Chapter 236: Cedric’s Trial
Cedric’s frown had gotten darker in the past few exchanges he had just had with the Lotus’s guardian.
The wolf was not stronger than her; hell, he had even landed multiple clean attacks that should’ve ended it,
Yet, the creature looked barely harmed.
Cedric, on the other hand, was certain that his mana would quickly run out, which meant that he needed to figure out how the beast remained unharmed.
Unfortunately, he did not have a magic tool that allowed him to see mana, like Adrian.
Otherwise, he’d have realized that the Lotus itself was directly pumping mana into the beast, ensuring that it remained alive to protect it.
Adrian watched as Cedric struggled to take down the wolf, not because he was weaker, but because he still couldn’t figure out how to take it down.
The butler contemplated giving him a hand, but he decided otherwise. After all, just like his sister, he hated being treated as weak.
"He’ll probably figure it out," Adrian muttered as he continued watching the fight with the Grand Duke.
***
And Cedric did.
It took a while, but he finally made the connection between the lotus and the beast.
How?
Well, it was because the wolf itself had ultimately revealed it.
Not literally, though.
Cedric had quickly caught on to the fact that the Wolf was quite protective of the Lotus, and at first, he felt it was because of the mana from it that the wolf wanted to keep for himself.
While that was true, he realized something else.
Every time he landed a decisive blow, the beast would instinctively retreat toward the Lotus instead of continuing its assault.
At first, Cedric assumed it was simply guarding its treasure.
But after seeing it happen over and over again, he noticed a pattern.
The more severe the injury it sustained, the closer it stayed to the Lotus.
Unlike the first Lotus, which could reach the yeti despite the distance between them, this one seemed much weaker.
So the wolf had to stay a certain distance for the lotus to keep it safe.
Which meant that if he wanted to get rid of the guardian wolf, he either had to get it a certain distance away from the lotus.
Or, he had to cut off its connection to the wolf.
As the beast charged at him, Cedric suddenly let ice spread beneath his feet, just as the wolf had done.
Growl!
The wolf reacted instantly, seeing the ice quickly moving towards the lotus.
It abandoned all thoughts of attacking and lunged to intercept him, placing its enormous body directly between the spreading ice and the flower.
"Got you," Cedric let out as the ice suddenly started climbing up its legs.
The beast immediately began struggling, desperately trying to escape before it was fully encased in ice. Although it managed to free one of its limbs, most of it had already frozen solid, causing it to snap clean off.
It let out a howl of pain.
But it continued struggling, trying to escape the restraints and get to the lotus.
Unlike previously, the lotus didn’t protect the wolf from being encased in the ice since that wasn’t an attack that would harm it.
It would only restrain it.
And as long as its guardian didn’t die, the Lotus would remain certain that it was completely safe.
The wolf struggled for a while longer, but it was all for naught, and soon enough, it was completely encased in ice.
Cedric let out a sigh, relieved that he had at least managed to keep the beast in place for now.
All that remained was somehow to cut off its connection with the lotus, and he knew exactly how to achieve that.
Slowly, he walked towards the Lotus, its Crystal petals seemingly calling out to him.
He crouched down, picked it up and then looked to his shoulder, where his spirit, an Ice weasel, was excitedly waiting.
It had been excited from the moment it smelled this mana, and it hadn’t stopped drooling.
"Go on," Cedric said as he stretched out his palm in which the lotus lay.
Without hesitation, the weasel moved to his hand and started nibbling on the Lotus.
Soon enough, the entire lotus was gone, and Cedric immediately felt the effects of it.
He knew that the Lotus was bound to push him towards a breakthrough, but he thought it’d take his spirit a while to digest.
He was wrong.
Cedric immediately felt his mana rapidly increasing, and he had no choice but to sit down and undergo the breakthrough.
After all, it was either he allowed the breakthrough to happen or release the mana from within himself.
Cracks started appearing on the ice that encased Wolf, and soon enough, it was completely released.
Cedric, still going through his breakthrough, failed to notice this.
The wolf, on the other hand, although limping, still slowly made its way towards him.
Soon enough, the beast was upon him, and the moment it noticed that the Lotus was gone, rage filled it.
It didn’t care that the human was not moving anymore; it just wanted to retrieve its treasure.
And from the mana coming from Cedric, the wolf was certain that the Lotus was within him.
Its maws were widely opened, but before it could get the chance to close them around Cedric, a shadow wrapped around its snout.
"..."
Adrian hadn’t intended to interfere, but the current situation was disadvantageous to Cedric, so he decided otherwise.
Before the wolf could continue struggling, the shadow spread all across its body, completely enveloping it.
The Grand Duke watched all this happening with interest, though he made none of his thoughts known.
After the wolf had been gotten rid of, Cedric’s breakthrough calmly went on, the cave turning colder by the second thanks to the mana he was releasing.
Unlike Renelle, who jumped from E to C rank in a single breakthrough, backlash.
Cedric, on the other hand, was different.
Aside from the fact that this Lotus contained less mana than the previous one, there was also the fact that he only moved a single rank ahead.
***
Meanwhile, Cedric found himself at the base of a large snowy mountain, and it was obvious enough what his breakthrough trial was.
He needed to reach the very top.
"Let’s get started then," He muttered, before taking the first step ahead, followed by the second until he was climbing the mountain.
For the first few seconds, it seemed like an ordinary climb, but Cedric was certain that the trial was not going to be that simple.
And a few seconds later, his thoughts were proven correct when the mountain suddenly started trembling.
Cedric looked ahead and immediately noticed what the cause of the tremors was.
And as much as he wished it was an avalanche, he quickly learnt that it wasn’t.
Well, it was an avalanche, but instead of snow, running down the hill was a large herd of ice bison.
"..."
Cedric’s expression went blank; there was not enough time for him to run back to the base of the mountain, nor was there any other place for him to take safety.
Especially given how narrow the path that led up to the mountain was.
Which meant he had to find a way to avoid being crushed by the herd.
With no other option, Cedric started looking around for a way to avoid them, spotting none, he placed a hand on the ground.
Ice started spreading from his palm, creating a pocket in the mountain, one wide enough to fit him and he quickly reinforced the opening.
He did so just in time to avoid the first Bison crushing him.
A crack appeared on the surface as more bisons stepped on it, forcing Cedric to reinforce the ice.
Sweat formed on his forehead as he used more mana to keep the creatures from reaching him.
And as more time passed, Cedric started feeling his mana thinning, and more cracks started spreading over it.
Fortunately, it seems the hoard finally passed, and after waiting a while, Cedric finally let out a breath and released the ice pocket.
He stepped back out onto the mountain face.
With a sigh, he looked behind him, spotting the bisons disappearing into the distance, probably towards the foot of the mountain.
Before turning back towards the top of the mountain.
"What else have you got for me?"
***
Soon enough, Cedric realized that he shouldn’t have asked that, as he was faced with exactly what the bisons were running from.
And all he could let out was,
"...Seriously?"