Undercurrent

In the murky lake water, Sean, still shaken by what had just happened, was not yet calmed down.

Could there be such a terrifying and Magical Creatures at the Black Lake?!

Or perhaps that thing isn't a magical creature?

Given Sean's Magical Creature Affinity, aside from those completely irrational Magical Creatures, other animals would hesitate for a long time before attacking him. Even Magical Creatures Obscurus Monster, which only knows how to kill, wouldn't immediately extend its claws at Sean if it wasn't under someone's control.

But that strange creature, which resembled a sea monster, attacked almost the instant it sensed Sean, and its sonic attack was completely undefendable.

If his reaction had been a little slower, and he had been in that sound wave for a few more seconds, he probably would have fainted.

That would be a very bad situation.

Sean frowned. He had never seen such a Magical Creatures before, and based on their brief encounter, he could tell that its danger level was definitely xxxxx!

Why is there such a creature in Black Lake, especially when we encountered it during the competition? Did the organizers make it the guardian of the second stage?

He barely escaped thanks to his ability to Trace Flash, so how could the other Champion, who have difficulty even moving around in the water, possibly deal with this thing? It's practically an impossible task.

But if this isn't the quest objective, then monsters of this level shouldn't be appearing in the Black Lake...

With a frown, Sean summoned the Golden Dawn symbol to remind Stephanie.

After confirming that the other party had not approached the Sea Monster -like monster, Sean changed direction and swam towards the gathering point.

That thing is not something you can touch right now...

Meanwhile, on the lakeside platform, Dumbledore, who had been talking to others, suddenly paused and then turned to look at the surface of the Black Lake with a puzzled expression.

A shrill singer drifted over.

This was the method of communication he had agreed upon with the Merpeople leader. As a powerful wizard who could speak Mermish, and also as the headmaster of Hogwarts, he could easily establish good relationships with the Merpeople.

"What's wrong?" Grindelwald, who was sitting leisurely in the main seat, noticed Dumbledore's strange behavior and asked.

"Something is happening beneath the Black Lake."

After saying that, Dumbledore strode towards the shore.

On the referee's stand, Karkaroff, who had been huddled in a corner without saying a word, narrowed his eyes.

A moment later, Dumbledore returned, and Karkaroff, while adjusting his cuffs, asked with a frown, "What happened in the Black Lake, Albus? I don't want any unexpected incidents to happen to our Durmstrang Champion."

Dumbledore said casually, "There were indeed some unexpected events—a Champion collapsed at the bottom of the lake, and the Merpeople brought him up."

Upon hearing this, the other principals all looked over, clearly wanting to know who the student who had fainted was.

Dumbledore looked at Vita Rosier: "It's Mr. Hugo Barbarossa."

Professor Rosier frowned immediately, and she instinctively looked at Grindelwald in the main seat.

Grindelwald raised an eyebrow but didn't offer any further comment. He simply said to Rosier, "Vita, it seems the students' education has fallen behind."

Professor Rosier immediately lowered his head. "It was my fault for not teaching him well, Grindelwald... Mr. Chairman."

However, the elimination of one student did not mean the end of the school's entire team. After the brief incident, everyone returned to their positions and continued to wait.

At this moment, in the deep lake, Sean was unaware of what was happening outside; he had just reunited with Stephanie.

Stephanie also took the Gillyweed, and she mouthed to Sean that she had encountered Champion from other schools on her way here.

"Did they attack you?" Sean mouthed back.

Stephanie shook her head, then took out a lens and handed it over; clearly, this was the item she had received before the start of the competition.

Sean pulled out his own piece; the two round lenses were indistinguishable, but it looked like it would take all three people's belongings to see what it was—it was probably a pair of glasses.

After putting his things away, Sean took out his wand and cast Explosion Charm — the Grindylow was extremely sensitive to water ripples, and it should already be on its way with Daisy.

While they waited, several more groups of aquatic Magical Creatures attacked. This time, Sean didn't hold back and he and Stephanie quickly dealt with the attackers.

