The breath of death made Hermione's hair stand on end, but the girl wasn't actually flustered—
In William's special one-on-one training sessions, which replaced real battles with dreamscape scenarios that were considered a "torment," she had long learned to stay calm in life-and-death moments. Moreover, a deep blue film now covered her pupils, a result of having learned William's flow state during recent training related to the Secret Vault.
The already unstable broomstick bucked violently due to her sudden drop in action, leaving Hermione clinging to the broomstick handle with one hand, suspended in mid-air, her brown ponytail flying in the air currents as she raised her head and cast a cold gaze toward the attacker—
Victor Rookwood—the man in black was floating not far away, with no visible support under his feet, as if standing on an invisible platform. The black-robed wizards behind him had already mounted their brooms; aside from those helping the bone dragon against Kabuda, there were over twenty in total, forming a semi-circle, all directing their magic wands at her.
Victor's gray eyes were fixed on her, the tip of his magic wand still lingering with the "smoke" from the Killing Curse.
"Roar—"
The shrunken Norbert perched on Hermione's shoulder, letting out an angry roar at Victor, its scales bristling, seemingly about to flap its wings back to its original form.
"Don't rush, come back."
Hermione's voice remained exceptionally calm; she reached her left hand out, expertly grabbing the Little Fire Dragon's tail—then, before Norbert could react, she swiftly stuffed it into a special pocket on the outside of her school robes, enhanced with an Extension Spell and a cushioning charm.
"Stay quiet, leave it to me."
With those words, Hermione released the grip of her right hand on the broom handle.
She began to fall.
The wind howled in her ears, the lake's surface grew rapidly larger in sight.
"Pursue."
Victor ordered coldly, and then dove down first, with the black-robed wizards following closely behind, like a flock of vultures swooping to feast on prey.
During her descent, Hermione already held her magic wand in hand; she didn't attempt to slow down, instead pointing her wand at the lake below—
"Immobulus! (Freezing Charm)"
A deep blue beam shot from the wand, precisely hitting the area where she was set to land, where the lake water rapidly froze under the spell's influence, forming an ice surface over three meters in diameter and half a foot thick. Upon landing, a faint thread of golden light flashed at the bottom of Hermione's boots—
This was her own crafting, a set of runes for cushioning and adhesion hidden at the boot's base.
"Bang!"
Hermione's feet landed steadily on the ice, the rune perfectly absorbing the impact; she simply rolled forward to release any residual force, her movements fluid and elegant. Additionally, while dispersing the force, she didn't forget to flick her wand backward, "Confringo! (The Blasting Curse)"
A compressed orange beam was launched backward, which Victor avoided, but it struck two of the black-robed wizards closest to her.
"Boom—"
A fierce explosion occurred in the low sky, the two wizards along with their brooms being blown into a cloud of black mist, which quickly began to condense again, though evidently, they were unable to rejoin the battle for the time being.
Hermione stood up, facing the remaining enemies that had caught up.
Victor also halted, floating a few meters above the ice surface, watching her youthful face, for the first time a serious look appeared in his eyes; the reaction speed of this girl student, her spell power and psychological resilience all far exceeded his expectations…
After all these years, have Hogwarts students reached such a level already?
"Kill her."
He issued a concise command.
Consequently, behind him, nearly twenty black-robed wizards simultaneously acted—Crucio, The Blasting Curse, Expelliarmus, along with several indiscernible Dark Arts beams, a myriad of curses poured toward Hermione like a hail of bullets.
But Hermione did not retreat.
She simply raised her hand, drawing a perfect arc in front of her with that grapevine wood wand—
"Protego Totalum! (Total Shield)"
A nearly tangible, solid pale-gold hemispherical shield instantly unfolded, enveloping her completely, "Bang bang bang—" The curses struck the shield, erupting in a dense array of sounds, yet the shield remained unmoved, even the ripples it created simply danced lightly in response.
Of course, Hermione wasn't done yet; while maintaining the shield, she subtly pressed on a concealed spot within her sleeve—
The shield's surface suddenly shimmered like water ripples.
Thus, about a third of the spells hitting the shield directly deflected or reflected back, the angles of reflection obviously meticulously calculated, targeting those wizards who had just cast and were without the residual strength to dodge.
And so, caught off guard, the enemy's numbers dwindled further.
Hermione seized this opportunity, leaving the shield behind but exerted force to glide to the side—at the same time, her wand pointed at the lake again—two more Ice Freeze Curses followed, new ice paths extending with her steps, while within a few seconds her original standing position was struck by a black bolt of lightning, shattering the ice and churning the lake water.
Being a mini-boss, naturally, Rookwood's spells are much stronger, so—
Next, Hermione moved swiftly over the ice, agile and graceful, akin to performing a deadly ballet on ice, and with every pause, every turn, a precise spell shot out, red light, purple light, orange light—
In less than two minutes, practically all the wizards who had been behind Rookwood were eradicated, though most could rejoin afterward, they were unable to establish a full firepower suppression in the face of Hermione's attacks, which guaranteed casualties each time.
Victor's expression grew increasingly grim as he attempted personally to attack multiple times—enhanced Diffindo, corrosive Dark Arts Curses, even successive Killing Curses—
But Hermione always managed to dodge as though she had a third eye, or slightly deflect with the strengthened Protego, her mastery over the rhythm of battle and usage of magic power akin not to a student, but more to a seasoned Auror.
What's more irritating to him is, the girl seemed unconcerned about magic power consumption.
Those potent spells and a continuously maintained moving ice surface should have depleted the magic power of three or four adult wizards by now, yet she appeared to still be at ease, reminiscent of another wizard he found utterly troublesome...
"No more delays..."
Victor glanced briefly at the distance—Kabuda and Lanlock's battle continued, the giant Niffler wielding a door plate and a car, fighting fiercely with the blood-eyed bone dragon, even faintly gaining the upper hand, and resistance from the castle direction grew stronger, the Werewolf Corps and Golem had shifted from resistance to clearance.
And with that man...
Time indeed was not on his side.
A ruthless gleam flashed through Victor's eyes; he suddenly raised his magic wand high, a scarlet firework exploded above his head.
Then, after a dozen seconds, on the opposite shore of Black Lake, the sounds of heavy, chaotic footsteps echoed.
Countless goblins with blood-red eyes and a horde of trolls clad in thick iron armor charged from the riverbank, accompanied by more than a dozen wizards. These wizards mimicked Hermione's moves, creating ice paths on the lake surface, leading endless waves of goblins and trolls towards the battlefield—
Seeing as Lanlock had already "gone mad," Victor acquired control over the army. He decided to temporarily abandon the offensive against the castle—
Instead, focusing all efforts on taking down the formidable witch before him.