The Frost Giant towered over the battlefield.
Ice covered its armor.
Frost rolled from its body.
The enormous club in its hands radiated enough magic that the air itself seemed to crystallize around it.
Behind the Vixens—
Jax watched.
They had already learned the most dangerous part of the weapon.
Anything it struck froze.
Not simply on the surface.
Completely.
Stone became brittle.
Metal became fragile.
Living creatures became frozen statues.
And if the club struck again—
They shattered.
Warden had already discovered that lesson.
His shield had survived one direct blast.
Barely.
Frost still clung to its edges.
The magic hadn't broken through the enchantments...
But it had come considerably closer than Jax liked.
The Vixens stood behind him.
Aurabelle held World Breaker.
Llandra had Starpiercer drawn.
Nyxian stood with Lilith's Kiss separated into two whips.
Zee held Sanctaris in both hands.
Around them...
The battlefield looked considerably emptier than it had several minutes earlier.
Gryph had fallen.
Fang had fallen.
Several Shadow Knights were gone.
The mages had been reduced to a handful.
Only a few wolves remained.
Warden stood alone near the front.
His shield raised.
Jax had spent most of the battle watching.
Learning.
Testing.
Every attack.
Every reaction.
Every limitation.
The Frost Giant lifted its club again.
Jax smiled.
"Interesting."
Aurabelle glanced toward him.
"Interesting?"
Jax raised one hand.
Darkness rolled across the chamber.
"Come forth."
The cavern answered.
Gryph rose first.
Shadow exploded upward as the massive gryphon returned.
Fang emerged beside him.
Then knights.
Mages.
Wolves.
Every shadow that had fallen during the battle returned.
But Jax wasn't finished.
Darkness spread beneath several fallen Frost Giants.
One moved.
Then another.
Then another.
Their massive bodies rose from the frozen floor.
Black mist rolled from their armor.
Their eyes opened with dark flame.
Nyxian grinned.
"Oh."
Llandra immediately understood.
"We have shields."
Jax looked toward Warden.
"So does he."
Warden didn't respond.
He didn't need to.
The Shadow Frost Giants moved.
Four stepped directly in front of him.
Two more took positions along his sides.
Warden raised his shield.
Then started walking.
The Frost Giant boss noticed.
Its enormous head turned.
Warden's voice thundered across the cavern.
"TAUNT!"
Magic erupted from him.
The effect was immediate.
The boss's glowing eyes snapped toward Warden.
Its entire body shifted.
The club rose.
Blue-white energy gathered around its free hand.
The Vixens moved behind Warden's formation.
The blast came.
BOOOOOOM!
A Shadow Frost Giant took the attack directly.
Ice exploded across its chest.
Its arms froze.
Then its head.
The creature became completely motionless.
The boss swung.
CRACK!
The frozen shadow shattered.
Black fragments scattered across the floor.
Warden never stopped.
Another Shadow Frost Giant stepped into the opening.
Warden advanced.
"TAUNT!"
Another pulse of magic.
Stronger.
More forceful.
The Frost Giant roared.
Another blast.
Another shield froze.
Another strike.
Another shattered shadow.
Warden kept walking.
Never questioning the order.
Never hesitating.
The Vixens followed.
Protected behind a moving wall of Frost Giants that had once served the very creature trying to destroy them.
The boss fired again.
One shadow froze.
The blast carried through.
Warden raised his shield.
BOOM!
Ice spread across it.
White mist surrounded him.
His boots slid backward several feet.
For the first time...
His advance stopped.
The boss raised its club.
Warden planted one foot.
Then another.
He pushed forward.
"TAUNT!"
Magic erupted.
The boss immediately focused on him again.
Aurabelle smiled.
"He's really good at that."
Nyxian nodded.
"Annoying things?"
Aurabelle looked at her.
"Protecting us."
"That too."
Llandra ignored them.
"Spread out."
The Vixens separated.
Aurabelle moved left.
Nyxian right.
Llandra began circling farther around.
Zee remained behind Warden.
The Frost Giant tried to follow Aurabelle.
Its eyes moved.
Its head turned.
