The people in the tavern rushed out in a clamor.
Colin and the others followed the crowd, hastily rushing out of the tavern and up onto the city wall.
By the ti they got up there, the top of the wall was already densely packed with people.
Following the gazes of those around him, Colin also looked in the sa direction.
Nearby, all the ships that had been on the Torrent River had retreated to the harbor.
In the distance, a large ship was stopped on the surface of the Endless Sea.
The ship’s design was different from an ordinary sailboat. Its keel was made from the bones of so enormous creature, and the hull was built from planks of so unknown, pitch-black wood.
Overall, it certainly looked like a normal ship.
But it looked strange. It felt both very far away and very close, creating a disorienting sense of space.
"Is it Pirates? Or so other kind of villain?" Orelia asked.
Colin frowned. "Wait, sothing’s not right... The waves are crashing against that ship, but the hull isn’t moving at all."
The words had barely left his mouth when several figures erged onto the ship’s deck.
It was a group of tall, burly n with blue skin. They wore thick fur clothing, onto which bones of various shapes had been sewn for protection.
After the group ca out, Colin realized what was wrong.
The waves splashing below the ship didn’t even reach their knees!
"Well, that’s just great, everyone." Kase drew his Longbow. "That’s a local specialty from my part of the world. Frost Giants are here!"
"I really wish you’d tell you were just joking," Colin said.
A Lightweight corvette in Thousand Masts City was about forty ters long.
That was a warship for humans who were 1.8 ters tall. For Frost Giants around 6.5 ters tall, how long would their warship have to be? One hundred and twenty ters? Or one hundred and fifty?
’That ship is as big as a small castle. How the hell are we supposed to fight that?!’
A few people on the wall couldn’t hold back any longer. They raised their longbows and shot at the giant ship on the sea. A scattering of arrows flew from the wall, falling powerlessly into the water.
The sea wind howled, as if mocking the weakness and impotence of mortals.
At the sa ti, the people on the wall could clearly see the Frost Giants on the warship’s deck nocking arrows to their bows.
"Get down!"
He heard scattered shouts around him.
Colin quickly pulled his two companions down, but he seriously doubted the reliability of the battlent in front of them.
A piercing shriek tore through the air from the distance.
With a deafening BOOM, the entire section of the wall began to shake. Colin felt his insides tremble with the impact.
The air filled with a mix of curses and prayers.
But what ca from the distance was not a war cry, but booming laughter.
Colin steadied himself against the wall and cautiously peered out.
Through the billowing dust, he could vaguely see that the Frost Giants hadn’t taken the opportunity to approach. Instead, they had turned their ship and were sailing away.
Seeing this, everyone on the wall breathed a sigh of relief.
Once the Frost Giants’ warship was far away and the sea had cald, people began to head down from the wall, discussing the giants as they went.
"Let’s go take a look at the wall. We’ve got nothing better to do anyway," Colin suggested, already walking toward the impacted section.
"What’s there to see?" Kase grumbled, following behind him.
Plenty of other people had the sa idea and went along with them to see the spectacle.
Rushing outside the city, they saw that the previously bare beach and stone wall were now studded with dozens of giant arrows.
One type, presumably the Giants’ own arrows, was as thick as a wrist and nearly two ters long. The other type must have been Siege Crossbow Arrows, which were even more outrageous—nearly twenty centiters in diater, like small trees. Kase’s Javelin was nothing in comparison.
These arrows were scattered across the stone-built city wall.
The arrowheads had easily shattered the stone bricks and embedded themselves in the ramd earth core of the wall.
Many of the people present realized a certain truth.
This earth-shattering attack had been nothing more than the Giants’ way of passing the ti, a bit of roughhousing. If that ship had continued its assault from a distance, the damage to this small town would have been beyond imagination.
Colin stared blankly at the massive arrows.
It was only now that the tavern keeper’s words truly felt real.
’If we encountered a group of stone-throwing giants like that on open ground, it would be an absolute nightmare.’
"Co on, stop staring," Kase said, clapping Colin on the shoulder.
Colin rubbed his eyes and said, "The tavern’s definitely full by now. Let’s set up in the encampnt outside the city for the night and see how things are."
The group then found a corner in the encampnt outside the city and made camp.
The encampnt was mostly filled with rchant caravans and sailors from rchant ships, along with quite a few Adventurers and rcenaries.
After laying out their sleeping bags and asking the other two to watch their things, Colin went to buy so fish for dinner from a few fishern by the river who had remained as steady as a mountain through the whole affair.
As he passed by a few tents, he could still hear people talking about the Giants.
Colin walked back to his group, placed the leaf-wrapped fish on the ground, and casually cast a [Flaming Arrow] to light the campfire in their midst.
"I thought those big oafs had grown a spine for a second there. Turns out they still didn’t dare to actually fight," Kase scoffed.
"Did you know all along they wouldn’t attack, Kase?" Orelia asked curiously, already beginning to clean the fish Colin had bought.
"There were thirty-sothing Giants on that ship at most. This town has at least a few hundred people who can fight. One Giant can handle a few dozen people, more or less. If they had dared to attack for real, they would have definitely lost so of their own."
Kase continued, "It takes decades for their children to grow into adults. Every loss is unacceptable to them. Only a Giant Chief who’s lost his mind would attack this place."
"Are those Frost Giants common where you’re from?" Colin asked.
"Not exactly common, but you see them around," Kase said. "They can ta mammoths and ride them to hunt. So powerful Frost Giants can even ta a real dragon."
"Though, I’ve heard from the old monks that Giants are all very dumb. In so places, farrs will have two people stand on each other’s shoulders, put a ragged cloth and a pumpkin on top, and use that to scare them away." After speaking, Orelia even made a gesture over her head with a serious expression.
Kase said, "That’s probably the southern giants. Their brains aren’t all there."
"Hill Giants and Frost Giants are two different kinds. There are also Stone Giants, Cloud Giants, and Storm Giants. You can’t lump them all together," Colin said, taking the cleaned fish from Orelia and setting them on a rack over the fire to slowly roast.
Kase scratched his head. "How do you know all that?"
"From reading, of course. How else would I know? Did you really think I’ve been carrying around all those parchnts this whole ti because I had nothing better to do?"
As the group was chatting, a few shouts suddenly ca from nearby.
"Anyone heading to Rommon? We’re planning to take the mountain path! Anyone want to go together?"
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