Chapter 472 Seeing the mermaids in such decline, I feel relieved

But seeing the neighbors in the Black Lake like this, Les felt relieved.

If there was a powerful alien civilization at the bottom of the Black Lake or above the Slytherin College common room, he would not be able to sleep well.

The arrival of Les and his four companions disturbed the mermaids in the stone dwellings. They ran out of the caves with spears in their hands, and their yellow eyes flashed fiercely. When Les and his four companions passed by, they slapped the lake with their strong and powerful silver tails, causing ripples.

The mermaids' actions did not anger Les, because in his opinion, the actions of these mermaids were more like self-protection than a sign of attack. They seemed to be extremely afraid of the four strangers who broke into this place.

Les was not panicked at all, but Harry and Neville became nervous. They reached into their robes and drew out their wands.

The mermaids immediately scattered like birds and beasts, trembling and hiding in their stone houses, nestling by the window and quietly looking at them.

"It seems that they still remember the dignity of wizards. That's good. Put away your wands. They won't be used for the time being." Les was too lazy to make trouble here. He led Harry and the others to swim forward quickly.

As they went deeper into the mermaid village, the number of stone dwellings increased, and the dwellings gradually became more exquisite. Some dwellings even had gardens attached, and some mermaids even kept Grinlodi as pets.

The arrival of wizards disturbed the residents here, and they emerged from all directions. Unlike the mermaids just now, these mermaids had curious eyes. Harry and his webbed hands and gills behind their ears were very eye-catching, and they were also quite shocked that Les, a pure human, could move freely underwater.

After the four of them walked around the fishman village for a few times, they came to the square in the center of the village.

There were some houses around the square, and a large group of mermaids floated in front of the houses. The singing was from them. The singing mermaids surrounded a rough statue.

After discovering that there was a stone statue of a mermaid here, Les frowned. However, after carefully examining the stone sculpture and confirming that the statue had nothing to do with the royal family of the ancient mermaid kingdom, his brows relaxed immediately.

Just now, he saw many interesting phenomena along the way.

The houses outside the village are simple, while the houses inside are luxurious. This mermaid settlement seems to have a gap between the rich and the poor. The mermaids outside are wary of wizards, while the inner ones are relatively friendly. The difference in attitude is also worth savoring.

The most interesting thing is that the mermaids in the core circle seem to be encouraged by Dumbledore to participate in the competition, but the mermaids in the outer and inner layers seem to have no idea that wizards will come, which is very interesting...

'Modern mermaids have a close relationship with wizards at the top, and the middle-level is friendly to wizards but cannot get information from the core decision-making circle-the mermaid top is afraid that they will get in touch with wizards, and the bottom is hostile to wizards. Is that right? 'I have to say that Les is very satisfied with this social structure.

It would be terrible if the mermaid settlements were as united as they were thousands of years ago around the royal family.

While thinking about it, Les didn't stop and ran straight to the mermaid statue.

There were hundreds of small boxes under the mermaid's tail.

Les and Neville each picked up a box and looked at the mermaids standing by.

A mermaid who looked like a leader, who was particularly rough and fierce, swam over and asked in a hoarse and low voice: "Do you want to continue to accept the challenge?"

Les laughed and completely ignored the words of the mermaid leader and floated straight to the surface of the water.

He could probably guess what the reward after the challenge was, and he didn't need those things at all. But he didn't really leave, but floated away for a distance and then disappeared, hiding aside and observing secretly.

Harry and the other two looked at each other and felt that there was enough time, so they chose to accept further challenges.

Three mermaids separated from the mermaid group and took Harry and the other two to three small houses next to the square.

Harry followed the mermaid into the house with a nervous mood, and found that the house was empty, without any furniture, only an hourglass in the corner of the house. In addition, there were dozens of small silver fish floating in the house.

"Here." The mermaid stuffed a seaweed backpack into Harry's hand.

"If you can catch thirty small fish before the hourglass runs out, you will pass the test." The mermaid said slowly.