Then—
"TAUNT!"
Its attention violently snapped back toward Warden.
Another Shadow Frost Giant stepped in front of him.
The boss roared in fury.
Exactly what Jax wanted.
"Keep moving!"
Warden moved.
So did the Vixens.
Another blast.
Another shadow disappeared.
Jax raised his hand.
"Come forth."
The destroyed Shadow Frost Giant reformed.
Another dead Frost Giant rose beside it.
Then another.
They marched forward.
Warden's protection grew.
The boss had spent the entire battle summoning reinforcements.
Now those reinforcements belonged to Jax.
And Jax intended to put them to work.
The Frost Giant raised both arms.
Magic exploded outward.
Ice erupted from the ground.
A crystalline wall formed around it.
Then another.
Then another.
Layers of enchanted ice folded over the giant until its enormous body disappeared inside a frozen fortress.
Aurabelle stopped.
"Oh, come on."
Zee stepped closer.
She studied the barrier.
Her eyes narrowed.
"It's feeding mana into it."
Llandra moved beside her.
"Constantly?"
"Yes."
Nyxian touched one whip against the ice.
The tip immediately frosted.
She pulled it away.
"So we break it faster than he can rebuild it."
Aurabelle smiled.
"That's what I was thinking."
Nyxian glanced at her.
"You've been around Jax too long."
Aurabelle proudly lifted World Breaker.
"I married him."
"Fair."
Aurabelle moved.
World Breaker struck.
BOOOOOOM!
Cracks raced through the ice.
They immediately began closing.
Llandra fired.
Three arrows struck the damaged section.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Nyxian followed.
Lilith's Kiss slipped into the fractures.
She crossed both whips.
Pulled.
Enormous chunks tore free.
Zee raised Sanctaris.
Telekinetic force slammed into the weakened section.
The barrier groaned.
Aurabelle stepped back.
Wind gathered around her.
World Breaker moved.
Once.
Twice.
Again.
Faster.
Wind became a vortex.
Heat followed.
Then flame.
Aurabelle disappeared inside a whirlwind of fire.
She accelerated.
Then released everything.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
World Breaker struck.
Ice vaporized.
The barrier cracked from top to bottom.
Llandra's Astral Echoes appeared.
Three Llandras raised Starpiercer.
They fired.
Arrows disappeared into the fractures.
Explosions followed.
Nyxian pulled.
Zee pushed.
Aurabelle swung again.
The fortress exploded inward.
"NOW!"
The Vixens charged.
The Frost Giant swung.
At Warden.
Always Warden.
A Shadow Frost Giant intercepted the club.
The weapon struck.
Ice consumed the shadow.
The second strike shattered it.
Another immediately took its place.
"TAUNT!"
Warden advanced.
Aurabelle attacked.
World Breaker slammed into the boss's armor.
The giant staggered.
Aurabelle struck again.
Then again.
Wind began gathering around her.
Nyxian attacked low.
Lilith's Kiss wrapped around one ankle.
Her second whip struck behind the opposite knee.
She pulled.
The giant stumbled.
Llandra fired.
An arrow buried itself beneath its shoulder armor.
BOOM!
Another struck its chest.
BOOM!
Then another.
BOOM!
The Frost Giant roared.
Its attention tried to shift.
Warden raised his shield.
"TAUNT!"
The giant turned toward him.
Aurabelle smiled.
Bad decision.
She spun.
World Breaker followed.
Wind surrounded her.
Then flame.
The first strike damaged the armor.
The second cracked it.
The third tore a plate free.
Aurabelle accelerated.
Her whirlwind became a tornado.
Fire wrapped around the Frost Giant's body.
World Breaker struck again.
And again.
And again.
Armor ripped free.
Frozen protections shattered.
The giant emerged from the vortex with huge sections of its body exposed.
Llandra was waiting.
Starpiercer fired.
One arrow.
Three.
Six.
Her echoes fired with her.
Explosions rippled across the Frost Giant's chest.
It stumbled.
Nyxian moved.
Fast.
Lilith's Kiss became silver-black streaks.
One whip wrapped behind the giant's knee.
