Hogwarts: This holy light is righteously evil.

The fake Hagrid on the other side reacted incredibly fast, merely flicking his wrist, the pink umbrella in his hand tracing a clean arc.

"Armor protects you!"

A thick, transparent magical shield enveloped his entire body, its texture refined and sturdy.

The two attack spells cast by Puni struck the barrier one after another, only creating two shallow magical ripples before dissipating and failing to move the barrier in the slightest.

Puni's heart sank.

His opponent's spellcasting proficiency, spell power, and reaction speed far exceeded his expectations, indicating a significant gap in their magical strength.

A cold snort came from ahead, devoid of Hagrid's signature amiable hoarseness, leaving only a chilling indifference and mockery.

The fake Hagrid looked down at the pink umbrella he had been holding, his disgust and impatience undisguised.

"These cumbersome props are really in the way."

Before he finished speaking, he casually tossed the umbrella that had been with Hagrid for many years into the bushes nearby, his action so casual that it was as if he were just throwing away useless trash.

Immediately afterwards, a long, dark-colored magic wand landed in his palm.

The pink umbrella was a deliberate disguise from beginning to end; his personal wand was always hidden in the handle, ready to be taken out and used at any time.

This person's disguise is far more than a simple physical imitation; they even imitate and deliberately exploit Hagrid's most well-known spellcasting habits. Their understanding of Hagrid has reached a level that is frightening.

The gentle, warm smile on that familiar, rugged face had completely vanished.

Instead, he exuded a chilling and ruthless aura, his expression complex and unreadable. It reflected both the unexpected disruption of his plans and his recognition of Puni's strength, while also concealing an extreme calmness and a dangerously oppressive presence.

His eyes, previously hidden by disheveled hair and beard, had changed. Gone was the pure and gentle light of the past; they were now filled with deep darkness, and a trace of fanaticism lurked in the depths of his eyes.

"Incompetent fools who can barely cast spells with such shoddy tools." The fake Hagrid exhaled a cold breath, his unfamiliar voice clashing horribly with his rugged appearance, his tone full of contempt. "Completely unworthy to remain at Hogwarts. Petrify them all!"

A dark gray beam of light streaked through the air with incredible speed and power, far surpassing any petrification spell Puni had ever seen before.

In a split second, relying on his instincts honed through long-term combat experience, Puni quickly dodged to the side.

The beam of light grazed the edge of the tree trunk and struck a cluster of lush ferns behind it, causing the vibrant vegetation to stiffen and fade, turning into hard stones.

Puni recognized the situation and knew that a direct confrontation was futile. The only way to break the deadlock was to create chaos and prolong the battle.

He immediately turned his wand around and aimed it at the layers of dead leaves and rotten wood piled up at the feet of the fake Hagrid.

"Flames are raging!"

The raging flames erupted, but were completely blocked by the protective barrier that the opponent had secured in advance. Only a few sparks landed on the pile of dry leaves, slowly igniting the dry branches and leaves on the surface.

Without pausing, Puni immediately adjusted the casting angle and activated the fire spell a second time, landing on the empty ground at the opponent's feet. The rapidly expanding orange-red flames quickly spread and encircled the fake Hagrid, firmly trapping him in the center of the fire wall.

"He does have a knack for adapting to changing circumstances."

Despite being surrounded by flames, the fake Hagrid showed no sign of panic. His hands did not stop moving at all. With a light wave of his wand, a cool aura spread out, and the raging flames visibly weakened and subsided.

"Unfortunately, learning from that half-giant meant he could never truly master orthodox combat magic. He couldn't even protect his own wand, could he?"

An unfamiliar voice echoed through the empty forest, breaking the surrounding silence.

Puni remained silent, his wand waving faster and faster.

He knew that flames could not seriously damage his opponent, but they could effectively obscure the casting trajectory, block the opponent's vision, and create excellent cover for him to move to a new position and launch a counterattack.

