Mastering Lightning from Hogwarts

“Looks like Percy's planning on picking up the scraps…” George quipped with a sneer.

“If it were me, I'd do the same,” Hermione agreed with a nod. “The second team has already cleared the enemies on the left road. Following this confirmed safe route will quickly catch us up, and there's some leftover equipment to scavenge along the way.”

“But isn't that a bit unseemly? Though it's just the kind of thing our prefect brother would do, Percy the calculating,” Fred said with an indifferent shrug.

“But doing that might waste valuable development time,” Cedric said thoughtfully, lowering his head. “This practical simulation the professor arranged might not be as simple as they think.”

“Development?” Hermione asked, her eyes lighting up. “Cedric, have you discovered something?”

“Yeah!” Cedric nodded. “Haven't you noticed? The strength of the monsters in these ruins is clearly abnormal. Ordinary skeletons are one thing, but those special skeletons are completely beyond what first-year students can handle. Even Wood was injured because of them.”

“I'm guessing the defense in those high-rise buildings and shopping centers where the hostages are trapped won't be any weaker than those enemies blocking the road.”

“And judging from Wood's experience, defeating elite enemies will yield equipment that greatly increases combat power.”

“So, to rescue the trapped hostages, collecting loot from the enemies in the ruins and arming ourselves might be the right choice. Otherwise…”

Hermione realized at this point, “Otherwise, even if we reach the location where the hostages are held, we might not be able to deal with those enemies at all!”

“Exactly!” Cedric nodded firmly. “In my opinion, those scattered enemies are there for us to level up.”

“I see, so you mean avoiding combat will reduce our gains. Then what should we do when it's our turn to enter?” Terence, who had been silent, also understood.

“If that's the case, how about we go through the wilderness directly and explore the ruins? Since we can get equipment from the enemies, maybe there will be good things to collect in the wild,” George's ideas were similar to Ron's, both realizing this key point.

“But we're already the last ones to enter,” Hermione said with some concern. “Going through the wilderness might yield more, but it will definitely be much slower. I think Percy chose to take the left road because he had a similar idea.”

“Yeah, that's what I think too. If we start by going through the ruins, we'll fall behind too much!” Cedric agreed.

“Then should we learn from Percy and follow the second team on the left road?” Fred asked himself, stroking his chin. “But if we do that, our speed will be faster, but our gains will definitely be much smaller.”

“I think…” Hermione pondered for a moment and glanced around. “How about we take the main road in the middle?”

“But there's a giant skeleton guarding it! The entire first team was scattered by it, wasn't it?” George thought Hermione was crazy.

“No!” Cedric grinned. “My idea is the same as Hermione's, to take the main road!”

With that, he and Hermione exchanged a smile, while the twins frowned, looking at them with confusion.

“Oh? Could it be that your idea is…” Terence seemed to understand his idea. “To target that giant skeleton?”

“Exactly. The location and behavior pattern of that giant skeleton have already been demonstrated to us once, so why don't we…” Cedric said, making a throat-slitting gesture with his thumb.

“You mean we directly try to find a way to kill that giant skeleton and then loot its equipment?” George and Fred realized at this moment.

“But that guy looks very difficult to deal with. Can we chew through that bone?” Terence understood Cedric's idea, but he still had some concerns.

“As long as we prepare well, it's not impossible!” Cedric beckoned to the others. “Come closer, let me tell you.”

Hearing this, everyone immediately gathered around.

“You see…” Cedric pointed to the sketch he had drawn on the ground. “That giant skeleton is in this position, and it will only appear after we get within a certain distance.”

“And along with it, there's a batch of skeleton archers ambushing on both sides. I guess they didn't appear out of thin air.”

“So, after we reach the target location, instead of triggering that giant skeleton first, we prioritize eliminating the archers ambushing on both sides, then only that giant skeleton will be left.”

“After clearing the threats on both sides, we can send a more agile person to attract the giant skeleton's attention, and the others can launch attacks with long-range magic. I don't believe this guy can withstand our sustained firepower!”

“I think it'll work!” Hermione added at this time, “And to deal with this kind of huge monster, we can use the Transformation Curse to restrain it, just like Tonks did when dealing with the Iron Golem.”

“George and I both have level three Transformation Curses, we can give it a try!” Fred felt it was worth doing after hearing Cedric's plan, and excitedly exchanged a glance with his brother.

“Then let's do it! Leave the task of attracting the giant skeleton's attention to me. As long as I run fast enough, it shouldn't be able to do anything to me.” Terence volunteered, obviously very confident in his speed.

“Okay, then it's settled!” Cedric pumped his fist. “As long as we kill that giant skeleton and loot its equipment, we'll have a better chance of success in our subsequent actions.”

The group gathered in a huddle, discussing excitedly, and Anduin smiled with satisfaction at the sight. He didn't expect these little devils to be able to deduce so much from the existing information.

Another ten minutes or so passed, during which two more wizards were teleported back to the starting point, Susan from the first team and Daphne from the third team. It seemed the ruins were even more dangerous than imagined.

“Alright, fourth team, prepare to enter!” After checking his pocket watch to confirm the time, Anduin turned to look at Cedric and the others.

“Yes, Professor!” The members of the fourth team, who had been discussing for a long time, stood up with great interest. They had been waiting impatiently.

So, the fourth team followed the strategy they had discussed and proceeded directly along the central main road.

As expected, the mechanics of this ruin instance hadn't changed. The first few hundred meters of the road went very smoothly, without any twists or turns.

But when they approached the location where the first team was attacked, Cedric gave the others a look. Then he and Hermione ran to the left, George and Fred entered the broken houses on the right, and Terence waited downstairs.