The other cut across the opposite leg.
She changed direction.
Pulled.
Flesh tore.
The giant dropped to one knee.
BOOM!
Zee raised Sanctaris.
Telekinetic barriers appeared.
One around the giant's wrist.
Another across its shoulder.
Another against its back.
Another locked around its injured leg.
The Frost Giant strained.
Zee slid backward.
Her boots carved lines through the ice.
But she held.
The giant roared.
Then—
For the first time...
Something changed.
Its eyes moved across the battlefield.
Its armor was gone.
One leg barely supported it.
Explosive arrows protruded from its body.
Nyxian had shredded the backs of both knees.
Zee held it in place.
Aurabelle was already preparing another attack.
Warden remained directly in front of it.
The Frost Giant knew.
It was losing.
Its eyes widened.
Not rage.
Not fury.
Fear.
The enormous creature lifted its club.
Zee braced.
Warden raised his shield.
But the giant didn't attack either of them.
It slammed the club into the ground.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Blue magic exploded across the chamber.
Cracks raced through the frozen floor.
Then space itself seemed to tear.
A portal opened.
Jax's expression changed.
"Oh."
The portal widened.
A Frost Giant stepped through.
Then another.
And another.
Five.
Eight.
Twelve.
Twenty.
Nyxian glanced toward them.
"Oh, come on."
Llandra never looked away from the boss.
"Ignore them."
Aurabelle tightened her grip on World Breaker.
Zee nodded.
"Jax has them."
That was enough.
The Vixens attacked.
Behind them...
Twenty Frost Giants charged into the cavern.
Jax smiled.
"Grim."
The Shadow Bull lowered his head.
"Steed."
The second moved beside him.
"Gryph."
Wings spread overhead.
"Fang."
The serpent coiled.
Dozens of other shadows gathered.
Jax rested Peacemaker across one shoulder.
"Let's go."
The two armies collided.
Grim struck first.
The massive Shadow Bull hit a Frost Giant at the knees.
Steed hit the same creature from the opposite direction.
The giant flipped.
Jax was underneath it before it landed.
Peacemaker moved.
The Frost Giant came down in two pieces.
Jax continued.
Another swung.
He ducked.
Peacemaker carved upward.
One arm disappeared.
Jax rotated.
The opposite blade crossed the giant's chest.
Fang flowed between enormous legs.
Bite.
Move.
Tail.
Move.
Another bite.
Poison spread.
One Frost Giant stumbled.
Another collapsed.
Gryph descended.
Talons struck.
A giant crashed face-first into the frozen floor.
Shadow Knights swarmed it.
Jax entered the middle of the reinforcements.
Peacemaker became a blur.
One giant attacked.
Jax stepped inside the swing.
Slash.
Turn.
Step.
Another strike.
Two giants fell.
Three attacked.
Jax accelerated.
Peacemaker cut through the first.
He ducked beneath the second.
Rotated.
The opposite blade removed the third giant's leg.
Jax raised one hand.
"Come forth."
The fallen giants moved.
Darkness swallowed them.
One rose.
Then another.
Then another.
Black-blue flame filled their eyes.
The creatures turned toward the portal that had summoned them.
Then attacked their former allies.
The boss had called an army to save itself.
Instead...
It had given one to Jax.
Across the chamber—
The Vixens never looked away.
Their battle continued.
Aurabelle struck.
The Frost Giant blocked.
Nyxian tore at its legs.
Llandra's arrows hammered its exposed torso.
Zee maintained the barriers.
Warden stood before it.
"TAUNT!"
The giant roared.
Aurabelle attacked again.
World Breaker smashed into one forearm.
Bone broke.
The arm fell uselessly.
Llandra fired.
Three arrows entered the exposed shoulder.
Explosions followed.
The giant collapsed onto both knees.
Nyxian crossed her whips.
Pulled.
Its legs gave completely.
Zee's barriers tightened.
The Frost Giant couldn't rise.
Aurabelle looked upward.
There was room.
Plenty.
She smiled.
Wind gathered beneath her feet.
Then—
She launched.
Twenty feet.
Forty.
Sixty.
Higher.
