Chapter 42: Battle with Merlin

The last event is the spell competition.

Dumbledore waved his wand at the Book of Merlin again, and the Book of Merlin suddenly closed with a bang. There was a faint whisper from the book, and a line of smoke slowly rose from the cover of the Book of Merlin and fell to the contestants. In front of the visitor, a middle-aged male wizard with a vague appearance finally appeared. The most impressive thing was his pair of deep and wise eyes, which were very similar to Dumbledore's eyes.

Xie Lin couldn't help but said, "Merlin?"

The man looked at the six contestants with a slight smile, "Haha, I didn't expect that after so many years, there would still be a chance to be summoned. Six talented young people, tell me, are you the testers this time?"

What? Trialist? Isn't this a friendly match? When did it become a trial?

Percy answered first, "Dear Magic Senior, hello, we are students at Hogwarts, and we are currently participating in a friendly competition called Merlin's Test. Are you the final question of this competition?"

The man pondered for a moment, looked at the professor's chair, and made eye contact with Dumbledore for a moment. Dumbledore tilted his head down imperceptibly, and the man turned around and said softly, "Is the college competition interesting? ... Young people, you can think of me as Merlin. I am a memory that belongs to him, sealed in the Book of Merlin and quietly waiting for the arrival of the tester. You are right, I am you. ...How should I put it? In the last level of this game, you have to duel with me. Of course, you don’t need to defeat me. You just need to successfully take the wand from my hand. You can fight separately or fight side by side. Any means can be used.”

After saying that, the man moved his hand gently, and a small piece of dead branch flew from the distance. The dead branch fell into the man's hand, and under the man's gaze, it quickly turned into a magic wand at a speed visible to the naked eye. Then the man used the magic wand. By tapping lightly on himself, his body slowly materialized from a shadow, and contestants could see lifelike skin and hair appear on his body.

Merlin's appearance cannot be called handsome, but he has an indescribable temperament. His eyes are as deep as the starry sky and his facial features are carved with a knife and axe, giving people the feeling of wisdom hidden in his chest.

Cassius and Gemma looked at each other and nodded, standing forward to challenge. Cassius's duel strength is not weak. He is very proficient in rapid casting skills. He can cast three spells in an instant. At the same time, the attack paths of the magic spells are curved attacks and dead-end attacks. Gemma casts the Conjuration spell out of thin air. He transformed into four giant snakes with fangs and claws, and attacked from Merlin's front, back, left, and right directions.

The Transfiguration Spell is a branch of transfiguration at the advanced level. It can use magic power to create things out of thin air and transform magic power into entities. It is a profound, complex and extremely difficult magic. Interestingly, for unknown reasons, the bird transmogrification spell "Flock of Birds" and the snake transmogrification spell "Oolong Out of the Hole" are exceptions. These two are much easier than others, and some excellent low-level ones are Grade students can also perform it.

Although the transformation spell cast by Gemma is not a difficult type, the advantage is that the effect of the spell is stable, the transformation object is more flexible, and the duration is longer. The fact that she can transform four big snakes at the same time also shows her excellent level of transformation.

(Note: The duration of the transfiguration spell is determined by the caster's magic power and transformation level. Even if the magic power is strong, it cannot be maintained for too long if there is no method, so simple transfiguration spells are more preferred)

Merlin was attacked by four big snakes and three magic spells at the same time, but he didn't appear to be panicked. He pointed his wand at the ground and tapped it lightly. The whole ground seemed to shake slightly, and an invisible gas wave centered on Merlin in a ripple shape. The impact of the gas wave spread out in all directions, and the impact of the gas wave was astonishing. Even the audience in the auditorium dozens of feet away could vaguely feel the strong wind blowing on their faces.

The four big snakes conjured by Gemma were overturned by the air waves and turned into smoke and disappeared; Cassius, because he was closer to Merlin, was blown up by the strong wind and fell hard.

Cassius and Gemma tried again several times before finally giving up.

Next, the couple Percy and Penello stood forward at the same time and challenged in a tacit understanding.

Percy inherited the magical heritage of the Weasley family and the magical talent in his bloodline, and has a keen fighting ability - everyone in the Weasley family is a born warrior. Bill and Charlie were able to join the Order of the Phoenix just a few years after graduation. It can be seen.

Penello comes from Ravenclaw College and comes from a Muggle family. Although she is very smart and diligent in studies, her magic is more of a research scholar than a practical warrior.

Percy first used the transfiguration spell in Transfiguration to conjure a majestic flying eagle out of thin air, intending to snatch Merlin's wand from the sky. At worst, it would cause interference, while Penello kept muttering in a low voice. He cast spells frequently to change the terrain. A solid and thick stone wall rose in front of the two of them, obviously to guard against Merlin's air shock wave.

Merlin waved his wand lightly and shot a spell, which accurately hit the eagle summoned by Percy. Unexpectedly, this was a trap set by Percy. Once the eagle was hit by the curse, it would automatically initiate subsequent changes. With the technique, he made an explosion sound like a gunshot and turned into densely packed, chirping birds, falling from the sky and flying around the plum forest.

Merlin raised his lips and whispered, "Very good idea...", and swung the wand down suddenly, drawing a circle. The action was done in one go, and there was no gap. A circular blue fire wall burned around him. The fire wall seemed to have independent consciousness and knew how to devour the flock of birds skillfully.

Sherin recognized this move - Protego Diabolica, one of Grindelwald's special skills in the Fantastic Beasts movie!

Just as everyone was still amazed by the dazzling flames, an imperceptible red light penetrated the fire wall from a hidden corner and flew towards the wand in Merlin's hand. It was Percy's silent spell!

