When the sun finally reached its highest point above the plains...
The battlefield no longer possessed any lines.
What once had been a war...
was now only survival.
Men ran without direction.
Horses crossed shattered formations.
Orders were shouted.
No one obeyed anymore.
Across different points of the plains...
new roars echoed.
Each one announcing another front lost to chaos.
On the third flank...
not a single trace of the old formation remained.
Only a field of survival.
Men ran between bodies.
Wounded soldiers dragged companions through the blood-soaked mud.
Shields were abandoned by their owners.
Orders were shouted.
Few could still obey.
At the center of that chaos—
The ogre kept feeding.
The colossal hand tore another soldier from the ground.
In a single movement.
Another body disappeared between the monstrous jaws.
CRUNCH.
The sound of breaking bones echoed across the battlefield.
The creature's neck cracked.
The muscles beneath the grayish-white skin became even larger.
It was growing.
Slowly.
With every man devoured.
A few meters away...
Garrick remained still.
The enormous black staff rested over one shoulder.
His heavy armor was covered in mud and blood.
His eyes remained fixed on the creature.
Without anger.
Without hesitation.
Only watching.
Like a commander studying a battlefield before moving his troops.
"Lord Garrick!"
A soldier emerged between the survivors.
Breathing unevenly.
Helmet cracked.
Left arm covered in blood.
He stopped beside the giant.
"Lord Garrick..."
"What do we do?"
Garrick's eyes remained on the creature.
It kept devouring men.
As if it didn't even notice the chaos around it.
The deep voice finally broke the silence.
"How many are still able to fight?"
The soldier hesitated.
He glanced quickly behind him.
Then turned back to Garrick.
"Out of eight thousand one hundred..."
A brief pause.
His throat dried.
"A little over two thousand can still fight."
The silence hung heavy for a moment.
Garrick only nodded.
As if he already expected to hear that.
No surprise crossed his face.
"Pull back all the wounded."
"Now."
The soldier widened his eyes.
"Sir..."
"And the line?"
Garrick finally looked away from the creature.
He faced the man beside him.
"There is no line anymore."
"I won't give that thing any more men."
The soldier remained silent.
"Whoever can still walk..."
"helps whoever no longer can."
Another soldier tightened his grip on his spear.
Garrick looked back at the ogre tearing another body from the ground.
The muscles kept growing slowly.
"I'll stop it."
A soldier behind Garrick stepped forward.
"Lord Garrick..."
"You can't face that thing alone!"
Garrick answered without changing his tone.
"I can."
His eyes returned to the soldier.
"If everyone advances..."
"they'll die."
A brief pause.
"If only I advance..."
"there's still a chance you'll return home."
The soldier remained frozen.
Unable to find an answer.
Garrick slowly raised the enormous staff.
The end of the weapon sank a few inches into the earth.
"Carry out the orders."
The soldier felt his throat dry.
He nodded once.
"Understood!"
He immediately ran to relay the orders.
Garrick slowly closed his hand around the staff.
His voice came out deep.
Unshakable.
"Today..."
"there will be no more deaths in vain while I'm still standing."
No one answered.
Garrick began to walk.
The black staff slowly dragged across the blood-soaked earth.
SCRAAAAAPE...
Stones trembled.
The earth answered.
Fragments of rock broke free from the plains.
Earth.
Broken iron.
Destroyed shields.
Everything began moving toward the end of the weapon.
As if the earth itself heeded the call of its lord.
Layer after layer.
Stone upon stone.
Until a gigantic hammer head took shape.
Irregular.
Brutal.
Like a piece torn from the very Wall of the North.
The creature slowly turned toward Garrick.
Blood still dripped between its teeth.
Garrick did not slow down.
He took another step.
Then another.
BOOM.
The ground collapsed beneath his feet.
Earth exploded backward.
His body vanished from the plain.
For a brief instant...
Garrick's gigantic figure appeared against the sky.
The sun at his back turned his silhouette into a living wall.
The soldiers lifted their faces.
The commander's shadow covered the field.
The hammer came down.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
The impact made the plains themselves tremble.
The creature's head was violently driven into the ground.
The earth split open.
Stones exploded.
