Chapter 51: Defensive Counterattack and Victory
Facing Alaric's quick return to defense, the outcome for Hufflepuff was predictable.
Hufflepuff's Chasers attempted to break through the defense, but they were unsuccessful.
Faced with the fast-approaching Alaric, one of the Hufflepuff Chasers had no choice but to panic and forcefully take a long shot from a distance, trying to score through a distant throw.
However, not everyone possessed the long-range shooting ability of Alaric.
The Hufflepuff Chaser obviously lacked arm strength, and the Quaffle he threw was not fast enough. It was easily caught by the goalkeeper just before it was about to enter the goal.
Seeing this situation, Alaric immediately signaled to the goalkeeper and changed direction, accelerating towards Hufflepuff's goal.
The goalkeeper received the signal, giving it his all to throw the Quaffle towards Hufflepuff's half of the pitch.
Because Hufflepuff's Chasers were far away from their half, entangled with Ravenclaw's players in front of the scoring area, they couldn't return in time to defend against the quick counterattack.
Meanwhile, Alaric accurately intercepted the Quaffle in mid-air along its path, then flew straight toward Hufflepuff's goalpost, forming a one-on-one situation.
Hufflepuff's goalkeeper did his best to defend, but due to the significant gap between them, Alaric easily scored another ten points.
"Eighty to zero!" exclaimed Lee Jordan.
The stands erupted in a commotion.
Even triple defense couldn't stop Alaric's onslaught.
After scoring, Alaric adjusted the team's tactics.
Although he could deal with the triple defense, this tactic did irritate him.
So, in the following matches, Ravenclaw seemed like an entirely different team, with a drastically changed tactical style.
Facing Hufflepuff's attacks, Ravenclaw's Chasers focused on slowing down the opponents and engaged in direct confrontation only after reaching their own half.
Moreover, while grappling with the opponents, Ravenclaw's Chasers always ensured that one Chaser was behind the Hufflepuff players.
It's worth mentioning that this time Alaric didn't act alone, aiming to find openings in the opponents' passing and perform interceptions based on his personal ability. Instead, he stayed with his teammates, maintaining formation to prevent being separated and surrounded by Hufflepuff again.
On the Hufflepuff side, Diggory tried several times to command his teammates to surround Alaric, but each attempt was thwarted by Ravenclaw's other players' interceptions.
Faced with this tactic, Hufflepuff's offense was completely stifled. The players couldn't pick up speed, the situation was chaotic, and the Quaffle changed hands several times.
Finally, Alaric caught the Quaffle in his hands, and without hesitation, forcefully threw it towards Hufflepuff's half.
At this moment, the nearest Ravenclaw Chaser to Hufflepuff's half, Roger, also reacted. Following the tactics, he turned 180 degrees and flew toward Hufflepuff's goal.
Due to Alaric's precise control of force, the Quaffle flew directly in front of him. Roger accurately caught the ball, facing Hufflepuff's goalkeeper with a clear chance.
On the other side, Ravenclaw's Beaters also took action, entangling Hufflepuff's Beaters, preventing them from interfering with Roger and the goalkeeper's duel.
At this moment, Hufflepuff's Chasers were frantically retreating, so Roger had only one opportunity to attack.
Three goals, two-thirds probability of scoring.
Roger made a steady shot.
The score, ninety to zero.
Roger successfully scored another goal.
This was one of Alaric's tactics—defensive counterattacks.
The subsequent battle became one-sided.
Faced with Ravenclaw's defensive counter attacking tactics, Hufflepuff appeared hesitant and couldn't muster full strength in their attacks. This resulted in a three-against-two numerical advantage for Ravenclaw in the offensive zone.
In this situation, Ravenclaw deployed a traditional Quidditch tactic—a Hawkhead Attack Formation. Three Chasers formed a tight triangular formation to break through the opponent's formation. Successfully isolating Hufflepuff's two Chasers, they made it impossible for them to pass to each other. Then, they surrounded the ball carrier, executing a successful steal.
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Faced with Ravenclaw's diverse tactics, Hufflepuff was completely overwhelmed.
Soon, the score was 170-0.
Helplessly, they could only resort to their favorite strategy—The time dragging grand plan—delaying the game until Ravenclaw's players were exhausted and then using their stamina advantage to counterattack.
In the past games, they defeated Ravenclaw by employing this strategy.
However, Alaric had already anticipated this.
After the lead surpassed one hundred and fifty points, Ravenclaw began to reduce flying and increase passing—three Chasers in the midfield continuously passed the Quaffle between each other, straining Hufflepuff's players and allowing Ravenclaw's players to save energy successfully.
In the end, even though Diggory, skillfully catching the Golden Snitch ahead of Cho Chang, managed to grab it first, it couldn't salvage Hufflepuff's defeat.
In the final tally, Ravenclaw won with a significant lead of two hundred and seventy to one hundred and sixty.
This was a long-awaited major victory for Ravenclaw, and the entire team basked in the ocean of joy.
As the biggest contributor, Alaric was literally carried by his teammates, circling the Quidditch field—an extraordinary feat considering most of Ravenclaw's players were girls. After an intense match, their excitement was evident.
After this battle, the entire Hogwarts witnessed Alaric's formidable individual skills and tactical command abilities.
Gryffindor and Slytherin teams were preparing intensively to figure out how to deal with Alaric as the top priority for their current teams.
Meanwhile, Alaric's female fans passionately regarded him as a Quidditch superstar, believing that his future dominance in the Quidditch World Cup was just around the corner.
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