Chapter 25: Battle with the Troll and the Ineffective Fear Charm

"Wingardium Leviosa~" Ivan muttered the Levitation Charm softly, watching as the troll slowly approached. A few flat pieces of rock bread lifted off the ground, positioning themselves in a way that the troll could see them clearly, avoiding the risk of stepping on them due to its small head.

Still, Ivan felt uneasy, worried that the troll might not be as stupid as the books described and could recognize it as a trap. Fortunately, he quickly realized the troll was even more foolish than he had imagined. It lacked even the basic caution an animal would have, completely uninterested in where the food came from, grabbing it and stuffing it into its mouth.

In fact, to get a better grip, the troll threw its wooden stick to the ground, its gluttonous nature on full display. Ivan couldn't help but wonder if Chino had been skimping on the troll's meals and pocketing the saved Galleons.

After a brief internal rant, Ivan's nervous expression softened. He gently touched the pocket inside his wizard's robe, realizing he wouldn't need to use his carefully prepared escape plan after all.

However, contrary to Ivan's expectations, a few minutes later, the troll didn't collapse after finishing the rock bread. Instead, it started sniffing the air, seemingly looking for more food.

Ivan was confused. To ensure his plan's success, he had used enough of the potion to knock out several adult wizards, but the troll showed no signs of being affected at all.

"This doesn't make sense, this doesn't even feel magical!" Ivan muttered to himself. Had he brewed the potion too weak?

He looked at his potion-making skill, now at level three, and felt a bit uncertain.

"Ah~"

As Ivan debated whether to act immediately, a loud voice shattered the already tense situation.

From the corner of the hallway, Ivan saw Hermione appear. The troll, seeing her, picked up the wooden stick again and started walking toward her excitedly. Ivan instantly realized that Hermione had probably been drawn by the noise of the stick falling.

He cursed silently, thinking that had he known, he would've set the trap farther away.

Of course, Ivan was just venting. If he had set it farther, he would have had no way of knowing whether the troll would have passed that way.

Meanwhile, Hermione, facing the terrifying pressure of the approaching troll, was panicking. Her brain kept sending signals to her body to run, but her legs felt like jelly, barely able to support her.

As Ivan had guessed, Hermione had been crying in the bathroom before, but she had felt the ground tremble and heard the loud sound of the stick hitting the ground, which had piqued her curiosity. She never expected to encounter a troll in the hallways of Hogwarts.

Just as Hermione thought she was doomed, a voice rang out at the perfect moment.

"Fear Appears!"

A bright purple glow shot from the other side, and the troll's massive size made the charm nearly impossible to miss. The moment the Fear Charm struck, the troll stopped running, standing frozen in place, completely dazed. Ivan emerged from the secret passage.

"Ivan!" Hermione, like someone drowning and grabbing onto a lifeline, immediately threw herself at him, hugging him, her cheeks still damp with tears.

"Shh," Ivan said, not letting his guard down. He used his left hand to gently detach Hermione's grip, while his right hand held up his wand, continually increasing the power of the Fear Charm.

Hermione blushed but quickly noticed that the troll was behaving strangely. She had initially thought Ivan had subdued the troll with a single spell, but now it seemed more complicated.

"What's wrong with it?" Hermione whispered.

Ivan didn't answer, merely gesturing for her to stay quiet. His gaze never left the troll. This was the first time he had seen such a reaction since using the Fear Charm.

To make the troll feel enough fear, Ivan had replicated the three-headed Norwegian dog they had encountered earlier, enlarged it, and replaced it with Hermione's position.

The troll, under the influence of the Fear Charm, was confused. The little dwarf in front of it had somehow transformed into a giant three-headed dog, which seemed oddly familiar, though much larger than it remembered. Had it secretly been eating more lately?

What now? Hermione silently gestured with her eyes.

Ivan hesitated, but he wasn't willing to pass up this opportunity. Time was limited, and the professor could arrive at any moment. If he missed this chance, the next time he'd want to defeat the troll, he'd have to go through the trap guarded by the three-headed dog.

After a brief moment, Ivan gestured for Hermione to use the Levitation Charm to grab the troll's wooden stick and then hit it over the head with it.

Yes, exactly how Harry and Ron had defeated the troll in the original story. Even if it didn't succeed, they would at least have taken away the troll's weapon.

Hermione was skeptical of Ivan's far-fetched plan but, trusting him, prepared to carry it out.

However, the troll's swing of the wooden stick was faster than Hermione's spell!

The already dim-witted troll, after several failed attempts at communication, finally chose to lash out in anger. The troll's immense strength, combined with a wooden stick thicker than an adult's waist, made Ivan feel a long-forgotten sense of impending death.

In the nick of time, Ivan used his final trump card. His remaining academic points in the system dropped to single digits, and in the next instant, his thinking speed increased by a factor of one hundred.

The trajectory of the wooden stick and the troll's possible next moves flashed through Ivan's mind. He quickly spun around, rolling on the ground with Hermione to escape.

Behind them, a loud crash echoed as the troll struck the corner of the wall, tearing off a large chunk. Dust and debris scattered everywhere.

The Fear Charm Ivan had cast was also broken, and even if the troll wasn't the sharpest, it now realized it had been tricked. Raising its stick, it was ready to chase them.

But after just a few steps, the troll suddenly felt dizzy and wobbled, crashing into the wall. The powerful sleeping potion Ivan had administered earlier finally kicked in.

Seizing the moment, Ivan quickly scrambled to his feet, pulling Hermione with him, and putting a good distance of several meters between them and the troll.

The troll, now partially affected by the potion, had regained some clarity, though it seemed to have a high resistance to the sleeping potion.

Though the troll didn't understand why it was disoriented, it was certain that crushing these two dwarfs was a good idea, and it charged at them in a rage.

For the troll, ten meters was nothing. It could cover the distance in just a few seconds. For Ivan, it was just enough.