In the mountains of Skellige, if it was a head-on encounter, the effect that a few thousand men could produce would be about the same as that of a few hundred men. If it was a special terrain, a thousand men might not be as effective as a few dozen men.

After hearing Fetov's retelling of the Todaloch family's crisis, East originally thought that the ice giant had already reached the plains. He planned to surround and kill the monster with a large army, so he summoned troops from other families to support him, hoping to solve the problem of the ice giant once and for all.

Unexpectedly, this monster that was born in ice and snow and mountains has returned to the mountains. If ordinary soldiers want to go into the mountains to encircle and suppress it now, as many as they go, they will die. It is really not as effective as a few demon hunters.

Theoretically speaking, the best way to fight now is to use some bait or other tactics to lure out the Frost Giants at a cost. As for how to lure them out and what bait to use, it would require Lann's demon hunters and Oak Ring's druids to brainstorm together, and they would always be able to come up with a solution.

Unfortunately, Harold has been captured by the ice giant and there is still a possibility that he can survive. Easter cannot just stand by and watch him die.

After thinking for a moment, Easter left Hjalma and Caris behind, and asked them to continue cleaning up the battlefield with a small rescue team, and to prevent any sporadic monsters nearby from attacking the wounded and victims while they were away, causing secondary losses.

He led the rest of the men deep into the mountains to search for the missing patriarch of the Todaloch family, Harold Hoznot.

…

While waiting for Lann to meditate and recover his magic power, Yuna seemed to suddenly remember something, and rushed into the ruins of the family with her guards. After searching for a long time, she dug out a cold and sharp sword.

The blade of the sword seems to be made of solid brass, with a deep color, yet giving people a sense of brightness and brightness, like the last dazzling ray of sunset at dusk; the spine and hilt of the sword are very simple, as if it is a semi-finished product, with no time to inlay gems or carve patterns on it.

But if you look closely, you can make out tiny runes on it, gleaming with light. It's just that the original color of the sword is too dark, covering up these runes that should be dazzling.

This dazzling yet plain sword has only one decoration: a weighted ball on the hilt shaped like the round shield emblem of the Tursek family - a reminder of the identity of the sword's owner.

Yuna solemnly held out the sword with both hands and presented it to Easter.

"Legend has it that Hemdall's son Tyr came to the island of Little Skellige at the behest of his father. In order to settle on the island, he had to kill a giant bear as big as a mountain. So he went into the deepest cave in Skellige and forged a magical weapon using the fire from the earth's core as a furnace. Its blade is so sharp that it can cut a hair vertically in half, and so powerful that it can chop down a century-old tree with one blow."

Yuna lowered her head and raised the sword. "When my father knew that you planned to conquer the Frost Giants and received your commission to forge a weapon, he summoned all the craftsmen in the clan to forge this [Blade of Tyr], hoping to help you cut off the head of the Frost Giant and gain glory beyond your ancestors."

"It's a pity that when the Frost Giant attacked us, this sword didn't have a chance to be unsheathed..." Yuna paused and took a deep breath. "The [Blade of Tyr] is the greatest masterpiece of our Todaloch family in history. Please use it to save my father!"

Not only East, but everyone around who had their eyes on the [Blade of Tyr] had their gazes glued to it, unable to move away.

The Todaloch family is a top swordsmith that is no less skilled than the dwarves and gnomes. The steel swords they forge can easily cut through ordinary longswords. Coupled with the help of the Druids of the Isles for rune enchantment, this sword has reached an unprecedented height and is a treasure that can be passed down for thousands of years.

Although it has not yet been carved to suit its identity, this is the best state for the king of the islands and for Easter.

"Tyr's Blade." East repeated the name of the long sword that carried the name of the Tursek family's ancestor. He stroked its ridge with his fingers and said solemnly, "I will never let it be covered in dust!"

…

No one knew when the Ice Giant had acquired the ability to travel in a blizzard, and he was able to conceal his whereabouts to a certain extent.

Fortunately, the time since it left was not long, and there were five witchers in the team who activated their witcher senses. They soon found the traces left by the giant and followed them all the way up the mountain.

Even though he had been deep into the mountains once before to siege the Vilkers, Lann was still amazed at the ruggedness of Skellige.

