Upon witnessing the gruesome death of their companion, a Frost Giant immediately shouted, "Damn it, take out those human mages first!"
Although there wasnât a Frost Giant commander among this group, their quick, self-organized team coordination was impressive. Seeing their fallen comrade, they swiftly abandoned the Royal Guards of the Soladin Kingdom in front of them and charged towards the snow hill where the Kreit team was located.
The Frost Giants knew the strategy: take out the mages first in a group battle.
But since the Kreit team dared to form a highly irregular team of five mages, they, of course, prepared for all scenarios, studying them as meticulously as studying Fire Spells of the Fifth Level.
Facing the imminent assault of the Frost Giants, the Kreit brothers began chanting at the same time, pointing their identical red crystal staffs forward.
Two successive walls of fire, each several tens of meters long, appeared in front of the Frost Giants.
As a Fourth Level Spell, the Fire Wallâs power surpassed the Fireball Technique. Even the Frost Giants felt intimidated.
Confronted with flames as high as six or seven meters, creatures that loved the cold definitely did not want to rush through to experience the excruciating burn on their skin, despite their desire for vengeance against their fallen comrade. It was against their natural instincts.
Especially since there were two of these fire walls.
As the Frost Giants attempted to perform an Ice Spike Combo to break through the fire walls, Dylan Kreit shouted again, "Fireball Technique, all at once!"
Immediately, the five fire mages began chanting the same spell, in sync as if singing in a choir inside a chapel.
"Boom!!"
Once more, five fireballs shot towards a Frost Giant.
This time, the enemyâs bone axe blocked some, hitting only four, not igniting, but the Frost Giant fell heavily wounded, struggling to get up.
Seeing this, Colonel Tessa, along with three still-combat-ready Royal Guards, cheered and launched an attack from the other side of the Frost Giant.
Faced with an attack from both sides and without the command of a Frost Giant captain, when the third volley of five fireballs came, the remaining four Frost Giants finally panicked and fled towards the Ice Lake!
...
The battle subsided.
The Royal Guards began to help their fallen companions stand.
"Thank you, Viscount Henry, and thank you, mages." Tessa wiped the sweat from her forehead, took a deep breath, and expressed her gratitude to the Kreit team that came to their aid.
"Sorry, we arrived a bit late."
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Tessa asked, "Lord Viscount Henry, which side should we support next?"
Hearing this question, Henry frowned, finding it hard to decide â Benest or Baron Olsen.
Benestâs squad was relatively closer, but Baron Olsen was of greater importance.
However, there was an issue.
Both sides were being pursued by a Frost Giant captain.
From Colonel Tessaâs squadâs experience, it wasnât hard to deduce that both Benest and Baron Olsenâs sides were likely in worse condition â because this side had no Frost Giant captain, whereas the other two did.
It was highly possible that if he chose to support one side, the other side might collapse completely, maybe even without survivors.
As for Commodore Gregory, who had led away the Frost Giant commander, Henry wasnât too worried because he knew Gregory had several life-saving Magic Scrolls. If anything happened, Gregory wouldnât have trouble escaping.
Of course, the most important thing was, although the Kreit team was powerful, he didnât want to lead the Kreit team into a head-to-head fight with a Frost Giant commander, ultimately benefiting Nightmare Blade instead.
Henry hadnât forgotten his primary objective for coming to the Lankote Snowfield â the Necromancy Crystal.
"Is there a way to find out about the situation?" Henry looked at the Kreit mage brothers.
As a Level Nine Mage, his financial support had allowed the other to purchase plenty of expensive, rare-level magic equipment, which naturally included those capable of detecting the surroundings.
"Iâll give it a try."
Dylan glanced at the dark clouds in the sky, frowning slightly, as he took out a fist-sized eyeball from his waist pouch â the âEye of the Trackerâ, a rare-level magic equipment.
With spell chanting, the eyeball quickly levitated, flying towards the sky in the southwest direction. Soon, Dylan looked at Viscount Henry with a rather curious expression and said:
"Lord Viscount, did you invite any top-tier adventurer squads?"
Henry gave Dylan a puzzled look and said, "Top-tier adventurer squads? No?"
Dylan was also slightly startled, pondered for a moment, then painted in the air with his hand, bringing forth an image from the âEye of the Trackerâ, gazing down from the sky â
âFaintly, a human could be seen moving swiftly and fiercely with an unusually tall Frost Giant in the spruce forest; the nearby towering spruce trees fell like straw but due to rolling snow waves around, specific details were somewhat unclear.â
âFurther away, four Royal Guards could be seen, clad in gold-trimmed armor, mainly engaging in entanglement, cornering two Frost Giants.â
"To be able to brawl with a Frost Giant captain, must be either Transcendent or comparable to one!" said Keller Kreit, among the Kreit mage brothers, in astonishment.
"Incredible!"
"Yes! To brawl with a Frost Giant captain? Is it a top-tier barbarian berserk warrior?"
Others also whispered with admiration.
"Wait, this is...." Tessaâs eyes widened with a hint of recognition and suspicion amidst her shock as she immediately asked, "Can you zoom in a bit more?"
Seeing Dylan mutter a spell while pointing his index finger, the image was slightly magnified, similar to being observed under a magnifying glass, changing from a view a hundred meters high to one fifty meters high.
"This is the limit," Dylan said, shaking his head.
If it were on a plain and the weather was clear, the current viewpoint could clearly see peopleâs faces.
But now they were in the Lankote Snowfield, where snowstorms were almost incessant year-round, and coupled with todayâs overcast skies and the winds and snow stirred up by the battle, visibility was terrible.
"Lord Viscount, I think the one fighting the Frost Giant captain might be Mr. Raine," Tessa excitedly said.
"Mr. Raine?" For a moment, Henry, after hearing Tessaâs words, did not connect the name âRaineâ with the person, leaving his eyes a bit bewildered.
Hmm?
The five mages of the Kreit team looked at each other, their minds racing to remember whether there was any renowned adventurer in the Soladin Kingdom named Raine.
After all, there werenât many Silver Squads frequently active within the Soladin Kingdomâs territory, barely surpassing two digits, none of which included a strong adventurer named Raine.
And if the other was a top-tier Bronze Level adventurer, then they would be a well-known figure, one they mightâve heard of.
"Lord Viscount, itâs Raine from Mill Town!" Tessa added the prefix âMill Townâ when she saw the blank look in Henryâs eyes.
Mill Town?
What amazing small town is it to have a top-tier Bronze Level adventurer around?
Even the magicians in the Kreit team remained mystified.
"What? Itâs Raine?" Henry, as if electrified, connected the name âRaineâ with the real person, his eyes widening with shock.
After being in a daze for a full two seconds, Henry quickly asked, "Colonel Tessa, why do you think itâs Raine fighting the Frost Giant?"
"Lord Viscount, look at the swiftly moving slender figure beside the Frost Giant; doesnât it resemble Mr. Raineâs accompanying Drow Elf?" Tessa pointed to the image.
Hmm?
The gazes of everyone present focused on the fast-moving gray silhouette beside the Frost Giant. Though the figure moved rapidly, the slender shape occasionally emerging from the dust and snowflakes indeed matched Tessaâs description of an Elf or Drow Elf.
And Henry, noticing the flickering dark silver light, vaguely discerned it to be two slightly curved fine swords.
This immediately reminded him of the tall, hooded Drow Elf standing beside Raine.
Because what hung at their waist were indeed two slender curved swords!
...