Chapter 244: Levels and Puzzles
The green ** flame on the ground was burning, and with the night breeze gently swaying, the entire venue was illuminated in a miserable green, making this place look a little inexplicably weird.
The Demon Flame is connected to a makeshift network of Floo paths, and is set up to constantly bounce through the network of wires, teleporting everyone who steps into it to a different underground level.
It is said that there are 500 floors underneath, and only one of them contains the magic items that are the trophies of this triwizard tournament, and in order to reach that level, you must pass many tests, face all kinds of problems and dangers, and carefully search for the most correct clues.
Lockhart, disguised as Maca, was the first to step into the Flames, and it was thanks to Maca's excellent performance in the second event that he created a good situation.
“…… Is this the level that the students came up with? ”
Walking into the green flames, Lockhart found himself teleported into a cylindrical room 100 feet in diameter and nearly 10 feet in height.
When Bagman introduced it, he said that all the levels this time were proposed by students and professors, and if anyone wanted to encounter a simpler level, it would depend on whether their faces were white enough.
Lockhart, for example, just came in and found that this level was definitely a plan from a professor!
The reason why he came to such a judgment was that no student would want to come up with such a simple and crude and deeply boring question!
In the center of the large room, there was a desk with only a piece of parchment on it. And on that piece of paper, there was such a question:
"In 1289, a special group of Sardinian wizards participated in that year's International Congress of Wizards and submitted an important proposal advocating the division of wizards' power."
"Excuse me: When is the annual International Congress of Wizards?"
Needless to say, even Lockhart could have guessed that this level must have been taught by Binns, who was in charge of Hogwarts History of Magic class!
Who else but the ghost professor who gave a boring lecture would have made such a level?
On the wall opposite the parchment-covered desk, three magical flames were pulsing, and on the wall behind them were carved three different numbers "August", "September", and "October".
"The International Congress of Wizards?" Lockhart sighed bitterly, "Merlin's nails! Am I taking an exam in the history of magic class? ”
If it was really Maca who had come to participate, he would have chosen the answer "September" without hesitation, as he had always loved to listen to the history of magic class.
At that time, it was precisely because the proposal submitted by the Sardinian wizarding group was so relevant that the organizers deliberately moved the meeting forward by a month to ensure that there was enough time to gather opinions from all sides during the meeting.
“…… I remember that every International Wizarding Convention was held in October, right? ”
Lockhart muttered as he uncertainly walked towards the pile of demonic flames on his right, and after a moment's hesitation, he walked in with his legs raised.
With a soft "bang", he was one step further away from the correct floor......
At this moment, Harry, who was in second place, had already entered his first level.
Unlike Lockhart, the first level Harry encounters is a rather interesting "mini-game".
In the American wizarding world, there is a popular sport that was born from Quidditch but has a charm comparable to Quidditch, called "Ghost Sky Blast".
In the sport of Ghost Sky Blast, there are eleven athletes from each side.
Teammates pass the Ghost Ball to each other, which is a normal ball similar to the Quaffle, and they try to throw it into a "small cauldron" at the top of the field before it explodes.
Any player with a ghost ball, if the ball explodes in his hand, he must withdraw from the game.
Once the ball is safely thrown into the cauldron containing the ball's anti-explosive potion, the team that hits the ball gets a point and then brings a new ball to the court.
And now, the room on this floor where Harry is is is full of those exploding ghost balls!
They are drifting along a fixed trajectory, and while they do not interfere with each other, their drifting paths are intertwined and dazzling.
In order for Harry to progress through this level and continue towards the target level, he must pass through the gap between these ghostly orbs and reach the Green ** Flame located on the opposite side of the room.
It is conceivable that if you touch those ghost balls, all the trajectories will be more complicated, not to mention, and their explosion countdown will be forced to turn on due to human contact.
Once a ball explodes, it will inevitably cause a chain explosion of ghost balls in the whole room.
Even if the power of the ghost empty ball explosion is not great, but here, the number of ghost empty balls is quite a lot. If there was a collective explosion, Harry would most likely faint from the explosion!
"Oh"
He nervously raised his hands and feet, sometimes bending over, sometimes turning sideways, carefully navigating through the gaps of the large number of ghost balls.