After investigation, a large number of skeleton archers were indeed left behind on the upper floors of these houses along the street. However, they were all in a standby state. The archers wouldn't actively attack until the giant skeleton in the middle of the road jumped out.

After discovering this, the members of the fourth team didn't stand on ceremony. They rushed upstairs and began to massacre these archers.

Without front-line cover, the skeleton archers were no match for these little wizards. Basically, a single shattering spell could take one down.

The fourth team split into two groups of four, clearing the archers on both sides along the way. In a short while, they cleared out more than twenty ranged skeletons from several houses.

And as they expected, doing so didn't alarm the giant skeleton lurking underground.

“Fred! Have you cleared everything on your side?” Cedric came to the balcony and shouted loudly to the twins opposite.

“Piece of cake!” Fred also leaned out and grinned. “It's just that George was almost shot by an archer, but it was just a false alarm.”

“Okay, then let the operation begin!” Cedric nodded and glanced at Terence waiting below.

Seeing this, Terence knew it was his turn, so he drew his wand and cautiously moved forward. He wasn't really sure about the actual location of the giant skeleton.

“Bang!”

After continuous probing, Terence finally reached the ambush position. The skeleton was still the same as before, roaring loudly and bursting out from underground, swinging the hammer in its hand.

However, Terence had been on full alert, unlike the first team, who were stunned by the sudden attack. When the giant skeleton showed the slightest sign of appearing, he quickly retreated without hesitation.

“Fred! George! Control it!”

As soon as the skeleton giant appeared, Cedric shouted loudly and began to attack from above with Hermione.

“Leave it to us!”

George and Fred didn't hold back. This time, it was a counter-ambush, and they had already prepared in advance. The moment the giant skeleton appeared, the two decisively cast their spells.

Although they were only two third-year underage wizards, the level three Transformation Curse cast in unison still turned a large area of ground under the giant skeleton's feet into mud, and it wasn't just a large area, but also deep.

The roaring skeleton giant, wanting to rush forward, hadn't taken two steps when its legs sank into the mud up to its knees, causing it to struggle to lift its legs, but it couldn't successfully escape for a while.

On the other side, Cedric and Hermione's attack spells also arrived. Continuous shattering spells and repelling spells kept hitting the opponent, reflecting a dazzling aura like fireworks.

Terence, who had run a distance away, saw that he was no longer in danger and turned around to join the siege.

However, the giant skeleton's resistance to attacks was indeed extraordinary, completely incomparable to ordinary skeleton constructs. After being bombarded by more than a dozen consecutive spells, it still appeared very sturdy, but if you observed carefully, you could still see some cracks appearing on its body.

After all, it was just a small boss blocking the road. After nearly a minute of the five people's frenzied attack, the giant skeleton still turned into a pile of broken bones.

“Nice!”

Seeing that this terrifying giant monster was finally killed, the twins cheered loudly with excitement, and even Hermione showed a look of ecstasy.

They could be considered to have won a good start.

“Quick, see what equipment this guy dropped!” After celebrating for a while, Cedric shouted quickly and jumped directly from the second floor, unable to wait.

Hearing this, everyone didn't waste any time and rushed forward to inspect the items dropped by the giant skeleton. After some counting, they determined that this giant skeleton also had two pieces of equipment with attributes, namely the hammer in its hand and a belt.

【Skeletal Great Hammer】

Base Attack Power: 30-40

Durability: 54/60

Equipment Requirement: Strength Attribute ★★☆ or higher

Additional Features: 1. Transformation: After being enchanted, this hammer can freely change size between 1 meter and 4 meters according to the user's control.

2. Vibration Wave: After being enchanted, each time the hammer face attacks an enemy, it can release a short-range shock wave with a power value of 50 points.

【Giant Belt】

Durability: 42/50

Equipment Requirement: Constitution Attribute ★★ or higher

Additional Features: 1. Giant Strength: Increases ☆ Strength for the wearer, up to ★★★★.

2. Strength Burst: After activating this ability, it can temporarily increase ★ Strength for the wearer, lasting 10 seconds, usable once every 2 hours.

“Wow!”

After reading the attributes of these two pieces of equipment, the five couldn't help but widen their eyes. These two items were unbelievably strong. With them, even a third-year student could unleash power close to that of an adult wizard.

“Awesome, our strategy was correct!” Hermione waved her fist excitedly. “With these two pieces of equipment, facing the challenges ahead will undoubtedly be much easier.”

“Not bad, but who should these two pieces of equipment be given to? This 【Skeletal Great Hammer】 requires ★★☆ Strength to use, and even if I equip the 【Giant Belt】, I don't meet the usage conditions,” Terence said with a distressed pout.

Hearing this, the others reported their basic attributes, and then found that only Cedric, George, and Fred could use this great hammer normally after wearing the 【Giant Belt】.

After a brief negotiation, everyone unanimously decided that Cedric would temporarily use these two pieces of equipment. After all, he was the team leader and the most outstanding wizard among the third-year students, and he could better transform the equipment into combat power.

And using this great hammer meant that he needed to attack independently, while the twins were used to cooperating with each other, and they had better tacit understanding when they were together.

After Cedric put on the belt, he immediately felt as if he had been lifted up, his whole body was light, and he was full of energy. And the great hammer, after being shrunk to the smallest size, was only one meter long, and it was smooth to use with both hands, and occasional one-handed operation was not too difficult.

After putting the great hammer on his shoulder, Cedric immediately changed his style. From a distance, he looked like a decorator rushing to work, which looked quite comical.