The elf told me the approximate direction of where she went, so I quickly climbed the tower and went to where Artemis was. I made her grow, jumped on her as fast as I could, and asked her to fly in the direction the elf had indicated. I had to find Helena.
My heart was racing, and with each passing second, my anxiety grew. Helena had gone in a direction very close to where the attack was taking place.
"Artemis, we have to find Helena."
Artemis made a sound indicating she understood, and I began searching the surrounding area, eager to find her quickly. Soon, Artemis changed direction and called out to get my attention.
"Helena!"
We found her, but we weren't the only ones. A giant had also found her and was chasing her. Seeing that chilled me to the bone. I knew Artemis couldn't carry more than one person at a time, so without thinking much, I said...
"Artemis, get me down near them. I'll draw the giant's attention. As soon as you let me, fly and get Helena. Take her to the castle and then come back for me."
I sensed Artemis was reluctant to do what I asked, but I didn't have much time to convince her.
"Please, Artemis, do as I ask. I'll be fine. I'm just going to distract him and buy you time to get back."
When I was close to them, I jumped off Artemis's back and saw Helena stumble and fall. I saw the giant's excitement as he raised his club and brought it down, trying to strike her.
I summoned my staff from my bracelet and pointed it at Helena, channeling a large amount of mana.
"AEGIS!"
I shouted my shield spell, creating a protective sphere around Helena just in time to intercept the giant's blow. After the impact, there was a loud crash, and fine cracks began to grow across the shield where it was struck.
The giant roared in frustration at not being able to crush his prey and raised his club once more, preparing another blow.
Still holding my staff, I pointed it at the giant, channeling my mana into its tip.
"Spear of Light!"
A golden spear made of energy formed in front of my staff, and I hurled it at the giant, striking him in the right shoulder.
The giant screamed in pain and turned to see who had struck him. Helena noticed me at that moment, and I could see the tears streaming down her face. When the giant turned in my direction and began to advance toward me, I saw her face fill with terror as she screamed,
"Siss!... No! Run! Sis, run!"
Seeing that the giant's attention was on me, I let Aegis vanish so that Artemis could grab Helena while I continued to hurl spears of light at the giant.
Once Aegis disintegrated into wisps of light, Artemis flew swiftly and grabbed Helena, flying as fast as she could toward the castle. I could hear Helena crying as she called out my name.
I couldn't be distracted any longer; I had to focus on the giant in front of me, who was growing increasingly agitated. It seemed the giant had entered baserker mode or something similar, as it was becoming harder and harder to stop him.
He easily broke the vines I transfigured to try and restrain him, and the light spears only enraged him further. There were moments when he came close to hitting me, but I barely managed to dodge using flight. However, I couldn't use the flight ability for long since it consumed more mana than I had available at that moment.
I tried throwing some of the sticky potions I had to try and hold him back, but they didn't last long. Things got worse when he started hurling rocks and logs at me when he couldn't hit me.
When I dodged a blow from his club, he threw a rock that struck me in the upper part of my left leg. The pain made me lose focus for a second, causing my flight to fail and me to tumble to the ground. I had barely managed to get up when the giant was already very close to me, his club about to strike.
I raised my arms in front of me, crossed them, and hastily summoned an Aegis.
My shield didn't fully form, but it managed to protect me somewhat from the damage. However, because it wasn't fully formed, the giant's blow sent me flying several meters through the air until I crashed into a tree.
The impact was excruciating; I think he broke some bones. A hot liquid also began to run down my forehead, and my vision was blurring.
I felt the ground tremble slightly; the giant was approaching. I tried to grab my staff, but it wasn't near me. At that moment, I remembered the walking stick my grandmother had given me recently. I hadn't had a chance to use it before and had forgotten all about it until now. My grandmother had told me it was made of rare materials, so I wanted to take my time getting used to it before using it in combat.
I didn't have much time to think about anything else. My vision was getting blurrier, blood was still trickling down my forehead, and I was starting to feel very dizzy.
I quickly summoned the staff from my bracelet and gripped it as tightly as I could to keep it from slipping from my trembling hand. I felt the giant very close and could vaguely make out his figure. I felt him stop in front of me, which meant he was about to strike me with his club. I raised the staff as fast as I could while channeling my mana. I didn't have time to form a spell in time, so I would use my pure magic to strike him and try to knock him back with the resulting blast.
I knew I couldn't hold out much longer, so I poured as much of my remaining mana into the staff, forming a bright blue sphere.
The giant's blow was faster than I expected. I didn't have time to release the mana sphere, so the club crashed into the tip of my staff, and I felt it begin to crack. It felt as if everything was happening in extremely slow motion.
First, I saw the club clash against my staff, causing it to begin cracking as both were enveloped by the sphere of mana. Then, I saw the inside of my staff begin to glow with the magic surrounding it. Only one thought came to me at that moment: to try to protect myself.
With the mana I had left, I hastily formed an Aegis. I think I barely managed it, as the sound of an explosion was the last thing I heard before losing consciousness.
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