HP: The Duelist of Hogwarts - 392

Chapter 392: LV5 Is Already Becoming Common

Boom!

A massive yellow fireball exploded. Explosive flames filled the sky. Barty Crouch Jr. seized the opportunity and retreated rapidly. He was already preparing to leave. As for those lost Death Eaters, their strength wasn't particularly high anyway. Exchanging them to thoroughly probe Sean's abilities was worth their sacrifice.

Barty retreated rapidly, about to Apparate away, when suddenly a silver hand emerged from the void, grabbing his neck directly. Simultaneously, more silver hands materialized from the void, successively gripping various parts of Barty's body.

Arcanum Manus!

Magic obtained from the Voldemort soul fragment within Harry.

With Arcanum Manus delaying him, Sean's Anti-Apparition Jinx closed the distance despite being cast second, falling upon Barty and preventing him from Disapparating.

At the same time, Sean came before Barty, reached out to grab his arm, and with tremendous force crushed Barty's arm bone directly. Immediately, Sean swung his fist, punching toward Barty's nose.

"Avada Kedavra!"

His fist had already touched Barty's nose tip, but Sean suddenly withdrew his hand, dodging a Killing Curse aimed at his head!

Sean turned to look. A Death Eater wearing a black cloak and silver skull mask was levitating in mid-air, waving his wand to cast at Sean again.

Without hesitation, Sean swung Barty up directly, using him as a shield.

But in that instant, the Death Eater's waving wand emitted no light. Instead, Barty's right arm was instantly severed. Simultaneously, having lost his right arm, Barty flew rapidly to the Death Eater amid agonized screams. The Death Eater grabbed his intact left arm.

"Don't think you can take him away!"

"Avada Kedavra!"

Just about to charge forward, the Death Eater raised his wand again. The dark green beam attacked once more, while Sean raised his wand, casting Fulgur Flagellum, blocking the Killing Curse head-on.

When both spells dissipated, the Death Eater, carrying the right-armless Barty, transformed directly into black smoke, drilling into the nearly dissipating Dark Mark behind him and vanishing before Sean.

Looking at the dissipating Dark Mark, Sean's originally serious face suddenly revealed a smile.

"Pretty impressive, Professor."

Muttering to himself, Sean turned and transformed into white mist, disappearing without a trace.

When he Apparated to the agreed location at Grimmauld Place, Moody and the others had already arrived. Seeing Sean arrive, they all breathed sighs of relief.

"Sean, thank god you're all right."

Looking at Harry coming before him, Sean smiled. "As long as Tom doesn't personally show up, others can't do anything to me."

"Who did you encounter? You were delayed so long."

"Barty Crouch Jr., plus some unfamiliar Death Eaters."

Hearing this, Moody slowly nodded. "That Barty Crouch Jr. is indeed a very difficult opponent. Among Voldemort's Death Eaters, he's also one of the top fighters. Of course, right now, before those Azkaban prisoners get out, Barty Crouch Jr. is absolutely the strongest under Voldemort. If you could repel him, I'm probably not your match anymore either."

"I was just lucky."

Yes, Sean was truly lucky this time. However, this luck wasn't about defeating Barty Crouch Jr. It was about the rewards after defeating him!

This panel extraction finally exhausted all the luck accumulated by Harry previously.

[Duel Won!]
[Conditions Met: Victory Against Elite Dark Wizard.]
[System Commencing Random Ability Extraction from Defeated Target: Barty Crouch Jr.]
[Opponent Strength Assessment: Exceptional. Drawing Three Abilities.]
[Extracting...]

Sean felt a surge of protective magic wash over him, like an invisible barrier, followed by the crackling sensation of stunning power and the subtle click of knowledge unlocking within his mind.

[Extraction Complete!]
[New Charm Acquired: Shield Charm LV5]
[New Spell Acquired: Stunning Spell LV4]
[New Charm Acquired: Unlocking Charm LV3]

These were the three abilities extracted from Barty Crouch Jr. Naturally, the LV4 Stunning Spell and LV3 Unlocking Charm needn't be mentioned. They weren't particularly useful to Sean. But Barty Crouch Jr.'s LV5 Shield Charm was something Sean had coveted for a long time.

That Shield Charm condensed to a wand tip point, deflecting spells by waving the wand, was practically tailor-made for Sean.

Though only one useful ability came from three extraction chances, for Sean, this Shield Charm was already sufficient.

Of course, this wasn't just extracting abilities from Barty Crouch Jr. The Death Eaters Sean killed earlier also contributed some abilities. However, most overlapped with Sean's current abilities, like LV3 Stunning Spell or LV2 Disarming Charm. Some non-overlapping ones were useless anyway. Sean probably wouldn't use them in the future.

But there was one more person!

The person Sean knew very well —the one who rescued Barty Crouch Jr. —also gave Sean an ability he desperately needed. For that brief exchange, the panel counted it as a successful duel, though the result was only a draw.

[Duel Concluded!]
[Conditions Met: Draw Against Magical Opponent.]
[System Commencing Reduced Ability Extraction from Defeated Target: Severus Snape.]
[Ability extraction count reduced due to draw result.]
[Extracting...]

Sean felt an impenetrable fortress suddenly materialize within his mind—layer upon layer of mental barriers and defenses constructing themselves with meticulous precision, sealing away his thoughts and memories from any intrusion.

[Extraction Complete!]
[New Skill Acquired: Occlumency LV5]

Whoa... Extracted only near the story's end. If this were a novel from my past life, I'd be the worst protagonist.

Shaking his head, Sean looked at Moody. At this moment, Moody lightly tapped his cane. As the Order of the Phoenix headquarters, 12 Grimmauld Place, slowly squeezed out from between neighboring houses, it appeared before everyone.

This was the Order headquarters. From now on, Sean could freely come and go.

Everyone entered the house. Sean and Moody led into the dining room where a huge table stood. Some Order members sat there. Seeing Sean and Moody enter first, they immediately came forward.

Sean greeted them. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were quite warm. Sirius, seeing Harry, forgot everything else and embraced him directly.

Entering the dining room, Sean immediately spotted Snape sitting in the corner. Without hesitation, he sat beside Snape. "Professor, you moved quite fast."

"Apparition doesn't take time."

"How's that guy?"

"Not good. What my magic severs cannot regrow. I assume you won't return the severed limb?"

"Of course not!"

"Then that's settled. Losing a hand, even for someone like him, is very bad."

"Oh, that's cause for celebration."

"Should celebrate a bit."

As their words ended, Sean and Snape each picked up glasses from the table, clinked them, and downed the tea in one gulp.