Chapter 352

Chapter 352: Chapter 352

Wednesday, Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom.

When Lynn and the others pushed open the door just in time for class, they discovered that all the previously well-arranged desks had been moved against the walls.

The chairs had also been stacked atop the desks, piled so high that they nearly touched the ceiling.

This made the classroom feel exceptionally spacious—so empty that their voices echoed whenever they spoke. It felt less like a classroom and more like a training ground.

Professor Ellis had already arrived. At that moment, he was standing behind the lectern, fiddling with a helmet in his hands.

The helmet had a rather peculiar design.

It wasn’t a fully enclosed steel helmet of the sort worn by knights, with only the eyes exposed, nor was it the smooth, streamlined helmet worn by motorcyclists.

It was something in between.

Its metallic surface was smooth and gleamed coldly beneath the candlelight.

A row of tiny runes ran across the top of the helmet, glowing faintly as though they were breathing. A narrow slit extended down the front from the forehead to the chin, presumably providing ventilation and visibility. On either side of the helmet was a protruding device fitted with several buttons.

Lynn was somewhat surprised by the sight. He hadn’t expected Professor Ellis to be such a practical instructor.

"Good afternoon, everyone."

Once all the students had arrived, Ellis addressed the class in a gentle voice. "Put away your textbooks. I’ve read Defensive Magical Theory, and it’s useless."

With that single sentence, Professor Ellis instantly won the favor of every student in the classroom.

They understood all too well. They had been reading that book since September, nearly half the school year, until their throats were dry, their heads were spinning, and they had begun questioning their very existence.

Everything written in that book was repetitive nonsense. Not a single word was useful.

"This professor definitely knows what he’s doing," Edgar whispered to Lynn. "I hope his contract gets renewed."

"I’ll take that as a good omen, Mr. Bones," Ellis called from behind the lectern, his voice tinged with amusement.

Either his hearing was better than average, or Edgar simply hadn’t spoken quietly enough, but he had heard every word.

"Unfortunately, I can’t award Hufflepuff any points for that."

Ellis smiled and continued, "In my opinion, theory is always the simplest part of this course."

His voice wasn’t loud, yet every word could be heard clearly.

"You can easily study it on your own. There’s no need to waste precious class time on it."

Ellis paused, straightened, and walked out from behind the lectern. His gaze drifted across the classroom, moving from one student’s face to another.

"During my lessons, I would much rather teach you how to protect yourselves when confronted by danger."

As he spoke, Ellis suddenly slowed his speech.

For no apparent reason, Edgar’s heart skipped a beat.

"This danger could come from anywhere, or it could come from anyone... Expelliarmus!"

Before Ellis had even finished his sentence, a Disarming Charm shot toward Edgar.

Anyone who didn’t know better might have thought Moody had returned to Hogwarts to teach.

Their styles were far too similar—a sudden attack without the slightest warning, designed to catch people completely off guard.

Faced with the unexpected Disarming Charm, Edgar instinctively threw himself to the side.

His movements were so fluid that it seemed as though he had rehearsed them countless times.

His shoulder struck the floor. He rolled, dropped into a crouch, and raised his wand—all in one smooth motion, without wasting the slightest movement.

He was far too familiar with this feeling. Lynn often did the same thing while giving the three of them special training, and Lynn didn’t even need such a lengthy windup.

Ellis was also rather surprised by Edgar’s reaction speed.

He raised an eyebrow. "Excellent reflexes. In that case, you—Mr. Bones—shall demonstrate the subject of my first lesson."

With that, Ellis tossed him the helmet in his hands.

"This helmet allows your consciousness to experience an immersive encounter with enemies I have personally faced."

His voice lowered slightly as he tapped the side of the helmet twice. Two red buttons flashed in response.

"It contains records of various dangerous creatures I’ve encountered over the years, many of which you have probably never heard of."

He looked up at Edgar.

"All you have to do is put it on and select an enemy. After that, your consciousness will be drawn into a simulated environment, where you will face that enemy.

"You may fight using anything you’ve learned—Charms, Transfiguration, defensive magic, fleeing—anything goes."

He paused and looked at Edgar’s apprehensive expression before smiling.

"Don’t worry. It won’t harm you. If you ’die’ inside the simulated environment, your consciousness will immediately be ejected. At worst, you’ll suffer a bit of a fright. You certainly won’t lose any flesh."

Edgar stared hesitantly at the helmet.

His gaze shifted from the helmet to Ellis’s face, then from Ellis’s face back to the helmet.

He was thinking, This isn’t some soul-stealing alchemical device, is it? It couldn’t be the kind of thing that traps your consciousness forever the moment you put it on, leaving your body behind as an empty shell, could it?

