Hogwarts: Even Voldemort Can't Stop Me From Studying

Chapter 833 204: The Gorilla and the Lizard

The invisible barrier blocked Natalia's back. Amidst the sound of a heavy impact, the girl swiftly turned around, her eyes widening in shock.

Fortunately, she only hesitated for a moment before quickly running away, because the next second, the armor shattered, and the attacker fell heavily to the ground, letting out an angry roar.

"Roar!!!"

The blast of air blew Natalia's messy bangs backwards as she retreated several steps in rapid shock.

The attacker was an enormous gorilla, its shoulder muscles knotted and bulging, stout forearms nearly touching the ground, wide nostrils flaring and making snorting sounds.

During the earlier battle, the glowing light providing illumination for the two had long disappeared. Sparse sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, offering only a faint vision.

In the darkness, apart from the gorilla's eyes shining a yellow light, the rest of its body appeared entirely deep black, strong and intimidating.

"Confringo!"

Natalia's magic wand issued a glaring red light, but the enormous gorilla managed to skillfully dodge with a nimble sideways flip, its movements agile as if mimicking the pair earlier.

The girl's pupils shrank abruptly.

——How did such a wild animal know to dodge a wizard's spells?

But there was no time to think as the gorilla's fist, carried by a gale, smashed towards them!

"Impedimenta!"

Harry shouted loudly, the beast's movements visibly slowed down. Natalia took the chance to leap aside, her heels scoring two deep grooves in the ground.

But the moment of respite quickly passed, and the gorilla swiftly lunged again, palm slapping down forcefully!

The girl rolled awkwardly on the ground, narrowly avoiding disaster.

Harry rushed over, shouting loudly, "Speedy Imprisonment! Tarantallegra! Inverted Golden Bell! Face me, you big fool!"

Yet the brute was incredibly nimble, dodging every spell with agility, and for some reason, it seemed fixated on Natalia, snarling and chasing her relentlessly.

"Roar——"

The muffled roar resonated through the forest like war drums, the giant beast charging like an armored vehicle!

"Bang!"

This time, the girl couldn't dodge in time and was sent flying, her magic wand slipping uncontrollably. She gritted her teeth against the pain and drew the dagger strapped to her thigh, reversing her grip to stab forcefully!

The blade sank smoothly into the gorilla's chest, and the girl stared in shock!

The next moment, she was sent flying, colliding heavily with a nearby tree.

"Natalia!" Harry shouted loudly, casting a Stunning Spell at the gorilla: "Stupefy!"

This spell had no effect.

"Roar——"

The gorilla roared with anger, hands clasped together, pounding towards the girl under the tree.

"Fire!" Natalia's lips bled; she struggled to lift herself, shouting at Harry, "Use the Flame Curse!"

Having reached nearby, Harry didn't hesitate, flicked his wand and shouted, "Incendio!"

Flames landed on the gorilla, unexpectedly igniting it with a "whoosh," causing it to screech and backpedal several steps, frantically beating out the flames on its body.

The flickering firelight finally illuminated the ferocious attacker, and as they clearly saw its appearance, Harry froze, while a revelation flashed in Natalia's eyes.

When she stabbed it earlier, she had a suspicion, now finally confirming her guess.

This was not a black gorilla, but an emerald one, vines and branches entwining to form its body, sprouts of tender green buds emerging at the joints, and atop its head was a small yellow flower.

Natalia took a deep breath, feeling her chest stabbed with pain from her ribcage: "It's indeed... a Poppet..."

Harry's eyes widened: "This guy... is Vid's creation? Did he make it here in the Forbidden Forest?"

He remembered Vid crafting a scorpion in the first match, relying solely on numbers and concealment, coupled with participants' inexperience with such tactics, to appear frightening. In actual combat, dealing with one or two scorpions wasn't difficult.

But this gorilla before them was perilous even when faced with their combined efforts.

