As she ate, she couldn't help but urge Draco, " Draco, hurry up and eat! Stop dawdling!"
Draco ignored him and continued to cut the steak at his own leisurely pace.
Hermione got impatient and simply forked a small piece of pudding from her plate and held it directly to Draco's mouth. "Open your mouth!"
This sudden "feeding" almost made Professor Babbling choke while she was drinking soup. Seeing Draco's bewildered expression turn into helplessness, she finally couldn't help but laugh.
"Wow, what a rare sight! The great the Chosen One duo battling it out at the dinner table!"
Under Hermione's stern gaze, Draco opened his mouth and accepted the "forced feeding," then sped up his eating.
After a satisfying meal, the three wiped their mouths, got ready again, and hurried towards the Map Chamber.
This time, their steps were more resolute, for they held in their hands a new power capable of turning the tide.
Draco, carrying his new wand " Watcher," returned to the Map Chamber with Hermione and Professor Babbling.
The enormous round mirror and the portraits of the guardians on all four sides seemed to have been waiting for this moment.
"Alright, Draco," Rackham said approvingly, "Now you can proceed to the final trial, or more accurately, the final mission."
"Our hope is in your hands," Bakar said, glancing at the new wand. "When necessary, do not hesitate to use its power to do what must be done."
"Enough with the small talk, please, the three of you, move to an area outside the scope of the round mirror." Rookwood gestured.
The three of them slowly retreated to the edge of the round mirror.
Just as the three people's feet left the round mirror...
A deep, resounding sound of machinery starting up rang out.
The round mirror suddenly rippled with violent waves!
Then, an even more astonishing change occurred.
In the area depicted on the map, the solid ground began to soften and ripple, eventually collapsing and turning into a pool of water!
The water continued to surge and then, as if drawn away by an invisible force, quickly sank and dried up, revealing a staircase entrance several meters deep leading directly to the basement.
"This... is the final passage to the Repository?" Professor Babbling muttered to herself, gripping her wand tighter.
"I hope Ranrok hasn't succeeded yet..." Hermione stared at the basement door, praying anxiously.
"You'll find out once you go in." Draco stepped onto the cold, downward-sloping stone steps, with the two men following closely behind.
They arrived at a circular, pool-like space with smooth walls and only one closed door directly in front of them.
The door was opened, and the three entered.
A huge stone door in front slid open automatically to both sides, revealing a huge natural cave behind it.
The cave ceiling is riddled with cracks in the rock, and countless thick tree roots hang down from above like giant pythons, piercing through the rock layers.
Those must be the root systems of ancient trees deep within the Forbidden Forest.
Suddenly, a piercing drilling sound shattered the silence, accompanied by the rumble of collapsing rocks, and the ground trembled.
"A drill! It's Ranrok!"
Hermione's voice was filled with barely suppressed panic.
The worst-case scenario appears to be unfolding.
Deep inside the cave, a massive and menacing-looking drill was working frantically.
The machine resembled a steel behemoth: thick Goblin Mithril and cast iron riveted together, with exposed rivets and gears, and wooden spoked wheels and tracks at the bottom, which shook the rock walls and kicked up stone chips when it was running.
The two wielded high-spiral Mithril drill blades, their surfaces engraved with eerie green runes that eroded Ancient Magic barriers, their edges dusted with stone chips and mineral powder.
Steam pipes and magic conduits intertwine, the boiler emits sulfurous white mist, and the side control room is operated by Goblin engineers.
"Don't miss a single pebble, the thing must be here!" came the Goblin overseer's roar.
"No time!" Draco's eyes sharpened as he tossed a flying broomstick he carried with him to Professor Babbling, then quickly mounted the broomstick and reached out to Hermione.
Hermione immediately understood, deftly turning sideways to sit behind Draco, wrapping her arms around his waist.
"Go!" Draco shouted, and the two brooms swooped down from the edge of the cave platform like arrows.
They charged straight at the drill rig that was working frantically and the seven or eight Goblin guards standing watch around it!
The Goblin, seeing the aerial attack, screamed and raised their weapons.
But Draco's speed and the strength of the " Watcher " far exceeded the limits of their physical reaction.
The tip of the " Watcher's " staff erupted with several condensed, almost tangible, silver beams of light. These were not ordinary Stunning Spell, but rather energy surges infused with the precise control of Ancient Magic.
The beam of light struck each Goblin guard precisely on the forehead or chest, and the Goblin struck instantly lost consciousness.
Draco abruptly stopped his broom next to the drill truck's control room, grabbed the Goblin engineer inside, and casually chopped him on the side of the neck, knocking him unconscious before tossing him aside.
The entire attack lasted only two or three seconds.
However, the drill rig, without an operator, continued to roar forward due to inertia, and the drill bit continued to spin.
" Hermione, Professor, Shield Charm!" Draco roared, pointing his wand at the drill truck.
He must destroy this steel monster completely in one strike!
" Protego!"
Hermione and Professor Babbling cast spells simultaneously, creating two powerful barriers that firmly protected the area where the three of them were located.
" Reducto!"
Draco poured all the immense Ancient Magic contained within into this simplest and most direct destructive spell!
"Boom--!!!!!!"
A deafening roar, as if the heavens and earth were collapsing, exploded in the cave!
This attack was amplified by Ancient Magic, and a crimson pillar of fire struck the drill engine's power core precisely.
The drill truck's thick shell of Mithril and cast iron was easily melted like paper in front of this beam of destructive light!
The internal boilers, gears, pipes, and magic core were detonated by unimaginable high temperatures and shockwaves in a single second!
Scorching flames, twisted metal fragments, and raging magical turbulence swept outwards like a storm, crashing heavily against the Shield Charm that Hermione and Professor Babbling had worked together to maintain.
When the smoke and firelight dissipated, the terrifying " Earthcore Ripper " had become a pile of twisted, charred, and still-burning scrap metal, completely ceasing operation.
The drill bit got stuck in the rock wall and stopped turning.
"Let's go! Into the tunnel!" Draco didn't stop. He rode his broomstick, took Hermione's hand, and rushed into the drill tunnel, which had been blown open even more. Professor Babbling followed on her broomstick.
The tunnel was a complete mess.
Everywhere there were fallen boulders and fragments of drill bits.
They flew forward rapidly for nearly a hundred meters, and the tunnel suddenly opened up, leading into a much larger new cave.