The colossal knight statue slowly rose, shaking off stone dust as if a mythical giant had stepped out of legend.
With one hand, it wrenched the massive sword from the ground. As the blade came free, the fissure widened, spiderweb cracks spreading rapidly across the floor.
Under the statue's control, the sword leveled at Leonard and Midgard. The sheer pressure made the entire hall tremble.
Midgard sucked in a sharp breath at the sight of the towering figure. "What kind of monster is this?"
No one answered. The statue slowly raised the sword high overhead, then, without warning, brought it crashing down toward them.
Leonard panicked, shouting, "Don't just stand there—run!"
Now wasn't the time to gape in awe. Another second and they'd be flattened. Leonard wasn't ready to die.
Even as he yelled, he hurled two Chomping Cabbage seeds. They hit the floor, rooted instantly, and sprouted into full-grown plants that bounced straight at the statue.
But with just a shift of its foot, the statue crushed them to shreds, scattering cabbage leaves across the ground. The massive sword, meanwhile, didn't slow in the slightest.
Midgard jolted back to her senses, yanking Leonard aside just in time to avoid being crushed.
The stone blade slammed into the ground, unleashing a violent tremor. The floor cracked apart, dust billowed, and shattered stone flew like bullets, a jagged fissure tearing ten meters across the hall.
The sword might not have been sharp due to its size, but its sheer mass and the wind pressure it generated made it clear—it didn't need sharpness to kill.
Nothing could withstand a single blow from that weapon. The force and weight alone could crush anything in its path!
"Protego!" Leonard raised his wand from behind Midgard, conjuring a pale blue shield of magic in front of them.
Debris, each fragment carrying the impact of a bullet, slammed into the barrier, shattering into dust and sending ripples across its surface.
Midgard, who had braced for the impact, finally exhaled in relief—only for Leonard to shout by her ear, "Don't freeze! Another strike's coming!"
That earth-shaking swing hadn't been a special move with a cooldown—it was just a casual strike from the statue!
The giant sword rose again, and the stone knight brought it down with merciless force.
Midgard didn't put her faith in Leonard's shield. She grabbed him and rolled.
Another massive crack split across the floor. The entire building groaned under the assault, swaying as though it could collapse at any moment.
"We can't just keep running. It's useless—we have to fight back!" Leonard shouted. "This building won't last much longer. If we keep dodging, we'll be buried alive!"
"Damn it! Who sticks something this big inside and doesn't reinforce the place?" Midgard roared.
"Don't forget what the Goblin told us—the Vault is as old as Gringotts. It's a relic from hundreds, maybe even a thousand years ago. No magic could keep it standing this long!"
"Then what about this colossus? Don't tell me someone just dropped it in here for fun?" Midgard snapped as she dodged another crushing blow. A crack snaked up the wall to the ceiling, and a massive block of stone broke loose, falling right toward her. Her face went pale, and she rolled Leonard away again.
But this wasn't a game. Rolling didn't grant invincibility.
Flying debris ripped through Midgard's robe and slammed against her back with a dull thud.
She bared her teeth with a low growl but still shielded Leonard in her arms.
The magic used to support a building and the magic used to guard it are two completely different things. Structural magic is always draining energy passively, while guardian statues only activate when someone intrudes.
Leonard smashed a vial of Essence of Dittany against Midgard's back. He couldn't afford to worry about waste—one small injury could throw off her movements, and then both of them would die.
"Whatever the case, you're right. We can't keep running!" Feeling the cool relief on her back, Midgard curled her lips into a sharp grin. She rolled nimbly, dodging more than ten meters away, then pulled out her wand and leveled it at the giant sword in the statue's hands.
"Expelliarmus!"
There was no need to aim. With a target this big, even closing her eyes wouldn't make her miss.
A beam of magic, as thick as a thumb, shot out and struck the colossal sword. But the blast of power didn't budge it in the slightest.
"No good?" Midgard froze, then turned to Leonard. "Let's run. We need to get out of this ruin."
"Run, my ass. There's no exit where we came in!" Leonard cursed. "Looks like I screwed up this time. I shouldn't have come here."
"Dwelling on it won't help. What do we do? My spells don't seem to work," Midgard said.