Harry was stunned. He carried the smooth and sturdy backpack and looked at the group of small fish. He couldn't help but have a question in his mind: Is this test too simple?

But he hoped that the mermaid's test would be as simple as possible.

The moment the mermaid flipped over the hourglass, Harry rushed out like an arrow and rushed straight to the school of fish.

Harry was born as a seeker. He had excellent dynamic vision and extremely agile body movements. If he was on land, it would be too easy to catch these slow-swimming little things. But this is underwater, which is different from the ground after all.

Harry missed the target. The fish were startled by the water flow and fled quickly. The whole room was filled with a flash of silver light.

Harry was not discouraged after the failure. He quickly adjusted and tried again. This time he succeeded, but the fish was slippery and Harry let it slip away.

Harry: ...

He suddenly felt that this test was not so simple.

Next, Harry made several more attempts. His progress was greater each time, and on the fourth attack, he was able to catch a small fish.

The expression of the mermaid next to him gradually changed from disdain to surprise.

But when he saw that Harry did not close the lid of the backpack, he could not help laughing again.

Harry was busy catching fish and completely ignored this matter. When the time was up, he looked down at the backpack and found that there were only two small fish he had just caught in it.

A feeling of frustration surged in his heart, and Harry was very disappointed for a while.

"I... um, can I challenge it again?" After two seconds, Harry adjusted his mentality and asked the mermaid next to him without much hope.

In his subconscious, he felt that this kind of trial was unlikely to allow people to participate repeatedly, but he did not expect the mermaid to agree to his request.

Harry was very excited. He had already found the trick. He only needed to try twice more and not make any low-level mistakes, and he would definitely pass the test!

Sure enough, when the time was up this time, he caught a total of 27 small fish!

"One more time!" Harry said excitedly.

"Okay, but please line up."

"Ah?" Harry looked outside and found Cedric standing outside with a funny huge bubble on his head.

He suddenly realized: this trial is more difficult than he thought.

As the first contestant to arrive here, it is a great advantage to be able to participate in two trials in a row. Presumably, the interval between trials will be longer as time goes by.

Harry retreated outside and watched Cedric go in and start catching fish in a hurry.

Cedric's situation was worse than Harry's at the beginning. Harry's hands and feet at least grew webbed feet with the help of gilly grass, but Cedric retained human hands and feet, and he still had a huge burden on his head, and he couldn't even catch up with the school of fish.

Just when Harry thought Cedric was going to give up the trial, a magical scene happened.

Cedric suddenly stopped and patted his head with his hand as if he had suddenly realized something. The huge bubble on his head trembled twice, and it seemed that he was almost punctured by him.

Then he stood still.

Miraculously, the fish actually flew towards his fish basket little by little, as if there was a strong attraction inside.

Harry: ? ? ?

Soon, Cedric caught thirty silver fish and passed the test.

The mermaid stuffed him with a box.

Cedric waved to Harry, swam to the surface of the water, and soon disappeared.

Harry took two deep breaths in a row, trying to make himself forget Cedric's way of catching fish, and then entered the room to start his third test.

While Harry was trying, other contestants arrived one after another.

There was Fleur who chose the same bubble head as Cedric, Krum who turned himself into half a shark, and Daphne who wore a strange mask on her face.

They stood outside the house and watched Harry put the fish into the fish basket with a vigorous posture.

Three times is better than three times, this time Harry finally passed the test successfully.

After getting the second small box, Harry also floated up quickly. During the ascent, he found that a steady stream of contestants were rushing towards the mermaid village.

They all showed their magical powers, some wearing Muggle diving suits, some turning into aquatic animals, and even driving a fish deep into the Black Lake.

Harry was amazed by this.

When he swam to the shallow water, Harry realized that his transformation was not over yet!

Recalling the feeling of suffocation on land, Harry decided to stay in the water for a while until the effect of the gillyweed wore off.

‘I hope there is enough time.’ He prayed quietly in his heart.

