"Split up!"
Ivan's Splinter Spell hit the troll at the joint of its arm, and the troll who was swinging the club around felt its arm go numb, and the weapon flew out of its grasp, flying past Ivan's side with the added speed of its own attack, the wind pressure causing Ivan to squint and Hermione to go pale and nearly scream.
Bang!
With Ivan's precise calculations, the wooden club didn't do any damage to the two of them. It only landed a short distance behind Ivan with a loud crash…
Losing his weapon did not deter the troll in the slightest, but made him even more ferocious. After all, the two dwarves in front of him were so close that he could crush them with his bare hands.
Five metres!
As the troll closed in, its bean-sized head gleaming with bloodlust, Hermione closed her eyes in despair, and Ivan calmly pushed her away as he took a bag from his robes and threw it.
At the same time, a beam of pure magic struck the bag, and under the curtain of light created by the burst of magic, dozens of shrunken Iron Thorns rapidly expanded to the size of a palm and scattered across the floor.
The Magical Beam was a trick that Ivan accidentally learned in Transfiguration class, and because Ivan's Transfiguration had been raised to nearly Level 3, the only thing that was removed was the low-level Shrinking Charm.
This was originally Ivan's plan of escape, intended to merely restrict the troll's movements.
One of the thorns fell just below the troll's right foot, which was about to hit the ground. When the troll stepped on it, Ivan saw the troll's ugly face suddenly contort.
Taking advantage of the troll's instability, Ivan continued to retreat, turning his hand to cast another Splinter Spell, this time hitting the troll's thigh, which was used to support its body. Under the laceration, the troll's mountainous body could no longer support itself, and it lost its balance after taking a step.
The troll's huge, fat body came crashing down.
It landed exactly where the wooden club had fallen.
Ivan retreated a few dozen centimeters behind the wooden club and waved his hand to cast the final Transfiguration Charm. As he did so, Ivan could hear the faint sound of an upgrade in his mind.
The troll's stupid little head could not understand why nasty iron brambles had appeared on the ground, just as it could not understand why the club it dropped had suddenly turned into a cone-shaped spike.
Fortunately, there was no longer any need to think about it. The cone pierced straight through the head from the eye, and scarlet blood mixed with white brain matter spurted out and flowed slowly down the cone.
At the moment of its death, the troll used its remaining eye to stare straight at the strangely-dressed Shorty in front of it, its eyes filled with endless confusion and a little fear…
Ivan, standing less than thirty centimeters from the troll's corpse, lowered his wand…
Hermione was left speechless by the sight of the troll's lifeless body, and the despair and fear on her face had yet to fade. Within a few seconds, the troll had collapsed on top of Ivan.
Ivan was panting lightly. It seemed like only a few seconds of confrontation, but he was using all his strength.
If it weren't for the fact that the initial effects of the powerful Sleeping Potion had delayed the troll's advance, and that the Ironthorns, which had been pre-transformed, had performed a perfect assist, it would have been impossible to deal with the troll so easily.
[Ding, Challenge Mission: Defeat or kill the troll (completed)
Task Rating: Excellent
Task reward: Bloodline Fusion Potion Recipe (released)
The mission-completed prompt sounded as scheduled. Ivan was about to take a look at the system reward when he heard loud and hurried footsteps behind him.
"Oh dear, what on earth is going on?"
Professor McGonagall was the first to rush into the corridor, where she was greeted by a scene she had never expected to see. The corridor was broken and strewn with thorns, the walls were pitted and smashed, and a troll lay in front of Ivan with a large hole in its head.
And Ivan and Hermione, whom she had been worried about, seemed to be in good shape? Apart from a bit of dust on their clothes, they seemed fine.
Professor McGonagall almost believed that she was hallucinating when Snape arrived, unable to believe his eyes.
Quirrell was even more surprised. For a moment, he forgot his disguise and ran over to the troll's body to double-check that he had indeed released the troll.
"Ah, it seems that this year, in addition to being the saviour of the wizarding world, we have a new genius who has just started school and is already doing something that even certain lecturers cannot do."
Snape, who was the first to react, looked at Ivan with an expressionless face, but his words were, by all accounts, full of irony.
Quirrell was now back to his old subservient self, hunched over with a worried look on his face, shaking a little at Snape's words and showing no further reaction, as if the "some professor" Snape was referring to was not him.
Professor McGonagall was furious.
"Hales! Can you explain to me exactly what happened here?"
Despite Ivan's presence, as well as Hermione's, everyone present, including Professor McGonagall, could tell that Ivan was in charge.
Hermione, after all, still had tears in her eyes, and a look of terror was evident on her face.
"As you can see, Professor, I just happened to come across a troll in this corridor," Ivan said, throwing up his hands innocently.
"By chance?" Professor McGonagall didn't believe him for a second.
Snape looked at the iron thorns scattered on the ground and added.
"I think our Mr. Harls might have wanted to be a hero for once, otherwise why would he have come prepared and just happened to be here?"
Unable to find the time to tie up loose ends, Ivan was at a loss for words.
"Ivan's here for Hermione, Professor! We'll testify for him!" Harry and Ron burst out from behind an armored knight in the corridor.
They had arrived a long time ago, but had arrived just in time for Ivan to show off his prowess. The two of them had little to do except hide and shout "Holy shit" and "666" to themselves.
"Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, I thought you were supposed to be in your room right now!" Professor McGonagall said, glaring at them.