A Trap Laid from the Very Beginning

Garfield had the upper hand, but he never let his guard down. The moment Sean stood still and raised his wand, he immediately considered the other man's purpose.

His casting speed and accuracy are clearly inferior to mine, so why not choose to continue dodging and look for an opportunity? From this position, I'm confident I can strike him the instant his spell is cast...

Should I cast another powerful spell? That doesn't make sense. The time it takes him to cast a powerful spell is enough for me to bind him with Binding Charm, and then use Expelliarmus or Petrification Charm to completely incapacitate him.

What was he doing it for? Was it a desperate gamble or some strange magic?

But my Expelliarmus can't be cast silently, and it's not as fast as the Binding Charm... Should I restrict the opponent's movements first, and then cast Defensive Magic on myself?

Various thoughts flashed through Garfield's mind, but he did not hesitate, and the Silent Binding Charm still shot out according to his intention.

The white light struck Sean, and instantly his limbs stiffened, especially his legs, which felt as if they were chained to a heavy iron ball weighing hundreds of pounds, rendering them unable to move.

It's still Binding Charm... Sean's eyes lit up. His biggest worry was that his opponent could cast a Silent Expelliarmus or Petrification Charm at the same speed, which would leave him with little room to retaliate.

He chose to endure the opponent's Binding Charm head-on in order to detonate the trap he had set up earlier.

A crimson spell erupted from the tip of the staff!

Garfield witnessed this and immediately began to habitually try to determine the type of spell the other party was casting.

Red, fast, and with an absurdly short casting time, it's most likely Spark Charm or Dust Explosion Charm. What's the purpose? To block my vision or disrupt my rhythm?

You forcefully resisted my Binding Charm but only cast a minor magic spell?

Garfield dared not be careless. These kinds of minor spells could be cast very quickly, and although they weren't very powerful, he was still worried that something unexpected might happen.

"Protego." He realized his Expelliarmus wouldn't hit his opponent in time, so he cast a defensive spell.

An unexpected situation occurred: Sean's fiery red curse was not aimed at Garfield at all.

A fiery red light flashed past, but the transparent barrier in front of Garfield remained unaffected.

The curse struck the ground beneath his feet.

Judging from the previous duel, it was impossible for Wallerup to have miscast the spell so badly... Garfield subconsciously looked down and saw the scattered stones on the floor, the stones that everyone thought Sean was just kicking around, rapidly expanding and turning red!

The Detonation Charm... A sudden realization dawned on Garfield.

Wallerup, you bastard...

"Boom!" A huge explosion rang out, flames and smoke engulfed Garfield, and black smoke shrouded the entire dueling arena.

When the smoke cleared, Garfield was lying on the floor, just like Stevenson had been.

The classroom fell completely silent. The students stared at Sean, who was firmly bound to the stone platform. Although he couldn't move, he was still standing there; he was still the winner.

"Yay!" Cheers and whistles erupted from Hogwarts.

Sean on stage breathed a sigh of relief. He was so close! The fifth-graders were much stronger than he had imagined.

As for that rock, the Explosion Charm has a prerequisite spell called Timed Detonation. You can store magic in advance on an inanimate object and then detonate it with a spell at a specific time.

It seems like a good, sneaky spell, but it has major limitations. First, the object imbued with the spell will have a noticeable magical fluctuation, easily detectable by a normal wizard. Second, this spell cannot store large quantities of 'bombs'; the magic imbued on the object can only last for about half an hour to an hour, depending on the wizard's skill. Finally, its casting range is too short; beyond a certain distance, the spell cannot detonate.

Therefore, in reality, this spell is mostly used in mining and similar jobs, and almost no one uses it in duels.

So, Sean made a little plan.

In the first match, during his duel with Ramos, Sean used the Dust Charm to obscure his vision and took the opportunity to create a bunch of 'bombs'. He was grateful for Professor Goodman and the others' initial demonstration, otherwise Sean would have had to go through the trouble of blowing up the floor.

There was no need for traps to deal with those guys in front. Instead, Sean used a lot of magic spells, so that the entire classroom was filled with traces of magic flow, and the magic fluctuations on the stones were perfectly concealed, so that even the professor did not notice them.

Next came the provocative kicking of pebbles, gathering the 'bombs' together. Moreover, Sean even employed some psychology tactics, something Grindelwald had taught him.

