Chapter 243: Not Arriving as Scheduled

"Do you feel okay? Harry," Cedric asked when getting off the carriage.

"Quite good," Harry said, which was his real feeling. He recalled all the spells he knew in his mind, and remembered them all clearly, which made him feel much better.

In the center of the abandoned town of Tranzero stood a tower that was not very high. The bottom of the tower extended into three walls, separating the eastern entrance, the western entrance, and the northern entrance.

"Each entrance has an initial enemy, and according to the three directions of east, west, and north, the strength decreases in order," Madame Maxime introduced. "And champions, you will be sorted according to your total scores from high to low, and enter the east, west, and north entrances respectively. The champion with the highest score will face the strongest initial enemy."

When they walked towards the entrance, Madame Maxime continued, "After defeating the initial enemy, you will enter a huge maze full of changes. Next, there is no distinction between difficulty. Champions will use their wisdom and courage, and of course, add a little luck, to try their best to find the road to the top of the tower. The trophy is stored there. The first person to get the trophy will become the champion."

"If you encounter danger in the maze, you only need to shout 'End in Advance' three times, and the maze will automatically teleport you to the entrance. We will give you scores based on your performance in it. Each riddle completed can add 15 points, and each enemy defeated can add 20 points," Madame Maxime continued. "If every group of champions chooses to end in advance, then we will select the champion according to the total score. I hope all champions will never try to be brave. According to our rules, even if you choose to end in advance, there is a possibility of winning the championship."

Harry and Cedric stood in front of the entrance door, looking at the huge golden seal on the door and the countdown above. It was still more than a minute away from nine o'clock. They nervously pinched their wands, counting the numbers. Finally, the time was up, the seal disappeared, revealing a dark door hole.

"Lumos," Cedric lit his wand. "I'll go in first."

"Okay," Harry widened his eyes, trying his best to distinguish the situation inside.

Just as they completely entered the magic tower, faint blue light lit up around them, reflecting their first enemy: Acromantula.

"Weren't the spiders in the Forbidden Forest all cleared?" Harry's face didn't look very good.

"This is Beauxbatons," Cedric reminded. "They can completely find some big spiders from other places. However, Harry, you have experience, right?"

Harry was silent. When he first faced a spider, it was Neville who saved him with a Time-Moment, and he only cast a Repelling Curse and just cared about running for his life; and when he faced a spider for the second time, he was surrounded by the centaur army, and all he needed to do was protect himself.

"Let me think," Harry said. "The last time we killed a spider was using a Fire Curse, but the truly most efficient one was the centaur's sword."

"It's not that we don't have swords," Cedric narrowed his eyes. "I'll ignite it, and you take the opportunity to cut off its pincers."

"Get ready..." Cedric started to run forward, and then he suddenly rolled to the side. "Incendio!"

The flames sprayed from the wand ignited the hair on the spider's legs and quickly spread to the whole body. Harry noticed that when facing big monsters with a lot of hair, fire always had a miraculous effect.

While the spider was jumping on the spot, Harry pointed his wand at its forelimbs: "Sectumsempra!"

The still-burning pincers fell to the ground, and some black juice was quickly roasted dry by the flames, emitting a somewhat unpleasant smell.

"Phew, phew." Cedric rolled back to a safe distance again, and then the two of them chanted together: "Sectumsempra!"

It had to be said that this spell was the most useful attack spell Harry had ever learned. The invisible blade flashed, and cut off another of the spider's pincers and two legs on the right side. As the body hair burned out, the flames on the spider gradually extinguished, but it was now trapped in pain and no longer had the extra strength to launch an attack.

Harry and Cedric bypassed the dying spider and came to the iron door that was originally behind the spider, but the door was tightly closed, and the two pushed hard but couldn't push it open.

"Perhaps we have to kill it," Cedric guessed. "Such a dark level, maybe it was designed by Karkaroff."

"Speaking of Karkaroff, he had been planning to run away, but I don't know why he didn't run," Harry faced the spider again. "It's also quite strange."

"But do we really have to kill it?" Cedric hesitated. "However, it won't live long like this anyway."

Harry suddenly had an impulse. The desire to kill surged into his heart. He wanted to cast a Killing Curse at the spider. The Killing Curse was as simple as eating and drinking for him...

"You try it," Harry said softly, and then tried hard to restrain the various thoughts that suddenly surged in his heart. He didn't find it difficult to guess that it must be Voldemort who had already come near here.

