The giant began to squirm, trying to shake off that annoying little thing, and during these abrupt movements, he dropped the Giantbane, which ended up on the ground, near his feet.

Dag, who had already hit him several times without causing him any harm, now began to hit him repeatedly on the head, as if he was a blacksmith and that was his anvil.

The incessant blows stunned the enemy, who began to stagger, without falling to the ground. 

"His skull is so hard that even the head of the hammer can't scratch it! It feels like hitting a rock!" Dag thought, after noticing that after that infinity of blows, on the bald head of the Jotunn, only a small scratch had formed, which had raised a thin flap of skin.

Trying not to fall from that privileged position, which was also the blind spot of his enemy, Dag's gaze fell on the Giantbane, whose blades glistened blazing. 

As he devised a way to catch it without giving up his grip, he heard a sound of horse hooves.

Twisting the giant's neck, the huge shape-s.h.i.+fter turned in the desired direction, and to Dag's delight, he discovered that Gridd and Reidar had come to his aid and that his sister had not suffered any damage.

Without saying a word, Gridd got off her horse and Reidar grabbed the bridles.

The s.h.i.+eldmaiden approached the Jotunn, who could barely look at her, still confused by Dag's hammer blows.

"The axe! Sister, give me the axe! With the hammer, I can't even scratch him!" Dag exclaimed, drawing the astonished gaze of Reidar, who did not expect to find his captain in that bizarre position.

Gridd seemed to ignore his words and impugned both of her swords, which when they were unleashed emitted the typical metallic sound of blades. 

With her gaze downwards and an aura of anger around her, Gridd continued to approach the Jotunn, rotating the swords in her hands: meanwhile, their blades began to emit an intense celestial light, which in a few seconds greatly increased its intensity.

"Gridd, wait! The skin of this monster is very tough, I'm not sure your swords can penetrate it... if you grab my axe and manage to throw it to me, maybe I can save the day!" Dag continued, interrupting the speech and trying to stick to the neck of the Jotunn, who, though slowly, did not stop squirming a second, moving his arms backward in an attempt to grab his attacker.

Being distracted by Dag dangling on his back, the enemy did not notice that in front of him, Gridd was loading a blow.

Before Dag or Reidar could counter her, she released the energy acc.u.mulated in the blades, unleas.h.i.+ng a violent lunge, after which the Jotunn stopped moving, slowly turning his head towards her, looking down on her.

Under Dag's astonished eyes, Gridd's swords had managed to pierce the enemy's stomach, penetrating it with almost the entire blade.

At that point, Dag took advantage of him to hit again the giant on the head, taking a step back and continuing to unbalance him.

Soon after, he left his grip and fell with his feet on the ground, sprinting toward the Giantbane, whose power was still active.

He managed to grasp it deftly and turn immediately, ready to give the coup de grace to the enemy, but the fight had already come to an end: showing incredible strength, Gridd had managed to move the blades of the swords inside the Jotunn's stomach, from the bottom to the top, tearing his flesh and internal organs, which began to leak out from the deep cut.

The giant knelt on both legs, resting his hands on his stomach as if trying to hold his entrails inside his body. 

She quickly pulled out the swords, then crossed them around her opponent's neck, who looked up as his liver and intestines glided over his arms, ending up on the ground.

The intensity of the celestial aura around Gridd's blades increased again, and she quickly moved her arms outwards, tightening the monster's neck between the two swords, which cut it off with surgical precision.

Jotunn's head bounced several times to the ground, traveling a distance of a few meters, before stopping at the foot of a tree. 

Gridd placed a foot on the shoulder of the enemy and pushed his headless body, causing him to end up with his back on the ground, while the sound of blood gus.h.i.+ng from the large arteries receded into the air.

"Oh, f.u.c.k!" Dag exclaimed, astounded, as Gridd deftly rotated the swords, shrugging all the blood on them and putting them back in their linings.

"I risked losing Light. No one can hurt my horse" she replied angrily, tearing the reins out of Reidar's hands and riding up, urging her teammates to do the same.

Dag smiled, pleased to see his sister fight to the full of her potential. 

When Dag and Reidar were also back on their horses, all three of them rode quickly to the nearby village, from which loud noises continued to come, which did not portend anything good.

Amid the screams of frightened villagers and the noise caused by the huts being destroyed under the powerful blows of their enemies, Dag, Reidar, and Gridd rode around a kind of large barn, after which they would enter the heat of battle.

Just as they looked over the last obstacle separating them from Ellen and Kjell, a huge arm sprang out of the wooden barn wall.

Dag managed to notice the ambush and with his quick reflexes, bent his back backward, dodging that big grayish hand.

Reidar was not so lucky and was. .h.i.t on the chest, flying away from the back of Ace, who after losing contact with his rider, continued to run forward, frightened.

From behind the barn, two Jotunn of different sizes sprang up, one the size of the one Gridd had defeated a few minutes earlier and the other much taller and more muscular.