Magical Studies at Hogwarts...

Chapter 255 The Fighting Style of Top Wizards

Ike didn't actually know much about African magic. Neither Hogwarts nor the families that sided with Voldemort had many African magic spells recorded.

Europeans' inherent pride made them look down on everything African, even considering it blasphemous to see such magic appear in their treasured magic books. Hogwarts only mentioned it briefly. Therefore, even though Ike was on high alert from the beginning, he still unknowingly suffered a slight loss.

The wolf-headed, human-bodied monsters are likely some kind of summoning magic, as they resemble the army of Anubis, the Egyptian god of death in legends; the red blood mist may be a unique African magic, combining offense and defense, and even possessing the power of curses.

There was a slight obstruction in the magic within his body, very weak, but noticeable to Ike, who was very sensitive to magic. Originally, after being strengthened by the olive fruit of the Acropolis, his magic was already second nature to him, so this slight stagnation was easily detected by Ike.

"curse?"

Ike thought about it, but didn't pay much attention. He suddenly clenched his left fist, and the golden thread immediately wrapped around his body. As soon as it touched the red soil, it made a "sizzling" sound, and strands of black emerged from the soles of his feet, which were dissolved by the golden thread in the blink of an eye.

While Ike was exorcising the curse, the wizards were not idle either. All sorts of strange magic attacked Ike frantically, but it only made his protective barrier shake for a while. Although there were cracks, they disappeared in an instant.

Ike remained unperturbed, letting them clang and pound on his defenses. His expression was grave as he lightly traced his wand through the air, strands of gold falling to his feet and forming a massive, profound magic circle. Stepping onto it, the circle emitted a soft golden light, and deep, ancient runes lit up.

Holding his wand horizontally in front of him, gripping it tightly in his right hand and placing it on the web of his left hand, Ike closed his eyes, then suddenly opened them. The magic circle beneath his feet expanded rapidly, encompassing everyone almost instantly.

"Not good!" the old wizard shouted. The others also sensed something was wrong and used all their strength. In an instant, all sorts of strange magic flew towards Ike, like a net, trapping him firmly in the middle.

Ike smiled faintly, then suddenly raised his wand, and another magic circle rose from beneath his feet, enveloping the air. At the same time, he spread his five fingers forward with his left hand, and the protective aura around him rapidly expanded, forming a silver-white halo.

"disperse!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the two magic circles above and below shone with golden light. The magic that was attacking Ike faded and shrank at a visible speed, like snow being illuminated by the sun, until it disappeared.

"Dissolve!"

With another sound, the wolf-headed, human-bodied monster, which had been charging forward, suddenly stopped. To the astonishment of the many wizards, it transformed into yellow sand and scattered to the ground. With another flick of its sleeve, the sand gathered into knights clad in golden armor, their longswords pointing directly at the wizards.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

The knights moved in perfect unison, their longswords gleaming coldly. After a few steps, they suddenly accelerated, thrusting fiercely at the wizards. The wizards were startled, their steps faltering involuntarily. They used Apparition, their bodies vanishing from their original positions.

Ike had already figured it out; what they were using was a temporary anti-apparition spell, which required the wizard to stand in a fixed location to maintain its effect. Now, under the knights' intimidation, they had lost their composure, and the anti-apparition spell naturally collapsed on its own.

However, when these wizards appeared, they were surprised to find that they were still within the range of the magic circle, and the threat from the knights had not been eliminated.

The old wizard was the only one untouched by the knights' attacks; a red mist protected him, and the knights' swords could only hiss as they struck him, as if they were being corroded. Ike hadn't intended to defeat the old wizard with such a simple method; he was clearly on a different level from the others.

It vaguely resembles Dumbledore, though it still has shortcomings, but not many.

"You shouldn't be someone whose name is spoken but who remains unknown!" Ike said coldly.

"Babajid Akinbad," the old wizard said calmly, his body enveloped in swirling red mist, constantly resisting attacks emanating from the magic circles above and below.

"Oh, I know you," Ike said. "It must have been last year when you succeeded Dumbledore as president of the International Wizarding Federation. No wonder..."

"However, you are still far from being as good as Dumbledore."

"I know, otherwise I would have captured you long ago," Akinbad replied, opening and closing his right hand, and a magic wand appeared immediately.

Seeing this, Ike raised an eyebrow and smiled as well.

"A magic wand? Heh, that's more interesting..."

As soon as he finished speaking, he swung his wand forward, and Akinbad also swung his wand at the same time. Two huge beams of light, one gold and one red, collided and crackled together.

The light was blinding, and sparks burst forth from the point where the beams met, creating holes in knights and eliciting screams or curses from wizards. They instinctively scrambled to the edge of the magic circle, leaving the wide central area for the two facing off.

It's also a tradition in wizarding combat, occurring only in duels between top wizards. It may seem silly, but it might be the only way to determine a winner in a direct confrontation.

The back-and-forth spell-casting style of combat is more like a friendly sparring match for top wizards. Those spells are almost impossible to land. They constantly apparite, changing their own positions while searching for each other's tracks. For Ike and Akinbad, this is not a difficult task. It's no exaggeration to say they could fight like that for an entire day without being hit by a single spell.

The situation was different now. Akinbad knew very well that Ike could easily kill the wizards he had brought, especially after the appearance of those two enormous magic circles. Now, those wizards had no power to fight back and could only desperately dodge the attacks of the golden knights. Because the spells they cast were completely ineffective in stopping the knights' attacks.

Under these circumstances, this was the only way he could stall Ike and allow the wizards to hold out longer. For Ike, it was even simpler; he was merely using Arkinbad as a testing ground, and what could be more direct than a direct clash of beams?

If you've crossed the line, you're better than him, and the gap between you and Voldemort and Dumbledore will be smaller.

If he doesn't succeed, it just means he still needs to work harder.

Ike wasn't really concerned about the outcome of the Wave. Once the Anti-Illusion Teleportation Charm was broken, he could leave. Talking about the Wave was just a spur-of-the-moment thing. This was different from Akinbad; he was under considerable pressure, after all, he needed to bring back those wizards, still desperately dodging the knights' attacks, safely.

When there is almost no difference in any aspect, the difference in mindset becomes the key to victory or defeat.

Gradually, the point where the beams of light met slowly moved toward Akimbad, and sweat beaded on Akimbad's forehead, his hands trembling slightly.

He knew very well that he was about to lose!

(End of this chapter)