Chapter 189 The Mystery of the Sphinx

"...Then, the last and last! The task that the warriors are about to challenge is to take back a certain treasure that is most precious to them in this huge maze of thorns!"

"Yes, they must find their treasure and bring it out of the maze!"

"Listen everyone, our warriors are in their positions! As soon as I blow the whistle, the second project will officially begin! They have a full three hours to find the path that is right for them. Now, I count to three..."

"one two Three!"

Shrill whistles echoed in the cold, still air, and cheers and applause erupted from the stands. And the long-awaited second project of the Triwizard Tournament - the trip to the maze of thorns, has finally begun!

Just when the whistle sounded, four warriors broke into four different entrances. Everyone's speed is very fast, because this time is limited, they have no room to hesitate at the entrance.

The so-called "most precious treasure" is actually very clear to the four warriors.

Because in their respective boxes, apart from the one-eighth size map, there is also an exquisite magic card. If someone picks it up, it will reveal an item from someone who has a crush on the bearer.

According to Maca's judgment, the main role should be some kind of application of "name magic". There are many similar gadgets in Zuko's magic joke shop.

Perhaps, Dumbledore simply modified it with some kind of prop in Zuko's shop, and it is unknown.

And what appeared on Maca's card was a small carrot earring - the answer was already clear, Luna should be waiting for him in a corner of the maze now!

Maca didn't hesitate, he walked quickly through the maze, sometimes he stretched out his wand and waved it casually, blocking a certain thorny tentacle protruding from the thorny wall towards his back.

It was a dark green tentacles with sharp spikes. They are not the same as Devil's Nets, open flames are very poor at dispelling them, because it is very difficult to ignite them.

On the surface of their tentacles, there is usually a layer of fine cuticle. In addition to fire prevention, the resistance to cutting is also quite good. About three centuries ago, wizards also used them to guard their homes.

It's just that this kind of doom thorn is rare now, and I don't know where Dumbledore got such a large piece.

"Speaking of which, throwing a Fiery Flask in such a place should have a good effect."

The doom thorn is also a kind of magic plant, and the degree of danger is quite high. The Ministry of Magic once classified it into the "xxxx" classification level. It was only because there were fewer and fewer of them later that they were finally downgraded by another level.

But as long as you don't get entangled with them and keep an eye on your back at all times, they will be much less dangerous in broad daylight like now.

There are many forks in the maze, and the arrangement is disorderly. After Maca walked along a wall for a while, he discovered that this maze must have many independent walls that are not connected to each other.

If he kept walking along one wall, he might only be able to wander around the outer circle of the maze. And the map fragment in his hand is undoubtedly an area closer to the center.

Since he couldn't take advantage of it, he could only explore the way according to his intuition.

As Maca walked forward cautiously, he pressed his wand against the back of the map fragment, and recorded the route he traveled in real time. From time to time, he also had to fend off the thorny tentacles.

In order to maintain speed, he had to split his mind as much as possible—this was not an easy task for Maca either.

Soon, when he turned a certain corner again, his eyes suddenly opened up a lot.

It was a small space in the labyrinth, and there was no other way around it except the exit from which he had come—it was a dead end.

However, why leave a small open space here? It's easy to be suspicious.

"The human form appears immediately."

Pointing forward with the wand, a wave of hidden magic power spread out, but there was no reaction.

"Malicious perception."

Another wave of completely different magic power spread quietly, and Maca stood firmly at the only exit, waiting calmly, but still did not get any feedback from the detection.

He couldn't help frowning, considering whether to let it go for a while, and wait for more exploration.

"For the last time," Maca said silently while thinking, "Concentrate."

Immediately, the sound of the wind whistling over the maze, the slightly trembling friction of the surrounding doom thorns, the sound of biological activities in various places in the maze, and even various smells were quickly intertwined, forming a cloud in his mind. A clear three-dimensional perception.

Something was indeed moving across the clearing, very slowly, some kind of bipedal creature—there was a sound of breathing, a slight grinding sound as it walked, but no outline could be perceived.

In addition, Maca also smelled a fresh grassy smell.