World Breaker rotated in her hands.
Below—
The Frost Giant struggled.
Zee held it.
Nyxian kept its legs beneath it.
Llandra continued firing.
Warden remained directly in front.
Aurabelle reached the top of her climb.
For one heartbeat...
She stopped.
Then fell.
Wind wrapped around her.
She began spinning.
World Breaker followed.
One rotation.
Two.
Five.
Ten.
Faster.
The massive hammer became a blur.
The air screamed.
The Frost Giant looked upward.
Aurabelle dropped like a meteor.
"BYE!"
World Breaker struck its skull.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Mana exploded across the dungeon.
Ice crystals shattered.
The floor collapsed beneath the giant.
A shockwave rolled through the chamber.
Zee's barriers disappeared.
Nyxian shielded her face.
Llandra slid backward.
The enormous Frost Giant collapsed.
Motionless.
Aurabelle landed.
World Breaker struck the floor beside her.
She breathed heavily.
Then smiled.
"Got him."
Llandra raised Starpiercer.
THUNK.
An arrow entered the giant's chest.
Aurabelle looked at her.
THUNK.
Another.
"Llandra?"
THUNK.
A third.
"Making sure."
Nyxian nodded.
"Completely reasonable."
Something moved around her neck.
Echo lifted his head.
The tiny ferret stared at the fallen giant.
Then jumped.
"Echo—"
Too late.
He landed on the Frost Giant's chest.
Marched toward its head.
Bit it.
Nothing happened.
Echo released.
Turned around.
Then delivered an absolutely devastating tail strike.
The impact would have struggled to inconvenience a wounded puppy.
Echo stood proudly over the defeated Raid Boss.
Nyxian stared.
"Did you get him?"
Echo chirped.
"Good boy."
She picked him up.
Echo returned triumphantly around her neck.
Entirely convinced that the battle had ultimately been decided by him.
Aurabelle laughed.
Then another explosion echoed across the cavern.
The four Vixens turned.
The boss was dead.
Its army wasn't.
Jax stood in the middle of it.
And by now...
The battlefield looked very different.
Frost Giants fought Frost Giants.
Except half of them were shadows.
Jax had continued raising every construct he could.
More than fifty Shadow Frost Giants already filled the cavern.
And there were still enemies standing.
Aurabelle lifted World Breaker.
Jax saw her.
He shook his head.
"You got yours."
Peacemaker rested casually against one shoulder.
"I've got mine."
Aurabelle looked toward the remaining giants.
Then back toward Jax.
She lowered World Breaker.
Nyxian smiled.
Then sat down on a broken piece of the destroyed ice barrier.
Zee stared at her.
"What are you doing?"
Nyxian reached into storage.
A wrapped basket appeared.
Aurabelle recognized it immediately.
"Is that my mother's food?"
Nyxian opened it.
"Yep."
"She packed that for the trip."
"We're still on the trip."
Aurabelle considered that.
Then sat beside her.
"Give me one."
Nyxian handed her a pastry.
Zee stared.
"We're seriously going to eat while Jax fights Frost Giants?"
Llandra lowered Starpiercer.
"He doesn't need us."
Another Frost Giant flew across the chamber.
BOOM!
It crashed through an ice pillar.
Llandra sat.
Nyxian handed her a pastry.
Zee looked toward Jax.
Then toward the food.
"...Do you have another?"
Nyxian grinned.
Four Vixens sat together atop the remains of the Raid Boss's shattered defenses.
Eating Arial's homemade snacks.
Watching their husband work.
Jax charged.
The first Frost Giant swung.
He disappeared beneath the club.
Peacemaker flashed.
One leg separated.
The giant fell.
Jax rotated.
The opposite blade passed through its neck.
Before the body touched the floor—
Jax was fighting the next.
Aurabelle chewed slowly.
"He's gotten faster."
Llandra nodded.
"Considerably."
Another giant attacked.
Jax stepped onto its descending club.
Ran three steps along the weapon.
Jumped.
Peacemaker rotated with him.
The blade crossed the giant's neck.
Jax landed behind it.
All four women stopped chewing.
