I still swear that the wall was there for a reason and that there was no way that it changed based on however many of us there were but the fact that there were seven boxes and seven of us had to mean something as each box contained a one time use item. The first box opened by Adam was wild to see the box disappear into a ball of light followed by a bottle in his hand.
Abby grabbed a box and opened it and the same thing happened. She went to grab another box and it shocked her from touching it. Each of us then opened a box and the box transformed into a bottle that had a cork lid to it. We each uncorked our bottles and said "Cheers!" as we each chugged our bottles.
To my shock it was quite tasty. I wouldn't mind having another one but it was a one time reward. Wispy informed me of the changes that occurred while drinking the bottle as my body felt like it was freezing cold and my whole body shivered. 'Your resistance to cold spells has been permanently set to fifty percent.'
The group all were excited to find out that we each learned the same thing. Even Ghaston who was significantly older than us had never received such a reward and mentioned he wished he had this when he was a teenager. I imagined he was in a battle with something ice that probably got the better of him or maybe even took a friend of his.
We headed back to the beginning area and decided that we should do the golem path that I had previously gone down as we felt the giants were probably the main threat. When we made it back to the main room we were surprised to find that it was inhabited again by a group of fifty giants that appeared to be all silver. These however had ice weapons as it appeared the silver rank giants were able to create weapons of ice.
The majority of the giants held shields and either swords or maces with a handful holding spears. I found it interesting that they had their own different ice weapons as a few were holding two axes or two swords and no shield. I was certain there was one with a large polearm but it could have just been a spear as these giants were in fact giant.
We weren't exactly expecting the company so we had been speaking out loud which gave away the fact that we were approaching. Not that it really would have mattered but it basically created a brief moment of chaos as Travis and Tim scrambled to create a defensive position for us. Having light as a faery spell which gave me wings to hover above the shell was exactly what I was doing as I unloaded fireballs and arcane barrage arrows almost at a constant pace.
Adam was to the left and Abby was to the right chopping through legs of the giants as neither were tall enough to hit anything close to the bottom of the knee. Ghaston and Gus charged forward as Gina swooped down at unsuspecting heads. Maddy sent out life mend spells as much as she could as she wasn't sure who needed it but wanted to make sure she got each of us. Her life mend spell increased our mana regeneration as a new bonus from being silver.
This fight was the first fight that I personally overdid it as I was basically in my own personal trance. Barrage, ball, barrage, ball, barrage, ball, barrage, ball. My left arm moved slightly between each target as I sent one of each spell at each target I saw. The barrage was doing some damage as the spikes would pierce slightly through the giants while the fireballs would burn holes in their ice shields. The fact that they weren't being one shot was a different experience and was making this a much more difficult battle.
Joey had been launching his sais at the heads of giants, occasionally being successful piercing eyes and getting killing blows. The icespikes that these giants produced seemed like they were bigger than the previous yet the one that hit me hurt much less. It was as if the blunt force trauma was halved as well.
Maddy, Travis, and myself had been at the entrance from the yeti cave while the rest had dispersed throughout the open cavern to attack the group. The gold weapons that our three melee attackers were using all were doing immense damage however it was extremely difficult to get the massive beasts in range for them to do the most damage. That is when I changed my strategy and instead of trying to do damage I tried to knock them down and have everyone attack them once they lost their balance.
My arrows were now boulder attacks as I pulled back for full power and placed a boulder hitting the upper half of a giant knocking it down. Gus was the closest and lunged quickly at the back of the neck of the giant. The lion was able to swipe the head clean off and Ghaston gave me an appreciative smile 'Keep doing that, we will finish them off'
I started calling out each that I hit by saying 'Next' as the three of them waited to see which one would fall and who was the closest to get the killing blow. As they waited they dodged the attacks being sent by the giants around them as Abby pleaded for me to hurry up. Wispy hearing the plea joined in and soon two were being knocked down at a time.
It took us probably half an hour to clear out the giants and when we finished off the last one we all needed to take a break. I pulled out the flask of mana infused water my mother gave me over a year ago. I passed it around as just a sip refreshed my mana pool quickly so it would do the same for everyone else. It was the first time I had shared it with everyone and each thanked me profusely, shocked at how good it felt and tasted.
Ghaston even said that it wasn't a normal water flask and he had never heard of one that replenishes itself. My mother had told me as if it was a normal item lying around the hospital, now I was wondering if she stole it or if it was a family heirloom. Ghaston handed it back to me as he was the last to try it, he made the comment to keep it close as it was priceless.