"You don't need to concern yourself with that possibility," Charlotte stated calmly, a faint knowing smile touching her features. "They've already burned through multiple valuable items just now. Do they realistically possess more significant tricks remaining? There's absolutely no strategic point in accepting unnecessary risk. Besides, even if we successfully held them here for elimination, we'd inevitably spend substantial portions of our own finite supplies in the process."
She paused thoughtfully. "The Durmstrang delegation is already severely depleted; it's far too late for them to locate sufficient replacement resources now. Frankly speaking, the ultimate outcome of this competition has become essentially irrelevant to their chances unless they experience incredibly improbable luck and somehow stumble upon another Cavendish operative to successfully loot. But that scenario represents an extremely long shot."
Everyone nodded with understanding. Charlotte served as their designated tactical captain, and they trusted her strategic judgment implicitly.
"Let's examine what the operative dropped," Penelope suggested, her natural curiosity thoroughly piqued. "I genuinely want to know what equipment was considered worth such elaborate protection."
Charlotte agreed readily. She carefully retrieved the collected items from her enchanted storage pouch, methodically setting aside the relatively mundane supplies.
Only a single distinctive golden card remained prominently in her hand. A line of precise text was etched along the bottom edge.
The assembled group crowded around eagerly, and their eyes collectively widened in perfect unison as they read the description.
"This? With this particular item, victory becomes practically guaranteed," Cedric breathed with genuine awe.
Charlotte appeared equally surprised by the revelation. "The Master actually created something with this level of power? Still, the effect only sustains for one minute maximum duration. It's not an absolute guaranteed victory."
"If we utilize that single minute with perfect tactical efficiency," Cedric countered with growing enthusiasm, "we could completely turn the tide of any engagement."
The other students murmured their agreement with visible excitement.
"No wonder the Master specifically stated the Cavendish family's deployed items could prove decisively influential," Charlotte mused thoughtfully, tucking the precious card away with appropriate care. "We absolutely must use this at precisely the right critical moment—ideally to shatter the current tactical balance in one devastating blow."
She had already mentally considered and discarded several potential deployment strategies. An item possessing this level of concentrated power required absolutely perfect timing for maximum effect.
"Let's not permit ourselves to become overconfident or careless," she warned the assembled team seriously. "Fundamental balance dictates that if an item this powerful exists in circulation, there must logically be either a direct countermeasure, or at minimum something of equivalent devastating power available to opponents. We need to maintain absolute vigilance."
The students nodded with appropriately sober understanding. They comprehended the principle clearly: extreme premature joy often directly precedes crushing sorrow.
Hogwarts resumed their systematic hunt through the forest, now viewing every deployed Cavendish family operative as essentially a mobile treasure chest waiting to be claimed.
Meanwhile, on the Kunlun delegation's side of the forest, a brief but intense skirmish had just concluded with decisive results.
Sunny Finch immediately spotted the direction their fleeing defeated Cavendish operative had taken and rushed over efficiently to claim the automatically dropped equipment.
It proved to be another distinctive golden card matching the general description. The surrounding Kunlun students gathered around with intense interest, and a collective gasp of genuine shock rippled powerfully through the assembled group as they carefully read the detailed item description.
"Bloody hell," one student muttered with obvious amazement. "This effect is genuinely unbalanced in power level."
"Erwin's Fiendfyre Pathfinder," another added with growing understanding. "Even a fully charged Protego Maxima couldn't possibly stop this spell's advance. If we encounter a Hogwarts team in direct combat and they deploy this particular card to clear their attack path, it represents an essentially instant victory condition."
The students chattered with obvious excited energy, but Sunny Finch notably remained contemplative and silent, her expression deeply thoughtful rather than celebratory.
"Senior Sunny?" a student asked with mild concern. "You don't seem particularly thrilled by this acquisition."
Sunny Finch slowly shook her head. "Think about the broader implications carefully. If this represents merely one of ten supposedly equally powerful golden items distributed throughout the competition... what exactly are the other nine cards genuinely capable of accomplishing?"
The previous excitement evaporated instantly and completely. The assembled students exchanged increasingly uneasy glances at the sobering realization.
Nine more items of this catastrophic magnitude remaining in play? What if some prove even more devastatingly potent?
Sunny Finch's tone shifted to urgent intensity. "We absolutely cannot afford to stop our search here. We need to systematically locate and secure the remaining Cavendish family operatives. These items are far too strategically dangerous to leave scattered randomly around the battlefield. If they end up in opponents' hands at critical moments, we're completely doomed."
The others nodded quickly with renewed determination.
Kunlun students were culturally conditioned to maintain what outside observers sometimes called healthy paranoia—often characterized as inherent "fear of insufficient firepower."
It represented deeply ingrained tactical thinking, arguably inherited philosophically from Erwin himself through their training.
Across a different section of the Forbidden Forest, yet another group lay in patient ambush.
A full contingent of Beauxbatons students crouched low in a natural patch of concealing tall grass, deliberately ignoring the dirt progressively staining their formerly pristine uniform knees.
They held their collective breath with disciplined silence as a distinctive figure in formal black robes approached steadily from the distance.
A prominent purple lotus mark emblazoned on the man's chest glinted unmistakably in the filtered sunlight.
Fleur Delacour signaled silently to her assembled team, distributing prepared items with brisk, efficient movements. She kept her voice deliberately reduced to barely audible whisper.
"We engage and eliminate him immediately. We possess no reliable intelligence on where the other three competing schools currently are positioned, so we must act with maximum speed—grab the equipment, then withdraw. No holding back whatsoever—this represents an absolute all-in strike."
The girls nodded with grim understanding, their eyes hard and absolutely focused on the approaching target.
The unsuspecting Cavendish family operative walked progressively closer, apparently completely oblivious to the carefully prepared ambush.
Just as he passed within approximately twenty meters of their concealed position, Fleur decisively gave the attack signal.
Absolute chaos erupted.
The Beauxbatons students didn't hesitate for even a fraction of a second. They deployed every accumulated item simultaneously, detonating an overwhelming barrage of diverse spell effects and enchantments directly at the operative's position.
There existed no sophisticated strategy beyond simply overwhelming force—he was instantly buried beneath a devastating wave of concentrated magical attacks from multiple angles.
The operative's protective purple aura flared desperately bright, but proved ultimately futile against such sustained assault.
He offered a wry, somewhat resigned smile beneath his concealing hood. Old Tom is absolutely going to have my hide for this performance failure.
Following established protocol, he calmly dropped his entire equipment loadout and turned to depart. The engagement was officially concluded.
Fleur and her excited team scrambled forward to efficiently collect the scattered prize items. Among the various supplies lay another distinctive golden card.
"'Super Supply Package,'" Fleur read aloud with growing satisfaction, a genuine grin spreading across her features. "It grants comprehensive supplies sufficient for ten people: five complete sets of enhancement wards, ten defensive charm activations, twenty offensive spell items, and ten opportunities to directly upgrade our existing equipment quality."
The assembled girls cheered with unrestrained enthusiasm and relief.
Fleur didn't waste a single moment hesitating. Supplies represented absolutely the key to their continued survival and competitive viability.
She decisively tore the precious card cleanly in half to activate its effect.
Immediately, two additional Cavendish family members materialized through Apparition, efficiently carrying a substantial heavy wooden supply crate between them.
They opened the container to reveal precisely what the card's description had promised—an abundance of tactical resources.