Several staggered walls of fire quickly covered the entire open space. Under the cover of the flickering shadows of the firelight, Puni constantly changed his position, taking cover under the thick ancient trees, never revealing his exact location.

The forbidden forest is shaded and damp year-round, with a thick layer of moisture beneath the dead leaves on the surface. After the surface fires burn out, large amounts of thick black smoke billow up and quickly spread throughout the battlefield, making visibility increasingly blurred.

The billowing smoke exhausted the fake Hagrid's patience, and his tone became cold and harsh.

"This pointless maneuvering ends here."

He raised his wand high, no longer casting a single attack spell, but unleashing several sharp beams of magic simultaneously, crisscrossing and sweeping towards Puni's hiding area, each beam carrying deadly power.

Puni hid behind a tree trunk, constantly adjusting his body to avoid the dense magical attacks, while alternately casting obstacle spells and stun spells, layering magical obstacles to deliberately delay the opponent's pursuit.

Flames and smoke swirled and flickered, and the fake Hagrid's figure appeared and disappeared in the fog, slightly slowing down the rapid pursuit.

The two continued their back-and-forth battle, with dazzling yet dangerous beams of magical light piercing the dark night of the Forbidden Forest, illuminating every shadowy corner.

A streak of petrified gray light flashed past Puni's scalp and struck the tree trunk in front of him.

Puni quickly ducked and hid, and in the instant he regained his footing, he pointed his wand at a loose, giant rock beside him.

He quickly activated the levitation spell, and the boulder slowly detached from the soil and floated up. He then added heavy strike spell power and slammed the boulder down towards his opponent.

The heavy boulder crashed to the ground, the sound of its impact causing the forest to tremble slightly and raising clouds of dust. The spreading wall of fire was forcefully smashed, creating a huge gap in it.

As the smoke and dust slowly dissipated, the fake Hagrid emerged from it, his robes spotless and untouched by any dust.

Through the flickering embers, the impatience and violence in his eyes had reached their peak.

"Your struggles are pointless, kid."

Just as the battle was about to spiral out of control, a rapid, dense sound of hooves came from afar.

Da da

The sound of hooves approached rapidly from afar, its rhythm quick and its momentum immense, indicating that it was not a lone rider, but a fully equipped convoy quickly closing in on this forest clearing.

Upon hearing this, the fake Hagrid in front of him not only showed no panic, but instead curled up a cruel and cold smile on his face.

"Perfect, let's add some fun to liven things up."

He spoke in a low voice, his tone carrying an eerie excitement.

The previously empty left hand quietly rose, revealing a delicate, small, sealed black medicine bottle in the palm.

A strong sense of foreboding enveloped Puni.

We absolutely cannot let the opponent successfully activate their trump card!

Without hesitation, Puni cast a transformation spell on the scattered pebbles on the ground, turning countless stones into sharp and hard stones. He then shot them all out, aiming straight for his opponent's face and wrist, determined to interrupt his charging motion and break his trump card attack.

"Just a petty trick."

The man in black, disguised as Hagrid, raised his wand slightly, and a dense magical shield covered his entire body, blocking the flying rocks that Puni was shooting at him.

The high-speed flying rocks struck the barrier surface, shattering and scattering without posing any threat.

At that very moment, several agile centaur figures darted out from the shadows of the forest.

Leading the group was the warrior Ronan, who held a longbow and moved nimbly as he swiftly stepped into the central open space.

When he saw the burly figure standing in the firelight, he paused, his face showing surprise. The group of centaurs following behind also stopped immediately, scattered, and subtly surrounded the open space.

"Is it Hagrid?" Ronan asked hesitantly in a low voice, his tone full of confusion.

Taking advantage of the moment when everyone was momentarily distracted, Puni, who was hiding behind a tree trunk, quietly gathered his strength to cast a spell.

The commotion caused by the centaurs appearing was loud enough to perfectly mask the sound of the magic being activated.