However, this time the Magical Creatures of the Black Lake seemed to have mobilized all of them. While Sean and Stephanie remained still, the attackers came in waves, seemingly without end.

Just as Sean and Stephanie frowned, preparing to deal with a group of Grindylow pouncing on them, the menacing water devils suddenly froze—they showed expressions of terror, then scattered and fled, desperately burrowing into the deep weed beds.

In the distance, a huge black shadow was rapidly approaching, its swimming body creating a trail of bubbles. In the dark lake water, its stark white front teeth were still clearly visible.

The Grindylow, carried Daisy there.

The beast and the man rushed into Sean's arms at the same time—and then he was knocked away by the Grindylow.

With a wry smile, Sean rubbed his chest, gave the excited Grindylow a good compliment, and while everyone was happily tumbling in the water, Sean looked at Daisy.

Little White Flower's eyes were wide open, and her face was somewhat pale.

I think I'll definitely get seasick from now on...

The Grindylow is swimming too fast.

Sean chuckled and shook his head, then asked, "Did you encounter anyone who attacked you?"

To his surprise, Daisy nodded.

[The figure is unclear, but it doesn't seem to be using the Bubble-Head Charm.]

Sean frowned. If someone didn't need the Bubble-Head Charm, then it was just Durmstrang's few...

Daisy gestured and mouthed, "While the Grindylow and I were waiting underwater, someone hid in the seaweed and attacked me with a spell, but the Grindylow blocked it, and then that person disappeared very quickly."

The Grindylow emitted a string of proud bubbles and raised its neck.

As Sean stroked it, he made a gesture to the two of them. Although slightly puzzled, Stephanie and Daisy both nodded.

This was a gesture to cancel the original plan, which had been agreed upon beforehand. Originally, after the three of them met up, Stephanie and Daisy were to complete the project for this challenge, while Sean was responsible for ambushing students from other schools—mainly Durmstrang and Beauxbatons.

However, Sean unexpectedly encountered that strange and powerful water monster, and to be on the safe side, it would be better to work together to complete the project quickly.

To be honest, we don't even know what our beloved possession is that we need to retrieve in this challenge.

Daisy took out the item she had received, and sure enough, it was a picture frame.

Sean and the two men exchanged a glance and nodded. It seemed that the real test would only be known when the three things were put together.

Sean took the frame and placed the two lenses on it—the frame seemed to have a magnetic force, holding the lenses firmly in place even in the water.

Sean picked up the assembled glasses and examined them, but didn't get any information.

After thinking for a moment, Sean put on his glasses in the water.

The moment he put it on, he felt as if he saw a dizzying scene, and his mind went blank as if he had been shocked. Then, the feeling he had experienced before immediately came back to him—it felt as if his soul was about to separate from his body.

Sean was startled. He quickly took off his glasses and stared in shock.

[Sean? Sean?] Daisy shook his sleeve anxiously.

Even lip movements weren't enough to explain it... Sean simply waved his wand, creating a giant bubble, and then went inside.

Stephanie and Daisy, who had taken the Gillyweed, peeked in with half their faces, looking at him anxiously.

Sean licked his lips. "These glasses are a Magical Item..."

"What happened? Daisy and I just saw you suddenly roll your eyes back, and we almost fainted," Stephanie asked, frowning.

Sean said with a slight toothache, "The lenses are engraved with Ancient Runes, and the effect is... to Memory Deprivation."

"Memories?!" Daisy exclaimed, her composure shattered. "Do you... do you remember who we are?"

Sean rubbed his head. "Of course I remember. Luckily I learned Occlumency, otherwise it would have been a real problem..."

Stephanie and Daisy both breathed a sigh of relief.

Sean continued, "But I still lost a segment of my memory, about a week's worth. I can't recall anything about the start of the semester—and that's with my Occlumency. Other teams... I estimate that those wearing glasses will lose more than a year's worth of memories, and for wizards, memory is extremely important."

Stephanie frowned. "A year's worth of memories... A momentary loss of memory will leave the wizard in a daze for a long time. In other words, the person in each team who wears the glasses is equivalent to directly losing their combat ability."

