I just got the axe, and [spoiler]for some reason it travels further if you throw it diagonally. The key to beating those pale fuckers in the first dungeon (?) with about 200 hp that walk slowly toward you is to throw the axe and run from it, letting it whack them each five or so times as it sails back to you.
First boss, thought he was a joke then he tentacle raped me; Stand close and just whack, but the second he stops taking damage go down a bit and right or left a bit to avoid the tentacle or icebeam. Didn't have to use the dungeon item on him. That was refreshing enough to propel me to find the second dungeon.
I'm now convinced that half this game's length is due to the slow walking speed of the main. I spam magic whenever I get it just to move a bit faster for a while.[/spoiler]
Edit: I found the spoilers tag. It was <spoiler>! How obvious!