"Of course they don't. Look at the size of that thing. Watch this!" Leonard raised his wand, the surge of magic whipping his hair in the wind it created.
"Expelliarmus!"
In that instant, Leonard felt his wand come alive, trembling with excitement as it poured its strength into gathering his power. A massive sphere of magic swelled at the wand's tip, so large it dwarfed Leonard himself.
The overwhelming force made his arm shake, nearly slipping from his control, yet that raw, brutal energy filled him with confidence.
This supercharged Disarming Charm could probably level an entire mountain.
Midgard's mouth fell open. The sight of Leonard unleashing such an overwhelming spell shocked her even more than when the statue had first moved.
The statue lifted its massive stone sword again. It had no thoughts of its own, only mechanical instincts to attack.
That suited Leonard just fine. Only a slow, predictable enemy like this gave him the chance to charge up something so devastating.
Against a normal wizard, he wouldn't even need it. One powerful Charm would be enough to deal with them.
As the giant sword came crashing down, Leonard smiled with confidence and hurled the enormous orb of magic forward with a sweep of his wand.
"The battle's over," Leonard said, tucking away his wand with certainty.
Then he urged Midgard to run.
No matter how strong the spell was, standing still to watch it collide with the sword was the dumbest thing they could do. If it worked, the sword would be sent spinning right back at them with even more force than the statue's swing. He'd have to be insane to stay in one place.
Clinging to Midgard's back, Leonard watched his magic slam into the descending sword. He expected a deafening crash and shockwave, but instead, a silver-white light flashed across the blade.
In the next moment, Leonard's painstakingly charged, supercharged Disarming Charm was sliced cleanly in two. The spell collapsed instantly, leaving the giant sword completely untouched as it crashed into the ground.
Another massive crack spread across the wall, nearly joining with the one beside it. The wall wavered dangerously, and Leonard's confidence wavered with it.
"Shit!" Leonard cursed in his heart, eyes locked on the greatsword as if trying to pierce its secret.
Something was off. That sword wasn't normal.
Keeping his Magical Sight active, Leonard caught it—the instant the statue shattered his spell, a burst of silver light flared from its body and along the greatsword.
That light had blocked the enhanced effect of his Disarming Charm.
"That silver glow… could it be ancient magic?" A thought stirred in Leonard's mind.
But how do you fight ancient magic?
With ancient magic?
The more he thought, the more likely it seemed.
If this ruin was designed for inheritance, it wouldn't set up a dead-end trial just to kill the successor.
That silver glow looked like immunity against all ordinary magic. Which meant, as a trial, only so-called ancient magic might actually work against the statue.
It was like a game where a new skill unlocks, and to force players to learn it, the enemy is made resistant to all the old skills but weak to the new one.
This statue was very likely that "weak target."
"We need to test it again, to be sure," Leonard muttered before calling to Midgard. "Try some other Curse on it."
"Will that even work? Those spells barely do anything to something this big. Even Disarming Charm's better than that." Midgard's words were doubtful, but her wand was already moving.
"Confringo!"
"Incendio!"
"Expulso!"
Spell after spell blasted against the statue, yet none of them had any effect. The only result was that chunks of vegetation clinging to its surface were burned or blown away, leaving the stone looking cleaner.
Midgard · Professional Scraper · Greyback.
"Useless!" Midgard shouted helplessly as she twisted aside from another strike.
Even with the "dead weight" of Leonard clinging to her earlier, she hadn't shown the slightest fatigue. For a werewolf at her peak, Leonard wasn't even a burden—just extra baggage.
If not for the hall being on the verge of collapse, Midgard could have kept sparring with the statue all night.
"I know." Silver flickered in Leonard's eyes. He had watched carefully—every spell Midgard cast made that silver light flare and erase the magic outright.
Not counter it. Erase it. Which killed any idea of wearing the statue down with conventional spells.
"Normal magic won't work. Midgard, draw its attention and give me time to cast!" Leonard shouted. "Put me down."
"You sure?" Midgard asked.
"Absolutely. It's our only chance," Leonard said firmly.
"Fine." Midgard stopped, then hurled Leonard in the opposite direction just as the giant sword came down. At the same time, she ripped open her clothes, revealing a fur-covered but far from "cute" werewolf form, and charged in a serpentine path toward the statue.
