Dungeon of Niflheim

477 Chapter 477: New enemy commander (3)

Major Tarok turned around after hearing a commotion only to be faced with the open maw of an ice borne serpent. Its breath freezing the very air as it lunged for him and those by his side. He was unluckily the prime chosen target of the new commander’s 4th circle spell [wrath of the ice serpent].

Out of the present Majors and B-rank adventurers he was not only the easiest target distance wise but also sported wounds on his legs thus limiting his ability to evade.

Tarok wasn’t the strongest Major here, but he was strong enough to react in the brief time he was given. He instantly summoned his aura and pushed away those he could before desperately lashing out with his battle-axe.

Clang!

A loud clanging erupted as Tarok’s battle-axe made contact with the mana formed serpent before almost instantly Tarok was blown off his feet and his battle-axe was knocked to the side leaving his torso and shoulders exposed.

Douglas watched on in horror as the massive ice serpent crunched down on Tarok’s left shoulder, swiftly tearing his arm from his torso with a violent jerk. Halgrave and Maggie moved fast but they weren’t fast enough.

Not only was Tarok bitten by the serpent others in the area were catapulted into the solid northern wall by its powerful body. Many suffered broken bones from the crash whereas a couple were even immediately killed, their heads smashing apart like pumpkins against the impenetrable surface.

Those who escaped the physical attacks were however not in the clear, the ice serpent brought with it a freezing air that made even these veteran warriors shake in their skin as the ice invaded their nerves and gradually froze them in place, siphoning out their internal heat. This was a devasting attack that arrived at the worst possible moment, no one was in the right place nor were they prepared to defend against such magic.

Tarok who was falling from the air after having his arm ripped off glared with bloodshot eyes at the serpent as it swallowed his arm with delight, his blood coating its lips.

.....

His aggressive eyes met with the serpents, and it seemed to smile before moving in to finish the job. It was a construct of mana, so its death meant nothing but once Maggie and Halgrave made their way on scene it wouldn’t be able to do its job thus it moved swiftly, ignoring the chaff in the surrounding area to once again come face to face with Tarok.

Tarok felt the spectre of death grip his heart and he could see the eyes of the caster within the serpent’s eyes, looking at him as if he was but simple prey that had fallen into his trap. He felt a strong sense of fear from those eyes, enough to chill his heart and delay his reactions.

“Tarok!!!!” Maggie screamed out at the top of her lungs as she descended but it was too late, her hammer wouldn’t slam down in time, Tarok would have already been crunched by those fearsome teeth.

“[Wyvern’s maw!]” However, she and Halgrave weren’t the only ones who could intervene. Frost who noticed the change in the air first made his move.

With his glaive wreathed in silver cold flames he summoned the manifestation that was his strongest glaive skill, the [wyvern’s maw].

A large wyvern head with razor sharp teeth and powerful biting strength formed above his glaive however Frost felt that this wouldn’t be enough, so he tried something that he’d seen done by the eldest rindar, Hamon, Maggie and Halgrave, he infused his aura into the glaive as well as the wyvern.

Though Frost was able to expand his aura beyond his body, skilfully controlling it was still rather difficult. The young dungeon core closed his eyes and focused on his aura entering his weapon instead of being emitted outwards.

The process was difficult and highly inefficient given it was his first real attempt. Much of his aura failed to imbue itself within the glaive, instead shooting off into the surrounding area however after repeated attempts changes appeared on his glaive as well as within the wyvern head.

The metallic sheen of the duram alloy gradually grew brighter and a pressure started surrounding the blade edge making the glaive feel far heavier that it actually was. Next the floating energy apparition that was the wyvern head became more corporal and felt more real, filled with the essence of life.

Frost didn’t stop there however fully in the optimum state of mind he attempted to add another power to his attack, his chakra. With his aura attached to the wyvern granting it some kind of essence he felt it could hold his chakra at least for a short time.

The silvery cold flames that wreathed his glaive funnelled into the wyvern head giving it a silver quality and flame like skin thus making it appear far more menacing than before.

Satisfied with his creation Frost violently swung down his glaive and roared out the skill’s name, sending the enhanced wyvern head towards the serpent’s neck.

The ice borne serpent was too focused on ending Tarok that it didn’t even notice as the wyvern head arrived before its neck and bit down harshly.

Since the serpent wasn’t a living creature it felt no pain however the biting down on its neck forced its jaws to shut and it to veer of course. Tarok was knocked to the side by a reflexive jerk but that was far better than being turned into snake food.

A couple C-rank soldiers in the vicinity that were able to resist the freezing ice mana leapt up and caught him, saving him from being wounded further.

The massive ice serpent twitched and jerked as Frost’s summoned wyvern head continued to bite down and tear apart its body. The difference in size was magnitude but the wyvern head had attacked at just the right point making the size difference moot.

The added silver flames branched out from the wyvern’s teeth with each bite and invaded the massive ice serpent, destroying the mana making up its structure while the added aura gave the wyvern a far more potent bite.

Of course, there was still a difference between an advanced glaive skill and a 4th circle magic spell, Frost was not only weaker than the caster, but his attack was much shorter lived. After maybe four of five devasting bites the wyvern head started fragmenting but it had done a hell of a lot of damage in that brief time and most of all successfully saved Tarok.

Frost who used the already draining skill without the addons collapsed to his knees with laboured breathing, his legs and arms trembling from the sudden overexertion, but a wide smile adorned his lips.

“Made it.” Tarok had been successfully saved, he unfortunately lost an arm but that was far better than losing one’s life, hell if he’s lucky he may even get a chance to regain it. Northrend had some pretty high-level potions and healers within their military and Tarok was a B-rank Major, using such a high-quality merchandise on him would not be a waste.

The ice serpent violently shook off the remnants of the wyvern head as it began fragmenting and turned to face Tarok still aiming to complete its intended mission however Frost’s aim was never to destroy the ice serpent no, all he needed to do was force it away from Tarok and buy time for the big guns to land a blow. And land a blow they did.

“[Tectonic slam]”

“[Sundering of the earth]” Halgrave and Maggie both utilised advanced level skills as their weapons crashed upon the head and neck area of the giant ice serpent.

Maggie’s hammer filled with her rage slammed upon the beast’s head and blew it apart like a watermelon whereas Halgrave’s great sword cleaved into the harshly bitten neck severing the beast in twain.

Their fierce attacks immediately destroyed the remaining mana structure within the ice serpent. It fragmented apart and returned to natural mana, vanishing without a trace.

The freezing chill that surrounded it and started freezing the retreating the soldiers and adventurers thus vanished as well. Many were strong enough to break free from the ice covering their bodies but for the rest the magic corps cast a wide range warming spell that melted the ice.

“Everyone behind the wall now!” Douglas roared out causing everyone who had stopped retreating to come to their senses and make way for the protection of the town.

Tarok was rushed immediately to the command centre where Gilianna was currently wrapping up the last stages of Hamon’s treatment since she was the best healer around.

Frost was assisted once again by Bagua behind the wall before the two of them made their way to the command centre to attend the strategy meeting.

Douglas, Ryuu and Bastion remained on the northern wall for a few minutes to make sure there was no surprises before cautiously summoning the clean-up and dismembering teams. They reminded them to keep an eye out and to retreat at the first sign of danger while also assigning a few extra elites to serve as watchers during the lapse. This new commander couldn’t be trusted to act per the usual routine.

Once everyone was present in the command centre the dreaded meeting began and it was not a pretty sight.