“Depulso!”
The Charm struck the statue squarely.
The tremendous impact sent it flying and slammed it hard into the distant wall.
Crack.
The statue shattered on impact, dissolving into specks of light.
“Whoa, this thing hits that hard?”
Ethan was stunned by the power of his own Charm.
During his make-up lesson in the Charms classroom, he had only tested it by blasting away a few desks.
Sending a statue that looked that heavy flying so far in one shot was honestly beyond what he had expected.
The other statue had already closed the distance.
It raised the greatsword in its hands high and brought it down at Ethan in a vicious overhead slash.
“Petrificus Totalus!”
The statue that was hit paused for just an instant.
Ethan seized that tiny opening and threw himself to the side.
Bang!
The greatsword smashed heavily into the floor and broke into several pieces.
“Haha, you can even destroy your own weapon!”
Ethan put some distance between them while ruthlessly mocking the statue’s blunder.
The statue remained unmoved.
It slowly rose, its right hand clenching in midair, and a mace appeared in its grip out of nowhere.
“That’s going too far.
You can even refresh your weapon?
Are you cheating?”
Ethan kept moving back and forth at a distance, firing spell after spell from his wand and using his range advantage to kite the enemy.
If the opponent had been human, he might have closed in and traded blows, landing a few solid punches.
But against this lump of iron?
No thanks.
He was not made of steel, and he had no hobby of punching metal bare-handed.
If he used Iron Fist on it, he would probably be hurting for a very long time.
But the statue showed no intention of closing in.
Instead, it stood in place, swinging the mace in its hand to block the magic Ethan fired at it.
Then it suddenly flung both hands forward, sending the heavy mace flying straight at Ethan.
“Holy crap!”
Ethan was startled by this American-style quick draw and hurriedly cast a defensive Charm.
“Aresto Momentum!”
The spinning mace barely stopped less than ten centimeters in front of Ethan before crashing to the ground.
“You, you, you have no martial virtue!
You’re tricking me, ambushing a fourteen-year-old comrade like me!”
Still shaken, Ethan accused the statue of its shameless behavior, then raised his hand and blasted a Charm at it.
“Flipendo!”
The statue flipped into the air, tumbling uncontrollably.
“Descendo!”
Another Charm struck the statue, sending it crashing headfirst into the floor, where it shattered into pieces.
“Done.
That’s a wrap.”
Ethan straightened his clothes, brushed the nonexistent dust from his robe, and walked toward the second door.
Just then.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
Four sword-wielding statues leaped down from high above and landed in the four corners of the hall.
“No way.
Where did you lot jump out from?”
Ethan sucked in a sharp breath.
A single statue’s attacks were nothing to fear, but once their numbers increased, their combined offensive would probably become difficult to handle.
As the old saying went, even an old master could be beaten down by a flurry of punches.
There was a reason for that.
This is bad.
Really bad!
Ethan’s throat bobbed as he swallowed and decided to strike first.
He raised his wand at one of the statues and took a deep breath.
“Glacius!
Glacius!
Glacius!
Glacius!”
Four pale blue beams shot from the tip of his wand, striking the legs of the four statues.
Crack.
A thick layer of ice formed out of nowhere around the statues’ legs and feet, freezing them in place and leaving them unable to move.
Ethan took advantage of the brief moment while the statues were immobilized and launched an attack on the one nearest to him.
Focus fire and take one down first!
“Expelliarmus!
Aresto Momentum!
Descendo!”
The greatsword flew from the statue’s hand, floated above its head, then dropped and smashed it apart.
“Good.
One down.”
Ethan crouched to avoid the flying swords thrown by the other three statues and took a breath.
By then, the ice from his earlier spell had already been kicked apart by the statues, and they were summoning new weapons.
Taking advantage of that opening, Ethan stood and adjusted his position.
Attacks coming from every direction were always difficult to deal with, but if they all came from within his field of vision, things would at least be a little easier.
“I still have too few ways to deal with these iron lumps.
If I knew some cutting or bombardment-type Charms, this would be much easier.”
Ethan sighed, regretting his own lack of ability, then raised his wand and aimed at one of the statues.
“Incendio!”
A red line of fire flew from his wand toward the statue, and then… sent up a few sparks.
Ethan shook his head.
“Tch, as expected, it’s still too weak.
I’ll have to ask Professor Flitwick if there are any stronger Charms when I get back.”
Two of the statues summoned maces, swinging their arms as they prepared for another round of throws.
The remaining statue held a spear and thrust it toward Ethan.
“Oh-ho, now you know how to work together?”
Ethan gave a cold laugh.
Instead of dodging the spear-wielding statue charging toward him, he ran straight at it.
“Depulso!”
Just as he was about to meet the statue head-on, Ethan suddenly dodged to the side and fired a spell at the statue from point-blank range.
The statue lost its balance and flew sideways, only to be smashed completely apart by a mace thrown by another statue.
“Ha!
Striking down your own teammate.
Nice work!”
Ethan gave the statue that had hit its teammate a thumbs-up, then turned and cast a spell at another flying mace.
“Aresto Momentum!”
The spinning mace slowed, and Ethan, sprinting forward, grabbed it in one hand.
Swinging the mace, Ethan charged at the statue that had thrown it.
As he reached the statue, he leaped up, raised the heavy mace high, and brought it down with all his strength on the statue’s helmet.
“Mace, eighty!”
Boom!
The statue’s head shattered completely, and the rest of its body scattered into parts across the floor.
“Hah, hah…”
Ethan stopped, panting heavily, as the mace in his hand dissolved into specks of light.
The thing had been heavier than he had expected.
After putting all his strength into striking the statue, his left arm, the arm he had used to swing the mace, felt a little weak.
“So, there’s only one left.”
Ethan rolled his left arm in circles to loosen it, raised the wand in his right hand, aimed it at the final statue, and released a Charm.
“Glacius!”
A pale blue beam continued shooting from his wand, striking the statue in the chest.
Ice formed from that point and spread across the statue’s entire body under the sustained spell, trapping it in place.
Ethan walked casually toward the frozen statue, raised his hand, and sent another Charm flying.
“Depulso.”
The statue was blasted into the wall, denting it, before dissolving into specks of light and vanishing.
“Any… more?”
Ethan held up his wand and warily scanned every corner of the hall, afraid another wave of enemies might suddenly burst out from somewhere.
After all, he was already somewhat exhausted.
If four more statues came at him, he really would not be able to take it.
A long while passed.
“…Looks like it’s over.”
Ethan let out a long breath and walked toward the main door.