It dawned on Ivan that it was no wonder Lord Voldemort had chosen this day to steal the Philosopher's Stone. As long as he knew some of the secret passages of Hogwarts, he would be able to sneak in without incident, and he would have nothing to fear when Dumbledore was occupied.
Judging from how Voldemort hid his Horcruxes in the Room of Requirement and then went to the Slytherin Chamber, he must have explored the school very deeply, and it would be normal for him to know some of the secret passages.
"So what do we do now? Just sit here and wait for Quirrell to steal the stone?" Ron felt a wave of despair, for this was a complete dilemma.
"We can't stay here any longer. Quirrell will still be up against us when he gets the stone, and Fluffy might wake up at any moment!" Hermione tugged at her brown hair in frustration, unable to think of a solution.
"Then we might as well go and stop Quirrell from getting his hands on the stone. There are four of us, and he's alone!" Harry said bravely.
"Quirrell is not as weak as you think. Perhaps he has something to do with You-Know-Who, or Lord Voldemort," Ivan said quietly.
"Voldemort?" Harry said in surprise.
Ron and Hermione were stunned into silence. They had thought they would have enough trouble dealing with a professor, but now their opponent had escalated to the legendary Dark Lord.
"All the more reason for us to stop him! Quirrell must be planning to give the stone to Lord Voldemort, or perhaps revive him," Harry insisted after a moment of surprise.
In fact, Ivan's mind was also in a state of heavenly conflict,
To go or not to go?
If he had designed it properly, he might have been able to catch either Voldemort or Quirrell off guard and use the protective magic in Harry's body to bypass the battle phase and kill Quirrell.
All he had to do was use the Killing Charm to steal Quirrell's life while he was immobilized by Harry.
This way, he would be able to complete his mission and unlock his bloodline magic, which would give him the ability to protect himself before returning to Knockturn Alley.
However, Ivan was not so naive as to think that everything would go as smoothly as he had hoped. If anything happened, he would have to face the final boss of the book.
Even Voldemort, weakened to the point of having only his soul left, was extremely dangerous!
"There are some brooms here if you want to get out of here," Harry said, pointing to a broom by the door. He had decided to stop Quirrell when he found out that he was connected to Lord Voldemort.
"Forget it. Quirrell won't let us go if we don't want to. I don't want to be on guard against an enemy in the shadows all day." Ivan sighed.
Ivan knew that Voldemort would not have been able to get his hands on the stone even without their interference, but that would not solve the problem. When Voldemort realised that he had been tricked by Dumbledore, he would be even more cautious and angry, and they would be in grave danger during the school holidays.
Hermione and Ron had no intention of leaving, either, as the Gryffindor Lion cub was more than willing to accept the danger, and they had the impression that it would be unwise to leave their friend to face it alone.
They could probably… probably… beat him?
As Ivan made his decision, a system notification sounded in his head.
[New mission in progress…
Mission Objective: Snatch the Philosopher's Stone!
Task Reward: Alchemy-related knowledge
Task description: This is a test that was carefully prepared by Hogwarts Headmaster Dumbledore, and although most of it has been dealt a devastating blow, it is important to note that the difficulty of the level has not been reduced as a result.
The sudden mission prompt made Ivan feel a little better. It meant that if he managed to kill Quirrell, he would be able to complete two missions at once.
The reward was quite generous.
As for the danger, he already knew that…
"Let's go." Ivan collected himself and continued on his way out of the small room. Since the wooden door had been destroyed, they were able to avoid having to use the broom to find the key.
Further ahead, Ivan thought it would be a simple challenge to play Wizard's Chess, but when he got closer, it was more like a gruesome battlefield.
A large number of dismembered pieces lay strewn across the floor, slowly repairing themselves under the influence of magic. The remaining ten or so pieces looked over in unison.
The stone pieces did not have faces or eyes, but Ivan was surprised to feel that they were watching him. It was clear that the pieces did not rely on their eyes to locate their targets. Ivan quickly determined that the Disillusionment Charm would lose its effect there…
The moment Ivan stepped inside, the stone soldiers drew their swords, the knight with the broken hand scrambled to his feet, mounted his horse and gripped his lance, and the king raised his staff high…
"Is this a live-action Wizarding Flag War?"
Ron swallowed hard as he looked at the two or three-meter-tall stone pieces in front of him. Although his wizarding pieces were pretty good, he decided against the real ones.
Unfortunately, as soon as they entered, the attack began. The stone soldiers approached with heavy steps, and the lone knight galloped towards them on his horse…
"Split!" Ivan cast a Divide Curse, and the front legs of the stone horse that was halfway there exploded. The knight on top of it fell to the ground like a rolling gourd, and his head was smashed in half.
However, the knight was able to get back to his feet, and he continued to absorb the scattered stones around him, slowly healing his wounds.
"How are we supposed to fight them if they can fix themselves?" Harry was speechless.
"Attack the legs of the stone men as best you can, restrict their movements, then cast an Armor Charm and charge!" Ivan pointed his wand at himself, and an invisible barrier of magic enveloped him, giving him a sense of security.
The Shield Charm was a defensive and reflective spell used by wizards and witches, but this did not mean that it did not have a physical defence. Its essence was to create a magical barrier around one's body, and to some extent to protect against physical harm.
Ronon tried to attack one of the pawn soldiers with the leg-locking spell, but it had no effect at all, and he shouted in despair, "But we don't even know the Shield Charm!"