The boulder he had previously hurled at his opponent was not destroyed; it was now hovering behind the fake Hagrid, quietly deconstructing and reassembling.

The rubble kept rubbing and colliding, and sporadic fragments fell down. The noise was completely masked by the unusual activity on the field, successfully avoiding the fake Hagrid's perception.

But the centaurs' observational skills far surpassed those of ordinary people; they clearly noticed the strange changes in the stones.

As the giant rock gradually condensed into a human-shaped outline, and even conjured a stone weapon out of thin air, all the centaurs tensed up, drew their bows and nocked arrows in unison, and locked the arrowheads onto the stone golem that was taking shape.

The sudden movement of the centaur in front of him finally made the fake Hagrid's face darken. He muttered a curse full of ferocity: "These four-legged beasts dare to turn their weapons against me?"

Puni, hiding behind a tree with only half his face showing, almost couldn't help but chuckle to himself.

Both sides on the field were wary of each other and misunderstood each other, yet they both managed to pinpoint the key threat, creating an absurd and delicate situation.

He forcibly suppressed the fluctuations in his expression, secretly increasing the output of his magic to control the stone golem to take shape.

As the stone golem's form became more complete, the centaur's guard became increasingly tense, and the bowstring was slowly drawn taut.

The fake Hagrid, who was staring intently at the centaur in front of him, finally noticed the strange magical fluctuations coming from behind him.

Just as he was about to turn around to check the situation behind him, the centaur arrows that had been gathering momentum were already shooting out of the air.

A sharp whooshing sound rang out as several long arrows adorned with white feathers sped past, aiming for the fake Hagrid's head and vital points on his sides.

Thanks to his large and robust physique, he perfectly blocked the stone golem that was not yet fully formed behind him, thus obstructing the centaur's view.

The fake Hagrid froze as he turned his head, raising his hand to activate a defensive spell.

"Armor protects you!"

The solid magical barrier unfolded once more, and all of this was exactly what Puni had planned.

Just as the shield was forming in front, the stone golem, wielding a heavy stone sword, suddenly slashed out from behind the fake Hagrid!

The sharp blade, carrying immense potential energy, bypassed the frontal defensive barrier and aimed directly at the opponent's left hand holding the black medicine bottle.

The fake Hagrid reacted extremely quickly. The moment the sword was about to strike, his body automatically activated the second-tier iron armor protection, and a white light shone.

A deafening roar erupted as the hard stone sword struck the magical armor, shattering into countless fragments and dust.

However, the terrifying kinetic energy accumulated on the sword had not been completely dissipated. The residual impact, along with countless fragments, slammed into the fake Hagrid's left wrist.

A low, faint sound of bone cracking rang out, barely audible yet clearly discernible.

Time seemed to stand still on the field.

The white arrow struck the shield, creating ripples of white light. The fake Hagrid's expression shifted from initial anger to confusion, and finally settled on extreme terror.

The small bottle containing the unknown liquid in his palm was knocked out of his hand by the heavy blow, collided violently with the flying pebbles, and shattered.

The pitch-black liquid splashed and spilled, soaking into the fake Hagrid's clothes and skin.

"Uh!"

A suppressed groan escaped his lips.

The fractured bone in his wrist was burning with pain, but he had no time to care about it.

He stared blankly down at the black liquid staining his body, a strange and pungent stench slowly spreading and enveloping him.

Centered on the broken medicine bottle, a special magical fluctuation quietly spread throughout the entire forest.

A dense, rustling sound came from deep within the forbidden forest.

At first the sounds were faint and scattered, but in an instant they became dense and piercing, approaching from all directions layer by layer.

That was the unique sound of countless arthropods crawling over fallen leaves and rubbing against branches.

Ronan's expression changed drastically upon hearing this. His sharp gaze swept across the dark edge of the surrounding forest, and his tone was grave: "It's the Eight-Eyed Giant Spider! They've been attracted by a special aura!"