Henny frowned tightly, her hurried figure weaving through the garden.
The thorns along the outer edge of the garden showed no reaction at all, as if she were nothing more than a passing breeze.
Compared to before, the Clavenna family's garden had grown much larger, almost covering the entire backyard.
The reason was simple. Mostly because of Cocotte.
As a nature elf, she loved living in this kind of natural environment.
The Clavenna family's garden naturally became her first choice.
As a high-level nature elf, even while sleeping, Cocotte's natural energy would affect the surrounding environment.
Bathed in her natural energy, the vegetation around her gained a more suitable environment to grow.
In the short term it wasn't obvious, but Cocotte had been living here for more than just a day or two.
Under this kind of influence, the surrounding plants were given an even more favorable environment to grow.
Flowers became more lush, and the area they covered expanded.
But at the same time, the paths became more and more complicated.
Until Henny went deeper into the garden.
After entering deeper, the dense thorns that had overflowed outward had already been burned away for the most part.
Only within the thick, layered foliage was there still a path.
Standing in place and looking at the embers that were still burning, Henny froze for a moment.
The lingering heat blowing toward her from the path ahead made her close her eyes and take a deep breath.
"I hope I'm not too late."
Henny took a breath, ignored the remaining heat, and rushed into the path.
Stepping over the ground that still held warmth, brushing past faintly flickering embers, she crushed branches that had turned to ash under her feet, following the route Viktor had taken, quickly heading deeper into the garden.
Her figure darted past those twisted, sluggish vines, urgently chasing after Viktor's footsteps.
The deeper she went, the quicker her steps became.
She could clearly feel that at the very center of the garden, the magical power was growing more and more immense.
And… it seemed somewhat chaotic.
Finally, Henny passed through a long, narrow passage burning with red flames, stepping over a stretch of sharp, knotted wooden spikes.
Following the guidance of the magic, she entered the final space deep within the garden.
At that moment, she froze.
In front of her, towering branches stretched wildly toward the sky, scattered vines dancing madly overhead.
The sky, once blocked by thick branches and vines, had been torn open with a massive gap.
Brilliant sunlight poured in like a flood through that opening, illuminating this pitch-black space.
Countless plants of indescribable shapes stood swaying in place.
Messy forms at the ends of branches, twisted thorns, and those giant man-eating flowers that had been pierced through.
All of them were outlined clearly, exposed before Henny's eyes.
Plants were supposed to be gentle, yet at this moment they were like something that had been woken after a long sleep.
All of them carried a kind of waking temper, restless and agitated.
But the battle at this point was already nearing its end.
Those frenzied plants were covered by countless thick vines, brown tree vines and green tendrils tangled together.
At the same time, Henny saw Viktor, surrounded layer upon layer by endless vegetation.
The professor she had been thinking about stood right in front of the massive flower bud at the very center.
In the breeze, his green coat shimmered, and the huge magic ring behind him rotated with dazzling light.
She stared blankly as she watched Viktor extend both hands and gently tear open the slightly parted petals.
He lifted Cocotte, who was bound at the center of the flower bud, still fast asleep.
The vines wrapped around Cocotte tightened around her, as if in the final moment they were fighting Viktor for control over her.
Viktor held her firmly, his brows knitting slightly, then he pulled hard, causing the green vines to stretch violently.
With another strong tug, the vines that had been stretched to their limit snapped one after another.
Only a few stubborn strands remained hanging on Cocotte, which were easily cut apart by blades of light conjured by Viktor.
He held the small-framed Cocotte steadily, resting her head on his shoulder.
Even after being tossed around like this, Cocotte remained completely unaffected, sleeping soundly like a child having a sweet dream.
Viktor didn't turn back. He only spoke lightly toward behind him.
"Now, give me an explanation."
———
Cocotte was immersed in her dream, lying peacefully on the bed, her breathing deep and even, as if everything outside had nothing to do with her.
At this moment, she didn't look like a mysterious fifth-tier mage at all, more like an animal in hibernation.
Liya stood by the bedside, arms crossed over her chest, one brow slightly raised, her expression extremely strange as she looked at the sleeping Cocotte.
"So you're saying she slept in that garden for half a month straight?"
She truly couldn't imagine how Cocotte had managed to do that.
The Cocotte from before, while somewhat lazy, would still wake up at some point during the day.
