#234 - Section 234

In this Black Lake, the only thing that could cause such a commotion would be the giant squid we encountered when we came here. That thing was almost as big as the Durmstrang ship.

In its home territory, with no restrictions, it's not something I can contend with at all.

Could Hogwarts be planning to cheat in this way?

Harboring this thought, Krum laboriously turned his head, only to see a huge dark shadow rapidly approaching him.

It didn't look like an octopus, and it was even larger.

Before Krum could see clearly, this pitch-black behemoth had already rushed to his vicinity.

The good news was: this guy didn't seem to notice him; he escaped by the skin of his teeth.

The bad news was: he was being tossed around by the powerful currents, making him dizzy and seeing double.

Easily passing Krum, Ethan quickly caught up with Fleur, who was in the lead, and stopped directly above her.

Fleur didn't show any fear at Ethan's sudden arrival.

A few days prior, Ethan had shown Fleur this form and told her that he would participate in the competition in this guise.

"I found two Grindylows; they'll be here soon."

Although Grindylows are among the fastest magical creatures in the water, they are still a bit slower than a transformed Black Dragon. It will take a while for them to arrive.

There was no need to worry about being overtaken by the other champions in the meantime. When Ethan passed them earlier, although he couldn't directly crash into them, he had no problem using the water currents to influence them.

It would take at least a few minutes for them to recover.

Before long, two Grindylows arrived behind Ethan. Due to the excessive speed, a lot of the broadleaf cattails on their backs were washed away by the water.

After Ethan gave them instructions, he took the lead and dived down.

That should be fine, right!

In the original story, Fleur was quite disheveled during this competition. Even Gabrielle was rescued by Harry. Now, with the help of the Grindylows, as long as the Merpeople don't deliberately make trouble, there shouldn't be any major problems.

However, Ethan advanced for several minutes on the lakebed without seeing even a single Merperson scale.

Considering his speed in the water, this shouldn't be the case!

I should have investigated the situation at the bottom of the Black Lake in advance. I've encountered Merpeople before, but with their ugly appearance, Ethan had no interest at all, let alone going back to inquire about the location of their tribe.

Harry easily found them in the original story, so why is it so difficult for me?

I should have kept a Grindylow for myself as a guide.

Slowing down a bit, this time Ethan mainly wanted to catch a guide.

Ordinary animals have no intelligence, but magical creatures, as long as they live in this Black Lake, definitely know where the Merpeople tribe is.

Moreover, the Black Lake is not lacking in magical creatures.

With a burst of speed, Ethan directly arrived above the aquatic plants and saw his target: a magical creature with rather long claws, horns, and a pale green body, resembling a demon.

This thing was mentioned in Lupin's Defense Against the Dark Arts class: a Grindylow, XX classification.

They feed on small fish and attack both Muggles and wizards. They can also be tamed by Merpeople.

Looking at these little guys who were constantly trembling and almost about to pass out, Ethan also withdrew his pressure.

Subsequently, facing Ethan's request to guide him, these Grindylows scrambled for the position of guide, fearing that Ethan would consider them useless and casually kill them.

With a local like the Grindylow leading the way, Ethan realized that he had deviated a bit when he dived down earlier and wasn't too far from his destination.

In just a few minutes, he saw many crude stone dwellings, speckled with algae.

Through the windows of the crude stone dwellings, he could also see many ugly faces, but they all hid away the moment they saw Ethan.

Without a doubt, Ethan had arrived at the Merpeople tribe, and Terry was currently here.

As he approached, Ethan also saw many Merpeople, no different from the ones he had seen sunbathing by the Black Lake before.

Their skin was iron-gray, their long, messy hair was dark green, their eyes were yellow, and their incomplete teeth were also yellow. They wore pebbles strung together with thick ropes around their necks. The moment they saw Ethan, they didn't even want the spears in their hands and fled into the surrounding caves, swinging their thick, powerful silver fishtails.

Ethan wasn't interested in destroying the Merpeople's houses. After all, it wasn't their fault that they were ugly, and they didn't come out to scare people. All of this was arranged by Dumbledore.

In the original story, these Merpeople would not attack the underwater champions, nor would they provide assistance. They were more like spectators, and Hogwarts borrowed their territory.

As he approached the central square of the tribe, the stone dwellings became more and more numerous. Some dwellings even had gardens around them, and some had a small Grindylow tied in front of the door.

Before Ethan could get close to the square, a large group of Merpeople who were originally singing outside suddenly scattered in all directions like fireworks. Many Merpeople looked at the Grindylows who had attracted Ethan as if they were traitors.

Arriving above the square, there stood a crude statue, a large Merperson carved out of huge stones.

Tied firmly to the tail of the Merperson statue were nine people. Two Grindylows were parked nearby, and Fleur was anxiously pulling at the ropes binding Gabrielle.

Sure enough, Fleur arrived faster than him.

"Ethan, Gabrielle, she…"

Fleur, who looked up and saw Ethan upon hearing the noise, was filled with despair.

Only to see that Gabrielle's face was now pale and motionless. Of course, the other champions were not in good condition either, but they seemed a little better than Gabrielle, at least their faces were not so ugly.

"Don't worry, this is because they took a potion. Just take them out of the water and they'll be fine."

Ethan could tell Gabrielle's condition at a glance. The reason she was in a relatively poor state was also because she was younger, but there were no side effects. It's just that she was definitely weaker than the others.

Hearing Ethan say this, Fleur breathed a sigh of relief.

Originally, Fleur thought that Gabrielle would be very scared in this underwater environment, so Fleur desperately tried to speed up her progress, wanting to rescue Gabrielle as soon as possible.

