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Kyle encountered two of them. Fortunately, he discovered them in time and knocked them out with a spell before the Grindylow's claws reached out.
To deal with this kind of dark creature, a simple extraction spell can solve it, which can be said to be very easy... Of course, the premise is that there are only one or two. If there is a group, it will be a little troublesome.
Kyle quickened his pace and continued swimming forward.
With only half an hour left, he had to find the right spot as quickly as possible.
Along the way, Grindylows kept jumping out from the darkness or water plants, causing a lot of trouble for Kyle.
There was another one that tried to catch the bubble on Kyle's head, and it suffered the worst fate. It was knocked out of the water by the repulsive spell and no one knew where it landed.
But just as Kyle was about to knock the Grindylow away, a voice suddenly came from the quiet black lake.
"You seem to be in some trouble..."
Kyle turned his head sharply, only to see a blurry, pearly white figure floating beside him.
"You are...Ms. Grey of Ravenclaw?" Kyle said, his voice sounding a little dull after being cast through the Bubblehead Charm.
He never expected to see a ghost here, and it was a Ravenclaw ghost.
The ghost of Ms. Grey still looked melancholy. She circled around Kyle and then pointed.
"You can go over there."
However, Kyle did not move, but continued to look at her in confusion.
Seriously, if it was another ghost, whether it was the Fat Friar from Hufflepuff, Nearly Headless Nick, or Myrtle or Peeves, Kyle would have swam over there without a second thought.
Since Kyle had dealt with them before and they were familiar with each other, it made sense for those ghosts to come over to help.
But Ms. Grey... Kyle didn't remember any interactions with her, not even a single word.
And even the students of Ravenclaw are like this. She just wanders around the castle aimlessly every day, ignoring everyone.
Kyle really couldn't understand why she suddenly came out to help him... It couldn't be for the honor of Hogwarts. Even Peeves wouldn't believe it if he said that.
"I overheard your conversation the other day... you and an invisible wizard."
As if she had guessed Kyle's doubts, Ms. Grey immediately spoke up: "I also heard you talking about my mother's crown... I wonder if that's true."
"Your mother..."
"Rowena Ravenclaw," said the Grey Lady. "I am her daughter. When I was alive, my name was Helena Ravenclaw."
After hearing what she said, Kyle also remembered that it seemed to be true.
"Ah, yes," he said quickly, "I found Lady Ravenclaw's diadem."
"Can you tell me?" Lady Grey, or Helena, whispered, "I heard you mention "fixing"... Is the crown broken?"
"I'm sorry, this matter cannot be explained in a few words, and..." Kyle pointed in the direction of the water, "I may not have extra time right now."
"Then wait until this competition is over." Helena said, "I'll be waiting for you in the castle."
Kyle nodded, then swam in the direction of her finger.
Because of the delay, Kyle had to speed up again...
After about ten minutes, he heard intermittent shouts and a painful roar.
The lake water in front suddenly became turbid. Passing through a patch of water plants, Kyle saw an open space with about a dozen mermaids. They were holding spears and ropes in their hands and were chasing a strange creature.
Its upper body is that of a horse, and its lower body is more like a fish, and it is covered with broad-leaved cattails that look like a mane.
Water horse monster!
Is there still such a creature in the Black Lake at Hogwarts?
Kyle was slightly surprised, but he quickly reacted. After all, no one knew how big the Black Lake was, or where its deepest part was connected to, so it was normal for a horse-shaped water monster to appear.
The horse-shaped water monster in front of us probably came here accidentally and mistakenly entered the mermaid's territory and is being hunted.
A single merman might not be a match for a Kelpie, but facing a team of well-equipped and well-trained mermen, it would be difficult for a Kelpie to gain any advantage.
There were several spears stuck in its body, and its front hooves and tail were tied tightly with ropes. Large amounts of blood gushed out of the wounds and floated in the lake.
In addition, there were many motionless mermaids around. Obviously, the mermaids suffered heavy losses in order to catch it.
As Kyle was thinking, the mermaids also discovered him and several spears were instantly aimed at him.
“Who’s there…” A sharp voice came from the leading mermaid’s mouth.
He looked nothing like the mermaid in the portrait in the castle, with yellow eyes, broken teeth, iron-gray skin, tangled hair that looked like a tangled pile of seaweed, and a neck full of pebbles strung together with a thick rope.
"I'm a student at Hogwarts and one of the champions of the Triwizard Tournament." Kyle explained quickly, "I need to do the second task underwater. Professor Dumbledore should have told you about it."
The mermaid leader let down his guard slightly and continued to turn his attention to the kelpie.