But now, sleeping for half a month straight… that "feat" was just too terrifying.
Liya even had reason to suspect that Cocotte had actually gone into hibernation.
Not waking up was one thing, but she even managed to trap herself in the depths of the garden while sleeping.
It turned that place into a jungle of thorns, with dense branches blocking out the sky.
Like some apocalyptic forest, bizarre to an extreme degree.
That left Liya completely speechless.
"Let's figure out a way to wake her up first. The elves are still waiting for her."
"I don't understand magic. I'll leave this to you."
After saying that, Liya stretched her stiff body, let out a yawn, and left with a hint of fatigue.
Only Henny and Viktor remained standing there, silent.
The atmosphere gradually became awkward.
Under normal circumstances, being alone with the professor would make Henny a little flustered, but not like this.
She lowered her head, sneaking glances at Viktor carefully, like a child who had done something wrong.
"Professor, I…"
"Tell me. Why did she suddenly sleep for so long?"
Viktor spoke calmly. His voice was light, but when it reached Henny's ears, it didn't feel light at all.
Henny lowered her head slightly, both hands placed in front of her lower abdomen, fingers fidgeting back and forth.
"I…"
That's right, Cocotte had slept for half a month.
Even for that lazy elf, it was definitely not normal.
"It might be because of my mistake, but… I'm not entirely sure what exactly happened."
"I only know that Cocotte's consciousness seemed to be trapped inside the garden."
Viktor's brow lifted slightly.
In fact, the garden itself hadn't developed consciousness because of Cocotte's magic.
It was just that she had been sleeping in the garden the whole time, causing part of her sleeping consciousness to transfer into it.
In other words, the current garden was a part of Cocotte.
That was also why Henny had rushed over to the garden.
After hearing what Liya said, she was worried Viktor might really tear the garden apart.
At the very least, Professor Viktor's magic had left a deep impression.
When facing something difficult to deal with, the professor would usually throw out a few large-scale spells first.
Blow it up, then talk.
If the garden were destroyed, Cocotte might truly never wake up.
But fortunately, Viktor had only used scorching flames to burn away those sharp and aggressive thorns.
Even in the final intense clash with the massive petals, he had used wood-element magic that better matched natural magic.
He had rescued Cocotte from that tightly closed bud.
At that moment, the crow on his shoulder delivered a message to Viktor, "The demon isn't on her, Viktor."
Viktor's face showed no change. He looked at Henny and said calmly, "Then I need an explanation."
Henny took a deep breath and nodded.
"I understand."
She turned around and pushed open the closed window.
Leaning half her body outside, she beckoned with her hand, as if summoning something.
Immediately after, a pure white cloud quickly drifted back from the high sky.
When the cloud saw Cocotte lying quietly on the bed, it became extremely excited, even speeding up.
But the moment it approached the window, its shapeless eyes saw Viktor, and it froze.
As it neared the window and saw Viktor standing there, it suddenly stopped in fear.
It wasn't afraid of Viktor.
It was because, at this very moment, the crow's deep, single eye was already fixed firmly on this white cloud.
The cloud shrank back in fear behind Henny, curling up like a child.
Viktor looked at the cloud and raised his brow slightly.
"I should've known."
The existence of demons attracts demons, and at the same time, demons each have different personalities.
A wrath demon is naturally irritable, a greed demon is especially avaricious.
Then what about a demon attracted by sloth?
Viktor had originally thought that the sloth demon had possessed Cocotte, making her sleep until now.
But in reality, the sloth demon couldn't even be bothered to do that.
Rather than saying it was drawn here by the demon Leighton, it would be more accurate to say…
Viktor's gaze focused on a small puppy lying on top of the white cloud.
It had its rear end raised, sprawled on the cloud, sleeping soundly.
The snot bubble at its nose was so big it looked like it might flip its whole body over.
Even Cocotte found that cloud incredibly comfortable to sleep on.
There was no way the sloth demon would pass it up.
Viktor stepped forward, reached out, and grabbed the puppy by the back of its neck.
However, the puppy remained asleep. Even when Viktor shook it, there was no reaction at all.
Until Viktor's cold voice sounded by its ear, "If you don't wake up right now,"
"I'll make it so you can never fall asleep again."
In the next instant, the puppy's eyes snapped open.
Completely awake. Clear as day.