As a result, when she arrived, she saw Gabrielle in this state, soaking in the water without any protection, her face pale, without breathing or a heartbeat. It really scared her.

Having regained her composure, Fleur went to retrieve the long spear that the merpeople had dropped when they fled, using it to cut the surprisingly tough, seaweed-like ropes. She then curiously asked Ethan:

“You ran ahead of me just now, how come you arrived later than I did?”

“I rarely get to come down here, so I went to look at the scenery of the Black Lake.”

Ethan naturally couldn't reveal the real reason.

Seeing the grindylow in front of Ethan, Fleur immediately guessed the reason. She had also asked the kelpies, who brought her here; otherwise, she wouldn't have known where the target was.

Seeing Fleur's silence, Ethan felt too embarrassed to stay any longer. Just then, Fleur cut the ropes binding Gabrielle.

He immediately ordered the grindylow to rescue Terry. Since Terry was tied to a giant merperson's tail, Ethan's size made it difficult to act.

Unless rescuing others also earned points, Ethan could have simply carried the statue out with him.

With its slender claws, the grindylow quickly slashed twice, freeing Terry. Ethan scooped him up and held him in his hand.

Fleur, who had placed Gabrielle on the back of the kelpie and was holding her securely, watched this scene, unsure of how to react.

Wasn't he afraid of crushing him to death?

With that size, a little bit of force would probably kill the person in his grasp.

“Fleur, I'll go up first.”

Once Fleur and Gabrielle were ready, Ethan prepared to leave.

After all, the score was related to the final achievement reward, so Ethan still needed to pay attention. At the very least, he had to get a perfect score in this round.

Along the way, he once again used water currents to interfere with the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang champions before bursting out of the water and into the sky.

The audience, who had been staring boredly at the surface of the Black Lake, immediately cheered excitedly when they saw the black dragon emerge.

Regardless of the outcome of Ethan's trip, it was better than staring at the water's surface.

This competition was really boring, far inferior to the previous one. They couldn't see the champions' performance in the Black Lake at all.

Ethan flapped his wings and, in the blink of an eye, arrived above the platform. After dispelling the Animagus transformation, he grabbed Terry's collar and floated down.

Seeing Terry dangling in Ethan's hand, the Hogwarts students erupted in cheers, all standing up and shouting.

Without a doubt, the first place in this competition still belonged to Ethan, belonging to Hogwarts.

After landing, Terry also woke up slowly after spitting out a few mouthfuls of lake water.

“Did we get out?”

Looking at the ground beneath his feet, Terry swayed twice and stood up straight.

Ethan also cleaned him up with a spell; otherwise, the soaked wizard robes and hair would be quite uncomfortable.

Shaking his head twice, Terry quickly asked:

“We're the first, right?!”

Before participating, Terry had been told everything. This was to help the Triwizard Tournament, and he wouldn't be in any danger; otherwise, he wouldn't have agreed.

At the same time, Terry also wanted to participate so he would have something to talk about later.

It was just a bit different from what he had imagined. He didn't know what happened throughout the whole thing, and he didn't know what the bottom of the Black Lake was like. It was like he had just woken up from a nap.

Even if he wanted to talk about it, he wouldn't know what to say.

Now he could only hope that his group was in first place, so it would sound better when he talked about it.

“That's right.”

“Then tell me what happened down there.”

“……”

Not long after Ethan successfully returned, Fleur and Gabrielle, with the help of the kelpies, successfully reached the shallow water on the shore.

Ethan immediately abandoned Terry and hurried over to clean up Gabrielle.

At this moment, Madame Maxime, who was on the judges' bench, had a flash of joy on her face.

Another second place. Although Ethan from Hogwarts got first place, with someone dragging them down, their score probably wouldn't exceed theirs.

Sure enough, Beauxbatons had a great chance of winning the championship.

“Getting help from magical creatures with charm, that doesn't violate the rules, does it?”

Madame Maxime looked at Dumbledore with a smile.

Although she knew that Fleur's charm was useless on magical creatures, it was likely arranged by Ethan. But now, the credit naturally had to be placed on Fleur.

“It doesn't violate!”

Karkaroff's face was as black as the bottom of a pot. How could Durmstrang make a comeback if this continued?

Rely on the third task?

At this point, Karkaroff had little confidence left. He only hoped that Krum could be strong and come up quickly; otherwise, the score difference would become larger and larger.

However, reality is often cruel.

Just as an hour was about to pass, the third champion shakily walked out of the lake, supporting a large man. Karkaroff knew at a glance that this was not his student.

When they reached the shore, Ethan helped them clean up.

“Thank you!”

Harry thanked Ethan, trembling all over. Neville, who was being supported by him, was not much better.

Unlike the others, Harry only used Gillyweed and did not use warming spells or potions. It was truly amazing that he could persevere until now.

“What's the situation down there now?”

Ethan asked curiously.

Whether in the original work or now, this competition was basically a competition of luck.

There was basically no danger. Dumbledore had already discussed it with the merpeople. They were not an obstacle. As long as you weren't too unlucky and couldn't find the location, or encountered an attack by magical creatures, there would be no problem.

“When I rescued Neville and returned, I encountered Krum. I didn't see anyone else. Krum should be coming out soon!”

Harry's voice had just fallen when the calm water surface was broken again. Krum was seen walking up, supporting a Durmstrang student. As he came out of the water, he dispelled his shark head.

As time passed, until the hour ended, no one else surfaced.

Ludo, as the host, had no choice but to announce that only four people had passed this competition.

Ethan suspected that this was related to the fact that he had influenced the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang champions twice before and after. That alone delayed them by at least seven or eight minutes.

Otherwise, there would probably be one or two more who passed. Ethan had already sensed that there were wizards coming towards the shore.