Cedric hesitated for a while, then he used a high-power Sectumsempra spell to split the spider in half, and the door hole of the first level opened.

They walked into the true interior of the magic tower. Harry couldn't help but feel surprised by the scene inside. Except for a staircase going up on the left and right, the three door holes in front of him were constantly changing. He could imagine that in the core of the magic tower, there was a complex maze that constantly rotated and translated, connecting those entrances and exits in each level, inducing students who were unwilling to climb stairs honestly to go in and try their luck.

This was why, in the map Tang Tang Nade gave, there was a huge blank square in the middle of each level.

"How do you think we should go, Harry?" Cedric glanced at the instructions stuck on the door. "Enter the maze in the middle, everything will become random; but if we climb the stairs, we have to face a test in each level."

"What do you mean by test?" Harry didn't see any enemies under the stairs.

"Either a riddle, or an enemy, it's hard to say," Cedric shrugged. "We have already solved the spider on the first level, and we have to go to the second level to know what the new test is."

"Why not try entering the maze?" Harry suggested. "We are on the first level now. No matter where the maze sends us, we won't lose."

"But first, the maze might go around and around and not get out, which will delay time," Cedric said steadily. "Second, I feel this test might be very difficult, and our strength might not necessarily be able to complete it."

"If we climb the stairs down-to-earth, we can at least get enough points, and points are our advantage," Cedric suggested.

"But the first level used Sectumsempra twice, and I estimate this magic tower has at least ten levels. Our physical strength may not be able to hold on," Harry was still hesitating. "Without taking another path, we have a high possibility of not being able to persist to the end."

Just as the two were discussing the follow-up strategy, a cold and high-pitched voice suddenly rang in the maze.

"Old thing, are you still hiding from me?"

Cedric revealed a look of confusion, but Harry knew as soon as he heard it that this was Voldemort's voice.

"Are you waiting for support, or are you not here at all?" Voldemort continued to shout. "If you don't appear again, I will go down to attack the students."

"Children, leave quickly," Deng Buliduo's voice also rang out. "I'll deal with him."

Cedric seemed to be frightened. His expression was suspicious, and he asked tremblingly: "What's the situation?"

"The Dark Lord has come, just as planned," Harry said anxiously. "But it shouldn't be like this. The Doctors should have already ambushed him, and he should have been subdued in the blink of an eye."

"Doctors?" Cedric didn't react. "No matter who they are, it looks like they didn't come."

Harry suddenly felt hot in his hand. He picked up his wand and looked. The silver-white fine sand that was originally flowing in the Time-Moment didn't know when it turned into gold, like smoke and silk.

He saw a black dog jump out from the corner and run into the first door hole in front. He heard a voice whispering to him: "That moment has come..."

"I have to go. Cedric, hurry up and leave," Harry said. "This is too dangerous. Saving your own life is the most important thing."

"But what about the competition?" Cedric already had the idea of leaving, but he was unwilling to give up the competition just like that.

That voice became clearer and clearer. Harry vaguely heard that it seemed to be Zhang Qiu talking to him, "The rift of time..."

"I will go to the top of the tower. Deng Buliduo is there fighting Voldemort," Harry blurted out the name he didn't usually say. "If we win, I will bring the trophy down."

"Now, run!" After Harry finished speaking, he didn't look back and rushed towards the first door hole. He didn't know where the change in the Time-Moment and Zhang Qiu's voice came from, but if this was related to the mysterious time and space, then fate seemed to finally want to reveal itself in reality at this time.

Harry squatted down in front of the first door hole. In front of him was an bottomless abyss. The maze hadn't run here yet, but this was exactly what he wanted. Harry lightly turned over and landed on the platform below the door hole, then took out the magic key and directly opened a door.

Tang Tang Nade's evil path appeared in his mind. Harry ran all the way without any obstacles. He believed that fate would not lead him to an unfavorable situation, because during that time travel in the third year, they did too many things to make up for fate. Now the gift of fate seemed to finally be revealed in reality. ===== CHAPTER 244 =====

Tang Tang Nade's unorthodox methods surfaced in Harry's mind. Harry ran forward without any obstruction, believing that fate would not lead him into an unfavorable situation, because during that third-year time travel, they had done too much to make up for fate, and now the gifts of fate seemed to finally be revealing themselves in reality.