Chapter 155

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"The weather is not conducive to outdoor exercise. At least not at this stage," said Delphine, standing in the middle of the room. She didn't look like a lady now but like a strict instructor. "And so, we will go to the basement hall to practice our spells."

The entrance to the basement floor was in the right wing, in a separate room. We went down a spiral staircase about fifteen meters and then through a massive wooden door into a very spacious, elongated hall, the light in which came from some unknown source. There were various mannequins in the far corner of the hall, but now Delphine herself stepped out there, took out her wand, and turned to me.

"Like I said, I'm not counting on a special repertoire of spells. What's more important to me right now is to see what you can do. I don't care what mysteries, special secrets, or maybe even techniques you have. They all stay here, between mentor and apprentice. Show me everything, so I know what I'm dealing with."

Contractually, that's the way it is. Of course, you can always bypass the contract if you really want to.

I accelerated to maximum speed and literally spewed a bunch of Stupefy, Reducto, Expelliarmus, Expulso spells from my wand, all repeated in varying order. It makes sense since each spell interacts uniquely with the Protégo.

"Dodged playfully," came not the voice, but Rowena's thought, simply conveying knowledge in fact. "Expulso took away with the tip of her wand."

Forcing a stream of magic into the wand, I created a modified Stupefy from a cloud of guided projectiles, throwing a Bombarda at Delphine's feet in the process. The woman took the shockwave away with a sweeping movement of her free hand to the side. She transfigured the shards of the hall from the explosion into balloons, knocking my rays out of the way. She didn't attack. She waited.

"Great speed, nonverbal. Strengthening the body with magic? Hmm, more than that. Blood? Desperate guy."

Delphine smiled. Not madly, just cheerfully.

"Let's have more."

And I started to throw spells from the school program at her. It was like New Year's fireworks, as colorful beams and clots of spells flew out of the wand at a phenomenal rate. Still, for each one, Delphine instantly released either some sort of counter-spell to mutually destroy the rays. Also, she dodged instantly and easily, missing the rays literally an inch away, or she transfigured something - from bricks and walls and metal objects to walls of water and other structures.

"Not enough," Delphine teased, shaking a braid of blonde hair. Her posture expressed readiness but without tension.

"I can use only magic?"

"Whatever you want. You planned to learn in battle."

"Fine."

Once again, I accelerated and sprinted forward. Delphine didn't attack at all. Her gaze and stingy movements with her wand kept up with me without too much trouble. At least it seemed that way to me. As I got close enough, I tried to land a well-placed side kick, but Delphine gently blocked my arm to the side. Rowena immediately calculated as many as six punishment options for the cocky me, but they didn't follow. I created several bloody needles and blades in a fist set aside, immediately sending them to Delphine. She saw them instantly, and without a gesture, she burned them off with a spell, creating a powerful shockwave around her, knocking me aside.

Tumbling through the air, I created an outline of one of the mists from the Grimoire on my hand and blew an extremely rapidly expanding cloud of purple mist from my palm.

"Hmm... Intriguing..." Delphine allowed herself a few words before with a modest movement of her wand, burning the mist with actual FiendFyre. Spooky spell. It seemed as if the dark, reddish fire showed the outlines of tormented people, hands, flesh, all wanting to reach out and devour you.

Cursed Fire disappeared after a couple of seconds, and I launched Cumilaris at Delphine, a spiraling drop that scattered Wormtail across the Forbidden Forest so unpleasantly from an aesthetic point of view. She simply took it at the slightly glowing tip of her wand, and the clot burst like a balloon, and its debris, scattered like a cone behind the woman, knocked out a bunch of crumbs and fragments from the stone floor and walls of the hall, leaving deep nicks.

"Is there anything else?"

There's no point in showing my sword - I don't know how to use it anyway, and it's a somewhat different tool.

"There is, but it doesn't seem to make sense."

"Wise remark," Delphine smiled. From her wand came a very fast beam of Reducto, which a normal person not only had difficulty dodging, even seeing. I tilted my head slightly, letting the beam near me. "I see. Stamina?"

"At this rate, I could last three hours."

"Just great!" smiled Delphine sincerely. "Defend yourself!"

Now I already had to dodge and put out Protego, but she continued to hit me with various non-threatening spells, causing pain, bruising, or crashing me properly into floors and walls. Even with Rowena's powers, I was having trouble interpreting the beam and taking countermeasures - Deaf Protego was not a panacea, and not everything could be dodged.

A dozen minutes of this beating was enough to squeeze me out like a lemon, despite my superior body parameters - a simple lack of experience. That said, I was aware that Delphine was somehow enhancing herself with magic, if not to my level, then a little lower, yet superior by a couple of orders of magnitude in everything, as if predicting my every breath.

"Tired?" she asked cheerfully, breathing only slightly more quickly. I, on the other hand, was in an unsightly state, battered and slightly bleeding.

I raised my hand with a wand in it, and with difficulty, I conjured up Woolner Sanentur, returning the blood to my body and covering my wounds.

"A little bit."

"Then, get some rest, and we can go outside."