Edgar turned toward Lynn.

Lynn met his gaze.

Don’t worry. It’s just an ordinary alchemical item, not some sinister soul-stealing device. You can put it on.

Only then did Edgar relax.

He walked over to Ellis, accepted the helmet, took a deep breath, and placed it over his head.

A crisp activation sound came from the top of the helmet, and Edgar’s consciousness sank into it.

Immediately afterward, an image was projected from the back of the helmet.

The projection was both large and remarkably clear.

Within the image, Edgar stood staring blankly at a lengthy list.

The entries were arranged vertically, one after another. Every line contained a name, including those of several unfamiliar species Edgar had never heard of and couldn’t even spell. They had probably been discovered by Ellis in some remote corner of the world.

Edgar’s hand hovered over the list as he hesitated, uncertain which enemy to select.

He even began muttering under his breath.

"Troll, dragon, Erumpent, Quintaped, Dementor, kelpie... What’s this pitch-black thing? Why does it look so familiar?"

As he spoke, Edgar tapped the entry, just as one would open an application on the screen of a magic phone.

The list disappeared, and the image began trembling as though it were loading or rendering.

Then the scene changed, and Edgar found himself standing amid a ruined wasteland.

The ruins were incredibly realistic.

Buildings had collapsed, leaving behind only piles of shattered bricks and twisted metal. The ground was riddled with craters filled with water, their surfaces covered in drifting ash. The air was gray and choked with smoke, severely limiting visibility. Fires burned in the distance, orange flames dancing among the ruins with a steady crackle.

Above the ruins floated a pitch-black, vaguely humanoid creature.

Lynn’s eyes instantly widened.

That childlike size, the ink-black mist, and those red points of light resembling eyes—he was far too familiar with them.

Wasn’t this... the thing that had escaped from his grasp that day?

Edgar had clearly recognized the creature as well. His face instantly turned pale.

He immediately grabbed a nearby broom, mounted it, and fled.

He flew so quickly that his hair stood on end in the wind and his robes streamed behind him like a flag.

You must be joking! Even Lynn couldn’t catch that thing. Wouldn’t fighting it myself be tantamount to suicide?

Although this was only a simulation and not reality, Edgar still had no desire to discover what dying felt like.

Who in their right mind would seek death for no reason?

Unfortunately, the flying Obscurus clearly had no intention of allowing Edgar to escape.

Black mist surged violently as a massive, pitch-black serpent caught up with Edgar in the blink of an eye.

The enormous serpent opened its jaws, revealing a mouth filled with sharp black teeth, and lunged at him.

"Confringo!"

Edgar spun around and fired the Blasting Curse at it.

His movements were swift. His wand slid from his sleeve, his wrist flicked, and its tip pointed toward the giant serpent as a piercing beam of light shot forth.

Boom!

The Blasting Curse detonated against the serpent’s head. Sparks flew as black mist surged outward.

The explosion stirred up a dense cloud of darkness that completely obscured Edgar’s vision.

He could no longer see the serpent or the ruins. There was nothing around him but thick black mist, moving as though it were alive as it surged in from every direction and surrounded him.

Edgar instinctively waved his wand.

"Protego!"

The instant his Shield Charm formed, a massive tail slammed into it.

The tail swept out of the black mist without warning, moving as swiftly as lightning. It struck the magical barrier with a dull, heavy thud.

Bang!

The tremendous impact knocked Edgar straight off his broom. His body spun through the air while the broom slipped out from beneath him and flew into the distance.

His Shield Charm held, but the force of the impact passed through the barrier and slammed into his chest as though he had been struck head-on by a charging troll.

"Whoa! Aaaaah!"

Edgar’s screams echoed through the projection as his body tumbled through the air, falling faster and faster.

Just as he was about to strike the ground, the image abruptly disappeared and Edgar’s consciousness returned to his body.

"Aaaaah!"

After letting out one final terrified scream, Edgar finally came to his senses.

"Huh? I’m all right." His voice carried the surprise of someone who had only just realized, I’m still alive.

A wave of good-natured laughter immediately erupted from the class.

Edgar reached up, removed the helmet, and handed it back to Ellis.

"You assessed the danger accurately," Ellis said calmly. "Your Shield Charm is also quite proficient."

He paused before adding, "You were simply a little unlucky."

Edgar’s mouth twitched.

He wanted to say, "It wasn’t bad luck. That thing was simply too powerful," but he ultimately kept the words to himself.

Holding the helmet, Ellis stood in the center of the classroom and surveyed the students.

Just as he was about to select the next student to participate, Terry Boot suddenly raised his hand.