If his gills didn’t disappear after an hour, he would have to bite the bullet and float up.

Harry drifted underwater idly, and then he saw Neville and Luna who arrived before him. Both of them were holding two boxes.

Obviously they had passed the test of the mermaid, but he didn’t know how they did it.

At this time, Cedric also appeared.

Because there were no webbed feet between his toes, his movement speed was relatively slow, so he left earlier than Harry, but arrived at the surface much later.

He gestured to the three people who stayed underwater, asking if they wanted to float up together. The three of them shook their heads helplessly and pointed to the gills behind their ears.

Cedric immediately understood the difficulties of the three people. He waved his hand, indicating that he would go first.

At the moment of floating up, Cedric was a little excited. He felt that he was most likely the first person among all the contestants to complete the project and pass the additional trial.

Although the first and the last are no different, it is still very morale-boosting and brings glory to Hufflepuff College.

When he emerged from the water, Cedric lifted his bubble head spell, and then he heard a commotion from the audience.

‘Strange, it seems not to cheer, but -’ Cedric didn’t have time to think about it, and a spell flew past his ear.

If he hadn’t subconsciously tilted his head to observe the audience, the spell would definitely hit his head accurately!

Cedric suddenly dived into the water, and in less than half a second, more than a dozen spells fell on the place where he just floated.

In the stands, a large group of people stood up, their faces filled with shock.

"Shameless!"

"Is this a foul? Where is the principal, where is the referee? Take care of it!"

"How can this be?!"

It turned out that the dozen or so contestants who did not enter the water had already taken action. They did not give up participating in the competition, but decided to ambush the students who floated up after getting the clearance reward at the lakeside!

Just as Cedric showed his head, he was hit by more than a dozen spells and disappeared.

Dumbledore also stood up, squinting his eyes and watching the farce at the lakeside. Professor McGonagall beside him angrily slapped the railing in front of him.

"This is cheating, shameless cheating! Albus, we should-"

"The game continues." Dumbledore's voice sounded, and the second half of Professor McGonagall's words were all blocked in his throat.

"This... Albus, they-"

"There is no prohibition in the rules of the game." Dumbledore said calmly.

Professor McGonagall was silent.

As the masterminds behind the game, Rowena and Helga did not think that there was anything wrong with the operation of the contestants at the lakeside. They even thought that this should be the case. These people are the ones who grasp the essence of the game.

Dumbledore didn't move, so Henry and Bagman didn't take any action. The referee panel composed of the headmaster and Ministry of Magic officials finally acquiesced to the contestants' actions.

Seeing that the referees didn't react, the contestants on the lakeside were relieved.

Among these people, some were those who didn't find a suitable response strategy, and the other part were contestants from individual magic schools who deliberately stayed on the shore. Their purpose was to snipe those strong contestants, take away their clearance rewards, and eliminate them.

Originally, they were very nervous, not knowing whether this behavior could be recognized by the official. Now that the official didn't react, it meant that they made the right bet.

There were more than a dozen sniper contestants on the shore. Anyone who showed up would be served with more than a dozen spells, and even the fire dragon couldn't stand it. Now they have a big advantage.

Seeing that the headmasters didn't react, the students watching the game also understood what the referees meant. Now they began to worry about the contestants from their school.

Cedric sank into the water, thought calmly for a few seconds, and soon figured out the current situation.

Then he smiled.

He emerged again, and this time he released an armor spell as soon as he emerged from the water, and at the same time controlled the mud on the shore to build a mud wall for himself.

The mud wall and the armor spell blocked the attacking spell, and Cedric took the opportunity to rush to the shore.

One contestant was unwilling to give up, and after Cedric got ashore, he still released a coma spell at him, but Cedric counterattacked it, and then fought back and knocked the ignorant guy unconscious.

Seeing Cedric so fierce, the others immediately gave up the idea of ​​continuing to attack.

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Update is here, see you at midnight tomorrow night~