There is actually a very simple way to judge the combat effectiveness of an army.
If morale collapses once casualties reach ten percent, then that army is nothing more than a mob, the kind that can only fight when everything is going its way.
If casualties reach thirty percent before delayed orders and shaken morale begin to appear, then that army can at least be considered passable.
And if casualties climb past fifty percent and the soldiers still show no sign of breaking, then that is the elite force every commander dreams of.
As for the Death Eaters facing Draco and the others right now, their casualty rate had already passed fifty percent...
"Damn it, are they really fifth year students?!"
"What... what do we do now? Are we still going in?"
"How are we supposed to go in? Have not enough of us died already?"
"If you want to go, then you go."
"But if we do nothing, then what about the Master..."
Even for Death Eaters who had killed so many without blinking, seeing this many of their comrades die still made fear of Draco rise uncontrollably in their hearts. More than that, this was a hopeless fight where rushing in meant certain death.
At this point, if one judged this Death Eater mobile squad by those standards, then they truly could be called elite among elites.
And the only reason they were still holding on was that they did not want to face Voldemort's wrath when they returned.
And the Dark Lord's wrath was not something anyone could endure lightly.
If not for the Dark Lord's terrifying might, and for Barty Crouch Jr. watching them from below, they probably would have fled from Draco long ago.
But even so, all they dared do was keep Draco surrounded from a distance. They did not dare make any major move, and some of their wands had even unconsciously shifted away from him...
Noticing the change in the enemy, and realizing that no one dared come any closer, Draco finally hovered in midair.
His sweeping gaze was like that of a lion inspecting its own territory.
That obvious change in the enemy made Ginny's expression turn strange and delighted.
"Is this... because you scared them that badly?"
"...."
"How did I do? I helped, right?"
"...."
Watching the way the other side scattered like they had seen a ghost the moment Draco moved even a little closer, Ginny excitedly patted him on the back.
If they had not been on a Broomstick right now, Draco was certain this girl would have jumped straight onto him in celebration.
Was this just what one should expect from a passionate redheaded Weasley?
Feeling the movement and softness behind him, Draco's mouth twitched slightly.
But caught up in her excitement, Ginny not only failed to notice how intimate the gesture seemed, she did not look remotely inclined to stop.
To anyone who did not know them, it would have looked like the way close friends behaved after knowing each other for years.
Little did they know that before this, Ginny and Draco had, strictly speaking, been on opposing sides...
Completely unaware that what she had just done could easily be misunderstood, the red haired witch kept whispering by Draco's ear, as if trying to vent all the fear and tension she had just bottled up.
But high in the air, Ginny never noticed that several new arrivals had already seen all of it.
Tilting his head slightly in discomfort to avoid the fragrant breath brushing his ear, Draco frowned and suddenly looked down.
Is it my imagination? It feels like someone else is there...
The spot he was looking at was clearly empty, yet it somehow felt as though someone was peering at him from there.
A wizard using a Disillusionment Charm?
But there was no fluctuation of magic...
...
Unaware of the oddity Draco had just noticed, Ginny lifted her head and looked at the Death Eaters who only dared circle around them.
Her flushed little face clearly had not yet recovered from the thrill of the battle just now...
"Should we keep going? I still have some magic left."
"No. Even if you wanted to, our speed is not enough to catch them."
"...I see. So we are just letting them go?"
The regret in Ginny's voice was so obvious that anyone hearing it might have thought they were the ones surrounding someone else, instead of the ones being surrounded and hunted down.
In a way, the courage Ginny possessed really was very Gryffindor...
The standoff between the two sides, while the Death Eaters sweated coldly, was suddenly broken by the Dark Mark appearing in the sky.
That glowing green skull drew everyone's eyes at once.
Judging by its position and direction, it had likely been cast from the wizarding village not far away.
And in that same instant, Draco and the others seemed to hear the Death Eaters let out one long breath of relief.
In truth, those Death Eaters, their backs already soaked in cold sweat, really did feel as though they had narrowly escaped death...
"It is here!"
"We finally got the retreat signal!"
"Are we free now?"
"At least... we tried, did we not? I think the Master will understand."
"After all, even Lord Crouch failed."
While making excuses to comfort themselves, the Death Eaters hurriedly pulled farther away from Draco and the others. Anyone who did not know better would have thought Draco was holding a bomb about to explode...
Draco, however, had no intention of chasing after the Death Eaters as they scattered. Instead, he turned his eyes toward the wizarding village where the Dark Mark had been cast.
Looks like reinforcements reached that side, and that forced them to withdraw.
"Has the attack ended? Or did Mr. Lovegood manage to get word out about what happened here?"
"You mean Headmaster Dumbledore and the others have arrived?"
Faced with Draco's glance, Ginny, who knew nothing of the actual situation, simply tossed the question back at him.
Luna, seated at the very back, was the one who gave Draco a firm answer.
"Father will not let you down. That was our agreement before, was it not?"
"..."
Luna's already wide eyes seemed to grow even wider when Draco looked back at her, as though she were trying to make him believe her just by looking like that.
In fact, according to the plan, Draco's role had been to draw the Death Eaters' attention away so Xenophilius would have enough time to alert the outside world.
And judging from the results, things really had gone very smoothly so far.
The only thing they still needed to watch was Barty Crouch Jr., standing below and looking up at them with cold eyes.
Would he really give up so easily...?