I have no idea what the prelate-ranked paladin thought while watching me, but the embarrassment was worth it.
When I nearly smashed my forehead into the floor while desperately trying to remain at least on one knee, the ewer stayed suspended barely four inches above the ground.
“…What’s…
this?” I muttered in confusion, my eyebrows shooting upward.
The ewer suddenly felt like a blazing-hot radiator.
Warmth spread through my palms, up my arms, and then throughout my entire body.
But less than ten seconds later, the pressure vanished so abruptly that I nearly dropped it.
“Tch…” I hissed irritably, feeling the warmth fade from the ewer as an almost burning cold swept over me in its place.
Well…
no idea what just happened.
The prelate clearly couldn’t care less.
So onward it was.
I’d pry the answers directly out of the archbishop instead.
Casting one last glance at the shrine’s storehouses, I briskly made my way back along the same riverbank, my body feeling surprisingly light.
This time, my rather tedious journey led northwest, punctuated by the occasional attack from oversized sabre cats.
It was during those fights that I noticed the first real changes.
My muscles worked better.
They felt more supple.
I moved noticeably faster.
And judging by the subtler sensations, my spells seemed to drain less of my strength.
After throwing a fireball, I no longer felt like I’d just done fifty push-ups.
“Hmm…
So it’s like an all-around buff?” I scratched the back of my head thoughtfully, though not without satisfaction.
“Not bad…
Wait, that’s really bad!”
I sprang backward, rocking onto the balls of my feet.
A large snowball embedded with jagged rocks slammed into the spot where I’d been standing just a heartbeat earlier.
Whirling around, I spotted a steep, terraced path.
Standing beside it was…
Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!
You giant son of a—
Why in Oblivion did I have to run into this bastard?!
A fucking Frost Giant.
Three and a half meters tall, with horns that made him seem twice my size, thick hide, four eyes, and a face disturbingly similar to an ape’s.
A very angry ape’s face, glaring straight at me.
There were only two reasons he hadn’t charged yet: he was hefting an enormous homemade axe, and the river still separated us.
It was deep enough to reach my neck, which would slow my potential opponent down quite a bit…
Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to solve my problem, because that staircase he was guarding was exactly where I needed to go.
“All right…” I muttered, biting my lip as I weighed my options.
Charging him head-on looked like the most obvious form of suicide imaginable.
I wouldn’t even dare try to catch a blow from that weapon on my shield, much less my sword.
Which meant I needed to remember what set me apart from an ordinary swordsman.
Magic.
All right…
let’s set up—
You four-eyed son of a…!
What was it about one miserable Snow Elf that made you wade all the way across the river after me?!
Realizing there was no chance of outrunning him, I summoned flames into my left palm and immediately directed them straight into the hand gripping my sword, sheathing the blade in magical fire.
But I didn’t stop there.
The remaining flames surged forward in a blazing stream, engulfing the giant’s weapon arm.
The brute had just stepped onto the riverbank when he let out a deafening howl, and the smell of scorched hide and burned hair reached my nose.
Pushing off the ground with all my strength, I charged straight at the disoriented monster.
By the time I reached it, the brute had decided to shove its burning hand into its mouth, which only made my job easier.
Slipping past the giant’s free arm, I struck with precision, severing the tendons in one of its legs while also setting its long coat ablaze.
The moment I ended up behind the beast, I had to leap backward as it managed to turn around and swing a fist the size of a sledgehammer at my head.
“Take this!” I hurled another fireball at the monster, now staggering from its injury.
“Aaaand one more!”
Repeating the same trick, I sliced through the tendons in its other leg as well.
“GRAAAARGH!”
The nearly four-meter-tall monstrosity flew into an absolute rage and somehow charged straight at me.
With both legs on fire and their muscles severed…
What the fucking hell…
Whoa, whoa, whoa—why’s he getting so close?!
Stop!
I said stop!
…What the…
As though obeying my thoughts, the giant suddenly seemed to plunge into some kind of thick syrup and began moving… very… slowly.
☼ +Feel the River of Time.
Dive into it completely.
Let it yield to your will.+ ☼
I flinched as an unfamiliar man’s voice suddenly whispered right beside my ear.
But even after instinctively spinning around, I found nothing and no one.
Cursing under my breath, I jumped even farther away from the giant that continued lumbering toward me.
I had no idea what that had been, though I had my suspicions…
But this was definitely not the time for distractions!
Without hesitation, I launched another fireball at the slowed monster.
And then…
it hit me.
I finally understood what was happening.
No… The giant hadn’t slowed down.
I’d sped up!
Otherwise, the fireball wouldn’t have been crawling through the air that slowly.
Fine.
While this state lasted, I needed to make the most of it.
In the blink of an eye, I was beside the monster again.
My burning sword carved through the same deep wound in its leg, this time severing the entire right limb.
At that exact moment, my sudden acceleration vanished, and the frost giant crashed onto the frozen, rock-hard ground with a deafening roar of agony.
Not about to lose my nerve, I took advantage of its helplessness, sprinted up the monster’s back, and, with considerable effort, drove my blade straight into its brain.
The last traces of the sword’s fire enchantment let the blade punch through the creature’s thick hide and sturdy skull.
But before it died, the giant managed one final violent convulsion, forcing me to tumble across the ground.
Tch.
That’s even more painful without any clothes.
“Hoo…” I exhaled in relief, feeling sweat pouring down my face.
“All right…
what the f…
was that?” I corrected myself at the last second, directing the question toward the mysterious male voice I’d heard earlier.
It had felt as though the sound had come through earbuds jammed deep inside my ears.
But after standing there like an idiot for a full minute, I got no reply.
All right… Fine.
Looks like I wasn’t getting any more revelations from…
apparently Auri-El?
Still…
What was that?
I mean, I remembered that Auri-El was Akatosh, the Dragon God of Time, so the whole time aspect fit, but… neither Dad nor Vaisy had ever mentioned anything like this.
Was it connected to my reincarnation?
Questions, questions… and no answers in sight.
Climbing the terraced path to the summit, I spotted the next shrine on the western side of the valley, across another river.
Traversing a rather treacherous mountain trail and then crossing a natural stone bridge over yet another river took me about half an hour, but I finally reached the Wayshrine of Resolution.
And once again…
Déjà vu.
Once again, there was a lone guardian with weary eyes, and once again, the familiar words.
“Your journey has been long.
Perhaps difficult.
But fruitful.
And now you have arrived at the Wayshrine of Resolution, Initiate.
Are you prepared to honor Auri-El by reciting His mantra and fill your vessel with His enlightenment?” he began, but unlike the previous prelates, I sensed something…
unusual about this kinsman of mine
It was as though the taste of cold tea left sitting for two days had suddenly appeared on my tongue.
“I am,” I answered after a brief pause, apparently earning a narrowed look from the elf…
A curious look.