Chapter 172: Frost Giant and Follower
Jinya realized the danger instantly and immediately opened his mouth.
【Fireball Spell】
In the Kingdom of Ashen, Jinya was no mere commoner. As a seasoned Orcish Warlock, he had mastered the magic of his Bloodline to perfection—so much so that he could effortlessly cast spells like 【Fireball Spell】, a Third-Level incantation.
A blazing fireball erupted from his maw, striking the Frost Giant square in the face—completely unprepared.
The sizzling crackle of seared flesh and scorched skin filled the air as half of the Frost Giant’s face was instantly charred. Deep, agonizing wounds split open across his hide. In the throes of excruciating pain, the giant松开了手, freeing Jinya, who had been hooked by the bone warhammer.
“Hot… so hot,” Jinya muttered, shaking his head as he hovered in the sky.
Baya, his face now a mask of burns, clutched at his ruined cheek before throwing back his head and roaring in fury. His scarred visage, twisted with rage, radiated battlelust.
To a Frost Giant, wounds and spoils taken from enemies were symbols of strength and worth. Jinya’s attack did not frighten him—it ignited his blood. His battle hunger flared.
“Dragon! I will kill you!”
“Come down and fight me!”
With reckless abandon, Baya hurled massive stone slabs into the sky, hoping to bring Jinya crashing down.
Jinya dodged nimbly through the air, muttering under his breath:
“Damn madman.”
He unleashed another fireball toward the ground—but this time, the Frost Giant raised his Bone Shield in time, deflecting the blast with a thunderous crack.
“Crawler! Your fire is weak!”
“Come! Let us fight hand to hand!”
The Frost Giant leapt high into the air once more, aiming to repeat his earlier tactic—hooking the airborne Jinya with his bone hammer and dragging him down to the earth.
But Jinya was ready this time. With a flick of his wings, he danced aside, avoiding the hammer’s swing and swiftly positioning himself behind the giant.
【Burning Hands】
From the claws of the winged goblin, a jagged cone of flame shot forth, scorching the Frost Giant’s back. The unguarded flesh seared instantly, leaving a wide, blistering wound.
The giant roared in pain, crashing to the ground and rolling several times to absorb the impact. But he rose again in an instant, roaring defiantly.
“Your attacks don’t even sting!”
This was nothing to him. A Frost Giant, forged in the frozen wastes, was no stranger to battle. He had fought beasts of the ice plains for years—this mere burn was nothing more than a scratch.
Jinya seized the brief moment of respite to glance at the battlefield below.
The cold wind howled louder now, biting through the air. The Frost Giants were systematically crushing the Goblinoid forces, effortlessly trampling them like insects. Some of the more timid ones had already been captured—alive, for sport.
Against the overwhelming physical might of the Frost Giants, this was not a battle. It was a slaughter. A one-sided massacre.
“If those giants close in, I won’t be able to escape,” Jinya thought. “Just a thousand dog pups—there’s no way to hold them. I must abandon this position. The most urgent task is to warn Master of their southern advance.”
Jinya had spent months here, deep in the Mine Shaft, working alongside his Goblinoid allies. He had been cut off from news of the outside world. But he knew one truth: the Frost Giants were deadly.
Each stood over six meters tall—born warriors, fierce and relentless. Their very battles could trigger avalanches on the Whitepeak Summit. A mere dozen of these giants, already present, could level a city. They were no match for the Goblinoid forces.
With a final roar, Jinya spread his wings and surged upward into the sky.
He wasn’t going to waste another moment on Baya.
“Foolish giant! I am not a Dragon! I am a Goblinoid beneath the mighty Red Dragon!”
“Your so-called strength means nothing before my Master!”
“Remember—when my Master arrives, you and all your kind will be turned to ash!”
With that final taunt, he soared away, gliding over the hills—flying was its own advantage.
If he couldn’t fight, he could still flee.
On the ground, Baya raged in impotent fury, hurling monoliths into the sky. But Jinya had already climbed too high. Even with the Frost Giant’s monstrous strength, no rock could reach him.
Baya touched his burned face, his expression grotesque with rage.
“He… he’s not a Dragon?!”
“A mere Goblinoid?!”
The warrior gritted his teeth. He had never felt such fury—even when wounded, he had never lost control like this.
If the scars had come from a Red Dragon, they would have been a badge of honor. But this? A weak, scurrying creature had inflicted such shame? It would make him a laughingstock among his kin.
“Huff… huff…”
“I’ll kill him. I’ll kill him and the Dragon behind him.”
Baya fixed his bloodshot eyes on the shrinking black speck in the distance—the Goblinoid vanishing into the horizon. His face, now a ruin of burns and fury, burned with hatred.
Then, without ceremony, he stomped down—crushing a fleeing Goblinoid beneath his massive foot. The creature didn’t even have time to scream before it was reduced to a smear of red pulp.
The wildlands were now a graveyard. Goblinoid corpses lay scattered, twisted and broken. The cold wind howled across the land, dusting the bodies with a thin layer of frost.
But the Frost Giants? Unharmed. Efficient and ruthless, they moved swiftly across the battlefield, gathering only the large gold deposits. The small gear, trinkets, and tools of the Goblinoids? They didn’t even bother to pick them up.
The same scene unfolded across Storm Ridge.
Goblin settlements were flattened. Mine shafts crushed underfoot. Orc Hunter’s camps destroyed. The Frost Giants split into small, swift-moving squads, raiding and annihilating everything in their path.
With the Kingdom of Ashen’s defenses concentrated in the south, Storm Ridge had virtually no standing army—only weak, overlooked Monster Subordinates. Against such a force, the Frost Giants swept through like a storm.
In truth, Kai Xiusu had intentionally left the gap open. He wanted the Frost Giants to purge the rapidly multiplying Monsters—keeping the population of Storm Ridge in check.
After all, the Goblinoid and Goblin populations, left unchecked by human rule, had already grown beyond counting. If allowed to breed freely, they might one day devour the entire region.
Dolo, Earth Giant Commander, had once said:
“These creatures breed like beasts. I don’t even consider them kin.”
The Kingdom of Ashen’s leadership was already planning a new order:
All Goblinoid and Goblin populations would be divided by Dragon Blood Concentration into two categories—Dragon-blooded and Common.
The Dragon-blooded would become citizens of Ashen.
The Common would remain Monsters.
The kingdom would actively cull and control the more prolific, ordinary Monsters—many of whom would be repurposed as one-time disposable resources for the realm: miners, laborers, cannon fodder.
The elite forces of Ashen Hollow—Wyverns, Chimera, and others—were still concentrated in Rockfort, untouched by the Frost Giant threat.
And now, they had already received word from the kingdom.
They stood ready, at full alert, guarding Rockfort’s gates.
(End of Chapter)
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