leeway of 3 minutes. He plans to finish things within that time.

"Control activation. Storage release. Start combining."

One by one, things that he has absorbed so far and things that he has stored himself are released by his ring. Expelliarmus disarmament, Stupefy paralysis, Incendio combustion, Impedimenta obstruction, Expulso explosion, Evanesco disappearance, Confringo explosion, Defindo tearing apart, Corpus physicality, Reducto pulverization... In addition to these spells like electric shock and decomposition are released with effects like defense invalidation and regeneration inhibition and curse invalidation. Each type of magic is not just one but dozens per type.

The released magic does not just get cast but merges into one at a point 5 meters in front of Leo and becomes a large sphere of light.

"Good good. Lastly as a finishing touch I have to disable the portkey movement."

He tweaks his magic formula so that it doesn't exert an effect on portkey movement.

The sphere of light is already about 3 meters in size. Inside it are various kinds of magic compressed at high density.

"Ku, anchor yourself to the ground and brace your body for impact."

"Understood, Master."

Leo's cloak extends and splits into stakes, which are thrust into the ground to secure his body. Similarly, stakes extend from his trousers to assist in securing him.

"Composite magic... um, should I use the Annihilation Magic Interitom? Release forward!"

Aurora overflows from the front of the light sphere. A huge aurora beam over 10 meters thick advances. Hedges, traps, and various magical creatures on its path are engulfed by the aurora. They are burned, torn apart, shattered, decomposed, and completely disappear down to their smallest fragments. The release is stopped when it reaches the end of the maze. What remains is the wreckage of a maze that has been mercilessly pierced through the middle.

Imagine a complex maze drawn with a pencil on paper. Suppose you erase the maze in a straight line from top to bottom with an eraser about half the size of the maze. What remains can hardly be called a maze.

Neither the audience, nor the live commentators, nor any of the representative players could utter a word at Leo's deed. A huge light had destroyed the maze in less than a minute after Leo entered. Leo, unconcerned about such things, seemed satisfied with the effect of his magic. However, he starts to panic in the next moment.

"Protego Maxima, maximum protection! Full direction, multi-layer deployment!"

Leo's full-strength Protego Maxima, maximum protection is deployed in six layers in front and behind and to the left and right above the wreckage of the maze. Leo's voice echoes to the surprised audience and teachers.

"Everyone who can use defensive magic should protect themselves just in case. Teachers, please put up barriers around the audience seats and around the maze with all your might. It will probably explode."

Upon hearing this, everyone who could cast Protego shield spells did so. The teachers also prepared for an impact from the maze with all their might.

"Ku!"

"Understood."

Ku, who is connected to Leo's body, understood his thoughts without him having to say a word. He transforms Leo's clothes into armor and covers his entire body without leaving any gaps. He also proliferates and separates cells to harden them around the light sphere.

The next moment, the light sphere explodes.

The flesh wall that was covering the light sphere is destroyed. But even so, it was able to reduce most of its power. Thanks to that, although the maze was completely destroyed, no one was harmed as it did not break through Leo's multi-layered Protego Maxima maximum protection. Leo himself was unharmed in front of the light sphere thanks to Ku's armor, ring protection, and his own magic.

Now, only Leo and the championship cup exist where there used to be a maze. Everyone watches this scene without saying anything. Ignoring that, Leo starts walking.

"Ku, are you okay?"

"Yes. Some cells have been destroyed but have already regenerated."

"That's good. But I failed for the first time in a long time. Was my control lacking? Were there too many? Or was there a problem with my spell combination?"

While thinking about the cause of his failure this time on his own, he walks towards the championship cup.

He was so focused that he didn't notice that the destination as a moving portkey for the championship cup had been changed.

And as soon as he took hold of the championship cup, Leonard Taylor's figure disappeared.

---

That was the third task.

Leo is fully equipped. In addition to the ring, he has Ku transformed and equipped. In this state, he is almost invincible.

Here's a long-awaited introduction to the Ring number 9:

- Control: 

This allows for fine control of magic. It's a modest ability, but it's an essential ring to bring out the full potential of all other rings. To fight with full power, this ring must be used for control. It was also used to create annihilation magic in this instance.

- Annihilation Magic:

This is the magic that Leo created this time. The image is like Medroa or Kamen Rider Kabuto's Maximum Hyper Cyclone. If it hits, it annihilates, it kills. The only way to defend against it is to regenerate more than its attack power. The effect target can be set. It's also possible to reduce the number of magic spells combined to make it smaller scale.

There was a rare experimental failure. Sometimes failures do happen. The multiple deployment of Protego Maxima is an image of the multiple deployment of a barrier master's barrier.

Leo didn't notice the change in the move key because he was reflecting on his failure.

So, stay tuned for the next chapter.