"In that position..." Maca suddenly took a small step to the left, accurately dodging the thorny tentacles attacking from behind, and pointed his wand directly at a certain position in the open space.

"The original form is revealed!"

As Maca uttered the incantation, the position pointed by the tip of his staff suddenly went dark, and a creature resembling an ape-man suddenly appeared.

Different from ordinary ape-man, the eyes of this creature are completely pitch-black, as if there are two round black jade inlaid in its eye sockets, shining with a faint luster.

Because its invisibility effect was suddenly broken by someone, which made it look very flustered. It looked around, wandering left and right, trying to stay away from Maca as much as possible.

But it soon discovered that there was no other retreat around.

"Invisible beast?"

Maca muttered something softly, and at the same time, a flame from the tip of the staff silently charged towards the creature, with an extremely fast speed.

It can be seen that this creature is not good at fighting. Before it could even react, it was hit head-on by Maca's silent stun spell.

Without any suspense, the other party fell down and fell into a coma.

Maca stepped forward quickly, flipped through it casually, and found a small envelope behind the invisible beast, which contained another fragment of a different maze map.

He hesitated for a moment, then subconsciously glanced in the direction of the auditorium, and finally turned and left.

"It's a pity, the fur of invisible beasts is not cheap..."

Although the walls of the labyrinth were set high, this place was an open space after all. If he dared to peel off the skin on the spot, it would probably be more than just a point penalty.

At this moment, there was an explosion in the distance, followed by another girl's scream. If Maca heard correctly, it should be the voice of Fleur Delacour.

It seemed that other people were not as lucky as him, and only encountered a gentle herbivorous creature.

Although the classification level of the invisible beast is very high, it is mainly because of its excellent invisibility effect. It can be said that the value of its fur alone is enough to make it rank "xxxx".

However, Maca's good luck can only go so far.

Although it wasn't too bad for him, no matter how powerful it was, it would take time to solve it, wouldn't it?

When he followed the scope of the original route and re-selected a fork to continue forward, he found that the top of the maze, which had no shelter, was gradually covered by a dark mist.

The light was blocked by the fog, and the surrounding environment became darker and darker.

In this case, the sneak attack of the thorns of doom becomes even more dangerous-only when the environment is dark enough and there are enough of them, their danger will be greatly increased, and they are really a kind of danger in the name of danger. A magical creature of the "xxxx" class.

And under such circumstances, another problem stood in front of Maca...

It was a long and straight path, and just as Maca was advancing carefully, he noticed something moving again. The wand, which had been shining brightly since just now, revealed an extremely strange monster from the darkness.

Its body was like that of a frighteningly large lion--the huge paws, the long yellow tail, and the tuft of gray hair on the tip of the tail made it more like a lion.

But it has a woman's head!

"Sphinx?"

It aimed its narrow almond eyes at Maca as it ambled closer.

Then, instead of crouching down to pounce, it just walked around to block his path. Then it spoke, in a low, hoarse voice.

"You can get closer to your goal, and the quickest way is to get the most accurate hints from me—"

"Hurry up and tell your riddle..." Maca urged while fending off the active thorny tentacles again.

"Yes, the riddle..." It paced gracefully on the spot, "One guess - I will let you pass; no guess - I will pounce on you; no answer - I will let you go away , not to hurt you."

"That's right, tell me!" Maca waved his hands.

Sphinx nodded slightly, it squatted in the middle of the passage, and read in a deep voice:

"Think about something that only rises but does not fall. It will accompany you and go together..."

"Let's talk about something that never lies, it tells you the illusion of reality..."

"When you move forward step by step with them, you will understand the gaps in life, and understand the eternity."

Seeing that the Sphinx closed his eyes and stopped moving after saying these words, Maca couldn't help but patted his forehead.

"I knew that the riddles of this thing would be unreliable, but who would have known that Beatrilawney's prophecy would be vague..." He sighed, and could only keep thinking about it as he kept pushing back the thorny tentacles.

The three sentences about the sphinx at the end of the chapter are actually a combined riddle. Maca asked him to be confused for a while, so that everyone can take advantage of the update of the next chapter to guess (hint: the first two sentences are a single riddle, and the three sentences combined are another riddle).