"Winter is coming?" Ander was taken aback by the unexpected phrase.
Luo Wei gave a faint smile. "It's nothing. It just fits the situation… and I can feel it in my bones."
Ander sighed deeply. "We're really cursed, aren't we? Back in Vanaheim, we barely lasted a few days before the large-scale attack began. And now in Jotunheim? We've barely arrived and we're already staring down annihilation…"
With a resigned motion, he beckoned Luo Wei to follow him into formation. A dozen Asgardian soldiers were already armed and bracing for impact.
Almost simultaneously, the frost giant cavalry charged.
"Kill!"
Mounted on massive ice bears and wielding heavy weapons, they roared into the outpost like a crashing glacier, clashing against the Asgardians in a chaos of blades and snow.
Ander's team immediately came under the onslaught of eight frost giant bear cavalry. With the aid of the Mirror Image of the Sun, they barely held the line.
Luo Wei stood behind the front lines, gripping his staff tightly as he monitored the evolving battle.
"Ah!" An Asgardian warrior let out a scream as a frost giant's blade pierced his chest.
The giant bared his jagged teeth, raised his axe, and sneered, "Die!"
Just as the wounded warrior began to collapse, Luo Wei raised his staff with precision.
Judgment!
A radiant surge of holy light burst from the staff's tip, forming a searing spike of divine energy. It shot forth like an arrow, zeroing in on the frost giant at lightning speed.
Startled, the giant yanked on his reins, attempting to steer his mount aside. But he was too slow.
The spike drilled through his right wrist.
"Arrgh!"
Howling in agony, the frost giant dropped his weapon as blood splattered across the battlefield.
Seizing the opportunity, two nearby Asgardian warriors flanked the disoriented enemy. Like twin scissor blades, their swords sliced into the exposed neck of the ice bear.
The beast, still off balance from its rider's tug, couldn't retaliate. With a final roar, its head was cleaved from its body, spraying blood like a geyser.
Its rider tumbled from the saddle and crashed into the snow, lifeless.
With one of the eight bear cavalry dead, momentum shifted toward Ander's team.
Luo Wei glanced at the stabbed Asgardian soldier and saw he was using a healing stone, so he refrained from casting Faith and focused elsewhere.
Ander, alongside another warrior, was engaging the bear cavalry's leader—a towering frost giant wielding twin battle axes with devastating might.
The bear beneath him was no less terrifying: massive, with dagger-like fangs and eyes gleaming with bloodlust. Despite the solar heat, the leader held his ground, keeping the two Asgardians at bay.
Luo Wei maneuvered to a vantage point, raised his hand, and his body shimmered gold—the second brightest glow on the battlefield after the sun itself.
The Hand of Reckoning!
The divine judgment struck the bear cavalry leader with overwhelming force.
Memories of his past sins flooded his mind. He faltered, haunted, his face twisting in torment as he locked eyes with Luo Wei, now blazing with holy radiance.
In that heartbeat of distraction, Ander surged forward.
His blade struck with precision—piercing the frost giant's throat.
The giant staggered, gurgled, then fell as Ander and his partner finished off the now-riderless bear.
In moments, two of the eight cavalry were slain—among them, the leader.
However, Ander's team wasn't unscathed. The soldier previously stabbed lay recovering, while another had taken a crushing blow from a mace and now lay unmoving.
Luo Wei dashed in, dragged the injured man clear of combat, and cast healing spells imbued with Faith.
A golden glow wrapped around the soldier's body. Soon, he stirred, coughing, and wiped the blood from his lips.
"How do you feel?" Luo Wei asked, voice steady.
"Better," the soldier replied with a nod.
Suddenly—savage roars erupted across the field.
"Ahhhhhh!" The sounds were human, but raw, primal—like beasts loosed from their cages.
Luo Wei turned. The berserkers had entered a rage state.
Roaring, they wielded heavy cudgels, charging polar ice beasts with fearsome abandon.
In this frenzied state, each berserker could rival a bear cavalry on their own. The beasts, caught off guard, were quickly battered, bruised, and bloodied. Their howls grew wilder, filled with pain and fury.
Luo Wei watched a moment, then returned to his task, tending to the wounded.
Soon, the recovering soldiers picked up their blades and rejoined the battle.
Then Luo Wei spotted another target—a one-eyed frost giant, howling and cleaving through an Asgardian duo.
The Hand of Reckoning!
The divine strike connected. The one-eyed giant flinched, eyes wide with a flicker of trauma, but recovered fast.
With brutal speed, he turned and struck an approaching Asgardian, severing the man's arm in one blow.
"Ah!" the warrior screamed, staggering away.
Luo Wei rushed to him, hands glowing, and began healing even as he noticed the giant glaring at him, murder in his lone eye.
So the spell's success depends on their mental resilience too… Luo Wei thought grimly.
He retreated behind Ander's unit, watching and waiting.
Seconds ticked by, then—
The Hand of Reckoning!
"Watch out!" the one-eyed frost giant bellowed, attempting to warn his ally.
Too late.
Another frost giant was hit, dazed, and promptly slain by two nearby Asgardians.
Luo Wei felt a moment of satisfaction as the one-eyed giant's fury deepened.
With another enemy down, Ander's team now had only four bear cavalry left to face—half the original number.
The Asgardians pressed the advantage. The one-eyed giant faltered and took a deep stab to the shoulder, his bear mount also wounded and staggering.
Luo Wei watched closely, expecting the giant to fall. But suddenly, the one-eyed warrior did the unexpected.
With a howl of fury, he leapt from his mount, ignored the chaos around him, and charged—straight at Luo Wei.
"Damn Mage!!" he roared, blood spraying from his lips.
Luo Wei's eyes widened, but he didn't panic.
As the giant bore down, Luo Wei calmly reached into his cloak… and drew a gleaming warhammer.