[Head Northeast, there is a group that will be crossing behind us on a path to intercept where this team should be.] Hawk instructed, then remembered to add details.
[Three teams, led by the Monarchs and made up mostly of Royals.]
Karl didn’t set a fast pace, so everyone would be mostly rested when they made it to the target, but this shouldn’t be a hard battle. The numbers were very close to even, and Karl’s group was much stronger than their adversaries.
[I can take care of this with Hawk. They will never even know what happened to them.] Rae suggested as Karl and the others casually jogged along.
[I won’t stop you if you want to play. Hawk can find us another target after.] Rae vanished in spider form, followed by Overlord Niall, who was more interested in what she was up to than staying with the group.
[Turn further East, towards the city. There is a Monarch led group that way as well, but only five Giants.] Hawk suggested, and Karl quietly altered the route.
Nobody asked where the two assassins had gone, they just accepted that they were doing sneaky things. The Inquisitor frequently vanished to take care of some secret objective, and the other Overlords were used to it. So, when Rae did the same, they just assumed that it was part of some established plan.
A minute later, the group came into sight, and Karl chuckled as he realized what Hawk had done. These were all Frost Giants, and the water hating bird had sent everyone else to deal with them while he played with the Mountain Giants.
He hated water magic, but not enough to willingly expose himself to it.
There weren’t many things that Hawk could do now that would actually surprise the group, and sending them all to deal with the parts that he didn’t like was no shock at all.
What was surprising was that there was a Monarch Ranked Frost Giant here.
As Karl had been informed, the Frost Giants were the weakest of their kin, so there shouldn’t be many Monarch-Ranked Giants in the entire nation, and now to see one here with five Royals was certainly a surprise.
Perhaps he should talk to them for a moment first.
At least long enough to satisfy his curiosity.
“I want to try to talk to this giant before anything else happens. Something is off if we’re finding Monarch Ranked Frost Giants coming from the west.” Karl informed the group as they advanced.
“Monarch Frost Giants? I wonder which one? I might have met them before.” Lady Othello suggested.
That about settled it. If he didn’t want to talk to them, someone would.
Karl slowed as he came into sight of the Giants, then raised a hand in greeting and stopped twenty metres from the group, who were all facing him with weapons drawn.
“Greetings, I am Karl, and this is Overlord Othello. We have a few questions and a request for you.” Karl informed the leader of the group, a Frost Giant Shaman woman wearing long white robes.
“The human wants parlay?” The Giant seemed confused.
“Why are you invading from the west, so far from your borders, when your presence is needed at home?” Karl began.
The Frost Giant looked annoyed. “The Mountain Giants rallied all the Giants to their great benefactor. Today, we conquer the humans and claim the System for ourselves.”
Well, as a reason, that made sense. But Othello had a question.
“A great benefactor, not the Mountain Giant Sage?” She asked.
“Old Sage is dead. Titan benefactor wants the system. We know that the humans have it in their capital. You, Beast Man, why do you work with the humans?” The Shaman demanded, gesturing to Karl.
“I was born here. The human nation is my home.”
That was a good enough reason for the Giant, and she just nodded before turning back to Othello.
“You, I know you. You should leave this place. The Great Benefactor will kill all humans once he has System Stuff for the Giants.”
Othello sighed. “Turn around and go back. If you continue, we have to fight. You came, you did your duty to the great benefactor and delayed us here. Now go and return home.”
The Giants might not be very bright, but they could do enough math to know that Royal versus Overlord equalled dead. If there was a fight, it would be a very short one.
The Frost Giant Shaman took out a delicately carved magic stone from her pouch and opened a small portal, then led her people through. It wasn’t as good as dead, but they weren’t on the attack anymore.
More importantly, Karl had many questions about who this benefactor was that appeared to have killed the old Sage that led the Mountain Giants.
That wasn’t the Mountain Giant Totem that Karl had met, or so he assumed. But it had to be a strong Totem Rank creature, perhaps even a second Mythical Rank creature had appeared on the continent.
“I think that we need to go back to the city. Right now.” Othello whispered.
“I will call the others back. Rae can lead Niall back to us.” Karl agreed.
[I heard the conversation. Niall knows now. We’re just cleaning up our mess and we will be back.] Rae agreed.
That made life easier for everyone. Two groups reduced, plus the army of reinforcements, but if there was a new force driving the Mountain Giants to hunt in the GDN for System Relics, this war would not be ended easily.
“Let’s go, they will catch up if we just jog. I would assume that Ahmad is the one with the portal spells, so we’re not going to be getting an instant trip back until he wakes up, and that’s not going to be any time soon.” Karl suggested.
Tabitha sighed and began to jog toward the city, leaving everyone else to catch up. [Hawk, how far are we?] Karl asked.
[About seventy kilometres? Two hours at a jog should be enough.]
Maybe a bit more than that, as Thor’s jog was a bit slower than others so that he didn’t dislodge his passengers. But given a couple of hours, they would be back at the city walls, and they would be able to pass on a message.
[Wait, turn right. There are trucks stopped on the road. You can steal those.] Hawk corrected.
“Overlord, this way. There is a convoy on the road.”
A convoy that was definitely not expecting to have their vehicles commandeered. Tabitha didn’t even wait for them to get out, she just threw the driver into the passenger seat and turned a truck around with a shouted order for everyone else to follow her.
“There has been a thing. We’re going back to the city. The Overlords will explain once we’re there.” Karl offered, as the others climbed into the back of a munitions truck, and Thor transformed into his humanoid form to keep them company.
Karl climbed in the passenger seat, while a very harassed looking driver flinched at the glare Lady Othello was giving him in the mirror.
“I suggest that you follow them as fast as humanly possible. Plus a few, if the truck is up to it. Trust me, it’s that important.” Karl instructed.