With their path forward cut off by deluges of javelins Frost, Kiba, Borris and Avira were forced to confront their new adversary, a massive B-rank female frost giant and the dozen or so C-rank giants still hidden within the nearby blizzard and behind large boulders of ice.
Their destination was in sight, no more than an hour or so travel yet it never felt so far. Avira and Borris visibly trembled and felt their hearts clench as they looked upon the giant's towering form. They knew instinctively that they were no match, mere ants under her hammer. Even twenty C-rank frost giants weren't as intimidating as this woman standing before them now.
The twenty they could at least outrun and endure against but her, there was no escape.
"Frost?" Borris being the more experienced of the group called upon their strongest protector with a resigned look in his eyes. They were truly up against a rock and a hard place.
He expected Frost to don an even uglier expression than his own but surprisingly there was a wild smile on his lips and though his body was tensed up, his jaw clenched, and he was visibly trembling it didn't seem to be out of fear like himself and Avira. Instead Frost appeared excited, thrilled even.
Borris' assumption was on point, Frost was truly excited by the situation. Of course he understood their abysmal prospects but beneath that was an opportunity, an opponent to throw his all at.
The B-rank frost giant was clearly in the upper levels of B-rank, a fighter with an abundant amount of experience behind her given the many scars lining her body. An opponent that was stronger than him and who would do everything in her power to devour him. His inner battle maniac couldn't help but get riled up by the prospect.
His blood flowed at a faster rate heating up his entire body, improving his reflexes and allowing his chakra and aura to flow through his system with near perfect fluidity. His body was ready for a fight, but his mind still needed to take care of the situation.
They were several kilometres from Icethorne's boundary, still within the crevasse of Ymir's extended territory. The B-rank giant and her cohorts were thoroughly pining them down, any attempt to leave their zone of control resulted in a deluge of javelins and Frost could pick up movement in their surroundings.
More and more giants were coming their way, yet none deigned to shown themselves apart from the B-rank woman.
Perhaps there was a possibility of negotiation or at least a window of opportunity. As long as he could control and limit the actions of this women perhaps they could make a break for it or maybe just Avira.
Borris was too much of a liability and had already offered to sacrifice himself. Frost needed to fight, there was no recourse for that thus that left Kiba and Avira.
Avira alone would easily be run down by the C-ranks hidden behind the snowstorm so Kiba would have to go with her. Choosing to do so would not only fulfil his promise to Borris, Luna and General Anya but would present an opportunity.
Frost expecting some sort of responsive had his glaive and chakra armour ready but even so the moment her hammer made contact he felt like a child. The force behind her blow instantly lifted him from the ground and sent him skidding across the snow.
His chakra armour lining his left side literally exploded from the impact and blood trickled down his forearm as the seams between his fingers split open. There was at least several tons behind that sudden blow, a great deal more than what he was expecting.
'She's even stronger than I thought.' Frost purposefully baited Bella into attacking him suddenly, hoping to gauge the extent of her physical brutality and he wasn't disappointed. His internal organs were shaken, his vision slightly blurry and he felt like he wanted to puke his guts out but that was only temporary.
'It's just like Maya.' He compared Bella's blow and even movement to that of Maya who also used hammers and who before the family gathering trumped him in terms of physical strength.
If Bella used an axe, a sword or anything other than a hammer then he wouldn't be quite so optimistic but given that he trained profusely with someone who had perfect grade mastery over hammers Bella's capabilities seemed rather lacklustre in comparison.
"Frost!" Avira loudly screamed in concern, her body fighting against her base instincts and her desire to run to his side to help him but in the end she stayed put. Her body refused to leave Kiba's back, Bella was just too intimidating. This was the right call as the moment she left Kiba's back was the moment this battle was over.
Frost stood before Bella so as to draw her aggression and protect her, Borris and Kiba while they waited for an opportunity. Right now only Bella was making moves in the open, whether that was out of arrogance, or some other reason Frost didn't care as it was advantageous to them.
'There'll be a chance, there has to be.'
'Kiba use your nascent aura to calm yourself, watch the surroundings and if you see an opportunity run for Icethorne and don't look back.' Frost used his soul connection with Kiba to silently give him an order while he shook off Bella's impact and moved to retaliate.
The young tiger trembled as he heard his partner's voice and moved to used his still growing aura, an action he had very little experience in doing.
"[Freezing fireball]" Frost launched two balls of ice fire at Bella, obscuring her vision as he moved into a blind spot, using a similar method as he did with Gageus.
And to be expected the balls of ice fire were nothing in Bella's eyes, with a simple punch and headbutt these balls of flaming magic were dissipated, revealing the tiny elf directly below her chin.
"[Flight of the Luan]" Using his most powerful glaive skill Frost summoned a silver blue Luan around his glaive and slashed upwards, holding nothing back. His blow was infused with ice fire chakra and his royal aspected aura to its absolute limits.
Such as slash was even greater that what Gageus was hit with and the timing, angle and speed were bang on perfect...Unfortunately his opponent was stronger, faster and more experienced than he was.