HP: The Wizard Who Paints with Magic

Chapter 305 306: New Card – “Darksoul Knight”! Ethan, Are You Trying to Kill Us?!

"What was that?"

Cedric looked up sharply inside the maze, listening.

Beyond the faint rustle of shifting thorns, another sound threaded through.

A soft, steady clatter, like something hard scraping against itself.

Or perhaps just the wind.

"Must be my nerves," Cedric muttered, forcing the noise from his mind.

Not far from the entrance, he spotted a metal plaque fixed to the hedge.

It read:

"Only by breaking through the wall in your heart can you touch the true ending."

"Champions, follow the choices in your heart."

"Defeat the Queen of Hearts and free this cursed garden."

"A hero rescuing a princess. Only this time the princess is the source of the curse," Cedric said under his breath.

He still had no idea what exactly awaited him, but the goal of the trial was clear enough.

Reach the heart of the maze and defeat the boss, the Queen of Hearts.

"And what is this 'wall in your heart' supposed to be?"

He walked on, thinking, and soon reached the first fork.

Unlike the earlier tasks, the third scattered the champions.

In this dim labyrinth of thorns, each of them had to move alone, step by careful step.

At least their Defence Against the Dark Arts professor had prepared them.

Though, ever since Rita Skeeter's attack, Moody's lessons had become noticeably more cautious.

He had, however, spent much more time on survival tricks.

"Point Me," Cedric murmured, holding his wand flat on his palm.

Pale light flared at the tip.

The wand slowly rotated, then settled, pointing right.

"Right is north," Cedric thought. "The centre of the maze is roughly to the northwest."

"In that case, I should head left, then turn right at the first chance."

He nodded, pleased by the small victory, and set off left at a brisk pace.

He moved through corridor after nearly identical corridor of thorns, dodging grasping vines here and there.

Blood‑red roses bloomed along the walls.

Their vivid, saturated colour looked almost painted on.

"What are you throwing at us this time, Ethan…?" Cedric wondered aloud in the quiet, a small spark of excitement stirring.

After dragons and the Kraken, he had started to think nothing could shock him again.

The deeper he went, the tighter his chest felt.

And still, nothing happened.

No monster, no trap.

Only that clattering sound, growing gradually louder.

Could it really be this easy?

Was Ethan going soft?

He rounded a corner.

And nearly ran face‑first into a massive axe blade.

His heart almost stopped.

He yanked his wand up, ready to shout a spell—

The axe crashed to the ground at his feet.

The body in front of him toppled over like a puppet.

Only then did Cedric see it clearly.

It was a playing card soldier, still clutching its axe.

A blackened hole had been blasted clear through its centre.

"…"

Someone had beaten him here.

Who could be that fast?

He slowly raised his head.

Card soldiers lay sprawled everywhere, all of them Hearts.

Axes, swords, and spears littered the ground.

Square bodies lay at broken angles, sawn and blasted through.

From the wounds seeped something dark red and viscous.

Almost like blood.

The sight sent a chill through him.

Then—

Clatter. Clatter.

He heard the sound again.

This time, he knew what it was.

And he saw it.

Not wind, but the scrape of heavy armour.

A shaft of weak sunlight pierced the clouds and slid across a suit of black plate, winking coldly.

The figure stood like a walking fortress.

Just standing there, it pressed down on him.

[Name: Darksoul Knight]

[Tier: Third‑Tier, Golden Legendary]

[Description: A knight born from a vow to protect. Rumour says his creator once paid a visit to the Hog's Head.]

[Effect: Defeats enemies with flawless skill. Ordinary spells and attacks cannot harm him. Despite being a walking tin can, his mobility is extremely high.]

[Comment: Finished the tutorial? Good. You are a proper champion now. Go defeat the first enemy you see!]

The black knight sat astride a huge warhorse.

He raised his massive glaive in one hand.

A figure hung from its tip.

Red hair flopped limply.

Cedric recognised him at once.

Fred Weasley.

At the same time, Cedric's peripheral vision caught a shape slipping away behind the knight.

A Durmstrang champion.

Viktor Krum.

He was already vanishing into a narrow passage just beyond the knight, after only the briefest, indifferent glance back at Cedric and Fred.

Then he was gone.

"—Shatter!" Cedric shouted.

His curse slammed into the knight's helmet with a bang of exploding force.

The glaive swung.

Fred flew.

He traced a helpless arc through the air and hit the ground in front of Cedric with a bone‑jarring thud.

Clatter. Clatter.

The Darksoul Knight slowly turned toward them.

The dust settled.

He had not taken a scratch.

Clatter. Clatter.

The armoured warhorse moved, metal scales rippling as it carried its rider forward step by deliberate step.

"Fred!"

Cedric grabbed his arm and dragged him back, already casting healing charms.

"Viktor Krum," Fred rasped, cracking his eyes open, fury sparking there. "We agreed to team up, clear the way together. But that bastard used me as bait and slipped past while the knight was busy with me. Cedric, you cannot let him take the cup."

"I will not," Cedric said at once.

But curiosity got the better of him.

"How did you even get here so fast in the first place?"

He had thought himself quick.

Clearly, he had been wrong.

"Straight lines, mate," Fred said, a familiar wicked grin tugging at his mouth. "Shortest distance between two points. George and I made a few fun little exploding toys. The rules never said we could not bring our own kit."

So, smuggling contraband.

A vein throbbed in Cedric's temple.

"But in the end, Krum's thick eyebrows still did me in," Fred growled. "May he have stomach trouble for life."

His curse echoed off the thorns.

"I get it," Cedric said. "I will do my best to catch up to—"

The ground boomed under his feet.

A blast of air slammed into him, and a huge shadow fell.

"Look out!"

Someone shouted.

Cedric threw up a Shield Charm on instinct.

The next instant, the world turned to impact.

A hammer blow hit the shield.

His ears rang as though he were inside a struck bell.

The glaive's point had driven straight down from above, tossing him like a rag doll.

He hit the dirt hard and rolled, bile flooding his mouth.

His head spun.

Pain throbbed through his chest.

If the Armour Charm had not taken the edge off, that stroke would have punched clean through him.

He stared, stunned, as the Darksoul Knight turned back at a fortress‑slow pace, darkness yawning inside the helmet.

Panic surged in his gut.

Dragons had a soft spot under their chin.

The giant squid would just slap at you.

But this—

A knight in full plate, launching himself and his warhorse into the air like a broom and bringing that blade down in a perfect leaping strike.

Cedric had never felt so outmatched.

"Ethan has actually dropped a raid boss on us," he thought, half hysterical.

The Goblet of Fire really was keeping up its fine tradition.

Putting something on the field that might just kill its own champions.