Episode 988

While Catten was flustered by her junior’s words, the frost giant continued his explanation.

-This contest is to prove how well a warrior can use both brute strength and magic.

“I see. Understood.”

Lee Han answered cautiously.

It was definitely in his favor that the glacier could be melted by magic, judging by the ice’s appearance.

His recent experience using mana with orichalcum could also come in handy here.

‘But there might be an even more favorable contest.’

If he chose too soon and a better contest came up afterward, he’d regret it. Lee Han waited patiently.

-The next contest is this.

Thunk!

“…?”

The frost giant dragged his collapsed comrade over and dropped him on a rock.

Lee Han and Giselle were appalled by the bizarre event.

What kind of contest was this supposed to be?

-You have to wake him by hitting his head as hard as you can.

“…I’m not that familiar with frost giant physiology, but from what I can tell, if you hit his head hard in this state, he’ll sleep forever.”

-Hahaha! Challenger, you don’t understand. That’s a magic helmet.

The frost giant pointed at the collapsed comrade’s helmet.

A magical aura—surprisingly powerful—emanated from it. Even with Lee Han’s sensing talent, he hadn’t noticed until now.

‘Impressive. Maybe it’s the unique structure of frost giant magic? Even so, that’s remarkable.’

If a helmet could hide its magic so well, it wasn’t an ordinary artifact.

-It’s an invincible helmet that blocks all blows.

“…But he collapsed just now?”

-I struck his face. Not even an invincible helmet can protect what it doesn’t cover.

The frost giant looked at Lee Han like he was saying something stupid.

“So you’re saying I must hit his face to wake him?”

-What are you talking about? If you strike a fallen warrior’s weak spot, he’ll sleep forever. Naturally, you have to strike the helmet.

“You said it was invincible…”

-It is, but if you hit it really hard, there’s still an impact. That’s what the contest is about.

“……”

Lee Han resolved from now on to regard about half of what these frost giants said as bluff.

The “invincible” helmet wasn’t all that invincible after all.

‘I see. It’s a contest to… knock out—no, wake up—the target by striking the helmet.’

This contest, too, had an angle Lee Han could work with.

If the helmet’s magical protection could be broken with magic, its function would disappear.

No matter how unique frost giant magic was, if he used Baldororn’s magic hammer, he could surely disrupt it for a while.

‘I doubt that helmet was designed to counter magic hammers. This should work.’

“Junior.”

“?”

Catten sidled up, looking concerned.

The beastfolk senior whispered in a worried voice.

“Are you sure about this? One signal, and…”

“I’m fine—let’s just see a bit more.”

“!!!”

Catten was amazed.

She’d come over in case Giselle was mistaken, but Lee Han gave the same answer?

“Are there more contests?”

-Yes. The last is the most fun—a poisoned liquor contest.

A contest of who can drink stronger booze was not unique to frost giants.

Such competitions could be found all over the Empire; giants and dwarves loved them…

-It’s liquor laced with magic poison.

“…Excuse me?”

Lee Han wondered if he’d misheard.

But he hadn’t. The frost giant rolled out a massive keg.

-It’s packed with poison brewed by our shaman. A warrior must prove toughness by downing it.

Frost giants didn’t just drink strong liquor—they enjoyed actual poisonous alcohol.

Occasionally, a giant would die from it, but then, giants also died fighting. No giant would stop just because there were casualties.

This time Catten made up her mind for sure.

“I’ll draw my sword. Junior.”

“Good fortune’s with us. This is perfect.”

“?!?!!”

Catten stared at her White Tiger Tower junior in horror.

…Could it be that she and Wardanaz were actually on bad terms?

‘They seemed close, though…’

• * *

Of course, Lee Han picked the third contest and won.

-Groooan…

“……”

But Lee Han couldn’t even be happy about victory.

There were now two collapsed giants.

-T-too much poison in the drink…

“What am I supposed to do if you pass out? Who will vouch for my honor? Senior, do you know how to cure this poison?”

“Junior, there’s no way I’d know that.”

Catten answered confidently.

Few people could decline knowledge so confidently. Lee Han found himself nodding, convinced.

‘She’s not wrong.’

“I’ve never seen this liquor either, Wardanaz. And it’s frost giant poison.”

“Moradi, did your family ever fight frost giants?”

“Not every family tangles with extradimensional monsters, you know.”

No point debating Giselle. Lee Han gave up and switched tactics.

Gonadaltes’ Fall!

This strange magic, which transfers the opponent’s status ailment to oneself, was almost never needed in normal situations. But for a situation like this…

Poisoning was something Lee Han could handle just fine.

-Khak!

The frost giant, whose color had darkened from poisoning, recovered.

“You’re awake?”

-I-I lost?

“Yes.”

-I don’t remember! I can’t accept that! A rematch…

Schwing—

Catten pressed her sword to the frost giant’s neck. He nodded.

