8 - Beyond The Battle: Frieren’s Story
“What we want is not their words of gratitude, but the act of helping itself. If we make them feel like they owe us a favour, then wouldn’t it be like we never helped them at all?”
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 8
Frieren's party has finally gone out to the Northern Highlands, thanks to Fern's passing of the First Class Mage Exam. It makes me ever so curious if, at some point in the story, Frieren's Holy Emblem will be sufficient proof that she can walk around the region without needing a First Class Mage with her.
Volume 8 truly highlighted how Frieren's decision-making has now been strongly affected not only by her former party, but most specifically by Himmel himself. Although Eisen and Heiter also use Himmel as their guide whenever they make decisions, for Frieren it feels even more pronounced.
The adventures in this volume are the perfect blend of calm and excitement. It is amazing how the author even has the capacity to make the fight scenes feel relaxing.
The introduction of a dwarf named Foss was quite charming. His entire story was to introduce another elf, Milliarde, who happens to be the opposite of what elves naturally are, seriously invested in knowledge. Milliarde was a total prankster, but given her long life, she can be agitating considering the lengths she'll go to with her tricks.
One of the demon generals, Revolte, is the highlight of this volume, at least for me. The battle with him showed us how far Stark has grown. Moreover, we also saw the combat prowess of Genau. It became clear just how much the harshness and cruelty of the Northern Highlands shaped him to become less empathetic and more concerned about survival.
The demon general, of course, wasn't without his subordinates. Two demons fought against Frieren, Fern, and Methode. Frieren chose not to involve herself in the middle of it, having absolute trust in Fern's talents. She, of course, was not wrong.
I used to have an interest in Methode due to her calm and calculated demeanour, but seeing her quirk in this volume left me a little put off by her.
By the end of the volume, we saw that Denken will eventually be fighting one of the Seven Sages of Destruction, Macht of the Golden Realm. Truly an exciting and amazing cliffhanger.
This volume was so much more than I expected it to be. The charming adventures of Frieren, Fern, and Stark, accompanied by great battle sequences that show readers the different personalities of the characters and just how much they have grown, made this book absolutely wonderful.