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TWL Chapter 300: Honor in the Face of Death
🕑 Added 2025-02-02 15:21:46 +0000 UTC“Eist…” Geralt swallowed his saliva, and his voice trembled a little, "The giants of Skellige... are they always this big?"
Typically, creatures called 'giants' rarely exceeded five or six meters in height.
However, the ice giant that appeared before them broke all expectations. It was at least ten meters tall.
"No… according to the records I've read, he shouldn't be that tall…" Eist muttered, frowning. "It seems like… he's grown."
Looking at the giant face that suddenly appeared, the emerald light on Lann's body gradually extinguished.
Because in the hand of the ice giant, there was a person - Harald.
Eist's face suddenly became gloomy. He could guess what the troops he had just evacuated had experienced.
While everyone was on edge due to the imposing presence of the ice giant, the creature was also curiously looking into the cave through the huge hole it had made. Its wandering gaze landed on Eist… and then on the iron crown on his head.
It looked at Harald, who had fainted in its hands, and then at Eist. From its mouth, in a deep, guttural voice, came a single word: "God?"
An instant later, to Eist's horror, oak roots reached out from nowhere, enveloping Harald's body into a wooden coffin. Without warning, the giant opened its jaws and swallowed him whole, along with the coffin.
With a couple of blows to the neck and chest, the giant coughed violently, as if he had choked. The thunder of his blows echoed throughout the tunnel, so loud that anyone would have believed that his force was enough to shatter the rock.
But the giant did not stop. His massive figure emanated even greater pressure than before, and suddenly, he extended his enormous hand into the cave… straight towards Eist!
The guards rushed to form a wall in front of their king. Though the giant's palm was larger than them, though their own hands trembled as they gripped their weapons, none of them flinched. They would protect their monarch to the death if necessary.
And just at that moment, a golden flash illuminated the air.
Lann appeared floating in the air. Thanks to his incredible core strength, he managed to stay suspended for a moment, raising his sword above his head. With a single breath to concentrate his power, he delivered a devastating blow to the giant's wrist.
[Clang!]
The sound of the impact echoed throughout the cave as if two metal plates had collided.
Something fell to the ground with a loud bang. Looking closely, everyone saw that it was a beast bone bracelet… but its size was enormous. For an ordinary man, it would be enough to forge an entire suit of armor.
That was the ice giant's bracelet. The creature, despite its colossal size, possessed enough intelligence to make and use rudimentary equipment. Although, ironically, its own skin seemed to be more resistant than the armor it wore.
At the same time, the impact had thrown Lann backwards with devastating force. The vibration ran through his sword and spread to his entire body, leaving him numb. In that instant, he didn't feel like a witcher with superhuman abilities... but like an ordinary man who tried to split open a castle gate with an ordinary sword.
As he was about to crash into the cave wall, a glow ignited from the scimitar he carried on his back. From the hilt of the scimitar, a spectral figure dressed in a gothic dress emerged and caught him, ensuring that he landed safely.
"God!!"
The ice giant roared in fury.
Although there was a wound on his wrist, the blood barely had time to flow before the skin began to rapidly close up, leaving only a thin scar.
But although it did no real harm, Lann's blow had completely enraged the giant, who had not been hurt in many years.
A heart-rending roar shook the cave, and the natural energy surrounding the ice giant reached its peak before breaking free in one fell swoop.
The witchers' medallions began to vibrate violently.
The ground shook.
The wind roared between the cliffs.
The snow on the mountain top, which until now had remained immovable, collapsed in a furious avalanche.
The walls of the cave began to crack.
"Run!" Lann shouted with all his might.
...
At the entrance to the tunnel...
A dozen heavily armed soldiers lay on the ground like crushed tin cans. The shields bearing the emblem of the Tuirseach clan were smashed, scattered across the ground like broken biscuits.
A giant was roaring.
Fortunately, the ice giant did not seem to have attacked the troop with the intention of slaughtering them, or perhaps he had a more urgent objective. Otherwise, the rest of the soldiers would already be dead.
The soldiers watched in horror as the enormous creature perched on the cliff, where it had cut a skylight in the mountain with its own hands. They fired arrows incessantly, trying to harass it, but the steel tips left little white marks on its skin, just scratches. All they succeeded in doing was infuriating it further.
If it weren't for Lann having attracted most of the giant's attention, the creature would have already turned on the soldiers, making them pay the price for its wrath.
