The abyss gaped beneath them, the frozen chains slick with ice. Any ordinary monk would inch across with trembling care—but Torrent moved with the speed of a striking hawk, unshakable as bedrock, bearing Throne to the far side before the wind could howl its protest. Throne turned. His eyes burned with crimson fireballs, swirling like festival pyrotechnics unleashed in madness.
Night split open. Light erupted, painting the fortress's hulking silhouette against the sudden glare. At the chasm's edge, the knight yanked the reins. His spectral mount reared, hooves carving the air. A triumphant neigh tore through the darkness as his blood-crusted halberd swept upward.
"Spear leveled, mount bitted—who dares bar my path?"
"He's here."
On the peaks above, Godskin faces turned as one. The mountainside blazed with unnatural light, a grotesque celebration. Their vantage was perfect—they'd watched the Fire Monks' doomed stand, their courage crumbling like rotten timber, their retreat scattering like ants from a kicked nest.
Ambush or no, their fortress had shattered like glass under that first strike. None dared set foot on the chain bridge now. The knight's theatrics—halberd raised high, posture screaming look at me—reeked of the same bravado as that escaped quarry they'd once hunted. Storm King.
The Godskin didn't flinch as the knight wheeled his steed and charged uphill. They murmured in guttural, ancient syllables.
"Too fast. Slaughter or sorcery, it matters not—we'll never breach the Fire Giant now."
"No retreat. This path ends here."
Throne's arrival was a blade to the ribs.
By all reason, even with warning, he shouldn't have reached them so soon. Yet the ruined fortress, skewered in one blow, laughed at reason. This pack was led by a Godskin Apostle, his greatsword a black scar against the snow. His gaze slid sideways.
Melina hung limp from a curved hook, head lolled, hair veiling her face. Deep sleep? Or something worse. They'd miscalculated—the kindling maiden wasn't mere tinder to toss into the Forge.
"Her mind must break before the Erdtree burns."
"No time. That damned Fire Giant still blocks the way."
A Godskin Noble, his bloated body heaving, wheezed a suggestion.
"Fall back. Wait for another chance."
The Apostle's voice was ice.
"Albert. You fear him?"
"No. This is patience, not cowardice. The Goddess taught us: the hunt's soul lies in waiting."
"Wait now, and we lose her forever."
The Apostle's skeletal finger jabbed forward.
"Move. The Fire Giant will stall him long enough. I will reach the Forge."
Throne watched the Fire Monks flee, their resolve melting like snow in flame. Torrent pivoted beneath him, restless. No pursuit came. With a final glance, he spurred into the blizzard's teeth.
Close. The stench hit him first—rotting meat and old blood. Throne's face stayed stone.
He knew the Godskin lurked in these peaks. No need to scout. They called this place the Giant's Grave, but no markers stood here. Only corpses, frozen mid-collapse, their massive forms like glaciers slumped in defeat. Pale glow clung to them, a mockery of remembrance. The Golden Order's triumph, preserved in ice.
The Erdtree's greatest threat had been annihilated, its entire race slaughtered, their corpses left as a grim warning to any who dared oppose. It was a brutal, grotesque performance, a spectacle of cruelty and irony. The destruction of the Erdtree had begun here, high on these frozen peaks, and now the stage was set for its final act.
Throne tilted his head, his gaze fixed on the distant cauldron perched atop the mountain. Enormous chains anchored it to the summit, but unlike the searing heat of Mt. Gelmir, this one radiated nothing. It was cold, silent, and foreboding. He patted Torrent's neck, urging the spectral steed to slow. The Godskin's presence had vanished, replaced by another—ancient, searing, and brimming with rage.
The Fire Monks had been nothing more than an appetizer. The thing ahead, the true terror, loomed in the distance. Throne's eyes narrowed as he peered through the frozen forest. Under the pale moonlight, he saw it—a shadow so vast it seemed to be part of the mountain itself.
The peak trembled faintly with each breath it took. Throne's expression hardened. There were no invincibility frames here, no predictable patterns to exploit. This wasn't a game.
Even a kilometer away, Throne could feel its power. This was the last Fire Giant, the vessel of an Outer God that even the Erdtree had failed to destroy. In terms of sheer scale, it was a peer to the Goddess of Rot and the Dragonlord Placidusax. A force of nature, not just an enemy.