Leonard wasn't some fragile child. His body, strengthened by Ancient Sprout, and Midgard's use of soft force when tossing him let him land smoothly without injury.
Meanwhile, Midgard's aggressive approach forced the statue to adjust its attacks. The wide, sweeping slashes turned into a relentless series of thrusts.
Though the area of destruction was smaller, the power hadn't diminished in the slightest. Every thrust sent up clouds of dust and shards of stone, and soon most of the battlefield was shrouded in smoke.
Leonard's eyelid twitched as he caught glimpses of Midgard moving swiftly and fiercely through the haze. "Don't get too close!" he shouted.
Too close, and the statue would likely trigger its third attack mode—stomping.
That was exactly what had crushed the Chomping Cabbages.
When a girl stamps her foot in a tantrum, it's cute. When a man does it, it's pathetic. But when a stone statue does it, it's a devastating attack.
Of course, if a girl were thirty meters tall, even her "cute" stomp would count as a weapon.
Through the haze, Midgard briefly poked her head out, gave Leonard a quick "no problem" gesture, and vanished back into the dust under the statue's crushing blows.
Seeing how easily she handled herself, Leonard figured she was fine for now.
He let out a long breath and brushed his fingers over the Ancient Sprout hidden in his sleeve.
"Whether we make it out of here alive depends on you," Leonard whispered.
The Ancient Sprout rustled its leaves and gave a small nod.
Leonard closed his eyes, summoning the memory of a spell that had surfaced in his mind.
This one was special—its range was vast, its power overwhelming, but it demanded time to charge and focus. Because it was so large-scale, Leonard had never had the chance to practice it. Now, with the Ancient Sprout's help, he would see if he could finally bring it forth.
Silver light flared from the Ancient Sprout, its glow spreading from branch to leaf, flowing into Leonard's body. His skin gradually took on a silvery sheen, and when he opened his eyes, they gleamed with silver light.
No chants, no mysterious gestures—just a slow lift of his hand as he guided the flow of magic within him according to memory.
A thin gray mist formed in the vast hall, gathering above until it condensed into a thundercloud beneath the crumbling roof.
The atmosphere grew crushingly heavy, the aura radiating from the cloud making it hard to breathe.
Crash!
A silver bolt of lightning split the air, striking the floor. The stone shattered, fragments spinning upward, each piece igniting with silver flames before being reduced to ash.
That first strike was the signal—the skies split open, unleashing a torrent of silver thunder.
The statue, being the tallest and largest presence, took the brunt of it. Bolts wrapped around its body, silver currents surging across its surface, steadily stripping away the inner glow of silver light.
Its movements slowed, and the frequency of its sword strikes faltered.
"Now! Midgard, get out of the range!" Leonard shouted, straining to keep his wand steady.
The replica wand held firm under the flood of magic, guiding it without faltering. It was Leonard himself who was near his limit—his hand trembled as he fought to maintain control.
The spell hadn't even reached its full release. The lightning that had already fallen was only the appetizer.
Midgard had long felt the suffocating weight in her chest. Hearing Leonard's warning, she retreated without hesitation, dodging the indiscriminate bolts until she escaped the storm.
The statue, however, lacked such agility. Pinned under the relentless thunder, it could barely raise its arms.
Leonard's eyes lit up. With a sweep of his wand, he drew the scattered power in the clouds into a single point, shaping it into a massive pillar of lightning that crashed down toward the statue.
"It's done!" Leonard shouted, certain of victory.
But just as the strike was about to land, the sluggish statue flared with silver light. The sudden eruption dispelled the suppressing thunder, restoring its mobility in an instant.
The statue raised its sword into the storm. As the lightning poured into the blade, it plunged the weapon into the ground—then, with impossible force, vaulted high into the air.
The lightning exploded the instant it hit the earth, carving a massive crater. The statue landed inside, retrieved its slightly molten sword, and leapt back out of the pit.
"You've got to be kidding me."
Leonard's eyes went wide. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.
His painstakingly prepared finishing move—dodged?
This wasn't some practice trial for learning skills. This was a full-blown boss fight.