Reinhard inwardly thanked himself for climbing up instead of waiting and trying to check it out. If he didn't, he might have been noticed before he could move and then been chased after.
He counted over a dozen monsters and all of them weren't too spread out. And looking closer, he didn't see many places to hide, making sneaking on the snowy ground a difficult thing.
And those wolves are constantly moving around… They might have been able to smell me.
Reinhard sighed before he continued moving across the root. He aimed for the areas with the extended roots with him sometimes leaping to land on it. While this happened, he would occasionally glance down to see the Phantasm Beasts moving and glancing around.
But none noticed him.
As he continued moving, the area around him began to shake and tremble. He blinked in surprise as the roots he was holding were beginning to vibrate and the tremors were shaking his arm. He had to pause before pressing himself close to the roots and gripped it tightly as the trembling intensified.
Reinhard began looking around, trying to find out where their shaking was coming from or what was causing it. But then he paused when he saw the behavior of the monsters below was beginning to change.
The Frost Trolls were no longer moving around the area and instead pressing against each other as they raised their weapons. The snow wolves had begun growling after moving around the horses and then lowering their bodies while baring their fangs. Even the snow horse had folded its ice-wing close to its body and was trembling. .
Is another monster causing the shaking? Reinhard thought as his mind began racing while the trembling grew stronger. It would explain the trembling and look of fear on the monsters as they seem to be prepared to defend themselves.
It was then Reinhard began hearing footsteps.
They were unfamiliar at first but gradually he could hear the rhythm of someone walking through the snow. The sound was getting closer now, each footstep creating vibrations that shook snow from the branches around him.
And then he saw it.
A massive figure emerging, its height almost reaching the level where Reinhard had climbed to.
The monster's massive frame rippled with muscles and had skin that looked like ice. It had a black pattern on its flesh and white beard spread around its chin. The figure was shirtless but had a leather cloth around its waist and it was carrying a massive ice-axe in its left hand.
"Why the hell is that here..." Reinhard muttered quietly to himself, the wind masking his voice. "What kind of beast did I get..."
The Frost Giant's blue eyes swept across the monsters below before it let out a chuckle. One that made him shiver as the Frost Giant eyes shined and then it released an ear-splitting roar.
The roar shook the area with snow falling down on his head but Reinhard was too busy holding his hands to ears to care.
Then he saw the Frost Giant raise its axe and then it moved towards the monsters. The giant hacked down with its axe, it cut through the air in an arc and descended down on one of the Frost Trolls.
An ear-splitting noise rang out!
A big chunk of the snow exploded up before the giant pulled back its axe and then swung it across. The ice-axe that was stained with blue liquid cut through the area and cleaved into the side of another troll.
The sounds that rang out made Reinhard tremble as he stared in disbelief. Snow once again scattered out with the shockwave from the blowing spreading out and producing a gust of wind.
He quickly raised a hand against the wind as he saw frozen blood splashing over the snow and the Frost Giant tiltings its head.
Such a sight made the other trolls release roars as they rushed towards the giant. They reached the giant legs and struck out with their weapons, aiming for its legs. The ice club blasted through the air and smashed into the leg of the giant while an ice-covered root stabbed into its torso.
But there was only a small crack in the giant skin and this only made the giant scoff as it raised its free hand. Then it smashed down with its arm into the ground, leading massive pillars of ice to burst out and slam into one of the trolls.
The pillar forced the troll upwards before an axe descended and cleaved it into two. Then the giant swung its arm, smashing the troll split halves off the tree. This forced the other trolls to scatter but they continued hacking with their weapons against the giant.
The Snow Horse took to the air, its crystalline wings spread as it circled around the giant's head and then it rushed down. The Snow Horses cut through the air and hacked down with their ice-blade wings that slashed across the giants shoulder and back.
The attack left gashes that leaked blue blood, and then three snow horses flapped their wings. Leading to ice shards to rush out and smash into the giant's open flesh.
The Frost Giant released an ear-splitting roar as it moved its free hand to grasp onto the wound on its shoulder. Just as two snow wolves were moving between the giant's legs and hacking out with their claws.
They slash, swiped, and claw down on the giant's leg, leading to ice-crystals forming from the marks. While three snow wolves leapt and bit into the torso of the giant which led to frost with spikes spreading over the giant torso.
The giant roared out in anger as its body began to lightly glow and raised its axe again. The giant slammed the weapon's handle into the snow ground and the light around it shined even more.
A wave of ice and wind exploded outwards, sweeping towards the charging trolls who instantly turned into a statue of ice. The others weren't so lucky as two other trolls and wolves were frozen in the middle of their attacks.
Reinhard watched as the giant smashed the statues of ice apart, leading to their fragments scattering around the snow. Then the giant reached down and grabbed one of the wolves that was still attacking its legs. The giant gripped the wolf's body tightly, and within seconds it was completely encased in ice before squeezing it.
In the next moment, the wolf was shattered into pieces.
I need to move before the battle ends. Reinhard thought as he began moving to the side and using the roots to stabilize himself.
While he did this, the battle continued.
The remaining trolls began using its numbers to attack the giants. But the Frost Giant simply swung its axe in wide arcs, each strike claiming one troll after the other. The snow horse tried to provide help by slashing down on the giant back with its wings. But the giant quickly learned to predict their movement as it grasped onto one of them.
Before squeezing and crushing the snow horse in its hand. While it then swings its head down and smashes into one of the snow horses who fly in front. The snow horse released a cry as it was sent hurling into the snow and lightly shaked the area.
Another wolf leaped at the giant torso but the giant glowed blue once more and then released a stream of blue light. The beam of light pierced out and rushed over the wolf form, slowly creating crystals over it. Once the monster was fully coated in crystals, the giant thrust it fist out and smashed the crystal into pieces.
After a minute of moving, Reinhard took a glance to see the giant finished off two more trolls with its axe and froze the last of the wolves. He furrowed his brows before continuing with even more speed while looking ahead with a squint. The only reason he didn't get down and tried to run on the snowy path was because he wasn't sure if that was the last giant.
From what he had seen so far, these monsters always seem to appear in numbers and he didn't believe there was just one.
Soon Reinhard saw a massive cavern opening formed where several enormous roots came together. The entrance was partially covered by snow-laden branches that hung down and above the cavern was snow covered roots. He quickly climbed over to the edge of the root network and then began climbing up.
After climbing up on the snow-covered roots, he glanced back to see the Frost Giant splitting the final snow horse and ending the battle.