"Do you have a question, Mr. Boot?" Ellis asked gently, as though speaking to an old friend.

"Professor, what was that black creature in the projection?" Terry’s voice wasn’t loud, but every word was clear.

"An Obscurus," Ellis replied succinctly.

The students immediately erupted into heated discussion.

An Obscurus.

The term alone was shocking. It was the stuff of legends—something written about in books, mentioned by professors during lectures, and included in examinations, but something none of them had ever witnessed with their own eyes.

Obscurials had all but disappeared from the wizarding world at the beginning of the previous century. Nearly a hundred years had passed since then.

Yet now, someone was telling them that he had encountered an Obscurus?

"Then, Professor, where did you see it?" Susan called from among the Hufflepuff students.

Lynn glanced at Susan, who had asked the question, and silently gave her a thumbs-up.

"That..." Ellis deliberately drew out the word, further heightening the students’ curiosity. "I happened upon it by chance last August while searching for undiscovered magical creatures in Canada."

"I was camping in a valley in the Rocky Mountains that night when I heard something moving outside. When I went to investigate, I saw it wandering through the valley as though it were searching for something."

He paused, a wry smile appearing on his face.

"At the time, I didn’t know it was an Obscurus. I merely thought it was beautiful, mysterious, and—dangerous. I wanted to get closer, but the moment I took a single step, it noticed me.

"Its body suddenly contracted, and then—it exploded. Black mist poured from its body like water bursting through a dam and surged toward me.

"I turned and ran, grabbed my suitcase, Disapparated, and escaped. By the time I recovered my senses, I was hundreds of miles away."

"Is an Obscurus truly that terrifying?" another student asked.

"Purely as an opponent... it is terrifying," Ellis replied calmly. "At any rate, I couldn’t defeat it."

"The destructive power of an Obscurus is anything but ordinary.

"You could tell that merely by looking at the ruins in the projection. That wasn’t a village or a small town. It was—a city.

"A city destroyed by an Obscurus within a very short period.

"Buildings collapsed, roads were severed, rivers were diverted, and the ground itself caved in. Thousands died, while tens of thousands were displaced. That wasn’t a war. It was—a natural disaster."

He paused, his gaze sweeping across the young faces before him.

"If I hadn’t fled quickly enough that night, perhaps I wouldn’t be standing here as your professor today."

After saying this, Ellis didn’t wait for the students to react before selecting another lucky participant.

His gaze swept across the classroom and settled upon a boy whose hand was raised high in the air.

"You." Ellis pointed toward the boy. "Come forward."

The selected student couldn’t have been more eager. He rushed over to Ellis in a few quick steps, took the helmet, and put it on without a second thought.

He immediately selected the Obscurus, ready to engage it in a life-or-death struggle.

The result... Well, anyone could have guessed it with their toenails.

He was thoroughly thrashed.

His consciousness had barely entered the simulated environment before the Obscurus appeared directly in front of him.

He didn’t even have time to raise his wand or utter a spell before the Obscurus’s black mist swallowed him whole.

His consciousness was immediately ejected. He removed the helmet with a pale face, trembling lips, and a violently shaking body.

This student had fared even worse than Edgar.

At least Edgar had managed to flee for a while, fire a Blasting Curse, and cast a Shield Charm.

This boy had accomplished nothing. He had entered the simulation and immediately died.

This seemed to ignite the students’ competitive spirit, and they began scrambling for a chance to fight the Obscurus.

The result?

One after another, they stepped forward, put on the helmet, selected the Obscurus, and were instantly killed.

Some lasted one second, some lasted two, and some lasted three—but not a single student survived for more than five seconds.

Ellis didn’t appear to mind.

He simply stood in the center of the classroom, watching as the students stepped forward one after another, were instantly killed one after another, and removed the helmet one after another with pale faces, trembling lips, and shaking hands.

This also made it easier for him to assess the students’ overall magical abilities.

In general, they were fairly mediocre.

Most of the students were at roughly the same level. They could cast a Shield Charm, a Disarming Charm, or a Stunning Spell, but that was about the extent of their abilities.

Against an enemy of the Obscurus’s caliber, they were like kindergarteners attempting to fight a professional boxer.

It wasn’t merely that they "couldn’t win."

There was no fight to be had in the first place.

"Mr. Lynn, wouldn’t you like to give it a try?" Ellis called from the center of the classroom.

Lynn considered it for a moment before shaking his head.

"No, thank you, Professor," he replied. "I don’t believe it’s necessary."

Ellis smiled, unbothered by the refusal.

"Indeed. Your strength was already thoroughly demonstrated during the Triwizard Tournament. To be perfectly honest, you are stronger than the vast majority of adult wizards."

Lynn: "..."

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