"Damn!" They all said at once at what they saw.
Silence.
Nyxian slowly looked at them.
Zee's cheeks turned pink.
Aurabelle smiled.
Llandra continued watching.
Nyxian pointed.
"All four."
"No," Llandra said.
"You absolutely did."
"I did not."
Another explosion drew their attention back.
Jax drove Peacemaker into the frozen ground.
The enormous weapon remained upright.
Aurabelle's ears lifted.
"Oh."
Nyxian leaned forward.
"Here we go."
Jax released the sword.
Both hands disappeared beneath his coat.
Infernal Requiem appeared.
Gunfire erupted.
Jax moved.
Not like a swordsman.
Not like a soldier.
Like a dancer.
A giant swung.
Jax pivoted around Peacemaker.
The club passed inches from him.
Two shots.
Turn.
Fire.
Another giant approached from behind.
Jax fired without looking.
Its knee buckled.
He rotated around the embedded sword.
Duck.
Fire.
Step.
Turn.
His coat followed every movement.
Infernal Requiem flashed from both hands.
A giant fell.
Another attacked.
Jax dropped backward beneath the swing.
One hand caught Peacemaker's hilt.
His momentum carried his body nearly horizontal around the weapon.
Both pistols fired.
Nyxian stopped eating.
"He's so damn sexy when he works."
Aurabelle nodded.
"Yep."
Zee watched.
"...Very."
Nyxian slowly looked toward Llandra.
The elf took another bite.
"What?"
"You didn't answer."
"I am watching."
"That's not an answer."
Jax vaulted over a club.
Fired twice while airborne.
Landed on the giant's forearm.
Ran up its arm.
Fired directly into its face.
The giant collapsed.
Llandra watched.
"...Very."
Nyxian grinned.
"There she is."
Jax holstered one pistol.
Another giant attacked.
He ducked.
Caught Peacemaker.
Pulled it free.
The weapon rotated with him.
The blade crossed one giant's abdomen.
Jax released it again.
Two shots.
He caught the sword as it came around.
Then drove it upward through another giant's chest.
All four women leaned forward.
"DAMN!"
This time—
They heard one another.
Nyxian burst out laughing.
Aurabelle nearly choked.
Zee covered her mouth.
Even Llandra laughed.
Across the battlefield...
Jax stopped.
He looked toward them.
Four women immediately became extremely interested in their food.
Jax stared.
Nyxian waved.
"You're doing great!"
Jax shook his head.
Then returned to work.
Aurabelle leaned toward Nyxian.
"Give me another one."
Nyxian handed her a pastry.
"Your mother is amazing."
"I know."
The battle didn't last much longer.
Grim and Steed crushed another giant between them.
Fang poisoned two.
Gryph drove one into the floor.
Jax took the rest.
And each time another Frost Giant fell—
"Come forth."
Another shadow rose.
Again.
"Come forth."
Again.
Until finally...
Silence.
Jax stood among his new army.
More than seventy Shadow Frost Giants filled the cavern.
Some carried clubs.
Others still bore weapons formed by the Raid Cave.
All waited silently.
Aurabelle slowly looked around.
"...Did we just give you a Frost Giant army?"
Jax looked around.
"Technically..."
He pointed toward the dead boss.
"I think he did."
Nyxian took another bite.
"That was very generous of him."
Jax walked toward the enormous body.
The Vixens followed.
The Raid Boss lay inside the crater Aurabelle had created.
Jax placed one hand against it.
"Come forth."
Darkness spread.
The enormous body disappeared beneath shadow.
For several seconds...
Nothing happened.
Then—
The Frost Giant rose.
Shadow rolled across its massive form.
Black-blue flame burned within its eyes.
Its enormous club reconstructed in one hand.
The newly raised giant looked down at Jax.
Then knelt.
Jax inspected him.
The portal ability was gone.
Interesting.
That hadn't belonged to the giant itself.
It belonged to the Raid Cave.
A function of the encounter.
But the rest remained.
Frost magic.
The massive strength.
And the club.
Whatever the weapon struck could be frozen almost instantly.
Stone.
Metal.
Flesh.
