Two days later, Karl found himself standing in the snow at the base of the mountains again, just as he had been on his last mission, only this time, instead of the frigid cold and silence, he could hear the distant sound of Frost Giant war horns, the sound carrying over fifty kilometres through the hills as they staged for an attack along the front lines.
The group had just landed, and the intelligence on their area looked good, but the numbers that his keen eyes had detected along the main lines were far larger than the number of stones that had been placed on the map.
If each blue stone had been five hundred, not one hundred, it might have been an overstatement, but much closer to the truth of the situation, while here in the hills, their newly arrived group had yet to spot anything threatening.
“Which way should we search first?” Bear asked as she surveyed the trees in front of them.
Like Lotus, she was more comfortable here in the wilderness than she was in the Academy or in a city, and Hawk wholeheartedly approved of her naming sense. Karl, on the other hand, preferred to use her actual name, so he didn’t get into the habit of treating her like one of his pets by calling her Bear.
Karl brought out the folded map from under his tabard. “The first sweep should go east, away from the Frost Giant front lines, to see what might be coming around to look for better routes, then we will double back and check for hidden scouts before the sun goes down.
I got them to agree to allow us to operate in a wide area, so we’re not going to be easily tracked back to the same routes, but that will also mean that we need to set up multiple camps and be finished with our route before the sun drops behind the mountains.
That doesn’t leave us a lot of time to do our work, so we might as well get to it.”
What he had failed to consider was how much the magic of the Frost Giants had changed the area from its natural state. There was normally no snow in the mountains within the Golden Dragon Nation, but now, even in the middle of the afternoon, the temperature was below freezing.
Hawk was out, sitting on Dana’s backpack and surrounding them both with [Flaming Body], which was generating an area of warmth that the others were standing in, while Karl kept his own active and moved ahead.
[You’re going to have to go scout soon.] He reminded the bird, who was just getting comfortable on top of the mage’s backpack.
As a replacement for Hawk’s warmth, Karl lit his sword with flames and passed it to Ophelia, who was the largest of the group other than Karl, even when she wasn’t transformed.
“Here, that will stay lit as long as my barrier is up. The effect should be enough to keep the team warm if you hold the blade in the middle of the group, and you’re the only one in the group that has superhuman strength other than myself.” Karl quietly informed her.
“Got it. I’ll take good care of your sword. We’re going to have to work on something for the future, though. My armour keeps me plenty warm, but the others will need regular breaks, even with the winter gear they packed.” She replied.
The Golden Dragon Nation did not have great winter gear, Karl would admit that. But he hadn’t mastered the art of spreading the [Flaming Body] ability, which Hawk could only do by touch, so they were going to need to stop and warm up every few hours.
“I will think of something. If there are caves nearby, perhaps we can set up in one of them to make it easier to sleep at night.” Karl agreed.
Hawk disappeared over the trees, and within minutes he was sending back reports of Frost Giants moving near their path.
[Three Ascended and seven Awakened in this group. They look like trainees.] Hawk reported.
[Anything else nearby?]
Hawk paused for a moment. [One Commander and two Ascended about four kilometres past them, moving south along a trail.]
“Alright, we have our first targets. A training patrol with three Ascended Giants and seven Awakened Rank juveniles. If we can make a quick and clean job of it, there is a Commander led smaller group a few kilometres beyond them.” Karl explained.
Thor and the Golems were all being held in reserve, only to be brought out to fight so that the group could move silently through the woods.
Karl had gained the skill [Silent Movement], which allowed him to lead from well in front of the group without alerting the Frost Giants, whose sense of smell was no better than a human’s, but the sound of a Cerro or a Stone Golem in the woods would give them away far too early.
Karl paused and motioned for the group to come forward when the patrol came in sight.
“Rae will move up on the left flank with her golems, Ophelia, prepare to rage and charge with Thor and Dana’s Golems toward the pack. Sisters, you are with Dana, just get close enough to keep them in healing range. I will circle right, and keep them from running when they realize they’re in trouble.” Karl whispered.
He didn’t have much training with a bow, but this one didn’t need it. Once you activated it and drew the magical string, it gave you a mental impression of where the arrow would strike.
Karl silently raced through the trees, getting in position as Tessa rode Thor into battle, with Ophelia in her half bear form running alongside them. The Golems were still a bit slow, and would arrive a second or two later, but that gave Karl time to prepare for his first-ever combat shot with the crystalline bow.
The bowstring appeared as Karl made the drawing motion, and the solid crystal flexed as he aimed the shot. Since it was a day for firsts, Karl decided to use Remi’s Chain Lightning, the one skill he gained from bonding the Naga Spirit Snake.
It made the arrow crackle with energy, and Karl released, hitting the closest giant square in the chest as it turned to scan the area.
The Lightning spread through the entire group, leaving them shaking and partially paralyzed, as if they had been hit with a Taser, which allowed Thor’s charge to shatter a Giant’s femur, while Tessa’s flanged mace glowed with golden light and crushed its sternum.
Rae was there before the Giants had realized what was going on, and Ophelia only had time for one swing of Karl’s sword, cutting deep into a Frost Giant’s chest before everything was dead.
Karl went to rejoin the group, and Tessa gave him an enthusiastic thumbs up.
“Was that a new skill from Remi? I like it. Stunning the enemy makes the fight so much easier.” The War Cleric congratulated him as Rae began to rifle through the bodies, emptying them of loot before stealing the bodies for her art exhibit.
One each went to Hawk and Remi, so they couldn’t complain, but the rest were scheduled to be strung up in the trees for Rae’s diorama.
“I didn’t know that it would stun them. I was just going for the damage. That arrow hit a lot harder than I expected, though. It punched through armour and all the way through the Frost Giant. Sure, it was Awakened, but still.” Karl replied.
There was a lot of blood on the snow, but Remi had a plan to fix that. Once the group started to move toward the second group, the Commander with the two Ascended Frost Giants, she cast a [Blizzard] over the battlefield, freezing the blue blood and covering it in a fresh layer of snow.
That was enough to satisfy her that nobody would suspect that there was a battle until they actually stepped on the location and revealed the blood. She wasn’t a cleanup specialist, but hiding your kills from sight was just good practice in her mind.
The second group was facing away from them when Karl reached their position, so he didn’t wait for the others, and unleashed an arrow into the leader’s back. The Chain Lightning spread, slowing the others, but the Commander shrugged it off.
It bellowed in rage and turned just in time to catch an arrow to the chest, which caused a fountain of blood before the third arrow struck home only a few centimetres from the second.
By now, the other two were twitching on the ground, and the Spider Golems raced in to finish the job.
[Make it quick and hide your tracks, that shout brought more patrols this way.] Hawk warned as Rae borrowed the bodies and Karl picked up what couldn’t be brought into her space.
“Remi, work your magic on the battlefield. Ophelia, these are for you. Vambraces of Giant Strength. I’ve got two strength type items already, so these are all yours. You will make good use of them in combat.” Karl whispered as he motioned for the group to retreat from the forming blizzard.