Daisy suddenly realized, "So what we cherish is memory... But where are we going to find your memory?"

Sean pointed into the distance. "The lost memories will provide some guidance—this doesn't seem like a true extraction of memories, but rather like some kind of magic is used to conceal the existence of that memory. So we need to go to the final location to break this spell to complete the competition..."

"Then let's hurry up and get going," Daisy said eagerly.

Sean's lips twitched, pointing in the direction of the Lake Chasm where he had encountered the strange sea monster.

That thing actually really was the guardian of the second level...

However, this also proves that my previous judgment was wrong, because the organizers would not throw an unsolvable monster into the competition... This means that the monster's strength is unlikely to exceed the team's strength range, especially since under normal circumstances each team will have one person who is unable to fight.

Or perhaps, the solution has already been hinted at...

After telling the two about the sea monster, Sean stroked his chin and finally said, "Let's go, let's get closer and see what's going on."

The three of them rode on the back of the Grindylow, and at Sean's command, the Grindylow gently parted the lake water and swam toward the ravine.

The Grindylow showed no fear or apprehension, which proved that the sea monster was not originally there. It was indeed Magical Creatures introduced by the organizers... After observing the sea monster beneath him, Sean came to a conclusion.

This put his mind at ease.

Following the direction they had come from, the Grindylow carried the three of them closer.

Soon, they saw the ravine that stretched across the bottom of the lake.

Sean patted the Grindylow, signaling it to slow down.

He looked at the other two. "Did you sense anything was wrong?"

Both of them shook their heads.

Sean became puzzled; he hadn't sensed anything either.

There was no increase in water temperature, nor were there any strange ripples penetrating the lake.

As Sean drew closer, he looked toward the original spot and was surprised to find that the large mass of dark figures that had been there had disappeared, replaced by numerous Merpeople Guard wielding sharp tridents.

Merpeople have iron-gray skin and long, messy, dark green hair. Their eyes are yellow, as are their broken teeth, and they wear pebbles strung together with thick ropes around their necks.

They spotted Sean and his group, their thick fish tails slapping the lake water forcefully before revealing malicious smiles.

"Sean, there!" Daisy, with her sharp eyes, tugged at Sean's sleeve and pointed to a spot.

Sean looked over and saw the center of the Merpeople, a tall pile of white bones, with five chains at the top, each chain ending in a stone.

Stephanie immediately recognized it. "[Those are Ancient Runes inscriptions on Engraved Stone, typically used to fix curses.]"

Unspelling? Just as I guessed, it wasn't about extracting memories, but rather about obscuring a memory.

But what about that sea monster...?

With these doubts in mind, Sean tried to get a little closer.

The Merpeople did not launch an attack, but instead sang Merpeople song the instant they approached the ravine.

The Merpeople Song can disorient travelers who are listening to it, and gradually corrupt their minds.

Is this the final challenge? Worried, Sean quietly opened the ring, and then, the little Selma Lake Monster swam out.

The little guy suppressed his urge to play happily in the lake and, as Sean instructed, shook the five fleshy whiskers on his head.

If the Grindylow can sense distant situations through the fluctuations of water flow, then the Selma Lake Monster is the true king of the water—its whiskers can sense the specific situation in an entire body of water like radar, and it can also manipulate the water flow when needed.

The little Selma Lake Monster sensed something and shook its head at Sean.

It did not sense the sea monster that Sean had described.

That guy really isn't here, so why did I encounter him in the first place... Sean was completely baffled.

However, the sea monster's disappearance is not a good thing. All that's needed is to pass through the Merpeople singer and obtain the Rune Engraved Stone on the chain.

The Merpeople Song is something you can't hear even if you plug your ears. This song travels through the waves, and as long as you are in the lake and within range of the song, you will definitely "hear" it.

Meanwhile, the referee's table in the stands was reciting the Merpeople Song.

"To be honest, I think it might be a little difficult for these kids—but if they can figure out a solution, it shouldn't be too much of a problem?"