And once completely frozen...
Another strike could shatter it.
Jax smiled.
"You're going to be useful."
He looked up at the enormous shadow.
Then considered the obvious.
Frost Giant.
Magic.
Giant hammer.
Jax smiled.
"Loki."
Nyxian tilted her head.
"Loki?"
"Trust me."
She shrugged.
"Usually do."
Loki rose.
More than seventy Shadow Frost Giants stood behind him.
Aurabelle stared at the army.
"We came here to clear a Raid Cave."
Jax nodded.
"We did."
"We're leaving with seventy giants."
"Seventy-plus."
"A giant Raid Boss."
"Loki."
"And however much treasure is still buried in here."
Jax looked around.
"A lot."
Aurabelle smiled.
"I love adventuring with you."
Jax raised one hand.
More shadows emerged.
Knights.
Mages.
Wolves.
Ice creatures.
Everything useful he'd accumulated during the raid.
Soon nearly a thousand shadows filled the cave and its surrounding tunnels.
Jax looked toward Warden.
The knight approached.
"My liege."
Jax pointed around them.
"Strip it."
Warden looked toward the cavern.
Crystals.
Ore.
Magical deposits.
Weapons.
Armor.
Anything the Raid Cave had produced that possessed value.
"Everything useful goes into storage."
Warden nodded.
"Understood, my liege."
He turned.
His sword rose.
The shadows moved.
Loki lifted an enchanted crystal larger than a wagon.
Frost Giants began tearing valuable deposits from the cavern walls.
Mages identified concentrations of magical material.
Smaller shadows entered passages the giants couldn't reach.
Knights formed transport lines.
The strange distortion surrounding the entrance had disappeared with the Raid Boss's death.
The entrance was simply the entrance again.
No distant mountain.
No trip across the continent.
Their caravan waited exactly where they'd left it.
Jax opened the rear dimensional warehouse.
"Load everything there."
Warden nodded.
The excavation began.
Jax stepped back.
"Anything else?"
"No, my liege."
"Good."
Jax turned toward the Vixens.
Aurabelle smiled at him.
Nyxian's grin hadn't disappeared.
Llandra looked considerably more composed.
Zee...
Zee was staring at him.
Jax raised an eyebrow.
"You okay?"
Zee walked toward him.
Stopped directly in front of him.
Then took his hand.
"Send the shadows to do whatever you need them to do."
Jax glanced toward Warden.
"They're already—"
"But we need to see you in the carriage."
Jax stopped.
Zee's cheeks were bright red.
Her eyes weren't.
Those were remarkably determined.
"Now."
Silence.
Nyxian slowly turned toward her.
A smile spread across her face.
"Saint Zee—"
"Don't."
"I haven't said anything."
"You were going to."
"I absolutely was."
Aurabelle laughed.
Llandra covered a smile with one hand.
Jax looked toward Warden.
The knight was already overseeing the excavation.
More than seventy Frost Giants were moving materials toward storage.
Nearly a thousand shadows were stripping the Raid Cave of anything valuable.
Everything appeared under control.
Jax looked back toward Zee.
"Five minutes?"
Zee tightened her grip on his hand.
"Three."
Nyxian burst out laughing.
Jax smiled.
"Three."
Zee started toward the caravan.
Jax followed.
Aurabelle immediately joined them.
Nyxian hurried after.
Llandra shook her head.
Then followed her family inside.
Behind them...
Warden watched the caravan door close.
He looked toward the army of shadows.
Then toward the enormous Raid Cave still waiting to be excavated.
His sword lifted.
The shadows continued working.
Loki carried another massive crystal toward storage.
Grim and Steed dragged a section of enchanted ore between them.
The Frost Giants tore valuable deposits from the walls.
And somewhere inside the caravan...
The Vixens celebrated another successful adventure in their own way.
The Raid Cave had never been conquered.
For generations, adventurers had entered...
And seemingly never returned.
Jax Darquebane and the Vixens had needed two days.
They left with the treasure.
They left with the Raid Boss.
They left with more than seventy Frost Giants.
And before leaving...
Jax had one final task.
There was still a sign to make.