Hawk went out extra early the next day, intending to make it to the next pass, so he could check the Frost Giants that had gathered near the next portion of the main defence lines. That was the most likely spot for there to be another of the relics, and he would happily help them steal it if it was going to make the cold go away.
Even if Karl gave to the snake again.
He was in luck, they weren’t even hiding this one. Or, maybe they were, but not from above. It was just like the other one, a magical circle next to a big stone, but this one was in the caldera of a dormant volcano, and it didn’t feel the same.
Instead of so much snow, it was bitterly cold, and the monsters around the magical circle were different. It was still Frost Giants, but not strong ones. They were making the Awakened groups, led by Ascended, and sending them back into the Frost Giant nation to regroup and mingle with more powerful groups that were coming back to the front-line groups as a combined force.
With his enhanced eyesight, and a lot of silent cursing at the effort needed to fly in the thin air, Hawk had managed to get high enough that he could see most of the process around that same Frost Giant city.
Quick math, which the Windspeed Hawks developed to help them guess where Earth Mouse holes would be relative to the last ones they had found, told him that there should be one more likely hiding spot on the far side of the first spot they had found a magic stone.
That was an almost equal distance, but it was too far for him to fly this morning.
So, he set a shallow dive that would build up speed as he went back to create the morning reports on the closest groups to the fort. There were still too many Frost Giants nearby, and it would take time to get to the volcano where the next stone was hidden.
Karl tapped his spoon against his canteen to get everyone’s attention. “I have the preliminary scouting report from Hawk. He has found another Frost Stone location.
It’s in a volcano that is a full day’s travel from here, near the next major engagement. The distribution appears to be near the main access valleys to their territory, to better spread the effects.
If we can get the next one, and then find a third, we might be able to cause a whole section of the effect to collapse.
Normally, Hawk would be cursing the cold if he had to fly up that high to find a position, but he’s not, which tells me that the effect isn’t as strong as it was before. That’s with just one spot inactive. We will hunt today, going in that direction, but we won’t return to the camp tonight, we will leave that for the Mackenzie group.
If they’re calling for a report from us, fake it and let them think we’re still in the area and not on yet another battlefield. We will be back tomorrow, hopefully with good news.”
Bob gave him a sloppy salute. “Good luck, Commander. We will cover for you today, and if you aren’t back tomorrow night, we will go looking for you.”
That was the best that they could offer. It might be that the aftermath would take out communications again, or Karl’s group might not make it out as smoothly this time.
Both groups left together after breakfast, and Remi kept the snow active until they were out of the trees. It would make it harder to find their way back to the caves, but most of the Elites had good memories, and they didn’t want anything else following their footprints back to their fort. It was too good of a spot to have it defiled by monsters or taken over by some random group who would smash all the relics for firewood and make a mess.
For the first few hours, they passed in front of the main lines, hunting the roaming groups of Giants which were still searching for shards of the Frost Stone.
The numbers of both the stone fragments and the Frost Giants searching for them were dropping dramatically with the efforts of the teams that the main group was sending out, and Karl managed to lead his team into the hills on the far side of the line before noon, after which he brought them up to a jog with Hawk leading them on a relatively trouble-free path toward their target.
The Frost Giants weren’t interested in the actual hills, as a river ran along this portion of the border, leading to the lake where Karl and his team had crossed. The steep valley along the majority of the border would make it nearly impossible for a human attack force to cross, so only where there was a gap in the mountains passable enough for vehicles did they set up defences.
“Don’t you think this is a bit too easy?” Ophelia whispered as they ran through the trees.
“Like this second location is a trap, and they’re going to spring something on us the moment that we try to go up the mountain? Yeah, I got that feeling as well. But Hawk hasn’t seen any sign of what the ambush might be yet.” Karl agreed.
“And we’re going anyhow?” She asked.
“I know, you have a good point. But even if it is a trap, the Frost Stone should still be real, as we know the Frost Giants that are leaving the area very much are real. The soldiers in the area are currently engaged with them.” Karl replied.
“Alright. It is what it is, just approach cautiously, so we don’t end up ambushed by something invisible.”
That was a good point. They might have found a way to make the threat invisible.
[Hawk, can you send a couple Rend attacks down to ground level on the hill? If they hit ground with no issues, we’re good to go. If not, there is a barrier or an illusion.] Karl suggested.
They were only a few kilometres from the base of the Volcano, but Karl didn’t want to launch the attack tonight, as it would likely continue until dark, and then they would still need to find an escape route while exhausted from a day’s travel and fighting.
[Rae, find us a good hiding spot for the night, and we will go up in the morning.]
Rae rushed out with Lotus on her back to find a good spot to build a fort, and ended up finding a small cave buried under a snowdrift when her foot knocked the opening clear.
[Found the spot. Bring everyone, and have Remi keep her blizzard up to hide it again.] Rae informed them.
The cave was tiny and cramped, but with a bit of a silk dome at the entrance, the snowstorm buried it deep, and everyone huddled together for the night with the heat of a dagger covered in [Flaming Body] keeping the cave warm.
They ate quickly the next morning, and sent Hawk up once again to check the area.
[All good, many weak Giants. I flew low through the trees, and they didn’t see me all the way to the ridge.] He reported.
“Alright, it looks like we’re good to go. Is everyone prepared for this?” Karl asked.
“As ready as we can be.” Tessa agreed.
Once they were out of their snowy sleeping location, Karl called out Rae and Thor so that everyone could get a ride on their way up, and began carefully following Hawk’s route up the mountain.
He had found a route that should be easily walkable, even for Thor with passengers, and if they didn’t fall into a trap, they should be at the peak within two hours. There were very few Frost Giant patrols in the area, possibly to hide their presence near the human lines, but that didn’t mean that Karl and the others wouldn’t run across one and set off an alarm if they were unlucky.
Their first test came only ten minutes after leaving camp, when they came across a group of ten Awakened Rank Frost Giants with an Ascended Rank leader.
It wasn’t easy to eliminate them all fast enough that none of them could shout, and without causing so much noise that other groups would come running, but with the help of the Spider Golems and one Magic Missile to the throat courtesy of Dana, they managed the task and moved on, leaving the bodies for the next patrol to find.
There was too much damage to the trees and snow to hide that there had been a battle, and taking the bodies would only emphasize that they were trying to hide their tracks, and that it wasn’t a wild monster attack, so they simply left them and continued on their way. The [Blizzard] spell that Remi kept active would make it hard to tell when the attack had occurred as long as nothing happened across it too quickly.
