After he finished speaking, the stone sculpture of the leader in the middle, who was holding the sword with his back to the side, suddenly changed his sword stance and held it with his right hand.
The enormous stone sword, carrying the force of a cleaving through the air, slashed straight at Draco, aiming for his face.
" Draco, watch out!" Hermione cried out in alarm.
Draco reacted extremely quickly, suddenly flipping to the side to dodge the attack. His stone sword slammed heavily into the ice, creating large cracks.
He steadied himself and, without hesitation, swung his wand, chanting a fierce incantation. " Reducto!"
The dazzling green light rushed straight towards the stone sculpture leader.
After striking its chest precisely, its heavy stone body shattered instantly, with rubble falling in a shower.
Within seconds, the statue collapsed with a crash, turning into a pile of scattered stones, and remained motionless.
Before the three could catch their breath, the other six stone warriors moved simultaneously, taking heavy steps and wielding stone swords, launching a fierce attack on the three from three directions.
Fortunately, these stone sculptures were cast from massive stones, and their movements were slow and clumsy. The way they swung their swords and took steps was noticeably sluggish, giving the three of them enough time to react.
" Hermione, the left flank is yours! Draco, hold the right flank!" Professor Babbling calmly commanded, her wand pointing directly at the two charging stone statues. " Impedimenta!"
A transparent magical barrier instantly rose in front of him, and the stone sword of the statue in front of him struck the barrier with a deafening roar, causing ripples to spread across the barrier.
Professor Babbling seized the opportunity to cast another spell, unleashing a burst of magic. " Diffindo!" Sharp magical blades swept across the stone statue's body, instantly cleaving it into several pieces, scattering fragments all over the ground.
" Incarcerous!" Hermione stared intently at the two stone statues on the left. Knowing that her magic was not as powerful as Draco's, she chose a precise and effective spell and swiftly swung her wand.
A silver rope flew from the tip of the wand and tightly bound the legs of a stone statue, leaving it only able to swing its longsword in vain.
She then turned her wand and aimed it at another statue:
" Confringo!" A small ball of explosive light struck the statue's leg, sending stone fragments flying. The statue instantly lost its balance and collapsed to the ground, never to rise again.
Draco, on the other hand, faced the two stone statues on his right.
His attack was swift and decisive. Seeing the stone statue approaching, he abandoned his single spell and unleashed. " Incendio!"
The raging flames, carrying intense heat, rushed towards the stone statue, scorching its stone body and making its surface brittle.
Draco then loudly chanted the Power Spell:
" Fire Dragon Attack!"
The fire dragon crashed violently into the core of the stone statue, and the two stone sculptures instantly shattered, turning into countless fragments of rock.
The three worked together seamlessly, each fulfilling their role. Taking advantage of the stone sculpture's slow movement, they launched a counterattack step by step, piling up more and more rubble in the Repository, and the fierce battle intensified.
Finally, the three easily defeated the seven stone statues, but as soon as one batch was destroyed, new stone warriors kept falling from the dome, as if they could never be killed off.
The magical light flickered within the barrier, which Hermione handled with ease. Draco glanced at it, then relaxed and stopped protecting her, focusing instead on facing the enemy head-on.
After countless stone statues were shattered, suddenly, the blue and white magic surrounding them abruptly contracted, all the energy shrinking back to a single point on the ground. The light vanished abruptly, and the surroundings instantly plunged into darkness.
When Draco lit his wand again, his pupils contracted, and he realized that he was the only one left in the empty Repository.
Hermione and Professor Babbling have vanished without a trace.
" Hermione! Professor!" he called out twice in a deep voice, the echoes striking the stone pillars, leaving only deathly silence.
Draco's heart sank, and the anxiety of being isolated in an unknown Ancient Magic space began to arise.
What he feared most was not the stone statues, nor the traps, but Hermione being out of his sight.
But then he remembered something, took out the Two-Way Mirror, called out to Hermione, and the mirror lit up.
Within seconds, Hermione answered, her anxious face appearing in the mirror. " Draco! Where are you? We were teleported away in the dark!"
"I'm still in the inner vault, what about you?"
"We've been teleported back to the outer vault, and the vault door is still locked!" Hermione was almost in tears. "I want to use the necklace you gave me to summon you here!"
The necklace was a gift from Draco to Hermione a long time ago. By breaking the necklace and pendant, one could forcibly summon him to Hermione's side.
"Don't rush," Draco shook his head. "There's no danger here for now, but once I leave, the inner vault doors might close forever, and all the risks we took will have been for nothing."
Professor Babbling, standing nearby, immediately nodded. " Draco is right. Once you leave Ancient Magic realm, there's a high probability you won't be able to re-enter it; someone must stay inside."
"Then you must be careful, and don't be reckless."
Draco, seeing her nervous expression, smirked. "Don't worry, I value my life more than anyone else—I haven't married you yet."
"What time is it for you to be so flirtatious!" Hermione was both angry and anxious, but her cheeks quietly turned red.
Draco didn't sever the Two-Way Mirror. He held it up in his left hand and gripped his torch-like wand in his right. "I won't sever it. You can see me in real time, don't worry."
As he spoke, he looked around and discovered small energies flying in the air, seemingly heading towards the same place.
It's as if it's guiding me.
So Draco followed the blue-white energy stream that was flying through the air and constantly converging in the same place, and soon he saw a familiar energy vortex rising from the ground again.
He stepped onto it, and the scene changed again; beneath his feet, he was back on the same ice surface.
On the other end of the Two-Way Mirror, Hermione and Professor Babbling's hearts jumped. "It's ice again!"
"Exactly the same mechanism as before!"
"Don't panic," Draco, staring ahead.
"This time there are three stone statues."
"Three?!" Hermione's heart skipped a beat. " Draco, are you sure you can manage alone?"
"A man can't say no," Draco retorted.
Hermione, both embarrassed and anxious on the other side of the mirror, could only stare intently at the image. Draco pointed at the ice. " Specialis Revelio!"
Three kneeling swordsman statues slowly appeared.
He moved the statues in the same way as before, so that the shadows of the three statues were perfectly aligned with their bodies.
After the shadow lines converge at a single point in the center --
Thump--thump--thump--
The three stone statues simultaneously raise their swords and strike the ice surface.
Suddenly, something unexpected happened! The rightmost statue instantly teleported, its longsword aimed straight at Draco's head!
"Watch out—!" Hermione screamed.
Draco reacted almost instinctively, shouting sharply:
" Protego!" The transparent magic shield shattered instantly, and the stone statue's sword struck the shield but was violently deflected.
Draco countered with a single move. " Stupefy!"
The red light struck the stone statue's chest, causing it to shatter instantly.
It shattered into pieces on the ground.
On the other end of the mirror, Professor Babbling breathed a sigh of relief and said to Hermione, "Don't panic, he can cast the Shield Charm instantly, and his reaction time and magical control far surpass those of the best students."