In the previous Divine Fire Charm, the ground within a circle was protected, whether it was due to people's subconscious self-preservation instinct—they felt safer there; or to save face for their school—to get up from where they fell.

As Sean predicted, the next player to come on would most likely be standing in the same spot. Sure enough, even as he kept adjusting his position, Garfield's area of activity remained within that one zone.

After getting a good feel for his opponent's strength, Sean had to admit that, at his current level, he couldn't beat his opponent in a fair fight.

Then we'll have to resort to tactics.

The medical team rushed in again. Explosive spells are always very powerful, and Sean had stockpiled a bunch of rocks there. Even though Garfield cast the Shield Charm, he was still blown to pieces, even worse Percy encountered the Explosive Ashwinder.

For the first time, Professor Goodman stared at Sean speechlessly, even feeling a bit of a headache. Two students had been seriously injured despite his supervision; this was practically a serious teaching accident.

After all, he had told his students to go all out at the start of the duel.

Even more grim-looking were the students of Newmontgard. Under their elite education, most of them immediately understood Sean's tactics.

"Indeed cunning... This kid had planned this from the very beginning!"

"How can there be such a person? He had planned all this out long ago, just waiting for the older students to take the bait."

The students' faces were stiff, and their eyes were almost overflowing with anger.

A younger student scoffed disdainfully, "So you resort to these tricks just because you're not good enough. What a joke..."

"Heh heh, shut your mouth, you idiot—" a sturdy voice rang out.

The younger student turned around and saw a blond, chubby boy in a fourth-grade uniform. The boy's eyes were almost squeezed into slits by the fat on his face, and his huge beer belly was jiggling merrily.

"Hugo..." a younger student called out in fear.

The fat man, called Hugo, patted his belly with a grunt. "Inferior skills? Look how well others use explosive spells! As a student of Newmontgard, you can be angry, and of course you should be angry. But don't forget Professor Grindelwald's teachings—never make excuses for your own weakness, and never make excuses for the strength of your enemy."

He chuckled kindly, "Heh heh, you're a second-year too, right? Wallerup's skills aren't up to par? Why don't you go up and duel him? Look at him, he's exhausted. Heh heh, you idiot..."

Sean stood upright on the stone platform, but sharp-eyed students noticed that his hands, which were behind his back, were trembling slightly, a sign of his depleted magic.

"Mr. Wallop, how about we end the duel here?" Professor Goodman said, but no one noticed the helplessness in his eyes, hidden behind the shadow of his pointed hat.

Is this a second-year wizard...? And Lord Grindelwald wasn't as cunning as you at that age... no, not as resourceful, was he?

Sean's posture and expression remained unchanged, however, he no longer smiled.

Those in the audience didn't even see his lips move, but they heard his arrogant voice. "I'm alright, but for the sake of the normal conduct of the lesson, it's not impossible for the duel to end here..."

If looks could kill, the angry gazes of the Newmontgard would have already reduced Sean to ashes.

But ironically, the other party had the right to say those words, even though everyone could see that he was already at his last gasp.

His face remained normal, but his hands trembled even more violently.

Of course, two people who know Sean very well don't think so.

"Hermione, Hermione," Daisy muttered in a very low voice, linking arms with the girl beside her, "Is Sean lying to us again?"

"He's definitely lying..." Hermione's expression didn't change, only her lips moved almost imperceptibly. "Given his personality, if he really couldn't hold on, he would definitely just slide down. Staying up there risks getting beaten up, and he's so..."

Hermione seemed to consider using words like 'afraid of pain' or 'from the heart,' but in the end, she changed it to: 'He's so smart!'

"Is Sean deliberately trying to infuriate those Newmontgard today? But he doesn't seem to need to do so much..." Daisy blinked her big eyes.

Hermione shook her head. "He does have those thoughts, whether it's to avenge Fred George and the others, or to bolster Hogwarts' reputation—but Sean probably has other ideas, though I don't know what they are..."

If Sean could hear the conversation between the two girls, he would definitely exclaim, "Hermione knows me best, Daisy understands me best!" He was doing this partly for the sake of the Hogwarts students and partly to show off his strength.

While reducing unnecessary trouble, there will always be some among the power-worshipping Newmontgard who will be drawn in...

And Grindelwald must be watching, right? Showing off his learning achievements, then reaping even more benefits! No, I mean, being able to better accept the other party's teachings!