Chapter 240: The Ring of Frost

"That's more like it," Oswald said with a grin and then added while standing up with the support of the black cane.

"As long as you guys don't cross his path, he won't care about your church."

Saying so, he took a step forward and started walking towards the bifurcated staircase.

At that moment, Noel also stood up from his seat and glanced at the guest for a moment before following after him.

Although he couldn't understand why they threatened his Teacher, he was sure of one thing.

'Life Church seems to have some connection with our Teacher's family. But why did they get frightened just by mentioning the name 'Irregular'? Wait… I think I heard of this term before… Yes, our Teacher once warned us to be wary of 'Irregulars.' It seems his grandson is a powerful person.' He thought to himself.

Meanwhile, Emilia and the other two also stood up from their seats and moved towards the staircase.

They stepped on the red-carpeted steps and soon went to the second floor. 

Then, they moved towards the right side corridor, walked past many rooms, and soon stopped in front of room no. 213.

After that, Oswald took the lead as he raised his hand and knocked on the door twice.

Within a few seconds, running footsteps came from the other side, and soon the wooden door opened.

A black-haired young teen appeared in front of their eyes. 

She had glittering black eyes, pale white skin, a curvy body, and appeared to be around 178 cm high, and she wore a black gown.

Upon seeing Oswald and others, Rhea hurriedly took a step back and invited them in.

It was a medium-sized room with two beds placed at the center, while the table, wardrobe, and cabin on the other side of the entrance.

Oswald's gaze swept past the flower-decorated walls and soon landed on the black-haired lady, who was sleeping soundlessly on the first bed.

Then, he turned his gaze towards Archbishop Abel and spoke with a smile.

"It's your turn."

Nodding his head, Archbishop Abel walked towards the white bed, appeared near Destiny Lady, and placed his hand on her forehead area.

Then, he took a deep breath and checked her condition using his wisdom power for the next few seconds.

"Her mental energy is completely exhausted and even her soul's connection with her body got weakened." He deliberated for a moment and added.

"I need few more minutes to check her body condition."

"No rush." Oswald waved his wrinkled hand and soon turned his gaze towards Rhea.

"Give me your frost ring, lass." He ordered.

On the other hand, Rhea got startled a bit and nodded her head.

Then, she took off the blue-gem embedded ring from her hand and passed it towards her Teacher.

After that, her gaze wandered towards the new guests and soon landed on Noel.

'Who are they?' She used the questioning hand gesture and asked him.

Meanwhile, Noel awkwardly smiled slightly and tried to use hand gestures to relay something but soon failed.

Upon noticing his terrible acting, she gave him a fierce glare and shifted her attention towards her Teacher.

At that moment, Oswald checked it for a moment and then passed it to Emilia before adding.

"I believe this is one of the four elemental rings."

A surprise flashed on Emilia's face as she caught the ring and then took out an old book from her space ring.

Then, she flipped the pages, soon stopped at a specific page, and began to compare the ring with an image on the paper.

A few seconds later, she nodded her head in understanding and gave it to Rhea.

"Wear it and then recite after me."

Without waiting for Rhea to respond, Emilia flipped the pages once again and stopped after a few seconds.

Then, she took a deep breath and started to recite a chant in a strange language.

On the other hand, Rhea also wore the ring in a hurry and repeated after her.

Both continued to chant for a whole minute and finally stopped.

A strange silence appeared in the room.

No, Oswald noticed that Rhea's eyes suddenly turned pure white!

He instantly released his wisdom power, checked her condition, and soon raised his eyebrows.

'Her consciousness is pulled into the frost ring?' He nodded his head in understanding and soon curled his lips upward.

The next instant, he separated a small part of his consciousness and sent it towards the Ring of Frost.

Meanwhile, Rhea suddenly found herself standing in a strange forest filled with snow, ice, and frozen trees and became confused.

'Where am I?' She looked around in curious and was about to shout but soon froze.

At that moment, she realized that something was odd about her.

'Why do I feel like I'm floating in the air?'

She looked at her hands and feet in a hurry and noticed that her whole body appeared illusionary!

'W-What happened to me?' An unknown fear appeared in her heart.

At that moment, a grumpy old man's voice echoed in her head.

'A new successor? Hmm? Only a High-Level affinity? Scam away from here, lass. You are not qualified to become the next monarch.'

The old man's voice was sharp as a knife, which caused her face to turn ugly.

'It must be related to my ring!' A look of understanding expression appeared on her face.

Before she could say something, a strange power came out from her body and soon formed into a body of an illusionary old man.

His hair appeared white as snow, and he seemed to be around 60-70 years old.

He wore a grey robe, held a black cane, and appeared ancient.

Upon seeing her Teacher's arrival, Rhea's eyes widened.

"Teacher!" She shouted in a hurry.

"Did you see any odd creature here?" Oswald asked while searching the surrounding.

"Who are you calling an odd creature?" The same grumpy old man's voice echoed.

But unlike before, this voice came from the surrounding trees and bushes.

"It must be the ancient spirit." Oswald raised his hand, touched his chin, and spoke with a profound look on his face.

"You are the descendant of the First King and you have the full authority here. Stay here for a while and try to subjugate this spirit."

Saying so, he let out a deep sigh and disappeared from there.

'Subjugate the spirit?' Rhea glanced at the place where her Teacher was before and soon noticed a movement in the woods.

She hurriedly raised her hand and cast Rank-2 [Ice Layer] spell on herself.

A second later, a protective layer of glassy ice appeared out of nowhere and covered her body like a force field.

Just as the ice layer covered her surroundings, a white-furred wolf leaped from the nearby frosty bush and collided against the Ice layer.

Unlike ordinary wolves, this one had a strange horn made of crystalline ice and appeared around 2 meters tall!

'Sh*t! Its horn already tore through the Ice Layer? No, this spell won't be able to hold on for a long time!' Rhea's face turned completely white.

But she didn't get panic, though. Instead, she raised her hand, pointed her finger towards the hole, and released a piece of thin needle-like ice.

It was her Rank-2 attack spell, Ice Needle!

The Ice Needle moved through the small hole, suddenly took a turn, and directly pierced through the wolf's neck region.

A moment later, an intense ice elemental energy released from the needle and completely froze the wolf!

At that moment, the same grumpy old man's voice echoed in her head.

"You are good. But can you fight against ten wolves?"

A moment later, howling sounds echoed from the surrounding leafless trees!

'No good! I need to run.' She didn't hesitate for a moment before she turned around and started to run in the opposite direction.

The trial of Frost Spirit began!

…