"I was planning to take Leyndell and march here with an army," Throne muttered under his breath. In his original strategy, the idea of clearing a map alone hadn't even crossed his mind. Why face a boss alone when you could overwhelm it with numbers? If Leyndell fell, even the Elden Beast wouldn't dare rise from the Erdtree to confront him. He'd deal with it then.
Throne rode forward, his boots crunching against the snow as he stepped onto the second chain. This was why he hadn't brought Sellen. Even together, they stood no chance against the Fire Giant. The demigods were powerful, sure, but compared to the primordial monsters and demons that lingered from the dawn of creation, they were nothing.
"So, how did you Godskin get past this thing?" he mused aloud.
"Doesn't seem like the reasonable conversation type."
Beyond the chains lay the final stretch of snow forest. Silence hung heavy in the air, unnerving even Torrent, who snorted nervously.
"Easy, boy. I'm not here to fight it. I'll just wait for my moment and slip past."
Throne hadn't forgotten his purpose. He could guess at the Fire Giant's nature. It was bound to the path, the final guardian, but also chained in place. If it were free to move, the Forge of the Giants would be in grave danger. Throne's plan was simple: exploit its limitations. Cheese it, as they said.
But it wasn't just the Fire Giant he had to worry about. The Godskin were lurking, always watching, ready to strike. Their pudgy appearances were deceptive. As hunters of gods, concealing their presence was second nature. Throne knew better than to underestimate them.
He emerged from the snow forest, and there it was—the Fire Giant, kneeling like a living mountain. Its body resembled a towering high-rise, its muscles indistinct beneath a coat of crimson hair and a thick beard. In its hand, it clutched a round shield, crude and massive like a pot lid. It looked like a barbarian carved from the earth itself.
At this moment, the snow had stopped. The parting clouds allowed the moonlight to shine down, illuminating the Fire Giant meter by meter. Throne saw the red hair and beard, the golden ornaments glinting faintly. It wasn't just a monster; it was something more. And there, on its chest, was another face—staring, unblinking, and filled with ancient fury.
It turned out that the abdomen of a true giant was not empty; inside was the fire bestowed by the Outer God. After the Erdtree's victory, even their descendants, the Trolls, had to have their abdomens hollowed out and their fire-burning organs removed. Snort—
Torrent snorted and raised its head toward the cauldron atop the mountain.
"I know Melina is over there. As expected of the Godskin, they actually managed to slip right under the Fire Giant's nose."
Throne looked at the behemoth standing between him and Melina. A normal person would have retreated, but he glanced at the Fire Giant's left leg and gripped his halberd tightly.
"Charge!"
As the hooves stepped out, the restrained killing intent instantly erupted.
There was no need to hide, nor could it be hidden. The mountain moved, slowly rising and shaking off the snow from its body. Roar!! Throne, riding on horseback, was met by a visible shockwave. He simply lowered his body, letting his cloak flap violently. Boom! The Fire Giant kicked a giant boulder in front of it.
With strength beyond human comprehension, it shattered into shrapnel, raining down with a shrill whistle, covering the sky. But the Spirit Steed suddenly accelerated, and Throne, on horseback, danced his halberd in a continuous flurry. Parry, block, cleave... He forcibly blasted a hole through the storm of debris before him, and then man and horse pierced through the dust.
The Fire Giant's shadow shrouded Throne. He felt as if he were charging at a mountain peak, and then the massive round shield slammed down toward his head.
"Evade."
Torrent hurriedly performed an emergency stop and changed direction. A loud 'boom' erupted behind them, sending snow flying dozens of meters into the air. Such powerful strength; it was simply not something a human could contend with.
Throne felt the shockwave slam into his back, and his ears were ringing. He raised his hand, gathering light into a spear, and threw it behind him. Boom! The dark night brightened for an instant before returning to darkness. The golden spear was immensely powerful, but to the Fire Giant, it was no different from a toothpick. The next instant, Throne heard a rumbling sound again.
He turned his head and his pupils constricted. The Fire Giant had launched a charge. It plunged the round shield into the ground and came charging straight at them like a bulldozer, sweeping away all snow and rubble. Just like a snowplow, when a mountain charges at high speed, it brings incomparable pressure.
Despite its slow movements, combined with its massive size, its speed was even faster than Torrent. Magic threshold released. Realizing he couldn't outrun it, Throne didn't hesitate to gather magic, summoning several azure greatswords above his head. Carian Greatsword Phalanx! This was the ultimate version of the Glintblade Phalanx.
