I Reincarnated as the Bastard Prince? Well, At least I'm OP!

Chapter 26: Ice Giants

Dawken moved around the log cabin, his boots crunching on the frost floorboards.

Behind him, his companions held Pandra in a tight grip, a dagger pressed to her throat.

Dawken paused before the table, eyeing the snow eagle feathers with greed.

"I guess I underestimated you children," he mused, stroking his chin. "You proved to be of more use than my entire party."

Raven stepped forward, her hands clenched to fists at her sides. "What’s the meaning of this Dawken?"

Dawken faced her with a mocking grin. "Take it easy, Raven. We didn’t come here to pick a fight. We’re just here to negotiate."

I returned my gaze to the two mages restraining Pandra. Dawken’s party had fourteen candidates. There were only two now.

Where were the others?

"There’s nothing to negotiate, Dawken," Raven said sharply. "This is our camp. You’re not welcomed here."

Dawken casually picked up a feather and examined it. "Well, not anymore, Raven. You see, I’m taking it from here."

Raven’s expression darkened. "You are the worse. You casted us aside. You abandoned us to look after ourselves and now that we’ve made progress, you think you can just waltz in and dictate terms?"

"Indeed I do," he said with no hint of shame. "You see, my party turned out to be very useless. When we arrived, we couldn’t secure shelter nor food. The group kept whining on and on without putting in the work to survive. We became divided among ourselves. Some formed their own fractions and splittered off. But those who were loyal, stuck with me."

He drew out a seat and sat down, his eyes set. "This morning, I found their bodies sprawled out in the snow. They were ripped to shreds by direwolves. They ignored my leadership, so they died. A fitting end for traitors."

Raven crossed her arms. "What happened to your party is quite unfortunate, but still, we can’t let you in our party. We pulled our weight to get this far. We’re not sharing our resources with you."

Dawken chuckled. "Don’t be stupid, Raven. We are not asking to join your party. We simply want to pass this stage. Chancellor Elysia must’ve lost her mind to create an exam this difficult. Well, I’m not going to seat around and be disqualified. That is why we are going to negotiate."

"I’m not negotiating anything with you," Raven said, slamming both hands on the table. "You never wanted us in the first place so we won’t listen to your offer. Let Pandra go and leave our log cabin."

Dawken smirked. "I’d advise you listen to me first, Raven. I’ll let Pandra go, on the condition that I and my party share your supplies and items. Food, gear, shelter. You agree to my terms and she walks free."

"You’re so disgusting," she said angrily. "Why would we ever share our supplies and items with you when you didn’t work for them?"

"Because according to the instructions from the academy, we must survive the next three days before the blizzard starts. The academy didn’t say how. There are no rules in this exam. Only the strongest survives. Being strong also means being smart. I have no qualms about killing your little friend. I can do it and nobody would raise a finger. But if you’ll agree to share your food, shelter and items with us, I’ll let your Friends live."

Raven gritted her teeth bitterly. The entire room held it’s breath.

This was tough for her. She had to make a bold decision now if she must save Pandra’s life.

She turned to me, hoping I would do something about it but I just stared at her, waiting for her decision. The other kids were afraid of Dawken.

They didn’t have the guts to challenge him.

After a long pause, Raven returned her gaze back to Dawken. "Very well. We’ll share."

"Excellent choice," Dawken nodded to his party. They released Pandra who stumbled forward, gasping for breath.

Dawken and his party helped themselves to our supplies without hesitation.

We watched helplessly as they took a feather each, grabbing the rest of our cloaks, and devouring our preserved roasted meat like scavengers.

Everyone rushed up to Pandra who was on all fours on the floor.

She looked as pale as a ghost and her fingers were trembling as she clutched her bruised throat.

"Pandra, are you alright?" Raven asked softly.

Tears streaked down Pandra’s cheeks. "I’m sorry, everyone. I was careless. They knew I was heading their way so they ambushed me. I was so scared. I lead them here because they threatened to kill me if I didn’t."

