Chapter 675: End and Settlement (Edited)

Cedric's approach alarmed the mermaids in the village. They swam out of their stone houses and glared at him maliciously, like an unwelcome intruder.

Observing the spears in the mermaids' hands and their strong, muscular arms and fish tails, Cedric grimaced; now he was grateful that these mermaids were not hostile forces.

He wasn't fooled by their spears; if he really engaged in combat with them, he wouldn't even be enough to fill their teeth.

Cedric closely observed the world of the mermaids and noticed a fundamental difference from the magical creatures he had seen before. Unlike other magical creatures, even the powerful ones like dragons or as sacred as unicorns, they didn't have such a detailed social structure.

To Cedric's eyes, the mermaids seemed to have the appearance of a primitive tribe. They had their own architectural styles and raised other magical creatures to assist in their hunting: some houses had grindylows tethered outside, and there was a clear distinction of status and wealth.

Some houses were simple stone shells, while others had grindylows tethered outside and gardens filled with aquatic plants. Overall, the closer to the center, the more "luxurious" the mermaids' houses were, and the inhabitants were stronger.

Cedric vaguely heard a song and understood that the mermaids were guiding him through it. So he swam towards the song, which was in the direction of the center of the mermaid village.

As he advanced, more and more mermaids emerged, looking curiously at the strange visitor. For the mermaids, wizards were rare creatures they barely saw once in a hundred years.

The number of mermaids increased to the point where Cedric could no longer count them. Just from the quantity and considering their advanced social structure, Cedric realized a fact: mermaids were undoubtedly the rulers of the underwater world.

The sky and the land of the magical world belonged to wizards, while the underwater world was the domain of the mermaids.

He also noticed that all the mermaids that appeared here were males.

Maybe the female mermaids are prettier! Suddenly, this idea crossed his mind.

In the center of the mermaid village was a small square where Cedric saw a huge mermaid statue with three people tied to the statue's tail: Tom, Cho Chang, and Luna.

A large group of mermaids was singing around them.

The three hostages were asleep and bubbling continuously from their mouths.

The potion Professor McGonagall had given them allowed them to breathe freely underwater, as if they were back in their mother's womb.

Cedric spat out bubbles and pulled a small knife from his pocket, cutting the seaweed ropes that bound Cho Chang.

An idea crossed Cedric's mind: if he took the other champions' most important "treasures," couldn't they complete the task?

"You can't do that, you can only take your own hostages," a seven-foot-tall mermaid told him, stopping him with a spear in hand and persuading him to abandon that bold idea.

"Alright." Cedric wasn't stubborn, and realizing there were no loopholes to exploit, he immediately brought Cho Chang to the surface.

The next step was to return to the surface as quickly as possible to have more time and earn more points.

Ten minutes after Cedric left, Krum arrived at the mermaid village with a shark's head over his shoulders.

His speed was astonishing.

Indeed, in the wooden building, Krum had spent much less time than Cedric. After passing Madame Maxime's test, he entered the third level with a desire to kill and, quite luckily, found the peculiarity of the sundial and used the same approach as Cedric to break the root blocking the needle, passing Dumbledore's test.

Dumbledore had nothing to say to the young wizards who didn't follow the rules of the game.

After reaching the mermaid village, Krum had to make an effort to bring Luna back, trailing behind Cedric by only seven minutes.

Finally, Cedric completed the competition in one hour and fifty-three minutes, while Krum took exactly two hours.

As both were drying off on the shore, they saw Fleur running towards them from the wooden cabin. She had completed all three levels of challenges, which meant she wasn't finished when Cedric and Krum were already done.

However, Dumbledore was relieved to see that Fleur had perfectly understood his intention. She found all the traps he had left and overcame them with the right approach.

Seeing the two on the shore, Fleur felt at a disadvantage. But she couldn't afford to waste time, so she mustered her courage, took the gillyweed, and dove into the lake.

With the help of the gillyweed, Fleur swam faster than the other two champions. But when she saw Tom Yodel underwater, she lost her composure.

She repeatedly asked the leader of the mermaids if Tom was her mission target, until the mermaids grew tired and confirmed what she already knew: the competition organizers really considered Tom their "treasure."

At least she wouldn't have to leave her sister at the bottom of the lake, Fleur comforted herself as she brought Tom back to the shore.

The final results were not surprising. Cedric, with the shortest time, scored the highest. But the gap between him and Krum did not widen, as Krum had also shown an impressive performance, receiving a high score of 60 points and trailing Cedric by only 5 points.

Adding the remaining points from the previous challenges, Cedric still held the first place with 75 points, while Krum had 70 points, trailing in second place by 5 points.

Fleur, on the other hand, wasn't as lucky. Even if Dumbledore gave her the maximum score, she only scored 45 points in the second event, leaving her with a total of 47 points...

It was evident that Fleur had little chance of winning the Triwizard Tournament.

The second event narrowed the gap between Cedric and Krum, creating some suspense in the battle between the two.

After announcing the scores of the three champions, the second event came to a complete end.

"The last event will take place on the afternoon of June 24th. The champions will be informed in advance of the specific content of the event. Thank you all for your support and love for the champions. See you in June!" With Bagman's energetic voice, the second event of the Triwizard Tournament came to a close.

"Do you want something warm to drink?" Hermione approached Tom, who was shivering, and handed him a small bottle of water.

"Thanks." Although he had already dried off, Tom still felt uncomfortable after being submerged in cold water for three hours. Impatiently, he opened the warm bottle and discovered it was filled with cinnamon cider.

It was an unusual drink that combined powdered cinnamon with red wine and had the effect of warming the body, perfect for someone with a cold. Although the taste was a bit strange, it was just what Tom needed at that moment.