The water plants were dense, the dark green algae like countless giant pythons, forming a dim underwater forest, with small fish occasionally darting back and forth through it.

Vid returned to this place at an extremely fast speed, gazing at the dark waters under the water plants, silently letting out a breath.

His tail swayed as he pushed aside the thick algae, swimming down through the gaps, the tip of his Magic Wand releasing five or six light balls, illuminating the surroundings as bright as day.

Diving nearly a hundred meters deep, the remnants of several stone statues finally came into view, with most of their bodies buried in the silt, covered in moss and water plants, making it hard to discern their original form.

Vid continued downward, only realizing when he got closer that these statues were taller and larger than he initially expected; what was visible on the ground was merely a small portion of them.

As he landed at the lake’s bottom to carefully observe, he once again overturned his previous conjecture.

These weren’t "several statues," but several parts of one statue, not the stone tortoise Jabari mentioned, but rather resembling the legendary Hydra Basilisk.

This enormous beast was buried in the pale silt, exposing only three heads and part of an arched spine, the erosion over the years leaving various sized holes in its surface. Despite the blurred scale patterns, the snake’s mouth gaped open, revealing sharp fangs inside.

From what Vid could see of its size, should this statue be whole, it would take a Hogwarts hall to contain it.

Suppressing the urge for a thorough examination and study, he circled around the statue twice, the glow revealing the cracks and holes both inside and outside the Hydra.

Suddenly, Vid’s motion paused slightly.

A silver-gray Short Sword lay quietly in the crevice between two vertebrae of the Hydra, only five or six inches in length, with no rust on the blade.

He swam over, extending his arm to take the Short Sword, examining it for a moment before placing it into a pouch at his waist.

Almost immediately after it was inserted, Vid heard a "click" as the pouch trembled violently a few times, as if a large rat had been stuffed inside.

After a while, the pouch quieted down, Vid opened it for a look, then took out the contents.

The disc, Short Sword, and ruby cylinder combined to form a Compass, which, upon assembly, shrank to a palm-sized item that could be held with one hand.

The silver pointer quivered softly, eventually resting on the disc, pointing to the Taurus symbol. In its current position, it actually pointed towards the Hogwarts castle.

Vid chuckled, stowing the Compass back into the pouch, and quickly started swimming upwards—once he returned to shore, this round of competitions would have paused temporarily.

The algae parted to the sides, light balls accompanying Vid on both sides, the lake shore appearing in his field of view, with even a faint glimmer from the Flow Mirror visible.

"Splash!"

A sharp stream of water suddenly attacked from the side, Vid instinctively twisted to dodge, his body following immediately with a sharp turn as a Long Spear, glistening with a cold light, barely grazed his tail, leaving a shallow mark on his scales.

His gray pupils expanded instantaneously, Vid rapidly changed direction, everything around seeming to filter into a hazy hum, with the attacker’s appearance especially clear.

It was actually a Knight statue originally slumbering at the seabed, its armor covered in dark green moss, a rusty giant sword slashing through the water towards him!

His tail gave a fierce flick, his body shooting forward rapidly as Vid swung out his Magic Wand—

"Confringo!"

The Knight’s breastplate and head suddenly exploded, but the Long Sword only paused briefly, still sweeping towards Vid!

His tail whipped up turbulent waters, and the Merperson skillfully maneuvered, almost as if capable of instantaneous underwater travel.

Compared to the immense pressure of the lake’s depths, Vid indeed felt astonishingly light at this moment.

"Defodio!"

He crashed through the algae, circling behind the Knight, the light from the Spell striking its back, and the statue split violently down the middle, debris flying as the Stone Sword slipped from its grasp, plummeting straight to the lake’s bottom.

Before Vid could stabilize himself, the surrounding lake water surged violently as several more statues surrounded him—

The Cerberus opened its mouth wide, lunging from the darkness with all its might to snap at Vid;

An especially enormous stone tortoise rapidly closed in from below, opening its mouth to bite at his swaying tail;

A Gargoyle from the upper diagonal lunged downward, its sharp claws seemingly intent on tearing his body to shreds.

Simultaneously, the glow of Spells brightened within the darkness, two red beams woven together shooting towards the Merperson in the center!

In the blink of an eye, Vid swiftly flipped his Magic Wand, pointing it at himself:

"Vadivasi!"

In an instant, he shot out like a bullet, crashing through the water plants to create a path.

The three statues that had ambushed him didn’t react as swiftly, the stone tortoise and Cerberus colliding heavily with each other, their limbs shattering, one of the dog’s heads rolling away.

The slower Gargoyle shattered another dog head with its claws, yet it was also struck by a Spell, its arm and wing behind blasted to pieces!

Vid didn’t pause at all, waving his Magic Wand once more.

—Ink Addition Spell!

This Spell, often used when crafting a Quill, at this moment, was akin to a Giant Squid fiercely squirting all its ink, the black liquid rapidly spreading, turning the entire lake into darkness.

As the light was swallowed by darkness, a figure hidden among the seaweed reacted quickly, hastily casting a propelling Spell, rapidly approaching the shore.

Another shadow, unfortunately hit by a flying dog head, sank downward slightly before quickly swimming towards the surface.

The third figure hesitated momentarily, then hurriedly retreated, creating distance while waving their Magic Wand to bring several broken statues closer for protection.

Suddenly, a whirlpool of water surged, and this figure urgently sent the Gargoyle to intercept it, the two colliding instantly.

Before she could catch her breath, the adjacent algae twisted abruptly, spinning swiftly to entangle her from head to toe, forcing her to let go of her Magic Wand, which was snatched by an unseen hand.

The remaining two statues instantly seemed to rust, their movements stiffening, entangled tightly by surrounding algae, dragging them directly to the depths of the lake.

The person who had animated the lakebed statues was none other than Kitajima Rikka from the Magic Institute, unable to break free from the algae, her eyes through the slit seeing a shadow rocketing up through the water.

The girl’s black hair floated in the lake as she looked up to see Adam Kagami [Ilvermorny Champion] near the lake’s surface suddenly snagged by a rope appearing from nowhere, yanking him viciously into the water.

Following that, countless water plants and algae, like hands stretched from Hell, chaotically seized Adam’s limbs, arms, head, neck, and abdomen...

The figure struggled desperately, only to be dragged down, sinking ever deeper until both he and Kitajima were suspended in the lake.

Vid casually snatched his Magic Wand, the two staring helplessly at each other, their eyes revealing despair and helplessness.

Who would have thought?

In the previous round of competitions, Vid Gray, mostly relying on Poppets, proved so formidable underwater against several sneak attacks.

They looked up, within the dappled light and shadow, Vid still shot through the water towards the shore like an arrow!

Drenched Clementine Durand was the first to escape; having just climbed ashore, she lay panting heavily on the ground, her wet hair plastered to her face, continuously dripping water.

Hearing the sound of breaking water, the girl turned her head, panting as she watched Vid emerge from the lake, suddenly giving him a thumbs-up and a smile.