Six magic greatswords, each three meters long, flew out, converging from all directions in an elegant parabolic arc. The Fire Giant stopped its charge and simply raised the round shield, gripping one end and sweeping it forward like a frying pan. Boom—
The phalanx was annihilated; the high-level magic left only large swathes of azure particles.
It shook its head somewhat clumsily, wanting to see where the little thief had escaped to, but the scattered particles obscured its vision. Just as it was about to wave them away, a black shadow appeared in the azure mist. Throne had doubled back. Knowing he couldn't outrun the Fire Giant in a straight line, he had prepared the entire battle plan.
Just as the Fire Giant instinctively looked at the shadow in the air, a brilliant light turned the peak of the snowy mountain into daylight. Starlight! This flashbang, developed by Throne and Sellen together, was blinding when Throne exerted his full power. This wasn't Starlight; it was clearly hanging a sun in the night sky.
The Fire Giant stared directly into the 'sun.' Its shriek tore through the air, raw and wretched. Instinctively, it clamped its eyes shut and hunched down, but the burning sting on its cheek was relentless. Throne's blade, forged of wind itself, carved a gash deep into the giant's skull, the bone beneath exposed. Even Throne couldn't help but admire the monster's unnatural speed.
The giant rolled across the ground, a writhing mass of flesh and fire, untouchable in its frenzy. Throne tightened his grip on the reins.
"Torrent, move!" he barked. The Outer God could manifest at any moment. He couldn't afford to waste stamina on this brute. He surged forward, the forge ahead, the chain bridge looming. One hundred meters. Fifty. Thirty.
Mid-sprint, Throne yanked the reins hard. Torrent reared, front hooves clawing at the air. A sharp whinny pierced the chaos. Throne's eyes locked onto the spiked wheel-like thing hurtling from the forest, skidding beneath Torrent's hooves. A fraction slower, and the horse's leg would've been severed.
He glanced at the Godskin, now motionless, rolling toward him. No surprise flickered across his face. So, they'd been lying in wait.
The Godskin were master hunters, their presence near undetectable. Yet, sneaking past the Fire Giant toward the forge was impossible. The giant's domain was absolute; anyone approaching the forge would be sensed. And no one could evade its attacks on the narrow chain bridge.
"You were waiting for this moment," Throne realized. He gripped his halberd with both hands, striking down in unison with Torrent. Dragon Slash!
The arc of sword energy cleaved the snowstorm in two, slamming into the Godskin's thrusting sword and hurling its bloated body into the ground. Before Throne could follow up, white shadows wreathed in black flames lunged from all sides. Peeler blades and thrusting swords struck in unison, scattering particles like shattered glass.
Throne dismissed Torrent and appeared midair with Starlight Leap, the brilliance of starlight illuminating the scene below. Two Nobles. Two Apostles. Where was Melina? His gaze swept the battlefield, catching a black shadow darting past, slipping onto the chain bridge. A figure was slung over its shoulder.
Slender. Petite. Dazed. Melina. Throne hovered in the air while she stood grounded. Their eyes met across the chaos. Melina's amber gaze was frozen, her body paralyzed. Her expression screamed a single word: Leave!
Beneath Throne's feet, the Godskin and the Fire Giant clashed. Crimson flames licked at his cheeks, painting them red.
He ignored her silent plea, blinking with a strange calm.
"Wait for me," he said. Melina's heart clenched. If she could speak, she'd be cursing him. Was he insane? Reckless even in the face of death?
Her voice, faint and frantic, echoed in his mind.
"I've recovered my memories. The Erdtree rejects everyone. My mission is to burn it—only then can the stagnant wheel move forward. This is my purpose. My existence. A task only I can fulfill. It's for your benefit too!"
There was logic to her words. Rationality. Burning the Erdtree would throw Marika and Godfrey's plans into disarray. The Erdtree was a symbol; its flames would crumble hearts. But Throne didn't argue. He didn't dissect her purpose or debate her worth. Instead, he posed a single question:
"Melina, are you willing to be burned for the sake of your mission?"
If this were their first meeting, she would've nodded without hesitation.
The air turned to ice in her lungs. Her fingers twitched—one breath, two—but no words came.
"You hesitated."
His voice cut through the smoke.
"Then, wait for me."
Melina watched the fire take him. Not a mission. Never just a mission.
But at this moment, she froze for a moment, unable to give an answer as the flames swallowed his silhouette whole.