Chapter 26: Challenge Task Completed!

"Shatter!" Ivan cast a splitting spell with precision, hitting the joint of the giant's arm. The giant, wildly swinging its wooden club, suddenly felt its arm go numb, and the weapon slipped from its grip. With the added momentum of its own strength, the club flew past Ivan, narrowly missing him. The force of the wind caused Ivan to squint, while Hermione, pale with fear, nearly screamed.

Boom!

Thanks to Ivan's accurate calculation, the club didn't harm either of them. It landed a short distance behind Ivan with a loud crash. The loss of the weapon didn't make the giant hesitate. Instead, it grew even more vicious. After all, the two tiny figures before it were close enough to crush with a single hand.

Five meters!

The giant closed in. Its tiny head was filled with a bloodthirsty gleam. Hermione, in despair, shut her eyes. Ivan calmly pushed her aside and stepped back, pulling a bag from his robe and tossing it into the air.

At the same time, a beam of pure magical energy shot out, striking the bag. Under the magical burst, dozens of tiny iron thorns inside the bag rapidly expanded to the size of a human palm, scattering across the floor.

The beam of magic was a small trick Ivan had accidentally learned in Transfiguration class. His Transfiguration spell had reached nearly level three, so the only spell that was dispelled was the low-level shrinking charm.

This was originally Ivan's contingency plan to slow the giant down, but it had now become an active weapon.

Under Ivan's precise calculations, one of the iron thorns landed directly beneath the giant's right foot as it moved. When the giant stomped down, Ivan could clearly see its grotesque face twist in pain.

Taking advantage of the giant's unsteady footing, Ivan continued to retreat, casting another splitting spell aimed at the giant's thigh. The spell tore through its flesh, and the giant's massive body was no longer able to support itself. After one more step, it completely lost its balance.

The giant's enormous body crashed down, landing precisely where the wooden club had fallen.

At that moment, Ivan had already retreated a few dozen centimeters behind the club, raising his wand to cast the final Transfiguration spell. During the casting, Ivan faintly heard the sound indicating the Transfiguration spell had leveled up.

The giant's small, stupid brain couldn't comprehend why iron thorns had appeared on the ground, just as it didn't understand why the club it had dropped had suddenly turned into a vertical cone of spikes.

Fortunately, it no longer needed to think. The cone-shaped spikes pierced through its eye and out the back of its head. Dark red blood mixed with white brain matter erupted, flowing down the spike.

In that final moment of life, the giant's remaining eye fixed on the tiny figure in strange clothes before it, filled with confusion and a hint of fear.

Ivan stood less than thirty centimeters from the giant's corpse, lowering his wand.

Hermione, still dazed, stared at the giant's body in shock, unable to speak. Her face was still pale with lingering terror, as only a few seconds had passed since the giant had charged at them. Now, it lay defeated in front of Ivan.

Ivan breathed softly, looking like the brief confrontation had taken everything out of him.

If it weren't for the powerful sleeping potion delaying the giant's movement, and the iron thorns being perfectly pre-transfigured, it would have been nearly impossible to defeat the giant so easily.

[Ding, Challenge Task: Defeat or Kill the Giant (Completed)] 

Task Evaluation: Excellent 

Task Reward: Bloodline Fusion Potion Recipe (Granted)]

As the task completion notification rang, Ivan was about to check the reward when a series of loud, hurried footsteps suddenly echoed from behind him.

"Oh my god, what happened here?"

Professor McGonagall, who had rushed into the corridor first, was greeted by an unimaginable scene. The hallway was littered with iron thorns, the walls were pocked with dents, and the giant lay in front of Ivan with a massive hole in its head.

To her surprise, Ivan and Hermione seemed to be in good shape. They only had some dust on their clothes but appeared unharmed.

Professor McGonagall almost wondered if she was hallucinating, and Snape, who arrived shortly after, also had a hard time believing his eyes.

Quirrell was even more shocked, forgetting his disguise for a moment as he rushed forward to confirm the giant's corpse. Indeed, it was the same giant he had released.

"Ah, it looks like this year, in addition to a savior of the magical world, we have another genius who managed to do something even some professors couldn't achieve, right at the beginning of the school year," Snape said, his face emotionless but his words dripping with sarcasm.

Quirrell, back to his usual cringing self, hunched over with a worried expression. Upon hearing Snape's words, he shuddered but didn't react further, as if Snape's mention of "a certain professor" had nothing to do with him.

Professor McGonagall, on the other hand, was furious. "Harris! Can you explain to me what in Merlin's name happened here?"

Although Hermione was also present, it was clear to everyone that Ivan was the one in charge. After all, Hermione still had tears at the corners of her eyes, and her face bore traces of fear.

"As you can see, Professor, I just happened to encounter a giant while passing through this corridor," Ivan said innocently, shrugging his shoulders.

"Happened?" Professor McGonagall was not convinced.

Snape, looking at the scattered iron thorns, added, "I think our Mr. Harris might have wanted to play the hero, otherwise, why would he have prepared in advance and just happened to be here?"

With no time to clean up, Ivan was at a loss for how to explain.

"Ivan was looking for Hermione, Professor! We can vouch for him!" Harry and Ron suddenly appeared from behind a suit of armor in the corridor.

They had actually arrived earlier, but when they saw Ivan performing his heroic act, they had no time to do anything except hide and silently cheer him on.

"Harry, Ron, I thought you two should be in your dormitories right now!" Professor McGonagall said, glaring at them.