The Erkling's annoying cackling sounds were a huge distraction to the Ravenclaws. They would constantly dart around in the air, using the noise to harass the students and then launch a surprise attack when they weren't paying attention.
Due to their numerical advantage, half of the six third-year teams were completely wiped out, earning them 'A' (Acceptable) and 'P' (Poor) grades. Even Cho Chang, a member of Fairy Tail, only got an 'A' (Acceptable). This was, by far, the worst performance of any year group.
To be fair, it wasn't really their fault. From their first year to now, they had only had less than half a year of proper Defense Against the Dark Arts classes outside of Victor's lessons. So, it wasn't surprising that their grades were what they were.
Meanwhile, Victor's face was grim as he stared at the fourth-year Ravenclaws who had just finished fighting a werewolf. To be honest, as the substitute Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for Ravenclaw, he didn't want to yell, but the fourth-years' performance was simply too much for him to bear.
"Over the past two months, a third of our simulated practical opponents have been werewolves!"
"I thought that with six of you and all your experience, you wouldn't do that badly!"
"But which one of you can tell me why one of you, when facing a werewolf, almost lost your life just to save a worthless shoe?!"
Victor had completely transformed into a Snape-like figure, his eyes blazing as he glared at a fidgeting Ravenclaw. She was standing there with one bare foot, holding a shoe in her hand.
Victor then looked at another student, whose face was covered in dirt.
"And another thing, besides the first-years, I remember everyone in our house knows how to fly, right?!"
"So, why were you climbing a tree?! Are you a sloth or something?"
At this, the other Ravenclaws couldn't help but burst into laughter, but they immediately fell silent and looked down when Victor gave them a fierce glare.
"What are you laughing at?! Do you think you're so much better?!"
"During the exam just now, I saw quite a few of you run off on your own, leaving the group to fight the werewolf up close! Did you want to die faster or something?!"
"I... I just wanted to improve my spell accuracy!" a student weakly raised their hand to protest.
The Forbidden Forest had a lot of tall trees and plants that served as natural cover for the werewolves. Faced with the Ravenclaws' aerial advantage, the werewolf could easily dodge attacks with its flexible body and the cover of the trees, forcing many of the students to choose to fight up close.
However, Victor found this excuse unbelievable, because he had talked about the solution to dealing with a quick and agile magical creature like a werewolf more than once. So, his face grew darker and darker, and he began to yell:
"What kind of excuse is that? Did a Troll eat your brains?!"
"How many times have I said this over the past two months?"
"Teams of three! Teams of three! Work together!"
"Defense, offense, cover, diversion, ambush, and luring the target! Assign different tasks based on different situations!"
"In this kind of dense forest, you have the aerial advantage. If two groups of six can work together, with one luring the target and the other five providing cover, ambushes, and attacks, I guarantee that the werewolf won't last five minutes before you take it down!"
The fourth-year Ravenclaws were on the verge of tears. The eyes of many girls were already welling up. Despite their frustration and grievances, they couldn't find any reason to refute Victor's words. They could only silently take the lesson and hope to do better next time!
As a result, one fourth-year team got an 'E' (Exceeds Expectations), one got an 'A' (Acceptable), and the other three all got a 'P' (Poor).
"Anyone in the fourth year who got an 'A' or below, if you haven't improved by Christmas, I'll show you what cruelty is when school starts next year!"
"Now, the fifth-years, your opponent is this!"
Victor raised his head from his notebook and pointed at a figure in the distance that was at least a quarter the size of a basketball court.
The students all looked in the direction Victor was pointing. They saw a magical creature lying motionless on the ground. Its body was close to the ground and covered in thick, reddish-brown fur. It had a massive body with five legs, and at the end of each leg was a deformed foot.
The fifth-year Ravenclaws' faces instantly turned pale. This five-legged magical creature was a Quintaped, a highly dangerous, carnivorous beast rated 5X, and one that could never be tamed or domesticated.
Quintapeds could only be found on the northernmost island of Scotland, Drear, and because of their presence, the island had never been charted on a map. At the same time, the Quintaped was one of the few magical creatures confirmed to have been transformed from humans.
A long time ago, the MacBoon and McClivert wizarding clans lived on Drear. But one night after drinking, the leader of the MacBoon clan, Quintius, and the leader of the McClivert clan, Dugald, had a duel, and Dugald was killed by accident. In retaliation, the McClivert clan members surrounded the MacBoon family's home one night and used a Transfiguration spell to turn every single MacBoon into a five-legged monster.
Some of the McClivert clan members, seeing that the transformed Quintapeds might be even more dangerous, wanted to change them back, but it was too late. Soon, the Quintapeds killed every single McClivert on the island of Drear.
As time went on, the MacBoons, who had been transformed into Quintapeds, gradually lost their humanity and became the 5X-rated magical creatures they are today.
So, in conclusion, the fifth-year Ravenclaws, who were well aware of the danger of the Quintaped, began to walk onto the battlefield with trembling legs.
The exam began, and the Quintaped was released.
The first team of students immediately took to the air without hesitation. Less than three seconds after the six students had left the ground, the Quintaped suddenly crawled to the foot of one of the students at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, leaped up, and opened its bloody, upward-facing maw.
"Julia, watch out!"
When Penelope saw that the Quintaped was about to bite her friend's leg off, she instinctively pointed her wand at the creature and shouted, "Diffindo!"
The spell caused the Quintaped to start feeling the effects of gravity, but before it fell, its sharp teeth still grazed Julia's calf, causing a bloody gash. Penelope quickly flew forward and asked with concern, "Julia, are you okay?!"
"I'm fine! It's just a small scratch!" Julia said, shaking her head, which was covered in a cold sweat. She had suffered many injuries like this, and even worse, during their simulated practicals. But for some reason, the pain from this wound, which would have been nothing in a simulated battle, was now so clear and terrifying.
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