-R-Requesting a rematch would tarnish a warrior’s honor. I guarantee the challenger’s honor in my name. “Thank you!”

The frost giant woke his fallen, helmeted comrade while muttering,

-Deciding honor in a single match? What’s wrong with two or three?

“……”

“……”

The helmeted giant woke up and shouted,

-I should’ve used my fist, not the club… What happened!?

-The challenger passed the trial. I vouched for her honor.

-Y-you fool! You should’ve let me handle it! You’ve deprived us all of the chance at honor!

-Hmph. You should’ve challenged her first, then.

The revived frost giants argued gruffly amongst themselves.

When the bickering ended, they started casting glances at Lee Han.

-If we fight once more, maybe we could win the challenger’s honor from the king…

-Honestly, is one match really fair? True honor is decided by repeated contests…

“What’s with these guys?”

Giselle muttered, incredulous.

They looked every bit the proud warrior race, but acted pettily—even more than the giants of the Einrogard mountains.

Rather than accept their loss, they kept glancing over as if to say, “One match isn’t enough,” “I wish we could have more,” etc.

-W-What are you talking about? We didn’t say anything.

-We won’t accept insults, outsider!

Stung, the frost giants stopped whining and led the way.

Within a fortress of snow and ice deep in the valley, other frost giants looked at the visitors in puzzlement.

-Who are they? Why are otherworlders here?

-The one recognized by the king—a challenger of honor.

-What!? Then that honor should be mine…

-It’s over. I challenged and lost, and vowed on my honor there would be no more duels.

-Who do you think you are!

The frost giants rushed out and shouted at their comrade.

Because of his selfishness, they’d lost a great opportunity for honor!

“I understand your disappointment, but what can you do? Please give up…”

But the frost giants weren’t easily persuaded.

Someone muttered,

-If the one who made the promise disappeared, wouldn’t it reset? Maybe we could duel again…

-Good point! …Could I see you for a moment?

-How dare you?! You’ll never get rid of me!

The targeted frost giant yelled as he was dragged away, threatened with removal to reset the contest.

But the other frost giants were equally desperate.

They wanted this selfish comrade gone if it meant another shot at glory from the king.

“That’s enough, you wretches. Are you still quarreling over such petty things?”

A human wizard’s voice rang out. The frost giants showed anger.

Some might have earned acknowledgment, but that didn’t mean they’d accept insults from otherworlders.

-Who dares to… Huh! Gonadaltes!

-I-it’s Gonadaltes!

-You mean… Gonadaltes?!

Ready to vent their fury, the giants now recoiled in shock at the wizard at the valley’s entry—flanked by a line of servant wizards.

No frost giant could forget that face.

Gonadaltes, the nightmare of giants!

The wizard, followed by the White Tiger Tower students, stood at the valley’s gate.

-What brings you here?

“My disciple—of the royal line—visited as an envoy, but it was taking too long.”

The White Tiger students nodded furiously behind the mad clone.

The skeleton headmaster’s clone might be a great archmage, but for now, at least, she was on their side.

‘Show those frost giants what for!’

-He was Gonadaltes’ disciple?!

“Once.”

-?

“I’ve granted mercy once. There won’t be a second, so watch your tongues.”

The frost giants mumbled and nodded.

-He studied under that archmage…?

“…Yes.”

The mad clone had come late, after all the duels, which was a little annoying, but better late than never.

Thanks to her, the persistently clinging frost giants were now completely cowed.

‘What did she do to the giants in the old days?’

In the far past, Lee Han had seen the young skeleton headmaster whipping both giants and demons.

But that the memory endured after all this time—even to another world’s giants—was remarkable.

‘Wait, that’s not important right now.’

“Let’s all stop obsessing over duels and honor! Let’s get to the real point.”

Lee Han quickly spoke up.

When the frost giants were nervous, he had to lock things down so they couldn’t reopen the issue.

-Very well. Let’s get to the point.

-But wait just a moment.

The frost giants nodded, then each pulled something from their coats.

It was a wax writing tablet.

The sight of giant hands scrawling made Lee Han curious.

He grabbed the helmeted frost giant who’d gone down first.

“What are you writing?”

-Challenger, can you read?

“…I can’t read the frost giant script, but I can read others.”

-You should learn. It’s sad to see a single-language user.

Lee Han felt a bit stung by the pitying gaze, but held his temper.

“So what does it mean?”

-It says ‘Honored Challenger Recognized by the King.’ It’s your epithet.

“And the part below that?”

-The next line means ‘Wizard Disciple of Gonadaltes.’ Also your epithet.

“What about the last line?”

-It means you have two honors you can never yield, so you should be the very first to claim anything.

Lee Han nodded.

And resolved to confiscate all those tablets from the frost giants.