Two minutes later, Percy drifted down beside Tver, drenched in sweat. He would have collapsed if his two teammates hadn't held him up.
The statue, meanwhile, had a large chunk missing from its shoulder, but the rest was nearly untouched.
Seeing Percy's stubborn expression, Tver offered a bit of comfort.
"Reaching this point is already impressive. But a statue isn't a real person. Until its magic runs dry, it won't feel fatigue."
Percy took a huge, angry bite of his chocolate bar and mumbled, "Next time, I'll make it pay."
"It's all of you," Tver corrected. "Teamwork is what lets you unleash your true strength."
With Percy's group in tow, he led them back to the rest of the class.
The moment Percy appeared—propped up by his friends—the students erupted into applause, showering the trio with high-fives as they returned to formation. Their performance had completely stunned everyone.
They had assumed the statue was just a standard-level opponent. Though the trio had been beaten badly earlier, the class still felt confident this time since they had two strong teammates.
But the instant the battle started, they realized something was very wrong.
The statue was outrageously strong.
Especially when it leapt into the air—the chain hammer felt like it slammed straight into their chests. Their hearts were still pounding wildly.
Wait… hearts are supposed to pound, aren't they?
Whatever. The fight had been so spectacular that their minds could hardly keep up.
"Thank you to Percy's group for the demonstration. Five points each to Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw—excluding Slytherin."
(Crystal was from Hufflepuff, Charles from Ravenclaw.)
"But let me remind you: what they did was practically the definition of what NOT to do. They lasted this long purely because they're strong. Do not imitate them."
Laughter broke out immediately, but behind the laughter was confusion.
"Professor, if that's wrong, then what would the correct approach be?"
Tver glanced at the still-unconvinced Percy trio and smiled slightly.
"The biggest mistake was spreading out.
If your memories haven't faded, you should remember that the statue's attack could be blocked with a triple-layered Shield Charm. Meaning the three of you together were capable of defending against it. But you split apart and handed the statue the chance to take you down one at a time."
"But there was one highlight—the spell sequence used to save Charles. That was excellent teamwork. Not only did it rescue a teammate, but you followed up immediately with an attack. That's something everyone should learn from."
Crystal still looked dissatisfied.
"But Professor, even if we blocked its attacks, we still couldn't counterattack! We'd just be stuck defending and letting it control the whole fight!"
Tver raised his brows slightly, surprised that she'd applied his earlier words so sharply.
"You're right, but that doesn't mean you had no way to take the rhythm back.
If you look closely, you'll notice the statue uses a chain hammer—it has to swing its arms to attack."
"So we should target its arms?" Crystal said, finally understanding.
"Exactly. Even when attacking its back, you should have aimed for weak points like the arms and knee joints. That would have been far more effective than simply kicking up dust."
Now all the students understood what Tver meant. Their calm hearts began to stir with excitement.
From the professor's tone, it sounded like they might… possibly… maybe… be able to defeat the statue.
Seeing their faces, Tver knew exactly what they were thinking.
With a wave of his wand, the chain-hammer statue returned to its original state. The cracked ground repaired itself as well, becoming even sturdier than before.
"Looks like you're all eager," he said after checking the time. "There's still an hour before class ends, so line up in order. Each squad will take a turn against the statue."
While the rest of the class buzzed with excitement, Percy's trio slipped off to the side with guilty expressions.
They understood exactly what the professor meant, and they realized their earlier strategy had been wrong.
But they overlooked one thing—the only reason they managed what they did was because the three of them were strong enough.
With that kind of power gap, even if the other students learned the correct method, they wouldn't be able to pull it off.
"Bulstrode, stop attacking! All your teammates are down already!" Percy laughed.
"Ahem… Corinna, if your Shield Charm isn't strong enough, even three layers won't stop the chain hammer," Charles reminded kindly.
Crystal kept things simple, giving straightforward advice to every squad—
"Aias, the professor said aim for the arms, not the shield."
"You'll land a hit most easily when the arm swings widest. And go for the joints—other spots are too tough for you to crack."
"If you want to restrict its movement, make use of the terrain. Its knee joints are incredibly hard; we can't damage them easily."
The students sent flying across the arena wailed, "But we can't do that!!!"
Half an hour later, all twenty-nine remaining squads had been wiped out. Aside from a handful of top performers, most couldn't even survive the statue's first chain hammer strike.
"Tsk." Tver shook his head as he walked up to them. "There's still half an hour before class ends, and you're all done already?"
The students puffed up their cheeks, stewing with frustration—until they glanced at the statue beside them. That frustration vanished instantly.
This statue specialized in crushing pride.
"From now on, this statue will be your standard. Our goal this semester is to make sure you can put up a proper fight against it."
"For the rest of today, practice coordination. Start with the basics: taking turns casting."
Tver conjured twenty familiar light orbs, lining them up neatly before the students.
"It's the same orb game. Red, green, and yellow shifts. But this time, only the person with the matching role gets points for hitting an orb. Anyone else who hits one loses points."
"We're sixth-years. We still have to play this game?" a student complained immediately.
"Then feel free to fight the statue instead."
Every student's expression soured at once, and they obediently joined their teammates to play the very game they'd just dismissed.
The result was even more devastating—they couldn't even play the orb game properly.
The orbs changed color far too quickly.
Each flash lasted less than a second, and once spell-casting time was added in, there was no time to think at all.
Before one teammate even hit an orb, the other two had to be ready to cast instantly or the whole sequence collapsed.
By the time class ended, they suddenly realized they had more penalties than points.
"For homework, work on improving your coordination so you can build layered offensive patterns.
This time it's a group assignment, so each squad only needs to submit one paper."
Their gloomy faces lit up instantly, and they left the arena beaming alongside their teammates.
Completely unaware that group assignments were the real nightmare—just settling on one shared opinion would be enough to give them headaches for a week.
But this would help each squad quickly settle on a decisive voice and keep their teams more organized.
Tver nodded in satisfaction at the arrangement.
Not because he now had two-thirds fewer papers to mark!
...
If you'd like to support my work and unlock advanced chapters, you can follow me on P@treon.
[email protected]/BlurryDream