A shockwave crossed men, shields, and corpses.
The colossal body was thrown against the mud.
Motionless.
Blood slowly ran across the enormous stone head of the hammer.
Silence took the third flank.
For a moment...
no one breathed.
Then—
"Lord Garrick did it!"
"The Wall of the North!"
"The Wall of the North!!"
The cries spread among the survivors.
Garrick remained still.
The hammer rested beside him.
His eyes, however...
were not on the fallen creature.
They slowly moved across the men of Arkhel.
The fallen young soldiers.
The few still breathing.
The bodies scattered through the mud.
The wounded being carried by their own companions.
His gaze grew even heavier.
"No matter how many wars we survive..."
His voice was low.
Almost a thought.
"In the end..."
A brief pause.
"it's never the monsters who pay the highest price."
The wind slowly crossed the plain.
"It's always men."
CRACK.
The small snap broke the silence.
CRACK.
Another.
Garrick's eyes slowly moved.
The creature's crushed head...
was beginning to rebuild itself.
Shreds of flesh crawled over one another.
Bones cracked.
Muscles began growing again.
As if the body itself refused to die.
Garrick remained still.
His face did not change.
The soldiers, however...
kept celebrating.
"The Wall of the North!"
"Lord Garrick!"
None of them had noticed.
Then—
another scream echoed.
"AAAAAAAARRRGHHHHHH!!"
An Arkhel soldier who had fallen clutched his own chest.
His body began shaking violently.
Veins bulged beneath the skin.
The celebratory cries died.
Everyone turned.
Another man was beginning to transform.
Garrick's eyes remained fixed on the new man deforming before them.
His hand slowly tightened around the shaft of the staff.
The few survivors of Arkhel instinctively stepped back.
No one dared approach the fallen man.
That was when...
the regenerated creature moved again.
BOOM.
The enormous arm crashed against the ground.
The body slowly rose once more.
Garrick's eyes moved between both of them.
One was finishing its birth.
And the other was already breathing again.
The new ogre slowly raised its head.
Its still-empty eyes found the fallen men scattered through the mud.
Then it advanced.
Toward the few soldiers of Arkhel still evacuating the wounded.
"W-watch out!!"
The roar exploded across the plain.
The creature hurled its arm toward them to crush them.
BOOOOOOM!!
A wall of stone violently rose between the men and the blow.
Rock against flesh.
The impact scattered fragments in every direction.
A young soldier of Arkhel, fallen among the wounded, slowly raised his eyes toward Garrick.
His voice came out trembling.
"W-why...?"
"We are..."
His breath failed.
"...your enemies..."
Garrick did not take his eyes off the monster.
"These creatures..."
His answer came calm.
"do not distinguish allies from enemies."
"They only devour."
Beside Garrick...
the regenerated creature finished rising.
A few meters away...
the second ogre completed its transformation.
Two roars tore through the sky at the same time.
"BOOOOOOOOOORRRRRR!!"
The ogre beside Garrick moved first.
Its enormous arm came down against the commander.
BOOOOOOM!!
The hammer met the blow head-on.
The impact made the earth tremble.
Farther away, the second monster also began closing the distance.
Another roar crossed the plain.
Far away, in the central sector—
The earth had vanished beneath a thick layer of ice.
The entire plain shimmered in bluish tones.
Broken weapons remained trapped inside the crystal.
Shields emerged only halfway from the frozen ground, locked where they had fallen.
Frozen bodies rested where they had collapsed.
The blood spread across the field formed long crimson stains through the white of winter.
At the center of that scene...
three gigantic ogres surrounded a single woman.
In the distance, soldiers still evacuated the wounded while others remained frozen, unable to look away from that battle.
One of the men swallowed hard.
"And even surrounded by three..."
"she still keeps them away from our wounded men."
The veteran kept watching the battle.
"That is the true strength of the woman known as the Winter Valkyrie."
A few meters away...
Selvaria remained motionless upon the ice.
The long ivory-white claymore rested low beside her body.
Her long black hair moved like silk carried by the wind.
In front of her...
three ogres closed the distance.
None roared.
None showed haste.
They simply advanced.
The first broke formation.
