Damn you! Siegward!

After advancing to the next round, Cedric was confronted with an exact replica of the previous obstacle course. Determined to overcome it, he charged towards the course, but as he stepped onto the rotating log, he realized it was spinning with far more intensity than before. "So it's just the same trial but harder," he thought, unfazed by the challenge.

Moving on to the second obstacle, he quickly noticed that the platforms were riddled with a multitude of holes. As he stepped on one of them and struggled to remove his leg, he couldn't help but frown. "Why am I not sensing any danger?" he wondered.

Turning around to investigate, he discovered that the platform didn't shoot out spikes like the ones on the first level had. Confident that he had figured out the trap, he proceeded to move from tile to tile, cautiously avoiding the clear tiles, which he assumed were the true threat.

As he neared the end of the obstacle, one of the holed-tiles suddenly shot out spikes, causing Cedric to stumble. With his momentum carrying him forward, he managed to leap onto what he thought was a safe, clear tile, but it gave way, and he plummeted off the course. "Damn it!" he cursed, realizing too late that the board had warned him about that particular trap.

As Cedric appeared back on the platform at the beginning of the first trial, he felt a wave of frustration wash over him. With a determined scowl on his face, he proceeded to sprint past the first level, his mind focused on the upcoming challenges. Arriving on the second level, he began to run without considering his pace, deftly passing the first obstacle and quickly approaching the second - those dreaded platforms. Cedric kept up his running speed, jumping impressive distances from tile to tile, skillfully avoiding the ones he knew would shoot out their dangerous spikes. Finally, he managed to complete the second obstacle and took a moment to catch his breath, glancing up at the third challenge. To his surprise, the massive swinging logs were replaced with blades of varying sizes. Cedric took a moment to memorize their pattern, but was interrupted by a sudden breeze. "Huh, there wasn't any wind on the previous level," he thought, puzzled.

The sound of the blades singing in the wind brought Cedric's attention back to the challenge at hand. To his horror, he discovered that the blades were now moving too fast for him to follow with his naked eye. After a few moments, they settled back into their previous rhythm, swinging in the same pattern he had memorized. Cedric decided to bide his time and wait for his opportunity. His patience was rewarded when a small gust of wind announced its presence, causing the blades to speed up to an unimaginable degree. "This time, I'll start running as soon as they slow down enough for me to be able to follow them with my eyes," Cedric decided, determined to overcome this new challenge.

As the singing blades eventually slow down, Cedric declares in his mind, "Now," and breaks out into a sprint. He steps onto the plank, which appears to be much thinner than the 30 centimeter wide plank from the first level, and speeds by the swinging blades unimpeded in his approach. Before long, he reaches the end and stands before the same white wall, now twice as tall, with the pegs no longer static, coming out of the wall and disappearing in a random order. "So now it's a luck-based obstacle. Real nice." Despite his frustration, he takes his mind off the promise to strangle the maker of this trial and starts his climb.

Not long after, he falls on his butt. "I managed to reach the halfway point. There must be some sort of hint. It's not possible for this to be purely based on random luck." Taking a moment to observe a certain peg, he starts counting as soon as it vanishes. Reaching the count of 4 seconds, it reappears. Cedric repeats his tests on other pegs and finds out that each peg has a set time interval in which it appears and disappears. He takes a moment to observe the wall and plans his route.

Thankfully, the sun is no longer up in the sky, so he can see all the way up to the top of the wall without the light inhibiting his eyes. Cedric breathes out before quickly jumping three meters up, reaching his hand out and grabbing a peg. He effortlessly climbs up the wall, leaping from peg to peg and using some as footholds in order to jump off of. As Cedric manages to climb all the way to the top, he drops to the ground, heaving. "It would have been much easier if I didn't have to use my mind during the entire climb."

After the red text appears yet again in front of him, Cedric takes a moment to calm his nerves and breathe properly. He says "Continue" and appears in an unusual place. No longer on a platform up in the sky, he is now standing in a desert. The sun is gone, and the sky is transformed into a canvas of twinkling stars. It is devoid of even a sliver of moonlight, barely managing to illuminate the surroundings with its serene and understated beauty.

The cold encroaching chill seeps into his body, but Cedric holds back a shiver as he waits for the obstacle course to appear. After waiting for a while with no obstacle course in sight, he is struck with the sudden thought that the desert is actually the obstacle course itself.

Taking a deep breath, Cedric starts to run and manages to cover around 20 meters from his starting point. Suddenly, he feels the earth shake. Refusing to stop, Cedric is quickly engulfed in a giant maw of serrated teeth before reappearing back at the beginning of the first trial. Confused, he starts to think about what happened.

In the meantime, two elves can be seen snickering while watching a small screen depicting a confused Cedric. Holding bags filled with popcorn in their hands, one says to the other, "I told you he was gonna make a stupid mistake. You argued against me. Now you owe me a freshly made bow."

Dhan's smile quickly disappears, replaced with an angry expression, as he counters, "Damn you, Siegward. I can't wait for the day I see your ugly grin wiped off your pretty little face."

Siegward just laughs, clearly amused by Dhan's reaction.