Somewhere between the blizzard and the incoming boulders, I managed to make out our enemies. I’d read about creatures like these in books but had never encountered them, nor was I convinced of their existence until now.

Name : Fjalhun Frost Giant

Type : Giantkin

Level : 34

Disposition : Aggressive

HP : 737/737

Physical Attack : 148

Magic Attack : 99

Speed : 110

Attack Range : Melee

XP : 3528

Description : Giants are one of the most widely spread races in the Apocosmos, with frost giants taking up 17% of their population. The frost giants in the wider area of Fjalhun have been dominating the wilderness for hundreds of years since their descent from the Mountains.

Three frost giants directed gusts of frozen wind toward us while hurling stones, the smallest of which were still bigger than my head.

I remembered most of the facts my sister had taught us while we were still children and under her tutelage. Giants had a natural resistance to magic and preferred to kill their victims from a distance because they were not very agile. But no amount of information would ever be enough to make me feel confident about facing these blueish-white behemoths.

Their body was almost identical to that of humans, though instead of ankles and feet, their limbs ended in thick stumps. This was the only difference as far as anatomy went, apart from their size. Each of the giants was at least five times taller than me and their muscles were massive, even for their relative size.

Their skin was white with a pale blue hue, and they didn’t have any hair apart from blue crystalline beards. The only clothes they were wearing looked like a series of tents wrapped around their waist in a makeshift skirt and tied with what seemed to be white bear fur.

What’s more, each of the giants was wearing a thick metal chain holding a collection of shields that had presumably been taken from humans. They were tall tower shields and yet, compared to his colossal size, they were no larger than his thumbs.

Having activated our invisibility-inducing items, I could now only see my sister and Man hiding behind the thick trunk of a tree which looked like it would be able to withstand multiple hits from the giants’ boulders. I dashed in an open arc toward the giant closest to me and to my surprise, he hurled a handful of what looked like pebbles in his hands toward my position.

The pebbles, of course, were as big as my head, but the most horrifying part was that he could still see me. The realization hit me harder than the rocks being flung at me.

Even though we were invisible, our magical cloaks were probably emanating a heat that was visible to them, let alone our breaths creating short-lived clouds of steam. I hid behind a thick tree and used my left earring to communicate with Kard and Krysha who were also being relentlessly attacked.

“The condensation of our breath and the magic in our cloaks are giving away our position,” I said in a low voice.

“There’s no way around them,” replied Kard. “Should we activate the hourglasses?”

The hourglasses were certainly a prudent choice for escaping to safety. Once the hourglass was turned, its owner would be teleported back to the tower in sixty seconds. But we had come all this way and were so close to Myriam now.

“No,” I said emphatically. “I have a plan. How is Seika doing with Man? I can see his HP rising but are they safe?”

“She’s still healing him,” replied Krysha as a giant rock struck the tree she was hiding behind. “They’re fine but I don’t think they can help us right now.”

“Then here’s the plan,” I said. “Take off your cloaks, place them on the tree you’re hiding behind, and put some snow in your mouth.”

“Yes, that’ll mask our presence completely and the cloaks’ magic will make it look like we’re still hiding” Kard agreed, “but we’ll need to act fast if we don’t want to freeze to death instead.”

“I’ll climb on top of the tree above the biggest of the three…” I started formulating our action plan. “You two move to vantage points and as soon as you see my giant react to my hit, you release your explosive arrows and daggers between their eyes.”

“This would probably buy us enough time for Man and Seika to rejoin the fight, or at least for all of us to run away once they’re blinded,” concluded Krysha.

“Exactly,” I said, and moved to take off my cloak. “Okay, here I go.”

As soon as I unbuckled my magical cloak, I felt the cold push needles down into my body. My breath became faster and shallower. I placed my cloak on a branch of the tree and hoped the effect of invisibility would linger on it long enough for me to reach the giants. I swiftly grabbed a handful of snow and put it in my mouth, pain flowing from my teeth through my gums and into my eyes.

I couldn’t open my mouth to take in air, but the whole point of this was to drop the temperature in it. Thus, I waited until a rock was thrown at the tree I’d been hiding behind moments ago, and sprinted to the closest trunk I could find.

I was lucky enough that the giant aiming at me didn’t see my footprints in the snow. Double lucky perhaps because my cape remained invisible while I climbed to the top of the tree in front of me and jumped from branch to branch toward the giant I had my eyes on.

I knew I had to be swift, and yet I did falter for a moment.

I was about to drop. Swords first. Onto a giant beast of a man. Try to blind him. And then what?

But it was too late. I unsheathed my two swords and lunged at the frost giant.

The first thing to land was my left sword in the giant’s left eye, my right one piercing his other eye a split second later. No sooner than my feet landed on his forehead, did the giant bring up his left hand to his eyes as he screamed in pain.

I was expecting this exact reaction and backed up immediately to the top of his head, but I saw something that might prove to be my way out of this extremely tough situation.

I wasn’t sure if it was due to the heat of the fight or the reduced visibility because of the blizzard, but I hadn’t previously noticed that this giant, though the biggest of them all, was missing his right hand. I instinctively jumped onto the bear pelt hanging on his right shoulder as he slapped the air above his head, trying to knock me off.

I took a look at his left arm and saw that, from the fist to the elbow, it was covered in runic carvings. The runes glowed blue with every thrust of his arm, and I worried that even a single hit might be enough to put me out of the fight despite my protective gear.

Being on his shoulder, I realized I had two options. Either jump to one of the tree branches closest to me, or go for the jugular. The right choice became obvious as I heard explosions nearby and felt their warmth on my back. Kard and Krysha had made their move and their distraction was all I needed.

I ran across the thick metal chain hanging around the giant’s neck and stabbed the bottom of his chin with my right sword so that he would not drop his head. Simultaneously I ran my left sword across his throat, the angelic blade slicing his crystal-like flesh from one side to the other.

By the time the behemoth brought his hand to his throat, I had already retrieved both of my blades and jumped off his right shoulder toward a branch which looked steady enough to hold me.