Chapter 283: Puzzle: The Spider

At this moment, Harry Potter was in the midst of his boss battle.

Along the way, he found the obstacles he encountered to be few and far between, as if there were no other difficulties in this maze besides getting lost.

He defeated a Boggart, circumvented a giant, and forcefully passed through a golden mist—the most challenging obstacle he had encountered so far.

Upon entering the golden mist, he realized the world had turned upside down; he found himself hanging upside down, glasses slipping off his nose, his feet seemingly stuck to the grassy ceiling above, with the ground now a vast, starry night sky below him.

At that moment, he felt that if he lifted his foot, he would immediately fall.

It was an illusion induced by the golden mist he had inhaled.

However, he gritted his teeth against the rush of blood to his head, the pounding in his ears, gathered courage, and managed to move forward, overcoming this challenge.

In this way, he proceeded quite smoothly to the finish line.

In reality, this was almost taken for granted, considering he had an "external aid" helping him all along.

Fake Moody spared no effort in clearing the path for him, defeating many monsters blocking his way without Harry's knowledge.

Blame could somewhat be placed on Alaric, who had added too many monsters in the maze as tests.

Given Harry's level, it was practically impossible for him to reach the finish line—even genuine heroes like Krum and Fleur needed to fully utilize the "monster drops" Alaric had set up to proceed.

Thus, Fake Moody had to spend a great deal of time maneuvering through the maze: finding opportunities to ambush Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, and Alaric to prevent them from hindering his progress.

Also seizing chances to control Krum with the Imperius Curse, all to eliminate the other three champions in a reasonable and inconspicuous manner, ensuring that no one else reached the champion's trophy before Harry.

Finally, he had to clear the way for Harry, preventing him from being too weak to reach the finish line.

In this process, Fake Moody was playing both protector and manipulator, finally ensuring that Harry, this "waste material" (relatively speaking), was the first to reach the finish line.

The unexpected defeat of Krum, controlled midway by the Imperius Curse, meant Fake Moody had to personally deal with the remaining two participants.

However, just as he appeared, clever Hermione saw through his identity immediately.

To buy time, he had to endure listening to Hermione's complete analysis, which was a piercing critique of his perfect plan, infuriating him.

Just as he was preparing to vent his anger, Alaric appeared...

These series of surprises truly exhausted him mentally.

However, from Alaric's mouth, he learned of an even bigger surprise: what he thought would be a manageable final level had been strengthened by Alaric, which was truly...

After Harry passed through the golden mist, he found himself increasingly entering dead ends and dense darkness, convincing him he was nearing the center of the maze.

Then, as he walked along a long, straight path, he heard movement.

The wand's light fell on an incredibly strange creature he had only seen in "The Monster Book of Monsters".

It was a Sphinx.

Its body resembled a terrifyingly large lion: huge paws, a yellow tail with a tuft of hair at the tip.

But it had the head of a woman.

As Harry approached, she turned her almond-shaped eyes towards him.

He raised his wand, hesitant.

Instead of crouching and preparing to attack, she simply paced back and forth, blocking his way.

Then she spoke, her voice low and hoarse.

"You are very close to your goal now. The quickest way is through me."

"Could you please move aside?" Harry asked, knowing what the answer would be.

"No," she continued pacing, "unless you can answer my riddle.

Guess it right, and I'll let you pass.

Guess wrong, and I'll attack.

Refuse to answer, and I'll let you walk away unharmed."

Harry's heart sank. He wasn't good at riddles.

He weighed his options; if the riddle was too difficult, he could refuse to answer, and the Sphinx wouldn't harm him.

He could find another path to the center of the maze.

"Alright," he said, "Can I hear the riddle?"

The Sphinx sat on her hind legs, blocking the center of the path, and recited:

First, think of someone always wearing a mask,

Sneaky in action, a web of lies they cast.

Next, tell me what's always patched and sewn,

The middle of middle, the end of end shown?

Finally, tell me when words fail you to admit,

Which word often comes off your lips, a bit.

Now, put them together and answer me this:

What animal won't you willingly kiss?

Harry stared at her, tongue-tied.

"Could you repeat that... slower?" he cautiously asked.

She winked at him, smiled slightly, and recited the poem again.

"All clues together represent an animal I won't kiss?" Harry asked.

She just smiled mysteriously, which Harry took as a yes. He searched his mind.

There were many animals he wouldn't kiss, so this was as good as having no answer.

"Wearing a mask," he muttered to himself, "always lying... um... that's... imposter. No, that's not my answer! Spy?

I'll think about that... something always patched and sewn," Harry repeated, "um... can't think of it... 'middle of middle'... 'when words fail, often said word'... um... should be... um... wait a minute—'er!' 'Er' is a word!"

The Sphinx smiled at him.

"Spy... er... spy... er..." Harry paced, "an animal I won't kiss... is a spider!"

The Sphinx's smile grew warmer. She stood up, stretched her front legs, and stepped aside.

"Thank you!" Harry exclaimed in surprise at his own cleverness and hurried past.

However, he didn't know it wasn't just a riddle; it was also a hint, a hint for the final level.

Harry dashed forward, a fork in the road ahead.

"Show me the way!" he said to his wand again, which spun and pointed towards the right path.

He ran along this path, seeing a bright light ahead.

The Triwizard Cup shimmered enticingly on its pedestal one hundred meters away.

He sprinted full speed towards the trophy, seeing the championship within reach.

He began to imagine how proud his godfather Black, the Weasley family, and the wizards of Gryffindor would be for him.

He couldn't believe he had actually defeated duel champion Hermione, as well as the two champions from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, who were three years older than him...

However, just as he was most excited, an unexpected event occurred.

Outside the hedge to his left, a huge black shadow swiftly moved towards him on a crossroads.

Harry almost collided with this monster before noticing it, and he had to dive to dodge the surprise attack.

It was an enormous, gigantic spider.

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