"Nobody’s blaming you," Anais said, squeezing her shoulder. "You did what you had to. Anyone could’ve done the same thing."

"What do we do now?" Hardy asked. "Without supplies, how do we survive?"

A still silence ensued as we thought about it. We were right to worry. Our supplies were only made to serve seven people.

We had barely enough to last the next day, but now that we are ten, things are about to get very difficult for us.

Raven’s gaze hardened as she watched Dawken and his men pillage our hard-earned supplies.

"This isn’t over," she whispered under her breath, her hands clenched to fists at her sides. "Not by a long shot."

* * * *

That night, the blizzard started.

It arrived earlier than any of us had expected. The unforgiving cold was freezing so much it was suicide to step outside.

Meanwhile, inside the log cabin, the air was thick with tension.

Dawken and his lackeys had claimed the space near the fireplace, keeping warm with our blankets.

We only had three blankets which we all shared together but Dawken seized our blankets for himself.

They didn’t care if the rest of us froze to death. They didn’t care if we starved.

Meanwhile, my party huddled in the corner, shivering in cold and trying our best to keep warm.

We were exhausted and hungry.

What’s worse, we only had a day left before the second stage ends. Before then, we must get a strand of ice giant hair for each of us or else we would be disqualified.

Dawken and his henchmen didn’t seem to be worried at all.

I was smart enough to know his plans.

Dawken was playing the long game. By withholding our supplies, he’ll make us desperate and dependent on him for survival.

Dawken planned to take advantage of our desperation and force us into submission.

Left with no other choice, we will beg him for scraps in exchange for doing the heavy lifting for him: facing the Ice Giants on his behalf.

"I’m a terrible leader," Raven whispered to me. "I shouldn’t have let my guard down. If only we stuck together, none of this would’ve happened."

I understood her. Because of Dawken’s interference, our party’s morale have been killed.

They were now afraid and unmotivated. As a leader, it was okay for her to feel like a failure.

"It’s not your fault," I murmured to her. "You did the best you could."

"Obviously it’s not enough," she said, looking away. "We are freezing here, Archer. There’s no guarantee we’d faced the ice giants tomorrow. Our party is in a disarray. Dawken ruined everything."

I glanced at Dawken and immediately thought of a fitting way to crush him.

Right then, I made up my mind.

"You’ve done your best, Raven," I said softly to her. "With your permission, I’ll take it from here."

Raven blinked, surprised. "Was that the reason you’ve been holding back all these while?"

"I told you, I don’t want anyone knowing my true strength yet," I whispered with a smirk. "I will help you. If you’ll let me."

Raven sighed. "I’m out of options anyway, Archer. Do what you have to, and make that bastard pay."

That was all I needed to hear.

Taking in a deep breath, I uttered an incantation. "SLEEP."

Immediately, everyone who was awake in the cabin dropped into a deep slumber.

Everyone including Raven.

I stood up slowly to my feet and walked over to Dawken and his men.

Without hesitation, I plucked the blankets off them, then draped the blankets over my party to keep them warm.

Satisfied, I opened the door and stepped into the blizzard.

The cold hit like a hammer. The storm was alive—angry, biting, relentless.

But I wasn’t shaken.

I raised my hand and concentrated my mana. My golden eyes gleamed.

Immediately, the blizzard stopped, melting into stillness.

High-Tier Weather Control Magic—Level 10.

Many seasoned mages could only cast a Mid-Tier level 10 weather control magic.

But I’ve longed surpassed those limits.

The sky was clearer now, revealing the mountains towering in the distance.

Using fly magic, I took to the sky, hovering over mountain peaks which was dominated by Ice Giants.

I landed at the entrance of the giant caves and waited.

I didn’t have to wait long. The earth started shaking as ice giants began to emerge from inside the cave.

They appeared from behind me until I was surrounded.