Less than half of Skellige's land is plains, while more than 70% of Undvik Island is mountains. It is rich in minerals and hides a large number of monsters.

The stairs with traces of human intervention had long disappeared, and everyone was now climbing entirely among the original rocks and trails; the temperature dropped below zero, and the air became increasingly biting and thin.

"stop"!

After moving forward for a while, the demon hunter at the front of the team suddenly made a gesture to stop the team from moving forward, and the entire team immediately stopped in an orderly manner.

Easter brought with him only the elite members of the Tursek family, and before entering the mountains, he delegated some of the command power to the witchers, so the soldiers were quite obedient to Geralt and his men's instructions.

Of course, the witchers have won the trust and respect of the soldiers in the past few battles with the Tursek family. Even if Easter did not give any orders, in the absence of the commander, these soldiers might spontaneously follow the witchers' advice.

However, Geralt, who had just given the stop order at the front of the team, suddenly felt something strange in his heart. This could be said to be the first time he encountered such disciplined soldiers when leading a team.

"Geralt, what's wrong?"

Easter walked forward and watched the witcher squatting on the ground, picking up a handful of dust from the ground.

Snow covered it, but after the surface was cleared by the demon hunters, a huge footprint was revealed underneath. The soil was mixed with a dark red color, as if a puddle of something on the ground had been stepped on by a huge figure.

"Human blood, and quite fresh." Kolgrim also came closer, his snake eyes slightly shining because of the stimulation of the demon hunter's senses, "We are close."

Gede took a look and found that the pheromones emitted by the blood were quite mixed. He commented: "The blood here is from more than one person. It seems that the ice giant has kidnapped many other 'hostages' on the way."

East nodded solemnly: "I just hope they are really 'hostages', which means we still have a chance to rescue them."

"Besides that, we have new troubles." A voice attracted everyone's attention. It was Cohen, who had also made a new discovery a few steps away.

There was also a huge footprint in front of the Griffin School Demon Hunter, but in addition to the human blood mixed in it, several other much smaller footprints could be seen covering it.

These footprints were not wearing boots, which was very unreasonable in such a cold environment. What was even more unreasonable was that these footprints seemed to be missing a few toes, and the edges did not have the smooth arc of a normal foot, but were raised and abnormal, as if... there were stones growing on the soles of the feet.

“Trolls,” Geralt said firmly. “If you can survive in this environment, you’ll be an ice troll.”

"There are more." Cohen squatted down and looked at the small footprints that still existed around him. They looked like the soles of a teenager, but the toes were bent and twisted. "The Corruption Demon."

East squatted down and looked around. He was more adept at naval battles and was not very familiar with such situations in the mountains and wilds.

"Can you tell how many there are? How far away are they from us?"

Geralt said without hesitation: "Very close, maybe we can meet it if we walk another quarter of an hour."

As soon as the demon hunter finished speaking, hundreds of weapons on the mountain path suddenly made the sound of steel clanging. Fortunately, there was wind in the mountains, which blew away the sound.

The soldiers who were already on alert entered combat mode at the same time.

"As for the quantity... it's hard to say."

East hesitated for a moment: "Will they appear in such overwhelming numbers like the Sirens before?"

Geralt shook his head. "The habits of sirens are different. They form nests in large groups, so it's convenient for them to gather in the sky. When this ice giant was visiting the surrounding islands, it might have gathered all the nearby sirens."

"The Corruption Devils don't have the mobility, and the terrain of this mountain range also limits their ability to gather in large numbers. There may be a dozen, but no more than fifty."

Seeing that East's expression had eased a little, Geralt emphasized, "But the Carrion Demon is a monster that will explode and perish along with the enemy. The damage it causes will be several times that of other monsters. It is especially strong in group combat and can easily cause unnecessary casualties."

Lann is not as good at tracking as other demon hunters, and currently does not have the ability to identify the monster's body through its footprints. He has just been listening to the analysis of these veterans with Easter.

At this point he wondered aloud: "If we freeze them, can we mitigate the explosion?"

Geralt choked, remembering Lann's exaggerated [Alder Seal: Bone-piercing].

"None of us has tried this before, you can try..."