This sneak attack really caught Merlin off guard. Merlin had just released a big move, and the wand was still trying to control the magic flame. Before the magic flame stabilized, Merlin could not stop the wand from casting.

But as a combat wizard in the Dark Ages, Merlin's combat nerve reaction is not comparable to that of wizards in peacetime. He raised his right hand holding the magic wand. I don't know what trick he did, but the magic wand suddenly seemed to come alive and trembled nimbly in his hand like dancing. When the magic wand was hit by the disarming spell, Merlin was knocked back five steps by the powerful recoil, but the magic wand was still tightly held in his hand and was not taken away!

(Note: Diabolica and FiendFyre are not the same thing. Both flames have autonomous consciousness, the difference is that Diabolica can distinguish and target the targets that need to be burned, while FiendFyre burns everything.)

Ordinary people can't see what's going on, but Xie Lin's magic eye can clearly see the magic fluctuations flowing on the magic wand. It should be an anti-disarming spell that can be cast in a very short time. Although it can't completely break the power of the disarming spell, such as Merlin being knocked back, it is enough to keep the magic wand intact.

Merlin had lost the initiative to resist Percy's sneak attack, and Penelope seized the opportunity to cast the disarming spell continuously.

Although Penelope's total magic power was already at the level of a senior student, her magic characteristics tended to be feminine and agile, so she was not good at spell power. However, under her elegant movements, the slender wand flew up and down skillfully under her green jade fingertips, and the swing of the wand tip caused ripples. The connection between spells was perfect, and often the wand entered the trajectory of releasing the next spell just after releasing the previous spell.

In this kind of chain attack, Merlin was temporarily trapped in the dilemma of only being able to passively defend with the armor spell and not being able to fight back.

At the same time, Percy's big move was ready.

There were strong vibrations from the ground. The grass on Merlin's position turned into a big clay hand and grabbed him from behind. Merlin was still busy resisting Penelope's attack and had no time to dodge. In the end, his whole body and hands were tightly clamped by the clay hand. Then it was time for Penelope to aim at Merlin's wand and cast the last disarming spell. Merlin was unable to move or dodge because he was caught by the big hand. It seemed that victory was just around the corner.

Unfortunately, Percy and Penelope forgot about wandless casting. As a famous wizard duelist, Merlin obviously knew how to cast without a wand. Just when the disarming spell came a few inches in front of Merlin, a silver-white light lit up, and Merlin's wandless armor spell successfully intercepted the disarming spell. Then the big clay hand that was holding Merlin also cracked inch by inch, slowly turning into mud and scattering on the ground.

Percy and Penelope felt the little magic power left in their bodies and chose to give up very simply. Although they failed to win the wand, the audience still gave warm applause to the two for their outstanding performance, and the judges in the professors' seats also gave them admiring glances.

Compared with the performance of Gemma and Cassius before, it must be said that Percy and Penelope, the couple, are obviously more outstanding in the use of spells and the tacit understanding of matching.

To be fair, if Merlin had not relied on his strong magic power and powerful wandless spellcasting skills, Percy and Penelope would have won.

At this moment, Gemma and Cassius were gloomy, with jealousy and unwillingness written on their faces.

Seeing that the two were so narrow-minded, Sherin shook his head secretly and walked forward to express his congratulations and admiration to Percy and Penelope.

Percy proudly stated that he was an elite of the Weasley family, and kindly told Sherin to study hard. As long as he passed the OWL exam and became a prefect, he could easily achieve his performance today. Penelope modestly declined Schelling's praise, claiming that she was just taking advantage of her senior classmate.

Schelling smiled slightly, but in his heart he was thinking about a very strange question: How did this pair of men and women with different personalities get together?

Cedric and Schelling were the only contestants left. Cedric suggested that they join forces, but after thinking it over again, Schelling decided to politely refuse. After all, the two of them had never met before and had no tacit understanding. Moreover, Schelling's magic had many large-scale attacks, which might accidentally hurt his teammates. He felt that it would be more advantageous to fight alone.

After watching Percy and Penelope's performance, Schelling had realized that it was impossible for a young wizard who was still studying at Hogwarts to take away Merlin's wand with the Disarming Spell. Merlin's proposal of "taking away the wand is victory" was a misleading goal. Percy and Penelope made this mistake and kept rushing towards the wand in Merlin's hand. In Schelling's view, if he wanted to take away Merlin's wand, he had to knock him down first!

The experience of Percy and Penelope gave Xielin a good reference. Xielin also realized that Merlin, who had strong magic power and was proficient in wandless spellcasting, could not be defeated by physical restraint. To defeat Merlin, he had to start from the spiritual level.

Xielin sorted out the tactics in his mind, calculated the situation of the venue and the distance between the two sides, and then took a few deep breaths to calm his nervous and excited mood. Then he walked forward and opened his mouth to challenge.

At the beginning of the duel, Xielin did something that no one expected!

Xielin was like a cheetah. With a kick of his feet, his body turned into a shadow and rushed towards Merlin quickly, as if he was going to use close combat to knock Merlin down and snatch the magic wand!

The physical advantage of Xielin's daily exercise showed up at this time. When he ran, there was a whirring sound. In front of Merlin's surprised eyes, he had already entered the three-foot range. Merlin calmly pointed his wand at the ground, and a wave of invisible air swept towards Xielin with Merlin as the center. Xielin, who had been prepared, pointed his wand at himself, and Xielin actually flew up!

The setting of the transfiguration spell was not invented by the author. It was indeed a NEWT-level course in the original book. The content about the bird transfiguration spell in the second chapter of "The Book of Spells" also clearly stated: birds and snakes are the easiest to transfiguration in the transfiguration spell, which also explains why Draco, a second-year student, could perform "Oolong out of the hole" in the duel club.