"They're starting to attack the main shield—"
Professor Flitwick's slightly high-pitched voice came urgently from the doorway.
Immediately, the alarm bells set up throughout the castle rang out piercingly, almost simultaneously, "All defense personnel, to your positions!" Professor McGonagall's voice, amplified by magic, echoed through the castle, "Guard your nodes, do not panic!"
The students began to run faster, their footsteps mingling with the professors' commands and the increasingly frequent rumbling in the distance—the tense atmosphere quickly reached its peak.
Outside the castle, the trees of the Forbidden Forest were collapsing in swathes under some kind of power.
In the crimson glow, countless figures of varying sizes surged like a tide, led by a group of goblins with red eyes and wearing tattered armor, mixed with gigantic armored trolls, and behind them, stiff-moving wizards outlined in black mist.
They roared as they charged, their gut-wrenching battle cries and heavy footsteps, the sound of weapon clashing, forming a heart-pounding wave, violently striking the translucent protective shield surrounding Hogwarts Castle. Though seemingly prepared, this initial offensive was clearly beyond everyone's expectations—
"Hold your ground!"
Professor Flitwick stood high in the courtyard, his magic wand swinging so fast it was almost a blur, striving to maintain the operation of the defense magic, while other professors and students did their best to channel streams of magic power into the defense system, but—
There were too many enemies, with wave after wave of attacks, showing no sign of stopping.
As time passed, the ripples on the shield grew more numerous and dense, and in some places even tiny cracks began to appear. Unlike the "elegant" wizards, these goblins and trolls wouldn't fall for the "dueling" trap; using whatever was sturdy enough—blades, axes, hammers—for their assault.
"They can't hold out much longer!"
After observing for just half a minute, Harry drew a clear conclusion. He turned to Lupin, "We have to help, Professor, not just stand up here and watch!"
"But, how to help?"
Lupin frowned, his fingers on his belt, his tone a bit anxious, "What's necessary for you now is to protect yourselves, you're still students—"
"But even if we stay here, once those monsters come charging up, it's death all the same—"
This time, it was Malfoy who retorted Lupin.
"...You managed to say something so profound?"
Ron pinched his cheeks, confirming for the thirteenth time today that he wasn't dreaming.
"Otherwise, I wouldn't be standing here... Weasley, if those goblins can't shut your mouth, I won't mind helping them."
Malfoy spoke instinctively, but when he realized it was Ron who had spoken to him, his genuine response instantly reverted to mockery.
"Didn't Hermione say she and Neville were preparing something... What exactly..."
Harry grabbed the railing, his green eyes quickly scanning downward, but before he finished speaking, a sudden change occurred. One by one, "poisonous tentacles"—if those things could still be called poisonous tentacles—those tendrils thicker than troll legs, suddenly emerged from the edge of the defense shield, in an instant piercing through dozens of goblins and trolls...
Then, they quickly spread, gathered, sharp spikes grew from the dark green tendrils, green began to counter the red.
These "cute little" creatures, with blue runes flashing on their bodies, spread rapidly outward in four directions, like burrowing earth dragons, overturning the goblins who reached the edge of the Black Lake, and incidentally high-fiving the giant squid that surfaced and was tossing around goblins crazily.
"Nice job!"
Ron instinctively clapped his hands and shouted loudly, but the next moment, his expression changed drastically amidst the trembling—
Because this time, a huge creature erupted from the goblin camp, a black-smoke-clad bone dragon roared as it ascended, unleashing a breath long prepared, aimed unhesitatingly at those wildly rampaging Poisonous Tentacles·ProMax, showing no intention of avoiding friendly fire, and those tentacles were merely "ordinary" plants enhanced by charms—
Watching his long-cherished little darlings burned to ashes, Neville took a deep, aggrieved breath...
Then he pulled out the thirty-second bag of seeds from his pocket.
"...Exactly how many bags did you prepare?"
Beside him, Hermione, who was hurriedly inscribing more enhancing magic runes on those poisonous tentacles, twitched her eyelids and couldn't help but ask.
"...Not many."
"How many is 'not many'?"
"Two or three hundred? I haven't counted much since last year, or I wouldn't have been able to do anything else every day."
...
"..."
In the sky, watching the poisonous tentacles begin to rampage again, Lanlock's eyelids twitched uncontrollably—he had no idea Hogwarts had this defense measure? If he'd revealed it earlier, his drill rig might not have been able to penetrate Hogwarts' underground...
But...
Lanlock turned his gaze from the ground back to the nearby castle—if he could break that device, those damned wizards could have more poisonous tentacles, and it wouldn't matter. His gaze went beyond the castle, towards a distant spot, nodding slightly.
"Roar—"
Its mouth began to gather dragon breath, the black-red breath accompanied by the fire dragon's low growl...
...Wait, it's a bone dragon and doesn't even have vocal organs, and not so accustomed, so why imitate a growl?
"Roar!!"
This time, the roar almost sounded right beside it, the space was suddenly torn apart, and a roaring fire dragon burst through the gap, fiercely crashing onto its body, Norbert's four claws held down the bone dragon's torso firmly, enough combustion breath poured down its head unexpectedly, and the bone dragon couldn't even react before retreating rapidly as a heap of ash.
"Ow—"
Just as Norbert launched the surprise attack, a stretch of pure moonlight suddenly fell from the sky, causing everyone in the castle who had just finished lunch to look up in confusion.
Only to see a heavily armored army emerge from the void, and by the Black Lake, several portals rose simultaneously, silent armored statues stepping through the water, quickly establishing a defense line that relieved the pressure on everyone inside Hogwarts, and even Dumbledore and Grindelwald, who had just approached the door, breathed a sigh of relief.
"I knew it, that little rascal definitely had a backup plan... Wait a minute."
Grindelwald had just relaxed but instinctively covered his mouth again.
"...What's the matter?"
Looking at his friend with inexplicable confusion, Dumbledore asked somewhat puzzled.
"According to William's theory, when someone like me makes a relaxed remark, it usually means there's another twist coming..."
As if to prove the old man's theory, before he even finished speaking, a rumble erupted suddenly from beneath the castle. The next moment, the protective shield supported by Hogwarts' students and faculty shattered abruptly, the scattered light curtain drifting down like silver flakes—
"Their target is... the Secret Vault!"
Grindelwald's eyes widened as he realized this point.