I don't know who came up with this little game of "dodgeball", which is really exciting, but it also tests the abilities of the interlocutor.
At this moment, Harry was on one foot, like an eagle spreading his wings, and he was slightly up, dodging the arrival of the next ghostly ball.
Harry's physical coordination is still very good, and his usual Quidditch practice also makes his reflexes more quick. Sweating profusely from all sorts of strange movements, he had reached the center of the room.
However, it has to be said that when Harry faces a head-on challenge, he usually passes through the level with enthusiasm and no brains.
It stands to reason that the trick to getting through this level is to stick to the curved wall, which will allow the interloper to concentrate on dodging the ball in front of him without worrying about the ghost ball floating from behind him.
However, Harry has always been the ultimate rough man who is polite on the outside, but has the courage to face the bleak life on the inside.
“…… Oh no! ”
After walking more than half the distance, Harry, who was pouting and shrinking his neck to avoid the chain of three ghost balls, was rubbed against the tip of the p-strand by another ghost ball without paying attention.
There wasn't much left to do, and the most important thing he should do at the moment was to force his way towards the Demon Flame!
But Harry had clearly not yet turned the corner, and he was stunned for a moment, and after noticing that the trajectory of the balls had not changed too significantly, he was still struggling to avoid the other two balls.
Just as he figured out what he was supposed to do, and took a step towards the flames, an explosion suddenly sounded behind him.
Then, a thrust slammed into Harry's back, sending him straight into the flames.
"Whew"
In a scream, the flames burst into flames, and Harry was transported to the next level.
……
Theoretically, even if the odds are small, it is possible for two or more Warriors to break into a certain level at the same time. But no one thought that this possibility would come so quickly.
Hermione and Fleur were only 2 points behind each other, they stepped into the demon flame one after the other and were randomly teleported, but the next moment they found that there was actually another person next to them.
"Miss Granger?"
"Miss Delacour?"
The facts tell us that when two girls with a lot of self-esteem collide together, there is always a series of very bright sparks.
“…… We're probably teleported to the same level. Hermione glanced at Fleur and said reluctantly, "I think if the route of the demonic flames on each floor is fixed, then we will probably be ......together all the time."
Fleur gracefully stroked the ends of her hair and said, "Miss Granger, you can follow me and I will lead you to the right route"
"No, no." Hermione pursed her lips and turned to walk forward.
This floor, enchanted glass, is divided into nine areas arranged in a tic-tac-toe pattern, and the demonic flame is constantly burning in the middle area.
Hermione and Fleur were standing at the starting point, and after observing them, they found that they had to go around a large circle and pass through the eight outer areas to successfully reach the location of the green ** flame.
And on the wall of this compartment, which is the starting point, is an ordinary oil painting; On the other side of the compartment is a gray and rough stone door.
By the closed stone door, a few small square stone slabs were scattered on the ground, looking obviously suspicious.
"The magical creature in this painting is...... Eight-eyed giant spider? Fleur looked up at the painting and felt a little uncomfortable.
Girls are always a little scared of hairy spiders or something.
"To be exact, it's an oil painting of the predation of an eight-eyed spider." Hermione added.
After saying that, she walked straight towards the stone gate.
Hermione was right, on top of this dim-toned oil painting, there were four eight-eyed spiders. They huddle together in the forest and work together to hunt a horned camel that has strayed into the woods.
Beside them, three salamanders scurried by, rushing towards a bonfire not far away. One of the eight-eyed spiders seemed to be interested in them, and tried to catch up with them.
In the corner of this painting, there is also a bulging cobwebbag hanging from the trunk of a tree.
“…… Each of these tablets has a runi character. While Fleur was still pondering the painting, Hermione suddenly spoke, "Besides, there's a row of grooves in the door. ”
"Oh, these are numbers," Fleur turned her head to look at it, then nodded, "It's obvious, the designer must have been a warrior who wanted to break through the level to find the code to open the stone door in this painting, isn't it?" ”
Hermione also shifted her gaze back to the painting, and after a moment's thought, she pulled out a piece of the stone tablet engraved with the number symbol of Ru Niven, and quickly came up with the answer.
"Wait!" Fleur hurriedly shouted, "I don't think it's that you guessed wrong!" ”