…

Following these traces, an abandoned mine soon appeared ahead.

The mine was huge and deep, with wooden frames made of solid pine wood, fixed to each other with rough hemp ropes, supporting the ceiling and side walls. Rusty iron picks and mineral waste were scattered around, and broken and weathered bones could be seen from time to time.

This used to be the mine of Todaloch, but now the resources here have been exhausted and it has been abandoned. For wild monsters, this is a good nest, and I don't know who is occupying it now.

The terrain is complex, like a spider web maze. Every few steps, there are oilcloth torches hanging on the side of the rock wall. They can still be lit after so many years.

Cohen and Geralt used the Igni Sign to create flames and lit the torches one by one. For a demon hunter, a bottle of Cat was enough for them to move freely in a dark environment, but if they acted together with the soldiers of Skellige, light would become a necessity.

However, this mine was not very long and narrow, and cold wind from the other side of the exit rushed in from time to time. Soon the view in front of them became clear, and the light that was much brighter than that of a torch made everyone's vision clear.

At the same time, an expected rough voice came from the source of the light.

…

"Meat! Meat!" A dull voice seemed to sing along with the dull footsteps, "Soup! Soup!"

This was a huge figure about two and a half meters tall, with shoulders that were broader than his height, a belly as round as that of a pregnant woman, and a back that seemed to be covered with a tortoise-shell-like armor, making his body hunched.

It's a troll. An ice troll.

Compared to the rock trolls that Lann encountered in Kaer Morhen, the skin surface of these ice trolls is more bluish-white, and the rocks covering their skin are covered with broken ice, emitting a rolling cold air. Their temperament is many times more ferocious than the honest "troll" family.

There were more of them, five in total. At this moment, they were gathered around a huge forge, seemingly using the container used to smelt iron as a soup pot, with a big fire cooking something underneath.

There was so much in the pot that the lid couldn't cover it, so it was just left boiling. From time to time, chunks of meat would splash out from the boiling water, and at this time, the dancing trolls would rush forward excitedly to grab the chunks and stuff them into their mouths.

"Little people! Little people!" the voices kept singing. "Broth! Broth!"

As it was jumping, an ice troll with a head much larger than its companions suddenly stopped, revealing a melancholy look that was not appropriate for its species.

"Little man, can you please not give the broth to the big guy?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the dancing ice trolls stopped and their faces all turned sad.

An ice troll who looked like a leader punched the big-headed ice troll hard on the head.

"Little man, this was given to me by the big guy!" it scolded dully, "It's not from the Ice Demon. You can only drink the soup, not the meat!"

The ice trolls seemed to have selectively ignored the fact that they had no control over the food, but after being reminded of this, they were no longer happy. They just gathered around the forge, expecting a few more pieces of meat to splash out from the boiling soup.

The place where they lived was an important part of the intricate mines, with four or five tunnels connecting them. But at this moment, the nose of an ice troll twitched fiercely a few times, and it suddenly looked towards the widest tunnel.

"Stinky smell, there are little people! More little people!"

The ice troll's eyes burst into light again, and this time it was ferocious as expected of its race.

"Ice demon, catch the little people yourself! Meat soup, make meat soup!"

Under their hungry eyes, two demon hunters with amber cat eyes emerged from the corridor first, followed by fully armed Tursek soldiers wearing iron armor.

Then came a few more demon hunters with double swords on their backs, and then more Tursek soldiers.

More and more.

The expressions of the ice trolls gradually changed from surprise, excitement, ferocity, and hunger to dullness, confusion, panic, and they even began to think.

…

Lann and Easter looked at the ice trolls and the boiling iron pot behind them expressionlessly. They had heard every word of the ice trolls just now.

A strange aroma wafted out of the iron pot. It was a mixture of strange nuts, herbs, alcohol, and most importantly, meat. The complex ingredients were mixed and boiled together to create a subtle fragrance and a stench similar to that of socks, which made people want to vomit.

With a "gurgle" sound, the soup boiled and a piece of meat rushed out and hit the head of an ice troll. The troll displayed agility that was completely inconsistent with its body size. Without even looking back, it grabbed the piece of meat from mid-air and stuffed it into its mouth.

Lan's expression became even uglier because it was a toe.