"Wizard, this is not the place where they are trapped. You have to keep going forward. Go quickly. It is very dangerous here."
"I think I can help you." Kyle didn't leave, but swam a little further forward.
"The water horse is going crazy. If it continues like this, even if you can kill it, you will lose at least half of your men."
"This is our responsibility, not yours."
"I can help you." Kyle said again: "I have seen how Newt Scamander dealt with the Kelpie. You should know him."
In his experience, mentioning Newt's name in front of intelligent magical creatures generally worked well, especially around Hogwarts.
as predicted……
"Scamander?"
Hearing the name, the mermaid leader turned his head again and looked Kyle up and down.
"He helped us find this habitat and is an eternal friend of our tribe... Do you really know him?"
"Of course," Kyle said quickly. "I go to his house every holiday."
He swam forward a little further, and this time, the mermaids finally stopped driving him away.
(End of this chapter)
Chapter 545: Horse-Shaped Water Monster Knight
"We have lost more than a dozen soldiers since we discovered it."
The mermaid leader said with a heavy face, "If you can help us get rid of this monster, you will also become a friend of our tribe."
"No problem, leave it to me." Kyle said, and swam towards the horse-shaped water monster.
Under the constant attacks of the mermaid, the kobold was indeed going crazy. It shook its body vigorously and tried to transform into other shapes to break free from the ropes on its body.
The Kelpie is like the Metamorphmagus from Fantastic Beasts, able to transform itself into a variety of different appearances.
But the mermaids seemed to have suffered losses in this regard and were always able to add a new rope the moment it transformed.
Kyle originally wanted to try to get the Kelpie to relax a little, but it didn't listen to anything at the moment. When it saw Kyle, it immediately opened its mouth and bit him.
Kyle didn't find this situation surprising, and he had several solutions.
But that takes time, and now the one-hour deadline is getting closer and closer, and he doesn't want to waste too much time here.
So, Kyle chose the simplest and most brutal one.
He stretched out his magic wand, and a small golden-red fish made of flames emerged from the tip of the wand.
In an instant, the originally cold lake water began to heat up rapidly, and the mermaids screamed and ran away.
Then Kyle waved his wand again, and the little fish made of flames disappeared.
Kyle has now mastered the Fiery Curse very well. As he is also in the Black Lake at the moment, in order not to be affected, he deliberately controls the Fiery Curse to the minimum.
But even so, the effect is obvious.
First of all, the cold lake water has become much warmer, like soaking in a hot spring.
In addition, the Kelpie also became quiet. It stood there motionless, and the look in its eyes when it looked at Kyle was no longer crazy at all, but became clear and bright.
"It would have been great if it had happened earlier." Kyle swam to the side of the water horse and whispered, "Don't get excited, I'm here to save you... Come with me, those mermaids won't attack you anymore."
He untied the rope around the water monster and turned over to sit on its back.
During this time the Kelpie remained very quiet.
Kyle naturally grabbed the broad-leaf cattails on it and pointed to the front.
"Go this way, better hurry up, I'm in a hurry."
After feeling that the rope that bound it had disappeared, the water monster looked back at the mermaid who was coming towards it, raised its head and neighed, then jumped out directly.
Compared to Kyle swimming by himself, the speed of the horse-shaped water monster is simply several levels faster... Kyle feels like he is riding an underwater broomstick, and the bubbles on his head are deformed by the current.
Whether it was the Grindylow or any other creature, they were all left far behind. All Kyle had to do was hold on to the Kelpie tightly to avoid being thrown off.
It took less than five minutes before Kyle could faintly hear singing.
"The hour is almost up...
How long will you delay...
Come and take back the treasure we have taken away."
Kyle patted the kreuzer and swam in the direction of the sound.
After a while, he came to the middle of the black lake, next to a rock pillar painted with a mermaid pattern.
This seems to be a mermaid tribe, because there are some stone dwellings like houses around the rock pillars.
Some of the dwellings had gardens, others had a small grindyrow tied to the door.
After seeing Kyle, the mermaids rushed in from all directions with excitement, slapping the lake water with their thick and powerful silver fish tails, as if they wanted to give Kyle a blow.
Then... they saw the horse-shaped water monster under Kyle.
The originally melodious singing instantly turned into a shrill scream. The mermaids who were nearby scattered, screaming and trying to get their weapons.
"Why did this monster come back again..."
"Run! The leader has been eaten by it..."
"Get weapons, get weapons..."
There was chaos all around. It was obvious that as fellow aquatic creatures, the mermaids had a natural fear of the kelpies.