Unexpectedly, upon hearing its master's name, the gorilla suddenly turned toward Harry, its yellow eyes seeming to flash a few times.

Just as Harry was bracing himself for an attack, the poppet gorilla turned and charged into the thicket, climbing up a large tree in just a few movements, then vanished.

Only then did the two relax their tensed bodies slightly, with Natalia leaning against the trunk and slowly sliding down to sit on the ground, sipping a magic potion with a bitter smile.

"That guy... just sending one poppet almost got me eliminated."

The fiery magic potion slid down her throat into her stomach, quickly healing the injuries inside her body, but the intense pain it brought made her frown and groan.

Harry remained vigilant, holding his magic wand, occasionally looking up at the canopy above, worried the gorilla would jump down again.

Hearing a sound, he turned his head to glance at the girl with concern, asking, "Are you okay?"

His tone carried both worry and a hint of caution.

Harry hadn't forgotten they were actually competitors in this competition.

"I'm alright."

Natalia wiped the bloodstains from the corner of her mouth and said painfully, "Be careful, it might appear at any moment."

Harry nodded, continuing to observe the surroundings. Even the sound of the wind rustling the leaves made him tense.

Natalia stared at his back with an expression that was difficult to decipher, questioning the absent person in her heart:

[Why not attack Harry? Just because you're from the same school? But this is the final match, everyone is a competitor...]

After some time, Natalia took several deep breaths and felt the stabbing pain in her chest and abdomen had disappeared. She slowly stood up, leaning against the trunk and retrieving her magic wand which had been flung away.

Harry turned around, his arm muscles slightly tense, and asked, "Do you want to continue fighting?"

"Why did you save me just now?" Natalia, holding her magic wand, kicked away a charred branch at her feet, saying, "If you hadn't acted, I would have been eliminated by now."

"Ah?"

Harry was taken aback, saying somewhat sheepishly, "I... I didn't think that much just now..."

Now coming to his senses, he felt slightly deflated, realizing his previous actions were indeed quite foolish.

—Yeah, they are competitors... And surely Dumbledore wouldn't watch the contestants get killed. Perhaps there's an invisible Auror nearby ready to save them! He didn't need to play the hero unnecessarily.

If he ends up being eliminated by Natalia because of this, Harry can almost imagine how others would ridicule him—"Potter, the big fool! Only knows how to play a hero!"

"Thank you."

Natalia's words made Harry slightly puzzled, instinctively asking, "What did you say?"

The girl snorted, yet the hostility in her eyes had completely vanished. She brushed aside the disheveled hair on her face and said solemnly:

"Even if you helped me this time, I won't hold back next time we meet! I'll fight with all my might to win the championship honor for the Kodostorians! From now on, we'll rely on our own skills to see who can make it to the end."

Harry nodded, saying, "Alright, relying on our own skills."

"Goodbye."

After speaking, Natalia chose a fork in the road and left casually, while Harry waited a moment before heading down another small path.

They were champions in the league, aiming straight for the sole championship, neither choosing to team up against the threat of the poppets.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the forest, Clementine and Hope, who've chosen to team up from the beginning, were sitting on the ground back-to-back, gasping for breath.

They had just gone through a fierce battle—a group of seven or eight dwarf pig monsters had burst out from the bushes, their sharp fangs dripping with saliva, intending to make a meal of the two without hesitation.

After repelling the group of dwarf pig monsters and disarming a magic trap, the two were exhausted and had to stop to rest.

"I wonder how the others are progressing... Have some food," Clementine took out a sandwich and handed a piece to Hope.

Hope shook her head in refusal, opened her flask and took a sip, water streaming down her dust-covered chin.

"We better not run into anyone else," she said gloomily, "Otherwise, in our current state, we won't be able to handle anyone."

"Ha, the others are acting alone, maybe they're in worse shape than us!" Clementine said optimistically.

On a tall tree about ten meters away from them, a lizard was silently crawling along the trunk, its throat slightly puffed, spraying tiny spores from its nostrils.