Ian had no attention to spare for the host's somewhat pointed sarcasm. He had already noticed that, among the group of wizards besieging Allen, several beyond the front line had taken out Magic Scrolls but showed no intention of using them like the others. Instead, they were slowly converging toward the middle from different directions. Thinking of what Graves had once told him, it was obvious they were waiting for a chance to deliver a fatal blow to Allen.
Ian, who already knew Graves's true plan, was neither worried nor concerned about whether this obvious smokescreen of an attack could hurt Allen. From the way Allen was now constantly teasing the other contestants with prank Charms, Ian had realized that once the real assassination began, it probably would not be something they could pull off just by relying on superior numbers.
But what made him increasingly anxious was that, after the assassination, action might begin in the stands. Ian looked up in that direction. He was still quite some distance away, and between them were countless crisscrossing spells and numerous contestants.
Although this competition was no longer like the old format, where two sides stood in a line and fought one-on-one, and although everyone knew Allen possessed multiple Teleportation Methods, so the Dueling Tournament had not placed an Anti-Apparition barrier over the arena, there was no doubt that Apparating in a place like this, where spells flew everywhere and magical fluctuations were far too chaotic, was dangerous—especially at the center point where Allen was surrounded by the crowd.
Ian estimated that if he Apparated directly beside Allen, the smoke from the Apparition probably would not even have fully dispersed before he himself was struck by multiple spells. But now that he had adjusted his mindset back to that of an