73: The Wild Wizard Chess

Evan suddenly realized why Voldemort had chosen today to steal the Sorcerer's Stone. As long as he knew some of the secret passages of Hogwarts and managed to sneak in successfully, he had nothing to fear, especially since Dumbledore was preoccupied.

Considering Voldemort had hidden his Horcrux in the Room of Requirement and found the Chamber of Secrets, he likely knew the school well, including some of its secret passages.

"What should we do now? Just wait here for Quirrell to steal the Sorcerer's Stone?" Ron said in despair, as they were stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"We can't stay here. Once Quirrell gets the Stone, we're bound to run into him, and Fluffy might wake up at any moment!" Hermione said frustratedly, tugging at her brown hair. Despite her intelligence, she couldn't think of a solution.

"Then let's just stop Quirrell from getting the Stone. There are four of us and only one of him!" Harry said, mustering courage.

"Quirrell is not as weak as you think, and he may be connected with... Voldemort," Evan said flatly.

"Voldemort?" Harry exclaimed.

Ron and Hermione were too shocked to speak. They thought facing a professor was already a big enough challenge, let alone the notorious Dark Lord from the rumors.

"Then we have to stop him even more! If Quirrell gets the Stone, he's probably planning to give it to Voldemort or use it to bring him back," Harry said with renewed determination after the initial shock.

In fact, Evan was torn.

To go, or not to go?

If he planned carefully, perhaps he could catch Quirrell or Voldemort by surprise, as he had with the dragon rescue. He could bypass the combat phase with the protective magic within Harry, and directly kill Quirrell.

All Evan had to do was seize the opportunity when Quirrell was immobilized by Harry and use a lethal curse to claim the victory.

That way, he could fulfill the mysterious promise, unlock bloodline magic, and gain more self-protection before returning to Knockturn Alley.

But Evan was not naive enough to think everything would go as planned. If anything unexpected happened, he would have to face the ultimate boss from the original story.

Even Voldemort, reduced to just a soul, was extremely dangerous!

"If you want to leave, there are some brooms right here," Harry pointed to the brooms by the door. Knowing Quirrell was linked with Voldemort, he had decided to stop him.

"Let's face it, it's not like if we choose to ignore Quirrell, he will ignore us. I don't want to spend my days on guard against an enemy lurking in the shadows," Evan sighed.

Even though Evan knew that without their interference, Voldemort wouldn't be able to get the Stone, that wouldn't solve the problem. Once Voldemort realized he had been fooled by Dumbledore, he would become even more cautious and angered. By then, they would be in danger once school was out.

Hermione and Ron also didn't plan to leave. For the Gryffindor lions, danger was acceptable, but letting a friend face danger alone was not. Besides, in their minds, Quirrell didn't seem too bright.

They should... probably... maybe... be able to defeat him?

Just as Evan made his decision, a system notification sounded in his mind.

[New mission activated...

Mission Objective: Seize the Sorcerer's Stone!

Mission Reward: Alchemical knowledge related

Mission Description: This is a series of tests carefully prepared by the headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore. Although most have already suffered devastating damage, be warned that the difficulty of the challenges has not been reduced. Be prepared for death when you enter.]

The sudden mission notification was somewhat comforting to Evan. It meant that if they succeeded in defeating Quirrell, he would complete two tasks at once.

The rewards were substantial.

As for the danger, he knew about it from the beginning...

"Let's go," Evan composed himself and continued forward out of the small room. Since the wooden door was already destroyed, they were spared the task of flying on brooms to find the key.

Moving on, Evan thought the next challenge was just a little wizard chess game, but as they approached, it looked more like a gruesome battlefield.

Pieces of dismembered chessmen were scattered across the ground, slowly repairing under magical influence. The remaining dozen intact chessmen turned to face them in unison.

Though these stone figures lacked faces or eyes, Evan strangely felt like he was being watched. Clearly, these chessmen didn't rely on sight to target their opponents. Evan quickly deduced that the Disillusionment Charm was likely ineffective here...

As Evan stepped in, the stone soldiers drew their swords, a knight with a broken arm got up from the ground, mounted his horse, and gripped his lance, and the king raised his scepter high...

"Is this a real-life game of wizard chess?"

Facing the two to three-meter-tall stone chessmen, Ron swallowed hard. He was decent at wizard chess, but a real-life version was out of the question.

Unfortunately, the attack had already begun as they entered. The stone soldiers advanced with heavy steps, and the lone knight charged at them on horseback...

"Dissectumsempra!" Evan flicked a Splitting Curse, and the stone horse's forelegs burst apart, causing the knight to tumble down like a rolling gourd, his head shattered on one side.

The knight, however, got up again, and kept absorbing the scattered stones around him, slowly repairing his injuries.

"They repair themselves automatically; how are we supposed to fight this?" Harry said in disbelief.

"We all target the legs of these statues, limit their movement, and then cast the Iron Armor Charm. Just rush through!" Evan tapped himself with his wand, covering his body with an invisible magical barrier, giving him a sense of security.

Although the Iron Armor Charm was a defensive spell used by wizards to deflect specific curses, that didn't mean it lacked physical defense. Essentially, it creates a magical barrier around the body, providing some resistance to physical damage.

"But we don't know the Iron Armor Charm at all!" Ron tried to use the Leg-Locker Curse on one of the chess soldiers, but it had no effect, leading him to shout in despair.