Meanwhile, other fighters were inside the mine, coordinating the evacuation of their comrades who had not managed to get out in time.
The mine was about to collapse, and their king was still inside.
Suddenly, a powerful windstorm erupted from within the tunnel, tossing the heavily armored soldiers into the air and sending them flying out of the mine like leaves in the wind. They rolled across the ground, falling on top of each other.
The violent torrent of air acted as a propellant, allowing everyone to evacuate before the mine collapsed.
Cries of surprise and screams of pain echoed among the soldiers. Some had been injured by the force of the spell, but it was a far better fate than being buried in the mine.
With a thunderous crash, followed by a deafening rumble, the mine's beams finally gave way. The entire structure collapsed with a roar that seemed to come from the depths of the earth. The Tuirseach Clan soldiers watched in horror as the mountain itself seemed to shrink inward, and those who tried to get up were thrown back to the ground by the shock.
"Your Majesty!!" The desperate cry of Eist's guards rent the air. They did not see him among those who had escaped.
But an instant later, a flash of gold lit up the air. Lann suddenly appeared before them. Before the soldiers could question him, several spheres of emerald light exploded around him.
From the glow emerged the figure of Gerd, holding a huge shield of protection generated by his Quen Sign. At his side were the other witchers and... Eist.
Despite having escaped death thanks to Lann, Eist's face did not reflect even a hint of relief. More than half of his personal guard had been buried in the mine. They had not been able to get out in time.
A chilling blizzard swept over them, robbing them of warmth and plunging them into a deep state of restlessness. Lann felt the chaotic energy in the air. There was no mistaking it: the ice giant was bending the weather to his advantage, increasing his power.
"We must go," Lann said, noticing Eist still staring at the giant's belly. The new king of the islands could not hide his hatred for Harald's death.
"We only have... less than five hundred men left. No, it's four hundred now... no, maybe three hundred," Lann insisted. "Saving Lord Harald is important, yes, but he's not worth your death."
Eist fell silent.
The giant, still peering through the skylight on the mountain, realized that his target had disappeared. He blinked in confusion but soon began to search around. He soon found Eist, and without hesitation, he began to advance towards him with steps that made the ground tremble.
"It seems to be coming for me," Eist murmured, tightening his grip on the hilt of his sword. "I don't know how, but this creature has developed intelligence... and it seems to have a fixation on the jarls of the great clans."
"I know you can take me away, Lann. But I have one question." Eist took a deep breath and then looked at the Tuirseach clan soldiers who were now preparing to face the giant to protect him. "Can you take them too?"
Lann was silent and shook his head.
It wasn't just a matter of the time it would take for Lann to mark hundreds of people with the teleportation ability, but also the enormous consumption of magical energy it would take to transport them all at once. And without Lann, those soldiers would have no chance of escaping the ice giant in the mountains. They might not all die, but the survivors would number no more than a dozen.
"Then return, Lann." Eist spoke with determination. "The King of the Isles cannot flee while his warriors fight for him."
"This is no time to worry about honor!" Lann protested anxiously.
"No, Lann. This is precisely the time to defend honor." Eist looked at him seriously. "If I abandon my troops now, my reputation will suffer a fatal blow. Everything I have worked for will be in vain. Uniting the clans, sending troops against Nilfgaard, avenging Calanthe... it would all become a farce."
He paused for a moment, as if weighing the weight of his words, then added, "Indeed, it would be better if I died here. If I do, you will be the one to carry the news back, and with the support of the clans, you will return with an army to hunt down this ice giant in the name of the fallen king. That is what the islanders value, what they consider a dignified and honorable act."
He leaned slightly toward him, his expression unwavering. "Bran's wife has made an unforgivable mistake. He can no longer be king. But you, Lann, you will earn the friendship and respect of all the islanders. No matter who is chosen as the next monarch, your influence will be inescapable. Indeed, it could even be said that the next king will need your blessing to rule."
"And not only that." Eist gave him a slight smile. "Most of the clans are already on your side: Lugos, Jutta, Bran, Crach, and Donar. Even if I weren't there, the jarls of Skellige would be willing to send troops to support Cintra."
The ice giant's footsteps grew ever closer, each step causing the ground to tremble as if it were an earthquake. The archers tried to draw their bows, but the incessant movement made it impossible to aim accurately.
Eist turned to the giant and waved his hand in farewell. "So go, Lann. Come back with reinforcements, avenge me. And then..." he paused. "Avenge Calanthe as well."