The enormous arm carved a violent arc toward her head.
Selvaria moved only one foot.
Ice expanded beneath the sole of her boot.
Her body slipped from the path of the blow as if winter itself guided her.
The monstrous hand struck only emptiness.
At the exact same instant...
the claymore rose.
SHRIIIIING.
The blade cut through the creature's forearm.
The steel vanished for a moment between flesh and bone.
When it emerged again...
a bluish layer rapidly spread through the wound.
Crystals enveloped the ogre's entire joint.
The arm completely lost its strength.
But Selvaria did not press the attack.
She had already abandoned that position.
Because the second ogre emerged from the flank.
Its fist crossed the space where she had been a moment earlier.
BOOM.
The impact opened a crater in the frozen plain.
Without even looking back...
Selvaria extended her free hand.
The ground answered.
CRACK.
CRACK.
Great spikes of ice burst beneath the creature's legs.
Crystals enveloped its knees.
The next movement never came.
But the third monster was already descending from above.
Both hands joined together came down like a gigantic hammer.
Selvaria spun her body.
The colossal mass crushed only ice and stone.
BOOOOOOM!!
Crystalline fragments exploded in every direction.
When the dust began to settle...
she was already standing several meters ahead.
The sword naturally returned to guard.
Before her...
the frozen arm of the first creature began to move.
CRACK.
The crystals shattered one by one.
The flesh beneath the ice was already responding again.
The second tore its own leg free from the crystalline spikes.
CRAAAAACK!!
Fragments of ice scattered across the plain.
The third slowly rose from the crater.
None of them roared.
None showed pain.
As if that entire sequence had served only to delay them.
The first advanced again.
This time...
Selvaria did not wait.
The claymore carved a perfect arc.
A blue line ran across the blade.
Soon the ice answered.
Hundreds of crystalline blades were born around her.
Thin.
Elongated.
Silent.
With a single movement of her arm...
they launched forward.
SHHHHHHH!!
The projectiles crossed the field.
The three monsters were struck almost at the same time.
Ice spread immediately.
Thick layers enveloped muscles.
Joints.
Necks.
Within seconds...
enormous crystalline sculptures occupied the center of the frozen plain.
Silence fell over the field.
None of them moved.
For a brief instant...
it seemed enough.
Then...
CRACK.
A small fracture appeared across the first sculpture of ice.
Another crossed the second.
The third began vibrating slowly.
CRACK.
CRACK.
CRAAAAAAAACK!!
The enormous crystalline prisons shattered from the inside out.
Thousands of ice fragments exploded through the air.
The three monsters slowly moved again.
As if winter itself had never managed to stop them.
The first took one step.
Then another.
Selvaria remained motionless.
Not a trace of surprise crossed her face.
She only watched.
The second did not advance.
The third also remained where it was.
For a brief instant...
none of them attacked.
The silence lasted only a second.
Then—
the first broke the distance.
Its enormous arm carved a brutal arc.
Selvaria slid to the left.
She moved exactly as before.
But before she could even complete the dodge...
the second ogre was already there.
At the same time.
As if it had been waiting only for that evasion.
Selvaria's ice-blue eyes narrowed.
The claymore rose horizontally.
CLAAAAANG!!
The fist collided with the claymore.
The impact hurled Selvaria several meters backward.
Deep grooves opened across the ice.
Before she could fully recover her balance...
the third monster did not run toward her.
It turned toward the ground.
BOOOOOOM!!
Both arms smashed against the frozen surface.
Cracks crossed the entire crystalline terrain.
CRACK.
CRACK.
CRAAAAACK!!
The field of ice began to break apart.
Great slabs shattered beneath her feet.
Far away...
the youngest of the soldiers felt his throat dry.
"They..."
His voice came out almost as a whisper.
"They're destroying the terrain..."
The veteran remained still.
His eyes never left the monsters.
"No..."
The answer came slowly.
"They understood how she fights."
Ahead of them...
Selvaria stabilized her stance once again.
The wind crossed through her black hair.
Her gaze remained calm.
But for the first time since the beginning of that battle...
the sword's guard changed.
She had understood as well.
The fight had just entered a new phase.